President Donald Trump told Fox News host Harris Faulkner in an interview that aired on Thursday that if Washington State officials do not fix the situation involving an occupied region in Seattle that the federal government will intervene to solve the problem.
“If there were more toughness, you wouldn’t have the kind of devastation that you had in Minneapolis and in Seattle,” Trump said. “I mean, let’s see what’s going on in Seattle, but I will tell you, if they don’t straighten that situation out, we’re going to straighten it out.”
“What I mean is very simple,” Trump continued. “We’re not going to let Seattle be occupied by anarchists … no, we’re not going to let this happen in Seattle. If we have to go in, we’re going to go in. The governor’s either going to do it — let the governor do it. He’s got great National Guard troops. So he can do it.”
“But one way or the other it’s going to get done,” Trump concluded. “These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city.”
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TRANSCRIPT:
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: [I]f there were more toughness, you wouldn’t have the kind of devastation that you had in Minneapolis and in Seattle. I mean, let’s see what’s going on Seattle, but I will tell you, if they don’t straighten that situation out, we’re going to straighten it out.
HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX HOST: And what do you mean by that? Like, what – I don’t know if you caught it, but Governor Cuomo was so upset with Mayor de Blasio of New York, he said, I’m going to displace him.
I don’t really know how that would work, but I mean, is that what you mean in Seattle?
TRUMP: What I mean is very simple. We’re not going to let Seattle be occupied by anarchists —
FAULKNER: OK.
TRUMP: And I’m not calling the protestors —
(CROSSTALK)
FAULKNER: Have you talked to the mayor?
TRUMP: I’m not – no, but I got to see a performance that I’ve never seen there.
I mean, you think he was a weak person in Minneapolis — the woman — I don’t know — has she ever done this before? How can you —
(CROSSTALK)
FAULKNER: And (ph) Seattle.
TRUMP: Oh, it’s pathetic. No, no, we’re not going to let this happen in Seattle. If we have to go in, we’re going to go in. The governor’s either going to do it — let the governor do it. He’s got great National Guard troops. So he can do it. But one way or the other it’s going to get done.
These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FAULKNER: And you look at me, and I’m Harris on T.V., but I’m a black woman.
TRUMP: Yes.
FAULKNER: I’m a mom. And you know, when — and you’ve talked about it, but we haven’t seen you come out and be that consoler in this instance. And the tweets, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Why those words?
TRUMP: So, that’s an expression I’ve heard over the years, and —
(CROSSTALK)
FAULKNER: Do you know where it comes from?
TRUMP: I think Philadelphia — the mayor of Philadelphia —
FAULKNER: No. It comes from 1967. I was about 18 months old at the time. Everybody’s shooting wiki (ph), because they probably got it wrong. But it was from the chief of police in Miami. He was cracking down, and he meant what he said. And he said, I don’t even care if it makes it look like brutality I’m going to crack down, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.
TRUMP: Yeah.
FAULKNER: That frightened a lot of people when you tweeted that.
TRUMP: Well, it also comes from a very tough mayor, who might have been police commissioner at the time, but I think mayor of Philadelphia named Frank Rizzo. And he had an expression like that, but I’ve heard it may times from – I think it’s been used many times.
It means two things — very different things. One is, if there’s looting, there’s probably going to be shooting, and that’s not as a threat, that’s really just a fact, because that’s what happens.
And the other is, if there’s looting, there’s going to be shooting. There’s — they’re very different meanings —
FAULKNER: Oh, interesting.
TRUMP: You know, there’s very different meanings. But I think that —
FAULKNER: Do you think most people see it that way?