Donald Trump Town Hall  - US Election 2020

Announcer [01:00:16] This is an NBC News special presentation of Today with Savannah Guthrie.

Savannah Guthrie [01:00:22] Tonight, Donald Trump in the arena, his first primetime network appearance since falling ill with coronavirus.

Donald Trump [01:00:29] I'm feeling great. I don't know about you. How is everyone?

Savannah Guthrie [01:00:32] With tonight's debate canceled, the president faces our questions live and hears from voters about their concerns in the battleground state of Florida.

Donald Trump [01:00:41] It's great to be back in my home state for to make my official return to the campaign trail.

Savannah Guthrie [01:00:48] With just 19 days to go, the president makes his case. My goal is to fight for you and fight for your family.

Announcer [01:00:58] NBC News decision. Twenty twenty President Trump Town Hall. Live from the Perez Art Museum in Miami, here's Savannah Guthrie.

Savannah Guthrie [01:01:10] 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.

Donald Trump [01:02:19] Very well stated. I have to say good job.

Savannah Guthrie [01:02:21] 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?

Donald Trump [01:02:29] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:02:44] 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?

Donald Trump [01:02:54] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:03:22] Did the doctors ever tell you that they saw pneumonia on your lungs?

Donald Trump [01:03:26] No, but they said the lungs are a little bit different, a little bit perhaps infected.

Savannah Guthrie [01:03:32] Infected it with?

Donald Trump [01:03:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:03:47] 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.

Donald Trump [01:03:52] And there shouldn't be.

Savannah Guthrie [01:03:53] Your first positive test was Thursday, October 1st. When was your last negative test? When did you last remember having a negative test?

Donald Trump [01:04:04] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:04:14] Did you test the day of the debate?

Donald Trump [01:04:15] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:04:30] 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?

Donald Trump [01:04:38] I have no problem, again, the doctors do it, I don't ask them, I test all the time. And they.

Savannah Guthrie [01:04:43] Did you take a test on the day of the debate?

Donald Trump [01:04:45] If you ask the doctor to give you a perfect answer? They take a test and I leave and I go about my business.

Savannah Guthrie [01:04:50] Did you take a test on the day of the debate?

Donald Trump [01:04:52] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:05:09] Just button it up, do you take a test every single day?

Donald Trump [01:05:12] No, no. But I take a lot of tests,.

Savannah Guthrie [01:05:14] OK, and you don't know if you took a test the day of the debate?

Donald Trump [01:05:17] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:05:37] 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?

Donald Trump [01:06:06] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:06:42] You can see people with masks though right?

Donald Trump [01:06:44] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:06:55]

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.

Donald Trump [01:07:13]

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.

Overtalk [01:07:41] There was an event with the Gold Star was basically way after the Supreme Court,.

Donald Trump [01:07:45] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:07:58] 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?

Donald Trump [01:08:04] 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...

Savannah Guthrie [01:08:12] 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.

Donald Trump [01:08:18] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:08:43] 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.

Donald Trump [01:08:53] 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...

Savannah Guthrie [01:09:20] Our death rate is worse than, well, not Spain.

Donald Trump [01:09:23] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:09:41] But we have, our deaths per capita is among the highest and...

Donald Trump [01:09:47] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:10:25] I want to pick up on something you just said. You said were rounding the corner.

Donald Trump [01:10:28] I believe we're roundg the corner yes.

Savannah Guthrie [01:10:29] 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?

Donald Trump [01:11:04] 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.

Overtalk [01:11:34] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:11:44] Should the deaths be better than two hundred thousand when relative to the rest of the world we have a worse death rate?

Donald Trump [01:11:50] 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.

Overtalk [01:12:30] Let's keep up.

Donald Trump [01:12:31] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:12:49] 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.

Overtalk [01:13:11] And you is you've done this why everybody seem like I denounce white supremacy. OK, you try to downplay.

Donald Trump [01:13:18] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Well, so this is a little bit of a dodge.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Are you listening, I dennounce white supremecy. What's your next question?

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Do you feel, it feels sometimes like you're hesitant to do so, like, you wait a beat.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] I know nothing about QAnon.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] I just told you.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Overtalk [01:13:33] They believe it is like a car run by the other day subject.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Republican Senator Ben Sasse said, quote. QAnon is nuts. And real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theory.

