I've met a handful of presidents, from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton to George Bush to Barack Obama.
Whenever I came up against presidents of other companies, I was always smarter, because I was from the streets.
I'm not in those top secret meetings, nor would it be appropriate - the president can't tell me what's hap - what's being said in a top secret meeting unless I have top secret clearance. I will eventually be in those meetings.
I met Gerald Ford. I met Richard Nixon. I met Jimmy Carter. I met Dwight Eisenhower when he was a general. George Bush senior. I haven't met Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, although I got a letter from him.
As for meetings, I think the President-elect [Donald Trump] should be given an opportunity to first form his administration and assume office. Meetings will come next.
Soviet foreign ministers would come in to see the president all the time, routinely. Jimmy Carter stopped that after the invasion of Afghanistan. Ronald Reagan resumed it in 1984, I think. And so the fact of a meeting like that I think is not that big a deal.
It was quite a sight to see Obama next to President Hu. Obama has a Nobel Peace Prize in his basement, and Hu has a Nobel Peace Prize winner in his.
I've had some wonderful times at the White House. I've been with Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush.
We've gotten to do so many great things throughout the years. We've gotten to meet presidents. We've been able to go to so many wonderful awards shows and meet so many great celebrities.
I've met Bill Clinton, Obama a couple of times... I certainly didn't meet George Bush, and wouldn't want to.
Meetings between Presidents, as you know, are supposed to be privileged. They're supposed to be confidential. They're supposed to allow the president and other leaders to have frank exchanges.
I spend a great deal of time with the President. We have a very close, personal, loyal relationship. I'm not, as they say, a potted plant in these meetings.
When I need to see the president, I make a request directly to his scheduler. I don't have to ask anybody's permission to see the president except the president. Some weeks, I see him multiple times. Some weeks, I don't see him at all.
