Morristown Municipal Airport
Morristown, New Jersey
August 9, 2020
7:43 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. We had a very important call this morning at eight oโclock with Lebanon and with many leaders from different countries. And I think it was โ first of all, itโs one of the most horrific things Iโve ever seen. But it was a very important call. It was a โ really led with France and President Macron, who is very close, as you know, to Lebanon. And we had it โ a lot of things were worked out.
Weโre going to do a lot of help. Weโve got to help them. A lot of countries are going to be helping; I think 150. But itโs probably โ the number of lost could be astronomical. They say at least 5,000 were injured, and that means many hundreds of people were killed. That is a horrible situation.
So, the United States is working very diligently. We have three planes going over, loaded up with medical supplies, food, and water. Weโll be sending additional planes. That took place this morning. It was a teleconference call with various leaders from โ and (inaudible).
Please.
Q Mr. President, on that issue, how much aid is the U.S. pledging, in terms of financial assistance? And will there be conditions attached to it?
THE PRESIDENT: I havenโt given a number, but itโll be substantial. On a humanitarian basis, we have to do it. We have to do it. Itโs โ youโd almost say, โHow does a country survive such a tragedy?โ It was at a level โ I have people over there; they said this is at a level that weโve never seen before โ the blast. Theyโve never seen anything like it. So, weโll be helping them and substantially.
Weโve had three major planes already over with a lot of medical โ mostly medical equipment. Itโs โ various things to help. We have some excellent military that do this, and they reported back that theyโve never seen anything like this before. So, itโs a horrific situation, but weโll help.
Q Mr. President, there is a lot of criticism today from Democrats about your executive orders. How do you see talks going forward? Do you think talks will start again?
THE PRESIDENT: So, the Democrats were just unwilling to do anything, and all they wanted to think about was how to steal an election. We discussed it yesterday, Jeff, where they wanted all sorts of things having to do with mail-in voting. They wanted no signature verification. They were asking for things that just had nothing to do with what weโre talking about. And weโve been going through this routine for a long time โ a number of weeks โ and it was time to act.
And actually, weโve been largely praised. We have to get money out to the people. It was Chinaโs fault. They did this horrific thing. It was Chinaโs fault. We have to get money out to the people.
So, I would say โ I mean, you may say that, you know, youโve heard some negatives, but Iโve heard mostly positives. Mostly positives, even from people that you would least think would be very positive.
Q Do you want the talks to start again?
THE PRESIDENT: I hear thatโs what the Democrats want to do now. They want โ look, they were not interested in doing what they had to do. Their big point of discussion was bailouts. They wanted to bail out poorly run, Democrat states, like โ you know, I could name them. I could give them to you right now. But why do it? Because you know the same states as I do โ and cities. And we donโt โ weโre not going to do that. Weโll help, but weโre not going to do numbers. They talked about a number of a trillion dollars. We canโt do that.
Jonathan.
Q On the issue of the unemployment insurance โ the $400: There was some criticism from Democrats saying that a lot of states canโt afford to do their part, to do the $100. Would the federal government up โ would you up what youโre willing to give?
THE PRESIDENT: (Inaudible.) We have a system where we can do 100 percent or we can do 75 percent. Theyโd pay 25. And itโll depend on the state. And theyโll make an application, weโll look at it, and weโll make a decision. So it may be theyโll pay nothing in some instances. It may be theyโll โ a little bit like the National Guard. You know, the National Guard, as you know, sometimes will pay all of it depending on the tragedy or whatever it may be โ the disaster โ and sometimes the state will pay 40 percent, 25 percent, 10 percent, or nothing, depending on how itโs worked out. So this โ
Q What about the states that canโt afford to chip in?
THE PRESIDENT: We can make a decision on that on individual states with an application.
Okay.
Q Mr. President, is it time for you to personally step in on the talks and maybe give Speaker Pelosi a call, invite her to the Oval Office?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Iโve been involved personally, and โ you know, through my representatives, who are wonderful. And we have additional people, too. But Iโm involved very โ you know, look, Iโve been on the phone a lot over the last three or four days. And I think it actually works better if we do it the way weโre doing it.
Weโve gotten much of what we wanted without having to give up anything, and thatโs very good. You canโt beat that. You canโt beat the deal weโve made. Weโve gotten much of what we wanted, and they didnโt get what they wanted. And they would have โ and I guess they still could, in all fairness. I mean, I hear that Nancy Pelosi wants to call and she wants to see if she can do something. But theyโre much more inclined to make a deal now than they wouldโve been two days ago.
