This is an NBC News special
presentation of Today with
Savannah Guthrie.
Tonight, Donald Trump in the
arena, his first primetime network
appearance since falling ill with
coronavirus.
I'm feeling great.
I don't know about you. How is
everyone?
With tonight's debate canceled, the
president faces our questions
live and hears from voters
about their concerns in the
battleground state of Florida.
It's great to be back in my home
state for to
make my official return to
the campaign trail.
With just 19 days to
go, the president makes his
case. My goal is to fight for
you and fight for your
family.
NBC News
decision. Twenty twenty President
Trump Town Hall.
Live from the Perez Art Museum
in Miami, here's Savannah
Guthrie.
And good evening.
It's good to have you with us today.
Welcome to Miami and our town hall
with President Donald Trump.
We want to say right off the top,
this is not how things were supposed
to go tonight. This was supposed to
be a town hall debate between
Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
But after the president contracted
covid, the debate commission
announced it would have to be a
virtual debate because of health
concerns. The president said he
would not participate in a virtual
debate. At that point, Joe Biden
scheduled a town hall tonight in
Pennsylvania on another network.
And now the president is doing the
same, his own town hall with the
same venue, format and time as NBC's
town hall with Joe Biden last
week. So the two candidates go head
to head tonight, though not face to
face each in a key battleground
state. And tonight, the president
will be taking questions from voters
here in Miami, who we should
mention, are socially distanced and
they're wearing masks.
And I should say this audience looks
a bit like America, it is
divided. Some here voted for the
president in 2016 and plan to
again some support Joe
Biden. And some say they are truly
undecided. We're going to get a mix
of questions on a range of topics
and we're going to get to those
questions in a moment.
But first, with all that ado,
welcome, Mr. President, and thank
you for being here.
Very well stated.
I have to say good job.
Thank you.
We're glad you're here with.
Well, we had our best to the first
lady and Baron.
Thank you. Do you have any remaining
symptoms from covid?
Nothing whatsoever.
I feel good.
I was in North Carolina today
and did a big rally with tremendous
turnout. And I just feel
really good.
Florida, Pennsylvania, we're all
over the place. It's been great.
You receive some treatments that are
generally reserved for those with
the most severe form of the
disease. How severe were your
symptoms in particular?
Did you have pneumonia?
I'll tell you what happened.
I didn't feel good.
I didn't feel strong.
I had a little bit of a temperature.
The doctors at the White House are
fantastic, as you can imagine, and
they really didn't want to take a
chance. And they said, let's go to
the hospital. I said, that's OK.
I'm going to respond to what you
say. And we went over to Walter
Reed, where you have tremendous
professionals. They gave me
Regeneron and Remdesivir
both. And I just all
I know is I felt good the following
day. I felt really good.
Did the doctors ever tell you that
they saw pneumonia on your
lungs?
No, but they said the lungs are a
little bit different, a little bit
perhaps infected.
Infected it with?
I don't know. I mean, I didn't do
too much asking.
I really felt good.
I didn't have much of
a problem with the lungs.
I did have a little bit of a
temperature.
Obviously, I felt there was something
missing. And then I tested.
You know, I tested positive.
Let's talk about testing because
there's a little bit of, I guess,
confusion about this.
And I think we can clear it up.
And there shouldn't be.
Your first positive test was
Thursday, October 1st.
When was your last negative
test? When did you last remember
having a negative test?
Well, I test quite a bit.
And I can tell you that before the
debate, which I thought it was a
very good debate and I felt
fantastically I was I had
no problem before.
Did you test the day of the debate?
I don't know. I don't even remember.
I tested all the time.
But I can tell you this
after the debate,
like, I guess a day or so I think
it was Thursday evening, maybe even
late Thursday evening.
I tested positive.
That's when I first found out.
Back to the debate because the
debate commission's rules, it was
the honor system that you would come
with a negative test.
You say you don't know if you've got
a test on the day of the debate?
I have no problem, again, the
doctors do it, I don't ask them, I
test all the time.
And they.
Did you take a test on the day of
the debate?
If you ask the doctor to give you a
perfect answer?
They take a test and I leave and I
go about my business.
Did you take a test on the day of
the debate?
I probably did.
And I took tests the day before and
the day before.
And I was always in great shape and
I was in great shape for the debate.
And it was only after the debate,
like a period of time after the
debate that I
said, that's interesting.
And they took it, tested it, tested.
Just button it up, do you take a
test every single day?
No, no. But I take a lot of tests,.
OK, and you don't know if you took a
test the day of the debate?
Possibly I did.
Possibly I didn't.
But, you know, the doctor's very
accurate information.
And it's not only that doctors, many
doctors, the one thing as if you're
president, you have a lot of doctors
you're surrounded by.
But I was in great shape for the
debate. And sometime after the
debate, I tested positive and
that's when they decided to let us
go.
OK, good.
I've hopefully provided some clarity
for folks. Let's talk about the
event that was held at the White
House on the Saturday before you
tested positive.
Subsequent to that, 13
people connected to that event
tested positive.
There was an outdoor reception.
You've seen the pictures there is an
indoor reception.
People were not wearing
masks. My question to you is, at
this point in the pandemic, knowing
what we know, shouldn't you have
known better? Shouldn't the White
House know better than to hold an
event like that?
Well, they do a lot of testing in
the White House. They test
everybody, including me, but they
test everybody and
something happened.
But as far as the mask is concerned,
I'm good with masks.
I'm OK with this.
I tell people wear masks.
But just the other day, they came
out with a statement that eighty
five percent of the people that wear
masks catch it.
So I
know, but that's what I heard
and that's what I saw.
And regardless.
But everybody's tested and they
tested often.
And I also knew
that, hey, I'm president.
I have to see people I can't be
in a basement. I can't be in a
room. I can't be.
I have to be out.
You can see people with masks though
right?
