Bessent leads White House briefing after Trump accounts go live

[0:00] Senate and House hearings next week so I don't want anyone yelling reclaim my time so let's start [0:08] out with Trump accounts. Trump accounts I believe are the most important benefit for young people [0:13] since the GI Bill. Today the app is now available on all major platforms bringing the president's [0:19] vision directly to American homes. Nearly 6 million American children have been signed up for Trump [0:26] accounts which will launch on July 4th and I would encourage all of you to go to trumpaccount.gov [0:32] to sign up. We had a historic tax filing season. We passed the largest tax cuts in American history. [0:39] The average refund this filing season is nearly $3,300 and 11 percent increase from last year [0:45] and importantly very importantly 62 million returns 44 percent claimed at least one of the president's [0:53] signature tax cuts. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, the reduced taxes on social security [1:02] benefits 85 percent of our seniors paid no taxes and the auto deductibility on loans for American cars. [1:11] And to remind everyone Democrats every Democrat voted against those programs. We've had sustained and [1:19] resilient GDP growth. Real GDP has risen 2.6 percent over the past four quarters. Atlanta Feds GDP now predicts [1:27] 3.8 percent for this quarter, second quarter. The U.S. energy dominance. Part of our resilience stems from our [1:38] energy dominance. Natural gas is down as my belief and the futures market is showing us oil will be lower than [1:45] pre-conflict levels. We are more resilient to energy price fluctuations due to President Trump's energy [1:51] dominance and deregulatory agenda. The United States is now the world's largest energy exporter. The United [1:57] States has never exported so much energy or produced so much energy. Main Street prosperity. The average 401k is [2:05] up almost $30,000. Since President Trump's inauguration, President Trump RX has already saved Americans over [2:12] $600 million. I'm sure all of you will want to report on that. And the unemployment rate remains [2:18] low at 4.3 percent. So with that, I'm happy to ask some questions. I will mention that three weeks ago, [2:27] I got an honorary degree from the University of South Carolina. So if you really want to get a question, [2:31] you can call me Dr. Besson, so. The Press-. Dr. Besson, I want to stop accounts. You know, [2:44] there's a lot of people, a lot of working-class Americans that maybe don't have the financial [2:48] expertise when it comes to stock markets and investing in general. In what ways do you, [2:53] are you guys simplifying this for all those Americans so that it's not just for one class of [2:58] people, but all Americans can have it? Well, that's a great question because [3:02] 38 percent of Americans have no exposure to equities. They don't share in the great innovation, [3:09] the machine that is the American economy or great capital markets drives our prosperity. So [3:19] if your child is born during President Trump's administration, Treasury puts in $1,000 as a seed [3:26] investment. We've also created six learning pods. So you can go online to the app that went up today [3:34] and learn. And I think that this is going to be, I've been a big proponent of financial literacy, [3:40] and I think this is going to be one of the greatest real-time financial literacy educations in history [3:46] because it won't be, oh, there's a street in New York called Wall Street. This is what I don't really [3:53] understand what happens there. An American family is going to be able to look on their phone [3:57] every day and see. And, you know, I think it's going to drive people to try to understand what [4:03] they've got here. I think we're going to create a generation of shareholders. So, Ed? [4:09] Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I guess first, well, we're starting to see this disruption of the oil [4:15] supply and food straightforward moves affect economic data. You know, first, is there a deal on the [4:21] table for a 60-day ceasefire to continue that? And then, second, how fast could inflation then [4:28] recede or retreat? Or is inflation sticky because the PCE was at a three-year high? [4:33] Mr. Well, first of all, the PCE today, month-over-month, was 0.2, [4:38] which was, you know, we're looking at decimal points, but the estimate was 0.3. [4:43] So one month doesn't a trend make. And what we've seen is actually oil prices are down about 10% [4:50] in May. There are almost 2,000 ships waiting to come out of the Gulf. And I think the oil market is [4:56] going to be very well supplied on the other side of this, and that we could see prices come down [5:01] very quickly. We saw the UAE leave OPEC. So I would expect on the other side of this that gasoline [5:09] prices will follow. Is there an agreement with Iran on the table? [5:15] Mr. The teams have been going back and forth, and President Trump has made it very clear, [5:21] he talked about it at the Cabinet meeting, that he has several red lines. And Iran has to turn over [5:29] their highly enriched uranium. They cannot pursue a nuclear weapon. And the Strait of Vermouth, back to [5:35] your question on energy, has to free transit, navigation of the seas, has to be free and open [5:41] as it was before. So he's not going to take a bad deal, he's going to make a great deal for the [5:46] American people. [5:47] So, Peter. [5:50] Thank you, Dr. Besson. [5:52] Mr. Yep. [5:53] How long until we see your signature next to President Trump's face on a $250 bill? [6:02] Mr. Well, again, as Treasury Secretary, I have two mandates for U.S. currency. [6:09] At present, no living person can be on U.S. currency, and