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RUSH: Look at this. The media is all atwitter. They’re gathered… There are throngs of ’em at Trump Tower. I don’t know. You just have to love this. I mean, there is an overflow crowd of media and people waiting for Trump emerge from his meeting with Reince Priebus of the Republican National Committee. At which meeting, by the way, CNN has sources telling them that Trump has signed the Republican National Committee loyalty pledge. Big, big, big deal.

Yeah, see, they’re all worried that Trump wouldn’t go support the Republican nominee if it’s not him. They’re all worried Trump would go third party. If Trump goes third party, that screws everything up because the Democrats win is practically automatic, at least that’s been the histoire. So they’ve been after Trump to sign this pledge. It looks like he signed the pledge, and now they’re all waiting for Trump to come out and address the media with the big news that he has signed the pledge.

And like I said moments ago, I happen to think that this is gonna work the other way around. What’s happened here is that all of these other Republicans have ended up pledging that they will support Trump if he’s the nominee. I don’t know that that was the original intent of this, and I don’t know how many of these Republicans support Trump. I don’t know how much anger there is. There he is. Can we JIP this? Are our microphones there today at Trump Tower? Yeah? Well, let’s see what he’s saying. He just hit the microphone.

TRUMP: …from the Republican Party.

RUSH: Right.

TRUMP: We’re leading in every single poll.

RUSH: (laughing)


TRUMP: A new poll came out today where we’re over 30%. We’ve, actually, hit numbers as high as 35 and 40%. And, frankly, I felt that the absolute best way to win and to beat the Democrats — and very easily, I think. Beat the Democrats no matter who it may be, whether it’s Hillary or anybody else. And I think maybe Hillary’s going to have a very hard time, frankly, with what’s happening, getting to the starting gate. The best way for the Republicans to win is if I win the nomination and go directly against whoever they happen to put up. And for that reason, I have signed the pledge.

CROWD: (hoots, cheers and applause)

RUSH: He’s showing the pledge now, folks. He’s displaying it to people.

TRUMP: So I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands —

RUSH: (laughing)

TRUMP: — and we will go out, and we will fight hard, and we will win. We will win. And most importantly, we will make our country great again because that’s what it’s all about.

CROWD: (cheers and applause)

TRUMP: We have to make our country great again. With that, are there any questions?

REPORTER: (unintelligible) …why would anyone think the pledge … money…? Why would anyone think this pledge means anything to you?

TRUMP: This is a self-funded campaign. We have our heart in it; we have our soul in it. I don’t need money. I don’t want money. And this is going to be a campaign like, I think, no other. I’m not controlled by lobbyists. I’m not controlled by anybody. I’m controlled by the people of the country in order to make our country great again. Yes, sir?

REPORTER: (unintelligible) …what did you (garbled) you’re a great negotiator? You talk about that all the time. You said you got (unintelligible)?

TRUMP: Yeah, I got nothing. All I have… Yeah. Yeah. I really got nothing. The question was, what did I get for signing the pledge? Absolutely nothing, other than the assurance that I would be treated fairly. And I’ve seen that over the last two months. They really have been very fair.

REPORTER: (unintelligible) … change your mind?

TRUMP: No, I have no intention of changing my mind.

REPORTER: Mr. Trump, what changed? What changed the past several weeks when you were asked to raise your hand?

TRUMP: Well, I think the big thing, Dana, that’s changed — and it’s been obvious to all — is number one, after I announced, we went up like a rocket ship. Nobody thought I was gonna run and they said, “Oh, he won’t run, and he won’t put in his papers, and he won’t do all of this.” I did that. The paper, in terms of the company, turned out to be spectacular. It’s a great company. I built a great company.

And all of the other papers have turned out to be very well received, and I think the thing that changed was that I went to number one place very quickly after I signed and after I — in this building — notified everybody that I’d be running for president. So I think the biggest thing is that I went early to number one, and the RNC has treated me with great respect. So that was very important. Yes?

RUSH: When you see this… Check the crowd behind him, folks, when you see this.

TRUMP: There are no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge.

REPORTER: Mr. Trump, Governor Christie today said you are so consumed, and he (unintelligible) Reince Prebus (unintelligible) to beg you this time?

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TRUMP: Well, you don’t have to be met when you’re at 2%.

CROWD: (laughing)

TRUMP: It’s one of those things. That’s the way life works.

REPORTER: Why did you —

TRUMP: And I like Governor Christie, by the way.

CROWD: (laughing)

REPORTER: (unintelligible)

TRUMP: Well, the chairman asked if he could come up. You saw him. He was here a little while, and I was greatly honored that he did come up, frankly.