I can.
But people with masks are catching
it all the time.
I mean, if you look at the governor
of Virginia, he was known for a
mask. If you look at Thom Tillis, a
great guy, he always had a mask and
they caught it.
Well, there are pictures of Thom
Tillis, actually with one of Judge
Barrett's kids not wearing a mask.
But, you know, Chris Christie, he
was part of your debate prep.
Yeah, he was, I believe, at that
event. He came out tonight.
He was very sick.
He was in the hospital for about a
week. I came out tonight and said
I was wrong not to wear a
mask.
Well, I mean, he has to say that I
think it's great. He's a friend of
mine. He's a good guy.
And wrong or not
wrong, you have to understand, as
president, I can't be locked in a
room someplace the next year and
just stay and do nothing.
And every time I go into a crowd,
I was with the parents
of our fallen heroes.
These people are the most incredible
people. And they came up to me and
they would hug me and they would
touch me and I'm not going
to not let them do it.
There was an event with the Gold
Star was basically way after the
Supreme Court,.
Our event with the most incredible
people you've ever seen.
And I could have chosen not
to talk to them or to keep everybody
away. You know what, as
I don't think that's probably where
it was caught, but maybe it was
something.
You bring it up, you brought it up
because I mean, are you trying to
suggest that you believe a grieving
military family gave you covid?
No, I don't know where it came from.
You don't know where it came from.
And the doctors don't know where it
came from.
But as the president, I have to be
out there. I also know...
There's no one that says you can't
be out there, but it's just about
wearing masks and having, for
example, your rallies, your rallies
don't require masks.
Now let's see,
Kamala. She's got people now that
people have it and I'm not blaming
her. I'm not saying, oh, she did a
terrible thing.
As president, I have to be out
there. I can't be in a
basement. I can't be locked in a
very beautiful room someplace in the
White House. And I want to see the
Gold Star families and I want to see
everybody. And I also say to people
all the time, it's risky doing
it. It is risky to do it.
You're right. You don't want to you
want to be a leader, but you also
are a leader and set of an
example. And if you're not wearing a
mask when your administration is
saying best practice right now is
wear a mask, no, it's not foolproof.
But many,
many people are getting this disease
that was sent to us by China and it
shouldn't have been allowed to
happen. But many people are getting
this. And I mean, nobody is being
blamed. Everybody is working hard to
get this thing out of our
country, get it out of the world.
Look at what's going on in Europe.
Massive spikes.
They've done a very good job.
But now you take a look today at the
U.K. You take a look at Spain and
France and Italy.
This tremendous spikes that...
Our death rate is worse than, well,
not Spain.
But I have things right here
that will tell you exactly the
opposite. The U.K.
is up two thousand five hundred
percent because I knew you'd be
doing this. I know you very well.
The UK is up two thousand five
hundred percent to EU is
up seven hundred twenty two percent
and the United States is down twenty
one percent.
But we have, our deaths per
capita is among the highest
and...
Excess mortality, we're a winner
of the excess mortality.
And what we've done has been amazing
and we have done an amazing job
and it's rounding
the corner and we have the vaccines
coming and we have the therapies
coming. And I'll tell you what - one
thing when I got it,
I had a choice, do nothing or use
some of the things that we're
looking at like in this case,
Regeneron and Eli Lilly
make something that's supposed to be
incredible.
And I think that maybe I wouldn't be
doing this discussion with you right
now. We have therapies
now and cures - maybe you can use
the word cure - but we have
therapies that are absolutely
incredible.
I want to pick up on something you
just said. You said were rounding
the corner.
I believe we're roundg the corner yes.
Now 10 percent of the country
approximately has had covid.
That means 80, 90 percent
- 90 percent, let's do the math - is
still vulnerable, right.
There's been some talk, including
from the White House lately, that
perhaps it approves of what's
called herd immunity.
That's where you basically just
let young people and everybody get
sick. You try to protect the old
people and those who are sick.
And hopefully it gets up to a
certain level and now we're all
immune. So let's just be clear about
it. It also means more deaths.
Do you support herd immunity
as a strategy, essentially
just let people get sick?
The cure can not be
worse than the problem itself.
We did the right thing.
We were expected to lose two million
two hundred thousand people and
maybe more than that.
We're at two hundred and ten
thousand people.
One person is too much.
It should have never happened
because of China.
It happened because of China.
And you have to get that and
understand that.
But it shouldn't have happened.
But we were expected to lose - if
you look at the original charts from
original doctors who are respected
by everybody, two
million two hundred thousand people.
Four million figure, though, if you
really two million people, the two
million figure is if you did
absolutely nothing, it would be
two million Westernness.
Should the deaths be
better than two hundred thousand
when relative to the rest of the
world we have a worse death rate?
I'll tell you what is happening. I left North Carolina,
which I love.
I left
Pennsylvania. We won a big case in
Michigan because that governor has
a lockdown where nobody
but her husband can do anything.
He can go boating and do whatever he
wants, but nobody else can.
The fact is, we're winning all these
cases because it's unconstitutional
what they're doing. And I think
they're doing it for political
reasons. But the fact is, the
cure - you can't you can't let
this continue to go on with the
lockdown. Well, I believe that on
November 4th, you're gonna have a
lot of these governors look at
what's happening to New York.
New York is a mess.
They lost almost forty thousand
people. They have a lockdown like
you've never seen.
Now they're open. It's like a ghost
town.
Let's keep up.
And Savannah it's very important.
People are leaving New York
by the thousands and
you're gonna have a hard time ever
building it up again.
So that cure, that so-called
cure that you talk about, it can't
be worse than the
problem. The problem is a bad
problem.
We've got more questions on COVID,
so let's drop it for now.
We were supposed to as mentioned be
watching you on a debate stage right
now.
We're not doing that. So let's clear
up a few things from the last one.
