Transcripts For CNNW Inside Politics 20190920

Welcome to inside politics. Im john king. President trump at any moment to hold a News Conference alongside the Prime Minister of florida, he iran. He is putting tough new sanctions on the Iranian National bank which he says goes to the top of the Iranian Regime. And hes also gone to the top of the whistleblower complaint. The president says the complaint is partisan nonsense. Its a partisan whistleblower. They shouldnt even have information. Ive had conversations with many leaders that are always appropriate. I think scott can tell you that. Always appropriate. At the highest level always appropriate. Anything i do, i fight for this country. I fight so strongly for this country. Its just another political hack job. Thats all it is. Youve seen this playbook from the president before. Attack the source, make it all partisan. Even as the president went on to admit hes not even sure, he says, what the complaint is about. I dont know the identity of the whistleblower, i just hear its a partisan person, meaning it comes out from another party, but i dont have which conversation . Figure it out. Youre supposed to be the media, figure it out. Which conversation . July 25th. I dont know. I really dont know. Lets get straight to the white house and Kaitlan Collins live for us. The president shaking his head and saying, i dont know. I dont find that believable given the last 24 hours. He goes back and forth on saying this whistleblower is partisan, although he doesnt know who this whistleblower is. He said it was ridiculous, though he hasnt read it, only his staff has. And he said all of his kr conversations with World Leaders have been appropriate. He declined to say he hasnt discussed joe biden with the world leader. The president saying certain things about this whistleblower, things that mirrored what his own attorney Rudy Giuliani said last night, alleging theyre a democrat although its not clear the identity of this whistleblower, including the president saying he doesnt know who he is. The question Going Forward is how this is hanging over the second state visit the president is hosting, the first with the french, the second with the Prime Minister of israel today. These are going to be the questions facing the president. If the this conversation he had, this communication with this whistleblower is filing a complaint and was a abobove boa and appropriate like the president says it has, thats something they cant answer. Were waiting for the Prime Minister to answer more questions. Cnns dan a bash, former white house chairman, Senior Analyst Carrie Cordero and maggie. He says hes had a press conference, then he has a break and has another press conference. The president gets to say whatever he wants or thinks if he wants to repeat it and the reporters say lets ask a sharper question to follow up on that. Heres one thing the president said. Were not certain what is at stake here because we dont have the complaint. It is the july phone call with the president of ukraine. The president was asked today if, on that phone call, you raised the idea of, please get me some dirt or please investigate matters that have to do with joe biden, is that okay . It doesnt matter what i discussed, but somebody ought to look into joe bidens statement because it was disgraceful where he talked about billions of dollars that hes not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor is taken off the case. It doesnt matter what i discuss. Let me start with the lawmakers and the lawyer at the table. If the president of the United States is having a conversation with another leader at a time when the United States is holding up promised military assistance and says, id like you to help me out here, on what is inherently a domestic u. S. Political issue, does it matter . It matters if its a corrupt purpose. If what hes doing if he was having a conversation with a foreign leader about a legitimate something thats in u. S. Interest, then thats a legitimate exercise of his Foreign Affairs authority, which is very strong as the executive. But if he is trying to establish some kind of quid pro quo between ill use an instrument of u. S. Foreign policy and National Security and defense power, foreign aid or other assistance in exchange for your assistance to me politically, thats corrupt. And that is not a lawful exercise of his executive authority. So the president says, and this is a quick answer, but the president was asked at the very end of the oval office meeting, sir, you can clear all of this up. Release the transcript of the phone call with the leader of ukraine. There is nothing. Theres nothing. If theres nothing, why not release it . Well, listen, this is all going to come out. No is just a long and painful way to yes. Weve seen this tactic before. Its going to come out, its going to drip out, there is going to be beading that you can see. Every four minutes there is a new speculation on what it might be. I do believe they need to get to the bottom of this soon. I think they should get ahead of it. It is not normally the tactic of this bhwhite house to get aheadf it, but i think they should do it. I think they should pull the relevant folks in the room. The Senate Committee is not having press conferences talking about speculative matters of the report. Start there. Go up there. Have the conversation. It should be behind closed doors. I do think the president has the right to exert that i have the right to do this. He does. And maybe the person making the complaint saw one piece of a thousandpiece puzzle, you dont know. So i do think if they could clear it up, it