>> democracy. it is not just an idea. it is a process shaped by leaders, elected to the highest office and entrusted to a select view with guarding the basic principles. it is where debates unfold, decisions are made and the nation's courts judge. democracy in real time. this is your government at work. this is c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. >> at an oval office meeting president trump confronted south african president cyril ramaphosa over allegations of genocide of white south african

farmers targeted and killed for their land. their meeting ran just over an hour. pres. trump: thank you very much, everyone. it's a great honor to be with the president of south africa. president ramaphosa. he is a man who is certainly in some circles really respected, other circles a little bit less respected, like all of us in all fairness. pres. ramaphosa: we are all like that. pres. trump: we also have a few

of our friends. ernie els is a great golfer. truly great golfer. matisse, we call him a really great golfer, too. you guys are fantastic. we could add gary to the group. gary player. a lot of golfers south africa has. there must be something in the water, right? these two guys -- gary's gary. and david frost also. another one i know is such a great one. was he as good a putter as they say, david? he's a putting machine, right? but he's another one. something very good about south africa and golf. golf is still doing great in south africa. they have young players i hear coming up that will be very good. it's an honor to have you here. my friend. it's an honor to have you, one of the greatest businessmen in south africa. thank you for being here. very great honor. appreciate it. we are going to be discussing certain things.

as you know we have the g-20 is going to south africa. when is that going to be? pres. ramaphosa: november. pres. trump: in november. pres. ramaphosa: thereafter i hand over to you. i'll hand over it to you. then you'll be the g-20 -- pres. trump: we are going to have it the following year. we'll be discussing many things. some of the things you have been reading about in the papers and the media. and i would say that, look, the president is a truly respected man in many, many circles. some circles he's considered a little controversial. but we are going to be discussing some of the things that are taking place in south africa and see if we can help. we want to help. we have had a long relationship with south africa. i have because indirectly i have so many friends that live there. i have a lot of friends. famous guys.

but i have a lot of friends that live there. tremendous people. and we'll be discussing, nice conversation. i really appreciate that you guys came along. it really helps us in our thought process. but it is a great honor to have you. i appreciate you called. he called. i don't know where he got my number but i picked up. i want to come over and see you. it was my honor. thank you very much for being here. pres. ramaphosa: most welcome. thank you very much for welcoming us to this reformed white house. i have been here be. it looks very fantastic. i must congratulate you. but i also thank you for allowing our delegation. this is a very mixed delegation that you brought, we've got. people from government. prime ministers. someone from the trade movement. we really collaborate for business as well.

and our sporting legends. when i spoke to you you said yes, come along and bring gary player, bring ernie els. i brought the two of them. i spoke to him, he said i'm getting rather on in my years. but wishes us luck in this discussion with you. it's a real joy. i'd also like to thank you for allowing your people to start discussions with us. at the trade level. we are essentially here to reset the relationship between the united states and south africa. we are long, long-standing partners in many, many ways. we cooperated in many fields. space issues. energy. trade. and we therefore need to reset that. particularly the lines of some

of the announcements that you made on trade and investment. so we want to advance more trade between the two of us. two countries. and our people now have been empowered by yourself and by myself to start engaging. we hope that we'll be able to fuel that engagement during our talks. we also want to discuss issues that have to do with how we promote further investments in both countries. we've got about 22 companies from south africa that have invested in the u.s. that's created a number of jobs. similarly you have 600 companies that have invested in south africa, some have been in south africa for more than 100 years. so our lanes are really long lasting, we would like to recalibrate the relationship between our two country and discuss a whole range of issues, geopolitical, the work you're doing around the world.

ukraine, and in the middle east, we value that. we are also a great contributor to the peace process and of course we want to discuss how we can support each other. you are much bigger economy than we are. we are just a tiny economy. but we've got critical minerals that you want to fuel the growth of your own economy. so we have that. so all that combination of opportunity and product that we buy from you as well as what we sell to you i believe makes us a good and powerful relationship which we need to strengthen. and that is really what has brought us here. we are really privileged to have

south africa in the mix. you said you'd like to see them as well. i brought you a really fantastic golf book, weighs 14 kilogram, showcases the golf courses in our country, and i want to showcase our golf courses, you might remember when i spoke to you, when we spoke about golf, you said i should start practicing. i started practicing. so i'm ready. but let me end, just the introduction remarks by thanking you, you may not recall, five years ago i spoke to you during the covid period and it was at a time when the whole world was

