Trump lets slip to Piers Morgan the Queen’s true view on EU
AIR FORCE ONE EXCLUSIVE
I’M SORRY Mr Morgan, but you can’t sit in that chair. Only the President of the United States of America ever sits in that chair.’ I was in the Situation Room of Air Force One, the aircraft used to fly the most powerful human being on Earth across the world.
Hannah, the presidential aide tasked with escorting me around it, was very polite but also VERY firm. ‘You can sit in one of those,’ she suggested, pointing to one of the other chairs at the Situation Room desk. ‘They swivel.’ They certainly did swivel. I pressed a button on the sumptuous leather chair where the President would soon be sitting and imagined what it must be like in that room when all hell breaks loose. It was here where President George W. Bush held crisis talks on 9/11 when Air Force One was ordered to scramble him to safety after fears it would come under attack like the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
Opposite the President’s chair, at the other end of the room, was a giant TV screen that can beam him live into the White House Situation Room or be used to address the American people.
A black leather-bound menu contains that night’s culinary fare. The President can eat whatever he wants, at any time of day or night.
NO BIG MAC OR FRIES, BUT PERSONALISED M&M CHOCOLATES
I WAS surprised to discover that the menu did not include a KFC bucket or Big Mac and large fries, two of Donald Trump’s favourite treats. But he told me when we last met in Davos earlier this year that he’s been trying to eat more healthily since winning the White House 20 months ago. So tonight’s dinner was: Cucumber Thai salad – a medley of cucumbers, radishes, spicy red chillies, chopped peanuts, basil, coriander and mint, tossed in a homemade vinaigrette.
Thai baked salmon fillet, baked in sweet chilli sauce over a bed of jasmine rice.
Tarte lemon bar, topped with shortbread crumbles.
There was also ‘a choice of beverage’. The President doesn’t drink alcohol so that probably means his preferred Diet Coke. It wasn’t all healthy though. Further down the room lay a basket of sweets including Hershey’s Kisses chocolates and specially designed boxes of presidential M&Ms, complete with Trump’s signature.
I’d arrived at Stansted Airport in Essex an hour earlier. The airfield was in lockdown and I went through four different security checks before reaching the tarmac.
300 SECRET SERVICE AGENTS AND A HAND-POLISHED AIR FORCE ONE
THERE were Secret Service agents and armed British police officers everywhere; all stern-faced and twitching. When JFK was assassinated in Dallas the security detail was just eight agents. Today, President Trump has more than 300.
I walked on to the tarmac and got my first glimpse of Air Force One glinting magnificently in the sunlight.
It looked perfect, which is no surprise: it is
hand-polished before every flight. We took some photos. I sent one of me standing outside the aircraft to my three sons, blowing their selfie-obsessed minds. ‘OK, Dad,’ said the eldest, Spencer. ‘You just won Instagram.’ There can be no finer praise for a middleaged man. Then I was filmed walking up the famous steps. I couldn’t resist stopping at the top, turning and waving. I walked inside and found a small army of uniformed personnel bustling around. Everything looked and smelled ultra-clean, which must delight a germaphobe like Trump. ‘The President
will be here in 25 minutes,’ said Hannah, escorting me to the Situation Room. ‘Please tell your crew to hurry.’
The ITV crew, who’d also been extensively security-screened by the Secret Service, hurried.
No other plane was being allowed to take off or land from Stansted until Air Force One departed. So every second I delayed things meant thousands of members of the public being delayed.
Several senior Air Force One staff came to introduce themselves, all chisel-jawed but extremely courteous – the kind of people who would kill you with their bare hands, but then apologise.
Outside, I noticed a cavalcade of cars sweeping towards the plane. It
carried numerous presidential staff and the White House press corps. Woody Johnson, the new US Ambassador to Britain, came on board with his wife Suzanne. They had hosted the Trumps at their London residence and were now flying to Scotland with the President to spend the weekend at his Turnberry golf resort.
I looked again out of the window and saw a fleet of helicopters sweeping down to land next to Air Force One.
THE ‘BEAUTIFUL’ QUEEN AND THE ‘FANTASTIC’ FIRST LADY
THE man himself swept in. ‘Mr President, great to see you.’ ‘It’s good to see you, Piers.’