would go a long way to go away. To that point, i want to come back to the process and the lack of trust in a minute, but to that point about what were seeing. The president could clear this up. He could release the transcript. He could send his dni to capitol hill and say, i dont want you to meet with adam schiff because i dont trust with adam schiff, but go ahead and meet with nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer and tell them to back off. He hasnt done that. Even though he says he doesnt know who it is, its a political hack, theyre out to get me. Weve seen this playbook before when they stall, discredit the source so when it does come out, at least his people are inclined to say, forget about it. Weve seen something before in this playbook, too, that the act in question may not be a thing. If it is something within the scope of his powers as president , then it will be a thats just how he talks moment. Then what the controversy involves around, its not just that, its his or his aides behavior around what the initial incident was. Half the Mueller Report was related to incidents of possible obstruction of justice by the president and his interaction with the Mueller Investigation into the president. Right now you are talking about the administration preventing the i. G. From briefing congress. And then the president on the one hand says, i dont know who this is, but your point is defining the person in stark political terms. I think at another point said, some of my aides have read this complaint and were laughing about it. So i dont know which it is. The issue is we dont know. Adam schiff, who is chairman of the house intelligence committee, got ahead of the skis saying there is collusion before there was any evidence of collusion. You get the reason why the Trump Administration might not trust adam schiff. But there are other ways. There is this thing called the law where if you have an urgent complaint, the i. G. At the trumpappointed i. G. For the Trump Administration went around the dni because he was concerned they werent following procedure and the law. Speaker nancy pelosi moments ago said, turn it over. Im sorry, Speaker Pelosi was just talking moments ago. The law says the dni should send the information. Shall, not should. Shall send the information to congress. The law is the law so we just have to uphold the law. The question is the democrats are in court on a whole lot of things. Is this going to court or, since the dni has agreed to come up next week, will they figure out how to get to a yes . Thats what the chairman on my right used to do. You figure it out so this whole thing stops or the adults can find a way to get to a room and talk to each other. In normal times that happens. Im not so sure that i wonder what you think that the law is as clear as what the speaker says, and that is the big issue here. The law didnt anticipate, the whistleblower law, the problem being the president of the United States. It just didnt. So that is why the Inspector General went to congress, why the dni is being told by the executive branch, no, you cant do it, and you are in this very, very slim slice of a gray area legally. Politically the one thing i will say, and im guessing you have it there, is to your point about the long road to yes. No is a long road to yes. Rudy giuliani came out on chris coup cuomos show last night which he thinks hes speaking out of turn. He tries to get ahead of something. Of course this drama also involves Rudy Giuliani because it just wouldnt be right if it didnt. Who has acknowledged he has had a meeting with ukranians, has acknowledged he is trying to get dirt on the biden family. He told chris cuomo, no, i did not discuss hunter biden with ukranians of t ukranians. Then he said this. You never asked anything about hunter biden, you never asked anything about joe biden with the prosecutor . The only thing i asked was how it was that lou sanco, who was appointed, dismissed the case against so you did ask ukraine to look into joe biden . Of course, i did. Hes crazy like a fox. He knows exactly what hes doing, dont you think, maggie . Im a little uncertain. Maybe not on that moment. On the notion that its going to get out. People know im in ukraine and this was likely part of the conversation. Lets lay the groundwork. I think thats exactly right. I think that was his goal. I dont know if he accomplished that, but i think his goal when he wont hannity, to hannitys shock that night, he said, yes, the president did make these payments related to stormy daniels. He did that on purpose and he was vilified that night and it wasnt fair. He knew what he was doing and it turned out to have helped his client. I dont know if this one helped his client in the same way. Ive seen it many, many times. But i think there is a world where he actually thought that he was responding to i dont think he was trying to say that he asked about joe biden, i think he also thought he was answering a question about hunter biden and i think he got tangled up on that, just as an on the other hand answer. Its difficult when you get all these names and they were fighting back and forth. Were going to continue to follow this again. There is a lot we dont know about the specifics of the km t complaint, where it goes from here, but well hear more from the president of the United States and his meeting with the Prime Minister of israel in just moments. Well be right back. More towers. More coverage its a network that gives you freedom from big cities, to small towns, were with you. Because life can take you almost anywhere, tmobile is with you. No signal goes farther