Donald Trump: 'We have to demand law and order'
GOP candidate sounds off on the Republican Convention, Black Lives Matter and presidential politics 'The O'Reilly Factor'
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," July 18, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: Welcome back to The Factor's coverage of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Joining us now on the phone because this is a breaking news situation. The Republican nominee for President Donald Trump. So, testimony at the top of the broadcast, we were discussing the terrible police assassinations. I think it's domestic terrorism. And whether the Republican Party is going to make that issue killing police officers a campaign issue. Will you do that?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Of course. It's a big issue. It's a horrible issue. And it's going to be a very important one. It's called law and order. We want law and order. And that's going to be one of my big issues and always has been?
O'REILLY: What about the Black Lives Matter Movement? Will they be singled out as a provocateur in this terrible situation?
TRUMP: Well, you see them marching and you see them on occasion, at least, I have seen it, where they are essentially calling death to the police. And that's not acceptable whether you like them or don't like them, that, Bill, is not acceptable. But I have seen it and you have seen it.
O'REILLY: When you say it's not acceptable. If you are elected president, what can you do about a group like that?
TRUMP: Well, I think you have to look into it very seriously because people get themselves in big jams for saying a lot less than that. I mean, I have seen them marching down the street essentially calling death to the police. And I think we're going to have to look into that. Especially in light of what is happening with these maniacs going and shooting our police.
O'REILLY: When you say "look into it," there is a constitutional right, of course, to freedom of assembly and free speech. Are you saying that you would order the Attorney General to look into it for possible charges?
TRUMP: When you see something hike that taking place, that's really a threat, if you think about it and when you see something like that taking place, we are going to have to, perhaps, talk with the Attorney General about it or do something, but, at a minimum, we're going to have to be watching. Because that's really bad stuff and it's happened more than once.
O'REILLY: Do you believe the group, Black Lives Matter, is a fuse-lighter in the assassinations of these police officers?
TRUMP: Well, certainly in certain instances they are. And they certainly have ignited people and you see that. You see that all over. And I think it's a very, very serious situation and we just can't let it happen. Now, everybody is free to say what you want to say up to a point. But when you are calling death to police and to kill the police, essentially, which is what they said, that's a real problem, Bill. That's a real big problem.
O'REILLY: You know by saying that that the press that doesn't like you, the far left media will now start to say that you are a racist again. You know that that's what's going to happen.
TRUMP: Well, I'm probably the least racist person there is. And I'm doing very well with the African-American community. I'm going to bring jobs back to the country. And nobody can bring them back and you understand that, but nobody can bring them back like I bring them back. Our jobs have been stripped and whether you are talking about African-American, whether you are talking about Hispanic, whether you are talking about Asian, whether you are talking about anybody in this country, we are going to bring jobs back. And, you know, a big problem that we have, you take a look at the African-American youth, they have a 48 percent and even more than that unemployment rate, it's unacceptable.
O'REILLY: Yes. We have talked about that before and most of that is education driven. Let's turn to the convention. The Ohio Governor John Kasich should be at the convention is not. Have you spoken with him? How do you feel about that?
TRUMP: Look, I beat him very badly. I won 38 states. I won the highest number of votes in the history of the Republican Party. Second was very, very far away. I beat him very, very soundly. And you have to understand, this was a contentious, some people say the most contentious primary they have ever seen either party. If I were him and gotten beaten that badly I probably wouldn't show up either. He has a problem that he signed the pledge. And from a standpoint of honor I think he should show up. I also think this.
If this were the Democratic Party I think he should show up because it's good for Ohio. I wanted it to be here. And we had lots of choices. I wanted it to be in Ohio. I recommended Ohio. And people fought very hard that it be in Ohio. It's a tremendous economic development event and you look at the way it's going so far, it's very impressive. I wanted it to be here. The Republicans wanted it to be here. But honestly even if this were for the Democrats, he should at least show up and say hello and say, how are you doing? He got beaten very, very badly. He could have, you know, left -- he should have left probably many weeks earlier than he did but he just hung around.
O'REILLY: Do you think he is being a sore loser?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that but you know what? It was a very contentious primary. He lost very, very badly and maybe if I were in his position I wouldn't show up either.
O'REILLY: Okay. Let's go to "60 Minutes."
TRUMP: Okay.
O'REILLY: Were they fair to you in the edit?
TRUMP: I think so. I really think so. I mean, she asked questions. And, you know, I was against the war in Iraq. And if you take any candidate and I don't care who, I go through hundreds, you are always going to have differences in terms of what you were with and what they were with. So, but I was against the war in Iraq. And Mike Pence who has been so fantastic and so well received. And you see what's going on. You see the love in this massive arena that I'm about to go in to very soon.
