Pool Reports of August 20, 2020

In town pool report #1

Good morning. I'm your in town pool reporter for today. The pool has been tested in advance of the visit by the Iraqi PM later this morning and then the afternoon trip to Penn.

Your pooler is currently waiting for a possible Larry Kudlow gaggle and will report any significant news from that if it happens.

Kayleigh McEnany just confirmed for the pool that there would be no briefing today.

More to come.

In-town pool report #2 Kudlow gaggle

Larry Kudlow gaggled for about 12 minutes on the driveway this morning. Here are some highlights:

On the economy:

Kudlow was bullish about the economy, saying "We are in a housing boom, not a recovery, a boom housing home builders sentiment is the highest in 22 years. Housing permits and starts are above the pre pandemic level. Retail sales are above the February level. And what's interesting to me, in production and manufacturing, every single one of those key indicators are V-shaped, every one."

He added: "I will acknowledge always the virus threat. Fortunately, now the new cases are off about 35% from their late July highs. And, fortunately the fatalities are leveling off and starting to come down. No one can be sure. Putting that aside. even the, you know, breakout in the hotspots in late June, and most of July, really didn't restrain this recovery very much."

On new stimulus:

"If it's smart and efficient. We have suggested to our friends across the aisle that we will put up more money for say opening schools, and the President's Executive Order puts more money to extending unemployment benefits. We're okay with that. We'll probably be okay with the post office increase although they got 10 billion in cash a few months ago. So yes, some spending, not massive, larded-up spending that was rejected last March."

On the Postal Service:

"My understanding is I mean, according to the Postmaster General, there haven't been slow downs. That's his side. He's a pretty smart guy, a logistics guy. But all these characterizations of stopping the vote and this and that, I just don't understand any of that stuff."

On China:

"Well, look, we're very cross with China on a number of issues, as you know: taking away freedom in Hong Kong, hacking, sabotage, espionage. Their performance during the opening moments of the China flu origination. Activities in the South China Sea. So we're very cross with them. But we have been and remain engaged on the phase one deal that was signed last January."

On Goodyear boycott:

"He looked at this and saw this company allowed certain slogans, one might say on the left, but not more conservative slogans. We don't think that's fair. We don't think corporations should be in that business of censoring conservative views. So for example, the blue line matters. That's support for cops, police. They are not allowed to have that. They're not allowed to use that, that is wrong."

"You know, my advice would here is change your policies, be equal and allow freedom of speech. That's my advice to Goodyear. It's a fine company, but they've got to play by the American rules. Okay, that was his problem."

On unemployment rate:

"They're already going down quite a bit, and they will go down further, I think we'll see single digit numbers."

Reaction to Apple / $2 trillion valuation:

"Well, look, the internet related companies have done great, because we've all moved to tele-something. Tele-conferences, tele-healthcare, tele-shopping. So, I say good for Apple. It's a well run company. I regard Tim Cook as a brilliant CEO, and I love success."

In-town pool report #3 -- Bannon

Your pooler attempted to get a comment from the White House on reports of Steve Bannon's arrest this morning on fraud charges. Alyssa Farah, the director of strategic communications, declined to comment.

Your pooler assumes that POTUS will likely get asked a question at the expected spray with the Iraqi PM later today.

In-town pool report #3b -- more on Bannon

Alyssa Farah adds the following on the Bannon reports: "I refer you to DOJ, this is not a White House matter."

In town pool report #4 — pool called for the spray

The pool has been called for the spray with the Iraqi PM. Will advise further soon.

In town pool report # 5 — POTUS on Bannon

Quick quotes by potus in Oval Office during meeting with Iraqi PM. Will send fuller quotes soon:

Re: charges against Bannon:

I feel very badly. I haven't been dealing with him for a very long period of time.

Haven't been dealing with him at all.

Don't know anything about the project at all.

It's a very sad thing by mr. Bannon

I don't like that project. I thought it was being done for showboating reasons.

