US President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared together at an unscheduled Rose Garden news conference on Monday, insisting their relationship is "outstanding" and they are "closer now than ever before".

Trump, who spent August attacking McConnell for failing to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, pledged to work closely with the Majority Leader on health care and overhauling federal taxes.

McConnell, seconded the president's latest views.

The two took questions at length from a quickly assembled White House press corps that stood bunched together on the lawn since there wasn't even time to set up chairs.

Trump defended his former top adviser, Steve Bannon, who is now threatening all-out political war on McConnell and establishment Republicans, including incumbent senators.

But the president also suggested he might try to talk Bannon out of some of his threats against Senate Republicans whom McConnell pledged to defend.

It was not clear what led to the impromptu question-and-answer session, which followed lunch between the two men at the White House.

It comes at a critical time, with the Senate poised to take a crucial vote this week on a budget that would set the stage for tax legislation that many Republicans view as make-or-break following the failure on health care.

Asked about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, Trump said: "The whole Russia thing was an excuse for the Democrats losing the election."

He added: "There has been absolutely no collusion. It's been stated they have no collusion."

Washington, DC - 16 October 2017

1. US President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walking out of White House

++CONTINUATION INTO SHOT 2; NO CUT++

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"Thank you very much. I just want to say that we just spent quite a bit of time inside with the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell who has been a friend of mine for a long time, long before my world of politics, early into his world of politics I think. But we've been friends for a long time. We are probably now, despite what we read, we're probably now, I think at least as far as I'm concerned, closer than ever before and the relationship is very good. We're fighting for the same thing. We're fighting for lower taxes, big tax cuts, the biggest tax cuts in the history of our nation."

3. Cutaway of media

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"My relationship with this gentleman is outstanding, has been outstanding. We are working very hard to get the tax cuts, we will continue to work hard to get the health care completed."

5. Cutaway of media

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader:

++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON WIDE SHOT++

"I want to underscore what the president said. We have the same agenda. We've been friends and acquaintances for a long time. We talk frequently, we don't give you a read-out every time we have a conversation but frequently we talk on the weekends about the issues that are before us. Obviously, passing the budget, which enables tax reform and tax reduction comes next, then the supplemental to take adequate care of those who've been harmed by the natural disasters we've been afflicted with lately."

7. Cutaway of media

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"Well, I have a very good relationship as you know with Steve Bannon. Steve's been a friend of mine for a long time. I like Steve a lot. Steve is doing what Steve thinks is the right thing. Some of the people that he may be looking at, I'm going to see if we talk him out of that, because frankly they're great people. What Mitch will tell you is that maybe with the exception of a few, and that is a very small few, I have a fantastic relationship with the people in the Senate and with the people in Congress. I mean, I have, with our House of Representatives, I have a great relationship with political people. If you read the papers you think it's like I'm on one island and they're like on the other, well it's not the way it is."

9. Cutaway of reporters shouting questions

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"The whole Russia thing was an excuse for the Democrats losing the election. And it turns out to be just one excuse. I mean, today Hillary blamed Nigel Farage (former leader of the UK Independence Party). That one came out of nowhere. So that was just an excuse for the Democrats losing an election that frankly they have a big advantage in the Electoral College. They should always be able to win in the Electoral College but they were unable to do it. So, there has been absolutely no collusion. It's been stated that they have no collusion. They ought to get to the end of it because I think the American public is sick of it. Go ahead."

11. Cutaway of reporter asking question about special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"(Reporter question: Are you considering firing Robert Mueller?)

No, not at all."

13. Cutaway of reporter asking question about Hillary Clinton running in the 2020 presidential election

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"Oh I hope Hillary runs. Is she going to run? I hope. Hillary please run again."

15. Cutaway of reporters

16. Trump and McConnell walking back up the steps toward the White House

File in HD available here -

https://ap.archive.sourceclips.prod.eu.s3.amazonaws.com/News Rushes/

Rushes of Trump’s remarks before boarding Marine One.

South Lawn

10:43 A.M. EDT

President Donald Trump: So, the unemployment numbers just came out, and they’re the best numbers we’ve had in over 50 years. The unemployment number is down to 3.5 percent. So that goes way, way back. We haven’t had numbers like this in a long time. Wages are up by almost 3 percent. That’s a fantastic increase for everybody out there working. We’re very happy about those numbers. The stock market is substantially up, as it was yesterday. And our country does well. Europe is not doing well. Asia is doing poorly, to put it mildly. And we continue to do very well; we’re the miracle.

