penetrate financial accounts, it has an impact on the ordinary citizen. >> louise shelley is our guest on afterwards tonight at 930 -- 9:00 eastern on c-span's book tv. ♪ journal'ss washington live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. monday morning, washington post national political reporter and host previews the week ahead in washington. they will discuss a federal rule requiring hospitals to post prices of procedures online with a president of a nonprofit consumer group they are help -- fair health. be sure to watch 7:00 eastern on monday morning. join the discussion. announcer: president trump is spending today at camp david for meetings with senior white house staff members on border security, china, and other issues.

on his way this morning, he spoke to reporters and responded to some questions. >> [inaudible] president trump: the job numbers were fantastic. the best numbers we have had in many years. it shocked wall street, it did not shock me. i know what is going on. but the job numbers were beyond anybody's expectations. really, hundreds of thousands, the top six, that was a great thing. one of the elements of job numbers is if you remember the past administration said you need one to bring back manufacturing jobs. well, manufacturing jobs are coming back at a very high level. we had a tremendous manufacturing jobs report. we are very happy to see that we

have worked very hard. we have many companies coming back into the united states. many car companies going to michigan, pennsylvania, ohio. and other places. but they are coming back into the united states, in most cases, they have left. now they are coming back. we are happy about that. i'm going to camp david, we will be discussing many topics. north korea, the china trade deal which is coming along very well, both of those subjects coming along very well. obviously, we will be discussing the wall. which is desperately needed. even if you read some of the papers that do not report accurately, of which there are many, but a couple in particular, they say the search -- the surge to come into our country has never been stronger. and it is very unfair to people that want to come in legally. the surge has never been stronger. we have to build a wall or a

barrier. the barrier, or the wall, can be steel instead of concrete if that helps people. it may be better. but i'm willing to do that so are a great steel companies, which are now back in business, they were very -- they were doing very poorly. now they are doing very well. a lot of steelworkers working that never had a chance of getting a job in the steel industry. the steel industry was dying. now it is very vibrant. i intend to call the head of united states steel, and a couple of other of our great steel companies, to have them come up with a design of a beautiful steel product, which we now make here. and we will use that as our barrier. we are trying to do everything possible to get money to our incredible people, but many of those incredible people agree with me. they say, make sure you win this battle.

this is a very important battle to win from the standpoint of safety, number one, defining our country, and who we are. also from the standpoint of dollars. this wall will pay for itself many times during the course of a year. the money we are talking about is very small compared to the return. you will receive a return many times during the course of the year. that is the kind of numbers we are talking about. most importantly, it is about safety. it is about security for our country. it is about stopping human traffickers. it is about stopping drugs. we have to have it. got to have it we have no choice. it is not a question to you think i like doing this? i don't like doing the spirit we -- i don't like doing this. we have no choice. we have to have it. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: i can relate. i'm sure the people who are on

the receiving end well make adjustments, they always do. they will make adjustments. people understand exactly what is going on. many of those people that will not be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100% with what i am doing. i will tell you, i saw a poll, 75% on fox, i saw a poll, 75% that immigration is so important. and it is. it is a very big issue. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: i may declare a national emergency depending on what will happen over the next few days. we have a meeting, vice president pence and a group will be coming to a certain location. you know where that is. they will be having another meeting. i do not expect to have anything happen at that meeting. but i think we -- nor does the vice president, but i think we

will have some very serious talks come monday, tuesday, wednesday. we have to have border security. if we do not have border security, we will be crime-ridden and it will get worse and worse. it was so sad watching the funeral of the slain police officer yesterday. officer singh. that was a very sad thing. this is going on in many places. over the course -- if you go back to the year 2000, we have thousands of people that have been killed by illegal immigration. by people coming into the country illegally. and killing our citizens to we -- our citizens. we can't have it. we can't have it. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: we will see what happens, whether or not it is settled. reporter: republican senators [inaudible] president trump: i will say this. i have tremendous support within the republican party.