or is more reliable in keeping you connected. Breathe freely fast, with vicks sinex. My congestions gone. I can breathe again ahhhh i can breathe again ughh vicks sinex. Breathe on. So much more than i could have imagined. My grandfather was born in a shack in pennsylvania, his father was a miner, they were immigrants from italy and somewhere along the way that man changed his name and transformed himself into a successful midcentury american man. He had a whole life that i didnt know anything about. He was just my beloved grandpa. Bring your Family History to life like never before. Get started for free at ancestry. Com were waiting for the president of the United States, the Prime Minister of australia. They had a meeting in the oval of ofrs as the president was greeting the Prime Minister and his wife. We discussed the whistleblower incident, but the president calling this meeting and calling in his treasury secretary for assist. He says they should go to the top of the Iranian Regime by cutting off Iranian National bank to funds. This afternoon he will meet with his National Security team to discuss possible military actions. Many hawkish republicans in congress has told the president he should put on the table strikes against iranian oil. The administration blames it on the president saying, everybody calm down waiting. Not going into military action is not weakness but strength. We want to see if it works out, and if it works out, thats great. If it doesnt work out, thats great. In the end it always works out, whether its now or in three weeks. It doesnt make any difference. But i think the strong persons approach and the thing that does show strength would be showing a little bit of restraint. Much easier to do it the other way. Its much easier. And iran knows if they misbehave, theyre on borrowed time. The president meanders sometimes in his language which is his way, but that is trump. That is, dont push me. I dont want to start military confrontation. Im going to meet with my advisers today. Everybody calm down. I think the problem the president finds himself in on the issue of iran is he tends to make very declaretive statement and he makes them very bluntly and forcefully, and his incidents related to the middle east is to be not that militaristic. Im not surprised by what hes saying. Its sometimes at odds of other things hes said. And pressure is on his close relationship with the saudis, number two, his commitment to the United States to protect the persian gulf. Number three, that there was clear evidence that its irans equipment used here, and they havent put together the pieces to believe that it was iran as well. And he didnt do anything after what happened to cha khashog khashoggi, the fact that he is not going in to try to protect saudi right now in a knee jerk way is also telling and speaks to what you both were talking about, that there are a few things donald trump has been consistent on for 30plus years since hes even talked about things in public life. The issue of not going to war so aggressively and trade and china. And this is so fundamental of who he is. Here we are now. You saw the president walking into the east room just moments ago. The first lady walked in, Vice President pence before that. See them coming down. The white house showing the Prime Minister coming in. Weve had a spectacular morning, and it is an honor being with the Prime Minister and mrs. Morrison. Thank you very much. Australia is a fantastic country and a brilliant ally. We just spent a lot of time together with our representatives, and they get along very well and were doing a lot of deals. We talked military, we talked trade, we talked about everything you can talk about. And we came to the same conclusion, i think, in every case. But i just want to say its an honor having both of you here. Thank you very much. You have a truly great country and i dont think weve ever had a better relationship than we have right now. Tonight were going to have something very special in the rose garden, and based on all of that money we spend on all of that weatherpredicting equipment, theyre saying no chance of rain. Lets see if thats right. If it is, well run right back into this room. But were going to have a fantastic evening, and first lady, thank you very much. You worked very hard on this. Its not going to rain, its going to be a beautiful evening and great job. Really great job, honey. Thank you. Please. Thank you, mr. President and mrs. Trump. We thank you very much for the incredibly warm and generous welcome that jenny and i and the delegation have had here in washington in this great home of the american presidency, and indeed your home. One of the many things the president and i share in common is a passion for jobs, and the Job Performance here in the United States, the jobs that are being created in australia, the jobs that change peoples lives. You know, when people get a job, they have choices. In australia and the United States were committed to creating jobs. Whether its in trade or looking at the future and where those jobs are going to come from, we want our people to have those economic opportunities. I commend the president on the great work hes done in creating jobs here in the United States, and were doing the same thing in australia. We want to keep creating jobs and this partnership is a big part of that. We share objectives in so many areas. We share common values, we share beliefs. Weve shared a wonderful century together, and now were going to have another Great Century together. Thank you, mr. President , and thank you for the opportunity for the discussions we had today. B