(Regarding the efforts to fund a wall with private funds:)

It was something I very much thought was inappropriate to be doing.

In town pool report #6 — wh statement on Bannon

The White House passes this along:

Attributable to Kayleigh McEnany:

As everyone knows, President Trump has no involvement in this project and felt it was only being done in order to showboat, and perhaps raise funds. President Trump has previously and publicly stated the following:

"I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhaps it now doesn't even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles." - President Trump, July 12, 2020

President Trump has always felt the Wall must be a government project and that it is far too big and complex to be handled privately. The Trump Administration has already built over 300 miles of Border Wall, thanks to the great work of our Army Corps of Engineers, and will have almost 500 miles completed by the end of the year. Our southern border is more secure than it has ever been.

President Trump has not been involved with Steve Bannon since the campaign and the early part of the Administration, and he does not know the people involved with this project.

in town pool report #7 -- two more little pieces of news

The Oval spray is over now. Here are two more pieces of news, and then ill send over some of the conversation between POTUS and the Iraqi PM:

On the ruling by a judge saying POTUS must hand over his tax returns and other financial documents:

"Well, the Supreme Court said if it's a fishing expedition, you don't have to do it, and this is a fishing expedition. But more importantly, this is a continuation of the witch hunt, the greatest witch hunt in history. There's never been anything like it."

"So we'll probably end up back in the Supreme Court. But this is just a continuation of the most hideous witch hunt in the history of our country."

On reports of an opposition leader in Russia being poisoned:

"We haven't seen it yet. We're looking at it and Mike's gonna be reporting to me soon."

(that appeared to be a reference to Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, who was sitting on the couch to the left of POTUS, along with VPOTUS and Robert Obrien, the national security adviser.)

In town pool report #8 -- POTUS on Iraq

POTUS was sitting to the left of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the Prime Minister of Iraq. POTUS called him a "very highly respected gentleman." Here is a sampling of what POTUS said. Please check against transcript.

POTUS: "We will be discussing today, the obvious -- defense and offense, I have to say. We will be discussing military. We're also involved in many oil projects and oil development within their country. And I think we've had a very, very good relationship since we started. We're down to a very small number of soldiers in Iraq now."

Mr. Al-Kadhimi offered thanks for the support and the partnership with the United States.

QUESTIONS:

On Isis:

POTUS: "When we came into office, ISIS was running rampant all over Iraq and Syria. And we knocked out the 100% of the ISIS caliphate. But the Obama administration did a very poor job. They were running rampant all over. And we came in and did a real job. And we got rid of that. And that was a good thing. Now we're working with Iraq. They use the great American dollar, which is the most powerful currency in the world. And they're starting to do well, and we are with them."

On a timetable for withdrawing US troops and dealing with attacks in Iraq:

POTUS: '"So at some point, we obviously will be gone. We've brought it down to a very, very low level. We deal with, if there are attacks we take care of those attacks. So we take care of them very easily. Nobody has the weaponry we have. Nobody has the anything. Of what we have, we have the finest the greatest military in the world. When somebody hits us, we hit back harder than they hit us. So we handle it in addition to that, Iraq has been very helpful where necessary. But we have been taking our troops out of Iraq fairly rapidly. And we look forward to the day when we don't have to be there and hopefully Iraq can live their own lives and they can defend themselves, which they've been doing long before we got involved."

On the Kurds:

POTUS: "We have a very good relationship with the Kurds and we've also treated them very well."

Asked again about a timetable for withdrawal, POTUS asked Pompeo to answer:

POMPEO: "As soon as we can complete that mission,. The president has made very clear he wants to get our forces down to the lowest level as quickly as we possibly can given us and we're working with the Iraqis to achieve that."

will file more complete Bannon quotes next

in town pool report #9 -- full bannon comments

As always, check against final transcript:

POTUS: "Well, I feel very badly. I haven't been dealing with him for a long period of time as most of the people in this room know. He was involved in our campaign, He worked for Goldman Sachs. He worked for a lot of companies, but he was involved likewise in our campaign, and for a small part of the administration, very early on. Haven't been dealing with him at all."