going through a really cathartic moment and we asked for assistance and you were able to assist us. with respirators. respirators and you kept your word. you delivered respirators to us. we didn't have as many. it really helped to deal, to help us deal with covid. i'm here to say thank you and to the people of america for having helped us. at a really difficult time. being the small economy that we are, we needed help from around the world. and you were there to provide that. thank you very much. pres. trump: i remember the call. 150 respirators, became the respirator king. started making them. nobody had them. we had very few of them but they were very helpful. we sent 150, i appreciated the letter you wrote me. thank you. appreciate that.

pres. ramaphosa: it touched my heart when i spoke to you. and you delivered. pres. trump: any questions? reporter: can you explain to americans why it's appropriate to welcome white africanas here when others like afghans, venezuelans, have had their status revoked. pres. trump: this is a group, nbc, that's truly fake news. they ask a lot of questions in a very pointed way. they're not question, they're statements. we have had tremendous complaints about africa. about other countries too. from people. they say there's a lot of bad things going on in africa. that's what we're going to be discussing today. when you say we don't take others, all you have to do is take a look at the southern border. we let 21 million people come through our border, unchecked, unvetted, came from all over the

world. in many cases they're criminals. they come from prisons. they come from mental institutions. they come from street gangs. drug dealers. so don't say we didn't take them. we're trying to get them out as fast as we can. and we're doing record business on that. we just won a big case, we are allowed to send back hundreds of criminals to venezuela, just learned that today from the supreme court, happy to hear. but we do have a lot of -- a lot of people are very concerned with regards to south africa. that is the purpose of the meeting. we'll see how that turns out. but we have many people that feel that they're being persecuted, they're coming to the united states. we take from many locations if we feel there's persecution or genocide going on. and we had a lot of people. i must tell you, mr. president, we had a tremendous number of people, especially since they've seen this, generally they're white farmers.

and they're fleeing south africa. it's a very sad thing to see. but i hope we can have an explanation of that. i know you don't want that. and it's kind of a different meeting. normally we have meetings, we talk about trade, we will be talking about trade and other things, but that'll be a subject that comes up. reporter: what's your thoughts on the director, according to him, leticia james says the alleged mortgage fraud was a mistake. want to get your thoughts on that? she put down that her father was her husband. very similar to, i guess before. pres. trump: i don't know what it is currently but leticia james, the attorney general of new york state, i'm not involved in that at all. i know it's being handled by

various groups i guess. it is major fraud. mortgage documents. fraudulent everything. i think she said the father was her husband which she had to have a husband or -- she chose her father. sheet put it down. she had -- then she signed in virginia, yet said she lived in virginia, yet she's the new york state attorney general, she did that for tax reasons. so she could take advantage of taxes. and she had the wrong number of units, much different number. which wouldn't qualify and scam the government. i don't know. i think she's very bad for new york. but i don't know too much about it. but i appreciate the question. thank you very much. reporter: what about genocide? reporter: they say it will be a celebration, the celebration taking place around the world including here in the united states.

what is your message to the entire african continent, african people on this important occasion? pres. trump: i want to see peace. i want to see happiness. i want to see health. they have incredible land, tremendous value. a lot of countries don't have that value in the land, we have a situation i think you probably heard about it. we've done, through some very talented people, helped settle a war that's been raging for years, rwanda and the congo. i think we've done it. believe it or not, i think we've done it. and could you just say a few words about that? pres. ramaphosa: a couple of weeks ago, they signed a declaration of principles in which they agreed on the way forward. they have a draft peace agreement. we have put together one that incorporated both of their

suggestions and have given it to them. we're in the process of finalizing. looking good. pres. ramaphosa: we have to thank you for the efforts. our south african community has for years been trying to foster peace in the democratic republic of the congo. so all efforts including those from outside the continent and inside the continent, are really worthwhile. we have just -- we are removing our troops from there so that peace can then prevail in that whole area. and we hope that with the support of the international community we will be at peace in that area. it's so vital, so important for the whole region. pres. trump: we sent our people there and i think we did a very good job. that was great. i mean i'm just hearing

