'Watters' World' panel discusses California synagogue shooting

close

Video

'Watters' World' panel discusses California synagogue shooting

Reaction from FOX Nation host Tomi Lahren, Michael Knowles, host of 'The Michael Knowles Show,' and Joe Concha, media reporter for The Hill.

This is a rush transcript from "Watters' World," April 27, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, HOST: Welcome to “Watters' World.” I'm Jesse Watters, and this is a Fox News Alert. President Trump set to take the stage at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin any moment now. But first, tragedy at a synagogue just outside San Diego. A white 19-year-old gunman storming into a service on the final day of Passover in Poway, California, killing one woman and injuring three others including a little girl.

The suspect taken into custody. President Trump addressing the shooting earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: My deepest sympathies go to the people that were affected the families, their loved ones, by the obviously looks right now, based on my last conversations -- this looks like a hate crime. Hard to believe.

We'll see what happens what comes up. At this moment, it looks like a hate crime. But my deepest sympathies to all of those affected and we'll get to the bottom of it. It looks like the person was apprehended.

WATTERS: Marianne Rafferty is in our West Coast Newsroom with the latest - - Marianne.

MARIANNE RAFFERTY, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jesse. Officials confirming for us a few -- just a while ago that one person has died -- a woman -- in that shooting at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue and the suspect is in custody.

The Mayor calling the incident a hate crime saying the community will come through the tragedy though united. Four patients were transported to the Palomar Medical Center. Now we know one of them has passed away. There are still two adult males and a little girl currently in stable condition. So far it's unclear though how many were inside the synagogue at time of the shooting, but the San Diego Sheriff's Department says at least 100 witnesses are still waiting to be interviewed.

We're also starting to hear from some of those witnesses about what happened. Official say the 19-year-old white male suspect was engaged by an off duty Border Patrol agent who was inside the synagogue at the time the shooting unfolded. The suspect was able to get away though, then a short time later, authorities say he surrendered to a K9 officer without incident.

An AR-type rifle was spotted in in the suspect's vehicle. The shooting happened shortly before 11:30 this morning, just as worshippers were beginning and all-day Passover Service, which was scheduled to end tonight with the Passover meal -- Jesse.

WATTERS: All right, so Marianne, Fox has not been able to independently confirm the identity of the alleged shooter, but some of the local news anchors down there have nailed down they think the identity of the shooter. They say he has some sort of manifesto that he posted online last night. And it looks like he was kind of a copycat guy, talked a lot about the shooter in Christchurch, New Zealand, the guy that targeted the mosque.

What more do we know about the area in Southern California that this happened in? Is this just out of the blue there?

RAFFERTY: Yes, I mean, if you take a look at some of the video that we've been showing our viewers all day, I mean, it just looks like quiet streets. One thing to point out, though, that I talked about earlier, there's the synagogue where the shooting happened, and then next door, there's also a Christian Church. And there are at least a couple of other houses of worship right in that area, as well as a Hebrew School attached to the synagogue.

So it was an area with plenty of houses of worship, if someone was planning on carrying something like this out. We are hoping to hear more from authorities. You mentioned the social media aspect, like a possible manifesto. That's something that that we have not been able to confirm. But we're hoping that when they talk to us, sometime, anytime now that they might shed some light on that as well.

WATTERS: Law enforcement looks like they're getting together to do a press conference right now and hopefully will update us with some of the new information. As I said Fox News has not been able to independently confirm the identity of the shooter, although some local affiliates down in Southern California have confirmed to their estimation who this guy is and again, he was inspired allegedly by the mosque shooter in New Zealand and also the synagogue shooter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Again, we have not been able to confirm this, but local reporting does suggest that he was a vicious anti-Semite who did not support Donald Trump because of Donald Trump's support of Israel. That is what the local affiliates have been reporting. Again, Fox has not been able to independently confirm, but we're going to stay with this story as it develops. Marianne, thank you very much.

RAFFERTY: Thank you, Jesse.

WATTERS: Here with more, former Nashville police officer and law enforcement analyst, Vincent Hill. Vincent, I think you heard me say at the top about this manifesto. How reliable are these manifestos when we deal with these types of shootings?

VINCENT HILL, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via phone): Well, Jesse, you know, first, I want to say I commend that Border Patrol agent that was there off duty because they did exactly what they're supposed to do -- protect and serve. And I think this could have gone a lot worse, had they not been there.

WATTERS: Right.

HILL: But to the manifesto, if you think back to Charleston and a guy named Dylann Roof, he had a manifesto. And people saw, they read that manifesto, but they didn't report it. So we can't take these things lightly, Jesse.