the currency must stay in God we trust. [6:17] So right now there is proposed legislation in front of the House, in front of the Senate, [6:22] to change the first requirement so that a living person, Donald J. Trump, could be on the $250 bill. [6:29] So it's all in the hands of the — it's all up on Capitol Hill. [6:36] So at Treasury, we prepare things in advance. So we have prepared in advance that if the [6:44] legislation is passed, but we will stick to the law. [6:47] Mr. And something that came up yesterday, [6:51] also at the Cabinet meeting, President Trump said, [6:53] Oman will behave just like everybody else, for we will have to blow them up. [6:58] Are you guys back there in the West Wing making plans for a new war with Oman? [7:02] Mr. Again, I think the President wanted to [7:06] punctuate freedom of navigation in the strait. I had a call with the Omani ambassador this morning, [7:12] and he assured me that there were no plans for tolling the strait. As he said, [7:18] our countries have had 200 years of good relations. He wants to have another 200 more. And I told him [7:24] that this was a non-starter, and he did not want to risk either the Omani individuals or Omani [7:32] financial institutions via getting sanctioned. [7:34] The Press, Mr. Secretary, is it in the U.S. interest to waive some sanctions on Iran or to [7:43] unfreeze some of their assets before Iran has made concrete promises about getting rid of their nuclear [7:51] program? Mr. Again, I'm not going to preview the deal, but I would think that things would go [7:57] very slowly in terms of that. So we'll see. [8:02] The Press, just to follow up on that, because it's our understanding that the U.S. has committed to [8:08] discussing the matter of sanctions relief during this negotiation period. So just to be clear, [8:12] is sanctions relief for Iran on the table? Again, it is a multifaceted agreement and [8:21] nothing is going to be on the table until we see the Strait of Ramones open and the Iranians agree [8:28] that they have to turn over the highly enriched uranium and that they can't have a nuclear program. [8:37] And to be clear here, that this administration, President Trump, has done something that no other [8:42] administration is able to do. We have gotten the Iranians to talk about their nuclear program [8:47] and to perhaps commit to not having one. That has never happened before. It had been off the table. [8:54] So I think when you look at the results of the kinetic action of our economic pressure, [8:58] it has worked to bring them to the table and have a discussion on this. [9:03] Mr. Secretary, I just want to follow up. You said that the teams have been going back and forth, [9:09] but can you confirm whether or not a tentative agreement has been reached in these negotiations [9:14] with Iran? [9:14] Mr. Again, everything depends on what the President wants to do. And President Trump is not going to [9:21] make a bad deal for the American people, for the U.S. And he was very clear at the Cabinet meeting [9:28] on the yesterday what he wants. [9:35] Secretary, thank you. [9:36] Secretary, Secretary, Secretary of State. [9:37] Secretary of State, Kara from Lindell TV. I'm sorry, did I still have his question because I'm on that person? [9:40] Secretary of State, no, it's you. [9:41] Secretary of State, okay, thank you so much. Thank you for taking my question, [9:44] Kara from Lindell TV. I really want to get your thoughts on digital currency. A lot of our viewers [9:49] are increasingly worried that digital currency could one day be used to track people's spending [9:54] or limit personal freedom what's your philosophy on that and what it safeguards is the treasury [9:59] and its administration putting in place to make sure new digital payment systems protect americans [10:04] privacy and freedoms in the future well so this administration has been very clear there will [10:09] be no central bank digital currency which i think the is would be the first step toward tracking so [10:16] we have taken that off the table we passed stable coin legislation with bipartisan and the clarity [10:21] act is now up on the hill i think it has bipartisan support and the most important thing we can do [10:28] is to make digital assets come into the united states make the u.s the home our regulation our [10:37] best practices or what will ensure good standards for these when you look at digital assets all the [10:43] nonsense that happens all the things you read about that's because it's the wild wild west offshore so [10:48] we got to bring it on shore so i would encourage the house and the senate to get clarity done [11:01] people talking about the irs settlement and which has been rolled over now into this weaponization fund [11:09] over at doj wanted to get your comment on the decision process as much you can tell how that [11:15] settlement came to be how it was rolled over to doj and then the process for how for those funds now [11:22] as it's played out good so thank you thank you for the question this is going to be the only question [11:27] i'll take on this matter today so there's ongoing litigation so it'd be inappropriate for me to [11:32] comment president trump is a great american who has endured more than 10 years 10 years of nonstop [11:39] harassment and weaponization from the federal and state government actors a bad actor at the irs leaked [11:47] more than 400 000 tax returns including the trump family all the employees and that's how we got here [11:54] now no american should be targeted for political reasons and every citizen deserves fair treatment [12:00] full protection of the law the department of justice represented treasury and the irs in this [12:05] matter and i'm going to have to refer any questions to acting attorney