"I know nothing about the project other than I didn't like when I read about it, I didn't like it. I said, this is for government. This isn't for private people. And it sounded to me like showboating. And I think I let my opinion be very strongly stated at the time. I didn't like it. It was showboating and maybe looking for funds, but you'll have to see what happens. I think it's a very sad thing for Mr. Bannon. I think it's surprising. But this was something is you know, just by reading social media and by reading, whatever it is, and by speaking to Mike and Mike and all of them, I didn't like that project. I thought that was a project that was being done for showboating reasons. I don't know that he was in charge. I didn't know any of the other people even. But it's, it's sad it's very sad."

Asked about what the charges say about a "culture of lawlessness" in his administration:

POTUS: "There was lawlessness in the Obama administration. They spied on our campaign illegally. And if you look at all of the things and all of the scandals they had, they had tremendous lawlessness. But I know nothing about -- I was not involved in the project. I have no idea who was. But I can tell you I didn't know the people that -- three people that were talked about were people that I did not know. I don't believe I ever met them. I don't think that should be a privately financed wall. I don't think -- it's too complex. It's too big. And we're now up to 300 miles almost -- in another week we can have -- we will be up to 300 miles of wall at the highest level. They were even having construction problems. I was reading, the little I know about it I got from you. I was reading where they were having construction problems with the wall that they were -- they had a small area just to show people they could build a wall and they were having a lot of problems where it was toppling over andother things. And I didn't like it because I didn't want to be associated with that. We've built a very powerful wall. It was a wall that is virtually impossible to get through. It's very, very tough. It's very strong. And it's everything the Border Patrol wanted. And I didn't want to have a wall that was going to be an inferior wall, and I felt this was going to be an inferior wall."

in town pool report # 10 -- full remarks on taxes

Here is my final report from the Oval, with fuller comments on the taxes. Please check against transcript.

POTUS: "Well, the Supreme Court said if it's a fishing expedition, you don't have to do it. And this is a fishing expedition. But more importantly, this is a continuation of the witch hunt, the greatest witch hunt in history. There's never been anything like it, where people want to examine everything you've ever done to see if they can find that there's a comma out of place. No president has ever had to go through this. The Supreme Court shouldn't have allowed this to happen. But no president has ever had to go through this. But what the Supreme Court did do is say, if it's a fishing expedition, you -- my interpretation is essentially you don't have to do it. So we'll probably end up back in the Supreme Court. But this is just a continuation of the most hideous witch in the history of our country. We beat Mueller. We won at every level and this, in Washington and DC, we won every level level. So now what they do, they send it into New York. So now we have an all Democrat state, allDemocrats and they send it into New York. This should never be allowed to happen to another president. This is a continuation of the most disgusting witch in the history of our country. All it is. The Supreme Court said a fishing expedition. This is the ultimate fishing expedition. Nobody has anything. We don't do things wrong. But they'll say let's go in and inspect every deal he's ever done. Let's get papers from 10 years -- every paper, every deal he's ever signed, maybe we can find with some lawyer made a mistake, where they didn't dot an 'i' where didn't put a comma down someplace, and then we can do something. This is a disgrace. This should never ever be allowed to happen again."

In town pool report #11 — Iraqi PM has departed the WH

POTUS walked the prime minister from the front door of the West Wing to the motorcade, which departed out the Northwest gate at about 12:40 pm.

Your pooler is waiting for the departure for POTUS trip to Pennsylvania, which is the next thing listed on the schedule.

In town pool report #12 - update: no departure yet.

Your pool is sitting in the motorcade but as of now we are about 30 min behind schedule and have not left yet. Will advise when we leave.

In town pool report #13 — WH departure.

The motorcade departed the White House at 1:41 pm, headed to Joint Base Andrew's. Your pooler did not see POTUS.