It goes back to that old thing, if you see something, say something. I mean, these threats, history has shown us we cannot look at these and take them with a grain of salt. We have to act on those quickly. And this alleged manifesto went out, supposedly an hour and a half before the shooting. So I think there was plenty of time to stop what happened today, Jesse.

WATTERS: Well, and as you mentioned, some of the people that did stop what happened in motion. I think there was an off duty Border Patrol officer who happened to be inside the synagogue as this happened and allegedly chased the armed gunman out of there. We heard reports that he made fired around into the suspect's vehicle, a high-speed chase ensued, and then other law enforcement officials were able to stop him on the freeway and apprehend him.

He came out with, we believe a bulletproof vest. Some of those reports have suggested and he was taken into custody. And now he's being, I'm sure, interrogated very aggressively. When you have a guy is in custody this soon after a shooting like this, what's going on inside that detention facility?

HILL: Well, you want to find out as much as you can, of course, you know, he's given the right to remain silent, you know, but if he passes that right, and he wants to talk, you want to find out as much information as you can, was he acting alone? How long has he been planning this? Were there red flags, other than this alleged manifesto that we've could have seen earlier?

Of course, they want to search his house, they want to search his vehicle. They want to search social media, his computer, his electronics, maybe even phone records. Because, you know, keep in mind, Jesse, this investigation is still early on. We think we have the bullet points of it, that it was a hate crime. This guy is 19 years old. But this is still a very active investigation and in order to get that right police needs to take some time.

WATTERS: And right now, it looks like local law enforcement in Southern California will be holding a press conference, let's listen in.

WILLIAM GORE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF: ... the vehicle and for the mosque in Poway -- pardon me -- for the synagogue in Poway. We're collecting digital evidence and we're aware of his manifesto, which we're in the process of reviewing to determine its validity and authenticity.

As you know, one person tragically died in the shooting today and update on the other victims, one has currently got into surgery. The adult male -- one adult males is in stable condition at the hospital and the juvenile has been in stable condition. She has been transported to Rady Children's Hospital.

We're currently working with the Escondido Police Department and the FBI to determine Ernest's possible involvement in the arson at the mosque in Escondido about a month ago, and the additional -- the San Diego Sheriff's Department and the San Diego Police Department are conducting additional patrols at houses of worship throughout the San Diego County.

As I stated before, the Anti-Defamation League is offering crisis trauma counseling at Poway High School. And there's also a county crisis line that is available to anybody that needs their services. That's 888-724- 7270. That's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We urge everyone to stay vigilant and report any unusual circumstances to 911 and I guarantee you, they will be properly investigated and responded to.

We're lucky in San Diego County to have the kind of cooperation we do. Just a few of the agencies have been working on this case so far the with the Sheriff's Department and the San Diego Police Department, San Diego Fire, San Diego FBI, California Highway Patrol, Escondido Police Department, ATF, California Office of Emergency Services and the U.S. Border Patrol.

Also with me today again as Mayor Steve Vaus of Poway and the acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI locally, Suzanne Turner, and behind me, Congressman Scott Peters, we'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, can you identify him again, please, for us?

GORE: His name is John Ernest. Date of Birth 06/08/99. He is 19 years old. And as far as we can tell, has had no prior contact with law enforcement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it looks like he said that he could be behind the last burning in Escondido.

GORE: We're looking at the possibility of his involvement in the last burning Escondido back a month ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What ties into that?

GORE: Well, some of the digital evidence we're reviewing right now. I can't go into more detail on that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of gun? A rifle? (Inaudible).

GORE: As far as I can tell, right now, it's an assault-type rifle, AR-15 type rifle. I don't have the specifics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, is this being investigated as a hate crime at this point?

GORE: Well, it's clearly it's being investigated as a homicide, but we're also looking at the hate crime, possible violation as well as Federal Civil Rights violations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sheriff, did he say anything when he was arrested?

GORE: I'm not going to go into that now. He'll be -- he is being thoroughly interviewed by homicide detectives and FBI agents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there any leads (inaudible) what happened ...

GORE: I'm sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there any leads with what --

GORE: We don't, right now, have any connection between Mr. Ernest and any white supremacist groups?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he have any run-ins with the police prior to today?

GORE: We have no record of police contact prior to today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a report that somebody saw his post on social media before the shooting and contacted the FBI, can you address that?

SUZANNE TURNER, SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: What was the question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether the FBI was contacted by anyone who saw his social media post?

TURNER: Prior to, I'm not aware of any, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are also hearing that he attempted to livestream the attack, but something happened. Can you confirm that that may have happened?

