«No, I didn't [convince him not to]. No. I said you do what you want to do. I said you do what you want because it doesn't matter, because he listens to other people. No matter how good a job he does... no matter how good a job, he's got a hostile board.»

«Well, I will tell you, interest rates are too high.»

«No, I don't think so. I think I want him to be independent. But my opinion, I'm very good at this stuff, interest rates are too high. We should have the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world because we're the best credit.»

«...lowest interest rate anywhere in the world because we're the best credit.»

Q: «Do you acknowledge that they’re raising rates to bring down prices because of the war in Iran?»

«No, they're raising the rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly do. The problem they have is that we have the greatest economy in history. We have over $21 trillion being invested in this country, which is five times more than they've ever had before. So they're raising that only for political reasons and that's a raise against Trump.»

«Well, hopefully we're towards the end of the war. They want to make a deal and we'll see how that works out.»

Q: «What have you heard from them recently, sir? Have you heard from them directly or through intermediaries?»

«Intermediaries.»

«Canada's in a terrible trade position. [...] If they do that, if I think it's an overall hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things. So if they do that, if Europe does that with a bad intention—if it's a good intention, that's fine—if it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.»

«Well, it's a very easy question to answer, because it's a mess. It's lost... the Kennedy Center for many years has lost tens of millions of dollars, even hundreds of millions of dollars. It's a loser financially. [...] They were losing hundreds of millions of dollars, and sometimes hundreds of millions—this is before I got involved.

So for the Trump administration, for me to get involved and to take that on long term and to carry it, or to raise money to carry it, I think the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because, frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down. It's in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape. [...] It's been very badly maintained for 25 years.

I'd like to be able to save it, but it's going to take a lot of subsidy into the future. And for us as an administration to want to do that, I think the Trump administration should be recognized.»

«Successful consultations in China with our partners. Iran values strategic partnership we have built over time. Today's decisions will decide future strategic balance in the region, with immeasurable knock-on effects. 4 principles for peace outlined by President Xi are key.»

«And that war is going to end very soon. [...] They're getting decimated, and they want to make a deal so badly. [...] And they're not ready yet, I don't think, but we could have a deal anytime we want.»

«And if we stopped trading with every country that we have a deficit with, which is most of them, and which would be very easy to do, would make at least $1.5 trillion a year. [...] The word 'deficit', you have to understand, is nothing more than a fancy word for loss. [...] They're only elite because we allow them to trade with us and we allow them to make far more money than they should be.

They're not elite. We're the ones that are elite. [...] And if I ended those deals, you would see a country that would make more money, and you'd see the elite countries go right down the tubes. We're carrying almost every country in the world, and that really cannot go on that much longer. [...] Why should we carry Canada? Why should we carry Mexico?—although we're very close to a deal with Mexico, a great deal. [...] Why should we carry so many countries in Europe? We're carrying the European nations with a $200 billion deficit.

All we have to do is say, 'You know what? We're not trading with you anymore. We don't need anything they have.' We have cars, we have lumber, we have food, we have everything.»

«But lower the interest rates for the United States of America, and fast, because we can grow at a level that nobody's ever grown before.»

«I ended eight wars. And the one that's the toughest is Russia, Ukraine. They hate each other. The two leaders hate each other so much [...] That's the war that's driving up the diesel prices, but it's all going to end very soon.»

«And you're going to end up having a country that nobody's ever seen before. Because again, we have more jobs being created now and more factories being built than any time in the history of our country. It's going to be a beautiful thing and it's going to be very soon.»

«But, uh, I have to say, you have a little higher, you have a higher gas... it's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done. Remember that. It's a little more. It's even if it was... frankly, even if it was a lot more. But that's going to come tumbling down. That's going to be like a rocket ship in reverse.»

«We took out Venezuela in 48 minutes...And now we have all our big oil companies going there and we're working along with the government of Venezuela very well. The relationship is extraordinary. We're taking out millions and millions of barrels of oil. [...] When they say 'to the victor belong the spoils,' that's one of the greatest cases anyone's ever seen in history. We paid back the cost of our war many times over.»

«And you watch what's going to happen to Iran. [...] we have the strait open [...] and they've been decimated. Their navy is gone...»