REMARKS: Trump Claims Iran “Decimated,” Says Deal Could Happen Soon Amid Rising Tensions

[0:01] Hello, Mr. President. [0:03] The President So we've had very good negotiations [0:05] today with Iran, getting a lot of the things [0:08] that they should have given us a long time ago. [0:11] We'll see how it works out. [0:12] But they're very good. [0:13] They're doing very nicely. [0:15] And they've destroyed a lot of additional targets today. [0:18] The Navy is gone. The Air Force is gone. [0:20] We know that. [0:21] But we destroyed many, many targets today. [0:24] It was a big day. [0:26] And we are negotiating with them directly and indirectly. [0:29] We have emissaries, but we also are dealing directly. [0:32] And, as you know, they've agreed to send eight boats [0:38] two days ago, and then they added another two. [0:41] So it was 10 boats. [0:43] And now today, they gave us, as a tribute, [0:47] I don't know, I can't define it exactly, [0:50] but they gave us, I think out of a sign of respect, [0:54] 20 boats of oil, big, big boats of oil, [0:58] going through the Hormuz Strait. [1:01] And that's taking place starting tomorrow morning. [1:05] The next couple of days, a lot of boats. [1:07] They say that we're doing extremely well in that negotiation. [1:15] But you never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them, [1:19] and then we always have to blow them up, [1:21] whether it's the B-2 bombers or just terminating, [1:24] as an example, the Iran nuclear deal done by Barack Hussein. [1:28] Obama, probably the worst deal we've ever done as a country. [1:31] One of the dumbest deals we've ever done. [1:33] But they terminated it, unfortunately. [1:35] Otherwise, right now, they'd have a nuclear weapon. [1:38] Then we did the attack with the B-2 bombers, [1:40] and we stopped them from having nuclear. [1:42] And now we had to blow them up again. [1:45] And I think we'll make a deal with them, I'm pretty sure. [1:51] It's possible. We won't. [1:53] We've had regime change, if you look, already, [1:56] because the one regime was decimated, destroyed. [2:01] They're all dead. [2:02] The next regime is mostly dead. [2:05] The third regime, we're dealing with different people [2:08] than anybody's dealt with before. [2:09] It's a whole different group of people. [2:12] So I would consider that regime change. [2:14] And frankly, they've been very reasonable. [2:17] I think we've had regime change, [2:19] but we can't do much better than that. [2:21] The regime that was really bad, really evil, [2:24] was the first one that was done. [2:26] The second was appointed, and they're gone. [2:29] They're all dead. [2:33] We may have people that seem to be much more reasonable. [2:42] It truly is regime change. [2:45] And regime change is an imperative, [2:48] but I think we have it automatically. [2:50] I did something today. [2:53] We just got these in from the architects. [2:55] A lot of people are talking [2:57] about how beautiful the ballroom is. [2:59] For 150 years, they've wanted to build a ballroom [3:05] at the White House. [3:07] And other presidents have wanted it. [3:10] When we have dignitaries coming, like President Xi of China [3:14] or anybody else, we have very small rooms. [3:17] They're not big enough to handle the kind of capacity [3:20] that you need. [3:22] This is the same height as the White House. [3:25] It's an incredible fitting. [3:26] You see what that is, right? [3:28] Nice. [3:34] Right opposite the Treasury Building. [3:39] Beautiful capital. [3:41] Beautiful building. [3:43] One of the, I think it'll be the finest ballroom [3:45] of its kind anywhere in the world. [3:47] A lot of people are giving it really good reviews. [3:50] Some are giving it reviews without even seeing the building [3:52] because this just came out today. [3:54] These pictures were just made today. [3:57] We got rid of, a long, quite a while ago, [3:59] the stairs on the south side, [4:03] and it's become really beautiful. [4:05] But it matches and fits the White House. [4:08] It's also capable of handling the inauguration. [4:11] We have all bulletproof glass. [4:14] We have drone-proof roofs, ceilings. [4:19] Everything's drone-proof and bulletproof. [4:21] And unfortunately, we're living in an age [4:24] where that's a good thing. [4:25] And this is the view from the Treasury. [4:28] Opposite the Treasury, let