GORE: I can't confirm that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the last news conference --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know if any explosives were found inside?

GORE: To this point, no explosive have been found in the synagogue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And are dozens still inside the synagogue right now being questioned?

GORE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the rifle the only weapon confiscated?

GORE: As far as I know, yes, that's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there any exchange of gun fire during his arrest?

GORE: No, there was not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, earlier, you were (inaudible) there were about a hundred people that investigators still need to talk to? Have they been spoken to or what's the status with the witnesses?

GORE: No, the status of the witnesses. They're still at the -- my understanding is that they are at the rabbi's house behind the synagogue waiting to be contacted by FBI agents and Deputy Sheriffs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you like to say to this congregation because tomorrow is Sunday. Typically there is Hebrew School at most synagogues. Is that going to go on tomorrow or should people stay away from the area? What would you --

GORE: I would refer that to the synagogue. I don't know what their immediate plans will be. As far as -- we will have extra patrols in the area, as will San Diego Police Department around most of our houses of worship in San Diego County. Hopefully nobody will try to copycat this this tragic event here that took place in Poway today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the rabbi --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... during the incident?

GORE: Yes, my understanding is the rabbi was one of the individuals that was injured in the shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, can you elaborate please on whatever interventions that happened which may have (inaudible) in the assault process?

GORE: Well as I stated before, there was a Border Patrol officer off duty at the synagogue, and as the -- Ernest was leaving the facility, he obtained a weapon and engaged in gunfire and shot at Ernest did not --

WATTERS: Okay, that was the San Diego County Sheriff William Gore delivering a briefing after the synagogue shooting in Southern California today that claimed the life of one woman, injuring three others. He identified the gunman as John Ernest, 19-year-old white male. Clean record, also suspectedly involved in a mosque burning that occurred about a month earlier in Escondido, California which is very interesting.

They are looking through the manifesto right now. And we will bring you more as the story develops, but we want to bring in Fox Nation host, Tomi Lahren; the host of the "Michael Knowles Show," Mike Knowles and media reporter for The Hill, Joe Concha.

Joe, I'll begin with you. It looks like there's a real pattern now if you just look at the last year of people targeting houses of worship. You've seen synagogue shootings, you've seen mosque attacks, Easter attacks all over the world. There's nothing really you can do to prevent that, you're not going to put armed guards all over every single house of worship in the world. But what does it tell you as a pattern that's developing in terms of hate crimes and violence?

JOE CONCHA, MEDIA REPORTER, "THE HILL": It shows that a lone wolf knows what a soft target is, Jesse and a soft target is exactly as you described, a synagogue, a church. We saw it with Dylann Roof down in Charleston. We see it here in California. We saw it in New Zealand.

As you said, there is no real way to protect these places unless you're going to put an armed guard in every place and that still doesn't guarantee anything. So as far as solutions, I honestly right now, live television couldn't tell you what they are. I just don't like the fact that every time this happens, we have to then point to -- does this person support this politician, with that politician.

When a shooter shot up that softball field in Virginia with Republican lawmakers, and he was a Bernie Sanders supporter, nobody should have pointed to Bernie Sanders. And same with Donald Trump and that sick individual that sent bombs around to Democratic lawmakers, former presidents, CNN, no one should have pointed Donald Trump and said "Oh, that's the reason."

The people that carry out these crimes, these hideous acts, they are to blame. And by the way, Jesse, let's not share this person's name. Let's not plaster his face all over news. It's irrelevant, almost. And it only leads to copycats in these situations, Jesse.

WATTERS: And this looks like a copycat situation, Michael, because the guy allegedly if you look at the manifesto, was inspired by the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, also the New Zealand attack as well. You know, we mentioned, Joe did the manifesto and people right now, you know, scouring the manifesto trying to link politicians or ideology to it. We can only report that some of the local affiliates in Southern California have started to go through the manifesto.

The guy is obviously a rabid anti-Semite, and he said he does not support Donald Trump, because of his support for Israel. But this is going to be politicized. You know it and I know it.

MICHAEL KNOWLES, HOST, "THE MICHAEL KNOWLES SHOW": I've actually just finished reading the alleged manifesto, as you say, as certain facts become clear, the author of this manifesto spent an inordinate amount of time in the darkest recesses of the internet, the language that he uses, the imagery that he uses come from those sorts of places. He is clearly a rabid anti-Semite.

He despises President Trump. He despises conservatives, as he says, because they don't conserve anything. On and on, this is boilerplate, white supremacist ideology. As you're seeing already happened, people are going to try to politicize this for their own agendas. They're going to use it to try to promote certain gun control laws or other laws, other ways that they say could have prevented the shooting.