In town pool report #13 — arrival at Andrews

The motorcade arrived at Joint Base Andrews at 2:02 pm. POTUS exited and boarded Air Force one a few moments later. Handing off now to the out-of-town pool for the time being.

Back with you later for the return to the White House.

In-town travel pool #14 - departure from Andrews

AF1 landed at 6:02 pm and POTUS deplaned several minutes later. Your pooler did not see POTUS. The motorcade is now moving, and we are heading back to the White House at 6:07 pm.

In town pool report #14a — false alarm, haven't left yet

Apologies. I sent the last pool report inadvertently early. POTUS has not yet deplaned. Will advise momentarily.

In town travel pool report #15 — truly leaving now.

Ok, the motorcade is actually leaving Andrews now at 6:12 pm and your pooler did in fact see POTUS deplane. We are rolling back to the White House.

In town travel pool report #16 — back at the White House.

The motorcade has returned to the White House at 6:36 pm (really!). Your pooler did not see POTUS this time.

In town pool report #17 — travel photo lid.

The White House announced a travel photo lid for the day. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Foreign pool report # 1 POTUS and Iraqi PM AL-Kazemi

Pool entered oval office at 11:25 , the two leaders were seated. PM Mustafa Al Kazemi spoke in English, he said :

"Thank you, Mr. President, I just want to thank you for receiving our delegation at the White House today. I'm grateful for all the support the United states gives us during the war against ISIS . This support strengthens our Our partnership for the best interest for our nation.

Mr. President yesterday we all we signed, many contracts with American companies over the minister. Iraq is open for American business and investment. And for better future for Iraq, and Iraqi people. Thank you very much."

The Iraqi Delegation including Foreign Minister, Electricity Minister, Finance and Oil Minsters.

Please check against official script.

Foreign pool report#2 IRAQ PM

Mr Kazemi answered two questions in Arabic . The first was about what kind of help the PM seeks from the US, he said that " they helpedenormously in defeating ISIS and also in toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, we are working on building a strong relationship that is based on joint interest between Iraq and the United States that is based on economic interest for the better future of the Iraqi people and the United States.

The second question was about Turkey's incursion in Northern Iraq . He said " the Turkish involvement is not acceptable and he is entering a dialogue with Turkey to ratify the situation. the Iraqi constitution does not allow Iraqi territory to be used to attack any member."

Your pooler asked POTUS on the continuous attack by pro Iran militias on US interests in Iraq including the US embassy in the Green zone and whether a report stating that the US will withdraw all forces in three years was true. Here is his answer:

"So at some point we obviously will be done. We've brought it down to a very very low level we deal with these attacks we take care of those attacks and we take care of them very easily. Nobody has the weaponry we have nobody has the anything of what we have we have the finest the greatest military in the world. When somebody hits us we hit back harder than they hit us, so we handle it. In addition to that, Iraq has been very helpful when necessary, but we have been taking our troops out of Iraq, fairly rapidly and we look forward to the day when we don't have to be there and hopefully Iraqis will live their own lives so they can defend themselves which had been doing long before we got involved."

Please check against official transcript.

Travel pool report #1 — Departure

Joint Base Andrews, Md.

Good afternoon from a beautiful August afternoon at Andrews Air Force Base. POTUS is on his way to Old Forge, Pa., for a campaign event, delivering remarks on a "half century of Joe Biden failing America."

POTUS arrived via motorcade to JBA and stepped off the Beast at 2:05 p.m. and stepped aboard AF1 shortly after without talking to press.

Spotted traveling with POTUS are Bill Stepien, Hope Hicks and Johnny McEntee.

POTUS is using the smaller AF1 today so the usual caveats about cell service on the plane apply. We are wheels up shortly.

Travel pool report #2 — Arrival in Pennsylvania

Avoca, Pa.

AF1 landed at 2:49 p.m. at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport after an uneventful flight, with no visitors to the back of the cabin.

Travel pool report #3 — POTUS greets supporters at Wilkes-Barre airport

Avoca, Pa.

