Out of town pool #8 — Wheels down

AF1 was wheels down at JBA at 8:59 PM.

Sharing some more words and cleaned-up quotes from the tarmac gaggle. Please check all against video/audio:

More on Maduro and Venezuela.

“We may be having some discussions with Maduro.”

“They would like to talk… I talk to everybody.”

Asked whether he’s working with Congress on Venezuela:

“We’re stopping drugs dealers, drugs from coming into our country… I told Marco... go to Congress and let them know we're not letting drugs come through Mexico, we’re not letting them come through Venezuela, and let Congress know about it. We don't have to get their approval. But I think letting them know is good. The only thing I don't want them to do is leak information… and they put our military at risk."

“Be open about it.”

When asked about Epstein:

“You’re a terrible reporter, and fake news like you keeping bringing that up… they’re using Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the major success.”

On MTG:

“Marjorie Traitor Greene… I don’t think anybody cares about her.”

On the healthcare vote:

“I am negotiating with lawmakers and I’ve had personal talks with some Democrats… about paying large amounts back to the people.”

“I said why don’t we just pay this money directly to the people of our country and let them buy their own healthcare?”

“I am talking to some Democrats right now about doing that… we’re going to take the money, we’re going to pay it back to the people of our country… now they could put it in a health account, they could do a lot with it… they CAN’T go out and buy a Cadillac.”

Asked about the Tucker Carlson, Trump said “you can’t tell him who to interview.”

“Meeting people, talking to people for somebody like Tucker, that's what they do. You know, people are controversial. Some are, some aren't. I'm not controversial, I like to say.”

Unprompted, POTUS said:

“The mayor of New York, I will say, would like to meet with us, we’ll work something out. But he would like to come to Washington.”

Katelyn Caralle

Senior US Political Reporter

The Daily Mail

@Katelyn_Caralle