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Trump Delivers Speech in Indiana. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 1, 2016 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[15:00:00]

MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: He made the case for America. And Carrier decided to bet on a brighter future for the American people. And we are grateful from the bottom of our hearts.

(APPLAUSE)

PENCE: Now, I am very humbled to be standing before you today. I truly am.

My family and I are deeply moved by the opportunities the people of Indiana have given us and now the American people have given us to serve. But I am especially humbled, as the holiday approach, to have played some small role in this wonderful news, not only here in Indiana, but all across this country.

But I think it is important to give credit where credit is due.

First and foremost, I want to thank Greg Hayes and his team at United Technologies, Bob McDonnell and the team at Carrier. Thank you for renewing your commitment to Indiana and renewing your commitment to the people of United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

PENCE: I also just want to thank the great Carrier team here in Indianapolis and in the state of Indiana.

Your hard work, your resilience, your work ethic even in disappointing times, I know for a fact gave this company the confidence to double down on the future of this company and the future of the people of this state.

And so I thank you, the Carrier team, for giving them the confidence to do just that.

(APPLAUSE)

PENCE: But, lastly, on behalf of all the people of Indiana, allow me to thank the man we would not be here without for his efforts, for picking up the phone, for keeping his word, his efforts to bring us to this day of renewed hope and promise, not just here in Indiana, but really for people that know that the strength of this country comes in our ability to make things and to grow things. It is a renewed day for manufacturing in America. You know, I

remember when Donald Trump was running for president, he said that if he was elected president of the United States, America would start winning again. Well, today America won, and we have Donald Trump to thank.

(APPLAUSE)

PENCE: And I got a feeling, working besides this extraordinary man, this is just the beginning of a lot more good news all across America.

So, without any further adieu, my fellow Hoosiers, it is my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce to you a man of action, a man of his word, and the president-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

I love that red hat. Thank you everybody.

I want to thank all the dignitaries that are with us today. We have a whole host, the mayor and governor-elect, great people. It is a big victory for the governor-elect. He won very convincingly, so we're very proud of him.

And Mike has been such a wise decision for me. When people were saying, I don't know, how good is he at decision-making, they would always say, yes, but he picked Mike Pence. That's a good decision. And everybody loves Mike. He's become something very special.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I want to thank Greg Hayes of United Technologies, because when I called him, he was right there. I wish I could have made the call when they were doing their original decision, but it worked out just as well, other than I would have liked to have an answer a year- and-a-half ago.

We had a tremendous love affair with the state of Indiana, because, if you remember, during the primaries, this was going to be the firewall. This was where they were going to stop Trump, right?

And that did not work out too well. And it was a firewall for me. It was a firewall. And we won by 16 points. And the election we just won by 20 points, almost 20 points.

[15:05:08]

TRUMP: And that was some -- it was some victory. That's pretty great.

And I just love the people. Incredible people. So, I got involved because of the love affair I have had. This has

been a very special state to us. And I will never forget, about a week ago, I was watching the nightly news. I won't say which one, because I don't want to give them credit, because I don't like them much, I will be honest.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: I don't like them, not even a little bit.

But they were doing a story on Carrier. And I say, wow, that's something. I want to see that. And they had a gentleman, worker, great guy, handsome guy. He was on. And it was like he didn't even know they were leaving. He said something to the effect, no, we're not leaving, because Donald Trump promised us that we're not leaving.

And I never thought I made that promise, not with Carrier. I made it for everybody else. I didn't make it really for Carrier. And I said, what is he saying? And he was such a believer. He was such a great guy. He said, I have been with Donald Trump from the beginning. And he made the statement that Carrier is not going anywhere. They're not leaving.

And I'm saying to myself, man. And then they played my statement. And I said, Carrier will never leave. But that was a euphemism. I was talking about Carrier like all other companies from here on in, because they made the decision a year-and-a-half ago.

But he believed that that was -- and I could understand it. I actually said -- I didn't make it -- when they played it, I said, I did make it, but I didn't mean it quite that way.

So now, because of him, whoever that guy was -- is he in the room, by any chance? That's your son. Stand up. You did a good job. You did a great job, right? That's fantastic. And I love your shirt. Oh, wow. Oh, put it on, cameras. Go ahead, put it on.

