President Duda: Excellency, most
distinguished Mr. President, ladies
and gentlemen.
It is my great pleasure to welcome to Warsaw, to
welcome to Poland, the President of the United
States of America, Mr. Donald Trump.
I am delighted with this visit, this visit in
Warsaw, which is one of the first international
visits paid by Mr. President Trump.
This visit stresses our bond and the high quality
of the alliance between Poland and the United States.
It also demonstrates that we are, and that we
mutually assess each other, as loyal partners,
as those who cooperate on many different areas
including the area of security within
NATO Alliance.
And today, this was one of the topics of our
discussion that we had during our tête-à-tête
meeting with Mr. President, followed by
a plenary session of our two delegations.
We talked about the presence of American
soldiers in Poland.
We talked about strengthening security of
our part of Europe, including the eastern
flank of NATO.
We discussed generally the security situation in this
part of Europe.
Apart from that, we mentioned the
situation in Ukraine.
We talked about the upcoming Zapad 17 military
exercise, which will take place in Belarus.
We also talked about contracts connected with
the modernization of the Polish armed forces.
We discussed the already entered into agreement
between Poland and the United States on
purchasing patriot missiles, so we discussed
the implementation of the Viswa program.
We also discussed the implementation of another
program called named Homar.
We discussed about all the things that will be
implemented in the next few years as regards
strengthening the security of Poland.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted after
these conversations.
I have a feeling that the United States is thinking
very seriously, and Mr. President Donald Trump
is thinking very seriously about Poland's security.
He is also thinking very seriously about the
United States of America as our loyal ally.
The President stressed very strongly the strength
of the Polish community in the United States of our
Polonia, of the Polish-Americans whom he
met even before elections.
And Mr. President, once again, thank you
very much for that.
Thank you for noticing also the contribution of
Polish-Americans and Polish people in the
development and the building of the prosperity
of the United States of America.
But apart from that, ladies and gentlemen, we
discussed economic contracts, not only
military ones but also those connected with security.
We spoke at length about LNGC deliveries to Poland.
I am really pleased that the first shipment of LNGC
gas arrives to Poland on the 8th of July from the
United States.
This has turned out hugely successful.
There were no problems whatsoever, there were no
barriers to ship that gas to our LNG terminal
through the LNG terminal in (inaudible).
This opens up the path to more contracts.
I hope that in the near future there will be a
long-term contract entered into for LNG gas
deliveries from the United States, and that through
this we will diversify sources of supply of this
hugely important raw material to Poland.
In a few moments, together with Mr. President, we
will attend the 3Cs summit, where we're also
going to discuss issues pertaining to energy
security and pertaining to the development of the
transatlantic bond between Europe and the
United States.
We will also talk about the development
infrastructure in our part of Europe, in central Europe.
But we also going to discuss the development of
the European Union, because all the
three seas initiative countries are E.U.
member states.
And whenever we talk about the implementation of the
cohesion policy, then we are looking at it from the
European Union perspective.
We want to implement it through the development of
infrastructure along the north-south axis to
increase competitiveness of our countries, and by
the same token to increase the competitiveness of the
entire European Union.
I hope that we'll be able to do that.
Also, in cooperation with the United States,
according to the win-win principle, that is going
to be beneficial both from the United States and for
our countries.
Mr. President, once again, welcome.
I'm hugely delighted with your visit in Poland, and
in my capacity as President of the Republic
of Poland, thank you very much on the behalf of the
entire Polish society of the Polish people for
coming to Poland.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump.
The floor is yours.
The President: Well, thank you very much President
Duda for your really gracious hospitality.
We've had a wonderful stay.
It's been quick, but the people of Poland have been
so fantastic, and as you know, Polish-Americans
came out in droves, they voted in the last
election, and I was very happy with that result.
So I just want to thank you, and I want
to thank them.
It's a true honor to be here in Poland.
It's a majestic nation, it really is a
spectacular place.
Some of the most beautiful sights that we just saw
coming over, really very inspirational.
You're rich in history and you have absolutely an
unbreakable spirit.
That's something we've learned for over the
course of many years.
The President and I concluded a productive
meeting in which we reaffirmed our enduring
bonds of friendship, and have united our citizens
for a long time.
But we've never been closer to Poland I think
than we are right now.
Poland is not only a great friend, but a truly
important ally and a partner with respect to
our military.
We've had great cooperations with Poland,
we've fought shoulder to shoulder in many
different encounters.
Particularly grateful for the active role Poland has
taken in helping to defeat ISIS, where we've made
tremendous strides, tremendous gains, which
you'll be hearing about over the next period of time.
And other terrorist organizations, Poland's
been right there with us by training Iraqi special
forces and flying reconnaissance missions,
and just about anytime we requested they were there.