general todd blanch so [12:15] thanks so president trump has said that we can expect interest rates to come down very quickly a [12:20] number of times since that last week but the market at the moment does probably does not expect any rate [12:26] cuts this year you know jp morgan said this morgan stanley and so on so who is right the president or the [12:33] market the well i i think again i i believe that we will get get through the that this challenging [12:42] period now they are on higher prices on the other side of this i've said publicly that i think we'll be [12:48] back to substantial disinflation but most importantly i think we've got the wars fed now it's a new day at [12:56] the fed the treasury secretary and the fed chair have lunch or breakfast every week i had my first breakfast [13:03] with chair wharf this morning and i believe that he will do the right thing to balance inflation and growth [13:14] thank you secretary messin uh i hope you were calling on me yes so i i'd like to ask you if you [13:21] provide a little more detail on what you're doing to shut down iran's airlines and also on sanctions [13:26] relief uh senior administration official brief reporters over the weekend that sanctions relief will [13:32] be commensurate with nuclear concessions but at some point if the enriched uranium is given up [13:37] should we expect pallets of cash to be flown to iran can you describe how that looks well a couple of [13:43] things on the airlines one thing that we're not going to do is restrict movement for religious reasons [13:50] so iranians who want to make the pilgrimage the uh to mecca or medina will be allowed we will also [13:57] allow uh valid uh valid humanitarian reasons but the the other thing we can do is that when these [14:03] airlines fly they have to be refueled they sell tickets they pay landing fees anyone who accepts [14:08] those we will sanction so they should be very clear that the state-owned iranian airlines they are outlaws [14:16] and cannot do this secretary you're the white house briefer today i know you've been asked this [14:26] already but i'm wondering if you can just confirm on the record that there is a tentative deal that [14:31] has been agreed for a 60-day extension of the ceasefire and then a continuation of nuclear talks [14:37] again it's always a mistake to get out ahead of the president so it is all going to be the president's [14:43] decision i think that we we can see that the president very clearly stated out stated his [14:51] three the open the street highly enriched uranium no nuclear program so those things part of the [15:02] the temporary deal right now sir are those three aspects that you just outlined part of the temporary [15:08] deal that has been agreed that if there can be no deal without those why would there be a deal without [15:14] those mr secretary thanks so much uh for taking the time uh president trump at the cabinet meeting [15:21] said he thought that reducing fraud would help to balance the budget you put out the the goal of [15:27] getting uh the deficit to three percent of these people what's your timeline for achieving that and how [15:33] do you think the what can you say to make the markets given where rates are like kind of process [15:38] kind of what your plan and agenda is well the the gao numbers not my numbers believe that there's about [15:44] 500 billion a year of fraud so uh could we very quickly get 250 billion billion of that the budget [15:52] deficit is approximately 1.8 trillion so that would reduce the the deficit substantially if we could get [16:00] that 500 billion number you know i think it would engender confidence you'd probably also go into a [16:06] virtue virtuous cycle as the budget deficit narrowed interest rates would go down no one reports it but [16:14] last year we actually had a fiscal contraction just to remind everyone we inherited the worst budget [16:21] deficit in history in history when we were not in a recession or not at war 6.7 percent we brought [16:29] that down to about 5.5 or 5.4 percent this year i think we'd stay on a good trajectory [16:34] uh thank you mr secretary uh without an executive order does the u.s government have adequate defenses [16:43] in place to address the risk created by anthropics new ai models we have great collaboration between [16:51] all all of the labs that have the large language models but between the u.s government the and the labs [16:57] uh thank you mr secretary thank you mr secretary appreciate it um first did you speak with the [17:07] president uh before this briefing did he show any willingness to this 60-day uh ceasefire i i haven't [17:13] seen the president today i just want to follow up when can americans the average american and can [17:19] the u.s economy work for the average american without a deal with a rod again i i believe we've already seen [17:27] oil prices come down uh substantially we are pumping more oil than we've ever seen before and i as i [17:37] said these are short-term challenges that we will get over and i think we'll move forward [17:44] in the light secretary just to follow up no no in the light oh thank you mr secretary appreciate it [17:49] given how much this upcoming midterm election will hinge on the economy what did you think about [17:55] president trump's comments in the cabinet meeting yesterday saying he didn't care about the midterms [18:02] so you're calling president trump a statesman you're saying that he is taking a statesman-like [18:07] position that he has a a a core belief and he he believes that the most important thing is for iran [18:16] never to have a nuclear weapon so i i believe uh both things can be true that we can do well in the [18:24] midterms that we perhaps have the makings of a deal here and i