But the unemployment numbers just came out: 3.5 percent unemployment. And that is a tremendous number; the lowest in over 50 years. So, very happy.

And, I think, really, very important — again, I’ll say: Wages are up. When I was running, wages were nowhere. They were going down. And people were having two and three jobs, and they were making less money than they made 20 years before. Now wages are up. So we’re very happy about that.

One other thing, having to do with Poland. So, Poland is a country; great people. We have a lot of Polish Americans living in the United States. I’ve just signed — I will soon be signing — and sign certain preliminary applications. We will be giving a full visa waiver to Poland. That means that people from Poland can easily travel there, and people from here can easily go back and forth. They can each — people from the U.S., people from Poland, can very easily go back and forth between the United States and Poland.

So, they’ve been trying to get this for many, many decades. And I got it for the Polish people, in honor of the Polish people in the United States and in Poland. So, we’re very happy with that.

Yeah.

Q Did you see Adam Schiff got four Pinocchios by the Post, this morning, for lying?

President Donald Trump: Well, I heard Adam Schiff got four Pinocchios. That’s good. He should have gotten them two and a half years ago.

That’s a very nice question. Let me shake your hand. Come here. That’s a very nice question. That’s almost a surprise. I figured that was a trick question, right?

Q Also, what does your letter to Pelosi say? And when will you send it?

President Donald Trump: Well, we’ll be issuing a letter. As everybody knows, we’ve been treated very unfairly, very different from anybody else. If you go over not only history — I mean, if you go over any aspect of life, you’ll see how unfairly we’ve been treated. We’ve done a fantastic job.

Everything, to me, is about corruption. We want to find out what happened with 2016. And, as you know, there’s a lot of work going on, on that. I don’t care about Biden’s campaign, but I do care about corruption. His campaign — that’s up to him. Politics — that’s up to them. I don’t care about politics. Politics, as I think I’ve made clear — and yesterday, somebody asked me a question, and I gave an answer — but always in the form of corruption.

What I want to do — and I think I have an obligation to do it, probably a duty to do it: corruption — we are looking for corruption. When you look at what Biden and his son did, and when you look at other people — what they’ve done. And I believe there was tremendous corruption with Biden, but I think there was beyond — I mean, beyond corruption — having to do with the 2016 campaign, and what these lowlifes did to so many people, to hurt so many people in the Trump campaign — which was successful, despite all of the fighting us. I mean, despite all of the unfairness.

So, we are looking at corruption. We’re not looking at politics. We’re looking at corruption.

Q Sir, what did you say to the Chinese about the Bidens, sir?

President Donald Trump: I don’t know. Somebody said that a long time ago. Was that in 2017? I don’t know. You’d have to tell me when. All I can tell you is this: When I speak to foreign leaders, I speak in an appropriate way. If you notice, they don’t mention the call that I had with the President of Ukraine. They don’t mention that because it was so good.

The only time they mentioned it was when Adam Schiff made it up. You talk about Pinocchios — that should get 10 Pinocchios. He made up — he made up a story. It was a phony story. Adam Schiff. So, they don’t talk about that anymore.

You know, when this came out, it was “quid pro quo.” Well, there was none. Also, yesterday, the Ambassador — who I heard was tremendous and a tremendous person — he was 100 percent for what we’re saying. A hundred percent. And, if you look, he also said there was no quid pro quo. That’s the whole ballgame.

But now the Democrats don’t bring that up anymore because they lost. Look, they never thought I was going to release the phone call between the Ukrainian President and myself. When I released that call, they were — they were jumping around like you wouldn’t believe. They didn’t know how to respond. And then they found out — and then they found out that the call itself was so bad for them. It was a perfect call. There was nothing — we hand that call out. We’ve handed the call out to people, and they’d say, “Wow, this is incredible.” We’re very proud of that call. When I speak to a foreign leader, I speak in an appropriate manner.

Now, we’re also doing trade deals with China and we’re doing deals with a lot of people for the country, so I’m not looking to insult people. I can tell you that. But we can probably find that out.

Q Would you be more willing to do a trade deal with the Chinese if they investigate Biden?

President Donald Trump: No, it has nothing to do with it. No. No. I want to do a trade deal with China, but only if it’s good for our country. And it could happen. Because you know they’re very much — they’re very much coming over next week, as I understand it. So I’d like to do a great deal with China, but only if it’s a great trade deal for this country. One thing has nothing to do with the other.