REPORTER: Mr. Trump, could you (crosstalk)? Could you clarify your comments, um, you said, um, that Jeb Bush (crosstalk) (unintelligible) wasn’t setting an example by speaking Spanish to a crowd? Could you clarify that?

TRUMP: Well, I think that when you get right down to it, we’re a nation that speaks English, and I think while we’re in this nation, we should be speaking English, and that’s how assimilation takes —

CROWD: (hoots and applause)

TRUMP: — and that’s how… I mean, whether people like it or not, that’s how we assimilate, and that’s how we go on to that next phase and that next stage, and that’s how people that don’t speak English… I’m not just talking about Spanish. I’m talking about from various parts of the world. That’s how they will become successful and do great. So I think it’s more appropriate to be speaking English. Yes?

REPORTER: (unintelligible)

TRUMP: Well, one of the things I want to do — and I feel very strongly — it’s a country based on borders, and our country is based on laws. And when people come into the country illegally, we should not allow that. And this is not from South America. This is not from Mexico. This is from all over the world. When people come illegally, we cannot allow that. And I want people to come legally. I want very much to take care of our border because our southern border is a total mess.

That’s been proven. And interestingly, a couple of months ago when I announced, I made some very strong statements about the crime and the problems that were happening, and I’ve been proven right, and many of the people in this audience actually have apologized to me, which I very much appreciate. Of course, they haven’t done it publicly, but these are minor details. One day they will.

RUSH: (laughing)


TRUMP: The fact is that we are a nation that wants and needs borders. We’re a nation that wants and needs and is based on laws, and we will make sure that that takes place. With that being said, I want people to come into our country legally. I want to have a big, fat, beautiful open door. I want people of great talent to come in for Silicon Valley. I want engineers! I want physicists! I want people with great talent to come into the United States.

When people graduate from college, you can be number one in your class at Harvard or number one at Yale or the Wharton School of Finance or Princeton or Stanford, and immediately — if you’re not a citizen of the United States — you get thrown out of the country! We want those people to stay. We want people of great talent to be in the United States to work here, and ultimately to become a citizen.

REPORTER: (unintelligible)

TRUMP: I don’t know enough about it to comment on it. Was she jailed? I really don’t know much about it.

REPORTER: (unintelligible)

TRUMP: No, no. Yes. Go ahead.

REPORTER: (unintelligible)

TRUMP: That’s absolutely false. I win at golf. I win at golf. That I can tell you.

RUSH: She accused him of cheating at golf.

REPORTER: (unintelligible)

TRUMP: Yes?

REPORTER: (unintelligible)

TRUMP: Well, I understand how the system works maybe better than anybody. I understand the political system, and I understand also very much a system of coming in for illegal immigrants. Don’t forget: If I didn’t bring up the subject of illegal immigration, you wouldn’t be asking the question, nobody would even be talking about immigration, and immigration — and in particular illegal immigration — has become a very big factor.

Now, a lot of bad things have happened with respect to crime since I brought it up. But if I didn’t bring it up, immigration would not even be a subject that we’re talking about, and it happens to be a very important subject. I have to say this. It can also be a very positive subject because I believe so strongly in immigration, and I just (say) we have to stop illegal immigration, and we have to look forward to great immigration done in a legal matter. But if I didn’t bring it up, nobody would be talking about it.

RUSH: Donald, it’s time to start wrapping this up now, Donald. We gotta break here.

TRUMP: Go ahead.

RUSH: Donald, about time to end this, Donald.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: Well, there is gridlock in Congress right now and that’s because there’s no leadership at the top. You have to be able to lead. You have to get people into your office. You have to get people go to them, any way you want to do it, but you have to be able to lead. There is no leadership at the top. Signing executive orders is not the way our country was supposed to be run. Yeah, go ahead.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: I don’t want to talk about that here. It’s inappropriate. Yes, sir, go ahead.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: Tom Brady? Well, Tom Brady is a very good friend of mine. He’s a great guy, for those of you that don’t know him. He’s a very honorable guy and an honest guy and a truly great athlete. He is really a very good friend of mine, and I just spoke to him a little while ago. He’s so thrilled and so happy. Tom Brady, I think what they’ve done is terrible, and he’s been exonerated, as I understand it, ’cause I just heard about it, but I’m very happy for Tom. As far as the commissioner is concerned, they’re having a rough year, let’s face it, they’re having a very rough year. Yeah, go ahead.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)


TRUMP: Well, in Europe they have tremendous problems where people going in and storming, and it’s a huge humanitarian problem, and I just say this. The United States has tremendous problems of their own. We have infrastructure that we have to fix. We have bridges and roads and tunnels and everything’s falling apart. Our nation’s in such trouble. That’s why being a builder, and a great builder and a very successful builder, I think will greatly help. But we have so many of our own problems, including the border, including the wall, which we will get built, including all of the things we have, health care, which is a mess.

