Nigel Farage interviewed Donald Trump last night on LBC covering the upcoming Brexit, his friendship with the Queen, impeachment and the Democrat candidates. Dominic Green says Trump spoke more truth about the state of Britain and the near-term prospects for US-UK relations than any British parliamentarian has managed since the EU referendum. Below is the transcript of their interview:
Nigel Farage: It’s October 31. The day we were told over and over again we would be leaving the European Union and we’re not, so I was a bit disappointed by that and thought we’d debate that this evening. And, uh, but I was cheered up because I got a very important phone call from someone. Well, let’s call him Donald from Washington, shall we? And I started off by asking him whether he, as a Brexit supporter, was disappointed that the UK had not left the European Union.
Donald Trump: Well, I think Boris is. And I am. And you are. We’re, well, disappointed. I think it’s a good thing for the UK. The concept of what they’re doing. I was in favor of it originally. Remember, I was out opening up Turnberry at the time and we had a massive amount of press more than you would normally have for opening a club. And I said that it was going to pass and everybody laughed. And I was right. And you were right.
NF: Yeah.
DT: But it did. But it’s been a long time since that day and. And the day of reckoning.
NF: Yeah. I mean, it’s been very difficult for Boris in one sense that he inherited a difficult position from Mrs May. And you said-
DT: Yes he did.
NF: And you said to me that he would bring some energy to the job. And, well, I think compared to his predecessor, he’s bought a lot of energy, but he also-
DT: That’s true.
NF: He also picked up this deal that Mrs May had tried to do, which was in fact, a new EU treaty. I’m Boris has picked up that treaty and try to improve it. I mean, has he spoken to you about the details of this deal?
DT: Yes, he has. And he also knows how difficult it is. He’s in a very difficult position. And I think he’s willing to do what nobody else would do. I also think he’s looking very much at the United States because we can do much more in trade, you know, a much bigger than we were when I took office. We’ve grown a tremendous amount. And China’s gone in the opposite direction, as you know. We’ve gained trillions of dollars in value and worth. And they’ve lost trillions of dollars. So we’re far and away the largest economy in the world. And we want to do trade with the UK and they wanted to trade with us. And to be honest with you, this deal under certain aspects of the deal, you can’t do it. You can’t do it. You can’t trade. I mean, we can’t make a trade deal with the UK and we can be…because I think we can do many times the numbers that we’re doing right now and certainly much bigger numbers that you’re doing under the European Union. So, I know Boris wanted to be very careful with it. Because under certain ways we’re precluded. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
NF: That’s the problem with this deal, is that, in fact, the next stage of our agonizing negotiations with Brussels will not end until the end of 2022. They want to, align us, in regulatory terms. It’s going to be very difficult. I mean, we’ve got a general election coming up. Is this the moment that Boris should just drop this deal and go for a clean break so we can start having serious conversations with you?
DT: Well, I don’t want to tell Boris or you, because you’ve had a great impact on this Nigel. You and I have become friends over the last couple of years and you saw what was happening with my thing, just like you saw what was happening over there. You’re like a great tea leaf reader. But I’d like to see you and Boris get together, because you would really have some numbers because you did fantastically in the election, the last election.
NF: Absolutely.
DT: He respects you a lot. I can tell you that he respects you a lot. I don’t know if you know that or not, but because I don’t I have no idea. You know, I have enough to do over here without having to worry about the psychology of two brilliant people over there, frankly. He has a lot of respect and like for you, I just I wish you two guys could get together, I think would be a great thing.
NF: I tell you what, if he drops this dreadful deal, fights the general election on the basis that we’d just have trade with Europe, but no political interference. Do you know what? I’d be right behind him. And let’s hope he gets to that position, you know. Now against him, of course, the main rival is one, Jeremy Corbyn, who I know didn’t come along to see you at the state dinner when you were here. Mr Corbyn says.