me see another one of the ones. [4:31] Here's a view from on the south with the porch, [4:35] which is a porch, and it's also a fire stair, [4:37] basically, leading down to the grounds. [4:40] And that porch will be magnificent, [4:42] looking in between the columns. [4:45] They no longer... [4:46] We took the stairs out that were on the south side [4:49] and really replaced them with these stairs. [4:51] So you have an open porch and you have the closed porch [4:54] under the columns, overlooking the Washington Monument, [4:58] the Jefferson Memorial, [5:00] and the Lincoln Memorial-slash-Monument. [5:04] So that's great. [5:07] This is a view of the columns as they are going to be made. [5:14] They're going to be hand-carved, and they're beautiful. [5:17] Top of the line, there'll be Corinthian, [5:19] which is considered the best, most beautiful by far. [5:23] The President The President [5:27] Timeline. [5:28] So we're ahead of schedule and under budget. [5:32] And all of this money, all of the money paid, [5:35] is paid by myself and donors. [5:38] It's all donors. [5:40] There's not one dime of government money [5:43] going into the ballroom. [5:45] Now, the military is building a big complex under the ballroom, [5:49] which has come out recently [5:52] because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed. [5:55] But the military is building a massive complex [5:58] under the ballroom, and that's under construction, [6:01] and we're doing very well. [6:02] So we're ahead of schedule. [6:03] That's part of it. [6:04] And the ballroom essentially becomes a shed [6:07] for what's being built under the military, [6:09] including from drones and including from any other thing. [6:13] The glass, or the windows, you see the big windows? [6:18] The glass is extremely thick. [6:20] It's high-grade. [6:21] It's bulletproof glass. [6:22] So all of the windows are bulletproof. [6:26] I think The Times wrote to you, some of the windows are fake. [6:28] We have no fake windows. [6:30] They said — they talked about a stairway in the south. [6:32] We don't have a stairway in the south. [6:35] That was replaced a long time ago. [6:37] But this is a view of it from the north. [6:41] And that's — if you see it, it fits in with the White House. [6:44] It's almost a twin to the White House. [6:47] It's something we just wanted to pay tribute to the White House. [6:51] And so that fits in beautifully. [6:53] Let me just see another one from that last one. [6:55] Here's another one. [6:57] Excuse me. [6:58] I thought I'd do this now because it's easier. [7:00] I'm so busy that I don't have time to do this. [7:04] But I'm fighting wars and other things. [7:08] But this is very important because this is going to be with us for a long time. [7:12] And it's going to be — I think it'll be the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world. [7:16] It's the highest level. [7:18] Same height — exact height, if not higher. [7:20] Same height as the White House. [7:22] Exactly the same height. [7:24] And if you look, you have the White House. [7:26] Over here, you have this. [7:28] And that's a duplicate of the wall. [7:29] So it pays total homage to the White House, which is, I think, very important. [7:34] When will the White House have this session again? [7:37] Say it. [7:37] Sir, could you foresee a deal in Iran this upcoming week? [7:40] I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. [7:42] Mr. President — [7:43] Could be soon. [7:44] Are you considering still putting boots on the ground? [7:46] And would you do that without going to Congress? [7:47] I just have lots of alternatives. [7:49] We have tremendous numbers of ships over there. [7:52] We don't need them, though, because of, you know, the power. [7:55] Look, the — [7:57] I would say we're — just like we're ahead of schedule on the ballroom, [8:01] in a much bigger way, we're ahead of schedule with Iran. [8:04] We're weeks ahead of schedule. [8:06] If you would have said that, in three days, [8:08] we were going to knock out 158 ships — their entire navy, which we did. [8:13] We knocked out their entire air force. [8:15] We knocked out most of their missiles. [8:17] That's why you see missile attacks. [8:18] But they're down to just sputtering. [8:22] And we have a group — it's really a new regime. [8:25] It's a group of people — people that we've