Brave Polish soldiers have fought and worked side by
side with Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
on behalf of all Americans I want to salute you.
I want to thank you.
Very, very special people.
I also want to thank the Polish people for their
kindness to more than 5,000 American troops that
are stationed in your country.
Our strong alliance with Poland and NATO remains
critical to deterring conflict and ensuring that
war between great powers never again ravages
Europe, and that the world will be a safer
and better place.
America is committed to maintaining peace and
security in central and eastern Europe.
We're working with Poland in response to Russia's
actions and destabilizing behavior, and we're
grateful for the example Poland has set for every
member of the NATO Alliance by being one of
the few nations that actually meets its
financial obligations.
As you know, I've been pretty hard on some of the
members of NATO for not, and the money is pouring
in, I can tell you.
I was criticized, Mr. President, but I can
also say that the people at NATO aren't criticizing me.
They're very happy.
The money has been pouring in in the last year far
greater than it ever would've been.
It is past time for all countries and all
countries in the NATO Alliance to get going and
to get up to their obligations.
But I can say that Poland has been right there, and
you will even exceed that number, and I appreciate
that very much and so do a lot of other countries.
During our meeting, I congratulated President
Duda on Poland's recent election to the United
Nations Security Council.
We also discussed our mutual commitment to
safeguarding the values at the heart of our alliance:
freedom, sovereignty, and the rule of law.
Poland joins the security council at a very critical time.
It's a critical time, frankly, for the world,
because you see what's going on.
Not only must we secure our nations from the
threat of terrorism, but we must also confront the
threat from North Korea, and that's what it is,
it's a threat.
And we will confront it very strongly.
President Duda and I call on all nations to confront
this global threat and publicly demonstrate to
North Korea that there are consequences for their
very, very bad behavior.
We also discussed the ongoing humanitarian
catastrophe in Syria, and the need to defeat ISIS
and other terrorist groups where they control
territory and populations.
We have fought very hard and very powerfully
against ISIS since I've been President, and we've
made tremendous gains far greater than has ever been
made with respect to that group.
While the cities of Iraq and Mosul will soon be
liberated from these murderers, criminals, and
butchers, we recognize that Syria requires a
political solution that does not advance Iran's
destructive agenda and does not allow terrorist
organizations to return.
We also reaffirm that any nation that values human
life can never tolerate the use of chemical
weapons, and we won't tolerate it either.
Finally, we agreed to work to expand commerce
between our countries.
We strongly support the 3Cs initiative, and
America stands ready to help Poland and other
European nations diversify their energy supplies so
that you can never be held hostage to a single
supplier or, as we sometimes call it, a monopoly.
I'm pleased to report that the first shipment of
American liquefied natural gas arrived in Poland last
month and there'll be many more coming.
Maybe we can get your price up a little bit,
but that's okay.
(laughter)
He's a tough negotiator.
We look forward to making the economic ties between
the United States and Poland even stronger
through trading relationships, and that is
a balanced and reciprocal one.
We want reciprocal trade relationships.
We don't have too many of them.
I said before that the United States has made
some of the worst trade deals ever in history.
That's going to change.
The friendship between our peoples dates all the way
back to the American Revolution.
It's a long time.
I look forward to speaking more about these enduring
bonds of faith and freedom when I address the entire
Polish nation in just a little while.
I hear we have a big crowd, Mr. President, it's
going to be a big -- I think they're showing up
for you, not for me, right?
We're going to have a big crowd, that's
what the word is.
So President Duda, thank you again for welcoming
Melania and myself to your beloved homeland.
Together, we can make the partnership between our
two nations stronger than ever before.
Special people, special place, and it's an honor
to be here.
Thank you.
Male Speaker: Thank you very much.
President Duda: Thank you, Mr. President.
Now we have time to take four questions,
two from each side.
Let us start with a guest from the United States.
Is there any question from the U.S. side?
The Press: Thank you, Mr. President.
In light of North Korea's latest ICBM testing, do
you think they're beyond redemption, or is there a
chance they might actually make a u-turn?
And are you willing and ready to launch military
action against them?
And if I may, if I may, I have to ask about this.
Since you started the whole wrestling video
thing, what are your thoughts about what has
happened since then?
I mean, CNN went after you and has threatened to
expose the identity of a person they said was
responsible for it.
I'd like your thoughts on that.
The President: Yeah, I think what CNN did was
unfortunate for them.
As you know now, they have some pretty serious
problems.
They have been fake news for a long time.
They've been covering me in a very, very dishonest way.
Do you have that also, by the way, Mr. President?
(laughter)
When CNN and others, I mean, I know there's --
NBC is equally as bad, despite the fact that I
made them a fortune with "The Apprentice,"
but they forgot that.
But I will say that CNN has really taken it too
seriously and I think they've hurt themselves
very badly.
Very, very badly.