POTUS stepped off AF1 on a beautiful sunny afternoon in Avoca, Pa., at 3:03 p.m. He waved to a big crowd of supporters, several wearing red "Keep America Great" and "Make America Great Again" hats, who cheered and chanted "Four more years!" and "We want Trump!" as he disembarked. "Eye of the Tiger" played over the speakers as the crowd awaited him.

POTUS walked over to the assembled crowd, talking to supporters for several minutes and giving thumbs up to them. Pool could not hear POTUS's comments to the crowd, but supporters here yelled "You are my favorite" and thanked him for his work. POTUS was still speaking to supporters, who were chanting "USA!" as pool was whisked away to the vans.

We are rolling as of 3:11 p.m.

Also on the trip: Dan Scavino and Kayleigh McEnany. The White House sends along the list of greeters:

Representative Dan Meuser (Tarmac)
United States Representative from Pennsylvania's 9th Congressional District

Lou Barletta (Tarmac)
Former United States Representative from Pennsylvania

Lisa Scheller (Air Force One)
Republican Nominee for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District

Jim Bognet (Air Force One)
Republican Nominee for Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District

Chairwoman Bernie Comfort (Tarmac)
State Chairwoman, Trump Victory Pennsylvania

Travel pool report #4 — Arrival at Mariotti Building Products

Old Forge, Pa.

The POTUS motorcade arrived at Mariotti Building Products, a renovation and remodeling business in Old Forge, at 3:21 p.m.

The roads leaving to the campaign event site were filled with hundreds of onlookers — most Trump supporters but many Biden backers as well. A sampling of signs: "Keep on Trumpin'", "Trump, You're Fired," "Fauci, You're Fired," many "Trump-Pence" flags, "Scranton loves Joe," and at least two life-sized cardboard cutouts of Trump's head on top of a Rambo-esque physique. "God Bless the USA" played at one point on the route.

Travel pool report #5 -- POTUS takes the stage

Old Forge, Pa.

POTUS took the outdoors stage here at Mariotti Building Products at 3:32 p.m. to a cheering crowd, about half the crowd wearing masks (including "MAGA" and "TRUMP" masks that come in red and black).

His remarks should be carried live.

Travel pool report #6 -- POTUS remarks at campaign event

Old Forge, Pa.

POTUS spoke until 4:35 p.m., standing before three large signs that read "JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!" and "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" (2). Also spotted here is Eric Trump, one of POTUS's sons. Some quotes from his campaign remarks, and as always, please check against the transcript.

On Obama's remarks last night: "He spied on our campaign, and got caught .. if that happened to another campaign on the other side … would've had 25 people in jail already."

On Democrats: "There was a certain sense of sanity four years ago. These people have gone insane.

"Joe Biden has pledged to hike your taxes by $4 trillion" and "waste that money on the Green New Deal."

"They want to take away your guns. So who's going to vote for that?" (the crowd said "no" and booed).

Trump said Democrats were "talking about abolishing the police, we're talking about abolishing ICE, and we're talking about abolishing prisons. The only thing they're not abolishing are taxes."

"If you want a vision of your life under a Biden presidency, think of the smoldering ruins in Minneapolis, the violent anarchy of Portland, the bloodstained sidewalks of Chicago and imagine the mayhem coming to our town and every single time in America."

Trump said "I doubt" Biden "can read" his speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention. Biden "hasn't taken a question from the fake news back there."

Trump, sarcastically, says "Slow Joe will speak at the Democratic convention and I'm sure he'll just knock them dead."

"He'll remind us that he was born in Scranton, but you know, he left, like, 70 years ago. He left a long time ago. … He wasn't born here. He abandoned Scranton. His family had something to do with that."

"He left. He abandoned Pennsylvania, he abandoned Scranton. He was here for a short period of time." On Biden in Washington: "He's been there for 47 years and now he's going to came here and make a change? I don't think so."

"Joe Biden is no friend of Pennsylvania … he's your worst nightmare." Biden "supported every single globalist attack on Pennsylvania workers," Trump said, citing various trade and climate accords.