believe that and look the economy that [18:34] it is challenging now but unemployment is still low tax refunds were high and consumer spending is still [18:45] quite high so in in my private business over the years i always looked at what were consumers doing [18:51] not what they were saying and i'm in constant contact with the banks and every income quintile [18:58] is still doing well [19:03] thank you mr secretary on the 250 bill mr secretary uh you said the legalities of it are up on capital [19:10] bill but i just wonder what your opinion is personal you think it's a good idea for the [19:15] president to put his face on america again the president doesn't do it the house and the senate have to do [19:20] it [19:27] yeah secretary bessa what are the remaining assurances that president trump needs to see [19:32] in order for him to sign off on the agreement with iraq i i i i don't think it could be clear [19:43] you're um you're following in the footsteps uh the podium there of um secretary rubio and vice [19:48] president vax there's been quite a lot of talk about their president possible presidential ambitions [19:53] uh does your presence here today indicate that we might see you running in 2020 [19:56] no i i think it just means they've run out of things on the food chain [20:03] there has been some back and forth over the last several days and also with the u.s attacking iranian [20:08] drones yesterday this morning centcom put out a statement that iran that launches ballistic [20:13] missile towards kuwait calling it an egregious ceasefire violation how can the administration [20:19] still argue that a ceasefire is in effect again with the iranian with the iranian government we did [20:26] not have regime change but we changed the regime as president trump said at the cabinet meeting as we've [20:32] said other times the first layer of leadership the was eliminated the second layer and we're now at [20:39] the third layer and you know the way to think about it is the iranian government such as it is the is [20:46] three pillars it is the elected government it is the irgc and it is the clerics and they are having [20:53] trouble communicating so we are being patient we do not have unlimited patience president trump always [21:01] prefers a peace deal so everything we have done thus far has been defensive and at present that is what we [21:09] will continue doing but if president trump doesn't think he can get a peace deal then kinetic is back [21:19] thank you mr secretary uh are you hopeful that the oil prices will go down once this company is [21:25] over given the fact that the straitables remain closed and uh by the time this oil gets to the [21:30] mayor markets could be two or three months again the uh you know we we see that the market i believe is [21:38] very well supplied right now the market seems to be going into balance there for itself so you know i [21:44] think that as the strait opens up we're going to see this burst of ships come out so we may actually see [21:51] how quickly can it be refined how quickly can it get to get to its destination [21:58] thank you so much from the daily mail you wrote resilience on your cabinet note meetings several times [22:04] the photographers zoomed into it are you trying to keep the president calm are you trying to keep [22:08] yourself calm why did you write all those notes so people could look over my shoulder photograph them [22:19] is the united states considering a reconstruction program for iran if a deal is signed uh again i i think [22:26] we we got to get to the deal before we get to the other side before we get to the you in the pink [22:35] no in the pink thank you mr secretary uh how effective do you believe the current treasury [22:43] restrictions have been in pressuring the cuban government and also if you're in the room when [22:49] those talks are being held are there any plans to either tighten the sanctions or to ease the sanctions [22:56] against the cuban government to get some type of change again that's going to be up to that's going [23:01] to be up to the cuban government that they can go up they can go down that we've tried to get [23:06] humanitarian aid in and the regime that rejected it so because they they wanted to go through their [23:14] corrupt system so i um they could go up they could go down it's carrot carrot and stick secretary rubio [23:22] doing a fantastic job of managing this process and we we at treasury are working with him [23:30] in the red reagan race with the daily caller i want to ask you about antifa uh in october the [23:36] treasury department started working with the fbi to investigate who's funding antifa can you give us [23:42] an update on that investigation how close are you guys finding out who's funding it it is ongoing we've [23:48] made substantial progress and i think in the weeks and months ahead we're going to have a lot to report [23:54] one thing that did go the underreported that i would point out to all of you is the irs is now giving [24:01] guidance on the form 990 which non-profits they have to file and we are going to encourage our demand [24:11] that non-profits know their grant recipients so if a grant recipient is violent the if they are [24:21] suppressing people's rights then you are responsible for that and i think that's a very good first step [24:31] thank you there's new government data that shows that americans are now saving a smaller share of [24:35] their incomes than at any time over the past four years are you seeing signs that american households [24:41] are dipping into their savings to pay for the higher costs of things like gas and groceries [24:46] and does data like that concern you right now well so a little academic literature would tell you lower [24:51] savings rate can