DT: Well, he wasn’t invited by. I certainly didn’t know he was invited. I mean, look, I don’t know. I’m sure he’s a lovely man. But, you know, he’s of different persuasion, to put it mildly. He’s the opposite end.
NF: He says if we have a trade deal, Donald Trump, it’ll be a Trump Brexit. And Trump will come and take over our National Health Service. What do you have to say to him?
DT: No, not at all. We wouldn’t even be involved in that. No, we’re trying to fix our health service. We all have our health service problems. And frankly…And you do over there. And we do. And one of the things that we’re running so successfully on is how great a job I’ve done on health care. We’ve done a fantastic job. No, it’s not for us to have anything to do with your health care system. No, we’re just talking about trade. Your trade with us could be. Four to five times higher than it is right now. That would make it…that would make your country much bigger economically than it is right now. And you’re being held back by the European Union. So are other countries within the European Union. I mean, you have countries, Italy and others that would do much better, frankly, without the European Union. But if they want to have a union, that’s fine. But I think it’s it’s hurt your country. I also know for a fact I mean, they’re very tough people to deal with. I will tell you this. I told that to Boris Johnson. And I said they are very, very difficult to deal with. And I have a magic wand I could deal with a very easily. All I have to do is a certain step and they’ll be coming and dealing with me very easily. I always thought you had a little bit of a magic wand, too, but they never used it. You know what I’m talking about?
NF: I do, no. I do. And I’d love to have help. But at the moment they’ve chosen not to use me in any of these negotiations. So we got nothing to fear. Then if we do a trade deal with the USA, the NHS is not up for grabs, is what you’re saying. And the other line I get is…
DT: I don’t even know where that started. I don’t even know where your healthcare system started with respect to us taking over your health care system. I mean, it’s so ridiculous. I think Corbyn put that out there. But to even think it was never even mentioned. I never even heard it until I went over to visit with the Queen, who, by the way, is a great, great woman. And I think we hit it off really well. We had a terrific time. But she’s a great woman.
NF: She’s amazing.
DT: I say that very seldom. I don’t say that often to say about anybody. But she is really very outstanding and Prince Charles. So good. So good. He loves the environment. He loves your country so much. We had a great time. We’ll get together. You’ve got some special people.
NF: Somehow the queen got a bit dragged into this Brexit row because they, you know, our Supreme Court judge that basically the advice that Boris had given it was against the against the law. It’s a bit of a shame when she gets dragged in like this, isn’t it?
DT: Well, you know, one thing I learned about her, because I’ve watched her people study her and in as many years as to be the all-time record. I don’t think she’s ever been in anything that was bad. I mean, honestly, think of it. She’s got through everything: from wars to anything you can go through. And she’s always handled it incredibly well. She’s an amazing…she’s an incredible woman, actually.
NF: No, I agree with that completely. And of course an American married into the royal family last year. You know, young Harry married Meghan Markle and kind of a year into this. She’s having a really tough time. And she’s kind of saying the press are being really unfair to her now. I think you’ve probably personally had more tough press and perhaps unfair press than anybody else alive. Do you feel a bit sorry for young Meghan, given what the press are saying about her?
DT: Well, I’ve been watching her interviews and I’ve seen it and she’s taken it very personally, I guess you have to be a little bit different than that. But she takes it very, very personally and I can understand it, but I don’t know her. I will say I met Harry. He’s great. I met him when I was over it. Incredible. We had something that was so incredible recently. That was, what, five months ago now? Time flies. But but I got to meet Harry. And he is really a fine young man. The whole family is. I think the whole family is terrific. Great family.
NF: So you really enjoyed that visit to the UK in June?