if you look at congress, you saw with all of the numbers, you saw a very small group of people voting. it was not really against, it was a vote to open. it was not against because i think everybody agrees. frankly, the democrats agree you need border security. they agree you need a barrier. i put out a quote this morning of barack obama. i put out a quote this morning of hillary clinton in 2015. that was a few years ago. strongly saying that you need a border to keep illegals out. that is what you have to have. but it is not just illegal. it is criminals, drugs, it is the new phenomenon that has been age-old, going on for thousands of years, but it has never been worse than now. because of the internet. human trafficking, where they

grab women, put tape over their mouths, come through our border, and sell them. and they go both ways in both directions. they do not go through a port of entry. because they would be caught. but they go up where there is no wall, they make a right, go to mexico. look, we better get smart. human trafficking is a big business. it is a big deal. dealing in children is a big deal. children are probably the most harmed by not having the wall or its equivalent. if you look at the human trafficking, they come in, now -- they nab the women, grab them am a put tape over their mouths, tie their hands, and take them to another country and go over the border. if we had a powerful wall, or its equivalent, they would not be able to do it because they would have to go through ports of entry. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: everybody is

playing games. but i can say this, i think the democrats want to make a deal. i really do. i feel that. reporter: what is the deal? [inaudible] president trump: we will call it something different. i don't think i have to. this year, -- excuse me. we will call it something different. and a lot of work has been done on the wall. there has been tremendous renovations. if you look in san diego, there has been a new wall built which does not get reported. i don't know why you don't want to report it. look at san diego another areas. -- and other areas. we can do much more if they give us the money to do it. a lot of the work has been done. when they say build a wall, i don't say that anymore. i say finish the wall. we have done a lot of work. it had language in it that has -- that allows you to build a certain amount of wall but mostly renovate the existing wall. we have renovated a lot of walls. they have done a good job.

reporter: [inaudible] president trump: we will see what happens with daca. daca is before the united states supreme court. if the court does what most legal scholars think they will do, they will not give president obama or president trump the power to do what president obama did. if that happens, it will be a great thing for our country. you know why? we will work out a deal fast with the democrats on daca. we will work out a deal very quickly with the democrats on daca. reporter: are you waiting for that to happen? president trump: we are waiting for the supreme court decision. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: we will see how long the shutdown goes. this shutdown could end tomorrow. and it could also go on for a long time. it really is dependent on the democrats. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: it is really depending on the democrats. reporter: [inaudible]

president trump: we will see how we do here. everybody knows -- all you have to do is read today's washington post. you see where big surges of people are coming in and trying to get through the border. some of that, a lot of that is my fault. you know why? because i created such a great economy that people are pouring up and trying to get jobs. you could say it is my fault. and i want people to come in. but they have to come in legally. they have to come in legally. they cannot come in the way they are coming in. criminals are coming and coming -- coming in, human traffickers are coming in, we can't have it. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: our economy is doing so well. nobody understands how well our economy is doing. our economy is doing so well. don't forget, i'm paying interest.

i did not have funny money to play with. president obama had zero interest. i have interest to pay. now a lot of people who were not getting interest on their money for many years, they are now getting interest on their money. but he was playing with funny money because there was no interest. we are playing with paying interest. like an all fairness, you are supposed to be doing. reporter: what do you expect out of the china talks? president trump: the china talks are going well. i spoke to president xi recently. i believe they want to make a deal. the tariffs have hurt china badly. our country is taking in a lot of money through tariffs. a lot of money. a lot of tariffs. steel dumping and other. -- others. i think china wants to get it resolved. their economy is not doing well. they are down close to 38%. that is a lot. i think that gives them a great incentive to negotiate. but we are doing very well with china. my relationship with president xi is as good as any

relationship that a president here has had with a president or leader in china. i think that things will happen. -- i think that things are going to happen. now, i say this, north korea, we are doing very well. again, no rockets. there is no rocket. there is no anything can we are -- no anything. we are doing very well. i have indirectly spoken to chairman kim, and when i came here, this country was headed to war with north korea. now we have a very good dialogue. very good. with north korea, we have a very good dialogue. i am not going to go any further than that. i'm just going to say, it is very special. and anybody else but me, you would be in war right now. the previous administration would have been in war right now if that was extended. you would right now be in a nice big fat war in asia with north korea if i was not elected president.