I think all of that is hypothetical. I don't see a lot of evidence for how this awful shooting could have been prevented. What we can do right now is pray for the victims, pray for the woman who was killed, pray for those who were injured, to pray for the survivors as Passover comes to an end.

And we can hope for a policy that might give us some modicum of justice moving forward, that justice is dealt swiftly, and that capital punishment is dealt swiftly to this awful murderer and we can regain some semblance of justice for this awful tragedy.

WATTERS: It's interesting that you mentioned capital punishment because Tomi, I recall covering a story just a couple months ago, where then Mayor of San Francisco, but Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, I believe got rid of capital punishment through some sort of executive action. And you know, after something like this, it just seems like terrible timing.

TOMI LAHREN, FOX NATION HOST: Well, he put a moratorium on the death penalty, even though California voters actually voted to speed up the process for execution. So he went against the will of Californians. But Jesse, I've got tell you, I'm here in Los Angeles, I'm fairly close to where this occurred right outside of San Diego.

So my heart breaks for that community because I've been to that community. I know what a great community it is. But I also don't think we can lose in this discussion, the Border Patrol agent who stood up and we don't know if he returned fire, but you know, there's some reports that he struck the getaway vehicle.

When we're talking about what we can do to prevent these things. There's not a lot that we can do because it is a soft target. But if you look at the continuous incidents of soft targets, you can see that they go there because they don't believe anyone is going to be armed unable to return fire.

So the fact that this Border Patrol agent off duty, stood up and had a firearm and was able to return fire or at least strike the getaway vehicle what we're hearing, that's one of the things that I look at and say not only do I commend our Border Patrol agents, but I look at someone who is a concealed carry holder that was able to return fire. And I look at it as a victory for the Second Amendment even here in California.

WATTERS: Yes, I know Joe, Tomi brings up the point, this is going to be politicized. You're going to hear people from both sides of the political spectrum, talking about gun rights, gun control. But if you just look at the facts of the case, if you have people with a gun, good guys, they can deter bad guys who are armed and this seems like one of those examples.

CONCHA: Jesse, you could look at gun control laws. And you could say, "Okay, let's say that we stopped any gun from ever being sold ever again, in this country. There are still 300 million people, 300 million guns that are out there, and you're not going to start confiscating them because you know, who knows what that would lead to?

So yes, when you look at situations like this, as a journalist, you say, okay, let's say even the most staunch gun control laws were on the books, could this crime have been prevented from happening? And in this case, from what we're seeing, from what we know, right now? No, that's not the case that even if you had the staunchest gun control laws, that this still unfortunately, would have happened, because sick people do sick things. And that's what happened here, unfortunately.

WATTERS: All right. So again, thoughts and prayers to all the victims and their families out in Southern California. And we're going to continue to follow that story. But Michael, let's pivot now to the President, giving a big campaign style speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin on the same night as the White House Correspondents' Dinner, counterprogramming, he did it last year he's doing again this year, I believe he is coming up shortly. What do you expect from the President tonight?

KNOWLES: President Trump is the greatest show in politics, the idea that a group of journalists in DC could ever compete with him is impossible.

WATTERS: And there we see the President coming out right now to a raucous crowd, about 10,000 to 15,000 people in Great Green Bay, Wisconsin. As we said before the President holding this rally right against the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which for the third year in a row, he is not attending and said he is going to be with the people, be with his supporters, and basically tell it how it is.

I expect to hear a lot about the no collusion, no obstruction. We expect to hear about the hot economy. First quarter growth at 3.2. Fantastic number. And also I'm sure we'll hear a little bit about Bernie Sanders, who made some news this week at a Town Hall saying he wanted the Boston bomber to be able to vote from behind bars.

So let's take it to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and watch what the President has to say. Here we go.

And here is the President of the United States speaking to a very enthusiastic crowd in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

CROWD: (Chanting "USA.")

