--- title: Donald Trump: 'New Hampshire is a Drug-Infested Den' description: In a call with the Mexican President in January, President Trump said he won support in New Hampshire because it's "a drug-infested den." canonical: https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-03T15:21:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:05:07.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Called New Hampshire a 'Drug-Infested Den' og:description: "I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den" og:url: https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5c4f8a8f18f9af1/6988d84f196cf4defe0414ec/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5417 og:image:height: 3047 og:image:alt: Trump Announces Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Called New Hampshire a 'Drug-Infested Den' twitter:description: "I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5c4f8a8f18f9af1/6988d84f196cf4defe0414ec/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Called New Hampshire a 'Drug-Infested Den' in Call With Mexican President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a7ff3440-041a-44f4-bad2-6c608823038b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Donald Trump Always Says He's Joking [Watch (HLS stream): Why Donald Trump Always Says He's Joking](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yQmxnCOX.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2017-08-03. Donald Trump and His Frequent Joking_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:05 AM UTCPublished: Aug 3, 2017 3:21 PM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:05 AM UTCPublished: Aug 3, 2017 3:21 PM UTC In a [phone call with Mexican President Peña Nieto](http://time.com/4885584/donald-trump-mexico-wall-transcript-call/?xid=homepage) in January, President Donald Trump said he won support in New Hampshire “because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den,” a reference to the state’s [opioid crisis](http://time.com/4882027/opioid-crisis-commission-trump-national-emergency/). A transcript of Trump’s Jan. 27 phone call — during which he faulted Mexico for the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. — was obtained and [published by the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/australia-mexico-transcripts/?utm%5Fterm=.0e13cfc6c7f0) on Thursday. “They are sending drugs to Chicago, Los Angeles, and to New York. Up in New Hampshire — I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den — is coming from the southern border,” Trump told Peña Nieto. Trump — who [won the Republican primary](http://time.com/4213889/new-hampshire-primary-results-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/) in New Hampshire but [lost the state to Hillary Clinton](https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-hampshire) in the general election — [campaigned in New Hampshire](http://www.politico.com/states/massachusetts/story/2016/10/beyond-the-wall-trump-offers-no-specifics-on-plan-to-stop-drugs-from-pouring-in-to-our-country-106853) on a promise to solve the opioid addiction epidemic. “We are becoming a drug-addicted nation and most the drugs are coming from Mexico or certainly from the southern border,” Trump told Peña Nieto in the call. “We have a massive drug problem where kids are becoming addicted to drugs because drugs are being sold for less money than candy because there is so much of it.” The New Hampshire comment drew ire from Democratic leaders as well as the state’s Republican governor on Thursday. “The President is wrong. It’s disappointing his mischaracterization of this epidemic ignores the great things this state has to offer,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement. “Our administration inherited one of the worst health crises this state has ever experienced, but we are facing this challenge head on.” Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan called the remarks “disgusting.” “Instead of insulting people in the throes of addiction, @POTUS needs to work across party lines to actually stem the tide of this crisis,” she [said on Twitter](https://twitter.com/SenatorHassan/status/893104019597647872). “It’s absolutely unacceptable for the President to be talking about NH in this way – a gross misrepresentation of NH & the epidemic,” New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, said in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/SenatorShaheen/status/893112086561214464), calling for Trump to apologize. ## Transcript ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He's the founder of ISIS. Donald Trump tells jokes, at least he says he does. Some of the things the President calls jokes don't sound that way to his critics, and its not always clear he meant them as jokes when he said them. So Obama's talking about all od this with the global warming and the that, a lot of it is a hoax. It's a hoax. I mean, it's a money making industry, okay? Where I can stand in the middle of the 5ft avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? It's like . >> It's a defense he often used during the 2016 campaign when he was in hot water for something he said. Border. Well you don't think I was joking, you know I was joking. Of course I was joking, and the whole room was laughing, and I was laughing when I said it. Since Trump moved into the White House, his staff has also used it to deflect attention from some of his more controversial statements. Was the President joking when he said this, or did he check his remarks out with The International Association of Police Chiefs or maybe the Attorney General? I believe he was making a joke at the time. Trey? You know, the way you put the hand like don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody, don't hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay? Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30, 000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by the press. How can you accuse President Obama of obstructing when he was egging Russia on? He was joking at the time. We all know, and- He was joking? And- He said that as a candidate and he was pressed during that press conference over and over again. Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30, 000 Emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. In fact, the Trump administration has used the excuse so frequently that they've even had to clarify when the President wasn't joking. Can you say affirmatively that whenever the President says something, we can trust it to be real? If he's not joking, of course. I mean, but in that case, hold on, but no, no. You're asking, hold on. Okay, no, no, but your point is if he's. I mean, he, every time that he speaks authoritatively, that he speaks, he's speaking as the President of the United States . >> More than 3 million Americans voted illegally . >> Yes, and he still believes that . >> Was he joking or does he believe that ? >> He does believe it. For Trump claiming he was only joking is a great way to get out of trouble, while also painting his critics out of touch. But the down side is, it makes it hard for listeners to tell when he's being serious., So I said, the founder of ISIS, obviously I'm being sarcastic, then but not that sarcastic to be honest with you. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Called New Hampshire a 'Drug-Infested Den' in Call With Mexican President","datePublished":"2017-08-03T15:21:06.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T05:05:07.000Z","description":"\"I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den\"","url":"https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","new hampshire","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5c4f8a8f18f9af1/6988d84f196cf4defe0414ec/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5c4f8a8f18f9af1/6988d84f196cf4defe0414ec/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump Announces Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act","caption":"Trump Announces Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act","creditText":"Zach Gibson—Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/","name":"Donald Trump Called New Hampshire a 'Drug-Infested Den' in Call With Mexican President"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Donald Trump Always Says He's Joking","description":"Donald Trump and His Frequent Joking","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yQmxnCOX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-03T18:34:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yQmxnCOX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/","duration":"PT2M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4885759/donald-trump-new-hampshire-drug-transcript/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```