phenomenal reports. all i'm hearing is death, death, chopping heads off, it's horrible over there. and it was really brave of you to go there. i really appreciate it. it looks like we have something very, very substantial. we also talked about trade with them in terms of rare earth and all, really more for -- if you take a look at what we just did with pakistan and india. we settled that and i think i settled it through trade. we're doing a big deal with india. we're doing a big deal with pakistan. i said what are you guys doing? somebody had to be the last one to shoot but the shooting was getting worse and worse, bigger and deeper and deeper into the countries. and we spoke to them. i think we, you know, i hate to say we got it settled and then

two days later something happens and they say it's trump's fault but we, pakistan has got some excellent people, some really good, great leader. india, my friend, modi. pres. ramaphosa: mutual friend. pres. trump: yeah, great guy. called them both. we just did something good. we are trying to settle russia-ukraine. spoke with president putin for 2 and 1/2 hours the day before yesterday. i think we made a lot of progress. that's a bloodbath. 5,000 people are being killed a week. 5,000 soldiers a week. not including people from cities and towns that are also being killed. so we're trying to help. it doesn't affect us. it's not our people. not our soldiers. it's ukraine and russia. but if we can save 5,000 souls, let's do it. pretty good at it. but that's a bad situation. that's a really bad situation. pres. ramaphosa: you recall when president zelenskyy was coming to south africa, we both agreed

we needed to push the peace message so there can be peace. we have been involved in the ukraine-russia conflict, the minister of security, dealing with them, exchange of children that were taken away, names, addresses and all of that. we've been invested in that whole process as well. the moves you are making are fully supported by us. we would like to see the end of that war. pres. trump: sure. i called zelenskyy. they said he's in south africa. i said what the hell is he doing in south africa? [laughter] what are you doing in south africa? that's a strange one. pres. ramaphosa: you know we

were lucky, the great nelson mandela who taught us how to create peace, to make peace. so we were imparting some of those lessons. and i specifically mentioned to him, this is how nelson mandela taught us, when you want to have the peace in a country, do it on an unconditional basis, sit down and talk. that's precisely what i'm sure he's going to be doing. pres. trump: we'll see what happens. there's a lot of hatred. a lot of death. it's a bloodbath. pres. ramaphosa: unfortunate. pres. trump: i get the satellite pictures of that field, of that killing field. never saw anything like it in your life. horrible thing. i think we've made big progress.

reporter: what are you expecting on the icjk? are you expecting south africa to drop that? pres. trump: which case? >> international criminal justice. pres. trump: i don't expect anything, to be honest. i don't know. they've got -- the case, there's a lot of anger there. tremendous anger. i don't expect anything. we'll see what happens. we'll have a ruling. who knows what the ruling is going to mean. reporter: mr. president, are you going to be speaking to prime minister netanyahu about israel's renewed offensive? there are concerns in european countries, the pope expressed concern, are you going to ask prime minister netanyahu to tone down the offensive in gaza?

pres. trump: is that a question or a statement? reporter: what does it mean for you to be convined that there's no white genocide in south africa? >> it would take president trump listening to the voices of south africans, some of whom are his good friends like those who are here. we have talked, he and i, at a quiet table. it'll take president trump to listen. i'm not going to be repeating what i've been saying. i would say if there was afrikaans genocide these three gentlemen would not be here including my minister of agriculture, he would not be with me. it'll take him, president trump, listening to their stories, to their perspectives. that is the answer to your question. pres. trump: no, no. wait. we have thousands of stories talking about it and we have

documentaries, we have news stories, is natalie here? somebody here to turn that -- i can show you a couple of things. i have to -- it has to be responded to. let me see the articles please if you would. excuse me, turn the lights down. turn the lights down. and just put this on, it's right behind you. [inaudible] south african occupied land. [inaudible]

[inaudible]

[singing in native language] pres. trump: this is -- these are burial sites right here.

burial sites over 1,000 of white farmers and those cars are lined up to pay love on a sunday morning. each one of those white things you see is a cross. and there's approximately 1,000 of them. they're all white farmers. the family of white farmers. and those cars aren't driving, they're stopped there to pay respects to their family members killed and it's a terrible sight. i've never seen anything like it. both sides of the road have crosses. those people are all killed. pres. ramaphosa: have they told you where that is? i'd like to know where it is, this i have never seen.

