Chopper pressers are the best pressers. As he departs the White House for a trip to Minnesota, President Trump delivers impromptu remarks and takes questions from the media. Two of the questions surrounded President Trump remarks on FBI Director Christopher Wray; and possible replacement. Video and partial transcript below:
UPDATE: Full Transcript Added
.
Transcript from first Wray question/response:
“I disagreed with him on those, I think, very important points. Obviously, China is at the top of the list. And I think Russia and North Korea and many other countries can be talked about but China would be at the top of the list and I don’t know why that was not mentioned. And obviously Antifa. These are thugs, these are bad people. These are people who hurt a lot of people, a lot of good people…
The fact is that Antifa is a bad group. And they are criminals and they are anarchists and they are agitators and they are looters and rioters and everything else. They are bad and when a man doesn’t say that, that bothers me. I wonder why he is not saying that….”
“I think Bill Barr has been incredible. He is strong, Bill Barr is strong and he’s tough and he is smart and I think he agrees with me on this stuff…”
Given a second chance to say if he plans to remove FBI Director Wray from his FBI post, the president responded:
“We’re looking at a lot of different things. And I did not like his answers yesterday and I’m not sure he liked them either. I’m sure he probably would agree with me. Antifa is bad, really bad. And if you look at it, who is the real problem? The big problem is China. And we can have others also and I’m not excluding anybody. But the big problem is China and why he doesn’t want to say that, that certainly bothers me.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT – THE PRESIDENT: So we have a very big crowd. It’s already formed. I mean, it started forming yesterday, I guess. We’re going to Minnesota. Some of you are coming, I guess, I hope.
Do you have any questions? We’ll do it really quickly because we’re a little bit late.
Q Mr. President, on TikTok, will you sign off on a — on a deal that leaves ByteDance as the majority owner?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to take a look. They’re going to be showing me everything in a little while, on TikTok. And we have some great companies who want to buy it, and we’re looking at those companies. We’re looking at, most importantly, the security, with respect to China. And we’re going to make a fairly fast decision. I don’t think we have to delay it too much, but we have some great companies and some very great interests. It’s a — you know, it’s a pretty incredible asset.
Q Do you want to replace Christopher Wray?
Q On the FBI, do you have confidence in Director Wray?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you’re asking me a question. I disagreed with him on those, I think, very important points. Obviously, China is at the top of the list. And I think Russia and North Korea and many other countries can be talked about. But China would be at the top of that list, so I don’t know why that’s not mentioned. And obviously, Antifa — these are thugs. These are bad people. These are people that hurt a lot of people — a lot of good people.
And Antifa — and that man is agreeing with me. Unfortunately — are you a reporter? I wish you were a reporter. He’s not. He’s a good person, but he’s back there shaking — shaking his head “yes.”
The fact is that Antifa is a bad group, and they’re criminals and they’re anarchists and they’re agitators, and they’re looters and rioters and everything else. They’re bad.
And when a man doesn’t say that, that bothers me. I wonder why he’s not saying that.
Q Do you agree with Bill Barr?
THE PRESIDENT: I think Bill Barr has been incredible. Right? He’s strong. Bill Barr is strong, he’s tough, and he’s smart. And I think he agrees with me on this stuff. It’s — he sees what’s happening with certain locations.
Now, we can clean it out if the Democrat governors, who are just weak or something is wrong — they’re weak on crime. They don’t even want to mention the words “law and order.” If they called us — like, in Portland, we would have that situation taken care of in a half an hour. All they have to do is call. We will be there in a half an hour.
Seattle only got straightened out because they knew we were going — we were going in there the following morning. We were all set to go, and they — they immediately raised their hands. They gave up. But if they would call us, we would straighten out their problems. That includes Chicago, it includes New York.
Now, I have to tell you, Chicago has a great police department; they endorsed me. New York has a great police department — New York’s Finest; they endorsed me. They don’t need any help. All they have to do is let them do their job, Mr. Mayor and Mr. Governor. If they let them do their job, you will have very little crime in New York, very little crime in Chicago.
