Article snippet: President Trump gave an update on the administration’s efforts on infrastructure on Tuesday at Trump Tower, and then held a combative question-and-answer session that touched on the violence in Charlottesville, Va., his view on removing Confederate statues, Stephen K. Bannon’s role in the White House and more. Following is a transcript of those remarks, as prepared by The New York Times. It has been lightly edited for clarity. Read more coverage » ___________ TRUMP: Great to be back in New York with all of our friends and some great friends outside the building, I must tell you. I want to thank all of our distinguished guests who are with us today, including members of our cabinet: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, O.M.B. Director Mick Mulvaney, and of course our transportation secretary, who’s doing a fabulous job, Elaine Chao. Thank you all for doing a really incredible and creative job on what we are going to be discussing today, which is infrastructure. We’ve just had a great set of briefings upstairs on our infrastructure agenda. My administration is working every day to deliver the world-class infrastructure that our people deserve, and that frankly our country deserves. That’s why I just signed a new executive order to dramatically reform the nation’s badly broken infrastructure permitting process. Just blocks away is the Empire State Building. It took 11 months to build the Empire State Building. But today it can take as long as a decade, and much more ... Link to the full article to read more