Donald Trump on what he's learned about the political system
Presidential candidate discusses the abortion debate, defends campaign manager and wife Melania Trump shares her advice in a 'Hannity' interview
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 4, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity," and we're coming to you from the Pabst Theater. We're in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Tomorrow, voters in this great state will head to the polls and choose (ph) who they want to be the 2016 presidential nominee. On the Republican side, 42 delegates are up for grabs.
Tonight, for the full hour, GOP front-runner Donald Trump with a special guest, his wife, Melania. And we invited people from all over Wisconsin to be a part of our audience tonight. We have a lot to get to, so let's welcome the 2016 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and his wife, Melania.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Great to see you.
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What a group. Thank you.
HANNITY: I don't think you'd ever get sick of this, right?
D. TRUMP: Thank you. This is so great. Nice place. Beautiful theater.
HANNITY: So you had been -- RealClearPolitics average, you were down 6.5 percent, but a poll just came out earlier tonight that has you up by 10 in the state. Is that possible?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: Yes, a very good poll, a good company. Let's see what happens. And then the only poll that matters is tomorrow, right?
HANNITY: That's true. That's true.
D. TRUMP: So (INAUDIBLE)
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) never get a chance to talk to Melania. I'm going to start with Melania. Great to see you. Thank you for joining us here in Wisconsin.
MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: Of course. It's great to be here.
HANNITY: You didn't want Donald to run.
M. TRUMP: Well, when we discussed and he asked me, I said, you know -- we have a great life because I know life changes after, you know, all that's going on.
HANNITY: It's changed a lot, right?
M. TRUMP: It's changed a lot, and you know, he's not home much and with me or with my son. So it's changed. That's why I said. But I know what he could do for the America, so...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: It's -- it's tough on families. I mean, when they run a -- a super-PAC ad attacking you, is that painful?
M. TRUMP: I have a tough skin. I think it's not fair that they're attacking family, wife or children.
HANNITY: Yes.
M. TRUMP: It's unfair.
HANNITY: Yes, all right. Now, my wife gives me great advice in my life. Right, guys? We know what that's like? We get our best advice from our wife. You have said you want Donald to be more presidential sometimes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go Trump!
HANNITY: Explain that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
M. TRUMP: Well, sometimes I feel that, you know, the retweets sometimes get him in trouble, so just -- I say stay away from -- you know, stay away from retweets and...
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: She does say that.
M. TRUMP: And you know, if he would only listen!
(LAUGHTER)
M. TRUMP: I could (INAUDIBLE) every day and every time. But you know, he's doing great.
HANNITY: Is there a side of him that maybe you think the public doesn't know that you would want them to know about him?
M. TRUMP: I think he's very kind. He has a great heart. He would not harm anybody. He would not harm women or men. He's really a great, great guy. You know, beautiful heart. And he loves to help and so...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Let me -- by all accounts, you've had a pretty tough week. You actually said something in interviews with both Maureen Dowd and Bob Woodward that a lot of people were hoping you would do at some point. And you said, You know what? I think I shouldn't have sent that tweet out about Heidi Cruz.
D. TRUMP: Well, I think I really said, Hey, I could've done without it. And it's true. And I wish I didn't send it out. It would have been simpler.
It was done as a little bit of retaliation. But in the end, it's so -- you know, it's just something -- if I had it to do again, I would not have done it.
HANNITY: Yes. Well, you know, you just had your eighth grandchild...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: This whole issue when you were on with Chris Matthews -- I was watching the interview -- he never shuts up.
(LAUGHTER) (BOOS)
HANNITY: It's just so annoying. Sorry, it's true. And I was watching the interview and he's grilling you and pushing and pushing at a hypothetical question on abortion. That became a problem for a few days. And I just thought I'd give you an opportunity in your own words to talk about abortion.
Ted Cruz took the position today he doesn't make exceptions for rape, incest or the mother's life.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: Is there a difference in your position?
D. TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) Lyin' Ted.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Lyin' Ted. We don't know what, but he lies. Lyin' Ted, L-Y-I-N apostrophe, right? Lyin' Ted.
HANNITY: And how does...
(CROSSTALK)
D. TRUMP: So look, I will say this. You know I'm pro-life, OK, and with the exceptions. But -- but I am pro-life. I did the show because it's not a high-rated show. He's always been -- I mean, he has never treated me very badly, and frankly, he...
HANNITY: He treats you badly when you're not there.
D. TRUMP: Well, perhaps, I mean, but he's always been, you know, fine.
HANNITY: So he's a phony (ph).
