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Remarks by President Trump at Signing of Executive Order Establishing a White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing
So I just want to thank Mexico. They've really done a great job. We appreciate what they're doing. And hopefully, they can keep it up because it's very important. They have very, very - Mexico has very, very powerful immigration laws. They can do things. Our laws are so bad.
What we would like to do - and I'll do it right now officially, is ask the Democrats to give us help on asylum, help on all of the loopholes - the horrible loopholes that signed in over a period of years that don't allow us to do what we should be able to do. We need the votes of Democrats.
And I think, very importantly, you know, because our economy - you heard Larry Kudlow - because our economy is so strong - it could be the strongest in the history of our country - people want to flow up to the United States. But you just can't do it that way. You have to do it legally. But they're - you have these massive numbers of people trying to get into the United States because of the economy, because we've done so good.
But that's one of the problems. We're doing well. Everybody wants to come in. Ten years ago, five years ago, four years ago, they didn't want to come in. Today, they want to come in. But we can't let that happen so we're doing very, very - (inaudible).
And as far as the wall is concerned, the wall is heavily under construction. The Army Corps of Engineers is doing a great job. We're doing a lot of wall right now and we expect to have 400 miles built by the end of next year. That's a lot. And we're building them in the right places. We're building - we're picking areas where we need it the most and it's having a tremendous effect.
Q Did you ask your Customs and Border Protection head, John Sanders, to resign? Do you know why he is leaving his post?
THE PRESIDENT: No. I know there was going to be a change there. I've made changes - very good changes. We have - we're moving some people around into different locations. The game has changed a lot because of what Mexico is doing. We're able to do things that we wouldn't have been able to do before.
The problem with our Border Patrol, who are phenomenal people, but they're not allowed - because our laws are so bad with catch-and-release and all of the different things including chain migration, the visa lottery - the laws are so bad and the asylum rules and laws are so bad that our Border Patrol people, who are so incredible, aren't allowed to do their jobs.
So because Mexico is, now, for the first time in 50 years, helping us - and we really appreciate it - we're able to make certain changes that we wouldn't have been able to make before.
Steve, did you have a question?
Q You had a back-and-forth with the leader of Iran this morning via tweet. What message did you send to him with your tweets this morning?
THE PRESIDENT: There is no message. You know, I'll tell you what the message is: When they're ready, they'll have to let us know. When they're ready, they'll let us know. Very simple.
Q Ready to negotiate, you mean?
THE PRESIDENT: Ready to do whatever. Doesn't make any difference. Whatever they want to do, I'm ready. Okay?
Q On the Middle East, Jared Kushner is in Bahrain right now -
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q - releasing this economic component of your Middle East Peace Plan without the Israelis or Palestinian officials attending. So what's your strategy going forward when there's no buy-in from the parties in (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we want to get support. And we have to get economic support because the Palestinians don't have money. And we have to help the Palestinians with some money because they don't have it. And one of the groups that you get are some of those countries in the Middle East that do have money.
So, they're going to play a role in the peace plan and we'll see what happens. We had a little bit of setback when the election from - in Israel, as you know, I guess the result is somewhat mixed because now they're going to do it again. That's another do-over, unfortunately, and - but we'll see what happens. I mean, we'll see what happens with that election, but it's an early process, but we expect other people to help out.
Because, again, there's no money. And some people don't have money. And if they don't have money, it's going to be very hard. We want people to be able to live and live well.
Q Taking it back to the CBP - so does that mean you did not ask Sanders to resign?
THE PRESIDENT: I didn't speak to him. I don't think I've ever spoken to him, actually. No, we have some very good people running it. And you know, I don't know anything about it. I hear he's a very good man. I hear he's a good person. I don't know him. I don't think I ever spoke to him.
Q And can you tell us about your decision to choose Stephanie Grisham as your new Press Secretary?
THE PRESIDENT: So Stephanie has been with me from the beginning, as most of you know. And then, over the last couple of years, she's worked for the First Lady. Done a fantastic job. The First Lady loves her. I think she's been, you know, just incredible. She's very talented.
