Posted on 09/25/2019 4:19:49 PM PDT by ransomnote
Remarks by President Trump and President Bukele of El Salvador Before Bilateral Meeting | New York, NY Issued on: September 25, 2019
InterContinental New York Barclay New York, New York
3:24 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Its a great honor to be with the President of El Salvador. Weve had a tremendous success because, two weeks ago, we signed a cooperation agreement, which is a big thing great for El Salvador, great for the United States. And we worked very, very well with our people. And I have great respect for you, and I really appreciate what youre doing.
The President has done an incredible job with MS-13. He realizes what a threat they are. And they have been very, very tough, and we all appreciate that. And thank you very much for the agreement.
PRESIDENT BUKELE: Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Please.
PRESIDENT BUKELE: Thank you, Mr. President. Well, were very happy to be here. Its an honor to be with the President of the United States and with his team. Its were very impressed and the whole team being here.
And actually, for us, the United States is not only a partner and an ally, but also a friend. And were going to show that friendship thats one of the reasons we signed the agreement is because we want to show that friendship to our most important ally, which is the United States. And for us, this is very, very important.
And looking forward, I mean, we have been a little more than 100 days in office, but we look forward to be working with President Trump for the next five years. So I think that will be very good for us.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I thought you were going to say longer than that. (Laughter.) Tell them a little bit longer, theyll love that. Thatll be breaking news.
PRESIDENT BUKELE: Im only going to be Im only going to be for five years.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I know. (Inaudible.) (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT BUKELE: You would need to talk with to talk with the next President.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes.
PRESIDENT BUKELE: So for were very happy to be here and were hoping that this meeting will only strengthen our relationship even more. And I think it will, because, you know, were President Trump is very nice and cool, and Im nice and cool, too. (Laughter.) So we both use Twitter a lot, so, you know, well get along. And were very honored. Were very honored, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, its our honor. Thank you very much. And were working together very well. And the relationship has been excellent.
Mr. Secretary, would you like to say something?
SECRETARY MCALEENAN: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, President Bukele. Its been a tremendous partnership in the first 100 days youve had in office, with all of your team: Minister Hill, Minister Rivas, your security minister. And I really see the advances that youre making on ending forced migration. Its very productive for the region, and well be there alongside supporting you. Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I think, importantly, we met with Honduras, as you know, and we also had meetings previous to this, but with Guatemala, and had tremendously successful meetings. We also signed agreements with them cooperation agreements. Some people use different terms, but we use the word cooperation agreement, and at the highest strength, and yours also. And thats good for all of us. Its really good for all of us.
Mexico has been fantastic on the border. Today we have 27,000 soldiers. The numbers are way down. What are the numbers you were just telling me?
SECRETARY MCALEENAN: Yeah. Were going drop again this month, Mr. President. It will be an over 60 percent reduction from the peak in May. And from Central America, it will be closer to 75 or 80 percent reduction.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. About an 80 percent I heard that before. Eighty-one percent. The catch and release is gone, as of almost now.
SECRETARY MCALEENAN: Thats right.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And there wont be catch and release. Were not releasing anybody into the country. And especially, we focus on the bad ones, but the bad ones get taken out. Were removing them from our country. Were moving them fast. And they are the ones that go first. You might want to discuss that a little bit.
Go ahead.
SECRETARY MCALEENAN: Absolutely. So we announced the end of the court-mandated catch and release of families from Central America. And weve been able to do that because of our partnerships with the region, like with El Salvador, on streamlining repatriation for those who dont claim asylum, and working with Mexico through the migrant protection protocol for families if they do claim asylums so that they can get an expedited court hearing. And thats been a very productive approach.
We reduced the overall flow, and were taking profits away from criminal smugglers, and were making great progress with our international partners under your leadership.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And Mexico, frankly, is doing a great job, with respect to the cartels, by having 27,000 soldiers on our border. Theyre decimating a lot of the cartels that were just really coming in. Theres so many people now. Theres so many bodies and really strong, tough, hardened soldiers there that its very hard for the cartels to break through. And a lot of bad were if you have a cartel, it has not been a good situation for you. So Mexico really is doing themselves a big favor, too.