Well, your son is great. And he meant that, didn't he? He really meant it. At first, I said, I wonder if he is being sarcastic, because this ship has sailed. And then I said was -- it was 6:30 the evening. And I said, boy, the first thing I'm going to do is go there and I say, do I call the head of Carrier, who is a great guy?

But I have always learned, I got to call the top. And I heard about Greg Hayes. He's a great executive. I don't know if you know, United Technologies is one of the top 50 companies in the United States and one of the companies anywhere in the world. They make many other things other than air conditioners, believe me.

Their list of companies is incredible. So, I called Greg Hayes. I heard of him, but I never met him. And he picked up the phone, Mr. President-Elect, sir, how are you?

It's wonderful to win. Think, if I lost, he wouldn't have returned my call. I don't know if we're correct. I don't know. Would you have returned -- if I lost and called you, I don't think he would have called. I would have tried for you guys, but I think it would have been tougher, right? What do you think, Greg? He is sort of nodding, yes, you're right.

But I called Greg and I said, it's really important. We have to do something, because you have a lot of people leaving. And you have to understand we can't allow this to happen anymore with our country. So many jobs are leaving, and going to other countries, not just Mexico. Many, many countries.

And China is making so much of our product that we're closing up a lot of plants. And I wrote down some numbers that are incredible, but the numbers of manufacturing jobs that are lost, especially in the Rust Belt, and the Rust Belt is so incredible, but we're losing companies. It's unbelievable, one after another, just one after another.

So I said, Greg, you got to help us out here. We got to sit down. We got to do something. And I said, because we just can't let it happen.

Anyway, he was incredible. And he said, I understand. And I said, I wish I made this call a year-and-a-half ago. It would have been a lot easier call, only because of your son, OK, believe me. Your son, whoever the hell your son is, these people owe him a lot.

And I just went through -- he is out in the factory. Thought they were all going to be in this room. This room is not big enough. Yes, I know. I don't know who arranged that one, because I had -- we just visited 1,000 people in the factory that are going wild, in the plant.

But I will tell you that United Technologies and Carrier stepped it up, and now they are keeping -- actually, the number is over 1,100 people, which is so great, which is so great.

[15:10:07]

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I see the people. I shook hands with a lot of the people. They're right behind us working.

I just -- what is it, you're so -- you're making so many air conditioners, you didn't even want to have them come off for a half- hour. He's a ruthless boss. He's ruthless. But that's OK.

I did one thing to the Carrier folks and to the United Technologies folks. I said, the goodwill that you have engendered by doing this all over the world, frankly, but within our country, you watch how fast you're going to make it up, because so many people are going to be buying Carrier air conditioners.

We have had such help here, Bobby Knight -- nobody in Indiana heard of Bobby Knight. How great is Bobby Knight?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Lou Holtz. Gene Keady. We had such incredible support. But I will never forget, a friend of mine called up and said during

the primaries, he said, if you could get coach Knight -- and I said coach Knight called me a year ago, I said, a year before I decided to run. He said, if you ever run, I'm supporting you. I said, thanks, coach. I just don't know if I'm going to be doing it.

And then, when he said, if you could get coach Knight. I'll tell you, I got coach Knight. How good was Bobby Knight as far as we're concerned in Indiana? Is that right? We got Bobby Knight, 900 wins, two championships. Right? Two or three championships. Olympic gold medal. Pan Am Games.

And he was unbelievable. He wouldn't stop. He was just going off over. He was the greatest guy. We came into an arena, Greg, and we had 16,000 people inside. Outside, we had I think 10,000 outside. It was -- and I left. This was three weeks before the primary.

And I left. And I said, how are we going to lose Indiana with this? I didn't think we were going to lose. And we didn't. We won big.

But so I want to thank all of those folks, because they really helped with Indiana and with a lot of other places. So, United Technologies has stepped up. And I have to say this. They did it in such a nice and such a professional way. And they're going to spend so much money on renovating this plant, and I said, Greg, say that number. He said $16 million.

Well, the minimum number is 16. It's going to be, in my opinion, a lot more than that. He said, well, I would rather say the lower number. See, I would rather have him say the higher number. So, I won't say it, OK? It's just a difference in philosophy. Do you agree? Both are OK, but difference in philosophy.