Q Do you want the House to proceed with an impeachment inquiry at this point? An official impeachment inquiry.

President Donald Trump: Well, I wouldn’t mind because we have no rights. They way they’re doing it, they’ve taken away our rights. So, if they proceed — and, you know, they’ll just get their people. They’re all in line. Because even though many of them don’t want to vote, they have no choice. They have to follow their leadership. And then we’ll get it to the Senate, and we’re going to win.

The Republicans have been very unified. This is the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country. So we beat the one that started immediately. We went through two years of Mueller, and that came out like a 10. It came out perfect. And a few days go by and they start this nonsense. And this is just as ridiculous.

So the Democrats, unfortunately, they have the votes. They can vote very easily, even though most of them, many of them, don’t believe they should do it. And I do believe — I do believe that because of what they’re doing with Pelosi and their real leaders, AOC plus 3 — that’s their real leaders — I really believe that they’re going to pay a tremendous price at the polls.

And we saw the first glimpse of it two weeks ago, in a great state, North Carolina. We saw a great, great glimpse of what’s going to happen. Because, in North Carolina, we had two races. One gentleman, Dan Bishop, was down by 17 points with three weeks to go, and he won easily. And the other man, as you know, Greg Murphy, was up by a very little bit and he won by a massive amount — I don’t know, someplace in the twenties. Twenty percent or something. Maybe higher.

So I think you got your first glimpse of what’s going to happen. And the big key is that I have to campaign there. But if you look at what happened in North Carolina — two races — we won both of them, and we won them easily. And one was almost tied and the other one was a big, big lead, and that one turned and the tie became a landslide.

Q Mr. President, did Mitch McConnell make you any promises about a vote on impeachment in the Senate?

President Donald Trump: Well, I don’t know about Mitch. I have a lot of respect for Mitch McConnell. I know that; I saw his statements. And he thinks that this is ridiculous. He thinks it’s unfair. I saw his statement yesterday that he put out where he read my phone conversation and he thought it was a wonderful conversation. And it was.

But, see, the Democrats don’t talk about that anymore. They try and go to other things. These people are looking for anything they can get because they know they’re going to lose the election. And we’re in election season now. For them to be doing this now, it’s never been done.

Q The U.S. is speaking to North Korea in Sweden. What do you expect?

President Donald Trump: What?

Q The U.S. is speaking to North Korea in Sweden right now. What do you expect?

President Donald Trump: So we’re dealing with North Korea. They want to meet, and we’ll be meeting with them. It’s probably being set up as we speak, but we’ll let you know. But North Korea would like to do something. Iran would like to do something. We have a lot of countries in a very good position right now, despite the witch hunt, which hurts our country and it hurts America. But Iran wants to do something. North Korea wants to do something. And China would like to do something.

Q Is the Justice Department investigating Joe Biden?

President Donald Trump: I don’t know that. That, you’d have to ask. Is the Justice Department investigating Joe Biden?

Q Yes, sir.

President Donald Trump: Well, that, you’d have you to ask Attorney General Barr. But I can tell you, just as an observer, what I saw Biden do with his son — he is pillaging these countries, and he’s hurting us. How would you like to have, as an example, Joe Biden negotiating the China deal if he took it over from me after the election? He would give them —

Q Mr. President —

President Donald Trump: Wait. He would give them everything. He would give them everything. How would you like to have that? Joe Biden would just roll out the red carpet. He would give them everything.

So, again, this doesn’t pertain to anything but corruption. And that has to do with me. I don’t care about politics. I don’t care about anything. But I do care about corruption. And to have somebody take out a billion and a half dollars out of China, who’s totally unfit. He’s unfit. To have him get a billion and a half dollars, to have him — and now I’m hearing the number of $50,000 a month. Now I’m hearing the number of $50,000 a month is very low. It’s a much higher number that Biden’s son was getting per month. The fact is it’s much higher. And for him to — and for him, as a total — for him, as a totally unqualified person, to be getting hundreds of thousands a month is very, very (inaudible).

So, again, is the Justice Department investigating that? I just don’t know.

Q Mr. President, do you think the Democrats have the votes? Do you think the Democrats have the votes to impeach you? Do you think you will be impeached?

President Donald Trump: Well, I think they follow the leader. One thing with the Democrats — I give them credit for it — a lot of them don’t want it; you know that, you interview them. A lot of them are in there — they call them “Trump districts” — where I won and then they won after when I wasn’t running. But I’m going to win them big.