pres. trump: it's in south africa. pres. ramaphosa: we need to find out. reporter: mr. president, the pentagon announced they will accept a jet to be used as air force one. pres. trump: what are you talk about? what does this have to do with the qatari jet? they're giving the united states air force a jet ok. it's a great thing. we're talking about a lot of other things. nbc trying to get off the subject of what you just saw.

you're a terrible reporter. you don't have what it takes to be a reporter. you're not smart enough. here we go into a subject about a jet given to the united states air force, a very nice thing. they also gave $5.1 trillion of investment in addition to the jet. go back, you ought to go back to your studio at nbc because brian roberts and the people that run that place, they ought to be investigated. they are so terrible the way you run that network. and you're a disgrace. no more questions. talk about that. his name is peter something, a terrible reporter. quiet. let's go. reporter: president trump, thank you very much. what would you like the president to do about the situation? pres. trump: i don't know.

i don't know. these are articles over the last few days. death of people. death, death, death, horrible death. death. i don't know. pick any one. white south africans are fleeing because of the violence and racist laws. and this is all -- i'll give these to you. when you say what would i like to do, i don't know what to do. white south african couples say they were attacked violently. reporter: president trump when will you go to see for yourself? pres. trump: i could do that. here's burial sites. these are all white farmers being buried and he asks about a jet that was given. you ought to be ashamed of yourself. you are so bad. you're such a bad reporter. >> president trump.

pres. trump: this is one after another. this family wiped out. i'm just -- reporter: your reaction to those videos? pres. trump: i think the videos are so -- no, no. when you look at the videos, i mean, how does it get worse? and these are people that are officials and they're saying that kill the white farmer and take their land. i have other friends in south africa, people that left, wanted -- one in particular that says can't go there. he said they want to take your land. they take your land and they kill you. it's ok. they say it's ok to do. we're going to talk about it, but this is a tremendous, look, this is recent. these are all people that recently got killed. and i don't know how it can get any worse.

and you know the man that you saw, the man that you saw, the people that you saw, those are officials. these are people that were in office. they had one march. they had a dance in your parliament, whatever they call it, legislature. pres. ramaphosa: let me clarify that. what you saw, the speech and being made. that is not government policy. we have a multiparty democracy in south africa that allow peoples to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies. in many cases those policies do not go along with government policy. our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying even in the parliament. and they're a small minority party. which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution.

pres. trump: but you do allow them to take land? pres. ramaphosa: no, no, no. pres. trump: you do allow them to take land and then when they take the land they kill the white farmer and when they kill the white farmer nothing happens to them. pres. ramaphosa: no, no. there is -- pres. trump: nothing happens to them. pres. ramaphosa: there is criminality in our country. people who do get killed, unfortunately through criminal activity, are not only white. the majority of them are black people. and we are now -- pres. trump: the farmers are not black. i don't know if that's good or bad but the farmers are not black and the people that are being killed in large numbers and you saw all those grave sites, those are people that are going i guess on sunday morning, to pay respect to their loves ones that are killed,

their heads chopped off, died violently. and you know, we're here to talk about it. get involved here. but i will say this. that if the news wasn't fake like nbc which is fake news, one of the worst, abc, nbc, cbs, horrible. but if they weren't fake news like this jerk that we have here, if we had real reporters they'd be covering it. but the fake news in this country doesn't talk about that. they don't want to talk about it. but now they have to talk about it. but they won't. this won't even be a subject. they'll have them talking about why did a country give six figures and an airplane to the united states air force? ok. the united states air force. not to me. to the united states air force. so they could help us out because we need an air force one until our air force one is being built. boeing is a little bit late

unfortunately. so why did they give us a plane to the united states air force? that's what that idiot talks about after viewing a thing with thousands of people dead. pres. ramaphosa: i'm sorry i don't have a plane to give you. pres. trump: wish you did. i would take it. if your country offered the united states air force a plane i would take it. pres. ramaphosa: but coming back to this issue, which i really would like us to talk about. talk about it very calmly. we were taught by nelson mandela that whenever there are problems people need to sit down around a table and talk about it. and this is what we would also like to talk about. including of course trade matters, investment matters, so the issues that concern you, the united states, and -- pres. trump: those are all deaths. pres. ramaphosa: in many ways one should say you are a partner. partner of south africa. and you are raising concerns. and these are concerns that we are willing to talk to you about.