we are very much looking forward to the state dinner. Mrs. Trump, youre doing Something Special there tonight, perhaps the first ever, and thats another part of this wonderful visit, so thank you very much. Thank you. Its a great honor. Go ahead, please. Mr. President , youve been negotiating with the chinese and there seems to be a possibility in terms of a china trade deal that they might actually offer some agricultural purchases. Is that going to be enough for you, sir, in order to get a deal done . No. What do you need to see that deal go past the finish line . We need a complete deal. Im not looking for a partial deal. China has started to buy our agricultural product, if you noticed, over the last week and some very big purchases, but thats not what im looking for. Were looking for the big deal. Weve taken it to this level. Weve taken in billions and billions of dollars of tariffs. China is putting a lot of money into their economy, and they have a very bad economy right now and i dont want them to have a bad economy. Its the worst in, say, 57 years. Two weeks ago it was the worst in 22 years, now its 57 years, and its only going to get worse. Their supply chain is being broken up very badly and companies are leaving because they cant pay the 25, soon to go to 30 tariff. And we have 30 very shortly on 250 billion. We have another tariff at a slightly smaller number, as you know, on other on about 300 billion worth of the goods and products. So they would like to do something. As you know, were talking a little bit this week, talking a lot next week, and then top people are going to be speaking the week following. But im not looking for a partial deal, im looking for a complete deal. You feel you need that deal before the election, sir . No, i dont think i need it before the election. People know were doing a great job. Ive rebuilt the military. Scott and i were talking about that. We spent 1. 5 trillion. When i came in, our military was depleted. Frankly, we didnt have ammunition, okay . Our military was in very bad shape. We rebuilt the military. Weve got one of the strongest economies. Mike pence actually got some its right here. Hes a great Vice President. He said these numbers are incredible. The retail numbers that came out two days ago that really werent reported were just incredible numbers. You know that very well, thats your world. And some other numbers. Were doing very well. Our economy is very strong. And china is being affected very badly. Wee were not being affected. In fact, were taking in billions of dollars. China is eating that. China is eating the tariffs because of the devaluation. That doesnt happen in all countries. China is china and they know what theyre doing as well as anybody. My relationship with president xi is a very amazing one, very good one, but we have right now a little spat. But i think were doing very well. Our country is doing well. You look at so many different things. Look at all of the regulation cutting that allows us to do what we did. Look what happens three days ago we have an attack like that and it takes out a big chunk of oil and the price goes up 4, 5 and now its heading down rapidly. That would have happened years ago. It would have gone up 50. It would have doubled. This was a blip. So its been really amazing what weve been able to do. I think the voters understand that. I dont think it has any impact on the election. Now, if something happened, i think that would probably be a positive for the election, but thats okay. I do think signing usmca on a bipartisan basis with nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer and everybody else, very bipartisan, i think thats good for our country, and i would be willing to say its a bipartisan deal. But i think its important for our manufacturers, for our farmers. Even our unions want that deal done. So hopefully thats going to be put up to a vote very soon. There will be very little cajoling of the democrats because most democrats wanted to, but the usmca is ready to be voted on. Mexico has taken final votes. China is going to do that any time we want them to, theyre all set to go. And we need that for our country. Its a great deal. Its a great deal. Thank you. For the Prime Minister, sir, your economy to some degree is caught in the crosscurrents of United States and china. What did you say to the president what your ideal outcome is for a deal with the United States and china . Obviously wed like to see the United States and china to be able to come to an agreement. Deals have to be fair, deals have to be good deals, deals have to be sustainable deals. I think one of the things weve seen, china has sustained greatly and we have a Free Trade Agreement with china. Theyve grown and theyve become a standard economy in the world. Once you get into that level, then you need to be playing to the same rules as those other developed nations. I think this is the new generation of deals i think well see china do, which the president has been working on. Hes been working on it for some time and we wish him well in that kritcrisis. There is a series of deals that needs to be addressed. We look forward to them achieving it and that providing a certain stability to the Global Economy which all nations will benefit from. We could do, scott, a very good deal with china and it could go very quickly, as you know. But it wouldnt be the appropriate deal. We have to do it right. Its a complicated deal with integrated property protection, we to we have to do that, and other things. I could do it very quickly but we want to do it right. Andrew . I assume andrew is a nice person . Thank you, mr. President , the best. Thank you very much for hosting us. Also on china and tariffs, what do you say to Australian Businesses and to australian people who say your trade war with president xi threatens their prosperity . And to the presideime minister, you think the tariffs are going to be a detriment to china . I love numbers. I think the numbers with china are doing very well. When we have a deal with china, because they want to make it perhaps more than i want to make it. Because i actually love all the billions of dollars thats pouring into our treasury. Billions and billions of dollars. Weve never seen that before from china. Its always been the other way. And im talking care of our farmers out of that. Were helping our farmers. Our farmers were targeted and they were targeted for 16 billion. I made that up to them. We paid them the 16 billion and had tens of billions of dollars left over. I will say australia is doing very well. If we do end up doing a deal, australia will do even better. We were discussing that, but australia will be one of the big beneficiaries of a deal. In the meantime, as you know, i did tariff relief with respect to a certain product in particular coming out of australia, and thats something that we wouldnt do for anybody else. This has been a truly great ally and we work very well together. Your numbers are absolutely fantastic, your economy is strong like ours, and i think were two real examples of two countries doing extremely well. Some countries arent doing so well. Europe is not doing well, asia is not large parts of asia are not doing well, china is not doing well. Please. Thanks. Mr. President , australia is in its 29th year of Consecutive Economic growth, which is an Extraordinary National achievement. And we will continue to grow as our most recent National Accounts demonstrated. Australia is also very used to dealing with a complex and changing world. And thats why weve diversified. Six years ago when our government came to office, 27 of our trade was covered by agreements around the world. That figure is now 70 . Were going to take that to 90 . And thats important. Thats opening up opportunities. So i guess there are ebbs and flows that go in the Global Economy and australia has built up a resilience through the broadbased nature in which were taking our economy to the world. Australia never got rich selling things to itself, and weve always had an outwardlooking perspective when it comes to engaging our economic opportunities. And a big part of what weve been discussing here is some new opportunities with the critical minerals, frontier technologies, space. This is where jobs are going to be in the future as well. We will deal with those ebbs and flows as they come, but the president is right. The arrangement they will come to, and im confident they will with china, will be one that will set a new bar in terms of how chinas economy then deals with a lot of these complicated issues in the future with developed economies like australia. So we look on with interest, and i think ultimately when we arrive at that point, its going to put global trade on a stronger footing. And australia has really been so focused on the economy. They do minerals. They have incredible wealth in minerals and coal and other things. And they are really at the leading edge of coal technology. Its clean coal, we call it, clean coal, but its also great for the workers. And things that would happen, too, because it was very dangerous years ago and very bad for a lot of people, and youve rectified that 100 . Its incredible. I looked at your statistics the other day, and coal miners are very, very safe in australia. Its incredible what youve done. In fact, were looking at what youve done. We can do a deal on that. Well make a deal. Yeah, go ahead, please. Thank you. In the midst of these escalating tensions with iran, youve now named a new National Security adviser, robert obrien. Yes. What is he recommending to you in terms of dealing with the latest with saudi arabia and the response . Secondly, you put new sanctions on iran. Secretary mnuchin said this represents the last of the funds for that regime. Have we now exhausted sanctions with iran . These are the strongest sanctions ever put at a country. We are at a level of sanction that is far greater than ever before with respect to iran. Today with did central bank, as you know, and well see. Well see. Theyre having a lot of problems not only with us. Theyre having problems within their own country, and i think they have a lot of selfmade problems. We are by far the Strongest Military in the world. Going into iran would be a very easy decision, as i said before. It would be the easiest thing. Most people thought i would go in within two seconds, but plenty of time. Plenty of time. In the meantime they have a lot of problems within iran. Iran could be a great country, could be a rich country, but they are choosing to go a different way. Theyll be appointed, which theyll be very sorry for that choice, but i think im showing great restraint. A lot of people respect it. Some people dont. Some people say you should go in immediately. And other people are so thrilled at what im doing. And i dont do it for anybody, i do it for whats good for the United States, whats good for our allies. And its working out really very well. As far as robert is concerned, robert, maybe you could stand up. Robert obrien has done a fantastic job for us with hostage negotiations. I think we can say that there has never been anybody thats done better than you and i as a combination. Weve brought many people home and we brought them home quickly. Speed