If you look at what’s happened with my polls, they’re through the roof. You know why? Because of this phony witch hunt. If you look at what happened with the fundraising, we’ve set a record — the Republicans — because people are sick and tired of it.

I got a call the other night from pastors — the biggest pastors, evangelical Christians. They said, “We have never seen our religious or any religious so electrified.” They are — they say they’ve never seen anything like it. Churches are joining. Hundreds of thousands of people. And, you know, that’s to a large extent because of you and your partner, the Democrats.

Q But do you think it will pass the House, sir? Do you think it will pass the House and die in the Senate?

President Donald Trump: Well, I think this. I think this: We have great — we have a great relationship in the Senate. I have a 95 percent approval rating in the Republican Party. I believe the Senate — and I haven’t spoken to that many senators — but I believe the senators look at this as a hoax. It’s a witch hunt. It’s a disgrace. Should have never happened. Just like Russia collusion delusion should have never happened. That was a witch hunt. And just like that, should have never happened.

So I think in the Senate, I think they feel that the Republican Party has been treated very, very badly. Now, in the House, they have the majority. They all vote with AOC and plus three. Nancy Pelosi is petrified of them. I mean, she’s afraid she’s going to lose her position. Nancy Pelosi will lose her speakership right after the election when the Republicans take over the House.

Q Sir, can we talk about the text messages that included holding off a visit to the White House?

President Donald Trump: The one text message that I saw was just about the last text message. Because I don’t know — I don’t even know most of these ambassadors. I didn’t even know their names. But the text message —

Q But what it included, sir, was a visit to the White House.

President Donald Trump: — the text message that I saw from Ambassador Sondland — who’s highly respected — was: There’s “no quid pro quo.” He said that. He said, by the way — it almost sounded like in general — he said, by the way, there’s “no quid pro quo.” And there isn’t.

Now, for Biden there would be. But listen to this: There is no pro quo. And that was the text message that I saw. And that nullified everything.

Q Have you asked foreign leaders for any corruption investigations that don’t involve your political opponents? That is, are there other cases where you’ve asked for corruption investigations?

President Donald Trump: You know, we would have to look. But I tell you, what I asked for and what I always will ask for is anything having to do with corruption with respect to our country. If a foreign country can help us with respect to corruption and corruption probes, and that — I don’t care if it’s Biden or anybody else. But if they can help us — if Biden is corrupt, if his son is corrupt. When his son takes out billions of dollars — billions — and he has no experience; he just got fired from the Navy — when they do that, that’s no good.

So the only — just to finish your question — anything having to do with corruption, I actually feel I have an obligation to do that.

Q Including with Mr. Putin, sir?

Q Is someone advising you that it is okay to solicit the help of other governments to investigate a potential political opponent?

President Donald Trump: No, I don’t say anything is okay. I’ll tell you what’s okay.

Q Is someone advising you that?

President Donald Trump: Here’s what’s okay: If we feel there’s corruption, like I feel there was in the 2016 campaign — there was tremendous corruption against me — if we feel there’s corruption, we have a right to go to a foreign country.

And just so you know — just so you know, I was investigated. I was investigated. Okay? Me. Me. In my campaign — I ran, I won. I was invest- — you won’t say that, will you? I was investigated. I was investigated. And they think it could have been by UK. They think it could have been by Australia. They think it could have been by Italy. So when you get down to it, I was investigated by the Obama administration. By the Obama administration I was investigated. So when these people talk —

But as far as I’m concerned, what I want to look at and what we want to investigate: anything having to do with corruption.

Q In your view, Mr. President, do you view China as an ally, a partner, or an adversary?

President Donald Trump: I view China as somebody we’re trying to make a deal with; we have a very good chance of making a deal with. We’ve had good moments with China. We’ve had bad moments with China. Right now, we’re in a very important stage in terms of possibly making a deal. If we make it, it will be the biggest trade deal ever made — if we make it.

But I view China as somebody that we deal with on the world stage. I would like to get along with China if we can. And if we can, that’s great. If we can’t, that’s okay, too.

But what we’re doing is we’re negotiating a very tough deal. If the deal is not going to be 100 percent for us, then we’re not going to make it.

And I will — and I will say this. I will say this. I will say this: China very much wants to make this deal. China is getting killed. The tariffs are killing China. What’s happened is they have now 3 million loss of jobs, their chains are broken up. If you look at their supply chain, which is a disaster — companies are going to other countries, including us. China, right now, is a total disaster.

Q Mr. President, does a trade with China have anything to do with an investigation into Joe Biden? And will you ask Xi to investigate?