DT: No, I really did. And, you know, I met the Queen is a second time and the first time everything is so perfect and we got along so well. And I was supposed to be there for 16.3 minutes. You know, I kid when I say that. But like fifteen or sixteen minutes, everything was so precise and I was there for more than an hour. And I came out. And the reason I was there is because we both had a great time. And she wanted me to stay and I wanted to stay. And the First Lady was with us. So we had a great conversation probably for an hour or thereabouts. And I came in and the press said he was there he was extremely rude to the Queen. Well, no, I would have been rude of I left, you know, so I was that I have to leave now. I have to leave now. Now, we had a fantastic time. We hit it off. And then actually people commented on it because of that great gala that we had, we sat next to each other and she was smiling and having a good time. And I was smiling and having a good time. And it was just a, you know, it really an incredible evening. But I was told that she enjoyed it. And I can tell you I enjoyed it.
NF: And you’re supposed to come back, I think, in December, because there’s going to be a big Nato summit here in December.
DT: I’ll be back in December.
NF: And there’s some big, big conversations going on at the moment. The European Union very, very keen to build their own defense capabilities, whilst at the same time, I think you would say not paying their way in Nato.
DT: Well, they’re not. I mean, they’re…really the European Union is not. Now, UK is your current. We’re current. We’re more than current. We’re paying twice as much as we should be. And we’re supposed to it’s we’re really paying a big percentage of the total cost to the United States, which has been taken advantage of. But the UK is currently…The European Union, if you look at many of those countries, are it’s very similar in makeup. There are right now in NATO 20 countries that are delinquent, meaning they owe a lot of money. Germany is the number one. You know, they’re down from one to one point two or three percent instead of 2 percent. And two percent’s a very low number. They’re supposed to be a 2 percent, which is a very low number. The United States is at 4 percent. And try and figure that one out that we’re more and we’re you know, we’re there to protect you. So and, you know, you have a lot of things like Germany paying a lot of money to Russia for the pipeline for energy. A tremendous amount of their energy will be coming from Russia. And that’s all fine. But then we’re supposed to protect them from Russia. So, you know, how does that work? So there’s a lot of difficulty with that whole situation and we’ll see how it works out. I hope it works out, but I look forward to seeing everybody great relationships with the various nations.
NF: And is there a point at which America has to say, look, we just can’t go on doing this unless everybody plays by the same rules?
DT: Well, I wouldn’t even say that. Well, I’ll just say that I raised your Secretary General was a terrific guy, Stoltenberg. He said that nobody has done so much for Nato as I have. I raised 100 billion dollars last year. More money than they got just by saying, I’m sorry, you have to pay up. Now, that’s believe it or not, as much as that is, that’s a fraction of what the real number is. That’s even with that they’re not current. And many of these countries like Germany could be current in one day. You know, they could pay up in one day. So they’re taken advantage of the United States. But we’ll see how that all works out. It always works out. Everything works out.
NF: And do you see the relationship with Boris Johnson? Because I think you had some reservations about Theresa May as prime minister, didn’t you?
DT: Well, I liked her very much. I disagreed with certain things that she did, but I like her. She was always very nice to me. I was nice to her. But she, uh…then we really got along very well at the end. But I did not agree with her on certain things.
NF: Now and with Boris. I mean, you, I know you tried to advise her, didn’t you, with how she should negotiate with the EU because you’ve negotiated with these guys.
DT: I know how exactly how to make the deal.
NF: Yeah.
DT: And didn’t listen to me. And that’s OK. Not everybody listens to me. Some people do. she could have made a great deal.
NF: Will Boris listen to you?
DT: Oh, yeah. Boris and I have a great friendship. We have a…we’ve become friends, Boris and I. When he was running, they were saying he’s the Trump…we have a lot of the same things going, I guess. Boris is a terrific guy. He really is. And you know that he’s a terrific guy. I think it was time for Boris. It was time you needed him.
NF: Well, I tell you what-
DT: I think you really did.
NF: If you can persuade him- if you can persuade him to go for a clean break, I would be over the moon because we, as you say, together, we’d win. Now, I must talk about some events in America. Let’s start with a success to begin with, a success to begin with, um, the killing of the Isis leader, al-Baghdadi. How significant is that in terms of the war on terror?