And I asked so many people, "Who do you like?" A lot of people wanted the job. You know, a lot of people wanted to do it. And I'd ask people, "Who do you like?" And so many people said, "Stephanie." And she's here. She knows everybody. She actually gets along with the media very well, as you know. A lot of the folks in the media like her very much. And I think she's going to be fantastic. I think she's going to do a great job.
So I offered her the job this morning and she accepted. And the First Lady is very happy for her. It's a big job. It's a very big job, but we think Stephanie is going to do a fantastic job. And Hogan is going to be with her. Hogan was one of the people that recommended her. Here's Hogan. He recommended her very strongly. I said, "Hogan, who do you think?" He said, "Stephanie Grisham." So -
Q Do you have an exit strategy for Iran if war does break out? How do you -
THE PRESIDENT: Say it.
Q Do you have an exit strategy for Iran if war does break out?
THE PRESIDENT: You're not going to need an exit strategy. I don't need exit strategies.
Q Mr. President, could you tell us about your letter to Chairman Kim?
THE PRESIDENT: Just a nice letter back and forth. He wrote me a beautiful on my birthday. It was my birthday, as you know, last week. He wrote me a beautiful letter. I thought it was very nice. And just two friendly letters. We get along very well.
Q No mention of another meeting?
THE PRESIDENT: Maybe there was. But we - you know, at some point, we'll do that. Getting along very well. He's not doing nuclear testing. When I took over, as you know - when I became President, they were testing - previous to that, they were testing so much and they were doing ballistic tests and nuclear tests. And we didn't have all our prisoners back. We had a whole lot of things that were going wrong.
Now we have our hostages back, our prisoners back. They came back. We've had, as you know, the remains of the heroes - our great heroes from many years ago. That's coming back, and coming back as they find them. And as they find the sites and graves, they're sending them back.
The relationship is a far different relationship than it was during the Obama years, where - you were going to end up with a war. You were going to end up with a war in North Korea, that I can tell you. I'll tell that to Tim Scott. Maybe you haven't heard that, Tim. You understand.
You were going to end up - I tell you what, you were going to end up in a war in North Korea, and - if it kept going the way it was going, if you had that group continuing onward.
As far as Iran is concerned, the deal was a horrible deal. It was no good. It was no good. It ended in a very short period of time. We're dealing about countries. It ended in a very short period of time. They would have had a clear path to a nuclear weapon. We're not going to allow that to happen. You can't do it.
And I'm all for Iran. I have so many people - Iranian friends. I come from New York. I have tremendous numbers of Iranian friends. They're great people. They're from Iran. They're wonderful people. It's too bad this is happening. They're living badly right now. Their country is not doing well, economically, at all. That can be changed very quickly, very easily. But they have to get rid of the hostility from the leadership. And the leadership - I hope they stay. I hope they do a great job. But they should talk to us decently.
We're all for them. We want it to be done properly. But the deal that was done by President Obama - $150 billion for nothing. He used the money for terror. They gave the money out to terrorists.
If you remember, John Kerry - they asked him that question: "Do you know the money is going to be used for terror?" He said, "Yes." Essentially, he said at least some of it is going to be used - I mean, he knew about it. He actually said that some of the money may be used for terror. What kind of a deal is that?
Then they gave him $1.8 billion in cash - cash. Planeloads of cash. What kind of a deal is that?
And the biggest problem is they had bad testing. You weren't able to see many of the sites. You saw that, Tim.
SENATOR SCOTT: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: You couldn't go into the most important sites to test, to see. They were probably making this stuff for a long time. But with $150 billion going to them, they were doing very well. And $1.8 billion in cash. And you had no real right of testing. You couldn't test properly.
And most importantly, the agreement ends in a very short period of time. So they had a path to nuclear weapons. We cannot allow Iran to have a path to nuclear weapons.
And, by the way, we have tremendous support, tremendous support. And people were very happy with what I did the other day by not doing something, okay? But we had tremendous and we have tremendous support. Nobody wants to see Iran have nuclear weapons.
Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Q Do you think they understood the message you were sending them last week? You decided not to strike -
THE PRESIDENT: I hope they understood the message. I decided not to strike. They shot down unmanned - as you know, an unmanned drone.