You know, if you look at Obamacare, the premiums have gone up 45, 50, 55%. People are saying this is turning out to be a disaster. Deductibles are through the roof. The deductibles on Obamacare, it’s through the roof. So we have a lot of problems. We have to take care of our vets. We have to build up our military. Just the other day, General Odierno said that the Army is in the worst shape in its history in terms of preparedness. Now, for them to be in bad shape with the way we are and with the world hating us, and you look at Hillary Clinton, and I’ve said she’s the worst secretary of state in the history of this country.

Now, in all fairness, because of the agreement that’s about to be finalized with Iran, John Kerry may very well take her place. I think that agreement is a disaster for this country, for Israel, for the Middle East. It’s going to lead to nuclear proliferation, the 24-day clause, everything about it, we don’t even get our prisoners back. You say, who negotiates a thing like that? That won’t happen, I can guarantee you with a President Trump. All right, one or two more questions.

RUSH: See, I knew it. He’s gonna wrap it up.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: You’ll see it later. Yeah. They don’t want to hear it. Yeah, go ahead.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: Could you stand up, please?

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: All I want them to do — yeah — and say hello to Rosanna and Greg, okay? Great people. I would say very simply, I just want to be treated like everybody else. You see, I was always the fair haired boy. I was a big contributor, nobody noticed the system, but I was on the other side, and I was the elite, I was the fair-haired person. Once I ran all of a sudden I was a little bit of an outsider. I became an outsider because I was running ’cause I wasn’t supposed to run. I’m this businessman that people have given me great credit as being a great businessman, but I’m not supposed to be running for office.

The fact is that our country is being killed on trade by China, by Japan, by Mexico, both at the border and on trade, and I’m not knocking those countries. Their leaders are much, much smarter than our leaders. They are absolutely killing us. China, taking our jobs, taking our money, taking our base, and think of this. We owe China $1.4 trillion. And we’re paying them interest. We owe Japan, with all of the cars coming in, the same amount, $1.4 trillion. That’s like a magic act. They send the cars in, they take our jobs, they do everything, and we owe them money. That’s not gonna happen with me.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: It’s been a long time. Go.

RUSH: This has gotta be it, Donald. We gotta get out of here.

TRUMP: Well, Jeb Bush is a very nice man, I’ll be honest. I think he’s a very nice person. I think he’s a very low energy person and I don’t think that’s what the country needs. I hear that he’s gonna spend a lot of money on negative ads on me, and honestly, look, he’s getting the money from special interests. He’s getting the money from lobbyists and his donors. And they’re making him do it because he’s crashing in the polls. So I don’t know what’s gonna happen. If he spends 20 million or $25 million on negative ads, I don’t know. I know that my life will continue. I just don’t know. I mean, nobody’s ever spent money on ads against me.

But he probably has to do that, although it would not be the way I’ve done it. You know, one of the things that I’m most honored about is that so far everybody that’s attacked me has gone down the tubes. You have Lindsey Graham attacked me, he was at 3%, now he’s at zero. You have Perry attacked me, now he’s getting out of the race. He was at four or five percent, now he’s getting out of the race. He was at zero. Everybody, Rand Paul attacked me. I see the last poll, the Monmouth poll just came out today where I’m leading by double figures, and Rand Paul is down to less than 2%. And he attacked me.

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Now, Jeb Bush also just went down in the Monmouth poll very big. So I don’t know. I mean, they’re gonna spend — he’s going to spend lobbyists’ money and special interests’ money. Remember this: They have total control over Jeb and Hillary and everybody else that takes that money. Nobody knows the system better than me.

RUSH: Folks, we’ve gotta get out here. We have we have to we have to go to our break. We stuck with this as long as we could. Be right back, however. Don’t miss it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Trump’s still going. We’ll get back to it. He just said that he’s unhappy Rand Paul is still in the debate. They haven’t kicked him out yet, doesn’t deserve to be there, but Carly Fiorina does.