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Unbelievable.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Unbelievable. Thank you. Hello, Green Bay. Thank you. We love Green Bay. Thank you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Thank you. In the great state of Wisconsin, home of the legendary Green Bay Packers, right?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And there's no place I'd rather be than right here in America's Heartland, right?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And there's no one I'd rather be with than you, the hard working patriots who make our country run so well and it is running right now better maybe than it ever has. Thank you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: The strength of our nation is found in the heart of our people, so true. Tonight, America's heart is with the victims of the horrific synagogue shooting in Poway, California. It just happened. Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded, and stands in solidarity with the Jewish community. We forcefully condemn the evil of anti-Semitism and hate, which must be defeated. It just happened. It must be defeated.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And we are grateful to the law enforcement personnel for their courageous response. Incredible response today by law enforcement. And I especially want to recognize a certain off duty Border Patrol agent who bravely returned fire and helped disrupt the attack and saved so many lives. Border Patrol.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And I also want to thank Mayor Steve Vaus, we had a great conversation. And Governor Gavin Newsom, we had a great conversation. And we stand together, we will all get to the bottom of it. We're going to get to the bottom of a lot of things happening in our country.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Together, we're building a new chapter of American greatness, one founded on the idea that all citizens are entitled to live in safety, prosperity and peace. This is an exciting time for our great country. This is an exciting time for America.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Just yesterday, it was announced that the United States economy grew. Some people thought unexpectedly. Not me, I didn't think.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: In fact, frankly, if we had the Obama interest rates low --

(Booing)

TRUMP: Almost nothing, actually nothing. And if we had quantitative easing, instead of tightening, we use this conservative approach, we would have been even much higher than this. But this is very high, far greater. First quarter is always for the most part. It's the lowest quarter. We did 3.2% in the first quarter.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: GDP crushing expectations, and accelerating our economic boom. And that was with a shutdown; that was with a lot of different things, that was with bad weather, that was with everything you can imagine -- 3.2 in the first quarter, usually the lowest and worst quarter.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And Prime Minister Abe, we're negotiating trade deals because every country has been ripping us off for years. And I really liked the Prime Minister. He is a friend of mine, but I said Mr. Prime Minister, we've got to do something. For so many decades, we've been losing tens of billions of dollars to China and Japan, and India and name any country. Now we lost.

But we're not losing any more. And I said "Listen, we've got to do something." $68 billion dollars in trade losses over the last four or five years -- a year. So we're renegotiating. And I think he'll be fair.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: I think he'll be fair. And by the way, he started by saying that he's putting $40 billion into the United States for new car factories. Toyota is coming in with $14 billion.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Many, many companies are coming in.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And they're coming in, frankly, to Michigan. They're coming back. They want to be back to Ohio, to Pennsylvania, to North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida. And what's the name of this special place? It's called Wisconsin.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: So they'll be investing very shortly and it started already, $40 billion with a B, $40 billion and it'll be a lot more than that. The poverty rate for Wisconsin families has reached the lowest rate in 22 years.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: The employment rate for Wisconsin workers has reached historic -- it has never been this low before ever, ever, ever -- think of that?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Never been historic low. And we're now the number one economy anywhere in the world and it's not even close.

(Cheering and Applause)

CROWD: (Chanting "USA.")

TRUMP: By the way, Saturday night, is there any place that's more fun than a Trump rally?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Can you imagine? Sleepy Joe?

(Laughter)

TRUMP Crazy Bernie.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: You look at the candidates, right? I think Pocahontas, she's finished, she's out.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: She's gone. No, when it was found that I had more Indian blood in me than she did.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: And then it was determined that I had none. But I still had more.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: That was the end of her 32-year scam on colleges. But can you imagine any of these people up here doing what I'm doing? They'd be 200 people show up if they were President. If they weren't President, nobody would show up. Is that right?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And I have to say I was saying on the way over there. They were telling me about bad weather by the way. We may have to cancel tonight. I said, "Are you crazy?" Now, can you imagine? I learned this morning. They thought you were going to have a big snowstorm. Right? A big, big snowstorm.

The people that get it wrong the most are the weather forecasters and the political analysts.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Now, they said there's a big, big storm. It's going to be hitting Green Bay, we may have to cancel. I said, "Like hell, we're going to cancel." People are standing out.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: People are standing out 24 hours ago, 32 hours ago outside. Who stood out there for 24 hours? Thank you. We love you. Thank you. Thank you. And you know what? And you're rewarded with the best seats in the house, right? That's always how it goes, right?

America's future has never been brighter. Yet, the Democrats, those very friendly people.

(Booing)

TRUMP: In Washington, have never been angrier than they are today. You see, somebody else with a very low level of energy was supposed to be standing here instead of me.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: They wouldn't be in this room.

CROWD: (Cheering "Trump.")

TRUMP: I don't know. They've got some problems, I would say that. But you know, if you look, two weeks out, in 2016, I was going to rallies. We were doing five and six like this. And there were thousands of people outside just like there are right now. We had 69,000 people sign up to come in. What does this place hold? Like 10,000 or 12,000 or whatever. Whatever it holds. We set the record.

I just was told by the owners -- where's the owner? Nice guy.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: I don't know what the hell it holds, but we just set the record.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Where is the owner? Is this your record?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is, sir.