You were asked point blank to
denounce white supremacy.
In the moment you didn't.
You asked some follow up questions -
who specifically? A couple of days
later on a different show, you
denounced white supremacy.
And you is you've done this why
everybody seem like I denounce
white supremacy.
OK, you try to downplay.
I denounced white supremacy for
years, but you always do it - you
always start off with the question.
You didn't ask Joe Biden whether
or not he denounces Antifa.
I watched him on the same basic show
with Lester Holt and he was
asking questions like Biden
was a child.
Well, so this is a little bit of a dodge.
Are you listening, I dennounce white supremecy. What's your next
question?
Do you feel, it feels sometimes like you're hesitant to do so, like, you
wait a beat.
Hesitant? Here we go again. Everytime - in fact my people came - I'm sure
they'll ask you the white supremacy question. Here we go again,
everytime, in fact.
Every time, in fact. But people came. I'm sure they'll ask you the white supremacy question. I denounced white supremacists. And frankly, you want to know something. I denounce AntiFa and I denounce these people on the left that are burning down our cities that are run by Democrats who don't know what they're doing.
Alright, while we're denouncing, let me ask you about. QAnon it is this theory that Democrats are a satanic pedophile ring and that you are the savior of that. Now, can you just once and for all state that that is completely not true? And disavow QAnon in its entirety?
I know nothing about QAnon.
I just told you.
I know very little. You told me. But what you tell me doesn't necessarily make it fact. I hate to say that I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia, they fight it very hard. But I know nothing.
They believe it is like a car run by the other day subject.
I'll tell you what I do know about. I know about Antifa and I know about the radical left. And I know how violent they are and how vicious they are. And I know how they're burning down cities run by Democrats, not Republicans.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse said, quote. QAnon is nuts. And real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theory.
He may not just say it's not true.
He may be right. I just don't know about you. And on you do now. I don't know. No, I don't know. I don't know. Let me ask you about it. Let's waste a whole show.
You start off with white supremacy. I denounce it. You start off with something else. Let's go. Keep asking me these questions.
I have one more.
Let me just. Let me just tell you what I do hear about it is they are very strongly against pedophilia. And I agree with that.
I mean, I do that and I agree there is not a satanic pedophile. No, no. No doubt about that. OK. No, I don't. I mean, do you know. OK. Just this week he writes asking me about an TIFA. Why are you asking the radical in your life?
Why aren't you asking Joe Biden questions about why doesn't he condemn antifa? Why does he say it doesn't exist?
Because your hair is known to soak it in.
AnTifa exists. They're vicious. They're violent. They kill people and they're burning down our cities and they happen to be radical left.
Just this week, you retweeted. You're 87 million followers, a conspiracy theory that Joe Biden orchestrated to have SEAL Team six, the Navy SEAL Team Six killed to cover up the fake death of bin Laden.
Now, why would you send a lie like that to your followers?
That was a retweet. That was a an opinion of somebody. And that was a retweet. I'll put it out there. People can decide for themselves.
Like someone's crazy uncle. He doesn't really mean whatever.
That was a retweet. And I do a lot of retweets. And frankly, because the media is so fake and so corrupt. If I didn't have social media, I don't call it Twitter. I call it social media. I wouldn't be able to get the word out and the word...
But the word is false.
But you know what the word is? The word is very simple. We're building our country stronger and better than it's ever been before. And that's what's happening. And everybody knows it.
OK, we've got a bunch of questions for you.
The word is we're winning in a lot of states. We're winning in a lot of states. [.
Let me. OK. I'm glad you brought up the election because I do want to ask about that. That's another kind of leftover item. A lot of people have asked you, will you accept a peaceful transfer of power?
You have said repeatedly the only way we lose this election is if it is rigged. Now, that is simply not true. The fact is, either candidate can lose fair and square without ballot fraud.
Right.
And so will you accept the results of the election?
Well, I want it to be. But when I see thousands of ballots, right. Unsolicited ballots being given out by the millions and thousands of them are dumped in dumpsters. And when you see ballots with the mail drop military ballots from our great military and they're dumped in garbage cans.
That is a handful we could go all night, which we won't know that day one by one, a single case a single day.
You're talking about 150 million votes. Your own FBI director says there is no evidence of widespread fraud.
Oh really, that he's not doing a very good job. All you have to do is pick up the papers every day. Fifty thousand in Ohio, the great state of Ohio. Fifty thousand in another location, I think North Carolina. Five hundred thousand applications in Virginia. No, no. There's a tremendous problem. But let me just tell you, they talked about the peaceful transfer, right? They spied on my campaign and they got caught and they spied heavily on my campaign and they tried to take down a duly elected sitting president. And then they talk about, will you accept a peaceful transfer? And the answer is, yes, I will. But I want it to be an honest election. And so does everybody else. When I see thousands of ballots dumped in a garbage can and they happen to have my name on it. I'm not happy about that.
But just in case, there is no there is, in fact, no evidence of widespread fraud. And you were sowing doubt about our democracy, our democracy.
How can you say that?
You do read newspapers. You watch the news, you read. I do watch you. I do.
Because every day they're talking about ballots that are corrupt, that are fraudulent.
And millions that are being processed right now.
But you can win the race. Take a look at me. You can win a race by one percent.
But why are you laying the groundwork for that right now?
I don't want my husband and I say my ankles. You know, Rob, I don't want that to happen.
Savannah, I wanted to be clean. I really feel we're going to win. But I want this to be clean. Let's get it's sort of ironic that you and them talk about the peaceful transfer when I spent three and a half years fighting off these maniacs and now it turns out everything's there, that they were the ones that dealt with Russia. And it's too bad. A peaceful transfer, I absolutely want that. But ideally, I don't want to transfer because I want to win.