But they're going to spend more than 16. They're going to spend a lot of money on the plant.

And I said to some of the folks, I said companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. Not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Tell you right now. We're losing so much.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So, one of the things we're doing to keep them is, we're going to be lowering our business tax from 35 percent, hopefully down to 15 percent, which would take us from the highest taxed nation virtually in the world -- this is terrible for business -- to one of the lower taxed, not the lowest yet, but one of the lower taxed.

The other thing we're doing is regulations. The regulations are -- in fact, if I ask Greg and your folks, you would probably say regulations might be worse for you than even the high taxes, which is the biggest surprise of the whole political experience. I thought taxes would be number one and regulations would be up there someplace.

Believe me, these great leaders of industry and even the small business people who are just being crushed, if they had their choice between lower taxes and a major, massive cutting of regulations, they would take the regulations. I don't know how you feel about that, Greg, but I just noticed, I wrote down because I heard it, since about six years ago, 260 new federal regulations have passed, 53 of which affect this plant, 53 new regulations, massively expensive.

And probably none of them amount to anything in terms of safety or the things that you would have regulations for. Six of eight of the air conditioning companies right now are located in Mexico, six of eight. I mean, think of that.

And 80 percent of the supply chain for Mexico, 80 percent, is located in Mexico. And we're not going to have it anymore. So, we're not going to have it anymore. And we like Mexico. We think it's wonderful. I was there three months other with the president of Mexico. Terrific guy, but we have to have a fair shake. We're not getting anything.

We have NAFTA, which is a total and complete disaster. It's a total and complete disaster.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: It's a one-lane highway into Mexico. Nothing coming our way. Everything going their way.

[15:15:00]

And I don't have to mention who signed it anymore. It's so nice. I don't have to mention who backed it anymore. Right? We don't have to mention that anymore, fortunately.

But it's a one-way street. And it's going to be changed. It's going to be changed. We have to bring our jobs back, and when they expand -- and one of the things that made be so happy is when Greg said that they have over 10,000 jobs that they're going to be producing in the very near future and now he's looking to the United States instead of outside of the United States, where almost all of those jobs would have gone.

So, one of the reasons I wanted to do this particular conference is it's so great, so many people in these other -- that big, big, beautiful plant behind us, which will be even more beautiful in about seven months from now.

They're so happy. They're going to have a great Christmas. That's most important. But also I just want to let all of the other companies know that we're going to do great things for business. There's no reason for them to leave anymore, because your taxes are going to be at the very, very low end and your unnecessary regulations are going to be gone. We need regulations for safety and environment and things.

But most of the regulations are nonsense. It's become a major industry, the writing of regulations. And that these companies aren't going to be leaving anymore. They're not going to be taking people's hearts out. They're not going to be announcing, like they did at Carrier, that they're closing up and they're moving to Mexico over 1,100 jobs.

And, by the way, that number is going to go up very substantially as they expand this area, this plant. So, the 1,100 is going to be a minimum number.

So, I just want to thank everybody, and specifically I just have to thank the people that I met backstage. Incredible people. The spirit, the love. People are all crying. They're all crying. And it's taken us a little while, but think of this.

I don't think we even announced we were running when this deal was originally announced. And in the end, what happened is -- because that makes it much more difficult. It's hard to negotiate when the plant is built. You know what Greg said? Greg said, the plant is almost built. Right?

I said, Greg, I don't care. It doesn't make any difference. Don't worry about it. What are we going do with the plant? Rent it, sell it, knock it down. I don't care. But we're going to -- and they're going to do fine with their plant.

I don't know if they're going to be able to do with an American company, but we will figure that out.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But where we're starting is from a much easier place. It's hard a year-and-a-half ago they make an announcement, and all of that work is done, which is why I have such respect.

I always say great businesspeople, they have flexibility. If you're hard-line, well, we're not going to move, flexibility, that's why they have done so well over the years. That's why it's a great company, because they have flexibility.