Q But do you think they take your threats seriously now, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: I think everybody does. I think you do, too. Goodbye. (Laughter.)
END • 2:33 P.M. EDT
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Go Back
What we would like to do - and I'll do it right now officially, is ask the Democrats to give us help on asylum, help on all of the loopholes - the horrible loopholes that signed in over a period of years that don't allow us to do what we should be able to do. We need the votes of Democrats.
And I think, very importantly, you know, because our economy - you heard Larry Kudlow - because our economy is so strong - it could be the strongest in the history of our country - people want to flow up to the United States. But you just can't do it that way. You have to do it legally. But they're - you have these massive numbers of people trying to get into the United States because of the economy, because we've done so good.
But that's one of the problems. We're doing well. Everybody wants to come in. Ten years ago, five years ago, four years ago, they didn't want to come in. Today, they want to come in. But we can't let that happen so we're doing very, very - (inaudible).
And as far as the wall is concerned, the wall is heavily under construction. The Army Corps of Engineers is doing a great job. We're doing a lot of wall right now and we expect to have 400 miles built by the end of next year. That's a lot. And we're building them in the right places. We're building - we're picking areas where we need it the most and it's having a tremendous effect.
Q Did you ask your Customs and Border Protection head, John Sanders, to resign? Do you know why he is leaving his post?
THE PRESIDENT: No. I know there was going to be a change there. I've made changes - very good changes. We have - we're moving some people around into different locations. The game has changed a lot because of what Mexico is doing. We're able to do things that we wouldn't have been able to do before.
The problem with our Border Patrol, who are phenomenal people, but they're not allowed - because our laws are so bad with catch-and-release and all of the different things including chain migration, the visa lottery - the laws are so bad and the asylum rules and laws are so bad that our Border Patrol people, who are so incredible, aren't allowed to do their jobs.
So because Mexico is, now, for the first time in 50 years, helping us - and we really appreciate it - we're able to make certain changes that we wouldn't have been able to make before.
Steve, did you have a question?
Q You had a back-and-forth with the leader of Iran this morning via tweet. What message did you send to him with your tweets this morning?
THE PRESIDENT: There is no message. You know, I'll tell you what the message is: When they're ready, they'll have to let us know. When they're ready, they'll let us know. Very simple.
Q Ready to negotiate, you mean?
THE PRESIDENT: Ready to do whatever. Doesn't make any difference. Whatever they want to do, I'm ready. Okay?
Q On the Middle East, Jared Kushner is in Bahrain right now -
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q - releasing this economic component of your Middle East Peace Plan without the Israelis or Palestinian officials attending. So what's your strategy going forward when there's no buy-in from the parties in (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we want to get support. And we have to get economic support because the Palestinians don't have money. And we have to help the Palestinians with some money because they don't have it. And one of the groups that you get are some of those countries in the Middle East that do have money.
So, they're going to play a role in the peace plan and we'll see what happens. We had a little bit of setback when the election from - in Israel, as you know, I guess the result is somewhat mixed because now they're going to do it again. That's another do-over, unfortunately, and - but we'll see what happens. I mean, we'll see what happens with that election, but it's an early process, but we expect other people to help out.
Because, again, there's no money. And some people don't have money. And if they don't have money, it's going to be very hard. We want people to be able to live and live well.
Q Taking it back to the CBP - so does that mean you did not ask Sanders to resign?
THE PRESIDENT: I didn't speak to him. I don't think I've ever spoken to him, actually. No, we have some very good people running it. And you know, I don't know anything about it. I hear he's a very good man. I hear he's a good person. I don't know him. I don't think I ever spoke to him.
Q And can you tell us about your decision to choose Stephanie Grisham as your new Press Secretary?
THE PRESIDENT: So Stephanie has been with me from the beginning, as most of you know. And then, over the last couple of years, she's worked for the First Lady. Done a fantastic job. The First Lady loves her. I think she's been, you know, just incredible. She's very talented.
And I asked so many people, "Who do you like?" A lot of people wanted the job. You know, a lot of people wanted to do it. And I'd ask people, "Who do you like?" And so many people said, "Stephanie." And she's here. She knows everybody. She actually gets along with the media very well, as you know. A lot of the folks in the media like her very much. And I think she's going to be fantastic. I think she's going to do a great job.