Overtalk [01:13:33] He may not just say it's not true.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] You start off with white supremacy. I denounce it. You start off with something else. Let's go. Keep asking me these questions.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] I have one more.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Overtalk [01:13:33] 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?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Why aren't you asking Joe Biden questions about why doesn't he condemn antifa? Why does he say it doesn't exist?

Overtalk [01:13:33] Because your hair is known to soak it in.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Now, why would you send a lie like that to your followers?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Overtalk [01:13:33] Like someone's crazy uncle. He doesn't really mean whatever.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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...

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] But the word is false.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] OK, we've got a bunch of questions for you.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] The word is we're winning in a lot of states. We're winning in a lot of states. [.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Right.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] And so will you accept the results of the election?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Overtalk [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] You're talking about 150 million votes. Your own FBI director says there is no evidence of widespread fraud.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] How can you say that?

Overtalk [01:13:33] You do read newspapers. You watch the news, you read. I do watch you. I do.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Because every day they're talking about ballots that are corrupt, that are fraudulent.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] And millions that are being processed right now.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] But you can win the race. Take a look at me. You can win a race by one percent.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] But why are you laying the groundwork for that right now?

Overtalk [01:13:33] I don't want my husband and I say my ankles. You know, Rob, I don't want that to happen.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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.

Questioner [01:13:33] Good evening. Welcome to Miami.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Thank you, it's beautiful.

Questioner [01:13:33] Mr President. If you knew Covid 19, as you told Bob Woodward in February.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] As what?

Questioner [01:13:33] 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?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Questioner [01:13:33] Did you?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] I was barely I was extremely early when I put on the travel ban.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] No.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] He didn't say or you don't remember?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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...

Overtalk [01:13:33] Isn't there a middle ground. But you can. No, no, no.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] There's not a middle ground. You have to be safe. You have to be vigilant. And you have to be smart.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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?

Questioner [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Right.

Questioner [01:13:33] 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?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Who was talking about it I heard 20%.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Let's talk to Isabella, put the mic close to your mouth. OK. Go ahead.

Questioner [01:13:33] 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?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] And then you have other people that disagree.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Well what does that mean?

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Scott Atkins, if you look at Scott, Dr. Scott, he's from - great guy - Stanford. He will tell you he disagrees with you.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] He's not an infectious disease expert.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Oh, I don't know. Look, he's an expert. He's one of the great experts of the world.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] 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.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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?

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] At first, but then everybody agreed.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] I looked at that report. It's not about mask wearing. It was neutral on the question of masks.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] Savannah, we're on the same side. I say wear the mask. I'm fine with it.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] OK.

Donald Trump [01:13:33] I have no problem with it. We're on the same side.

Savannah Guthrie [01:13:33] Let's take a break. We're going to get more questions right after this.

Savannah Guthrie [01:30:29] 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.

Questioner [01:30:50] Thank you for your service, Mr. President.

Donald Trump [01:30:51] Thank you very much.

Questioner [01:30:53] 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?

Donald Trump [01:31:16] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:32:22] Mr. President I've gotta follow up on the preexisting conditions. This is such a big issue for voters.

Donald Trump [01:32:25] It is a big issue for me too.

Savannah Guthrie [01:32:27] 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.

Donald Trump [01:32:36] That's right.

Savannah Guthrie [01:32:36] So your administration is in court right now trying to get rid of that protection.

Donald Trump [01:32:40] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:33:08] You've repealed but you have it replaced now. You've been in office for almost four years -

Donald Trump [01:33:12] We have done -

Savannah Guthrie [01:33:12] You had you had both houses of Congress, Senate and House in Republican hands. And there is not a replacement yet.

Donald Trump [01:33:19] 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 -

Savannah Guthrie [01:33:24] But the problem is with repeal and replace.

Donald Trump [01:33:26] 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.

Donald Trump [01:33:38] We will always protect people with preexisting conditions -

Overtalk [01:33:40] , those preexisting conditions. We will be fine.

Donald Trump [01:33:45] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:34:02] 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.

Donald Trump [01:34:29] 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 -

Savannah Guthrie [01:35:07] 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.