But these liberal politicians — Democrats — they won’t let the police do their job.
Q A lot of businesses in Minnesota do business with Canada. The closing of the border has been extended until October 21st. When do you want the border to be reopened?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to see that. We’re looking at the border with Canada. Canada would like it open, and, you know, we want to get back to normal business. We have the USMCA all done — the new trade deal replacing NAFTA, which was probably the worst trade deal ever made by anybody. It was grossly incompetent. We have a great trade deal right now, and so we’re going to be opening the borders pretty soon.
Q Toward the end of the year, you hope?
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Toward the end of the year?
THE PRESIDENT: Could be. Yeah, we’re working with Canada. We want to pick a good date, having to do with the pandemic. And I happen to think we’re rounding the turn. We’re doing very well. And the vaccines are coming. But even before the vaccines are coming — if you look at Florida, if you look at Texas, if you look at Arizona — some places that flared up a little bit — we are doing really well. They’re all doing very well.
Q Mr. President, just to clarify: Cristopher Wray — would you like to replace him, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: No, we’re looking at a lot of different things. And I don’t — I did not like his answers yesterday, and I’m not sure he liked them either. I’m sure that he probably would agree with me.
Antifa is bad — really bad. And if you look at it — who’s the big problem? The big problem is China. And we can have others also, and I’m not excluding anybody, but the big problem is China. And why he doesn’t want to say that, that certainly bothers me.
Yeah.
Q You’ve been saying, sir, and you just said now that we’re turning the corner. How do you say that, given that 200,000 people have died?
THE PRESIDENT: “Have died.” And projected — if you look at the initial projections, it was up to 240, 250 thousand if everybody did their job. If they didn’t do their job, it would be two and a half, three million people, three and a half million people. But you saw the same chart.
So here’s the bottom line: We should’ve lost nobody. China should’ve never allowed it to come out. Should’ve never, ever allowed it to come out. But the projections would be — if we did a really good job, with the shutdown, which we did, it would be 240 — up to 240, 250 thousand people. You’ve seen those numbers, and so have I. If we didn’t do our job, it would three and a half, two and a half, maybe three million people — million people.
We have done a phenomenal job with respect to COVID-19. We have done a job that was incredible. Look at the other side of it. Look at Biden, Sleepy Joe Biden. He had a thing called swine flu. It was a disaster. Much easier to handle. Much less severe. But it was a disaster. And his own man that was in charge of it said it was a nightmare, it was a disaster, they did a poor job, they didn’t know what they were doing. Joe Biden doesn’t have a clue. All he does is criticize.
We’ve done an incredible job, whether it’s the vaccines which are coming, the therapeutics, which are already here — therapeutics. They’re already here, and they started — remdesivir and others. The plasma is working out incredibly well.
Look at what happens. Look how much better people do if they do have to go and they do end up in serious condition. Look at how much better they’re doing now because of what we’ve done therapeutically. It’s been amazing. The numbers are amazing.
We’ve done a great job. But then you have to take a look at swine flu — H1N1, okay? — which Biden calls “N1H1” because he doesn’t know the name. The “H” comes before the “N.” It’s very easy to remember. Take a look at the job he did, where his own people and the man that was in charge said it was a total disaster. A total disaster — and worse than that. And they got very, very poor marks.
We have done an incredible job. Throughout the world, I get called by prime ministers and presidents saying, “Sir, the job you’ve done is amazing.”
Q Which ones?
THE PRESIDENT: On testing — on testing — I’ll give you a whole list.
Q Which ones?
THE PRESIDENT: On testing, we have the greatest testing anywhere in the world. We’re, I think, 60 million tests more than India — 1.5 billion people. Nobody has done the job that we’ve done.
All right, thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
2020 is Everything!
Wray is toast Nov.4
I’m seeing Wray’s future, he’s going to be kicking cans down the proverbial road, he’s toast, he’s done as a burnt steak!
Goodbye Big Bird with your groovy Livestrong bracelet. He doesn’t seem to have the fortitude necessary to survive prison.
