Former President Donald Trump was very critical of the inflationary trend under the Biden administration during an interview with FNC’s Jeanine Pirro.
During the interview that aired on Saturday evening, Trump said he could get average prices down significantly but predicted prices could head north of $10 a gallon.
Partial transcript as follows:
PIRRO: Now, the prices of beef are up 17.6%. The average American family is spending an extra $175.00 a month. Gas prices are up to $7.00 in California, $5.00 dollars in New York. We can’t afford — these people.
And Joe Biden, when he was asked about gas prices, what he’s going to do about it, he says, “I don’t see anything that’s going to reduce — significantly reduce gas prices in the near future.”
TRUMP: Incredible.
PIRRO: He doesn’t know.
TRUMP: No, he doesn’t have any idea. Look, one of the things I was most proud of, our country became energy independent. We didn’t need the Middle East. We didn’t need Russia. We didn’t need anybody. We had our own — we had more than them.
We were number one by far over Saudi Arabia and you know this, and Russia. Number one by far. I had the pipelines going, Keystone XL pipeline. Amazingly, I ended the Russian pipeline. I was not good to Russia. I got along well with Russia, I got along well with Putin, but they weren’t happy with Trump. I can tell you that.
But Biden opened up this big massive pipeline all over Europe, but he closed down the XL, and I have to say, because you heard it a thousand times. More importantly, we’re energy independent no longer. I was so proud of that.
First time really in history that, you know, they say 75 years, but I don’t believe we were ever energy independent.
PIRRO: It was big. It was big.
TRUMP: We were energy independent. We were doing so much — the prices, it was a dollar eighty-seven a gallon, okay, if you look at the numbers.
PIRRO: Crazy.
TRUMP: And now, yesterday, they had in a certain section of California $7.70. It’s always the lead. It’s going to follow and it’s going to go a lot higher than that and Biden sent people to go see Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other members of OPEC that we need help, because we don’t have enough.
Now when you talk about inflation, the biggest factor in my opinion is no energy. The trucks, the factories, everything, the deliveries, the planes, everything — it is so energy-based that the energy now is so expensive to get. We don’t have enough oil.
You know I filled up the Strategic Reserves for almost nothing. When oil hit bottom, we had — we were almost empty with the reserves and nobody thought of it. I said you know, this would be a great time to fill it up. We’ll buy it cheap.
I never got credit. I don’t think anybody has ever mentioned it, but I bought 75 million barrels, I believe it was. Seventy-five million barrels, which is a massive order. It was good for two things. The prices got so low that it was hurting our energy jobs, and we bought it cheap as hell and it’s — now, he wants to use that energy, that oil that I bought at a great price.
It should be used in cases of emergency. He wants to now drain it so that the prices come down.
PIRRO: But even he said, it’ll save us about 18 cents a gallon.
TRUMP: Oh it’s not 18 cents.
PIRRO: He doesn’t —
TRUMP: No, it would save — we could — I could get that down within six months. I’ll bet you I could get it down to $2.00 or $2.50. It’s going to be over $10.00.
PIRRO: Well, doesn’t he know how to do it?
TRUMP: Well, I don’t think he does, because his answer was weird. You can get it down a few cents. A few cents? No. You get it down many dollars.
PIRRO: How do you do that?
TRUMP: You have to let the oil companies go back to work. They ended leases, they ended ANWR because of Lisa Murkowski who has done a terrible job.
PIRRO: In Alaska.
TRUMP: She is not a Republican. She says she’s a Republican — in Alaska.
Ronald Reagan tried to get it. Bush has tried. Everybody tried to get it. I got it done. It was all done.
Maybe it’s bigger than Saudi Arabia, okay, maybe. They’ve tried for many, many decades to get it done. I got it done. This would have added to our supply. We’re already the biggest in the world by far.
PIRRO: I’ll say.
TRUMP: Now, we’re not the biggest in the world anymore. We’ve ended all the leases on government lands that frankly were pumping out for years and not hurting it, done in an environmental way.
And if you look at natural gas, natural gas is very clean. We’ve got windmills destroying our landscapes, killing all the birds.
PIRRO: And not necessarily effective.
TRUMP: The energy is so expensive. And you know where the turbines are made? Every one of them —
PIRRO: China.
TRUMP: Germany and China.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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