TRUMP: And I -- I didn't think it was a big thing to do the show, and it was a hypothetical question. And as a hypothetical question, you give a hypothetical answer, and I didn't see the big, big huge deal.
And I will tell you this, Sean, and I'll say it, and we can, you know, have this out. But so many people called me up and they thought that was a very strong answer and a very good -- Pastor Jeffress, who's a fantastic guy who's been on your show...
HANNITY: Many times.
D. TRUMP: ... a great man...
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: But the reality is, that's not the law.
D. TRUMP: And -- well, he said -- but as a hypothetical question, that was a hypothetical answer that was not a wrong answer. And there were other people that wrote me letters, and I mean, by the hundreds, saying, that was a great answer to that question the way it was phrased.
HANNITY: Did he (ph) make exceptions -- because it's a -- look, it's a very sensitive issue. It's a very personal issue. I know that my position of making exceptions for rape, incest and the mother's life are inconsistent a little bit with my belief that life begins at conception.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: Do you make those exceptions?
D. TRUMP: Well, I do. I mean, I come with the three exceptions, and it's -- I think it's very important. But I will say that -- I mean, to me it's very important. I will say I watched Kasich being interviewed on a channel. I won't even say it. It didn't happen to be yours. He gave -- they were talking about abortion, and he gave such a bad answer -- it was so bad that at the end, he said, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I don't want to talk about it.
If I ever did that, if I ever gave that answer, it would have been 10 times bigger headlines. And I said, I wonder -- oh, he's going to get killed. And I'm saying to myself, He's going to get killed for that answer. Nobody ever said anything. Nobody ever talks about it.
HANNITY: He doesn't have a chance to win.
D. TRUMP: Well, whatever. Nobody -- nobody cares. I mean...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Crazy.
HANNITY: So I want to ask this audience because it became such a distraction. I watched the videotape at least 150 times. Did anybody see anything that looked like an assault? If you do, just...
(NO)
HANNITY: I didn't see it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
HANNITY: The easier thing would have been to fire your campaign manager, make that problem go away. And you were asked a lot about that over the weekend. You wouldn't do it. Why?
D. TRUMP: Amazing the way he shifted to that topic. I mean, he went from it to assault. And I said, Wait a minute. He's talking about -- look, I have a campaign manager who's a very -- he's a very good campaign manager. He's doing a great job, and all of this stuff. I mean...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Look, hopefully, I can say he has an OK candidate, right? He has an OK candidate, but he is -- I mean, we're number one by a lot. We're leading by millions of votes. Nobody ever talks about the votes. They -- you know -- by millions and millions of votes over Cruz and over Kasich.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Nobody ever talks about that. And we're also leading by -- you know, we just won Missouri. We -- Missouri just came in. But we're leading by close to 300 delegates. So we're leading by a lot. Corey is -- forget about campaign managers. He's doing great.
But Corey's a fine person. He's a good person. He's got four beautiful children. He's got a wife who's a terrific woman. He lives in New Hampshire, where I have a warm spot because that was my first victory. I mean, I love New Hampshire, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So -- so I read the statement made by this person, who I didn't know -- Michelle Fields. She's a reporter. And you have to find out, did she quit or did she get fired? Because, you know, I heard a story about what happened, that they -- they were pretty tough on her because of -- they didn't necessarily believe it.
I'm not saying -- you're going to have to ask them. I'm sure they'll eventually have to talk about it. But when I saw the tape -- I saw her -- first I saw her statement that she was practically thrown to the ground. I said, That's terrible!
And I would have fired him on the spot if that actually took place. Then I have very good security in my place. I have beautiful security cameras all over for -- not for this.
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) for the heads-up.
(CROSSTALK)
D. TRUMP: By the way, not for this, but, you know...
HANNITY: Whatever reason.
D. TRUMP: So I have these great security cameras. I said, Do me a favor. Check those cameras. Maybe there's something. So I read her statement that she was thrown to the ground or almost thrown to the ground and gripped.
Now I see her in the tape, right? First of all, she grabbed me or touched me or whatever, but she grabbed. And you see me looking and -- and -- like this, right?
Number one, she wasn't supposed to be there because we had just finished a -- a press conference. But here's the thing. I saw Corey -- and on your show, on various shows, they've had criminal defense lawyers there. Everybody says, What did he do? He didn't do anything.
How can I fire a man and ruin a man's life -- and most of you have seen the tape -- I mean, if anything...