is a very important thing, i find, with hostages. Its really something. I had dinner the other night with the warmbier family, an incredible family. The whole family and some of ottos friends in addition to the family. We had 25 people over on saturday night. We did that dinner in ottos honor, and it was a beautiful thing. It was a beautiful thing. The first lady and i, it was very it was very touching and really very beautiful. We talked about otto. And i will tell you that people should have moved faster. And robert and i were talking about that. Should have moved faster. He was there a long time. With hostages, you have to move fast. All of a sudden it gets very hard for the other side to do anything. And sometimes its just too late. In the case of otto, it was very late. We got him home but he was in horrible, horrible condition. What happened to him was actually incredible, just horrible. But you have to move fast. Robert and i have been really successful. The reason i know him so well, i actually work hard on hostages, i think you would say. I think most president s wouldnt do that, but i do. These are great, in most cases, american lives. Weve helped other countries with their hostage situation. We have some strength that they dont. These are great people and we get them home. We got them home from north korea, as you know, and we got them home from a lot of different locations. Egypt. We get them home from many different locations. Turkey. President erdogan was very good and we got a hostage home. Our great pastor who everyone in this room knows and loves. But weve had tremendous success. What surprised me, i didnt know too many people knew robert. And when it came time to pick somebody for the position, it was a very critical time, i had so many people i shouldnt say this in front of robert, hell be embarrassed, but i had so many people who called me and they recommended robert obrien. So i think hes going to do a great job, and i can tell you this, he started about 12 minutes after he was chosen. He sat in with us. And hes very much involved now in what were doing. One quick followup on that in regards to iran. If sanctions dont work and they continue their maligning activity, are there any other measures outside of a military option that can be taken . I dont want to talk about that, but i will say i think the sanctions work and the military would work, but thats a very severe form of winning. But we win. Nobody can beat us militarily. Nobody can even come close. What weve done for our military in the last three years is incredible. All made in the usa, by the way. And its really incredible. Our nuclear was getting very tired. They hadnt spent the money on it, and now we have it in, as we would say, tippytop shape. Tippytop. We have new and we have renovated and its incredible and we all should pray that we never have to use it. We should never have to use it. Our military itself is in phenomenal shape. And we have a great gentleman, as you know, going to be taking over. Joint chief of staff joe dunford has been fantastic. A great man and a good friend of mine. General emilio is going to be taking over and were going to have a bit of a celebration, both for joe and for everybody. As you know, our secretary of defense has just come in, ma mark esper, and hes been here for a short period of time, but he has tremendous energy. Thats what hes been doing for a long period of time, from the day he graduated, or maybe i should say from the day he started at west point where he was a top, top scholar, et cetera. So we have incredible people. Steve mnuchin is here. We did the sanctions today and i think theyre probably, steve, the strongest that have ever been put on a country. We will certainly never do that to australia, i promise you. One for the Prime Minister, if i may. Mr. Prime minister, you have been very tough on huawei, even under pressure. Youve been very consistent with the ban even though you said you have a good working relationship with china and theyre important for your economy. Do you plan to continue to support the United States and the tough stance on china . And can you give any more specifics about what youve told the president you would do to help in his measures to reach a fair trade deal . Well, first of all, i mean, we have the most perfect of relationships with the United States and it goes back a century and more, as the president was reminding us on the lawn this morning. We have a comprehensive Strategic Partnership with china. This is a part of the world in which we live. Managing that relationship important to australias interest. One thing i can say, and i think the president can say the same, we will both always live in the National Interests of our countries. We will always put our countries first. That means engaging countries in our own region, not just economically, but in a people to people level as well. We have deals we do militarily and well continue to do those. But the focus at the end of the day has to be whats important to our people. That means the United States is a stabilizing force in the region. What does that mean . It means countries can trade with each other. Economies can develop. People come out of poverty. The United States has had a positive presence in our region. And thats why we always work together, because we share objectives. It isnt a matter of them saying, we need you to do this, or australia saying to the United States, we need you to do this. Its about having shared objectives and looking through the world in a shared lens. That naturally brings us together to promote prosperity. We love jobs, the president and i. We