The CBS4 Interview: Trump On Rigged System & The Press
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- CBS4's Jim DeFede interviewed Republican nominee Donald Trump Sunday afternoon at Trump's resort in Doral, Florida.
Part of the interview included a discussion about Trump's claim the system is rigged and changes he would like to make to make it easier to win lawsuits against the press. The following is the transcript of that conversation.
DEFEDE: You've made a major issue talking about how this election is rigged and you talked about it from two standpoints. One in terms of the media involvement but also concerns you have with what may happen at the polls. Can you describe for me what you envision? What exactly are you describing when you talk about the polls?
TRUMP: Let's talk about, let's talk about polls first. Number one there are one million eight hundred thousand people who are dead who are registered and some of those people vote. So you tell me how they do that?
DEFEDE: Well, of course people die.
TRUMP: No, I know but some of those people are voting. Number two, you have two thousand or two million seven hundred thousand people where they say they are registered in two states. In other words they are registered in Florida and another place. That's no good. And then you have 24 million people who are improperly registered. That's according to Pew Research, one of the most respected outfits out there. So all of that is not good. People know there are a lot of rigging of elections, you look at certain cities and I mean you take a look at some of the cities that you know about, you know about very well, whether it's Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago - there are a lot of things going on and these things shouldn't be going on. Number two, the media is totally rigged. You look at what's going on with the media, totally rigged. And Hillary Clinton is getting a free pass. Hillary Clinton is guilty of so many crimes and frankly she shouldn't be allowed to run for President. And I say this; I say this in my speeches. I've said it many times before and I think that's a bad system when she is allowed to go out and she's allowed to run when she has done so many things wrong. She's lied to the FBI...
DEFEDE: Let me ask you this...
TRUMP: Wait. Let me finish. General Cartwright, four-star general, lied to the FBI, one lie. He said he did it for national security purposes by the way. He is now going to serve perhaps five years in jail. Hillary Clinton has lied many, many times to the FBI, many, many times, and she's allowed to run for President.
DEFEDE: Let me just ask you this, is that an area, whether or not she should have been allowed to run, is that something you would legally, possibly challenge after the election?
TRUMP: I'm just telling you right now that Hillary Clinton should not be allowed to run. I say it at every speech.
DEFEDE: But is that something you would challenge...
TRUMP: She lied
DEFEDE: ...in terms of possibly a lawsuit in an attempt to disqualify her?
TRUMP: I'm challenging it every single day.
DEFEDE: But in court?
TRUMP: How the FBI let her get away with it and yet one of our most respected generals is going to jail for perhaps five years, happened two days ago, it is absolutely unfair. And when I go to rallies, I'm going to Naples now, I'm going to Miami, I'm all over the place. When I go to rallies the people are incensed. The people of this country are incensed. I would think the people of the FBI agents. I would think that the FBI agents and the great people that work at the FBI are incensed at what happens and the Justice Department. Hillary Clinton is guilty of many crimes. She's running for president. A great general and then you can take another look, look at General Petraeus. General Petraeus, great general, his life was destroyed for doing a tiny fraction of what she did.
DEFEDE: You can't fire FBI Director Comey because he's appointed but would you ask for his resignation?
TRUMP: I'm not going to say. Let me just tell you this. What happened is so unfair to the people of this country. So unfair to General Cartwright, so unfair to General Petraeus, so unfair to many people. They've done nothing compared to her and she's getting a free pass and you know it and I know it.
DEFEDE: You've said that the Clinton Foundation was a criminal enterprise. And you've called for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. Should they also be investigating Bill Clinton?
TRUMP: That's up to them. Let them investigate whoever they want. I don't think they are investigating anybody. I think she can do anything frankly and get away with it. And I think probably that's the big problem people have.
DEFEDE: Again you've brought up the press. In the past you have talked about wanting to amend laws to and rework things to make it easier to sue do you think there is too much protection allowed in the first amendment?
TRUMP: Well in England they have a system where you can actually sue if someone says something wrong. Our press is allowed to say whatever they want and get away with it. And i think we should go to a system where if they do something wrong… I'm a big believer tremendous believer of the freedom of the press. Nobody believes it stronger than me but if they make terrible, terrible mistakes and those mistakes are made on purpose to injure people. I'm not just talking about me I'm talking anybody else then yes, i think you should have the ability to sue them.
DEFEDE: So you'd like the laws to be closer to what they have in England?
TRUMP: Well, in England you have a good chance of winning. And deals are made and apologies are made. Over here they don't have to apologize. They can say anything they want about you or me and there doesn't have to be any apology. England has a system where if they are wrong things happen.
DEFEDE: Last thing, you said yesterday during your speech yesterday at Gettysburg that one of the things you would do after this election is that you would sue the women who have made the allegations against you.
TRUMP: Yeah.
DEFEDE: What would you say to a person who says if you, in fact, win this election, you should put that aside because you should be more worried about the fate of the country - then defending your honor?
TRUMP: Well, I would be more worried about the fate of the country and I will be very worried about the fate of the country and I am right now. We owe $20 trillion, we have a military that's depleted, we have Obamacare that's a disaster that we are going to repeal and replace. Our taxes are way too high and she wants to raise them so…
DEFEDE: But you are going to occupy your time with lawsuits?
TRUMP: We will see about that but I will tell you what is said it was just fiction. By the way, just so that you understand, this is just fiction. This was made up out of thin air. This never happened. So we will see what we will see. But I am most worried about the fate of our country.
The interview continues:
