Remarks by President Trump Regarding Secretary Acosta and Jeffrey Epstein | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Q   Democrats are portraying your action yesterday on the census citizenship question as backing down. Do you believe that you backed down?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Who said - who said that?

    Q   Democrats are saying you backed down. Do you believe you backed down?

    THE PRESIDENT: Look, anything you do, the Democrats will say it's not good. In the meantime, they had a disaster. They had these laws that are so bad - catch-and-release, and you look at the different laws - visa lottery, that was a Chuck Schumer law. It's a disaster. A lottery. You pick them out. A lottery.

    The Democrats have caused tremendous problems. What they've let China get away with - for years and years, China has been ripping us off. They're not ripping us off anymore. Right now, companies are fleeing China because of the tariffs. And right now, we're taking in billions of dollars. And, by the way, our people are not paying for it. They're paying for it - they're paying for it by depressing their currency and they're putting a lot of money.

    Look, nobody's ever done what I've done with China. And that's fine. And we'll get along with China. But you know, when I see a guy like Biden, who is weak and ineffective - and everybody that knows him knows it. He's a weak man. He's an ineffective man. President Xi laughs at guys like that.

    Now, with that being said, I would say this: President Xi, Putin, all of these guys go to bed at night and they pray that Joe Biden or somebody like him becomes President so they can continue to rip off our country.

    Q   Two questions, please. With regard to Jeffrey Epstein, did you have any suspicions that he was molesting young women, underaged women?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven't spoken to him in many, many years. But I had - I didn't have no idea.

    Q   Secretary Acosta, now that you're resigning, do you regret that plea deal that you struck with Epstein (inaudible)?

    SECRETARY ACOSTA: I've already - I've already talked about the Epstein matter. I gave a press conference that, according to the media, was longer than any other Cabinet official in this administration.

    You know, I will reiterate what I said previously. My point here today is we have an amazing economy. We have unemployment lower than we have seen, literally, in my lifetime. And the focus needs to be on this economy and on job creation, on the decreased fatalities in the workplace and in mining. And going forward, that's where this administration needs to focus, not on this matter.


    Q   Mr. President, following up on your Social - following up on the Social Media Summit, you're instructing agencies to look into this. How long do you think this review is going to take -

    THE PRESIDENT: We are looking into it. The platforms are absolutely, in my opinion, 100 percent crooked. They discriminate against Republicans and conservatives. They're 100 percent dishonest. That's my opinion. And something is going to be done.

    But I can tell you, from personal experience, I see it. I had something happen this morning - I won't tell you about it yet - but these platforms are 100 percent - they're 100 percent dishonest.

    Please.

    Q   Mr. President, the reason for your falling out with Mr. Epstein matters. Was it related to business or the abuse of underaged girls? People want to know.

    THE PRESIDENT: I was not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein. And you watched people yesterday saying that I threw him out of a club. I didn't want anything to do with him. That was many, many years ago. It shows you one thing: that I have good taste. Okay?

    Now, other people, they went all over with him. They went to his island. They went all over the place. He was very well known in Palm Beach. His island - whatever his island was, wherever it is - I was never there. Find out the people that went to the island.

    But Jeffrey Epstein was not somebody that I respected. I threw him out. In fact, I think the great James Patterson, who is a member of Mar-a-Lago, made a statement yesterday that, many years ago, I threw him out.

    I'm not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein.

    Q   Mr. President, are you planning to move ahead with deportations intensities this weekend? Are you planning to -

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes.

    Q   You are.

    Q   But what about the families, Mr. President?

    THE PRESIDENT: You know what? You know what? They came in illegally. They have to go out.

    We have millions of people standing on line waiting to become citizens of this country. They've taken tests. They've studied. They've learned English. They've done so much. It's - they've been waiting seven, eight, nine years. We have some waiting 10 years to come in. It's not fair that somebody walks across the line and now they've become citizens of the United States.


    Q   (Inaudible) British ambassador resign?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I wish the British ambassador well. Some people just told me - too bad - but they said he actually said very good things about me. He was sort of referring to other people. And I guess I quoted Lindsey Graham today; he said some things that were pretty nice from the British ambassador.

    But look, I wish the British ambassador well. But they've got to stop their leaking problems there just like they have to stop them in our country.

    Q   Why have you pre-announced these ICE raids? Why have you given warning, essentially -

    THE PRESIDENT: We're not giving warning.

    Q   - to all of these illegals?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, we're not giving warning.

    Q   They know about the ICE raids, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: There's nothing to be secret about.

    Q   They know about the ICE raids.

    THE PRESIDENT: Can I tell you what?

    Q   Absolutely.

    THE PRESIDENT: There's nothing to be secret about. ICE is law enforcement. They're great patriots. They have a tough job. Nothing to be secret about. If the word gets out, it gets out. Because hundreds of people know about it. It's a major operation.

    So if the word gets out, it gets out. It starts on Sunday, and they're going to take people out and they're going to bring them back to their countries. Or they're going to take criminals out, put them in prison, or put in them in prison in the countries they came from. We're focused on criminals as much as we can, before we do anything else.

    Q   [Crosstalk.]

    THE PRESIDENT: For instance, MS-13 - very important - we're taking them out by the thousands. We've already been taking - you know, we didn't stop this. We've been taking criminals out for the last year. These people have been here for many years - MS-13. We're taking them out by the thousands. We're getting them out.


    Q   Mr. President, do you believe that using data to fill in the citizenship data on the census will be as effective as a question?

    THE PRESIDENT: I think we'll have it in the end where it'll be actually more accurate than a census. Because we have information, gotten through other means, whether you look at Social Security or other places. We have - including loan applications - we have information that's probably more accurate than the information we could get by going in and asking somebody, "Are you a citizen?" Because a lot of people aren't going to tell the truth.

    Q   Did you back down on that (inaudible)?

    THE PRESIDENT: No. No. Not only didn't I back down, I backed up. Becau- - anybody else would've given this up a long time ago. The problem is we had three very unfriendly courts. They were judges that weren't exactly in love with this whole thing. And they were wrong. But it would've taken a long time to get through those courts. You understand that better than anybody, John. It would've taken a long time back up to the Supreme Court.

    So I asked, "Is there another way?" And somebody said there's a way that might be better. It might be more accurate. They explained it. I said, "Then what are we wasting time - we're going to be in court for the next two years. What are we wasting time for?"

    In the meantime, we have to, by law, have the printing done. So the printing has starting and we're already finding out who the citizens are and who they're not - and, I think, more accurately.

    So, when I heard this, I said, "I think that's actually better. I think what we're doing is actually better." And only the fake news, which there's plenty, would say differently.

    Q   Did Wilbur Ross let you down, Mr. President? Did Wilbur Ross let you down?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, he didn't let me down. No.

    Q   How many people are you targeting? How many people are you targeting during the raids? And, again, are you worried at all about law enforcement - putting them at risk because everybody knows about the raids? Two questions.

    THE PRESIDENT: These are great professionals. These are people that have done this for a long time. We're really looking for criminals as much as we can. We're trying to find the criminal population, which has been coming into this country over the last 10 years. We know who they are, too. We've been taking them out by the thousands - specifically, gang members from MS-13 and other gangs. We've been taking them out by the thousands.