And I think that your words will probably reassure some folks. Let's get to our first voter. We've got Jaqueline Lugo. Now she is I told you this. This audience is truly split between y'all. You are leaning Biden. She voted for Clinton in 2016. She's registered as an independent.
Jacqueline, what's your question for the president? And you hold the mike up close and take off your mask as it's hard to figure out here.
Good evening. Welcome to Miami.
Thank you, it's beautiful.
Mr President. If you knew Covid 19, as you told Bob Woodward in February.
As what?
As you told Bob Woodward in February, was airborne and deadlier than the flu. Why did you only put in place a travel ban from China and not put in place other measures, mitigating the spread of Covid 19, potentially saving tens of thousands of American lives?
Well, I didn't put it in very early. As you know, Joe Biden was two months behind me and he called me xenophobic and racist and everything else because I put it in and it turned out that I was 100 percent right. I also put it on Europe very early because I saw there was a lot of infection in Europe. And it's sort of an amazing question. And I appreciate the question and respect the question. But the news doesn't get out the right answer because I put on a travel ban far earlier than Dr Fauci thought it was necessary, who I like, far earlier, that the scientists I was actually the only one that wanted to put it on, and I did it actually against the advice of a lot of people, including Nancy Pelosi, who had no clue what she was doing. And Biden, when I put on the travel ban, you know, I put it on in January, the end of January, when I put on the travel ban, Joe Biden and and others said, this is ridiculous. You don't do that. Well, Dr. Fauci, you said I saved thousands and thousands of lives.
Did you?
I was barely I was extremely early when I put on the travel ban.
Can I ask you, did your national security adviser on January 20th in the Oval Office warn you that this would be the greatest National Security risk of your administration?
No.
He didn't say or you don't remember?
I remember I read it someplace. Maybe Woodward said it or something. But no, he did not say that.
But I knew it was a big threat. At the same time, I don't want to panic this country. I don't want to go out and say everybody is going to die. Everybody's got...
Isn't there a middle ground. But you can. No, no, no.
There's not a middle ground. You have to be safe. You have to be vigilant. And you have to be smart.
You're going to like this next couple of voters and a mom and a daughter. Mom, Barbara voted for you in 2016. She's leaning toward vote for you again. Now, her daughter was too young to vote last time. She's going to vote for her first time in a presidential campaign. And she is leaning Biden. So imagine the dinner table at their house. So, Barbara, why do you go first and ask your question?
Bienvenido en Miami. Thank you, Mr. Trump, as a frontline E.R. doctor working through the Corona virus pandemic. I know firsthand and I've seen that many hospitals throughout the United States are suffering financial hardships. These economic effects are trickling down to the frontline workers. We are being...Across the country, frontline workers are being fired or being furloughed. Our salaries are being cut. And this is also happening in other economic sectors as well, including the travel industry and hospitality.
Right.
My question to you is, how are you going to get the United States back on track, both in terms of the economy and the pandemic?
So it's happening. We just had a record eleven point four million jobs. We are going to have a phenomenal third quarter, which will be announced on November 1st, just prior to the big November 3rd day. We're thinking this is a red wave, but we're going to have a tremendous announcement, I believe. I mean, we're going to find out. But GDP is going through the roof. Jobs, real estate, houses, so many things are happening. So people were saying we're going have a forty two percent unemployment. Look, this was a thing that came into our country and it happened 100 more than 100 years ago and it happened now that we're talking about a 42 percent unemployment rate.
Who was talking about it I heard 20%.
It just came out at seven point eight percent unemployment and people can't even believe it. Our economy is going to be next year if we don't have somebody that raises taxes and quadruples taxes, which they want to do, and kills everything, our economy is going to be phenomenal. Next year. We're going to have a phenomenal.
And I'll tell you, Savannah, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country last year, including the state of Florida where we are now and Pennsylvania, North Carolina, every place with the greatest economy we ever had, we had to close it down. We saved two million lives. We're opening it up. We have a V shape and it's coming back. It's coming back very fast. One other thing, we really help the hospitals. We've sent billions and billions of dollars to the hospitals. In addition, hundreds of millions of masks and gowns. And we went into the ventilator business because this country was not equipped with ventilators. And I'm not blaming anybody for it. But we're now making thousands of ventilators a month and we have all we can use.
We're sending them all over the world because the world needs them. So they've worked very hard and really very, very effectively. Thank you. Great question.
Let's talk to Isabella, put the mic close to your mouth. OK. Go ahead.
Mr. President, my parents are, as you heard, both frontline health care workers. And I've seen the physical and the mental toll that this pandemic has taken on them firsthand, as well as the exacerbation of coronavirus due to Americans who are not wearing masks or participating in social distancing. After contracting CVOID 19 yourself, has your opinion changed on the importance of mask wearing?
No, because I was OK with the masks. I was good with it, but I've heard many different stories on masks. I mean, I had, you know, being president, you have people, they bring meals, they bring this. And I had an instance recently where a very wonderful person is bringing me a meal and he's playing with his mask and he's touching his mask all over the place. And then he's bringing a plate in. And I'm saying, well, I don't know if that's so good. I mean, the good news, I didn't eat it, OK? I didn't I decided not to eat it. This was a month ago. But look, you have on the masks - you know, you have two stories. You have a story where they want, a story where they don't want. I am all for it.
I don't get that because it's just - all of your public health officials, your administration, they're in unison about this. They're all in unison about it. University of Washington, which is a sta - is a - they have a model that your coronavirus task force relies on, says that if everyone wore a mask, you could cut expected deaths in half, sixty thousand lives.
And then you have other people that disagree.
Well what does that mean?
Scott Atkins, if you look at Scott, Dr. Scott, he's from - great guy - Stanford. He will tell you he disagrees with you.
He's not an infectious disease expert.
Oh, I don't know. Look, he's an expert. He's one of the great experts of the world.