Overtalk [01:35:32] What this is. So you yourself

Savannah Guthrie [01:35:35] Did you ever hear of a word called negotiation? We're negotiating OK.

Overtalk [01:35:41] The people are negotiating, lives are hanging, you know

Donald Trump [01:35:44] 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.

Overtalk [01:36:00] That's what.

Donald Trump [01:36:01] I want it to be big. I want it to be bold. I want the money go to direct.

Overtalk [01:36:05] Applicants with you. They're going to go big number.

Overtalk [01:36:08] They'll go they're going to be very far.

Overtalk [01:36:09] They have not because.

Donald Trump [01:36:10] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:36:23] 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?

Donald Trump [01:36:37] How are you?

Questioner [01:36:38] Hi, I'm great. How are you?

Donald Trump [01:36:39] Nice to see you. Thank you.

Questioner [01:36:39] 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.

Donald Trump [01:36:50] Right.

Questioner [01:36:50] 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?

Donald Trump [01:37:06] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:38:19] 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?

Donald Trump [01:38:39] 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.

Overtalk [01:39:23] You're right. It sounds like million dollars isn't my office buildings.

Savannah Guthrie [01:39:28] Are you - are you - are you confirming that yes, you do own some four hundred million dollars?

Donald Trump [01:39:33] And what I'm saying is that it's a tiny percentage of my net worth.

Savannah Guthrie [01:39:36] That sounds like yes.

Donald Trump [01:39:37] 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 -

Savannah Guthrie [01:40:06] Any foreign bank? Any foreign entity?

Donald Trump [01:40:07] 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?

Savannah Guthrie [01:40:30] Yes.

Donald Trump [01:40:30] I am extremely under levered.

Savannah Guthrie [01:40:31] Here's the thing. You could clear this up tonight by just releasing your tax returns yourself. I mean -.

Overtalk [01:40:36] 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.

Donald Trump [01:40:46] You accused me of not being under audit previously.

Savannah Guthrie [01:40:48] That did not -

Donald Trump [01:40:48] And so did other people at NBC.

Savannah Guthrie [01:40:51] You are.

Donald Trump [01:40:51] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:41:21] But to be clear there is no law or rule that prohibits you from releasing your tax returns -

Donald Trump [01:41:27] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:42:03] It also says that you pay 750 dollars in taxes in the year you were elected - is that true or not?

Overtalk [01:42:03] And even though taxes and the here you are like a story.

Donald Trump [01:42:09] No, that's a statutory number - I think it's a filing number. You pay seven hundred and fifty. It's a filing fee -

Savannah Guthrie [01:42:15] Is that all you paid? Most people here probably paid more.

Donald Trump [01:42:17] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:43:03] All right, let's take a break. We'll get more voter questions right after this.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] 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.

Questioner [01:46:19] 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?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] 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.

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] 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?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] But for you. You think she would rule for you?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] I have no idea.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] I mean, of course she'll rule one way or the other, but -.

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] 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?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] Thank you very much.

Questioner [01:46:19] 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?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] 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?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Overtalk [01:46:19] A lot of her life, Republican.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] Most pro-life Republicans would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and abortion banned.

Donald Trump [01:46:19] Many of them would.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] What do you think?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:46:19] 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?

Questioner [01:46:19] Good evening, Savannah. Good evening Mr. President.

Donald Trump [01:46:19] [Thank you very much.

Questioner [01:46:19] 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?

Donald Trump [01:46:19] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:55:39] 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.

Donald Trump [01:55:46] Thank you very much.

Questioner [01:55:47] I have to say, you have a great smile.

Questioner [01:55:50] Thank you Thank you.

Questioner [01:57:22] 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?

Donald Trump [01:57:22] 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?

Questioner [01:57:22] My grandparents were from Russia and Poland.

Donald Trump [01:57:22] 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.

Questioner [01:57:25] Thank you.

Donald Trump [01:57:25] Because I feel the same way as you do about it.

Questioner [01:57:27] Thank you Mr. President.

Donald Trump [01:57:28] Thank you. Thank you very much.

Savannah Guthrie [01:57:29] 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.

Donald Trump [01:58:08] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:58:17] 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.

Donald Trump [01:58:22] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:58:22] 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?

Donald Trump [01:58:22] 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.

Savannah Guthrie [01:59:46] 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.