Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2020

July 31, 2020

Former President Barack Obama/National Economy

Q. Mr. President, your reaction to President Obama, sir? President Obamaââ

Q. He said you're "targeting minorities."

The President. Yes, go ahead, please. Go ahead.

Q. Your reaction to President Obama, sir?

The President. Yes.

Q. Your reaction to President Obama? He said that you're targeting minorities and attacking voting rights.

The President. Well, he did a bad job for minorities. I did much more for minorities than he did. And if you look at our numbers prior to the plague coming inâand those numbers will soon be backâyou'll see I did a much better job than Obama did, by far, for African Americans, for Asian Americans, for women, for any group you look at. Far better than Obama did.

Yes, go ahead.

Q. Mr. President, why weren't you at John Lewis's funeral?

The President. Yes, go ahead, please.

Immigration/Border Security

Q. Mr. President, what do you say to legal immigrants who areâ[inaudible]?

The President. Well, we don't want that to happen.

Q. And so farââ

The President. Yes, we don't want that to happen.

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. But people have to come into our country legally. Right now we have 267 miles of wall. We're doing very well on keeping the drugs out and keeping people out that aren't supposed to be here. But people have to come into our country legally.

Q. I'm talking about legal immigrants.

The President. Go ahead.

Immigration Reform/Prescription Drug Pricing

Q. What about people who are here legally? You areâ[inaudible]âthese immigrants.

The President. We're taking a look at it very strongly. We're working with representatives of DACA, and we're also working on a big immigration bill which is merit-based and something that people are going to be very happy with. We're doing a very big immigration bill, and we're doing a very big health care bill.

The other thing we're working on very strongly, and it's very important, is prescription drug prices. The drug companies are not exactly happy. In fact, I assume they'll be taking ads. But

we're doing a drug prescription bill, in a senseâwe've already signed it, for the most part; one goes into effect very soonâthat's going to get us to be tied with or lower than the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world.

Right now the United States, because of what has happened over years, we have the highest prescription drug prices in the world. We will soon have the lowest.

Q. Mr. President, the "suburban lifestyle dream"ââ

The President. Go ahead, Jennifer [Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg News].

TikTok

Q. Are you expecting a TikTok decision today?

The President. We're looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things. There are a couple of options. But a lot of things are happening, so we'll see what happens. But we are looking at a lot alternatives with respect to TikTok.

Q. Mr. President, the "suburban lifestyle dream"ââ

Hong Kong Legislative Elections

Q. Mr. President, comments about the delay on the election in Hong Kong? What is your opinion aboutââ

The President. About what?

Q. The delay on the election in Hong Kong.

The President. We're going to have a report for you tomorrow on that.

Q. But what is yourââ

Rescission of 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule

Q. On the "suburban lifestyle dream," why would low-income housing in the suburbs destroy the "suburban lifestyle dream"?

The President. So we ended a rule that was a very horrible rule for people in suburbia, in the suburbs. And that rule has been a very unfair rule for a long time, and it was going to be made a lot worse by Biden and Cory Booker.

It's a rule that, basically, you build low-income housing and you build other forms of housingâalso having to do with zoningâand destroy people that have lived in communities in suburbia. For years, they've lived there, and they want to destroy their lives and destroy what they have. And it's been going on for a long time. I ended the rule, so people living in the suburbs will no longer have that problem.

Q. Why shouldn't they share the dream? Why shouldn't they share in the dream, sir?

The President. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Death of Businessman and Commentator Herman Cain

Q. Are you worried that Herman Cain caught COVID in Tulsa?

The President. Herman Cain was a great man. He did a fantastic job. He was respected by everybody. He was loved by everybody. And we will miss Herman Cain.

Q. Are you worried he caught it in Tulsa?

The President. Who?

Q. Are you worried he caught COVID in Tulsa? The President. No, I don't think he did. No. Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:51 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White House prior to boarding Marine One. In his remarks, he referred to 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.; and Sen. Cory A. Booker. A reporter referred to Rep. John R. Lewis, who died on July 17.

Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters :: White House. Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Booker, Cory A.; Cain, Herman; Obama, Barack.

Subjects: China : Hong Kong, political status; Communications : News media :: Presidential interviews; Deaths : Cain, Herman; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Drug abuse and trafficking : Illegal drugs, interdiction efforts; Economy, national : Improvement; Health and medical care : Health insurance reforms; Health and medical care : Prescription drugs, affordability and costs; Housing : Affordable housing, access and availability; Immigration and naturalization : Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, review; Immigration and naturalization : Reform; Mexico : Border with U.S., infrastructure and security; TikTok.

DCPD Number: DCPD202000559.