‘How was the Queen?’ ‘The Queen is FANTASTIC! She’s a fantastic woman – so much energy and smart and sharp. She was AMAZING! Such a wonderful lady and so beautiful! It was such an honour to finally meet her. To have a Queen like that is great. Come on, let’s sit down.’
I’ve known Trump for 12 years now and genuinely like him while disagreeing with many of the things he says and does. He’s a uniquely impulsive and charismatic man, which, as we have seen, can manifest itself in both a very good way and very bad way.
Trump’s wife Melania came in too. I’ve seen a lot of her too over the years but this was the first time since her husband became Presi-
dent. She was wearing the same sleek, cream Christian Dior suit she’d worn to meet the Queen.
‘First Lady! How lovely to see you again,’ I said.
‘Nice to see you too,’ she replied. ‘It’s been a long time.’
Melania’s not just a strikingly beautiful woman, she’s also genuinely nice and warm, but a tough cookie.
Her performance under fire has resonated well with the American public, who have given her very good and improving approval ratings. They currently stand a lot higher than her husband’s.
‘The Queen Mother always said the secret to public life was to never explain, complain or speak too often in public,’ I said.
‘That’s right,’ Melania laughed. ‘I agree with that completely. I know that quote.’
‘Hey Piers, she’s fantastic!’ said the President.
(Later in our interview I say to Trump: ‘She’s more popular than you, Mr President.’ He replies: ‘I hope she never runs against me… she’s done a fantastic job, she really has.’)
After Melania leaves us, Trump gets into game mode.
‘OK, let’s go,’ he barks. ‘The plane’s waiting to take off!’
I’d been told we had a maximum of 15 minutes for the interview.
My Trump strategy, honed over at least 35 interviews with him over the years, has been to ask as many questions about as many issues as
possible to get a wide range of responses.
Trump-haters will always scream blue murder that an interviewer doesn’t spend every second of his allotted time clubbing him over the head with a large hammer. But I prefer to engage with Trump and listen to him in our interviews rather than berate and abuse him.
Our long-time friendship is why I am the only British TV journalist he speaks to. This was my fourth interview with him since he ran for office: two as a candidate and two as President.
In the end, I got 30 minutes and covered a wide range of issues and people, from Theresa May, the Queen, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, to abortion and immigration.
Trump was, as he always is, punchy, provocative, revealing and uncompromising.
‘My Piers,’ he began, ‘How are you man? My champion!’
I laughed. ‘If you had any idea how much you saying that irritates so many people, then you’d say it more often…’
‘I tell it like it is,’ he replied. ‘You and I both. That’s our problem!’
MEETING THE QUEEN AND MEMORIES OF HIS MOTHER
I STARTED by asking him more about his historic meeting with the Queen at Windsor Castle.
‘That moment when you walked towards the Queen, what was going through your mind?’
‘Well, first of all I was thinking about my mother. My mother passed away a while ago and she was a tremendous fan of the Queen. She thought she was a woman of elegance, and my mother felt she was a great woman.’
Trump sighed. ‘I was walking up and I was saying [to Melania], “Can you imagine my mother seeing this scene? Windsor. Windsor Castle.”
‘And it was beautiful, it was really beautiful but the Queen is terrific. She is so sharp, so wise, so beautiful. Up close, you see she’s so beautiful. She’s a very special person. And the way she’s conducted herself for so many years. And she’s got a lotta years left.’
The Trumps spent nearly twice as long – 45 minutes - with Her Majesty as they’d expected and said they got on famously.
‘We had a great, a great feeling,’ Trump said.
‘Did you get the feeling she liked you?’
‘Well, I don’t want to speak for her, but I can tell you I liked her, I liked her a lot.’ ‘Did you mention your mother?’ ‘I did. I said, “You know, my mother was your big fan. She was born in Stornaway in the Hebrides. And that’s very serious Scotland, there’s no doubt about that”.’
Trump said the Queen told him the names of all the presidents she had met. ‘Harry Truman was the first president she got to meet and know, and she went through a whole list. It was a very nice moment, Piers, very nice.’
THE QUEEN’S VIEWS ON A ‘VERY COMPLEX’ BREXIT
I ASKED if they had discussed Brexit.
‘I did. She said it’s a very – and she’s right – it’s a very complex problem.’
‘Did she give you any clue as to which way she thinks about it?’