mean one of two things uh the kind of the the doomer view that you took or that people [24:58] have more confidence or it could be something else because you know for instance stock market gains or [25:05] 401k gains might not show up in savings so they're looking at that think that they can [25:11] draw down their household savings [25:17] you're obviously concerned about the risks posed by advanced ai models like mythos to critical [25:22] infrastructure the financial sector is concerned as well what types of what types of changes are [25:28] being considered to the ai executive order so it can pass and do you believe that an ai executive order [25:34] needs to include the pre-public access for government again we're working very closely [25:41] with the large language labs they've been excellent partners and we are going to get a solution that [25:49] solves for the maximum calculus what we want to do the u.s is the ai leader in the world we're an ai [25:56] superpower china is second they are trailing substantially we want to make sure that we keep that lead so we are [26:02] working on the exact calculus between innovation and safety and we want to optimize for that [26:13] you in the glasses [26:19] no no you don't have glasses on you're in the glasses thank you for taking my question um there was a [26:25] report this morning that uh justice alito's son is working in your department can you confirm that [26:31] that's the case and if so do you believe that that means that he should be uh that the justice [26:36] should recuse himself from cases that involve your department i i am sure that mr alito follows all [26:42] legal and ethical guidelines and i can assure you that at treasury we follow all the legal and ethical [26:47] guidelines thank you mr secretary i have two questions for you but just to follow what you said about [26:53] well you didn't call me doctor so i only got one well um i'll shoot for two uh you said that it's up to [27:00] congress the president's face is on a 250 bill but it is actually the washington post that's reporting [27:05] two political appointees from the treasury department who have asked agencies to be ready to to do that [27:10] do you think politically it's a good idea to put his face on a 250 bill when people are struggling to [27:15] again you know i don't really understand this washington post article that who hears from the post [27:22] yep terribly written terribly edited because basically what it says is that treasury is following [27:28] the law and that we've created the bill and that it's up to congress but that we follow the bill and [27:34] it's up to i didn't really understand what the story was anyway aren't involved in that two of your [27:40] political appointees yeah of course but we we prepare for everything if it gets passed just like we we were [27:46] ready six months in advance for the one big beautiful bill for tax guidance that so we have to [27:51] prepare and advance you you can't draw something up the day before politically do you think it's a [27:56] good idea though when people are struggling to afford gas and groceries look i think it has i think that [28:01] it's bifurcated that do you think we should have a 250th anniversary the uh celebration well that's [28:09] happening anyway but no no no no no no no no no no no no but caitlin it's not happening anyway it's [28:14] happening because it's being funded the uh by private citizens by the federal government by state [28:19] governments by municipal governments to celebrate our country and i i don't think that the uh there's [28:25] anything untoward about having the president united states that the person who was president united [28:30] states on the 250th anniversary bill [28:32] i will not be taking any other questions i mean i will not be taking any other questions [28:55] so given the scale of the assault from russia on kiev in recent days and the fact that diplomacy seems [29:04] to have settled down there is no diplomatic talks happening right now between russia ukraine or the [29:09] u.s what about sanctions is the u.s considering sanctions on russia at this time well the the u.s this [29:17] administration has put the hardest sanctions on russia of any country so so let's let's review let's review what [29:26] how the sanctions regime has gone since the russian action the uh on ukraine uh biden administration put [29:35] on very the what i would call mild mild sanctions because they were worried about gasoline prices going [29:42] up into an election it would be the uh an unstatesman like sanctions the probably the worst national [29:48] security advisor in the history of the country jake sullivan in an act of bravery on his way out the door [29:54] in january they raised the sanction level the on behalf of the trump administration that we let those [30:02] in situ the uh when we took office they have fast forward to october and president trump instructed me [30:10] to sanction the two largest russian oil companies luke oil and rosneft which we did no other government [30:19] has done that so no one has done more sanctions than the trump administration on russian oil [30:34] so yeah no no no no no no here here who wants to own this gray hair no gray hair no you don't have [30:43] gray hair maybe you do thank you when you had breakfast this morning with that chair uh did you [30:53] request that the fed lower interest rates i i had breakfast with chair powell 41 times and i never did [31:00] that okay last question uh governor gavin newsom has floated this idea of a hundred percent state tax on [31:12] californians who received money from president uh trump's anti-weaponization fund your response to the [31:18] governor's call for a hundred percent there's no cure for stupid okay okay thank you all