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I'll tell you, if anything -- and -- and I say this -- and you know, the easiest thing would have been -- it's so sad -- if I would have fired him, it would have been so much easier. This would be -- I can't do that. I'm loyal to people. I'm loyal to the country. I'll be loyal to the people of the country!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I mean, when I -- when I saw -- and you know what I'm talking about because I've seen a lot of different shows. Not even yours. Yours too. But I've seen a lot of different shows where they have lawyers on, and they're showing the tape. And virtually every single one of them said, What did he do? It was almost that he was running interference.
Number one, she wasn't supposed to be there. She cut in front of Secret Service.
HANNITY: Well, but the -- it was -- the press conference was over.
D. TRUMP: It was over. And it was a long press conference.
HANNITY: And he had put the hand out, No more questions. That's what I saw.
D. TRUMP: And she wasn't supposed to be asking me -- so that's not a big deal. She's (INAUDIBLE) She shouldn't have been there. That's a certain space that you have with Secret Service, not supposed to be there.
And if you look at him, he basically ran interference. I mean, it's not like -- now, do I destroy a man's life? Because you know, if I fired him, that would be the destruction of his life professionally, in my opinion. Do I do that?
Then I guess she reported him to the police department. And I mean, he's got charges, and for what? And people are looking -- she grabbed me. She touched me. I looked down. You can see I'm pulling my arm, you know, as they run it slowly. She's not supposed to be there. Now, maybe I should file charges against her for grabbing me or touching me.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You know, maybe I should file.
HANNITY: Let me ask -- so I -- I think it -- you have now been...
TRUMP: By the way, Jupiter, Florida, is a great place. I, I respect it so much.
HANNITY: It was a Hillary prosecutor.
(CROSSTALK)
D. TRUMP: But I want to tell you -- I want to tell you, I think it's a real black eye to justice and to criminal justice when somebody gets in trouble...
HANNITY: For nothing!
TRUMP: And I always say thank goodness we had that tape because I can imagine -- you know, when she saw that tape, all of a sudden, the story sort of changed a little bit. It wasn't -- remember, you have to look at her first statement -- pulled to the ground or almost pulled to the ground. And it was, like, pretty vicious-sounding. And then I saw the tape. So I think people should look at that. I think it's a great injustice.
HANNITY: Let me ask this question. You now -- do you remember the day you came down Trump Towers? Melania was with you.
D. TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: Your family was there.
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: You've been at this what, nine months?
D. TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: Nine months.
D. TRUMP: From June 16th.
HANNITY: What -- what have you learned the most about our political system, especially coming off of a hard week?
(CROWD SHOUTING)
D. TRUMP: Well -- what? What? You wait. What was that?
(CROWD SHOUTING)
D. TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) Well, I've learned that our country is very poorly run, I can tell you that. No, I've learned there's great -- and I have to say this, and you're a total professional and there are others -- but I've learned there's tremendous dishonesty in the media.
HANNITY: True.
TRUMP: Tremendous dishonesty.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Beyond anything -- beyond anything I've ever witnessed. Beyond anything I've ever witnessed. For instance, I talk about NATO, and I give this long -- I understand. You know, I get it. I get how it is. I said it's obsolete, and two, three days later, people say, Wow, that was really something.
I said that we're spending too much money. We're taking care of all the freeloaders. You know, we have 28 countries in there. We're taking care of a vast preponderance. But they're not paying. And they're really not paying because nobody's asking them to pay, in my opinion. You know I have an instinct for this stuff. They should pay.
But it's really -- you know, we need something for terrorism. That was set up I think 68 years ago or so for the Soviet Union. Well, the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore. Russia's plenty tough.
But here's the one thing. They cover my answer so inaccurately. And it's unbelievable. And every time I give a speech, I get a standing ovation on NATO and many other things. But the press takes about 3 percent of what I say, and they disguise it to make it look as bad as possible. So you know, I -- very, very dishonest.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: What advice throughout this campaign, Melania, have you given your husband? Or what would you like him to change a little bit?
M. TRUMP: Well, as we discussed before, I said, you know, tweeting and being more presidential. And he has, you know, great nights, and he can be presidential. But sometimes, he just -- like, he cannot stand if somebody attacks him because if somebody attacks him, he will punch back 10 times harder.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: All right, we got to take a break. We'll come back. Things are just getting started -- 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, his wife, Melania, they're with us for the hour as we continue "Hannity" on the road. We're in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Pabst Theater.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." We continue now with 2016 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, his wife, Melania.
You met with Reince Priebus. How did that meeting go? Can you tell us what you talked about?
