President Donald Trump is launching his speech to the National Rifle Association with a recitation of grievances about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Speaking to the gun rights group's annual convention Friday, Trump said his political enemies "tried for a coup, didn't work out so well. And I didn't need a gun for that one, did I?'

The friendly audience applauded the quip, but Trump wasn't done. He said he's seen "corruption at the highest levels. A disgrace. Spying. Surveillance trying for an overthrow."

Mueller's probe found no evidence that Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election.

But his report contained damning detail about Trump's efforts to shut down the investigation, fire Mueller and lie. Some Democrats say there's ample evidence of obstruction of justice.

Trump said Democrats are "obsessed with hoaxes, delusions and witch hunts."  And in a pre-emptive attack against his 2016 Democratic challengers, Trump also claimed that Democrats "want to take away your guns.

And he told the thousands in the crowd: "You better get out there and vote," saying of the 2020 election, "It seems like it's a long ways away. It's not."

Trump also wished his wife, First Lady Melania Trump a happy birthday.

POOL

Indianapolis, Indiana - 26 April 2019

1. Donald Trump on stage, walking up to podium

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

"Well I want to thank Chris and Wayne. I'm thrilled to be here in Indiana with the men and women of the NRA. You are a great American patriots."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"And you see it now better than ever, with all of the resignations of bad apples, they're bad apples. They tried for a coup, didn't work out so well. And I didn't need a gun for that one, did I? All was taking place at the highest levels in Washington D.C. You've been watching, you've been seeing it. You've been looking at things that you wouldn't have believed possible in our country. Corruption at the highest level. A disgrace. Spying, surveillance, calling for an overthrow and we caught 'em. We caught em."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"America's future has never been brighter and yet Democrats have never been angrier. Especially now that their collusion delusion has been exposed to the world as a complete and total fraud."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"Democrats are obsessed with hoaxes, delusions and witch hunts, that's what they're obsessed with, that's what they want to do. And we can play the game just as well or better than they do. Far left radicals in Congress want to take away your voice, your jobs, your rights and they especially want to take away your guns, you know that. They want to take away your guns. You better get out there and vote. You better get out there and vote. It seems like it's a long ways away it's not. I was saying to Melania, our great first lady whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday Melania."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"In recent days, leading Democrats have proposed banning new guns and confiscating existing guns from law abiding citizens. What they don't tell you is the bad guys aren't giving up their guns. And you're not going to be giving up your guns, either."

++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++

President Donald Trump is launching his speech to the National Rifle Association with a recitation of grievances about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Speaking to the gun rights group's annual convention Friday, Trump said his political enemies "tried for a coup, didn't work out so well. And I didn't need a gun for that one, did I?'

The friendly audience applauded the quip, but Trump wasn't done. He said he's seen "corruption at the highest levels. A disgrace. Spying. Surveillance trying for an overthrow."

Mueller's probe found no evidence that Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election.

But his report contained damning detail about Trump's efforts to shut down the investigation, fire Mueller and lie. Some Democrats say there's ample evidence of obstruction of justice.

Trump said Democrats are "obsessed with hoaxes, delusions and witch hunts."  And in a pre-emptive attack against his 2016 Democratic challengers, Trump also claimed that Democrats "want to take away your guns.

And he told the thousands in the crowd: "You better get out there and vote," saying of the 2020 election, "It seems like it's a long ways away. It's not."

Trump also wished his wife, First Lady Melania Trump a happy birthday.

POOL

Indianapolis, Indiana - 26 April 2019

1. Donald Trump on stage, walking up to podium

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

"Well I want to thank Chris and Wayne. I'm thrilled to be here in Indiana with the men and women of the NRA. You are a great American patriots."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"And you see it now better than ever, with all of the resignations of bad apples, they're bad apples. They tried for a coup, didn't work out so well. And I didn't need a gun for that one, did I? All was taking place at the highest levels in Washington D.C. You've been watching, you've been seeing it. You've been looking at things that you wouldn't have believed possible in our country. Corruption at the highest level. A disgrace. Spying, surveillance, calling for an overthrow and we caught 'em. We caught em."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"America's future has never been brighter and yet Democrats have never been angrier. Especially now that their collusion delusion has been exposed to the world as a complete and total fraud."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"Democrats are obsessed with hoaxes, delusions and witch hunts, that's what they're obsessed with, that's what they want to do. And we can play the game just as well or better than they do. Far left radicals in Congress want to take away your voice, your jobs, your rights and they especially want to take away your guns, you know that. They want to take away your guns. You better get out there and vote. You better get out there and vote. It seems like it's a long ways away it's not. I was saying to Melania, our great first lady whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday Melania."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

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

"In recent days, leading Democrats have proposed banning new guns and confiscating existing guns from law abiding citizens. What they don't tell you is the bad guys aren't giving up their guns. And you're not going to be giving up your guns, either."

