Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told US President Donald Trump during their heated January phone call America did not have to accept any of the refugees held on Nauru or Manus Island.
It shows how Mr Turnbull corralled Mr Trump into publicly endorsing the deal to consider accepting 1250 refugees, but also offered a way for the president not to accept a single person.
"You can decide to take them or to not take them after vetting," Mr Turnbull told Mr Trump, according to the transcript.
"You can decide to take 1000 or 100. It is entirely up to you.
"The obligation is to only go through the process."
Mr Turnbull also said: "I say this to you sincerely that it is in the mutual interest of the United States to say, 'Yes, we can conform with that deal - we are not obliged to take anybody we do not want, we will go through extreme vetting' and that way you are seen to show the respect that a trusted ally wants and deserves."
In another exchange Mr Trump asked Mr Turnbull: "Suppose I vet them closely and I do not take any?"
Mr Turnbull responded: "That is the point I have been trying to make."
Mr Trump: "How does that help you?"
Mr Turnbull: "Well, we assume that we will act in good faith."
Mr Trump was not happy, but eventually conceded he will accept the deal originally agreed upon last year between Mr Turnbull and then US president Barack Obama.
"Malcolm, why is this so important?" Mr Trump asked.
"I do not understand.
"This is going to kill me.
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"I am the world's greatest person that does not want to let people into the country.
"And now I am agreeing to take 2000 people and I agree I can vet them, but that puts me in a bad position."
Mr Turnbull responded: "With great respect, that is not right - It is not 2000."
Mr Trump replied: "Well, it is close. I have also heard like 5000 as well."
Mr Turnbull: "The given number in the agreement is 1250 and it is entirely a matter of your vetting."
Mr Trump told Mr Turnbull the agreement was "a horrible deal, a disgusting deal", would make him look like a "dope", "a weak and ineffective leader", and he feared the refugees would turn into terrorists who would pull off San Bernardino or World Trade Center-style terror attacks in the US.
Mr Turnbull: "Thank you for your commitment. It is very important to us."
Mr Trump fired back: "It is important to you and it is embarrassing to me. It is an embarrassment to me, but at least I got you off the hook. So you put me back on the hook."
Mr Turnbull: "You can count on me. I will be there again and again."
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Turnbull also said: "There is nothing more important in business or politics than a deal is a deal," "You can certainly say that it was not a deal that you would have done, but you are going to stick with it."
"I have had it," Trump finally said after more back and forth on the issue. "I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day."
"Putin was a pleasant call," Trump said, referring to his conversation with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin. "This is ridiculous."
Trump's conversation with Mexico's Pena Nieto
Trump pressed Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to stop saying publicly that Mexico would not pay for his promised border wall, according to a transcript of their January conversation obtained by The Washington Post.
"You cannot say that to the press," Trump told Pena Nieto according to the transcript of the January 27 call published by the Post on Thursday.
"I have to have Mexico pay for the wall -- I have to," Trump said. "I have been talking about it for a two-year period."
The US president acknowledged the domestic political difficulties of the issue for Pena Nieto and said a "formula" could be worked out for funding the wall along the southern US border with Mexico.
"We should both say, 'We will work it out.' It will work out in the formula somehow," Trump said. "As opposed to you saying, 'We will not pay,' and me saying, 'We will not pay.'"
"(But) if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that," Trump said.
Pena Nieto pushed back saying the issue was "related to the dignity of Mexico and goes to the national pride of my country.
"My position has been and will continue to be very firm, saying that Mexico cannot pay for the wall," he said.
But the Mexican president agreed to "stop talking about the wall" and "look for a creative way to solve this issue."