President Donald Trump: No, no, no. Let me tell you: I’m only interested in corruption. I don’t care about politics. I don’t care about Biden’s politics. I never thought Biden was going to win, to be honest. I picked somebody else a long time ago. And we’ll see what happens.

But I never thought Biden was going to win. But I don’t care. I mean, frankly, if he won, I’d be very happy. I think he’d be an easy opponent. But I never thought Biden was going to win. I don’t care about politics, but I do care about corruption. And this whole thing is about corruption. This whole thing — this whole thing is about corruption.

This is about corruption, and this is not about politics. This is about corruption. And if you look and you read our Constitution and many other things, we — I have an obligation to look at corruption. I have an actual obligation and a duty.

Q Are you going to comply with the House subpoenas?

President Donald Trump: What?

Q Are you going to cooperate with the House in this investigation?

President Donald Trump: I don’t know. That’s up to the lawyers. I know the lawyers think they’ve never seen anything so unfair. They’ve never seen anything so unjust. I’ve been President now for almost three years, and I’ve been going through this for almost three years. It’s almost become, like, a part of my day.

But in the meantime, we have the best economy we’ve ever had. We have the best job numbers we’ve had in 51 years. The best unemployment numbers that we’ve had in a half a century. The best numbers that we’ve ever had — African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, women — everything. We have the best numbers that we’ve had in many, many, many decades.

And you know what? People understand that. People are working. They’re making money. The — if you look at one very important number that was just announced: wages up 3 percent. That’s unheard of. That’s unheard of. So, it’s a great thing.

Q What about other Democrats? What about other Democrats?

President Donald Trump: I didn’t hear you. Go.

Q Mr. President, when did you first get the idea to investigate the Bidens’ activity in Ukraine? Who advised you to look into that?

President Donald Trump: We’re investigating corruption. We’re not investigating campaigns. I don’t care about his campaign. As I said, I didn’t think — I didn’t think and I don’t think Biden is going to win. All right? I don’t think.

And maybe to answer your question, when you say, “Who is going to win?” — I’d rather not make a prediction, but I do have a feeling about it.

I didn’t think — because I’ve watched Biden over the years, and Biden is not the brightest person. I never thought he was going to win. I never felt he was going to win. If you look at his other two campaigns, he was a one-percenter. He got very few votes. He got taken off of the garbage heap by Obama. Obama took him off the garbage heap. So it’s one of those things.

But I never thought that Biden — I didn’t think Biden was going to win. I guess that everybody has a shot. But I don’t think he would be, frankly, my toughest opponent.

And just to finish off — just to finish off, I don’t think that he will win. I didn’t think he was going to win, and I don’t think he’s going to win.

Q Joe Biden’s poll numbers are dropping pretty badly. Elizabeth Warren’s are rising. Bernie is sick. What do you think about facing Elizabeth Warren?

President Donald Trump: That’s fine. I mean, it’s fine. She’s a socialist and maybe worse than that. But we’ll see.

I heard — I haven’t seen his poll numbers. I haven’t seen Biden’s poll numbers. Look, Joe Biden was never going to make it. All right? He was never going to make it. He tried it twice. He’s at 1 percent. There’s a reason.

When I announced, I went to number one, day one, and I stayed there the entire primary season. I never was off center-stage. I was never given credit for that, but that’s okay. Except by Steve. The only one that gave me credit was Steve.

Q Did you try to talk to Rouhani at the UN?

President Donald Trump: Who?

Q Did you try to talk to Iran’s President?

President Donald Trump: No, they were trying to set up a meeting but he wanted sanctions lifted. And I said, “You must be kidding.” We had no interest. Rouhani wanted a meeting at the UN. We did talk. I didn’t speak to him personally, but our sides talked. He wanted sanctions lifted or partially lifted, and I said no.

Q (Inaudible) socialism in Venezuela for political campaign.

President Donald Trump: We’re watching Venezuela very, very closely. The people are suffering, and we are watching it very closely. We’re also giving big aid to Venezuela.

Now, one thing. I’m now going to Walter Reed Hospital. We’re going to be giving out five Purple Hearts to unbelievably brave young people.

And I’m going to meet you — some of you are going over. I don’t know. I think some of you are going over. So we could talk further over there. Although, when we’re there, I would like you to respect the process. We’re giving out Purple Hearts to very brave people, wounded warriors, people that have been — I mean, they’re just incredible people. And I’m going to be back here in probably two hours.

Thank you. Good job.