But you see the kind of love and enthusiasm in that arena, it's incredible. And I think a lot of it is the fact that they really liked my choice. But you know, he's made over the years, you know many years ago, he has made decisions that were different than I would have made. But I was against the war in Iraq. I said it was going to destabilize the Middle East. It has. And right now the Middle East is in the worst shape it has ever been in. And this is after spending trillions of dollars and thousands and thousands of American lives. Worse off now Bill than we were 15 years ago when we started.
O'REILLY: Now, I think Republicans genuinely like Governor Pence as a V.P. But the liberal press right away tried to demonize him as a right wing fanatic, a religious fanatic because of his very pro-life stance. Did you see those articles? Did you see that commentary? And how did you react to that?
TRUMP: I see it a little bit but I think overall he has gotten a tremendous response. I don't think I could have picked anybody that's frankly would have gotten as good as response. And the party itself love them. They love him. And I have seen it. I have been with them. They really like the choice. And it was my number one choice. It was really terrific. And I have been -- I will go a step further with the press. Because of what it happened, the tragedy as you understand in Nice, I delayed it for a day.
If I would have had that news conference that morning right after the horrible event that took place in France that would have been catastrophic. It would have been so disrespectful and I would have taken a lot of heat. By delaying it for a day, they said oh, maybe he is not sure of his choice. I was 100 percent sure of my choice. It was made up. It was pure fiction by the press. But that's the way it is. I will say, this I'm very happy with Mike. I cannot believe how well received he is. In fact, much better than I even thought, Bill.
O'REILLY: No. And you don't really need any more flamboyance. I know you understand that.
(LAUGHTER)
You don't really need that. I think you have that category covered. In that regard, when you speak on Thursday evening. What is going to be the theme of your remarks other than the general let's make America great again? What are you going to hit there? Just give us a little preview?
TRUMP: Well, I have many themes actually, Bill. This is a speech that is going to be relatively a long speech. And I have many themes and one of them is obviously law and order and that's coming up more and more. Because I'm feeling more and more strongly about it when you see what's going on with everything.
O'REILLY: Yes. Sure. Absolutely.
TRUMP: I mean, we have to have and we have to demand from our politicians who are week and ineffective right now, we have to talk about law and order. So, we'll be talking about that. I am going to be talking very, very strongly about borders and security and this part of law and order but I didn't view it as much a part of law and order, I viewed it as borders before. To stop crime in this country and stop other problems and help with employment and lots of other things. We will be talking about the wall. We will be talking about the tremendous tax decrease that we're going to be given.
The biggest of any candidate running, Republican or Democrats. So, we are going to be doing a major, major, major tax cut and we're going to get rid of a lot of regulations that are just absolutely killing, just business. They're unable to set.
O'REILLY: All right.
TRUMP: And very importantly, we are going to fix our depleted military. We're going to take care of our veterans. We're going to get rid of ObamaCare and come up with a plan that is so much better and so much less expensive and many or things. So, it's going to be a pretty large speech from the standpoint of what it is going to cover.
O'REILLY: All right. And, finally, the speech of the evening tonight is your wife, Melania.
TRUMP: Right.
O'REILLY: What is she going to tell us?
TRUMP: Well, hopefully she is going to say that she really loves her husband. And she understands me. She understands me better than anybody else.
O'REILLY: You need a PH.D. to do that. You know?
TRUMP: I could have had you.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: She is going to hopefully be just doing a great thing. I mean it's a very, very tough thing for somebody to get up in front.
O'REILLY: Oh, and she doesn't seek the spotlight. You know?
TRUMP: No, she doesn't. She has tremendous confidence. She doesn't seek the spotlight. As the expression goes, I am doing this to make America great again. She didn't need it. I guess I didn't need it either. But, you know, this is the way it happened. And I'm so happy I did it. I have gotten to know the people of this country. But Melania is going to go up and --
O'REILLY: Is she scared? Is she nervous --
TRUMP: I will give her a short introduction.
O'REILLY: Yes.
TRUMP: Very, very short. She is a terrific person and I think she is going to do a terrific job.
O'REILLY: Is she scared?
TRUMP: I think she is a very confident person but I think she has to be a little bit. Right? You know? I don't even want to ask her the question. I don't want to put it in her mind.
O'REILLY: You are going to introduce her, right?
TRUMP: I'm going to give her a very quick brief introduction.
O'REILLY: All right.
TRUMP: Because I want -- this is about her. This evening is really about her. She is a great mother. She is a terrific woman. You know her. And she has been a great wife and I'm going to give her an introduction and she will go up and I think she is going to do really well.
O'REILLY: All right. Look. We know how busy you are tonight. And we can't thank you enough for taking the time to talk to millions of people watching you right now.
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