never dealt with. [8:28] It's a group of people — people that we've never dealt with. [8:29] It's a group of people that we've never dealt with before [8:30] that are acting very reasonable. [8:32] It is truly regime change. [8:34] The Press This committee's son is still alive, sir. [8:36] Is he a part of these conversations? [8:37] The President We think he may be. [8:38] Nobody's heard about him. [8:39] He's — he may be alive, [8:41] but he's obviously very seriously in trouble. [8:45] He seriously would be. [8:47] The Press You had offered that 15-point plan to Iran. [8:50] Did they ever come back with a response? [8:52] The President Yeah, they came back on the 15-point plan. [8:53] The Press What did they say? [8:54] The President They gave us most of the points. [8:56] Why wouldn't they? [8:57] The Press You make it sound like they've made [9:00] a lot of decisions. [9:01] Can you identify those? [9:02] The President Well, they're agreeing with us on the plan. [9:04] I mean, we asked for 15 things, and for the most part, [9:08] we're going to be asking for a couple of other things. [9:10] And just to prove that they're serious, [9:12] they gave us all these votes. [9:13] When I talked to you about, four days ago, a present, [9:15] I said, they gave me a present. [9:17] But I didn't think I was at liberty to say what it was. [9:21] What it was was eight plus two. [9:23] It's 10 massive boatloads of oil. [9:27] And today, they gave us another present. [9:29] They gave us 20 boatloads of oil. [9:30] That's such — [9:31] The President We're having very good meetings, [9:34] both directly and indirectly. [9:35] And we're getting a lot of very important votes. [9:37] The Press Sir, were you caught off guard when the [9:39] Senate passed the DHS funding bill? [9:41] The President It's a shame. [9:42] They should really just go to a filibuster. [9:44] They should terminate the filibuster. [9:45] And they should vote. [9:47] That's what I think. [9:48] Look, I think the Senate is playing it too soft. [9:54] The Republicans are wonderful people, but we're [9:58] dealing with very sick individuals. [9:59] The Democrats are sick. [10:01] There's something wrong. [10:01] They're like terrorists. [10:02] And we have to deal with it. [10:03] We have to protect our country. [10:05] We have to protect our border. [10:07] We have to protect our wall. [10:08] It was up to them. [10:10] They'd open up the wall. [10:11] They'd let millions of people pour into our [10:12] country again. [10:13] And we've all been through that. [10:14] I don't care if you're liberal or you're [10:16] conservative. [10:18] What we have now is we have a beautiful, closed [10:21] border. [10:21] We're getting murderers out of our country that [10:23] Biden let in — the administration, the [10:25] Democrats. [10:26] We're getting the drug lords out of our country. [10:28] We're bringing them back to other countries where [10:30] they came from, from all over the world. [10:33] We have great crime numbers, despite the [10:35] fact that they let in 25 million people. [10:38] And we're focused on the bad ones. [10:39] I mean, the ones that came in, we'll work on [10:43] something, but we have to get the killers out. [10:45] We have to get the drug dealers out. [10:47] We have to get the criminally insane. [10:49] We have people that are criminally insane. [10:51] They are unbelievably violent people. [10:54] They come out of insane assholes. [10:56] The Democrats want them protected. [10:59] I want them out. [11:00] They have to be out. [11:00] You can't have a country if they're here. [11:03] The Presser. [11:04] The Presser. [11:04] The Presser. [11:05] The Presser. [11:07] This is vital to the well-being of our country. [11:12] I — first of all, they're great patriots, but [11:15] they are physically and mentally very strong [11:17] people. [11:18] And they are able to protect us from the [11:21] animals that have been sent in — allowed to be [11:24] sent in by the Biden administration, where [11:27] your people — jails — jails were prisons from [11:31] Venezuela, from the Congo, from all over the [11:34] world, every — from every continent. [11:37] They were allowed to come into our country totally [11:40] unchecked, totally unvetted. [11:42] You can't have a soft, weak, sad person deal with [11:49] these — you need strong people. [11:51] Now, they love our