Trump suddenly clammed up. ‘Well, I can’t talk. You know I’ve heard very strongly from a lot of people, you just don’t talk about conversation with the Queen, right?
‘To have that meeting I think was really great. We met, but also watching the guard, hearing the sounds, being in that place, that very special place. It was very special there’s no question about that.’ It was clear just how much the meeting meant to him.
We turned to the rather more controversial matter of Brexit.
Trump spectacularly announced his arrival with an incendiary interview in The Sun that attacked Theresa May for watering down her Brexit plan to such an extent that it might kill off hopes of a trade deal with America. It was the political equivalent of going to someone’s house for dinner and telling them that their food is inedible.
He tried to rein back on his criticism when they appeared for a joint press conference on Friday, but the damage was done, with May’s critics leaping on the claim that her new Chequers plan doesn’t allow Britain to do a bilateral deal with America.
I’VE GIVEN MAY ‘AN OPTION’ TO BRING EU TO HEEL
I WAS curious to find out if Mrs May had managed to change his mind during their series of private meetings.
‘No, no, I think my position is the same – I just think it’s really their choice. And if you speak to the Prime Minister, she’s really saying,
“No, it is Brexit, it is what it was, but we’re leaving certain things.”’ ‘Do you believe that?’ ‘Well, honestly it’s not for me to say.’ ‘Most people don’t believe it.’ ‘Well, yeah, I know, but….’ ‘They think it doesn’t allow for America to actually trade.’
‘Well, that would be bad. I mean look, I think it’s worse for the UK than it is for us because we’re doing very well, we’re having the best numbers we’ve ever had as a country – best employment numbers, best GDP numbers.’
I interjected: ‘If we were free, Britain, to do a genuine free trade deal...’
He said: ‘We would make a tremendously big deal.’
‘People say, “Come on. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, he wants to put America first, we’re not going to get a great deal.” What is the incentive for America to do a great deal with the United Kingdom?’
‘We would make a great deal with the United Kingdom because they have product that we like. I mean they have a lot of great product. They make phenomenal things, you know, and you have different names – you can say England, you can say UK, you can say United Kingdom, Great Britain. I always say, “Which one do you prefer? Great Britain?”’
‘You know Great Britain and the United Kingdom aren’t exactly the same thing?’
‘Right, yeah. You know I know. The fact is you make great product, you make great things. Even your farm product is so fantastic.’
Trump revealed at the press conference he had privately suggested Mrs May activate a ‘brutal option’ to bring the EU to heel. I asked what it was. ‘Well, I recommended her something, I gave her an option. I’d rather not tell you what that option is, but I think she might. I think it would’ve been great, but it’s not too late for her to do that necessarily.’
MAY MUST HAVE A ‘CARVE OUT’ TO SECURE US TRADE DEAL
‘CAN you look me in the eye, Mr President, and say there will be a great trade deal if we get this damn Brexit thing right?
‘Oh, I think we’re going to have a great trade deal, I’ve really no doubt about it. We’re going to get it. I said [to Theresa May], “Make sure you have a carve out, you have to have a carve out” – where no matter what happens they have the right to make a deal with the US.
‘That’s the only thing I told [Theresa], you have to have the right to do it. You can’t be shut out because we’re much bigger than the European Union, we’re more important from that standpoint.’
‘And has Mrs May looked you in the eye and said, “We will get there?”’
‘Well, she feels she’s going to be able to make a deal, yeah.’
THE ‘SAD’ IMPACT ON EUROPE OF MASS IMMIGRATION
AT THE press conference, Trump said he feared damage to Europe’s ‘culture’ from mass immigration. He elaborated on this with me.
‘I said Brexit was going to happen for a specific reason: immigration. I think the people of the UK want to have who they want in their country, and I think what’s happening all over Europe is very sad.
‘On a humanitarian basis, you’ve got to do something, and yet it is changing Europe. It’s seriously changing Europe. You take a look at what’s happened in Paris, you take a look at what’s happened in London. It’s changing Europe and I don’t mean in a positive way.’ As we spoke, over 100,000 anti-Trump protesters were marching through the streets of London.
‘Some of them are protesting in my favour, you know that?’ he insisted. ‘There are many, many protests in my favour.’ Hmm… I must have missed those.
