No, we think it's much better than we originally thought, but there was some damage, no question about it. And the F-22 is one of my all-time favorite planes. To me, it's the most beautiful fighter jet in the world, and one of the best.
Yes, sir.
Q Are you going to ask Congress for supplementary funding -
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q - to respond to these hurricanes?
THE PRESIDENT: The governors know that we're there for them. I've spoken with Rick Scott in Florida. Governor, you know that. We're right with you. And we'll be helping Alabama, we'll be helping all of the - as we have been with North Carolina and South Carolina. So, we're there.
Q Are you worried at all about the deficit - the new numbers that just came out?
THE PRESIDENT: I always worry about the deficit. But what are you going to do? You have a hurricane. I have to take care of the people. So the deficit is always a problem for me, but we take care of our people, most importantly.
Q Is there a preliminary estimate on how much it's going to cost to help all these people?
THE PRESIDENT: I think, Governor, did you want to make a comment on that? Do you have any ideas yet? It' very early.
GOVERNOR DEAL: Mr. President, it's still too early, unless Brock has some more.
ADMINISTRATOR LONG: So, it will take some time. We do what we call preliminary damage assessments and to get more details, but the true cost won't be revealed for quite some time.
Q Mr. President, when you ran for President, did you ever imagine you would spend this much time thinking about the weather?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the weather has been a factor. And yet, they say the worst hurricanes were 50 years ago, if you can believe it. In fact, the one that they say was worse - so two or three worse - one was in 1890s, and one was exactly 50 years ago. The winds were 200 miles an hour. So who knows? But that's what the - that's what the numbers are. We are -
Q You addressed climate change -
THE PRESIDENT: I did. I addressed it last night on "60 Minutes."
Q Is there nothing about the number of storms that come in that make you think, "Gee, something is changing"?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we have a big number. And, you know, for a long period of time, we had very few. I have a home in Palm Beach, Florida; I'm there a lot. And frankly, we had years where we had none, and then over the last couple of years we had more. And hopefully, we'll go back to many years where we have none. But we have been hit by the weather, there's no question about it.
But it is interesting that the worst of all time, 1890 - and, as you know, 50 years ago was the last really great one. That was supposed to be worse. I don't know if it gets worse. I've never seen anything where houses were ripped off with the foundations. You see, the foundations are actually taken out. So it's really - it's pretty amazing. But we have to get it taken care of, most importantly.
Anybody else?
Q Last night, in your comments about climate change, you said that there is something there. And previously, in the past, you've called it a hoax. What changed your mind? Was it because it was like this?
THE PRESIDENT: No, there's something there. There's no question. There is something there - manmade or not. I mean, there's something there. And it's going to go, and it's going to go back and forth. But there is something there.
But again, 50 years ago, it was brutal. The 1890s were brutal. You have different times. And the main thing is we have to make sure things get brought back to perfect condition. That's what we're doing.
We have tremendous support from the farmers. The farmers really got hurt, especially in Georgia. I mean, Florida was housing and other things. And over here, your farmers we really - those crops were really uprooted. But we're going to get it taken care of.
Q Mr. President, the latest research from NOAA says that climate change will make the strongest hurricanes even stronger. Do you agree with that assessment?
THE PRESIDENT: I'll have to look at it. I haven't seen that. But I would certainly have to look at it.
Q When you see impacts like this to the U.S., does it affect at all your decision in renegotiating the Paris Climate Accord?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I want crystal clean water. I want the cleanest air on the planet - which, by the way, now we have. It's gotten better since last year - even better. And I'm very, very tough on that.
So when you talk about environmental, I am truly an environmentalist. A lot people smile when they hear that. But I have the cleanest air, and I'm going to have the cleanest air. But that doesn't mean we have to put every one of our businesses out of business. That doesn't mean that we can't compete or we're not allowed to compete with other nations that aren't doing what we're doing.
And we're competing very well. Our nation is the hottest nation economically on the planet, by far, even though we're very big. I mean, we're up $10.7 [trillion] - $11.7 trillion, since I got elected. Nobody thought that would be possible. And other nations - as an example, China - not that I wish this, but they're down many trillions of dollars. So we're doing really well, and I want to keep it that way.
Yes, please.
Q Sir, can I ask you an off-topic question? There's been reports that the Saudis might say that Khashoggi was killed during an unauthorized interrogation. Does that sound (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: I just saw that, Steve. I just don't know. I'm going to have to see what they say. And we're working very closely with Saudi Arabia and with Turkey, and they are working together to figure out what happened. And they want to know what happened, also.
So a lot of people are working on it, Steve. A lot of people. And we'll be bound very much by that. We'll see.
I heard that report but nobody knows if it's an official report. So far, it's just the rumor - the rumor of a report coming out.
Yes, ma'am.
Q What instructions did you give Pompeo - Secretary Pompeo - when he was sent over today?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm really sending him just to find out really, firsthand, what happened, what they know, what's going on. He may go to Turkey; he may not.
He may meet with all of them together, but we want to find out what happened. And he's got instructions to find out what happened. We're talking about the whole the situation with Saudi Arabia that you've been reading about, I'm sure, very much. But it's a terrible situation, there's no question about it. I don't like it one bit.
Okay? Yes.
Q Has your thinking changed about Secretary Mnuchin going to the conference?
THE PRESIDENT: He's going to make that decision. We're going to see who's going. He's got a while to go. You know, it's Friday. He has to know by the end of Friday. And we'll make that decision. We haven't made a decision about going yet. But he's going to make that decision sometime prior to Friday.
Q Since we already went off topic, Mr. President, Senator Warren released some of her DNA results that show a strong likelihood that she does have Native American roots.
THE PRESIDENT: How much? One one-thousandth? (Laughter.)
Q Do you owe her an apology? Or what about the money that -
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don't. Absolutely. Do I owe her? She owes the country an apology.
What's her percentage? One one-thousandth?
Q I don't have the exact numbers in front of me.
THE PRESIDENT: When you have the percentage, tell me what the percentage is.
Q What about the money that you told her you would donate?
THE PRESIDENT: You mean if she gets the nomination, in a debate, where I was going to have her tested? I'll only do it if I can test her personally. Okay? That will not be something I enjoy doing either.
Okay, what else?
Q Mr. President, over the weekend, you signaled that you're considering reviving the child separation policy. Have you discussed this with -
THE PRESIDENT: I didn't consider anything. I'm considering changing the immigration laws, and I've been doing it for a while. Because we have the worst - as the Governor can tell you, as everybody can tell you, as Sonny can tell you from your time as governor - we have the worst immigration laws and dumbest immigration laws in the history of the world. Okay? There is no country in the world that has such stupid laws as we do.
Somebody comes into our country, they put one foot on our land, and we have to bring them through a long court process. Or we have catch and release, which is even worse. We catch them, Commissioner - we catch them, we find out they're a criminal, we write them up, and then we release them and we tell them to come back in three or four years for a court case, and they never show up.
We have the dumbest laws in history, and it's because of the Democrats. Because they want to have these laws that way. And it is so crazy, and we are getting them changed one by one. And we are very tough on the border, and we have to be very tough on the border.
So we're looking at all immigration laws. They are a disaster. They're a laughingstock all over the world. And this country will never be a laughingstock when I'm running it. We've made a lot of progress, too.
Thank you all very much. Thank you.