But we're not going to need so much flexibility for other companies, because we are going to have a situation where they're going to know, number one, we are going to treat them well, and, number two, there will be consequences, meaning they will be taxed very heavily at the border if they want to leave, fire all their people, leave, make product in different companies, in different countries, and then think they're going to sell that product over the border, which, by the way, will be a very strong border. Very strong border. Believe me.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I think companies -- and we're going to build the wall. People are saying, do you think Trump is to build the wall? Trust me, we're going to build the wall.

And, by the way, people are going to come through that wall. We're going to have doors in that wall, but they're coming through legally. And people are going to come through on worker permits to work the fields. We're going to have people. A lot of people going to come through, but it's going to be done through a legal process.

But one thing that is not going to come through is drugs. The drugs are going to stop. The drugs are going to stop.

So, I just want to thank all of the people at United Technologies, most particularly you, because you are fantastic, Greg. I want to thank -- and I want you to tell me how much -- how many air conditioning units you sold in the last six months from today, because I want to say I think it's going to be a number that even will surprise your folks because of the tremendous goodwill that you have created.

I want to thank all of the workers at this plant, all of the Carrier workers, most importantly.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I want to thank my great, great vice president-elect, because I'll tell you what, one of the really good decisions. But I went to thank Mike.

And we're going to be doing this. And if I have to tell you -- during speeches, I would say -- they say it's not presidential to call up these massive leaders of business. But I think it's very presidential. And if it's not presidential, that's OK, that's OK, because I actually like doing it.

(APPLAUSE)

[15:20:05]

But we're going to have a lot of great people that can also do it and do it as well as I do it. But we're going to have a lot of phone calls made to companies when they say they're thinking about leaving this country, because they're not leaving this country. They're not going to leave this country. And the workers are going to keep their jobs.

And they can leave from state to state and they can negotiate good deals with the different states and all of that. But leaving the country is going to be very, very difficult.

So I want to thank everybody. We love you, folks. I want to really, really thank the people of Indiana. We had two massive victories in a very, very short period of time. And all of the workers, have a great, great Christmas, and a fantastic new year.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: So, this has just been absolutely fascinating to be able to watch. We will stay on the pictures. So on multiple levels -- and we're about to bring in some very smart voices to walk through what we just saw and heard, but, number one, obviously, the news made today and just hearing from Mike Pence.

Today, America won and we have Donald Trump to thank. This is just the beginning, right, the fact that they have really saved these thousand jobs from going to Mexico. That's number one to me.

Number two is just the symbolism of this, the making good on a promise. And with that, though, comes the slippery slope, as we have heard from critics, as far as how this could work in the future if other companies threaten to offshore jobs. Might they have some sort of tax incentive as well?

Hearing from Bernie Sanders on that today. And finally just watching Donald Trump for the first time in a long time riff on anything from Bobby Knight to his vice president to Indiana off prompter. It's a Trump I know many Americans came to really love when he was on the trail for many, many months.

So, all of that said, I have with me CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger, Ed O'Keefe, political reporter for "The Washington Post," John Ketzenberger, the president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, and Dana Bash, CNN's chief political correspondent.

So, Dana, turning to you first, and where do you even begin? I think what was so fascinating is hearing the back story from Donald Trump on how he picked up the phone himself, had called up the head of this company who he kept thanking profusely, all because of something he had seen on the news.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

Look, this is the reason why people who voted for Donald Trump voted for Donald Trump, because he doesn't do things the right way, he does things the way he thinks works and certainly had worked in business. We can put all the criticism aside because there definitely will be, as you mentioned, but just to sort of spotlight this moment right now, the fact that he did some horse-trading, which, by the way, is the way things are done in Washington.

It's the way things are done in the boardroom. It's the way things are done, period. That's just life. And he got the company some tax incentives, along with of course the sitting governor of Indiana, who happens to be his vice president-elect, and he just got it done.

Is there more to do? Sure. But the fact that he has a deliverable of this nature on his signature issue...

BALDWIN: Huge win for him.

BASH: Huge, huge. You have to give credit where credit is due, that this is what the people who voted for him wanted from him, period.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, what did you think?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I agree with Dana.

I think Mike Pence told the story of how the president-elect picked up the phone. By the way, wasn't it interesting that Trump said he didn't remember he had made this promise to Carrier, and that he watched something on the evening news and said, wait a minute, did I -- that looks like I said that? I'm not sure I said that, but I did say that.

