Subject: Video Request: Trump Daily Mail Interview
From: "Sarge, Matthew" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 09:57:15 -0700

Additional video clips from interview: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3571665/Trump-says-ll-droning-terrorists-hold-press-conferences-tell-jokes-roast-rivals-spice-boring-GOP-convention-promises-not-tear-Michelle-Obama-s-garden-practice-golf-swing.html

Donald Trump will personally brief reporters at the White House once or twice a month in the White House, he said Monday during a wide-ranging interview, painting his hoped-for presidency as a chance to be a 'cheerleader' for the United States on the world's biggest stage.

The billionaire also said he would be a solid joke-teller at the White House Correspondents Association's annual dinner, a forum that has cast him as a comedic target in recent years.

Trump told DailyMail.com that he wants to spice up the Republican National Convention with some of the television production values that helped rocket his 'Apprentice' franchise to the top of the ratings.

He pledged to continue the Obama administration's policy of using unmanned military drones to eliminate terror leaders overseas.

And he promised not to tear up first lady Michelle Obama's vegetable garden for a place to practice his golf skills in between Oval office meetings.

'I won't be building a chipping green,' Trump said.

The Republican presidential front-runner, sat down with DailyMail.com in Indianapolis as he geared up for a final day of campaigning before Tuesday's all-important Indiana primary election.

He said he was reluctant to talk about military strategy, citing a need to remain 'unpredictable,' but agreed that using drone warfare to clear the ISIS terror army from the Middle East is a tactic he would continue as president.

'I have to do what's right. I will do what's right. As far as drones are concerned, yes. To take out terrorists,' he said.

'But the only thing is, I want them to get it right. But to take out terrorists, yes, I would think that that is something I would continue to do.'

'As far as beyond that, I don't want to talk about it,' Trump cautioned, 'because I do want to be unpredictable in a sense. I don't want the enemy to know exactly where I'm coming from.'

Asked if he would commit to holding press conferences 'once or twice a month,' he said 'I think it's something that I would do,' describing Q-and-A sessions with reporters as a way to 'cheerlead' for the nation.

'You know, our country needs a cheerleader. President Obama has not been a cheerleader,' he said.

Obama famously finished his first term in office with fewer press conferences under his belt than any president since Ronald Reagan.

'When it's appropriate, I would certainly be - I would certainly hold press conferences,' he said, noting his own unusual habit of taking questions from the media following most of his primary election victories.

'I would be inclined because I want the country to know what's going on. There'll be times when I think getting the word out is a very positive thing,' Trump said.

That, he said, would include showing up at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinners, something President Barack Obama has done consistently in order to throw some comic shade at his opponents.

Trump would use a joke writer, he agreed.

'I think I'd be good at it. I think I'd do a good job. I would,' Trump said, chewing it over.

'I tell jokes. I would only tell a clean joke, of course.'

Asked for an on-camera sample, Trump declined, chuckling: 'No, no, I won't tell you one now.'

He chose not to attend The April 30 dinner in Washington this year, watching instead from home as Obama and TV comic Larry Wilmore roasted him.

He explained later that he didn't trust reporters to cast him as someone who can laugh at himself.

But being on stage dishing out the insults, DailyMail.com reminded the real estate tycoon, is different from painting on a good-natured grin and enduring a lengthy ribbing.

'Yeah,' he replied. 'Well, I've been on stage.'

Trump has leaned heavily on stagecraft to orchestrate his transition from reality television businessman to politician.

He said Monday that the Republican National Convention must become more like 'The Apprentice' if it's going to keep up with him.

'I thought the Republican convention last time, which was one of the least-watched conventions in the history of conventions, was very boring,' he said of the 2012 event held in Tampa, Florida.

'It was - there was no excitement. It was visually poor.'

'It was also in Hurricane Alley! I mean, you know they had some very bad storms. It was a rough time,' he recalled.

'I think we're going to really have something that's going to be visually good,' he predicted. 'And most important, we're going to give the right message.'

Trump complained that the GOP leadership decided against using an 'Apprentice' spoof video it spent heavily to produce for the 2012 convention - a clip that featured him 'firing' Barack Obama.

'I did something that would have been exciting if they had put it on. But they decided not to,' he complained.

'I was, as you know, a big star of "The Apprentice," and I did a "You're fired" to a lookalike, an Obama lookalike. And they thought it was a little bit controversial. I thought it was great.

'The person who did it was a top filmmaker, and he thought it was phenomenal. And they spent a lot of money making this. The whole thing was ridiculous.'