love jobs. We like jobs here and we like jobs everywhere. When people have jobs, they tend to focus a bit more on things that are going on in their lives every day and making sure they can live peacefully with each other. One of the things that was important, during our meeting i said, what percentage of your military do you buy from us . And the answer was, we work it together, or its about 100 . Its close to 100 . We make the best equipment, he understands that, but its a real relationship. They buy 100 of their military, and its a massive purchase. Its the biggest purchase since world war ii. It will be 2 of gdp next year, and that comes up with what was the last level of defense spending as a share of the economy since prior to the second world war. So its a 200 billion investment. Its being built in australia but also in partnership with the United States and other allies. Its an important part of what were doing. I think david crow from australia was next. Thank you very much, david crow from the city herald. On the questions of iran, mr. President , youve praised the australian commitment today to deal with iran in the persian gulf. In your talks today with mr. Morrison, did you discuss further military action in order to keep the pressure on iran . What might those military actions be, and what could australia contribute to that . Mr. Morrison, on that same issue hold on one sec, youll get a shot at your Prime Minister. Im sure youre looking forward to it. We didnt discuss too much of iran. We discussed more trade, more china. We discussed afghanistan where australia is helping us. Were slowly reducing in afghanistan, as people know. Weve been very effective in afghanistan, and if we wanted to do a certain method of war, we would win that very quickly. But many, many really, tens of millions of people would be killed. And we think its unnecessary. Australia has been a great help to us in afghanistan. Were reducing in afghanistan. Were reducing in syria where weve taken over 100 of the caliphate. We have 100 . When i came in, it was smaller, but it was a mess. It was all over, and now its in a position i wont repeat what i said before with the prisoners, but we have thousands of isis fighters from our work in capturing 100 of the caliphate, and were asking the countries from where they came, whether its germany or france or other countries, to take those people back, put them on trial, do what they have to do with them. But the United States will not keep thousands and thousands of people for the next possibly 50 years or whatever it may be. Its going to be up to those countries. We did them a big favor. We went in, we took them down. The isis fighters in the end werent very good fighters against the United States. But we have thousands of them and we want them to be taken over by germany, france and all of those countries from where they came. Okay . Thank you. And mr. Morrison, on the same issue of iran, are you open to further military action against iran, or is the australian commitment solely contained to a freedom of navigation . As the president said, there are no further activities planned or requested for assistance from australia, so the question on that is moot. I want to commend the president , who is demonstrating as he did in the earlier press conference in the oval office, restraint. There are other measures that he and the secretary have announced today, and theyre pursuing those channels. So the calibrated, i think, very measured response that the United States is taking has been a matter for them, ask objend oy at any time when issues arise with us as an ally, we consider their merits at the time and australian interest. I think thats where thats hitting. Thank you very much. Jennifer, thank you very much. First lady, thank you. And i hope youre going to be able to seat tonight to the media, because its going to be a beautiful evening in honor of australia and the morrisons. Thank you. The president of the United States shaking hands with the australian Prime Minister, scott morrison, heading from the east room to the west wing of the white house. The issue that came up earlier in the oval office, the controversy about the socalled whistleblower did not come up at the press conference. But think of where australia is in the world. A very important trade relationship with china, the Prime Minister saying how important it was to the australi australian economy. One of the first questions to the president was, would you cut a monetary deal with china as opposed to the large package you have demanded from china, including concessions, or will you before next years election . Were talking a little bit this week, talking a lot next week and then top people are going to be speaking the week following. But im not looking for a partial deal, im looking for a complete deal. Do you feel you need that deal before the election, sir . No, i dont think i need it before the election. I think people know were doing a great job. That is his position. Its a risky position, frankly, and its a position which for all the criticism of the president for not being consistent, he is taking a huge Political Risk here by being consistent. At least up to this point, of saying im sorry to the american farmers, im sorry to other Industries Hurt by chinese tariffs, but im holding out until we get a real deal. The negotiations restart in ernest next week. The question is will he continue to hold that position if the American Economy slows down and his Political Team tells him, sir, this could hurt your map. I think it will take a lot more from his Political Team based on what hes seeing right