Picked up the phone, called the CEO of the company and started horse- trading. Obviously, United Technologies gets a lot out of this. They get a $7 million tax break over seven years. So a lot of people like Bernie Sanders are going to say this is corporate welfare and this is going to cost the state an awful lot of money, which it will.

But I think what Trump did was OK lay down the gauntlet here and he said, look, you can either decide to leave the country, but, as he said, I'm going to tax you heavily at the border. We have heard that before. We have heard about 35 percent tariffs coming in.

So I have to wonder in that phone call with the CEO whether not only were there some carrots offered, but there might have been some sticks bandied about as well.

[15:25:00]

BALDWIN: I think one of the questions as far as the criticism could be, well, how many carrots can possibly be offered? How many times can the president actually pick up the phone and do a deal with a potential plant or company or what have you?

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: And who foots the bill?

[15:25:11]

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. And who foots the bill? Exactly, which was part of Bernie Sanders' piece in "The Post."

John, our Indiana boy, so I really want to hear from you. How are you responding to the news and to the president-elect, who we just heard from?

JOHN KETZENBERGER, PRESIDENT, INDIANA FISCAL POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, the initial news, Brooke, was very shocking when it broke. It's become a little more clear with the details that the state will provide $7 million in tax breaks over 10 years for retention of the jobs.

But my initial impression from what president-elect Trump had to say, in addition to what you have said or I have heard, is that he's really raised expectations too. And so he's going to have to continue, I think, to make these kinds of deals in order to do this all across the country.

I think he's really raised expectations. BALDWIN: Ed O'Keefe, how feasible is that?

ED O'KEEFE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": To go around the country doing what he did today? Not that feasible when you have got all these other things he's going to have to do as president as well.

Look, this was classic Trump. This is, as he said, pick up the phone and cut a deal. And it's fantastic that he did it in this case and at least 1,100 jobs saved in the home state of his vice president. Good day for Mike Pence also, if you think about it. His legacy has been really burnished as a governor and shows that he has immediate and complete influence over the president and his ability to get some things done for his state at least as they begin their presidency.

But I would be curious to see whether he will have similar success with other companies, especially that those don't necessarily have government work, as United Technologies, the partner company of Carrier, does.

Remember, there's a reason to believe part of the reason they were willing to do this is because they have billions of dollars in defense contracts and they don't want those to go away. And it's possible the president may have threatened that.

But to me just looks so much like what a governor or mayor would do to keep a company in town or to build a stadium or to do something, cut a tax deal that allows a company to stay and sort out the details later.

And I'm just curious whether the federal government and Republicans back here in Washington are going to tolerate this going forward. Paul Ryan today basically dodged questions about it at his weekly press conference saying, I'm not familiar with the details.

But this goes against everything that conservatives up on Capitol Hill have been about, these type of tax deals. And you saw Bernie Sanders' statement as well. So this is a good day for Donald Trump, a great day for Mike Pence, a fantastic day for these employees, but if this keeps up, I suspect a lot of people back here in Washington will be upset about it.

BORGER: If I'm a governor somewhere else and I see what happened with Mike Pence, with the president at his side, I'm going to be calling the president of the United States and I'm going to be saying, we have this plant here that wants to move to Mexico or wants to move somewhere else, and can you make that call on my behalf? And here's how much money we need to offer them in incentives.

This is a president who was freelancing this. And it worked out great for those workers. But the question is, what kind of a precedent does it set? Because, if you're a governor, I would be dialing the transition office right now.

BALDWIN: Right. I know you want to jump in just quickly and then we're going to take a break.

BASH: Yes, that this is a Band-Aid, that this is the only thing that Donald Trump could do at this point.

But when he's president, he can change -- he can, obviously along with Congress, change the laws, change the deals, so to speak, that he railed against during the campaign in order to make this possible on a more sort of global level, that companies all over the country and industries all over the country would and should have the incentive to stay in the United States and keep jobs in the United States.

That's the question, whether he can do that.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you all to stick around. This is so significant. Just also listening to him speak for 20 or so minutes there, and this is not the last time we will also be hearing from him today.

Later on this evening is the beginning of his thank you tour, stopping in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lots more to get through on this Tuesday.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. This is CNN. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)