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you. That's always dangerous. He said, "Yes, it is, sir." It's always dangerous. Yes. You ask like, "No, sir." I'm dead. They will take -- they will take that answer. That'll be headlines. Thank you very much. You saved me.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: Now, this is the record. We set records everywhere. And it's not me. There's a movement like we've never seen in the history of our country.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: But the radical Liberal Democrats put all their hopes behind their conclusion delusion, which has now been totally exposed to the world as a complete and total fraud. The greatest political hoax in American history, it really has been.

So this witch hunt was never really just about me. It was always about stopping you the millions and millions of freedom loving citizens who rose up on that incredible November day, remember that day? November 8th.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And demanded the government that puts America first. Okay. And we're doing that with China. We're doing that with India. We're doing that with Japan. We're doing it with a great new trade deal that hopefully will get approved in the House. I hope they get to approve it because it's great for the farmers. Everybody wants it everybody loves it. But we're all signed up. And getting ready, I guess in 30 days to put it in. The USMCA like the song "YMCA," right? Remember, USMCA -- that's what the Mexico and Canada, it's a great deal. And it's going to be very, really good for the manufacturers and really, really good for the farmers. That's what we want to do.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: So, but a lot of pressure on your Congressmen and your Senators, because they have to ratify it, you know, they have to approve it. And, frankly, with what you have today, maybe they'd rather have us have a loss than do something that's good for the country.

(Booing)

TRUMP: Because NAFTA is one of the worst trade deals ever signed in the history of our country. You look at around Wisconsin, but you still see the scars, empty buildings. You go up to New England, you go to Ohio, you go to different places, NAFTA was a disaster.

And what we had, the one thing I wanted more than anything else, I want to make it almost impossible for a company to leave Wisconsin and leave other states and go to Mexico and go to other places, but go to Mexico, fire its workers, open a new plant in Mexico, hire other workers and sell the equipment into the United States. I don't want that. And we're not going to do it. And it makes it virtually not economically viable. That's what I want.

So it's going to be great. I hope we can get Congress to get it approved quickly, because it's going to be fantastic for everybody in this room. And especially manufacturers and farmers and people aren't going to be firing people and moving their plants to other countries.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Remember that spell we were going through before I was a politician? Remember? Can you believe I'm a politician? I can't even --

(Laughter)

TRUMP: Politician. But remember that spell where everybody was just leaving the country and going into Mexico, Canada, Mexico, Canada. And Canada has been taking big advantage of your agricultural products. You know that.

You know, Canada we love the song, "Oh Canada." Let's sing "Oh Canada," right. We love the show. But I came up here a year ago. And I was with farmers and they were we're selling specialty milk. Now you're getting killed for years. 297 percent tariff, that means you can't sell it. That's essentially putting up a barrier. So all of those things are taken care of in this new deal. And you're going to be opened up and --

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: They don't love it, but it's got to be good for everybody. It's going to be good for everybody. And if they didn't approve, I would have just put tariffs on the cars, I would have done that. I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to do that. But I said, if that's not going to happen, we're putting tariffs on the cars, and frankly, we will make more money.

But the farmers wouldn't be helped so much, but you'll watch the company grow and prosper as you starve. That's no good, right? So we like it. And it's good. Actually, it's good for Canada, it's good for Mexico, it's good for us, we've got to get Congress to approve it. So put a lot of pressure on these geniuses we have over here.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: That's going to be a great trade deal. And we're very close to making a deal with China. But who knows, I always say, "Who knows?" Because who the hell knows? The deal is either going to be a great deal. It has to be. I told President Xi, he is a friend of mine. I said, "Listen, this has got be like a good deal for both." This has to be a deal because we have been losing to China for many years. $500 billion a year. We have rebuilt China. We've given them so much -- I mean, think of it and that's cash you know, they can say it's "surplus." They can say it's "deficit." Call it whatever. We were losing cash. We're giving them $500 billion. How the hell can you do it?

And as Prime Minister Abe said to me today, HE said nobody has ever talked to me this way from our country.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: No, he said it friendly. He said it friendly. He is a friend of mine, but he said nobody from this country, no President has ever said this, you know. Nobody ever even talked about it. We lose $75 billion a year. Japan as an example sells us their cars. The cars come in. No tax. They don't take our cars. Other than that. It's a very fair deal.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: So the cars come in, essentially, it's 2.5 percent. But essentially, there is no tax. Our agriculture, they don't want it. We want to sell the agriculture. So they sell cars, we sell practically nothing. That's how we have these massive imbalances with so many countries. Now China is the big one. Because with China, it is at least $375 billion a year deficit. Think of it.