But the President of Mexico has been outstanding in working with all of us, really.
PRESIDENT BUKELE: Yeah. (Inaudible.)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And were very happy.
The people that arent working with us are the Democrats. The Democrats in Congress are a disaster. We could solve so many more problems with the loopholes, which could be done literally in 15 I always say it 15, 20 minutes maybe 30, if were a little bit slower. But we could solve the loophole problem in a short period of time.
Despite that and we have asylum also, which we could solve immediately. But weve sort of solved asylum by going through different countries. Can you believe it? Where we go to El Salvador, Honduras; we go to Mexico; we go to Guatemala to solve problems of asylum because we cant go to the United States Congress because the Democrats are playing games. They dont have any time to do anything else. They dont have time to do gun safety. They dont have time to do infrastructure. They have time to do nothing else.
Ill tell you what: A lot of people are very angry at whats going on. They view it as you could never use the word joke, because its too serious. But they view it as something that should never take place. Theyre never going to see anything done with this group in Congress the Democrats. And thats why I really think the Republicans will take over the House. We might even increase in the Senate. And well keep the presidency and well do something that like this country has never seen before.
But Nancy Pelosi has been taken over by the radical left. I watched it. I just find it hard to believe. But shes been totally taken over by the radical left. And she does exactly as they want her to do. And a lot of her members now are having second thoughts. Theyre saying theyre in a very bad position. Theyre in a very bad position.
We were just with the President the new President of Ukraine and it was a fantastic meeting. He said, No pressure. No nothing. Its all a hoax. I call it the hoax. And this is just a continuation of the witch hunt. And thats all faded; thats all gone. And they had to come up with something else. The same players Adam Schiff, Nadler all the same players.
But now Nancy Pelosi was forced into a position that she didnt want to be in, and unfortunately she wasnt tough enough to stop it.
So thank you very much everybody. I think were going to be doing a news conference in a little while. And thatll be the end. Thank you very much. Thank you.
END
3:32 P.M. EDT
I really enjoyed this. Favorite part is hard to choose because there's a lot I found informative.
Favorite parts:
PRESIDENT BUKELE:
SNIP
And actually, for us, the United States is not only a partner and an ally, but also a friend. And were going to show that friendship thats one of the reasons we signed the agreement is because we want to show that friendship to our most important ally, which is the United States. And for us, this is very, very important.
And looking forward, I mean, we have been a little more than 100 days in office, but we look forward to be working with President Trump for the next five years. So I think that will be very good for us.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I thought you were going to say longer than that. (Laughter.) Tell them a little bit longer, theyll love that. Thatll be breaking news.
PRESIDENT BUKELE: Im only going to be Im only going to be for five years.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I know. (Inaudible.) (Laughter.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And thats why I really think the Republicans will take over the House. We might even increase in the Senate. And well keep the presidency and well do something that like this country has never seen before.
But Nancy Pelosi has been taken over by the radical left. I watched it. I just find it hard to believe. But shes been totally taken over by the radical left. And she does exactly as they want her to do. And a lot of her members now are having second thoughts. Theyre saying theyre in a very bad position. Theyre in a very bad position.
We were just with the President the new President of Ukraine and it was a fantastic meeting. He said, No pressure. No nothing. Its all a hoax. I call it the hoax. And this is just a continuation of the witch hunt. And thats all faded; thats all gone. And they had to come up with something else. The same players Adam Schiff, Nadler all the same players.
But now Nancy Pelosi was forced into a position that she didnt want to be in, and unfortunately she wasnt tough enough to stop it.
We need to demand the impeachment of President Trump for speaking in the open to a foreign president and doing so is a threat to the national security of the USA. (forthcoming statement from Dems)
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