But I don't get it because you have so much power and influence as president. You could go to your - you could require it at your rallies and you could say "Everyone put on a mask right now" and you would say lives.
You have University of Washington, and you have other places say different things. You have a lot - hey, Dr. Faucci said don't wear a mask right?
At first, but then everybody agreed.
Well, I don't know that he changed his mind. But then you have a report coming out two days ago that eighty five percent of the people wearing masks catch it.
I looked at that report. It's not about mask wearing. It was neutral on the question of masks.
Savannah, we're on the same side. I say wear the mask. I'm fine with it.
OK.
I have no problem with it. We're on the same side.
Let's take a break. We're going to get more questions right after this.
We're back. We're live
In Miami with President Trump for a
town hall.
Live in Miami with President Trump
for a town hall.
Thank you again, Mr. President.
We've another voter now, Kristi
Alonzo, come on out, Kristi.
She is leaning slightly towards
you. She says she voted for you
in 2016.
Kristi, you ready? Take the mask
off, hold the mic close and let's hear
your question.
Thank you for your service, Mr.
President.
Thank you very much.
We're a hardworking middle class
family of four.
My husband and I are both
self-employed and we have
to get our own individual health
care. As you know, health care costs
have gone up considerably over
the decades. And you
had originally said you were going
to repeal and replace Obamacare.
What is your plan now in
2020 to make health care costs
affordable for Americans like
myself?
So we got rid of the individual
mandate on Obamacare, which was the
worst part of Obamacare.
And now you could actually say it's
not Obamacare because that's how big
it was. Well you had to pay a
fortune for the privilege of not
having to pay for bad health
insurance. So we got rid of that.
That was a big, big thing.
And by doing that - and we will
always have - by the way, we're
always protecting people with
pre-existing conditions and I can't
say that more strongly.
But we've been able to bring health
care costs way down.
Now, I took over Obamacare, got
rid of the individual mandate, made
it, good managed, much better.
Remember, they had the five billion
dollar website disaster
and all of the problems they had.
The problem with Obamacare, it's not
good. We'd like to terminate it.
And we want a much less expensive
health care that's a much
better health care and that's where
we're aiming. And if we can do that
and we have a very good chance of
doing it - but we've also
brought down the price of Obamacare.
Problem with Obamacare, it basically
is never going to be great.
And I want to give great health
care. It's so important and thank you very much.
Mr. President I've gotta follow up on the preexisting
conditions. This is such a big issue
for voters.
It is a big issue for me too.
In point of fact, your
administration is about to go to the
Supreme Court to argue, to throw out
the rest of Obamacare, which
includes the protections for
preexisting conditions.
That's right.
So your administration is in court
right now trying to get rid of that
protection.
In order to replace it with a much
better health care at a much
lower price.
And always under
all circumstances, we are going to
protect. The Republicans - and
I mean, maybe I changed the party a
lot over the last three years - but
we will protect people with
preexisting conditions.
And Savannah, what I want to do is
get rid of the terrible
Obamacare - I've already done it to
a large extent because, as you know,
the individual mandate is
gone. That was the worst part of it.
You've repealed but you have it replaced
now. You've been in office for
almost four years -
We have done -
You had you had both houses of
Congress, Senate and House in
Republican hands.
And there is not a replacement yet.
That's right. I'm sorry, but if you
look, we had both houses.
What did we do? We got rid of the
individual mandate that went through the legislature
-
But the problem is with repeal and
replace.
Look, look, we should be on the same
side. I want it very simple.
I'm going to put it very simple.
We would like to terminate it and
we would like to replace it with
something that's much less expensive
and much better.
We will always protect people with
preexisting conditions -
, those
preexisting conditions.
We will be fine.
If we don't succeed, we
are running the remnants of
whatever's left because we took it
apart. We are running the remnants
of whatever is left much better than
the previous administration, which
ran it very badly.
But we'd like to have new
health care much better and
much less expensive.
Let me get to question number
five, and you'll like this.
He's stuck in traffic.
His name is Joe White.
He is registered as a
Democrat. He says he's leaning
toward Biden and
voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
And his question was a second
stimulus payment has been broadly
agreed upon by the Republicans and
Democrats. And now we're in October
and it's still not passed.
Why not use your office to make the
second stimulus payment a separate
targeted emergency relief
package to help Americans weather
the pandemic.
Well we've actually passed three
packages, we're on our fourth. And
I agree with him, one hundred
percent, he should vote for me.
The problem you have is Nancy
Pelosi. She couldn't care less about
the worker. She couldn't care less
about our people.
And we should have a stimulus.
And I want a stimulus.
The Republicans will approve a
stimulus. The problem is she doesn't
want to do it because she thinks
it's bad for her election.
The fact is she's wrong
because people know she's in our
way. She's not approving it.
She doesn't appreciate our people
and she doesn't approve - appreciate
at all our workers.
Nancy Pelosi, we are ready
to sign and pass
stimulus, but she's going to -
People do not love the back and forth
of Washington. But this has been a
roller coaster.
Back in early October, you one day
tweeted "no more negotiations
until
after Election Day.
I'm walking away." Then I think the
next couple of days she said maybe
we can do something targeted.
Then you said, I want a big, big
bill. But then Senate Republicans
said, no, we're not for that.
So you're the big deal
maker.
What this is. So you yourself
Did you ever hear of a word
called negotiation?
We're negotiating OK.
The people are negotiating, lives
are hanging, you know
And you know who I'm negotiating
against Nancy Pelosi because she
doesn't want to give the money.
We should have stimulus.
This was not for people's fault.
This was China's fault.
And she's penalizing our people.
I'm ready to sign a big, beautiful
stimulus. You saw the other
day - I said go big or go home.
Right.
That's what.
I want it to be big.
I want it to be bold.
I want the money go to direct.
Applicants with you. They're going
to go big number.
They'll go they're going to be very
far.
They have not because.