Who the hell wants -- who made these deals? It's true.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: Honestly, in all fairness to Obama, this was him. But this was before Obama, a long time before Obama. This has been going on for a long time. And all I'm telling you is if we don't make a deal, we're going to do even better, okay? We have all the cards.

Don't forget, we are the piggy bank that everybody is robbing. We're the ones. We're the piggy bank that everybody is stealing from and robbing and taken advantage of. But no matter how hard they try to stop us, they can't. Because our love for America will always be stronger than a corrupt thirst for power. This I don't -- I tell you what, you know, people say, "Oh, he wants to take over the country. He wants to extend." They don't believe I'm leaving in six years. "He wants to extend. He wants to have presidency for life." These are sick people.

I promise at the end of six years, I'll be very happy; but you're going to be left with the strongest country you've ever had. I promise you.

(Cheering and Applause)

CROWD: (Chanting "USA.")

TRUMP: You're right, USA. We love USA and that's right. And that's what this fight is all about. We're taking on the failed political establishment and restoring government of, by and for the people. It's the people, you're the people. You won the election.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And if you look at what's happened with the scum that's leaving the very top of government, people that others used to say, "Oh, that's one ..."

The dirty -- these were dirty cops. These were dirty players. You take a look at what's going on, there's 21 of them already. And I'm not even doing -- they're just leaving because they got caught like nobody ever got caught.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And in the truest sense of the word, what we are doing now is draining the swamp. That's true.

(Cheering and Applause)

CROWD: (Chanting "Drain the swamp.")

TRUMP: I mean we're draining the swamp, but are we having a good time or what?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And look at all those beautiful red hats and some white ones. Some white. Look at that. Those are -- that's a lot of red hats. But you do have the white ones, too right?

And you have the black ones, too. You have a lot of them. You have a lot of different hats. But let me just tell you. So we have to make a decision. You want to make it tonight. So we're doing great. The country is doing great. We're rebuilding our military. We're doing so many things.

Listen. So we have a decision to make. We may have the greatest theme in the history of politics, it is called "Make America Great Again." It's called MAGA Country.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: It's called MAGA Country. You know, I didn't hear that term until that third rate actor in Chicago went out.

(Booing)

TRUMP: And he said "I was beaten up by MAGA Country." Can you believe it? Now that's a hate crime, right? He said he was beaten up by MAGA Country. It turned out to be a total lie. But think of it MAGA - Make America Great Again.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: By the way, I have to tell you that case in Chicago is a disgrace to our nation.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Disgrace. So shall we have a decision tonight? Now, if this weren't the greatest thing -- I really believe. Now, it's been said, but Make America Great Again. Ronald Reagan used seldom let's Make America Great. Close, but not the same. Let's -- apostrophe S. You don't want the apostrophe. It's too complicated. It doesn't work. But Ronald Reagan was good. He said let's make -- but he didn't use it. He used it a little bit. We seriously use it, right?

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: MAGA. And MAGA we got for free. Because my whole deal was Make America Great Again, all of a sudden people are saying and going #MAGA.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: But we have a choice to make it and a decision to make. So very shortly, we're going to say -- you see what we did with our vets, we have CHOICE. We're going to go over. We have accountability where you can find -- we have a lot of things, okay, we've done so much.

Our military is like going to be very soon in great shape. We took 100 percent of the caliphate in Syria, everyone said, "Oh, you're never going to beat ..."

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And by the way, by the way, and when some whack job that picks up something over the internet goes out and blows up a store and people get killed, I understand that happens. I understand because these people are sick. They are demented.

But we nevertheless in terms of a war, we took 100 percent, but you're going to have these cells, and they're going to do damage. And it's a shame. And we've got to stop them. We've done a great job, but we've got to be careful. We've got to be careful. These are sick, horrible human beings -- if you even call them human beings. So we've got to be careful. And you know what, when you see it and I say this because we have a massive television audience, do you ever see so many cameras?

If somebody else were here, you'd have about like none. It's like the Academy Awards used to be before they started hitting us and their ratings started falling like a rock.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: True. So we have a choice to make. Ready? So Make America Great Again. The problem is we've made America great very soon. We've got a couple of things to do.

We should have had healthcare, but one man decided to vote against us at the last moment.

(Booing)

TRUMP: Even though he campaigned for eight years, repeal and replace, but that's okay. That's okay. Because what coming up, if we win, we're coming up with a great package of healthcare, we're going to be the party of healthcare. We're coming up with a great package after the election. We got to take back the House. We've got to win the Senate.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: We're going to win the presidency. We're going to be great. But we got rid of the individual mandate. That's a big thing. That was the worst part of Obamacare. So here's what our decision is. Do we use for the new campaign, which will be starting soon? We have the great Sarah Huckabee over here, Sarah.