D. TRUMP: Well, the meeting was fine. We had a short meeting, probably half an hour. And he was there with his staff. And he's a really nice guy. I've always gotten along.
But I just said I wanted to be treated fairly. I mean, I'm getting far more votes than anybody. In Louisiana, I won the state, and I find out I have less delegates than a guy that I beat quite easily.
(BOOS)
TRUMP: And it doesn't -- and you say, What's going on?
Now, in all fairness, we're way ahead in delegates, but why would somebody that loses have more delegates? They say, Well, there's this way, and -- I say, Wait a minute. I don't care about ways. I won the state. I'm not supposed to have less delegates than a guy I beat. It doesn't work that way!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Let me ask you a question. John Boehner said he hopes that they would pick Paul Ryan. They can nominate anybody at a contested convention.
(BOOS)
HANNITY: John Kasich told Strategy Now (ph), he says it'll be a great educational opportunity. He can't get to 1,237. The only way he can win is to leapfrog over you and Ted Cruz.
D. TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: You have Scott Walker, in a private meeting with a friend of ours, said last week he wants Paul Ryan. We know that Mitt Romney strategy.
(BOOS)
HANNITY: Karl Rove has said it. There's a local radio guy who's not on my station, Charlie Sykes, has said it. He wants to jump over the winner.
(BOOS)
HANNITY: So my question to you...
D. TRUMP: Stop with the news (ph). We'll go over.
HANNITY: OK.
D. TRUMP: First of all, Romney is -- lost so badly. He was -- it was one of the great defeats in the history of presidential politics. And for this guy to be talking -- and he knows how I felt. And I said, Hey, look, he's a choke artist. He choked with President Obama. And that's not presidential to say, but I'll say it anyway. I have to say -- I always say -- I want to say it until I win. Then I promise I'll get presidential, OK?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: But Romney is nothing but a choke artist. And I don't want his endorsement. You know, if I win this, I don't want -- I need his endorsement because...
HANNITY: But the strategy is to take this...
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: ... from the people that won the most votes, the most states, who got the most delegates.
D. TRUMP: Millions and millions of people that are out there voting, and I have people -- it's the biggest story in politics today. The Republican Party, I hate to say it because it's, you know, whatever -- because I'm running, because they want to see America be great again, et cetera, et cetera, all the things we're going to do.
The Republican Party is getting millions of votes more than it did four years ago. Now, it's getting millions of votes more than it ever has!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And in all fairness, the Republican Party never had that image. It was like sort of tired, tired, exhausted, tired. And now, all of a sudden, you go to South Carolina, you go to New Hampshire, you go to different -- Nevada -- and a woman working in Nevada said, You know what? And she said this on television. I'm watching television. She said, I've been in here for 25 years. They'd have, like, three people in this room. Now they had a line that was going back six blocks, five deep. And she said, I've never seen anything like this.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And that's every single thing. So -- so...
HANNITY: We had more people...
TRUMP: ... the Republican should...
HANNITY: ... than we had room for here.
D. TRUMP: But you -- look at you. I mean, you were supposed to have just a little audience, and now they have to open up all the decks.
HANNITY: Right.
D. TRUMP: There's something amazing happening.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: But let me ask you something.
TRUMP: There's something...
HANNITY: If -- if -- let's say you fall shy of 1,237 -- I mean, this is not a Chris Matthews hypothetical -- but if you fall shy of 1,237, and you get to the convention and it becomes contested, and they try -- and you have more votes, more delegates, won more states than anybody else, and they try to take that nomination away from you, what is your answer to them?
D. TRUMP: Well, let me tell you what's unfair. I was always very good...
(SHOUTING)
TRUMP: We won't let them, right?
(SHOUTING)
TRUMP: Let me tell you, I was always very good...
AUDIENCE: No Trump, no vote! No Trump, no vote! No Trump, no vote!
D. TRUMP: Thank you. Wow, that's very nice.
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: All right, I have a question for the audience. If they try to do what I'm describing, how many of you would want him to walk out?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: How many of you would not vote for whoever they pick?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: So they -- they've got a big problem.
D. TRUMP: Well, we have -- we have millions...
(CHANTING)
TRUMP: Thank you. We have millions -- we have millions of people. We're not talking about small. You know, like, as an example, above Cruz. And in all fairness to Cruz, at least he's going through with this process, and it's not an easy process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lyin' Ted!
TRUMP: But over -- over Ted Cruz, I have millions of additional votes, not only delegates, but millions of additional votes. I think it's really hard to do it.