Yes. “Russia is sowing discord”. Our own media is sowing more discord than Pravda ever could. Shoot, I’d trust RT over abc, nbc, cbs, pbs, npr, etc. any day of the week. At this point, I’d trust Putin over Wray, his fbi, the, so called, justice department, our national security or state department.
Justice Ginsburg passed away…..
Yep, and Mr. Wray is long past his expiration date. Praying for a replacement with the integrity and fire of a Sidney Powell or Rick Grenell!
I am deeply bothered that Mr. Wray did NOT mention China!
The lack of interest rings bells, big, very big, Chinese bells. It also rings bills, as in money, big, very big Chinese money, and makes me wonder about Chinese money ringing Mr. Wray’s bank account.
Wray is certainly looking ahead to a possible Dem victory, which would mean China through the corrupt Bidens and Dems will own the US. And so Wray shuts his mouth about it like the utter coward he is and waits.
He would shut his mouth and take his payment for selling us out.
Great point. The only way Wray can survive is in a Harris Biden administration. That gives him a severe conflict of interest.
You are right! Something tells me President Trump knows the answer as to why Wray did not bring up China or Antifa. I wouldn’t put Soros aside here either. Soros! Soros! Soros!(He who must not be named aloud).
Somebody needs to start an “Epstein-didn’t-kill-himself” style “George Soros funds terrorism”.
Tell that to Fox News.
Why waste your breath?
Why has there not ever been an investigation into Soros and all his funding of elections, donations, and the like? It would appear to me that he would be guilty of something. Lets go fishing.
Someone should take bullhorn and shout to Wray….
Hearing Trump saying that COVID 19 should never have happened if China hadn’t released it. It makes me wonder if Biden was thinking his buddies in China would never have let the virus loose if the Dems had been in power because they would have gotten everything without a fight.
God’s speed and protection Mr. wonderful President Trump!
I suppose Chris Wray would handle unemployment rather well … he could join other swamp critters and go work at CNN where he can let loose with his real feelings.
“Hey Christopher, go A-WRAY already!!!”
I said it here when Wray was first confimed – he was a swamp guardian and dirty. His confirmation was far too fast and easy for him to be legit.
Now what I don’t know is how Barr is incredible? He has had NO prosecutions. None.What on earth is he waiting for? He too is a swamp guardian. Maybe Trump meant that is the sarcastic, negative.
Wray was liked by all the wrong people. Confirmed by the most rabid of the congressional left.
A good sign is that Barr is taking fire from the press. I cant remember reading a negative article on Wray. Maybe Barr isn’t Trump/Grenell good but he isn’t Wray/Coats bad. We would all like to see perp walks but is that realistic or just a fantasy.
Saying “is justice a reality or a fantasy” is just an excuse not to confront the existential threat that the country faces, in the lies of the Insane Left and complicit globalist Right.
Barr has worked on other things to increase USA safety..My feeling is that the President is timing the Big Ugly for maximum impact and we need to trust and be patient.
How many dirty agents faced charges under Wray, none. What has he done to protect the integrity of the FBI, nothing. Firing him isn’t enough, he needs to be investigated for ties to the deep state and China. What kind of moron babbles about white Militias as white liberals burn down entire cities in the name of BLM and Antifa?
Yes, I believe Wray will be sent packing in November, in much the same way Jeff Sessions was released following the 2018 midterm election.
Slipping a Wray. Slipping a Wray.Slipping a Wray on the thin ice of a new day.. apologies to Jethro Tull
Slip Sliding Awray.
I don’t see any reason for The Donald to retain Wray at this point since the guy isn’t going to help with anything that might be a benefit Trump.
Can you imagine Jo Biden standing there and answering like that – off the hip, but carefully too, strategically, at the same time without fear of his own values, the values we want? There has never been a president like Trump. Watching him there, I already miss him, (in 4 years time!!! :-))
Heads up Ginsberg has died
I simply cannot comprehend Trump’s abject failure to nominate/appoint/install/hire people loyal to him as THE President and under the Constitution. He is undermined constantly and yet he suffers these fools any way. SMH.