let me just add quickly, you know, the criminality that we're experiencing in our country needs quite a lot of technological capability. in one area in south africa we are using u.s. technology which is able to in many ways identify where shootings are happening and all that. i'd like to talk about that. there is support we can get from you as the united states to help us deal with all these acts of criminality. that's what i believe partnership is all about. we are here as a partner so that we can help each other. i would like us to discuss it and of course outside of the media. we'll sit down and have a really good discussion that will lead to a good outcome.

reporter: should you not be satisfied that south africa is fixing some of the very bad things -- pres. trump: there are a lot of bad things happening in many countries, this in particular has been very, very bad. very bad. and because of, you know, we're going to have the whole world watching in another short period of time because you have the g20, and that's a big deal. it seems like, i want you to look good. i don't want you to look bad. but we have hundreds of people, thousands of people trying to come into our country because they feel they're going to be killed and their land is going to be confiscated and you do have laws that were passed that gives you the right to confiscate land with no payment. you can take away land with no payment. pres. ramaphosa: i want to clarify that. we have a constitution. our constitution guarantees and protects the sanctity of tenure

of land ownership. that constitution protects all south africans with regards to land ownership. however, we do say, because we've got to deal with the past, as your government also has a right to take land for public use. never really gotten in the way of that. pres. trump: you're taking people's land away from them. and those people in many cases are being executed. they're being executed. they happen to be white. most of them happened to be farmers. that's a tough situation. i don't know how you explain that. how do you explain that? they're taking people's land away and in many cases those people are being executed and in many cases it's not the government that's doing it, it's people that killed them and then take their land and nothing happens to them. but we have thousands of people that want to come into our

country, they're also going to australia, in smaller numbers, but we have thousands of people that want to come into our country and they are white farmerrers and they feel that they're going to die in south africa. it's a bad thing. reporter: what can south africa do to improve relations with the united states? pres. trump: just spoke about a very, very complex machine 150, of them, i was asked by the president if they can help. i did that. i have a great feeling for all countries. i deal with all countries. i have a great feeling for it south africa. -- for south africa. i have a couple of friends, a few friends here today, have many friends from south africa. but many of those friends are -- they can't come back.

i have e africa. i don't want to get elon involved. that's all i have to do, get him into another thing. but elon happens to be from south africa. this is what elon wanted. he came here on a different subject, sending rockets to mars. he likes that better. he likes that subject better. but elon is from south africa. i don't want to talk to him about that. i don't think it's fair to him. but i will say that people are fleeing south africa for their own safety. their land is being confiscated and in many cases they're being killed. and that scene of, you see how many crosses they have. those crosses that's a dead person in every one of them. and those trucks, cars, are paying their respects to all those dead people on a sunday morning. that's a rough -- that's a rough thing to explain away. the problem we have. a correct and a fair media exposes things.

but we have a very corrupt media. they won't even report this. if this were the other way around, it would be the biggest story. i will say, apartheid, terrible. that was the biggest -- that was reported all the time. this is the opposite of apartheid. what's happening now is never reported. nobody knows about it. all we know is we're being inundated with people, white farmers from south africa. and it's a big problem. marco rubio tells me he's never seen anything like it. the numbers of people that want to leave south africa because they feel they'll be dead soon. reporter: 72% of farmers in your country are white. if they flee, do you feel the economy would collapse? you may not have the way to fill in those people to replace those farmers?

pres. ramaphosa: i'd like my minister of agriculture, who is white, who comes from an opposition party to mine, who has joined my cabinet at my invitation, to address this very issue including the questions you just raised. >> we have a real problem in south africa. i don't think anyone wants to candy coat it, it requires a lot of effort to get on top of it. it's going to require more policing resources, different strategies to deal with it. but the majority of south africa's commercial and small farmers really do want to stay in south africa and make it work. i've just come from the largest agricultural show in the southern hemisphere with organized agriculture and farmers and the majority want to stay. but they have a memorial to those who died as a result of farm attacks. as the minister of agriculture