And what we want to see in the United States is
honest, beautiful, free, but honest press.
We want to see fair press.
I think it's a very important thing.
We don't want fake news.
And by the way, not everybody is fake news.
But we don't want fake news.
Bad thing.
Very bad for our country.
As far as North Korea's concerned, I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
I don't like to talk about what I have planned, but I
have some pretty severe things that
we're thinking about.
That doesn't mean we're going to do them.
I don't draw red lines.
President Obama drew a red line, and I was the one
that made it look a little bit better than it was,
but that could've been done a lot sooner and you
wouldn't have had the same situation that you have
right now in Syria.
That was a big mistake.
But I think we'll just take a look at what
happens over the coming weeks and months with
respect to North Korea.
It's a shame that they're behaving this way, but
they are behaving in a very, very dangerous
manner, and something will have to be done about it.
Thank you.
Thank you, David.
The Press: And Mr. President, since we're
speaking about press freedoms, your party has
significantly clamped down on press freedoms in the
last year and now appears to be weakening the power
of the national courts as well.
Do you think that people who live in other modern
democracies, including some Americans, are wrong
to criticize you for limiting which reporters
can cover the parliament?
President Duda: So to respond to your question,
sir, media order is a very significant thing indeed.
And when we look at the situation in the United
States, when we look at the situation in Poland,
in every case you can see a lot of pathologies.
I can give you an example of one of Polish
magazines, which compared to T.V.
channels of two different broadcasters.
And as an example, one of those broadcasters did not
report about my visit to Croatia.
The visit of the President of the Republic of Poland
to Croatia, a very important one which was
preparing that 3Cs summit, because this broadcaster
does not really like me as the President of Poland.
So I'm permanently criticized by
that broadcaster.
But I believe this is just the reality.
This is the right of the media.
In Poland, we've got an absolute liberty and
freedom of the media.
Problems were there during previous governments.
Also, when the former President was in office
when one of the magazines, the (inaudible) magazine,
was visited by special services in order to take
away recordings which were compromising for all the
politicians of the previous ruling party.
So that was when the freedom was under threat.
But now we have got absolute freedom
of the media.
We do respect the freedom of the media, we do take
care of the interests of the Republic of Poland and
of Polish people.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Now the question from the Polish side.
The first question, Polish television.
One question, please.
(inaudible), I represent the Polish television.
One question concerning energy, because both of
you mentioned energy sector and deliveries of LNG.
So my first question goes to President Trump: In
what time perspective do you think a permanent
contract could be entered into to ensure LNG gas
deliveries, American deliveries to Poland?
And the question to President Duda: Could
Poland become a certain hub for the transportation
of American gas, a hub to three seas countries?
The President: Question I think we can enter a
contract for LNG within the next 15 minutes.
Do you have anybody available to negotiate?
(laughter)
It will take about 15 minutes.
You know, we're becoming a great exporter of energy.
Very soon we'll be a very great exporter of energy,
and we've taken a lot of unnecessary regulations
out of our process and we are doing things that we
haven't been able to do for a long time.
So we're blessed with great land.
We didn't even know it 15 years ago in terms of what
was underneath our feet, and certainly we have
found out through technology that we are
truly blessed to have this incredible
wealth under our feet.
And we are going to be an exporter of energy.
It's already happening, and anytime you're ready
we can do additional contracts.
We've already done the one, but we can do many
additional contracts.
Thank you.
President Duda: Ladies and gentlemen, I can give you
the following answer.
It is not the President of the United States and the
President of Poland who are going to sign the
long-term contract for LNG gas deliveries to Poland,
but the contract will be signed by companies, by
Polish company and an American company, and this
is how it will be proceeded.
What is most important, however, the most
important thing is that there is green light
given by the U.S.
government, by the U.S.
administration, that there is an incentive given by
Americans for us to buy gas from the United States.
And on our side, on the Polish side, on the side
of the Polish authorities, there is also this green
light and there is interest in this
particular thing.
So I count that after relevant negotiations, I
know that those negotiations are ongoing,
I believe that after the conclusion of those
negotiations there will be a long-term contract for U.S.
LNG deliveries to our LNG terminal in (inaudible).
And answering the second part of your question, can
we become a hub through which LNG gas, American
gas, will flow to central Europe, I am convinced
that the answer is yes.
I am convinced that the answer is yes, and today
we are going to talk about this also under the
framework of the 3Cs initiative.
This is also connected with the establishment of
an energy corridor, of a gas corridor along the
north-south axis.
But also in the future, this could ensure perhaps
alternative supplies vis-à-vis ration supplies,
alternative supplies for Ukraine.
This is of primary importance, and this is
what we discussed today with Mr. President Trump.
I am convinced that the future is very rosy on
this one, very bright, and the contracts
will be entered into.