I haven't asked them to because I
can't get through Nancy Pelosi.
If Nancy Pelosi and I
through my representatives or
directly - I don't care - if we
agree to something, the Republicans
will agree to it.
OK, our next question comes from
- oh, this is interesting. She voted
for Clinton in 2016, but recently
changed her registration from
Democrat to independent.
She says she's truly undecided.
Her name's Becky Leitman.
Hello, Becky. What's your question?
How are you?
Hi, I'm great. How are you?
Nice to see you.
Thank you.
Good to see you.
So corporate tax rates
are a hot button issue and
you have cut corporate tax rates
and your opponent, Joe Biden, is
planning to raise them.
Right.
A lot of Americans think that
corporations don't pay their share
of taxes and want to see those tax
rates increase.
What do you say to those Americans
to maybe tell them why
you want the corporate tax rate
lower and why that helps
them?
It's a great question.
We've created more jobs than
this country has ever created.
We're up to one hundred sixty
million jobs.
We were never even close to that
number. We were just hitting one
hundred and sixty million jobs.
Companies are pouring into our
nation because of the tax rate.
And if Biden comes in and raises
taxes on everybody, including middle
income taxes, which he wants to do,
you will blow this thing and you'll
end up with a depression the likes
of which you've never had.
That's what's going to happen.
We have something that's really
good. The reason we're coming back
so strong is because we built a very
strong foundation.
Companies are moving in.
Car companies are moving into
Michigan, into Ohio, into South
Carolina and North Carolina -
just today. So what's happening
is they're coming in because we
reduced the taxes, our
taxes, our corporate taxes were the
highest in the world and now
they're among the lower
taxes. They're not the lowest, but
they're among the lowest.
And what that means is jobs.
But also we're doing a very
big - and we've done - a very big
middle income tax package.
So if we get in, we're going to do
the middle income tax package.
But it's a great question.
If he comes along and raises
rates, all those companies that are
coming in, they will leave the
US so fast, your head
will spin. We can't let that happen.
On the subject of taxes, as
you know, with The New York Times
has obtained, it says, years
of your tax returns.
Among other things, it says that you
have debts of approximately four
hundred twenty one million dollars
that you have personally guaranteed
and that will come due in the next
four years.
The question is, on behalf of
voters, who do you owe four hundred
twenty one million dollars to?
OK, first of all let me answer -
what they did is illegal number one.
Also, the numbers are all wrong with
the numbers they released.
And just so you understand, when you
have a lot of real estate - I have
real estate, you know, a lot of it,
OK right down the road
[inaudible]. Big stuff, great
stuff. I'm very under - when I
decided to run.
I'm very under levered,
fortunately, but I'm very under
leverage. I have a very, very small
percentage of debt compared - in
fact, some of it I did as favors to
institutions that wanted to loan me
money. Four hundred million dollars
-compared to the assets that I
have, all of these great properties
all over the world.
And frankly,
the Bank of America building in San
Francisco. I don't love what's
happening to San Francisco.
You're right. It sounds like
million dollars isn't my
office buildings.
Are you - are you - are you
confirming that yes, you do own
some four hundred million dollars?
And what I'm saying is that it's a
tiny percentage of my net
worth.
That sounds like yes.
And you'll see that soon because
we're doing things -
you know, we've given I think it's one
hundred and eight or one hundred and
twelve pages of financial details
to elections.
And, you know, we have to file - as
the president, as any
politician, you have to file.
Nobody ever looks at that.
When they do, they see how
incredible the company is.
But more importantly, they
see where this debt is.
No, I don't owe Russia money.
I don't know owe
- I owe very small - it's called
mortgages. People have a house, they
put a mortgage -
Any foreign bank? Any foreign
entity?
Not that I know of. But I will
probably - because it's so easy to
solve. And if you'd like to do, I
will let you know who - who
I know whatever small amount of
money. I want to say two things.
Number one, it's a very small amount
of money.
Number two, it's very
straight. It's very, very straight.
But it's a tiny percentage of
the worth.
Did you ever hear the expression
under levered?
Yes.
I am extremely under levered.
Here's the thing. You could clear
this up tonight by just releasing
your tax returns yourself.
I mean -.
I think people are just
what are you talking about?
It turned out that I am wrong to say
actually that.
No, no. But that doesn't stop
the release.
You accused me of not being under
audit previously.
That did not -
And so did other people at NBC.
You are.
And I am under audit - so that was
solved, that's good - I am under it.
No person in their right mind would
release prior to working
out the deal with the IRS.
And I'll go a step further.
I'm treated very badly by the
IRS. They treat me very, very badly.
You have people in there from
previous administrations.
They treat me very badly.
But we're under audit.
It's very routine in many
ways, but we're under audit.
They like to change the game, change
the rules to everything.
You saw what they did with the Tea
Party people. You saw what they did
with the religious group.
But to be clear there is no law or
rule that prohibits you from
releasing your tax returns -
No, except common sense and
intelligence and having lawyers to
say - because I would love to
release them and as soon as we
come to a conclusion, I will release
them and very gladly.
But if you go to
elections and if you take a
look, you'll see one hundred and
twelve, I think it's one hundred and
twelve. It talks about the income,
which is rather massive.
It talks about all of the
properties, they have them listed.
You can never learn more.
But you know what happened?
People went there.
All the reporters went.
It was like a feeding frenzy.
This was originally when I filed it.
And I file it every year.
I updated every year.
My son is here.
They run the company.
I don't run the company.
It also says that you pay 750 dollars in taxes in the year you were
elected - is that true or not?
And even though
taxes and the here you are like
a story.
No, that's a statutory number - I
think it's a filing number.
You pay seven hundred and fifty.
It's a filing fee -
Is that all you paid? Most people
here probably paid more.
No, I don't know. I can tell you
this.
If they have my tax
returns, as you know, they have to
go to jail. It's illegal.