reporter: [inaudible] president trump: we are negotiating a location. it will be announced probably in the too distant future. they said they would like to me. they want to meet and we want to meet. the sanctions remain in full force and effect. and they well until we have some very positive proof. but i will tell you, we are doing very well with north korea and we are also doing very well with china. on trade. the other one is iran. iran is doing very poorly. once i took the horrible iran nuclear deal off, it has had a massive effect in iran. they are pulling back troops all over the place. they are not doing well. they want to talk. reporter: what about syria?

president trump: in syria, we have had a tremendous impact. when i went there, don't forget, when i went to syria five years ago, there was supposed to be there for three to four months. they never came out. we are pulling back in syria. we are going to be removing our troops. i never said we are doing it that quickly. but we are decimating isis when i was elected president two years ago, isis was all over syria. and all over iraq. we have wiped out isis and iraq. -- in iraq. we have wiped out isis. and we are doing it for two reasons we are doing it because we do not want them coming here. but we are doing it for a number of reasons. we are helping other countries when we do that, too. you have to remember. iran hates isis more than we do. if that is possible. russia hates isis more than we do. turkey hates isis, maybe not as

much as we do. but these are countries that hate isis. and they can do a little of the fighting in their neighborhood also because we are fighting them in their neighborhood. with that being said, we are pulling out of syria, but we will not be finally pulled out until isis is gone. it is going quickly. reporter: how many months? reporter: [inaudible] president trump: john bolton is right now over there. i have two great stars. john bolton is doing a great job. mike pompeo is doing a great job. they are very strong and they work hard. as you know, they are doing things that are very, very good . we are coming up with good results. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: i am in no hurry. i have acting. my acting's are doing really great. david is doing great.

mick mulvaney is doing great as chief of staff. that i sort of like acting. gives me more flexibility. do you understand that? i like acting we have a few that are acting to we have a great cabinet. if you look at my cabinet, we have a fantastic cabinet. really great. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: i think we are doing a great job with the shutdown negotiation. we have no choice. look, there will be -- excuse me. i'm totally involved. i'm involved with principles. because ultimately, it is going to be solved by the principles. schumer and nancy pelosi and myself can solve this in 20 minutes. if they want to. if they don't want to, it will go on for a long time. i will tell you this. if we do not find a solution, it is going to go on for a long time. there is not going to be any bend right here.

the people that voted for donald trump, which a lot of people, one of the great elections ever, those people are for it so much. let me tell you, people that did not vote for donald trump are for it also. they want border security. they want to stop human trafficking. they want to stop drugs. they want to stop crime. reporter: [inaudible] reporter: [inaudible] president trump: i will be making the state of the union on january 29. and i look forward to it. i look forward to it. i look forward to speaking with -- before the world. we have a lot of great things to say. our country is doing better than any country in the world. right now, our military is almost completely rebuilt. when i took it over, it was a mess. it was depleted. our trade deals are going great. we have a deal with mexico,

canada, south korea. we are negotiating with europe. the european union. we are negotiating with china, which is by far the biggest of them all. we are doing very, very well. we are looking into that. we are looking into that. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: look, they have to do what they have to do. many of those workers agree with me. and i think frankly, there has been very little of that so far. very little. any more? thank you, everybody. i don't like doing this. i have no fun doing this. i was elected to protect our country. that is what i am doing. and presidents before me have all voted for this or many of them, and many of the senators i am negotiating with right now

have voted for this. let me tell you something, they did not have the guts to do it. just like they do not have the guts to move the embassy to jerusalem. and israel. they do not have the guts to do things they should have done. just like they did not take out isis. just like so many other things. i was voted, 306 to 23, something like that, by a lot. i was voted to be your president, partially because of security. it is a big part of what i talked about. not only the wall, the military and lots of other things. i think i have done a great job. reporter: [inaudible] president trump: i think i have done a great job. i'm getting credit from the real moves. border security is a big part of that. we also have to stop drugs. listen. we also have to stop drugs. if we do not stop drugs soon,

there has never been a time over the last 10 years but has gotten -- years and it has gotten worse and worse over the last five, there has never been a time when our country was so infested with so many different drugs coming from so many different locations. i believe that president xi in china, when he made the pledge to me to criminalize fentanyl, that will go a long way to helping us. i'm going to camp david. thank you. >> the president spent a few hours at camp david before returning to the white house. he stopped to talk to reporters about the shutdown, border security, and negotiations with congress. president trump: you haven't had enough. you haven't had enough.