But I was always very good with mathematics, OK? So here's the problem we have, and that anybody in my position would have. I won, as you saw, many states. I think I have what, 22, 23 states? We won a lot of states, all right, more -- by far much more...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: ... much more than anybody else. OK, so -- but the problem is those first states, we had 17 people running. So you could win a state -- you get 24, 25 percent, you'd win a state. But with all of those people -- you had governors -- you had people of great achievement. I mean, you had Ben Carson, who's a fantastic guy, but -- great achievement.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: He endorsed me. Ben endorsed me. And you had Chris Christie, who endorsed me. But you had people of great achievement. You had governors, senators, et cetera, OK? And they all had 2 percent, 3 percent, 5 percent. We had 17 people!
So it's impossible to get to that threshold in those early states. Even now, we still have Kasich. Now, here's the problem with Kasich. First of all, I happen to think he takes votes away from me, moreso than Cruz. But...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But Sean -- Sean, he's 1 for 31, OK? Thank you. He's won -- it's not fair!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... more than 31, but yes.
D. TRUMP: No, I think it's more. It's probably 33, if you add on the islands and everything else. But he's one for 31, probably 33.
And if I spent two days more in Ohio, I would have won that, too. We did great in Ohio. I would have won Ohio.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And you know why I didn't do it? Because I wanted to be sure that I won Florida. We won Florida big. But I would have won Ohio.
But the point is this. So we have all these people -- we have all these people, and it's very hard therefore to get the 50 percent plus one when you go -- despite that, I think we're going to do it. I'll tell you what, if we can win Wisconsin, and we are doing great, we're going to do it pretty easily.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: I read a recent interview, and a couple of times you used an analogy that I -- well, in a primary, I got to be tough, I got to break some eggs, and then I'm going to be -- what Melania is asking you and Ivanka's asking you and Eric and Don, Jr., are asking you, to be more presidential.
D. TRUMP: Very boring. I'll be very boring.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: What does that mean you're going to -- how is that possible?
D. TRUMP: No, he'll be so -- he'll have Trump on, and he'll say, That was the most boring interview I've ever done. No more Trump.
No, I understand. You know what Melania says, what Ivanka -- Ivanka's the same...
HANNITY: You agree with her.
D. TRUMP: I do, but I want to finish the job. You know, look...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I do. You know, in the last debate -- the last debate -- and Drudge is an amazing guy, by the way. But Drudge has a poll -- right? He really is. People don't know what an amazing guy.
But Drudge has a poll, and Time magazine and all these -- you know there's, like, seven or eight of them, on-line polls after the debates. I've won every single poll of every single debate. In other words, who won the debates. You know that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now, so they told me on the final debate, Be presidential. Don't hit back. Don't -- and I tried it. And I succeeded. I was so proud of myself!
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: But it was also -- by the way, I did good in the poll, but it was also the most boring debate of all, you have to say.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: I want to know, I -- when we come back, I want to ask specifically how you go after Hillary. Let's talk about some policy issues, ISIS, the economy, much more as we continue with 2016 Republican front-runner Donald Trump, his wife, Melania.
"Hannity" on the road in Milwaukee, and we will continue.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." We're in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Pabst Theater with 2016 Republican presidential front- runner Donald Trump and his wife, Melania.
I have asked you this question about the economy before -- 95 million Americans out of the labor force, 50 million in poverty, 46 million on food stamps. You know what a bad economy is, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: And we've doubled the national debt.
D. TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: And I think the question is, how do we fix this and how fast can you do it?
D. TRUMP: OK, we can do it fast. We have to bring our jobs back and we have to stop jobs from leaving. Every day, you read about companies...
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Sean, right, every day, we're reading about companies, great companies -- Pfizer, great pharmaceutical companies -- moving to Ireland. A lot of companies are moving to Mexico. I mean, Mexico's like a China, a little smaller version. We're losing so many -- but we're going to build a wall. Who's going to pay for the wall? We're going to build a wall, believe me. We're building the wall.
You know, with Mexico, we have a trade deficit of $58 billion a year.
HANNITY: China is worse.
D. TRUMP: Oh, China, $505 billion. And we're going to stop all that. And we have the greatest -- you know many of them, and you know they're friends of mine, and have endorsed me. Carl Icahn...
HANNITY: But how do we...
D. TRUMP: We're going to get the greatest negotiators and...
HANNITY: Is that enough to get Americans back to work?