In other news, Buzzy Ginsburg is dead and I am not the least bit sad.
See Jared K who has a lot of stroke;)
Uniparty RINO’s block meaningful Trump loyalists from confirmation. He snuck Grenell in as Ambassador to NATO and artfully has used him as a designated hitter by reassigning him to more valuable duties as Ambassadors are technically cabinet level confirmed office holders. But he hasn’t gotten many through that way.
Sidney Powell under consideration:
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/SidneyPowell-MichaelFlynn-FBI-Wray/2020/09/18/id/987664/
You damn right POTUS Trump is not going to fire the useless hand wringing FBI director Wray. All one has to do is is go back to how Saint Goofy got canned from being the FBI director and he was fired while on a trip to LA. Will Wray be on travel when he gets canned?!!
I really get the impression Wray has been walled off from the real FBI patriots, he’s not in the loop and the hearing showed he is totally clueless to what many in the public know is happening. He’s like Barney Fife, with an empty revolver holstered on his hip and only one cartridge in his breast pocket, no other cartridges beyond that which is in breast pocket! Looks legit, but empty inside.
I had a career in the gov’t. Over the years, 3 different agencies. At the heads of each department, all were men in empty suits while we, the underlings did all the work which made them look good.
National Security Threats In US, (09/11/2020):
1. Treason From Within: BLM-Antifa/Black Racism/1619 Project/Critical Race Theory/Black Racist Ruling/Democrats/Voter Fraud/TDS/Deep State/The Coup/War On Cops/Insurrection/Socialist Revolution In US.
1.1 “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” (Abraham Lincoln.)
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/176073
2. Islam/Islamic Terrorism/Islamic Jihad/Islamic Migration.
3. China.
4. Iran.
5. US Southern Border/MS-13/Mexican Drug Cartels.
6. Russia.
7. North Korea.
8. Natural Disasters, and Pandemics.
9. Cyber Warfare.
10. Trafficking.
11. Political Correctness/Cultural Marxist doctrine in general. (= Global Governance, Appeasement of Islam, Multiculturalism, Global Warming Hoax, and the Environmentalism agenda, Feminism, and Identity Politics/Diversity/Affirmative action.)
12. Unknowns.
And finally; No threat should be underestimated, and/or excluded amid defending US.
Wayward Wray sold his soul to the D/S DemonRATS and their leader Lucifer…..it’s blatantly obvious!
1. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray titled his statement, before the, Committee On Homeland Security, US House Of Rep., (09/17/2020), falsely as, “Worldwide Threats,” (correct was: “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland,”) as well as, no EXPLICIT mentioning of Antifa, BLM, and their current insurrection in US, in his ten pages statement.
2. “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland,” (09/17/2020):
https://homeland.house.gov/activities/hearings
https://homeland.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony%20-%20Wray.pdf
https://homeland.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony%20-%20Miller.pdf
https://www.c-span.org/video/?475-444-1/fbi-director-wray-foreign-interference-elections-tolerated
My correction:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?475444-1/fbi-director-wray-foreign-interference-elections-tolerated
“Q You’ve been saying, sir, and you just said now that we’re turning the corner. How do you say that, given that 200,000 people have died?” What a fabulously moronic “question.” It was a question in the sense that a reworded democrat talking point is a question. It would have been like asking Ike on July 7, 1944 how he could say the corner was turned on securing the invasion ground in France when 20,000 men had been killed in the last month.
Wray is Comey2, no difference whatsoever.It simply has not been politically feasable to dump his corrupt covering up ass.
Not a single one of the current crop of US Government Appointees will be kept, if Biden is the one reading the oath of office on 20 January 2021. The second the syllable of the oath leaves his lips, ex-Obama appointees enter as 210 day Temporaries (having all been senate approved in the past). That includes; Wary, Cabinet Members, Ambassadors, Military General et al. There is will be a single loyalty litmus test as there was 2009-2017.
Anybody thinking different has ignored day 1, 2009 of the Obama regime and all that followed.
The current crop of quislings are not stupid and they know their future in the government is limited but the future pay-off is something that awaits.