it is something that i'm working on with my colleagues and my colleagues in justice. stop making farm attacks and make it a priority. it affects all farmers in south africa. disproportionately affects small black farmers. the two individuals in that video that you see are both leaders of opposition minority parties in south africa. the reason that the democratic alliance which has been an opposition party for years, joined forces with us, was to keep those people out of power. we cannot have those people sitting in the union building making decisions. that's why after years of exchanging bombs across the

floor in parliament, trying to get one over on each other, we have decided to join hands precisely to keep that lot out of government. because the day they get into the doors of the union hall in south africa or control of our parliament, that's what you're going to see. that's why this government working together needs the support of our allies around the world so that we can strengthen our economy and shut the door forever on that rabble getting through the door. >> you denounced that type of language in the video you saw? pres. ramaphosa: yes. always done so as government, our own party, we are completely opposed to that. we in 1955 adopted a document which said south africa belongs to all within it. pres. trump: why didn't you arrest that man? that man said kill the white farmers. kill the white farmers. then he danced and he's dancing,

dancing, then kill the white farmers. i'm not sure but i think if somebody got up in parliament saying kill a certain group of people you would be arrested very quickly. that man is going all over south africa and that's not a small party. that was a stadium that holds 100,000 people and i hardly saw an empty seat. that's a lot of people. that's a lot of representation. and those crosses, where you have dead white people. dead white farmers. mostly. and you take a look at australia. they're being inundated. we're being inundated with people that want to get out. their farm is valueless. valueless. and they just want to get out with their lives. this is a very serious situation. and if we had a real news or real press or media, we don't have that, because they won't talk about this. because they're all guys like that idiot. but if we had a real press, it would be exposed. and you know the beauty of exposing it, it's like a

cleansing action. when it's exposed, it'll get fixed. but people don't talk about it. i will tell you who is talking about it. the thousands of people fleeing south africa right now. reporter: usaid impact -- [inaudible] pres. trump: it's devastating. hopefully a lot of people will start spending a lot of money and i talked to other nations. we want them to chip in and spend money too. and we spent a lot. and it's a big -- it's a tremendous problem. in many countries. a lot of problems going on. the united states always gets the requests for money. nobody else helps us you know. europe doesn't help. europe hasn't given anything. all they do is sue our companies. they sue apple. and they sue all of our companies. apple had to pay $17 billion on

a nonsense lawsuit, very unfair. but we are going to always be there to help. reporter: if this issue is resolved, what's the potential of future relations? pres. trump: it's fantastic. it's got to be resolved. it should be resolved. it's a little bit bad when you see a stadium with 100,000 people in it, that means it's more than just a little movement. it's a pretty big movement in south africa. it has to be resolved. it could be the end of the country. i hope so. that's why i'm here. i mean i'm not here for my health. i'm here to see if we can do something. i have friends. i can tell you, ernie, retief, they feel so strongly they wanted to be here on behalf of south africa, not on behalf of me. and you know, they said can we

be here for this? they love the country. ernie, do you guys want to say a couple of words? i hate to put you in this position, this is tougher than sinking a three-footer. and they've sank many three-footers. >> thank you, mr. president. thanks for the honor of being here. we've known each other a long time. we have spoken. we are proud south africans. i still have my south african passport. i have my visa here. but we want to see things get better in our own country. that's the bottom line. it's been 35 years since the transition. president ramaphosa was right in the middle of the transition in 1990 and before that.

it's been 35 years of this government and i know there's a lot of anger. through the transition. a lot of stuff happening in apartheid days. we grew up in apartheid era. but i don't think two wrongs makes a right. you know. president mandela, when he came out of prison, didn't come out with hatred, you know. and really, beautified our nation through sport. we won the rugby world cup. in 1995. we won the african nations cup. soccer. and we won some as golfers. so forth. what i'm trying to say is this has been a long time coming. that's why we wanted to meet you, the administration, and see

our way forward. we still want to see our country flourish. we've got some great things going on. businesses getting involved with government. farming, farmers are getting involved in local municipalities, trying to rebuild some of the infrastructure that's been decaying for a long time. so there's a lot of coexistence going on and help from a lot of areas. we need -- i feel we need the u.s. to push this thing through. we have a great ally if we can have the u.s.. you have always been an ally of south africa for a very long time. even in the days of the war in angola, you guys helped us. very important for us to have your support. and you know, get the change we

