Thread by @Headsnipe011

***Highlights***

Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Abe of Japan Before Bilateral Meeting | New York, NY

@drawandstrike @ThomasWictor @HNIJohnMiller @catesduane @rising_serpent @_ImperatorRex_ @Debradelai @GodlessNZ @almostjingo @tracybeanz

whitehouse.gov/briefings-stat…

ABE: So at today’s summit meeting, I first would like to discuss the issue of North Korea, as well as our respective policies to North Korea based on the outcome of your meeting with President Moon Jae-in the day before yesterday,

& also based on my meeting with President Moon yesterday. And I then would like to reconfirm our robust coordination on this front.

. . .

And once again, I would like to commend the fact that there is now a major transformational change is about to take place in our approach,

as well as how we deal with North Korea and also the situation surrounding North Korea in the aftermath of the historic summit meeting that you had with Chairman Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

. . .

TRUMP: ...And Prime Minister Abe, I think I can speak for him, saying that he’s very hopeful and really thinks there’s a very good chance of doing something with North Korea. I know he wants to be very helpful to them in economic development.

And Chairman Kim sees a great future for North Korea. And I believe and I firmly know that Japan wants to help him toward that future, economically. And we all want to help. And, frankly, I think also that President Moon in South Korea, they want to be very much involved.

So North Korea really has a great future. I believe we’re doing very well. I think we’re doing much better than anybody would know.

I just showed a letter that I received just yesterday from Chairman Kim, which is an extraordinary letter.

I’ve received other letters also from Chairman Kim. He wants to thing — see things happen for North Korea that are great, that can make it an economic power. And they really have the potential to be that.

So we look forward to our second summit that will take place, I believe, fairly quickly. Secretary of State Pompeo is working on that right now. And they want to have it, and we want to have it. And we’ll start the process.

In the meantime, you know that sanctions are remaining and a lot of good things are happening. But the sanctions will remain. And I think we can do something where, ideally, very positive things are going to happen with respect to North Korea.

If you go back a year, or if you go back certainly from the time I took office, it looked like we were going to war with North Korea. It doesn’t look like that at all anymore; it looks like just the opposite. So we’re very happy about that.

I just want to finish by saying that North Korea, under the leadership of Chairman Kim, has tremendous economic potential. Tremendous. And I think that Chairman Kim sees that maybe better than anybody. So we will get back to work on that.

I want to thank President Moon for being so gracious yesterday. He was so gracious to me as President, but to the United States and the job we’ve done and the job we’re doing, because we have to get it finished. But he was tremendous yesterday.

He was interviewed by various people, in particular by Fox, and he was tremendous in his statements. And I just want to thank President Moon. I hope he hears this thank you because I haven’t seen him since our meeting.

But I just want thank him for his gracious words. Thank you very much. Thank you.

***Q&A

On Kavanaugh***

Q Mr. President, a reaction to the latest Kavanaugh allegations?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it’s ridiculous. It’s a con game that they’re playing. The Democrats are playing this game that is disgraceful.

It’s a disgrace to the country. And I think you’re going to see it in the midterms. I think people are wise to it. It’s just a con game.

***He's got that right.***

He’s a high quality person. They’re bringing people out of the woods. They can do that to anybody. They can do it to anybody — other than perhaps Prime Minister Abe, because he is so pure. I mean, (inaudible). (Laughter.)

But they can do it to anybody, what they are doing. And it’s really, really sad.

If you look at this lawyer that just came out, he’s a low life. He represented Democrats. Nobody ever talks about that. He’s a Democrat lawyer. Not a very good one, but he’s a Democrat lawyer.

So it’s a horrible con game. I think the people are finding it out. And hopefully, over the next couple of days, it will be settled up and solved. And we will have a Supreme Court Justice who will go down as one of our greatest ever.

Hopefully he’s going to be there for a long time. He’s a young man. And he’ll be there for a long time. And I’ll be very proud of him, just as I’m very proud of Justice Gorsuch.

So, we — I think it’s really working out very well. I really do. I think it’s doing well. I think people are seeing what a disgrace these Democrat senators are when they come out with statements like that —

when they don’t even talk about it, and then after the hearings are completely over, they come out with what they come out with.

It’s a disgrace what’s going on. The good news is the public is very smart, and they get it.

. . .

Q Mr. President, will you keep the government open? Will you sign the new spending bill?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll keep the government open. We’re going to keep the government open.