Trump has recorded an interview for Geraldo Rivera's new radio show on Cleveland's WTAM 1100, "Geraldo in Cleveland."
Trump on the NYT's Rod Rosenstein report: "I think it's a very sad story, and people are obviously - we are looking into it. But it's a very sad state of affairs when something like that can happen."
Trump pressed on whether he'll fire Rosenstein: "I don't want to comment on it until I get all the facts. I haven't gotten all the facts...I'll make a determination sometime later. But I don't have all the facts."
Trump on his nomination of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: "He was hired by Jeff Sessions. I was not involved in that process. Because they go out and get their own deputies...Jeff Sessions hired him."
Trump on progress with North Korea: "It's going actually faster than anybody would understand."
"They've been trying to get that approved for - I think it was 48 years," Trump says of the Veterans Choice program that was created four years ago. "I don't get any credit from the media."
Trump tells Geraldo that 80% of the media is fake, but at least he has the opportunity to speak to some fair people, "like you."
Trump on Christine Blasey Ford: "The Republicans are doing everything in their power to let her have her voice."
Geraldo pressed Trump on whether he'd still want Kavanaugh confirmed if Blasey Ford's allegations were true. Trump: "Number one, I don't think that will happen. And number two, I want her to have her voice."
Trump on whether he wants Roe v. Wade overturned (he has previously said he does): "I don't want to talk about it now. Because that's a controversy I'm going to leave to the courts."
Trump again blames Puerto Ricans for the post-hurricane problems, absolving himself: “Number one, it starts with you have the mayor of San Juan who’s incompetent...You have, as you know: locally, they did a very, very poor job."
Trump lies again that Puerto Ricans didn't have power before Maria: "They had no electric...and people didn't have electric on the island."
Trump is, angrily and at length, repeating his bonkers nonsense about the Puerto Rico death toll: "Wait a minute, you went from 16 to 64. We did a great job, and then you went from 64 to 3,000? How did that happen? And they couldn't explain it."
Trump, baselessly, on Puerto Rico: “The storms hit and they said, ‘Oh let’s blame Trump for the electric, let’s have Trump - let’s have Trump fix the electric plant, which takes a long time to rebuild it, which is a big deal. Let’s blame Trump for everything.'”
Geraldo asks Trump about Puerto Rico statehood. Trump says he's a firm "no" because Puerto Rico has bad politicians: "With the mayor of San Juan as bad as she is...Puerto Rico shouldn't be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they're doing."
Trump is still ranting and lying about Puerto Rico and "that woman" in charge in San Juan, whose name he says he doesn't know: "The electric was dead for years, and if you look at it, they blame Trump for the electric." "I got things to Puerto Rico that nobody could've gotten."
Trump complains that people don't want to talk about his accomplishments and instead keep focusing on such subjects as "electricity in Puerto Rico."
Geraldo, while still mostly gentle to Trump, is doing a waaay more journalistic job than Hannity, Bartiromo, Huckabee, the Fox and Friends crew and the other people Trump usually talks to. He's asked multiple legit questions!
Trump asked if he's worried about the prosecutors from the Southern District of New York: "No I'm not, because I'm an honest guy."
Asked who'd win at golf between him, Obama, Bush and Clinton, Trump says, "Trump would win at golf very easily." Asked who has the longest drive, Trump says, "Trump." He adds, "These are facts. You know I like facts."
"I love you, Mr. President," Geraldo says, and it's over.
"I love you, Mr. President," Geraldo says, and it's over.