need. pres. trump: boy, did you do that well. he might have done that even better than he plays golf, which is almost impossible. >> mr. president, as to why, you will see i am the biggest target. number one, for over 10 years. in fact, the first time i met him he was in the youth league with that gentleman and look how he's changed. we have too many deaths. it's across the board. it is not only white farmers, it's across the board. we need technological help. we need to start at every local

police station. we need drones. i actually got drones for the peace parks to stop elephant and rhino poaching. so if we can, if you can help us, remember, sir, you and i lived in new york in the 1970's. we never thought new york could be what it became. we need your help to stop this killing. it's across the board. i want this for my grandchildren. i often go to bed without locking the door, and we have a serious problem with illegal aliens.

who stream across the border. and if you really look at the statistics, a lot of these murders -- and illegal aliens. then i met the vice president vance many years ago. my wife loved it. she reminded me this morning that you emphasized the devastation that occurs when big companies leave towns and cities and there's a culture of dependency set up. that's our problem. if we don't get our economy to grow, the culture of dependency and the lawlessness will

continue. i'm the number one target. pres. trump: the crime is bad. >> the crime is terrible, sir. where i live, the biggest murder -- we've got gang warfare. like yours. we've got the equivalent. but we need your help, sir. and we need elon's technology. pres. ramaphosa: one of the real

areas is investment. we can go our economy because through growing the economy, we're then able to create more jobs, crime really thrives where there is inequality and unemployment. that's one of the reasons that brought us here to improve our trade relation, so we can preserve the number of jobs that your company created in south africa, by virtue of what we export to you we're able to create up to 500,000 jobs. in the agricultural industry and a number of other industries, mining, where we export things to you. we also know that south african companies invest here. it's a mutually beneficial relationship. our main, main real reason for being here is to foster trade and investment. so that we are able to grow our economy with your support, and we are also able to address all these societal problems, because

criminality thrives when people are unemployed, when there's no other hope to eke out a living. that's what we need to resolve. your support, your partnership with us, that's what is really going to give us a strong, strong capability. pres. trump: do you have anything to say? i don't want to leave you out. the guy won three or four majors. three or four? [laughter] >> only two. pres. trump: two is a lot. by the way, two is a lot. >> thank you, mr. president. president ramaphosa. i grew up in an area in south africa that had farmland. and there are some issues. my dad was a project developer

as well as a part-time farmer. and some of his farmers got killed. the farm is still going. my brothers run it. but it's a constant battle with -- they're trying to burn the farms down to chase you away. it's a concern to try and make a living as a farmer. and at the end, without farmers, there's no food on the plate. we need the farmers. pres. trump: they don't even want to do what you're doing. they love farm, don't want to leave. it's a struggle. >> yeah, and you know, food and fresh water is the most important thing in life. you know. without those two things, you can't have life. pres. trump: how is the water there? >> the water is great. all the water comes out of the ground. it is a battle to get the water out sometimes. all the equipment gets burned all the time. pres. trump: so your family will stay on the farm? >> they live behind electric fences, you know.

but it is constant, whenever you leave, that something could happen. both of them have been attacked in their houses. my mom has been attacked in her house when she was 80. it is difficult. and they live a great life, despite everything going on. [indistinct conversations] pres. ramaphosa: the president of the largest trade union in our country, she leads many, many workers, more than one million, 1.5 million, two million workers. maybe we should give her a chance to say something. she's come all the way to join us. thank you. >> i must say that we are here to support the initiatives made

by our government, of course. as organized labor, we've been coming to washington for trade relations in the previous regime. and i think, at the center of it all for me, it is exactly what cyril ramaphosa said. we are growing the economy. we emphasized when we are here negotiating, whether the 600 u.s. companies based in south africa, if they left, 500,000 jobs would be wiped out. we need more investment in our country. it is not just that we will lose employment, but over 40% of people that are unemployed, that have -- there's no hope of ever finding jobs. and we think that correctly as

you said, you have porous borders in our country, so everyone that comes in -- we also need to, i would love the minister to address the issue of how it works in south africa. recently, president, you have come here -- there was a handover of farms. white farmers were saved. we are donating the land, but also we didn't sell it for the south africa. there's no ex-appropriation without compensation but it is a -- that white farmer would even say that they, the government is even paying more in buying the land than what the land would cost.