DT: Well, it’s been amazing. I mean, he was the head of Isis. He built a caliphate that was massive the size of Ohio in terms of land. It’s a very big, you know, between Iraq and Syria. He had literally a piece of land. They equate it to the size of the state of Ohio. And he had seven million people. And when you see those are in suits where the heads were cut off, that was him. When you see the Jordanian pilot who they captured and they burned them in a cage, that was him. He’s an animal. And he died a coward and he died a very rough death. I can tell you, these people we have our soldiers, our military is by far the greatest in the world there’s nothing close and they wouldn’t end. And he didn’t know what hit him. He didn’t know he was very well protected. They broke through like it, like they were dealing with children, frankly, they broke through so easily. And he was very well protected. He didn’t expect this to happen, but tremendous protection. And he died whimpering and crying. And what he did to people, what he did to a young, very beautiful young lady that was there, her parents were just devastated. I called him I called many people, many of the parents and families I called of people that he killed. But he was a bad guy and he was bad for your country. I did. That was a world favor, not just a US favor.
NF: The trouble is, though, he’s gone. And I agree with you. I’m very pleased about that. But there are still thousands of people who fought for Isis in prison camps. Now what-
DT: We also killed his second. You know, we also killed his second the following day. We found him, we took him out, too.
NF: But what do we do? What do we do with these thousands of fighters? Where they going to go?
DT: Well, we offered to give the ones from UK back to UK and they don’t want them. We offered France. We offer Germany. This is what I mean, we captured them.
NF: Yeah.
DT: We’ve got them. The Beatles, we have, you know, the Beatles. You have two of the Beatles. They were the worst. And they came from your territory. And you guys, you know, possibly incredibly smart. But, you know, maybe not. You didn’t want to take them back. So, as usual, the United States gets stuck with it and we’re handling it in a certain way. So. We are watching it very carefully.
NF: Can we expect you to send them back to us?
DT: Well, we would if you take them, you guys, you don’t want them back. Nobody wants them. You know, they’ll say, hey, let the United States take care of. They take care of everything else. Let them take care, which isn’t fair. We offered France, Macron. We offered Angela, Germany. You know, many of these people came from Germany, France, UK, and they all were so happy when we captured them. I said, good – now you can take them back and try them. And I think they maybe didn’t hear the statement. They didn’t want to hear it.
NF: Well, that could be a problem that Boris has to deal…Boris may have to deal with that problem if he gets reelected in this campaign. And the other biggest few that made huge use was, of course, the horrible, horrible road deaths that we saw, of course, back in the summer of this year. Young Harry Dunn. And I know that you tried-.
DT: Horrible.
NF: Horrible, horrible. And you tried to broker a meeting, didn’t you? In the White House between-
DT: Well, I had a meeting set up, but all of a sudden, I guess lawyers got involved. But I had a meeting set up. They were both in the White House. I met with the parents of the young boy. Very nice people. And I had watched them. And the reason I did this is for Boris actually. So Boris call. He said, would it be possible for you to do something? I met with the young lady that was driving the car. And she brought a very compelling story to tell. And then they were in separate rooms at when I wanted to introduce them to each other so they could really grieve together. The parents didn’t want to meet her. So but and yet and when I watched them being interviewed in UK, they they very much wanted to meet her. So I don’t know what went. You know, I guess things happen.
NF: That was disappointing, obviously.
DT: She was in the next room.
NF: That was disappointing.
DT: She was in the next room.
NF: Yeah, I know she was.
DT: She was willing to meet.
NF: I know she was. Today, the British and today the British police have actually interviewed about the incident. I mean, are there circumstances here. Boris asked where she could come back to the UK to face charges?
DT: Well, I’d have to see what the final facts are. And I’ll take a look at the final facts. She’s represented by a lawyer. As you know, the parents are represented by a lawyer. And from the time I talked to Boris to the time I met with them, but they were both right next to each other in the White House. I was in the Oval Office with the parents and the young lady was in a room right next to the Oval Office. But the parents decided in their wisdom and certainly their choice not to see her.