++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++

Agitated and angry, President Donald Trump squared off against Democrats on Wednesday, unloading a rambling string of name-calling attacks as lawmakers deepened their impeachment inquiry.

Democrats put the White House on notice that a wide-ranging subpoena would be coming for information about Trump's actions in the Ukraine matter as they try to push past the stonewalling of a probe that's testing the limits of the constitution's system of checks and balances.

"I believe that our constitutional responsibility rises above politics and that we have all sworn an oath of office," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren Wednesday during a gun policy forum in Nevada.

"We need to get out there and do what the Constitution requires of us and that is hold this president, who believes he is not subject to the law, to hold him accountable."

Las Vegas – 2 October 2019

1. Wide of Sen. Elizabeth Warren

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"A hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election for the purpose of helping Donald Trump. Part two, then-candidate Donald Trump welcomed that help. And then part three, when our federal government tried to investigate part 1 and part 2, Donald Trump did everything he could to interfere with that investigation which is a violation of the law. No one is above the law."

3. Cutaway of Warren

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"I believe that our constitutional responsibility rises above politics and that we have all sworn an oath of office and we need to get out there and do what the Constitution requires of us. And that is hold this president who believes he is not subject to the law to hold him accountable."

5. Sen. Cory Booker walks to gaggle

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Cory Booker, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"The President of the United States, forget this investigation, on the Mueller investigation was not allowing the subpoenaing of documents, not allowing people to come and testify before Congress. That is not allowing Congress to do its job. That is problematic. That's why I moved, not as quickly as many others, but that's what made me move to calling for impeachment proceedings because the Constitution sets up checks and balances. It is against our Constitution when a president thinks he's above those checks and balances. That's like he's not behaving like the leader of the free world he's behaving more like a dictator would. So yeah. Mueller did not clear him of obstruction. He gave 10 examples of behavior and actions that could constitute obstruction. We have an obligation in Washington to investigate those things and now the clarity with which we see the president in his own words pointing to a potential impeachable offense. So we need to investigate him and we need to have the authority with which to do that and impeachment proceedings give us tremendously more legal leverage to make sure that this investigation can continue. The American people deserve to know the truth."

7. Wide of Booker

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"I am deeply troubled and saddened that the United States Congress, with all of the work that we need to get done on everything from smart gun safety laws, to what we need to do to have an infrastructure plan to what we need to do to deal with the climate crisis that we are going to have to spend our time holding accountable a president who is lawless and who is evidenced no respect for the oath of office that he has taken. Oh that it didn't have to happen. But it does in defense of our democracy and in defense of the construct of our democracy which says that when you have a member of any branch of government in this case the executive who has violated the trust and abused their powers they have to be held accountable. Am I looking forward to this? I absolutely wish we were not at this moment. I wish so many things that are just not possible because Donald Trump is not capable of what I believe a president should be."

9. Wide of Harris

Agitated and angry, President Donald Trump squared off against Democrats on Wednesday, unloading a rambling string of name-calling attacks as lawmakers deepened their impeachment inquiry.

Democrats put the White House on notice that a wide-ranging subpoena would be coming for information about Trump's actions in the Ukraine matter as they try to push past the stonewalling of a probe that's testing the limits of the constitution's system of checks and balances.

"I believe that our constitutional responsibility rises above politics and that we have all sworn an oath of office," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren Wednesday during a gun policy forum in Nevada.

"We need to get out there and do what the Constitution requires of us and that is hold this president, who believes he is not subject to the law, to hold him accountable."