D. TRUMP: Oh, it's going to be so good. It's -- we're losing, we're losing all of our jobs, folks. We're losing so much. And what they do is the monetary manipulation. They devalue their currencies to such an extent. And they're grand masters. And we have people in Washington, they don't even know what's happening to us. You take a look at Komatsu in Japan, they make tractors. Look what they're doing to Caterpillar. So many companies are just absolutely --
HANNITY: You said we're headed for a massive recession.
D. TRUMP: If I'm not elected. If I'm not elected.
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: No, no, no. No, I, I did make the statement, I did make the statement, because we're in a massive bubble. We have money that's the cheapest money we've ever had yet. Nobody can borrow it unless you're very rich. I mean, if I want to borrow money, I can borrow all the money I want to borrow. But if you aren't really rich, you can't borrow money. So did you ever hear of cheap money that nobody can get?
We're sitting on a bubble. The stock market is very inflated and very -- now, we have to straighten out our country. We are $19 trillion in debt. The budget -- - you know they talk about Paul Ryan. Well, I like Paul Ryan personally. No, but this omnibus budget from three months ago that they passed is a disaster. It gives Obama the money to bring people in from Syria. It gives him the money to bring the illegal immigrants in. It gives him money for ObamaCare, which has to be repealed and replaced.
HANNITY: Would you put forward a balanced budget your first budget, or will it take a couple of years?
D. TRUMP: No, no, but it will take fairly quickly, and it can be done.
HANNITY: Three years?
D. TRUMP: You know, he likes the penny plan. And you know, the penny plan, you know it sounds simple. It's actually very good. And you can do more than a penny, by the way. But it will take place and it will go relatively quickly.
But what we have to start doing again, immediately, we have to make better trade deals. I'll be able to that very -- that's what I do, make better trade deals. We have to make sure that these countries -- you know, we protect Japan, we protect Saudi Arabia, we protect Germany, we protect -- we're like the policemen to the world. We protect everybody. When they say that our military budget is many times that of any other country, of course it is. We're protecting everybody. So we have to renegotiate deals. I don't mind protecting countries, but we have to get paid a fair amount of money for it.
(CHEERS)
HANNITY: Do you -- how important is it that government -- for example, are there any departments you would eliminate? I like the penny plan. You cut a penny, you eliminate baseline budgeting, all important and, from my perspective -- energy I think would create a lot of jobs.
D. TRUMP: Well, it has got to be loosened up. It has got to be loosened up. You know, we take our coal, because I'm somebody that believes in clean coal. I believe in all forms of energy. I think it's fine. HANNITY: All of the above?
D. TRUMP: Including --
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: Including the newer stuff that I use, solar, et cetera, et cetera. But it's not working. It's so expensive. It's just not working. And it will get better and better with time. But we can't rely on that. I mean, solar is wonderful and great, but, you know, there's a 32 -- year payback. Who wants a 32 -- year payback? Same thing with wind. Wind is a horrible thing in terms of vision, what it looks like. And it has a place in certain areas, it has a place. As you know, in California, it's killing all the eagles.
HANNITY: Outside the Kennedy compound, that's where I would put it.
D. TRUMP: Well, no -- yes, but they don't want it.
HANNITY: Yes, exactly.
D. TRUMP: It's amazing. They all want wind until you're going to put it next to their house, and then all of a sudden it's like, we don't want the wind.
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: But look, it all has a place. We -- coal, we have in West Virginia, in Ohio, I mean, look at what has happened to Ohio. They have clean coal now. We send our coal -- you know what, we send our coal. We don't do much coal anymore. The miners are devastated. That industry is - - we send it --
HANNITY: Do you manage the budget at home or does Melania?
D. TRUMP: Well, we don't have too much of a budget, right?
(LAUGHTER)
D. TRUMP: By the way -- just a thought though. We send our coal to China. We send our coal to China. We can't use it. We're not allowed to use it practically, it's so restrictive. But we send our coal to China. It's so sad.
HANNITY: Oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear?
D. TRUMP: I am totally in favor. You know, nuclear had a big setback when they had the problem in Japan. They were all set to go. But new nuclear is really -- and very, very inexpensive. You look at certain countries like France, not that I want to copy France --
HANNITY: No, 75 percent.
(CROSSTALK)
D. TRUMP: But they've got a vast majority of their energy is from nuclear.
HANNITY: Would you eliminate any departments? D. TRUMP: Oh absolutely. First of all --
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: First of all, first of all, we want to bring education back to Wisconsin, right? Right?