And of course we on our part according to the
needs are going to develop our capacities as regards
the reception of the LNG gas from the U.S.
and from other directions.
Media is free in Poland, so now the question from a
private broadcaster, TVN.
Mr. (inaudible), thank you very much.
A question to both Presidents: You mentioned
military cooperation.
I would like to find out from both of you
Presidents whether during your exchange whether any
concrete guarantees extended concerning the
presence of American troops in Poland as long
as there is threat from the Russian side?
And how do you see the future, Presidents, the
future of the presence of American troops in Poland?
The President: Well, we didn't discuss guarantees
and we weren't really in that position
to discuss guarantees.
But certainly we've been here for a long time.
We have quite a few troops here, up to 5,000, and we
will continue to do that and we will continue to
work with Poland.
But we did not discuss guarantees, no.
President Duda: Well sir, with Mr. President, the
topic that were discussed first and foremost was the
security situation that we have here.
We discussed in the context of what is
happening in our part of Europe, in the context of
the Zapad 17 maneuvers, which we have already
mentioned, and from that point of view there is no
doubt that the presence of American troops and NATO
troops in Poland today is absolutely justified
from this perspective.
If we add to this the situation that we are
seeing in Ukraine all the time, then it is
absolutely clear that we are going to discuss it
further with Mr. President.
We made an initial agreement to meet next
year in the White House.
We agreed that I will pay a visit to the United
States next year, of course the details will be
worked out later on, but that year is important
both for us Poles and for the Polish-Americans
because next year we are going to celebrate the
centennial of Poland's regaining of independence.
And I would like myself and Mr. President to
stress together the importance of that year,
because this shows the contribution of the Polish
people to the welfare of the United States over the
last 100 years.
And the last question, American media, very
briefly please because the Presidents have got to
attend the three seas summit in a minute.
So perhaps Mr. President Trump's going to select
the next journalist asking the question.
The Press: First, a two-part question, if I may.
Will you once and for all, yes or no, definitively
say that Russia interfered in the 2016 election?
The President: Well, I think it was Russia and I
think it could've been other people in other countries.
Could've been a lot of people interfered.
I said it very simply.
I think it could very well have been Russia, but I
think it could well have been other countries, and
I won't be specific.
But I think a lot of people interfere.
I think it's been happening for a long time.
It's been happening for many, many years.
Now, the thing I have to mention is that Barack
Obama when he was President found out about
this in terms of if it were Russia.
Found out about it in August.
Now, the election was in November.
That's a lot of time he did nothing about it.
Why did he do nothing about it?
He was told it was Russia by the CIA, as I
understand it, it was well-reported, and he did
nothing about it.
They say he choked.
Well, I don't think he choked.
I think what happened is he thought Hillary Clinton
was going to win the election, and he said,
"Let's not do anything about it." Had he thought
the other way, he would've done something about it.
So he was told in early August by presumably the
CIA that Russia was trying to get involved or
meddling pretty strongly with the election.
He did nothing about it.
The reason is he thought Hillary was going to win.
And if he thought I was going to win, he would've
done plenty about it.
So that's the real question is why did he do
nothing from August all the way to November 8th?
Why did he do nothing?
His people said he choked.
I don't think he choked.
The Press: So the follow-up's for you on
that, Mr. President.
You again say you think it was Russia.
Your intelligence agencies have been far
more definitive.
They say it was Russia.
Why won't you agree with them and say it was?
Well, I'll tell you.
Let me just start off by saying I heard it was 17
agencies.
I said, "Boy, that's a lot.
Do we even have that many intelligence agencies, right?
Let's check it." And we did some very
heavy research.
It turned out to be three or four.
It wasn't 17.
And many of your compatriots had to change
their reporting, and they had to apologize, and they
had to correct.
Now, with that being said, mistakes have been made.
I agree, I think it was Russia, but I think it was
probably other people and/or countries, and I
see nothing wrong with that statement.
Nobody really knows.
Nobody really knows for sure.
I remember when I was sitting back listening
about Iraq weapons of mass destruction, how everybody
was 100 percent sure that Iraq had weapons
of mass destruction.
Guess what?
That led to one big mess.
They were wrong, and it led to a mess.
So it was Russia, and I think it was probably
others also.
And that's been going on for a long period of time.
But my big question is, why did Obama do nothing
about it from August all the way to November 8th?
He did nothing about it, and it wasn't
because he choked.
The Press: And before I get to President Duda, you
talked about being angry at President Obama,
Mr. President, you talked about having --
Male Speaker: (inaudible) just two questions.
(inaudible) we are late.
Two questions, thank you very much.
Thank you very much, we must go.
Thank you very much, dear lady, it
was two questions.
Thank you very much.
President Duda: Thank you Presidents, thank you to
the members of the delegation, thank you
ladies and gentlemen.
The President: Thank you everybody, very much.