Las Vegas – 2 October 2019

1. Wide of Sen. Elizabeth Warren

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"A hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election for the purpose of helping Donald Trump. Part two, then-candidate Donald Trump welcomed that help. And then part three, when our federal government tried to investigate part 1 and part 2, Donald Trump did everything he could to interfere with that investigation which is a violation of the law. No one is above the law."

3. Cutaway of Warren

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"I believe that our constitutional responsibility rises above politics and that we have all sworn an oath of office and we need to get out there and do what the Constitution requires of us. And that is hold this president who believes he is not subject to the law to hold him accountable."

5. Sen. Cory Booker walks to gaggle

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Cory Booker, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"The President of the United States, forget this investigation, on the Mueller investigation was not allowing the subpoenaing of documents, not allowing people to come and testify before Congress. That is not allowing Congress to do its job. That is problematic. That's why I moved, not as quickly as many others, but that's what made me move to calling for impeachment proceedings because the Constitution sets up checks and balances. It is against our Constitution when a president thinks he's above those checks and balances. That's like he's not behaving like the leader of the free world he's behaving more like a dictator would. So yeah. Mueller did not clear him of obstruction. He gave 10 examples of behavior and actions that could constitute obstruction. We have an obligation in Washington to investigate those things and now the clarity with which we see the president in his own words pointing to a potential impeachable offense. So we need to investigate him and we need to have the authority with which to do that and impeachment proceedings give us tremendously more legal leverage to make sure that this investigation can continue. The American people deserve to know the truth."

7. Wide of Booker

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"I am deeply troubled and saddened that the United States Congress, with all of the work that we need to get done on everything from smart gun safety laws, to what we need to do to have an infrastructure plan to what we need to do to deal with the climate crisis that we are going to have to spend our time holding accountable a president who is lawless and who is evidenced no respect for the oath of office that he has taken. Oh that it didn't have to happen. But it does in defense of our democracy and in defense of the construct of our democracy which says that when you have a member of any branch of government in this case the executive who has violated the trust and abused their powers they have to be held accountable. Am I looking forward to this? I absolutely wish we were not at this moment. I wish so many things that are just not possible because Donald Trump is not capable of what I believe a president should be."

9. Wide of Harris

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus124540

Agitated and angry, President Donald Trump squared off against Democrats on Wednesday, unloading a rambling string of name-calling attacks as lawmakers deepened their impeachment inquiry.

Democrats put the White House on notice that a wide-ranging subpoena would be coming for information about Trump's actions in the Ukraine matter as they try to push past the stonewalling of a probe that's testing the limits of the constitution's system of checks and balances.

"I believe that our constitutional responsibility rises above politics and that we have all sworn an oath of office," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren Wednesday during a gun policy forum in Nevada.

"We need to get out there and do what the Constitution requires of us and that is hold this president, who believes he is not subject to the law, to hold him accountable.

Las Vegas – 2 October 2019

1. Wide of Sen. Elizabeth Warren

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"A hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election for the purpose of helping Donald Trump. Part two, then-candidate Donald Trump welcomed that help. And then part three, when our federal government tried to investigate part 1 and part 2, Donald Trump did everything he could to interfere with that investigation which is a violation of the law. No one is above the law."

++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Cory Booker, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"The President of the United States, forget this investigation, on the Mueller investigation was not allowing the subpoenaing of documents, not allowing people to come and testify before Congress. That is not allowing Congress to do its job. That is problematic. That's why I moved, not as quickly as many others, but that's what made me move to calling for impeachment proceedings because the Constitution sets up checks and balances. It is against our Constitution when a president thinks he's above those checks and balances. That's like he's not behaving like the leader of the free world he's behaving more like a dictator would.

++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, (D) Presidential Candidate:

"I am deeply troubled and saddened that the United States Congress, with all of the work that we need to get done on everything from smart gun safety laws, to what we need to do to have an infrastructure plan to what we need to do to deal with the climate crisis that we are going to have to spend our time holding accountable a president who is lawless and who is evidenced no respect for the oath of office that he has taken. Oh that it didn't have to happen. But it does.

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.

Heated town halls peppered moderate Democratic lawmakers as they took a two week-recess from Washington to hear straight from their constituents about the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

There's been nothing quiet about their first visits home.