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: So we end Common Core, and Department of Education can -- I mean, the Department of Education is massive and it can be largely eliminated. Now you maybe want to have a little bit of, you know, tentacles out there, make sure everything -- but largely we can eliminate the Department of Education. Department of environmental, I mean, the DEP is killing us environmentally. It's just killing our businesses. That can be state.
HANNITY: We've got to take a break.
D. TRUMP: OK.
HANNITY: We'll come back. We have much more with Donald Trump, his wife Melania, right after this break as HANNITY continues from the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the road.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." We continue now with 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, his wife Melania. All right, so the president was in Cuba doing the wave.
(BOOS)
HANNITY: And then he did the Tango. And that was after he got lectured by Raul Castro. You're the president of the United States. I assume you wouldn't have been in Cuba, but something like Brussels happens, how would you have handled it differently?
D. TRUMP: Well, you know, by the way, speaking of Cuba, and I'm not saying we shouldn't do something eventually, but we have to do a great deal as opposed to the deal we're doing. But worst, when he landed in Air Force One and there was nobody to greet him. To me, can you imagine?
(LAUGHTER)
D. TRUMP: And I said, you know, Air Force One has been around for a while. I said, that may be the first time in the history of Air Force One that the president of the United States lands in a country and there's nobody to great him. So it's a total lack of respect. He should have left immediately. He should have left, should have left the baseball game. The wave was not a good thing, especially in light of what we're going through.
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: But he should have left immediately and come back home to Washington where the president belongs at a time like that.
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Let me ask, Obama last week was attacking you that you don't know foreign policy. And I'm thinking, all right, this is the guy that $150 billion to the radical Islamic mullahs of Iran.
D. TRUMP: Who, by the way, and this is interesting, yesterday for the first time he is now saying Iran, not so happy with Iran. He's not so happy with the deal. I've been telling him that for two years it's not going to work out.
And, you know, it's interesting. Hey, I wrote a book in 2000, I talked about Osama bin Laden in the book, two years before the World Trade Center got knocked down.
HANNITY: And Brussels.
D. TRUMP: And then I talked about Brussels recently. And The New York Times put this big story in that Donald Trump -- I said Brussels is a hellhole. Now, I know that because it's a big financial capital and friends of mine are very much involved with Brussels, and they tell me what's going on. And "The New York Times" came up and they wrote a vicious story about me talking so badly about Brussels. And then you had this horrible attack. And now everybody is saying he was right. I know what I'm doing. I mean, I know what I'm doing.
(APPLAUSE)
CROWD: Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!
HANNITY: And I'll bring Melania back in here because he wants you to be more presidential. We know every election cycle what the Democratic playbook is going to be. It's going to be that if you're the nominee, you're racist, you're sexist, war on women, you want dirty air and water, and throw granny over the cliff. So the question is, first of all, do you have a nickname for Hillary?
D. TRUMP: Well, you know, I haven't really. I just haven't wanted to give it yet. I sort of do but I want to knock off the next two people, and then I can focus on Hillary.
HANNITY: And then you'll reveal it.
D. TRUMP: Oh, it's going to be great.
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: But I will say this, and I think -- I think a lot of people will confirm it. Nobody has more respect for women than I do, that I can tell you. Nobody.
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Melania, when you read these polls and you see how they're trying to position your husband, that he's anti-woman, and they use different narratives, what are your thoughts? What would you want to say to people as somebody that obviously knows him better than anybody?
M. TRUMP: I think he is the man -- he respects women. He hires the women on the highest positions. And he trusts them. And he's the one that he will take care of them. He's the only one.
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Let me go back just a little. You obviously broke a lot of eggs, to use your analogy, in the Republican primary. And if she's the nominee, assuming she's not wearing an orange jumpsuit and shoes without laces, how -- do you have to maybe navigate a little differently because she's going to play that gender card?
(BOOS)
D. TRUMP: Well, it seems unfair to have to do so, probably there will be some of that. It seems unfair. She's playing that card very heavily. Now she played the card two months ago, and the only time I really hit her was two months ago. And Bernie got all the credit, because she went down and all of a sudden he started doing well. You know, when I did that two months she went right down. I think I'm going to have to take a little credit for what's happening with Bernie because he has won, what, the last six in a row.
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: And I'll tell you, Wisconsin is going to be very interesting. I understand he's leading in Wisconsin. It's going to be an interesting -- so I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, I can't say.