now. He believes there is not going to be longer term pain. He has seen the market eventually come back up. He doesnt generally have strongly held views on a lot of issues, but tariffs is one of them. Hes been talking about it for decades, and i think he believes if he moves off of that, hell lose the supporters that he has. This farmer bailout is quite expensive but i think he thinks its going to help. They only have to get through four more consecutive quarters of economic growth, and even if there is a slowdown, it will blunt that argument. Well see if hes right. Youre absolutely right, because we talked about it before the press conference, about there being a few things hes been very consistent on his whole adult life, this being one of them. Yes, the broad numbers, he might skate by without a recession, but when youre talking about the actual people, the people he relies on, the people that senators and members of the house rely on, voters who are hurting in a very, very deep way, like in iowa, for example, and other areas where theyre making agriculture where china is their number one buyer and theyre not able to sell there, theyre already put in a position of being asked to be what the president is calling patriot farmers, and the question is how long will that last and will they say enough already. And the question will be when they try to cut a spending deal, is there more money for farmers. Well see how that plays out. These people will not be making a voice in a vacuum, tlbl a binary. Another question that came up, a lot of words were spoken. We didnt learn a lot as the president goes into sensitive meetings. Were not supposed to know a lot. He blames the saudis on the oil attack. Australia has been an ally to afghanistan. When you talk about what the president is considering, careful in his words, measured in his words, saying he can be tough if he has to be. Very easy, he said. I dont think that was an overstatement. It wouldnt be very easy if you had a war with iran. What do you think you heard . I think hes being measured appropriately. I dont agree with the people who say we should strike in iran. There are lots of places that you can herd around. Theyre playing in yemen, theyre playing in iraq, theyre playing in afghanistan. Theyre trying to cause trouble in bahrain. So they have weaknesses built around the region, and a sensible plan for causing them pain, and i argue they should have some pain to be accountable for what theyve done, could be, a, the sanctions, you start out with sanctions, and then second, there are targets for folks who are doing really bad things and getting People Killed that the United States could engage that would cause pain to iran without an attack on iranian soil. I would be very, very careful. And the good news here is i think thats where trumps instinct is about going into iran. Mainly if that happens, it will be very, very difficult to try to get that thing to stop burning. And thats what i think people are concerned about in the middle east. Cause some pain, do it economically, there are some targets. Dont go into iran, at least for the time being, on what your options are. I want to come back to the story we started with, which is the whistleblower in the Intelligence Community, who made a report for the Intelligence Community suggesting, and we dont know a lot about this so we need to be careful, suggesting that the president in a foreign phone call did something inappropriate, made an inappropriate promise. The president said earlier in the day its nothing. Its ridiculous, its partisan. When will congress be told the specifics . The House Republican leader Kevin Mccarthy was just asked about this at length. Do you want to get the whistleblower information . Do you want to know who it is . Kevin mccarthy said they could have come to congress and given it to us. Tell me who the whistleblower is. Is the person still working there . Let me know what the facts arement are. So many times in the media, they get out there. Where are we here and is there a process or are we at lagerheads in the process . This is total inflicted pain on the president. If they would have followed the process and let the i. G. Report this complaint to the appropriate classified intelligence committees, then the complaint would have been vetted. They would have been able to review it, it would have been done in a bipartisan way, the temperature would be down, we wouldnt have these immediate calls for release of the transcript, which that would be quite unusual and not something we want from an intelligence perspective get in the habit of doing. So fighting the process as laid out in law, they have actually created a crisis that didnt necessarily need to exist. This is just the allegation, the complaint. So they werent going to get a completed investigation at any rate. They were going to get the allegation which would put a lot of pressure but to your point, if there was actually a bipartisan process on something in this town, that would be breaking news. Thanks for joining us on inside politics. Hope to see you as well on monday. 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Carbon capture is Important Technology and experts agree. Thats why were working on ways to improve it. So plants. Can be a little more. Like plants. Im Brianna Keilar live from cnns washington headquarters. President trump going on the record today about whistleblower accusations concerning a phone call with a foreign leader. The president attacking the whistleblower as partisan while also admitting he doesnt know who the whistleblower is. Also insisting he did not do anything wrong