NF: Yes.
DT: I can understand that, too.
NF: Yes, no, no.
DT: I can understand that.
DT: And of course, we have to talk about and I’m sure it’s the last subject you want to talk about, but the Ukraine and on this vote, that that…this preliminary vote that was passed in the House this afternoon. I mean, they say the other side. You used your position to ask the Ukrainian government to look in to Biden, the Biden family background. And in doing that, you’d asked effectively for foreign interference in a national election. How do you respond to that?
DT: Yeah, it’s totally false. We have a transcript. There was an exact transcript of the meeting. And anybody that reads the transcript understands it was a perfect phone call with the Ukrainian president, who’s a very fine man, a very nice person. And we had a great call and it was a very appropriate call. Many people were on the call. I knew many people were on the call. Not to mention I’m sure they had many people on the call. But there were many people on the call. And it was a very, very appropriate call. And in fact, when it came up, you know, sometime after the call was made, when it came up, I said, oh, well, that’s OK. That’s…there’s nothing there. You know, having a good memory. And then you could see…the Democrats are desperate. They’re desperate. They have nothing. They’ve got nothing going. We call on we really call them the do nothing Democrats. And it’s really sticking because they’re doing nothing. And it’s the only way they’re going to try and win the election this way, because they can’t win at the fair way. No, the transcript of the call that I had with the Ukrainian president is a perfect and totally appropriate document. And they’re using that to try and impeach the president of the United States who won one of the greatest elections in history. You know that. You’ve told me that yourself.
NF: Yes.
DT: And a very important election, because nobody’s done what I’ve done in the first two and a half years. Cutting taxes, cutting regulations. We rebuilt our military to a level that it’s never been it’s never been at a level like this. All beautiful, new, the best fighters in the world, the best fighter jets and rockets and missiles. And hopefully we never have to use it. But we have a military, the likes of which we never had before, the strongest in the world. I done so much. And the Democrats are. Are doing terribly. And the do nothing Democrats are the only thing they can do is this. In fact, they just had a vote on the procedures. I guess it’s procedural votes. They gave us absolutely no rights because they have the majority only in the House. And I didn’t have one negative Republican vote, which is a very unusual thing.
NF: But you’ve been through-
DT: Not one negative Republican vote.
NF: You’ve been through Mueller…they’re trying to…as you say you’ve been through Mueller, which went on and on and on. They’re trying to get through impeachment.
DT: That lasted for two years.
NF: I know.
DT: But it actually started the whole thing started long before I won the election. It started with the insurance policy. We had two lovers, the FBI agents that were after Trump. And this was long before the election took place. And they said that Hillary Clinton is going to win. But just in case she doesn’t win, we’ll have an insurance policy. And all of this stuff is the insurance policy. But we’re winning. We have a great Republican party. I’m the highest rated person in the history of the Republican party. Came out the other day 95 percent. I have a 95 percent approval rating of the Republican party with the Senate equally strong. But the House just had a vote. I don’t know what the final was. 195 Republicans or something like that.
NF: Yeah. 232 vs 196. And in fact, even 2 Democrats were on your side of it.
DT: Yes, that’s right. Which is, you know, really something. And I think what it means and what a lot of people are saying, because it’s a hoax and, you know, high crimes and misdemeanors. Well, what’s a high crime and misdemeanor when you have a very appropriate conversation? Now, fortunately, we have the transcript because, you know, they’re bringing never Trumpers out people. Now, you know, and you know this about it. I knew many people were on the call. I knew it was probably being transcribed or stenographers, you know, doing that. I knew all these things. I know that when I speak to a foreign leader, people are on the call and they do that and they transcribe the call. So what happened is if you know that if I know Boris…no, I’m a straight shooter anyway, so it doesn’t have to be. But when you have 25 people or 10 people or 5 people or maybe more than twenty five when you when you know the line is crowded with people listening, uh, intelligence agencies, military people they’re are listening. When I say something inappropriate, I’m supposed to be a…they even say a very smart person, right. I don’t think I’d be…I don’t think I’d be doing that. Also, when I use Ukraine to beat Sleepy Joe Biden. Sleepy Joe. I call him 1 percent, Joe 2.1 percent. The guy never came out of these things with 1 percent. And he’s heading down rapidly now. I mean, I don’t view him as a very difficult, difficult guy to beat. I think it’s unlikely that he would have gotten it. But now it seems to be less, less likely.