Q If she calls, would you speak to her?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, Iโd talk to her.
Q Mr. President, you mentioned the Postal Service. Weโve seen some cutbacks. Is now the right time to be doing that? And is it going to be prepared for November? Would you think about doing any sort of actions on your own?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I didnโt speak to the Postmaster General in the Post Office. I know this: Heโs a very good businessman. Heโs very successful. And I know he wants to make the Post Office at least somewhat lose a lot less money than โ theyโve lost so much money over the decade. Nobody has ever โ nothing loses money like the Post Office. And he wants to make it successful. He wants to make it so it can operate, so that you donโt have to give it $25 billion a year to sustain itself.
So, youโd really have to ask him those questions, but he wants to make it self-sustaining and successful. Heโs a very, very smart guy. Heโs a great businessman. So letโs see what he can do.
Q Do you have confidence in the Postal Service for November?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I have confidence that theyโre going to make it into something. But, as you know, itโs been losing massive amounts of money over the last number of decades. Massive amounts of money. This is not something new. This is something thatโs been taking place for a long time. It loses a tremendous amount of money.
Q But do you โ there is some criticism that the Postmasterโs policies is whatโs causing the mail delays. Do you think now is the time to be delaying the mail? And should there be some infusion of money for the election?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, in light of the stories that are coming out about all of the problems with mail-in voting, whether itโs the congressional race โ Carolyn Maloney, in New York, where they called it and they donโt even have the ballots. The whole thing is crazy.
Thereโs one that just came across my desk, and Iโm going to look into it, but I hear itโs a catastrophe โ on mail-in voting. We just canโt have that. Itโs a โ you got to have an honest election. And if itโs not going to be an honest election, you have to call them out.
Q Mr. President, you were at the home of your friend, Stanley Chera, for the fundraiser.
THE PRESIDENT: Who passed away due to COVID.
Q Right.
THE PRESIDENT: And heโs a great man. He was a great person. He was a very early supporter. He just thought โ he was a very successful real estate man. I knew him in New York. One of the most successful. And he was really one of my early supporters. He said, โTrump is going to win.โ He was so โ he said, โYou donโt understandโฆโ Right from the day I came down the escalator with our First Lady โ our future First Lady โ he said, โYou donโt understand: Trump is going to win.โ
And he said that to the smartest people in New York, and he said it to richest people, and he said it the poorest people. He said, โYou donโt understand Trump. Heโs going to win.โ And he was right. And he was very much involved. But he was diagnosed, you know, a number of weeks ago. He went to the hospital. And unfortunately, he didnโt make it.
And he was just a fantastic person. One of the most charitable people youโll ever meet. He helped a lot of people.
Okay?
Q Mr. President, did you say that you want to permanently cut the payroll tax? Or is it just a temporary cut?
THE PRESIDENT: It may be permanent. Weโre looking into it. Right now, we have it cut. Itโs going to a certain time, as you know. And weโll take it out until the end of the year, and then Iโm going to make a decision as to, number one, an extension; and, number two, making it permanent and no reimbursement.
Q What about Social Security? That funds the Social Security trust fund.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, what weโre doing is we reimburse through the general fund, not through Social Security. This will have no impact on Social Security. Weโre going to impact โ weโre going to, through the general funds, reimburse. This will have zero impact on Social Security.
Q Mr. President โ
THE PRESIDENT: And Iโve been (inaudible) at Social Sec- โ we protect Social Security.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Because, you know, itโs a beautiful thing whatโs happening. You look at our markets, how well theyโre doing that, in a pandemic, weโre going to hit โ weโre very close to hitting new stock market highs. And, in some instances โ as an example, NASDAQ โ weโve hit the highest itโs ever been. I think 14 or 15 days have set records. So, thatโs a great achievement.
Weโre going to have tremendous growth, and a lot of good things are happening. But thatโs going to come out of the general fund, not out of Social Security.
Please.
Q Mr. President, how long do you think you can pay uninsurance? It looks like only four or five weeks.
THE PRESIDENT: Weโll be able to do it as long as we deem it necessary. And I will say this: The Democrats have called. Theyโd like to get together. And we say: If itโs not a waste of time, weโll do it. But if it is a waste of time, it doesnโt make sense.
Thank you all very much. Have a good flight. Thank you.
END
7:54 P.M. EDT