But their numbers were wrong.
But let me tell you what else.
I don't owe money to any
of these sinister people.
This has been going on for years
now. Russia, Russia, Russia, turned
out to be a hoax.
And it turned out to be that Hillary
Clinton and the Democrats were
dealing with Russia, not me.
It's a whole hoax.
So I would not mind
at all saying who it is.
But it's a very small - when you
look at vast properties, like I have
and they're big and they're
beautiful and they're well located -
when you look at that, the amount
of money - four hundred million
dollars is a peanut.
It's extremely under levered.
And it's levered with normal
banks. Not a big deal.
All right, let's take a break.
We'll get more voter questions right
after this.
We are live in Miami in the middle of a town hall with president Trump.
Thank you for being here. We've got another voter Adam Sugar. He voted
for Hilary Clinton in 2016. He's registered as a democrat and says he's
supporting Biden. Adam, take it away.
Thank you Savannah, thank you Mr President. Four year aga, Senate
leadership said it was inappropriate to push through a nominee in an
election year. Yet they fast-tracked your nominee for the supreme court,
just today. The question I have for you, is how do you...what do you say
to the voter who thinks it's hypocritical to act in that manner and they
can't trust the Republicans word?
So, when I was elected, and when a president is elected, they're elected
for a period of four years, and justice Ginsberg said it best, I think
talking about President Obama having to do with somebody else, that the
president is put there for four years. Not for three years, so during
this forth year, it happened to come up, unfortunately, because I had
great respect for Justice Ginsberg, but a vacancy happened to come up,
and we picked somebody that's outstanding. She has been an absolute star
and I'm extremely proud of it, but again, plenty of time, I mean there's
plenty of time, I mean, we're going to do it before the election, but
there's much time after the election, there's no reason to wait. Because
it's almost unanimous to me, certainly within the Republican party, and
frankly, most of the Democrats, within closed rooms, I guarentee you that
this is an outstanding person, and, I'm using my full term. And if you
look at it, if you put the shoe on the other foot. If they had this,
they'd do it, one hundred percent. So there's been twenty nine this has
happened, and all twenty nine time, the president has done exactly what
I've done.
To the voters point, and I'll just say, that in 2016, you were on another
show, actually, another morning show,
and you were asked whether President Obama should nominate a Supreme Court justice, Merrick Garland. And you said, I think the Senate should wait until the next president and let the president pick. Now, that was eight months before the election. This is three weeks before. You have changed your position.
I have a lot of respect for Judge Garland. I want to tell you that. But I'll tell you, the whole ballgame changed when I saw the way they treated Justice Kavanaugh. I have never seen any human being - and I'm not just talking about Supreme Court - I have never seen a human being treated so badly with false accusations and severything else. I have never seen anything like it. And you know what the truth is, Savannah? Like it or not, the ballgame changed a lot. There has never been anybody treated so badly as now Justice Kavanaugh.
You've mentioned that you would like to see Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to the Supreme Court in case any challenges come up in connection with the election. Do you expect her to rule for you?
I think she'll have to make that decision. I don't think she has any conflict at all. You know, a Supreme Court judge does not have - I mean, they can make their own decision. They actually have additional power to make that decision. It would be totally up to her. I would think that she would be able to rule either for me or against me. I don't see any conflict whatsoever. We have an election coming up. I think it's the most important election in the history of our country. If for any chance - and it probably won't and I hope it doesn't ever get to the Supreme Court - but if it did, I would think that she would rule one way or the other. I would think so.
But for you. You think she would rule for you?
I have no idea.
I mean, of course she'll rule one way or the other, but -.
But believe it or not, I'd never asked her about it. I never talked about it. I didn't talk about any of the obvious things that you could talk about. And I think a lot of people in my position might. But in speaking to a lot of very brilliant people and people that do this for a living, they say it's better not to talk. So I talk to her about life. I talk to her about the fact, would you like to do this? Are you willing to do this? Because it's a tremendous burden. The answer is yes. She is unbelievably well qualified. But I never spoke to her about these various questions.
Let's get our next voter. She's leaning to you, Mr. President. She voted for you in 2016. She is a registered Republican. Her name is Mariah Green. Mariah, what's your question?
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Good evening, Mr. President. I'm honored to be with you here tonight, sir. So thank you. I'm a pro-life millennial. And my question for you today is, if Roe v. Wade is ultimately overturned in the future, what protections would be put in place or kept for where the mother's life is in jeopardy in relation to high risk pregnancies?
Well, again, I'm not ruling on this, and Roe v. Wade is something that a lot of people say, obviously, you're going to speak to somebody - I also - two other other great justices, Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh. I never spoke to them about Roe v. Wade. I never spoke to them about election laws. I never spoke to them about anything. And I've done the right thing from a moral standpoint. I don't even know from a legal standpoint, but it was the right thing. I think depending on what happens with Roe v. Wade, I think that perhaps it could get sent down to the states and the states would decide. I also think perhaps nothing will happen. I have not talked to her about it. I think it would be inappropriate to talk to her about it. And some people would say, you can talk to her about it. I just think would be inappropriate.
But what is your preference? Because, agreed. That's not something you should talk to the judge about. But would you like to see Roe vs. Wade overturned?
I would I would like to see a brilliant jurist, a brilliant person who has done this in great depth and has actually skirted this issue for a long time make a decision. And that's why I chose her. I think that she's going to make a great decision. I did not tell her what decision to make. And I think would be inappropriate to say right now, because I don't want to do anything to influence her. I want her to get approved. And then I want her to go by the law. And I know she's going to make a great decision for our country.
A lot of her life, Republican.
Most pro-life Republicans would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and abortion banned.
Many of them would.
What do you think?