He repeats the claim from earlier in the week: "This is just the way they're trying to steal the election. And everybody knows it, because the only way they're going win is by a rigged election. I really believe that."

"You have unions here, you have non unions, but what I talk about is the worker. They treated our workers horribly. … then he sold out and he passed the Cadillac tax on union health care, attacked their energy jobs and sent their factories to China and now he's back, begging for their votes."

Crowd loudly cheered when Trump said "I'll be back to Pennsylvania, that I promise."

On Gov. Wolf: "He's got you in a shutdown, still. Shutdown Wolf. He can't do this. He's going to destroy your soul. You know what happens, is depression, anxiety, problems with family members, drugs, heart attacks, obesity, I mean, what is he doing? It's more dangerous than the virus. He's got to open the state up."
On "Nov. 4, he's going to say, well we're going to open it up."

On masks: "Do the masks. I mean, it's not gonna hurt. Do 'em. Do 'em."

On the California fires: "And I see again, the forest fires are starting. They're starting again in California. And I said, you've got to clean your floors. You've got to clean your floors. They have many, many years of leaves and broken trees. And they're like, like so flammable. You touch them and it goes up. I've been telling them this now for three years, but they don't want to listen. The environment. The environment. But they have massive fires again in California. Maybe we're just going to have to make them pay for it, because they don't listen to us. We say you got to get rid of the leaves."

Back to Biden: "Bernie took him left … they're supposed to meet a little bit left of center … Bernie actually took him left, along with AOC plus three."

He mentions Kamala Harris at least three times, mispronounces her first name all three times.

"We believe our country should be for law abiding Americans, not for criminal aliens. After eight long years, Joe Biden and Barack Obama left America weak, disrespected and endangered. We are respected again. We are a respected country."

He will create "10 million jobs" in the next year if he is reelected.

Of his critics: "They want to cancel you, totally cancel you, take your job …. while they indoctrinate your children with twisted, twisted world views that nobody ever thought possible."

On Harris's speech last night: "I watched Kamala last night, and I said, I'll take Mike ... by a lot."

"We're the wall between the American Dream and total insanity and destruction of the greatest country in the history of the world. We're all that stands."

"Right now, we are leading a war that's incredible … we're leading in so many polls that they refuse to put out" in states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Hampshire.

"YMCA" played as he closed his remarks.

Travel pool report #7 — Leaving Mariotti

Old Forge, Pa.

The POTUS motorcade is on the move again as of 4:50 p.m. Your pooler has not seen POTUS since he wrapped up his remarks.

Travel report #8 — Unscheduled stop at pizza place

Old Forge, Pa.

POTUS made an unscheduled stop at Arcaro and Genell Takeaway Kitchen, a pizza shop, at 4:55 p.m. He left the Beast, greeted by applause from the awaiting crowd, and pool was brought very briefly inside the small pizza place as POTUS greeted its employees and left with some pie.

POTUS showed off one of the pies, and said he wanted to stop here today "because they have great pizza."

Rolling again as of 5 p.m.

Travel pool report #9 — arrival at airport

Avoca, Pa.

Motorcade arrived at airport at 5:13 p.m. and POTUS boarded AF1 one minute later. McEntee followed him, carrying a stack of white pizza boxes.

We are wheels up back to JBA shortly.

Travel pool report #10 — Return to JBA, POTUS OTR

Joint Base Andrews, Md.

AF1 landed at Andrews Air Force Base at 6 p.m. Near the end of the flight, POTUS came to the back of AF1 and spoke off the record to the pool for about seven minutes.

Travel pool report #11 — POTUS departs JBA

Joint Base Andrews, Md.

POTUS stepped off AF1 at 6:11 p.m. and got into the Beast a few moments later, accompanied by Eric Trump. Motorcade began moving for the White House at 6:12 p.m.

Handing off to your in-town pool. A special thanks to the eagle-eyed Nancy Cook from Politico for all her help today.