(Cheering and Applause)

CROWD: (Chanting "Sarah.")

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Thank you, Mr. President. Obviously, I thought it was going to be a little warmer here in Wisconsin. But it's pretty hot in this room tonight. Thanks to --

(Cheering and Applause)

SANDERS: Thanks to all the amazing things you've done for our country. Last year, this night, I was at a slightly different event. Not quite the best welcome. So this is an amazing honor. I'm so proud to work for the President. They said he couldn't win in 2016. And he did. They said that he couldn't make our economy better and it's booming. They said he couldn't rebuild the military. And he's done it. They said there was collusion. And there wasn't.

(Cheering and Applause)

SANDERS: They've questioned him at every step. And he's proven them wrong every single time because of all of you. Thank you, Mr. President, for leading our country. Thank you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: She doesn't get it. She doesn't get it. She doesn't understand me after all these years. She's becoming too popular. I'm jealous. Sarah, you're fired. She was wondering what was that all about? She's been great. And Dan Scavino and Mike and the whole group and Madeline? Everybody.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: What a group. What a group. No, they're great people and they really love this country. What they've been through, they've been through a lot. They've been through a lot of phony stuff, the witch hunts. They've been through a lot. So we're delighted to be joined tonight by many incredible Wisconsin Republican leaders.

A really great friend of mine, a man who is really the focus of what's going on in so much of Washington. Very tough guy, very strong guy. I call him Wisconsin tough. And I don't even know if you know it. And I don't know if you appreciate it. But I'm telling you, he is really good -- Ron Johnson, your senator.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Thank you, Ron, a great job. He's doing a big job now. I can tell you that. he is working on some things that are very important. And members of Congress, Brian Steil, Brian. Thank you, Brian.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Glen Grothman.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Every time I introduce him, you know, I love champions, I don't care if it's in sports, I just like champions. So he's your tree-climbing champion, you know who I am talking about -- for five years, and that's not easy. He'd go up and come down. He said, the hard part was coming down because you get killed if you missed.

But for five years, he was the champion, the world champion five years. And he is with us tonight. And I'll tell you, he's our champion. He fights so hard. He is working on a reciprocal trade bill. So if somebody charges us a tariff of 100 percent or 50 percent or 25 percent, we say thank you very much. We're going to have a reciprocal tax of 25 or 50 percent.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: What could be wrong with that? And he's leading the charge, and he's got tremendous enthusiasm, but he's a great guy, and he is a great champion. Sean and his wife, by the way, is better than him. Sean Duffy.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Right? And another great friend of mine, somebody that's been so effective, Mike Gallagher. Mike, thank you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Thanks, Mike. And thanks also to was Wisconsin House Majority Leader, Jim Steineke.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Thanks, Jim. Great. Wisconsin, Senate President Roger Roth, Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, thank you.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: These are great people. They've done so much for us. So we have other leaders in the room. But we all know who they are. They've been incredible. The Republican Party has been incredible. After just the first two years' time, America is winning again and America is respected again all over the world. No more games all over the world.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Since the election, we've created more than six million new jobs. Nobody would have believed that. If I said this when I came here often. I came here often. Remember, I came and they didn't like certain people that were with me, they booed the hell out of those people. But they like to me, that's all that matters.

If I wouldn't have said six million jobs we're going to create by this time, two and a half years. Can you believe how time flies? Two and a half years already. I said the other night, I remember first night standing in my bedroom. I should say our bedroom.

(Laughter)

TRUMP: with our great First Lady. I said, "Do you believe it?" First night, I said, "Here we are. Here we are in the White House." And four years sounded so long away. And now four years is coming up. We are two and a half years. And no administration has done as much as we have in the first two and a half years.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: Ever.

CROWD: (Chanting "Four more years.")

TRUMP: Thank you. By the way, yesterday was our First Lady's birthday.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And people love her. We're about the same age, right?

(Laughter)

TRUMP: But if I would have said that we would be in two and a half years creating six million jobs, people would have laughed, 600,000 manufacturing jobs. Remember, President Obama said manufacturing jobs are gone. You need a wand, a magic wand. We found the magic wand because they're coming and they're coming fast.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: And those are great jobs. In the State of Wisconsin alone, we have created 23,000 brand new manufacturing and construction jobs -- a record.

(Cheering and Applause)

TRUMP: After years and years of the declining wages. Wages are rising for the first time in 21 years.

(Cheering and Applause)

Content and Programming Copyright 2019 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.