So I offered her the job this morning and she accepted. And the First Lady is very happy for her. It's a big job. It's a very big job, but we think Stephanie is going to do a fantastic job. And Hogan is going to be with her. Hogan was one of the people that recommended her. Here's Hogan. He recommended her very strongly. I said, "Hogan, who do you think?" He said, "Stephanie Grisham." So -
Q Do you have an exit strategy for Iran if war does break out? How do you -
THE PRESIDENT: Say it.
Q Do you have an exit strategy for Iran if war does break out?
THE PRESIDENT: You're not going to need an exit strategy. I don't need exit strategies.
Q Mr. President, could you tell us about your letter to Chairman Kim?
THE PRESIDENT: Just a nice letter back and forth. He wrote me a beautiful on my birthday. It was my birthday, as you know, last week. He wrote me a beautiful letter. I thought it was very nice. And just two friendly letters. We get along very well.
Q No mention of another meeting?
THE PRESIDENT: Maybe there was. But we - you know, at some point, we'll do that. Getting along very well. He's not doing nuclear testing. When I took over, as you know - when I became President, they were testing - previous to that, they were testing so much and they were doing ballistic tests and nuclear tests. And we didn't have all our prisoners back. We had a whole lot of things that were going wrong.
Now we have our hostages back, our prisoners back. They came back. We've had, as you know, the remains of the heroes - our great heroes from many years ago. That's coming back, and coming back as they find them. And as they find the sites and graves, they're sending them back.
The relationship is a far different relationship than it was during the Obama years, where - you were going to end up with a war. You were going to end up with a war in North Korea, that I can tell you. I'll tell that to Tim Scott. Maybe you haven't heard that, Tim. You understand.
You were going to end up - I tell you what, you were going to end up in a war in North Korea, and - if it kept going the way it was going, if you had that group continuing onward.
As far as Iran is concerned, the deal was a horrible deal. It was no good. It was no good. It ended in a very short period of time. We're dealing about countries. It ended in a very short period of time. They would have had a clear path to a nuclear weapon. We're not going to allow that to happen. You can't do it.
And I'm all for Iran. I have so many people - Iranian friends. I come from New York. I have tremendous numbers of Iranian friends. They're great people. They're from Iran. They're wonderful people. It's too bad this is happening. They're living badly right now. Their country is not doing well, economically, at all. That can be changed very quickly, very easily. But they have to get rid of the hostility from the leadership. And the leadership - I hope they stay. I hope they do a great job. But they should talk to us decently.
We're all for them. We want it to be done properly. But the deal that was done by President Obama - $150 billion for nothing. He used the money for terror. They gave the money out to terrorists.
If you remember, John Kerry - they asked him that question: "Do you know the money is going to be used for terror?" He said, "Yes." Essentially, he said at least some of it is going to be used - I mean, he knew about it. He actually said that some of the money may be used for terror. What kind of a deal is that?
Then they gave him $1.8 billion in cash - cash. Planeloads of cash. What kind of a deal is that?
And the biggest problem is they had bad testing. You weren't able to see many of the sites. You saw that, Tim.
SENATOR SCOTT: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: You couldn't go into the most important sites to test, to see. They were probably making this stuff for a long time. But with $150 billion going to them, they were doing very well. And $1.8 billion in cash. And you had no real right of testing. You couldn't test properly.
And most importantly, the agreement ends in a very short period of time. So they had a path to nuclear weapons. We cannot allow Iran to have a path to nuclear weapons.
And, by the way, we have tremendous support, tremendous support. And people were very happy with what I did the other day by not doing something, okay? But we had tremendous and we have tremendous support. Nobody wants to see Iran have nuclear weapons.
Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Q Do you think they understood the message you were sending them last week? You decided not to strike -
THE PRESIDENT: I hope they understood the message. I decided not to strike. They shot down unmanned - as you know, an unmanned drone.
Q But do you think they take your threats seriously now, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: I think everybody does. I think you do, too. Goodbye. (Laughter.)
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