Perhaps most of them would. I am telling you, I don't want to do anything to influence anything right now. I don't want to go out tomorrow and say, oh, he's trying to give her a signal because I didn't speak to her about it. I've done the right thing in so doing. How she's going to rule, you're going to find out perhaps, or you might not find out. I mean, it may never get there. It may never get there. We'll see what happens.
All right. We have another question. This is Cindy Vélez. She is undecided. She says she's leaning to Biden and she did vote for Clinton in 2016. She's registered as a Democrat. Hi, Cindy. What's your question?
Good evening, Savannah. Good evening Mr. President.
[Thank you very much.
As the mother of a young male of color, I have reason to respect authority, not only because it's the right thing to do, but also out of fear that he may face profiling or be considered a criminal. As an educator, I've also had similar conversations with my high school students. Mr. President, what will you and your administration do to better prepare our law enforcement officers to work in collaboration with the communities that they serve and also to protect the lives of innocent black and Latinos from police brutality and injustice?
Right. I fully understand the question. And I saw everything that you saw over the summer. And it was a terrible thing, a terrible thing to watch. We were very strongly - we have a a senator named Tim Scott from South Carolina. He came up with a bill that should have been approved. It was great. It was a bill that was strong in terms of law enforcement and strong in terms of enforcing the proper thing and doing the proper thing by law enforcement. And the Democrats just wouldn't go for it. They wouldn't go for it at all. And I don't know why, because it was a really great bill. But I do have to say this. And some people don't like it when I say it, but a lot of people agree. I have done more for the African-American community than any president, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln. Criminal justice reform, prison reform, historically black colleges and universities - I got them funded. They were on a year to year basis. They could have been put out of business. As soon as our country had a little bad year, they would have said, "I'm sorry, we're not going to fund you." I got them 10 year funding and financing and more than they even asked for. I became very friendly with a lot of the heads, but we've done more - and of course, opportunity zones - but criminal justice reform, everybody said it could, it could not be done. President Obama and Biden never even tried to do it. They never even tried. But I say that and I say it often. I'll say it loud. And I'm very proud of it. And I have a great relationship because of what I've done with the African-American community. I'm very proud of it.
Let's go to our next question. We have Paulette Dale. She leans slightly to Biden.
She voted for Clinton in twenty
sixteen. She's registered as a
Republican. Paulette, what's your
question? Thank you. Good evening,
Mr. President.
Thank you very much.
I have to say, you have a great
smile.
Thank you Thank you.
OK. He does. You're so handsome when you smile. As the daughter of
immmigrants to the United States who fled Eastern Europe due to religious
persecution, the United States immigration policies are very personal for
me. Surveys show that most Americans and the majority of Republicans
support the Dreamers Program. So my question for you Mr. President, is if
you are elected to a second term, do you expect to pursue your previous
efforts to cut the DACA program? Why or why not?
Yeah. And the DACA - DACA is somewhat different than Dreamers. You
understand that. You understand that better than anyone probably in this
room. Where do you come from by the way originally?
My grandparents were from Russia and Poland.
That's very good. OK. So we're gonna take care of DACA. We're gonna take
of Dreamers. It's working right now. We're negotiating different aspects
of immigration and immigration law. We built now over four hundred miles
of border wall - southern border - Mexico's working very closely with us.
We have the strongest border we've ever had. We want people to come into
our country - they have to come in legally - but we are working very hard
on the DACA program. And you will be I think, very happy
over the course of the next year.
Thank you.
Because I feel the same way as you
do about it.
Thank you Mr. President.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Mr. President, in point of fact, the
DACA program - there are, under your
administration, no new applicants
are allowed.
And in fact, the
DACA receipients now have to renew every year as opposed to every two
years. So in fact, the DACA program has been curtailed by your
administration.
Well what happened is because of the pandemic, much changed on the
immigration front. Mexico is heavily infected as you know and we've made
it very very difficult to come in because of the pandemic and other
reasons - and crime. But we have a very strong border right now and we
have to keep it that way. But, we want people to come into our country
but they have to come in through a merit system and they have to come in
legally. And people are very, very
happy with it.
You haven't heard any complaints
about that. But what happened
is because of the pandemic,
we have to be extra
cautious.
You have been promising this
immigration bill since, well, at
least July when you told my
colleague on Telemundo it was coming but nothing's come yet.
It's very happy - the factis we got rid of catch and release which is a
disaster - you know, you catch somebody, they could be a murderer, they
could be a rapist, and we're supposed ot release them into our country?
These are the laws that I inherited. We ended that program. Now I think
you're gonna see something very very good. The whole immigration - if you
loo at what's goign on, people used to pour into our country - and
especially during the pandemic, I think you'll be - I think even you
Savannah will be very impressed.
Sir we have about thirty seconds left. I think about people sitting out
there tonight. There are some who love you. Some of them are sitting
right around here. And some who will never vote for you. But there are
people in the middle, there are people who wanna know why they should
give you a second chance and how you might improve in a second term.
Thirty seconds - what would you say to them?
Because I've done a great job. We have the strongest economy in the
world. We closed it up. We are coming around the corner. Vaccines are
coming out soon. And our economy is strong. We are at a level with jobs
like we've never been before. We've rebuilt our military. We've rebuilt
our borders. We had no borders, we had no nothing. We've rebuilt so much.
We've given you the greatest tax cut in the history of our country,
greatest regulation cut - equally
as important.
And we created new levels
of jobs that nobody thought was
possible. And next year is going
to be better than ever before.
I got to leave it there.
I got it
a rap from the control room. Mr.
President, thank you for your time.
Thank you for listening to the voters. That concludes our
town hall.
We do want to thank the president
again, as well as our audience in
hot Miami and all of you watching at
home. And a reminder, Donald Trump
and Joe Biden are scheduled to meet
in person a week from tonight in
Nashville, a second and final
presidential debate moderated by our
own Christian Walker.
Have a good evening and thanks for
being with us.