NF: So who is the fight…who is the fight going to be against November 2020? Who is going to come and take you on?
DT: It would look like Elizabeth Warren is picking up steam. She’s picking up a little steam. I call her Pocahontas because she lied about her Indian heritage, but she seems to be the one picking up steam. So it could be her. It could be Bernie Sanders, I guess maybe. I don’t know, Bernie. It looks like he’s shot, but it could be one of them. But in any way…I know one person that’s going to say Trump is going to win. That’s Nigel, because you said that-
NF: I did.
DT: When it was less fashionable. So I can’t imagine you’re going to be your tune anytime soon, we’ve got a great economy and everything.
NF: I did, I did. You’re absolutely right. You know, absolutely. And I’m pleased I did. But tell me something. I came to see you…I came to see you just three days after the election result and it was an astonishing victory. I just wonder, you know, here we are, nearly three years in office gone by and you’ve got all this stuff going on. You’ve got elements of the US media who were kind of on your case on a regular basis. The big question I’ve got end with. Are you enjoying it?
DT: Yes, because I’m doing more than anyone ever thought possible. Even me. You know, they say promises made, promises kept. I’m doing more than I even promised I was gonna do. I’m getting things done at a level that nobody ever thought possible. I’m being held up by the Democrats. Frankly, they’re trying to put roadblocks. Part of this is exactly what’s happening here. And don’t forget, there’s another big investigation going on. And that’s the real that’s the real deal. That’s investigate the investigators and that’s going to come out. The IG Report is coming out very soon against these people. And I think it’s going to be we’re going to learn a lot. But but just so you know, I love doing it. I had a great life before, including going to Turnberry and going to Aberdeen.
NF: And, yes, playing golf and being free, living your own life. And that’s all gone isn’t it?
DT: I’ll never have that again.
NF: No you won’t.
DT: I’ll never have that again…the day before I announced Nigel. It was literally I was the most successful. I had the best probably the best part of my life ever. And then I announced. And look, it’s a much different life. It’s tougher. But it’s something you know, it’s the president of the United States. I have great relationships with many of the leaders, including Boris. He’s a fantastic man. And I think he’s the exact right guy for the times. And I know that you and him will end up doing something that could be terrific if you and he get together, as, you know, unstoppable force. And Corbyn would be so bad for your country. He’d be so bad. He’d take you in such a bad way. He’d take you into such bad places. But your country has tremendous potential. It’s a great country. Don’t forget, my mother was born in Stornoway. Right. So that’s big. That’s called the real deal Scotland. OK. That’s not on the fringes. Right. That’s called…she was from Scotland and she was proud of it. She’d go back every year. She loved it. But. So we have some great things that I love what I’m doing.
NF: Tell me what will happen first, Brexit or Donald Trump’s re-election? That’s a tough one.
DT: Well, I think Brexit will happen first. Yeah. Because we don’t have till, you know, when November 3 of next year. So that’s in a year. Hard to believe it’s one year. That’s all. You know, you’ve…the first couple of days you say it’ll never happen, but all of a sudden time goes by. No, I think Brexit will happen first. I hope so, because otherwise it’s going to be you know, you should be able to knock that off. I think they’re going to get that done. People are tired of hearing about it. We’re even tired of hearing about it over here.
NF: Thank you very much indeed.
DT: You have the right man doing it. And you have the right combination of people that want to see something good happen. And that includes you.
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