TRUMP: I said I don’t know if it’s appropriate, Reince, for you to be here, because I don’t want anything, you know, you guys will end up saying he’s endorsing Trump. That would be inappropriate for him. So I suggested, frankly, that I’m fine with him not being here because I don’t want anybody to think he’s endorsing. As far as Jeb is concerned, I watched him this morning on television, and it’s a little bit sad. Don’t forget, he was supposed to win, and he just doesn’t have the energy. But what he does have is a lot of — a lot of money that was given to him, again, by special interests, donors, and lobbyists. And I just hope that if he spends money on ads, which he may not, if I were him I’d spend money on positive ads about himself. Because if he knocks me, assuming people leave, and maybe they’re at a point where they’re not gonna leave ’cause they’re fed up with what’s happening in this country, but I think they’re gonna go to people other than Jeb. Yeah, go ahead.

REPORTER: (Unintelligible)

TRUMP: I don’t know. Right now I’m interested in jobs. One thing, and one of the groups that was actually CNN, I shouldn’t say that, but they did a very massive poll, and I came out number one in leadership, number one on the economy, number one in jobs producing. And I don’t mean by number one, I mean like number one by many, many times. And I am so intent on putting people back to work in this country. You know, we have 93 million people that are not in the workforce right now, 93 million.

RUSH: Ninety-four.

TRUMP: When they give up looking for a job, they take ’em off the stats, they take ’em off the statistics. We have 93 million people. We have 50 million people between poverty levels and welfare and all — Our country can be great again. We have to put people back to work. All right, one or two more.

RUSH: Okay, on that note we have to bump out again. I’m sure you understand, ladies and gentlemen. What a pleasant surprise for you Trumpsters. We didn’t know this was gonna happen. We had the flexibility. Our microphones were there, we were able to JIP this, and you got to hear some of it. Maybe more when we get back. We’ll see.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT


RUSH: When you watch this, Donald Trump loves this. He loves taking questions. I’m trying to think. I can’t remember the last political figure that you had to drag off the stage and people didn’t want him to leave. I can’t remember that. He’s done three encores here. Can you imagine Hillary Clinton doing something like this? Hillary Clinton wouldn’t get anywhere near something like this. She doesn’t want to answer a single question. She doesn’t want to have anybody this open an opportunity to ask her questions.

This place, Trump Tower, is mobbed with people. And when you see pictures of it tonight, when you look at the crowd behind Trump, what you’re gonna see — remember, he signed the pledge, he held up the pledge, he signed the pledge, and what it really means is that all these other Republicans have pledged to support him if he wins. It’s a two-way Street. It’s not just that he won’t run third party. So I don’t know if these people think they’ve pulled a fast one on him by making him sign the pledge, it might come back and bite ’em.

But you’re gonna see a Republican Party with a huge tent. Did you see those people behind him? You had every race and ethnicity and gender and perhaps orientation you could think of standing behind him. I don’t think any were actors. That’s what Obama does. Obama’s the one that hires the actors to stand behind him. Whoever else. But I mean the point is he clearly loves this. He’s having great time, and if he gets a question he doesn’t want, “I’m not gonna answer that, it’s inappropriate.” I don’t know what the question was. But he doesn’t look uncomfortable with whatever comes his way. He just absorbs it. He eats it up.

While you were away, in one of the breaks one of the final things that he said, I think it was during a break, he was talking about Jeb and almost felt sorry for him. (imitating Trump) “It’s sad,” he said, “It’s really sad about Jeb. He’s got all these people making him do these things and giving money to do these things,” and he gave Jeb some advice. He says (paraphrasing), “You’re getting ready to spend all these people’s money attacking me. What you ought to do is maybe do some ads building yourself up.” He practically invited Jeb to do the attack ads. He invited anybody, “Hit me, I’ve never had it happen before. We’ll see what happens when it does.” He reminded everybody he’s using his own money.

Somebody asked him, “What about Kanye West?” (imitating Trump) “I love Kanye West. Kanye West has never said a bad thing about me. Look, what you people gotta know, I only hit back. If you hit me, I’m gonna hit you right back. If you love Trump, then I’m gonna love you.” Which, by the way, is what I’ve always said ought to be our foreign policy. I’ve always said that ought to be our recipe for foreign aid. You love us, you respect us, you speak up for us, we’ll be glad to help you out. But if you don’t, you are on our excrement list, and it’s gonna take five years of your loving us for you to get off of it. That’s always been my foreign policy, particularly foreign aid. Why should we be giving money to people that rip us out there?

Anyway, welcome back, folks. It’s great to have you with us. This is the EIB Network.

Who else could get a 40-minute press availability after a signing meeting with the chairman of the Republican National Committee? Take any of these other candidates, put ’em anywhere, they’re gonna sign the pledge with Reince Priebus, do you think mobs of people would show up to be there after it happened? As I say, this is one of those rare things where, I mean, it took him 10 or 15 minutes to wrap this up. People didn’t want him to leave.

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