DEALING WITH LITTLE ROCKET MAN AND RUTHLESS PUTIN
TOMORROW, Trump will attend his first summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in Finland. It comes a few weeks after his extraordinary meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
‘Is the Trump doctrine now to get in a room and try to do deals with people who have been perceived as the enemy?’ I asked.
‘I’d like to see peace. A lot of people thought I’d be, most people said, “On day one we’re going to be at war with Trump as President.” Well, here it is – we’re getting rid of wars. We’re getting out of wars.’ ‘Can you trust Kim Jong Un? ‘In the last nine months, there have been no missiles tests, no nuclear tests, no nothing.’ ‘Did you like him?’ ‘I get along with him great, yeah. He’s very smart, great personality, funny and tough, good negotiator.’
‘He’s a ruthless dictator.’
‘Sure he is, he’s ruthless. Plenty of the people that I deal with are pretty ruthless people.’ ‘Is Putin one of those?’ ‘I can’t tell you that, I assume he probably is. Look, if we can get along with Russia that’s a good thing. I don’t know him.
‘I met him a couple of times, I met him at the G20. I think we could probably get along very well. But for the United States, and frankly the UK and other places, to get along with Russia and China and all of these other places… Piers that’s a really good thing.’
THE US’S MOST CONTENTIOUS ISSUE… ABORTION
TRUMP has flip-flopped over abortion. It’s a highly contentious issue in America and set to be more so now he is appointing a new conservative justice to the Supreme Court – a decision which could lead to abortion being made illegal again.
‘Well, look, I’m a conservative as you know,’ he said. ‘I have my views, but I’ve been told it’s truly best not to talk about it (the nominee process). That’s a little bit of an interesting stance but that’s the right thing to do now.’
‘Do you understand why women are concerned?’
‘I do understand, but I also understand that, you know, that’s a 50/50 question in this country.’ In fact, two-thirds of Americans recently polled do not want to see the legalisation of abortion reversed, though half do want some restrictions.
‘Someday there could be a vote,’ said Trump. ‘There’s also a very good chance there won’t be a vote.’
HIS GRATITUDE TO HARRY OVER MEGHAN’S FATHER
LAST month, Meghan Markle’s father Thomas, who hates Trump, told me that Prince Harry had urged him in phone call to ‘give Trump a chance’.
I told the President this and he looked thrilled. ‘That’s good!’ ‘Do you like Harry?’ ‘Yeah I like Harry, I’ve never met him, but I’ve always liked Harry. I like the whole family to be honest, they have a good energy.’
CONFIRMED: HE’LL RUN FOR A SECOND TERM IN 2020
THERE has been lots of rampant speculation as to whether Trump will run for President again. It was time to get a definitive answer.
‘Is there any doubt you’ll run again in 2020?’
‘Well, you never know what happens with health and other things…’ ‘You look fit.’ ‘I feel good.’ ‘I saw your menu for tonight – pretty healthy stuff. But 2020, are you going to run?’
‘Well, I fully intend to. It seems like everybody wants me to.’
I suspect ‘everybody’ is bordering on fake news. But there it was – official confirmation that Donald Trump will run again.
HIS LOVE OF TWITTER IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FAKE NEWS
LOVE him or loathe him, Trump has transformed modern presidential communication, particularly through Twitter.
‘Did you ever think you, at 72, would be the most skilled exponent of Twitter in the world?’
‘I just find it’s a modern day form of communication. I’ll see something where somebody says something wrong, or says something right, and rather than sitting around doing nothing, I’ll be able to put out something. I can combat that fake news because I have so many followers. You get the word out, you can really protect yourself from the lies.’
After the interview, I presented Trump with a gift – a kilt made from his family’s tartan, MacLeod. He seemed genuinely moved by it.
NOW GET OFF MY PLANE, PIERS!
‘GREAT to see you,’ Trump said, as we shook hands again. ‘Now get off my plane – we’re late!’
The next morning, I spotted a Facebook post by my brother-inlaw Patrick, a former British Army colonel who taught Princes William and Harry at Sandhurst. ‘Good old Air Force One. Apparently a direct cause of my flight from Germany being delayed by over three hours. It’s 1am and I’m still on the ground.’ Oh dear. I haven’t had the heart to tell him it was my fault yet.