i think though that the reality, we must see that we need to address, of course, but also the importance of agriculture leads to our goal. people rely on it for survival. there's also the issue of the concept -- for a number of reasons we are condoning it. but also if you go into the rural area, where the black majority are, you will see women, elderly, being raped. being killed. being murdered. these are black elderly women. that are raped multiple times and all of that. and the problem in south africa, it is not race. it is about crime.

how do we make both nations work together to really help us out in our investments but also help in how we can help with technology and everything to really address the crime that we have in the country. [indistinct conversations] reporter: i'm wondering if you have made up your mind as to whether you believe genocide is occurring in south africa, and if you have made up your mind, why invite president ramaphosa here today? pres. trump: i haven't made up my mind. i'm trying to save lives. i'm working with russia and ukraine, i don't have to do that. it's not our war. it was started by other people. it would have never happened if i were president, but i'm trying to save lives. no matter where. rwanda. i have nothing to do with rwanda

and the congo, but i felt i had a very talented person in this administration, and i sent him there, and he did an unbelievable job, i think. we're going to find out. but he's done the hardest part of the job. it should happen. if i can save lives, i want to save the lives. if it's in africa, that's great. if it's in europe. wherever it may be. it's a very small investment to do, believe me, compared to what the consequences are. so i hope we can do something. look, i have so many friends. these two men, i have great administration for them. i know what they do for a living. that's a very hard living, going from city to city, country to country, hitting a ball 350 yards like they do. [laughter] and getting the ball in the hole. it's a great talent. lots of people watching. right? it's a great talent. tough living. they're championing.

s. i respect champions. i respect very much and i think the country is very lucky they really wanted to be here. they could be elsewhere. they could be on a beautiful fairway someplace. they wanted to be here. >> [overlapping questions] >> -- in south africa, how important is it for the united states to be at the g20 summit in november, given the relationship between our two countries? you've just heard what has been said to you just now. are you coming and are you prepared to come? pres. trump: without the united states the g20, just like the g7, used on the g8, but they threw russia out. would have been a lot better for if russia was in. a lot of people would say,

russia was in, probably wouldn't have this war. if you had a different president, you wouldn't have the war, either. but we have a g7. it's important that the united states is in both of them. i think without the united states, i really believe it's not very important. it's not the same meeting. pres. ramaphosa: as i said to president trump, the u.s. originated the g20. and it's important that the united states continues to play a key role in the g20. and we are privileged to be the president of the g20, but we are overjoyed that we are going to hand over to the united states, where it originated. it is for that reason i expect the united states will continue to playing the leadership role in the g20 together with other countries, and i spoke to president trump on the phone. i want him to come to south africa for a state visit, and i want him to come and participate in the g20.

and i want to do the hand over to president trump to take the leadership of the g20 in november. pres. trump: thank you very much. thank you. thank you. you don't want to leave? pres. ramaphosa: they like you so much. [laughter] >> on monday, memorial day, president trump travels for a wreathlaying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier. watch on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. [shouting] >> in a nation divided, a rare moment of unity. this fall, c-span presents "cease fire," where the shouting stops and the conversation begins. in a town where partisan fighting prevails, one table, two leaders, one goal, to find common ground.

this fall, "cease fire," on the network that does not take sides, only on c-span. ♪ >> c-span, democracy unfiltered. we are funded by these companies and more, including sparklight. >> at sparklight, we know connection goes way beyond technology. from monday morning meetings to friday nights with friends and everything in between, but the best connections are always there, right when you need them. so how do you know it is great internet? because it works. we are sparklight, and we are always working for you. >> sparklight supports c-span as a public service, along with

the other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. ♪ >> immigration and customs and forces officials held a news conference criticizing a massachusetts federal judge's order blocking the trump administration's deportation of convicted criminals to south sudan and elsewhere. this runs about 10 minutes. ms. mclaughlin: i'm the assistant secretary for public affairs at the department of homeland security. i'm joined by acting i.c.e. director todd lyons and madd -- madison sheahan, the deputy director. thank you for joining us to address a military operation that was conducted yesterday by the u.s. government. we conducted a