But I look at what's happening. You take a look at Libya. That was her baby. And a friend of mine who's very well-versed in what's going on, Libya had great oil, very, very pure, very beautiful oil. You know who has got that oil now? ISIS. ISIS has that oil. They've taken that oil. So you had Benghazi. You had the ambassador and the others, wonderful people, being absolutely and brutally killed, nobody talks about the viciousness of those killings. They were vicious. And remember the famous phone call, when you get the --
HANNITY: It's 3:00 a.m.
D. TRUMP: Well, she wasn't there to answer the call. I mean, she wasn't there.
HANNITY: So without giving it away, do you have your strategy?
D. TRUMP: I do. I have a strategy but --
HANNITY: Already in place?
D. TRUMP: It's too early. I don't even know if she's going to be the nominee. It's too early to even --
HANNITY: I have 1,000 pages of opposition research on her. Remember, I was the one out there on Obama, warning the country that he was a radical, you know, Reverend Wright, 20 years in that church, "G-D America," Alinskyite, Acorn, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, no one wanted to talk about it.
D. TRUMP: It says better than anything when he won't use the term "radical Islamic terrorism."
HANNITY: It says everything.
D. TRUMP: And with -- you saw what happened yesterday with the French where he had the word --
HANNITY: They edited it out.
D. TRUMP: It had to happen. He said it was a technical mistake. This is what I mean. Those two words or three words were edited out. It was a technical mistake. To think, I mean --
HANNITY: It's scary.
D. TRUMP: No, well, it's a lie.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: We've got to take a break. More with Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, and Melania, right after this break as "Hannity" continues from the Pabst Theater, we're in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Stay with us.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(APPLAUSE) HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." We continue now with 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, his wife Melania. Jordan (ph), first time caller, longtime listener, how are you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, how are you?
HANNITY: Do you have a question for Mr. Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Mr. Trump, if you were the current president of the United States, who would you nominate to the Supreme Court and why?
D. TRUMP: OK. Well, we just lost a great one. And who would have thought this could have happened. And I think it's one of the probably, maybe -- well, look, defense is always most important. But one of the most important things going on right now is who are the justices going to be, because there could be as many -- could actually be as many as five. So it's going to change. I would go with a very conservative person. I would go --
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: I would go prolife. I would go with great intellect and somebody that would be like Scalia, worthy of tremendous admiration and respect. It's so important.
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: Melania, you've watched a lot of interviews with him. Is there one question that you wish that maybe somebody had asked your husband and they haven't asked yet?
M. TRUMP: I think they need to ask many, many questions, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
M. TRUMP: I don't think --
HANNITY: When you sit at home and you're watching these interviews or watching people attacking him, that's not easy on any family, right?
M. TRUMP: Well, we know what comes with the territory, you know, when you go into that. And you know what it -- what's coming up. And we have a thick skin. You know, I'm explaining to my 10-year-old son and he understands too. He needs to get a thick skin, you know. It's life. Life is not a bowl of cherries, so --
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: It's not cotton candy and rainbows, that's my line. Real quick, we have about a minute.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
D. TRUMP: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Ashley Cross (ph). And my question is with Russia and the USA having a common enemy with ISIS, would you reach out to Russia to make them an ally?
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: I think it's fine. You know, I took heat from these people that don't get it. When Russia started bombing ISIS and then said, we should be doing that, you know, these Lindsey Grahams or these characters that don't know what they're doing.
(BOOS)
D. TRUMP: They've been fighting -- you know, he said, I've been doing this for many years. That's why we keep fighting. We should knock them out quickly. But --
(CROSSTALK)
D. TRUMP: But that's why we're losing, exactly. Said very well. The fact is, we have to knock ISIS out so fast. And if Russia, you know, Putin has said very nice things about me. So people said -- actually during one of the debates, one of the people said, you should tell him to take that away. I said, I'm not going to take it away. He called me a genius, actually, thought that was very nice. But you know what, you know what --
(APPLAUSE)
D. TRUMP: -- if Russia wants to help us, if Russia wants to drop bombs all the hell over ISIS, who are cutting people's heads off and drowning people, that's OK with me.
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: When we come back, we'll continue, more from Milwaukee, Wisconsin with Donald Trump and Melania Trump, straight ahead.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: All right, unfortunately that's all the time we have left this evening. But be sure to tune in tomorrow night, 10:00 Eastern. Now the polls close here 9:00 Eastern, and we will have full coverage, our regular time, 10:00 Eastern. Did you all have a good time tonight?
(APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: I want to thank you, Mr. Trump. It's great to see you. Melania, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it.
That is all the time we have. Tomorrow night, our regular time. We'll have Wisconsin primary results for all of you. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
(APPLAUSE)
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