In front of New Hope Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, supporters of President Donald Trump hollered for his re-election and inside, Rep. Elaine Luria personally delivered her call for Trump's impeachment, drawing a standing ovation from more than half of the 200 or so people attending her town hall - and a few jeers, shut down quickly by church security officials.

"I got no problem throwing you out," the Rev. James Allen, the moderator, told one heckler. "If you can't sit here and be respectful, get out."

The man, a Trump supporter, agreed to quiet down and stay. But the signs were there that Luria's call last month for Trump's impeachment sits uneasily among some of her constituents in one of the most deeply split congressional districts in the country.

It's not clear, though, that the calls for formal charges against Trump have generated a voter backlash, even in districts like Luria's.

Luria, along with six other freshmen who flipped Republican districts in 2018, played critical roles laying the groundwork for the impeachment inquiry.

They had resisted calls for the Republican president's impeachment over Russia's election interference. But details of Trump's pressure on Ukraine's president to investigate the Biden family was, Luria and the others wrote in The Washington Post opinion article, a clear abuse of power and an impeachable offense. Their column, in part, freed up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to launch formal impeachment proceedings.

In Luria's district, national security is understood perhaps better than elsewhere: 1 in 5 people are active military personnel, veterans or their families are.

"You do have very heavy military and veteran presence there and it remains to be seen how persuadable a lot of those voters may be who may be Republican leaning but maybe again persuadable on, on questions of the president's conduct," said Kyle Kondik, an elections analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and national Democrats are closely watching districts like it for clues to whether their drive to impeach Trump supports or imperils the party's congressional and presidential ambitions in 2020.

In Michigan, another front line Democratic freshman and co-author of the Op-Ed, Michigan's Elissa Slotkin, faced boos - and then applause - when she started explaining why she, too, had called for an impeachment investigation.

Slotkin's district was carried by Trump by 7 percentage points in the 2016 election.

"For me, involving foreigners in our political affairs was beyond the pale," she said. "All I can tell you is I did not come to this lightly, and I did not want to be doing this, I felt compelled to do it. "

She was confronted by one town hall attendee who said a decision to impeach Trump will cost Slotkin her seat.

Back in Virginia, Luria also acknowledged the impeachment decision may cost her.

"I feel very strongly that I made the right decision," said Luria, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and black belt in taekwondo. Her home, a short walk from spectacular views of the Virginia Port Authority and not far from Norfolk Naval Station, is adorned with ceramics and other souvenirs that she and her husband, Robert Blondin, picked up on their global travels.

It's was sentiment Luria repeated that night at the town hall at the E. Ray Cox Sr. Convocation Center. Eight miles away, 12 people were killed during the May 31 mass shooting at Virginia Beach Municipal Center - including Ryan Keith Cox, the pastor's son. Luria opened the event by noting that the last time she spoke there, it was for the younger Cox's funeral. His coffin rested where she now stood to answer questions.

But the moment did little to ease the crackling political atmosphere in the room.

The retired naval nuclear engineer, 44, pointed out four people in the front row helped by her office on immigration, health care and veterans issues. And she mentioned work she's doing leading House subcommittees on seapower and disability assistance as a member of both the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees. She also said she's working on "common-sense universal background checks" for gun purchases.

Then Luria took questions, drawn from a plastic box and read by Allen. A bit more than half were supportive of her call for Trump's impeachment.

"Bravo," said one questioner, noting Luria's "brave patriotic decision on the impeachment inquiry."

Luria won the race over Republican retired Navy SEAL Scott Taylor by a little over 2 percentage points, while Trump won the district by more than 3 percentage points.

That makes the district, which straddles the place where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, a key bellwether in a state where people don't register by party.

Virginia Beach, Virginia - 3 October 2019

1. Pan, Congresswoman Elaine Luria walks into New Hope Baptist church for town hall meeting

2. Close-up audience applauding

3. Various town hall meeting

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. James Allen, town hall moderator, reading comments and questions:

"Bravo Zulu on your brave patriotic decision on the impeachment inquiry."

5. Mid, some members in the audience give Luria a standing ovation

6. Cutaway meeting

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Elaine Luria, (D) Virginia:

"And this instance is a clear instance of the President of the United States enlisting the help of a foreign leader to influence and malign a potential political opponent to affect the outcome of our next election, all under the guise of trying to fight corruption in another country.

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. James Allen, town hall moderator, to Trump supporter in the audience:

"I will throw you out, I don't have no problem about throwing you out. Now, if you have a question, we'll ask your question but you are not going to sit here and heckle the Congresswoman. We don't want to hear that. If you can't go, if you can't sit here and be respectful, get out."

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Washington - 4 October 2019

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyle Kondik, University of Virginia Center for Politics:

"If the Democrats tell the story right, it is probably an easier one to explain (than the Mueller report) and that maybe that's why some of these national security Democrats were willing to go along here, because one, they may have legitimately felt that the behavior was more egregious but it might also be that the behavior is easier to explain."

Hartland, Michigan - 3 October 2019

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Elissa Slotkin, (D) Michigan:

"For me, involving foreigners in our political affairs was beyond the pale. It just was beyond the pale."

11. Pull back of some in audience giving a standing ovation in the Cromaine Library

12. UPSOUND (English) Town hall attendee:

"There's anger out there. They are tired of this president being undermined and this is just another phase of this."

13. Slotkin listens to an attendee

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Elissa Slotkin, (D) Michigan:

"All I can tell you is I did not come to this lightly, and I did not want to be doing this. I felt compelled to do it. And I understand that there's disagreement, obviously."

15. Wide, town hall meeting

Washington - 4 October 2019

16. Wide, President Donald Trump standing in front of White House taking reporter questions

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

"This is about corruption and this is not about politics. This is about corruption. I really believe that they (the Democrats) are going to pay a tremendous price at the polls."

Hartland, Michigan - 3 October 2019

18. UPSOUND (English) Town hall attendee:

"If you guys go ahead and impeach him, we may never have this meeting again because you might be outa here."

19. Slotkin poses for a photo with constituent Larry Parsons

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Parsons, Slotkin Constituent:

"I think she's under control and influenced by (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and not her constituents. There's nothing that the president has done that is impeachable. And I totally respect people's opinions. That's why we vote. And we don't impeach presidents, because we didn't vote for them."

21. Various of Slotkin constituent Tom Moran and others outside the library

22. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Moran, Slotkin Constituent:

"I salute Elissa Slotkin for standing up and being willing to risk her career on a principle."

Norfolk, Virginia - 3 October 2019

23. Close-up sign of Norfolk

24. Various views of navy ships

Washington - 4 October 2019

25. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyle Kondik, University of Virginia Center for Politics:

"You do have very heavy military and veteran presence there and it remains to be seen how persuadable a lot of those voters may be who may be Republican leaning but maybe again persuadable on on questions of the president's conduct. But yeah, I mean that's ... of all the congressional districts in the country, of course, many of them are super Democratic or super Republican not really competitive. Virginia 2 is right about right near the center of the country in terms of the median and you know average House district."

Norfolk, Virginia - 3 October 2019

26. Pan view of Congresswoman Elaine Luria's home

27. SOUNDBITE: (English) Elaine Luria, (D) Virginia:

"You know, people sent me to Washington to make tough choices and you know, I spent 20 years in the military.  I didn't spend 20 years in the Navy to watch this happen, to watch the Constitution be trampled on and I feel very strongly that I made the right decision."

Virginia Beach - 3 October 2019

28. Pan, people arriving at the New Hope Baptist church for town hall meeting

29. SOUNDBITE (English) Francine Humphrey, Virginia Beach resident:

"For the community that we serve, you know,  there are going to be mixed feelings about it but I think it will make us stronger because we are actually doing something and not waiting for something to happen."

30. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick McShane, Virginia Beach resident:

"One of the reasons I wanted to thank her, because it is not an easy district. A lot of military here. We are very moderate.  But sometimes the right thing is the right thing, but it is hard to do and I appreciate her doing it."

31. Pan of meeting

32. SOUNDBITE: (English) Elaine Luria, (D) Virginia:

"You know, I think it is pretty clear, pretty clear from my opening remarks that we are focused on a lot of things. We are focused on a lot of things for this district and a lot of things for this country and it is very unfortunate that we find ourselves in this situation where we have to be focused on this. And it is not Adam Schiff and it is not the Democratic Party that got us here, it is the actions of President Trump."

33. Close-up audience applauds

34. Various, Luria addressing town hall meeting

35. Various, pro-Trump demonstration outside town hall meeting