country. [11:52] They're very brave. [11:54] They're very strong, like some of these guys. [11:57] But you have to have these people removed or you [12:01] don't have a country. [12:02] So we had the best crime numbers that we've had — [12:05] murder numbers — the best in 125 years. [12:08] Think of it. [12:09] Since the year 19... [12:09] Before my father was born, by a lot. [12:13] We have the best crime numbers. [12:15] And we're going to keep it that way. [12:17] And that's despite the fact that so many [12:18] criminals were allowed into our country. [12:21] So we need ICE. [12:22] We need Border Patrol. [12:24] The last thing your people want to see is our [12:26] country overrun again by criminals. [12:28] And that's not going to happen. [12:30] We're not going to let that happen. [12:31] And, by the way, our country doesn't want that. [12:33] The Press- Mr. President, some Republicans, [12:34] including Senator Mike Lee, say reconciliation won't [12:37] work to pass the Safe America Act because it's [12:39] not budget-related. [12:40] What's your response to that? [12:41] The President President Trump Well, they say. [12:43] And they'll have to — the parliamentarians are [12:44] going to have to make a decision on that. [12:47] But I — again, I say end the filibuster, terminate [12:51] the filibuster, just vote, and you'll get [12:53] everything you want. [12:54] You'll get all five things. [12:55] We have voter ID. [12:58] We have proof of citizenship. [12:59] It's so important. [13:01] Mail-in ballots have to be stopped — with [13:03] exceptions — for the military, for sick people, [13:05] people that are sick, people disabled, for [13:09] people that are traveling. [13:10] If you're traveling, you can vote. [13:11] But other than that, mail-in ballots are [13:14] inherently dishonest. [13:15] Jimmy Carter and his Carter Commission said you [13:17] can't have mail-in ballots. [13:19] We're the only country in the world that has [13:22] mail-in ballots. [13:24] We're the only country in the world that has — you [13:27] know, we have a big case to be coming in the [13:30] Supreme Court that had to do with the babies of [13:35] slaves after the Civil War. [13:39] And instead of that, it's being used as a way for [13:41] rich countries. [13:43] We have thousands and thousands of people from [13:45] China coming in and getting citizenship for [13:49] people within their family. [13:50] This is not what they meant when they did that. [13:53] So that's a big decision coming up. [13:56] But if you look at it and you look at what we've [13:59] done here, we have five points. [14:00] We don't want men playing in women's sports. [14:03] The Democrats do. [14:05] We don't want transgender mutilization of our [14:08] children. [14:09] The Democrats are just fine with it. [14:11] They could — you could do every child in America. [14:14] They'd be very happy. [14:14] We don't want the mutilization of our [14:19] children. [14:19] It's transgender, and we're not going to have it. [14:22] So we want to go into those things. [14:23] They're five points. [14:25] And with the filibuster termination, you could [14:27] vote them all in. [14:28] The Republicans would have the vote. [14:30] The Press": Mr. President, Leader Thune told me [14:32] that they do not have the votes to terminate the [14:34] filibuster. [14:34] How will you get around that? [14:35] The President.: I know, but that's part of being a [14:36] leader. [14:36] You have to get the votes. [14:37] The Press.: Do you have confidence in Leader Thune? [14:38] The President.: I mean, I like him so much. [14:39] He's a — he's a high-quality person. [14:43] And he told me the same thing. [14:44] We don't have the votes. [14:45] Well, he's only a couple of votes short. [14:46] But that's what being a leader is. [14:48] You have to get the votes. [14:50] You have to get the votes. [14:52] Those people will not be able to withstand the [14:54] onslaught because Republicans and the [14:57] country wants it. [14:58] You know, it's polling at 87 percent voter ID. [15:02] Think of it. [15:03] We're talking about Save America. [15:05] And it's not the Save Act. [15:06] It's the Save America Act, because it's saving [15:07] America. [15:08] The Save Act — nobody knows what it's saving. [15:09] It's the Save America Act. [15:12] And you have to have it. [15:14] You have to have it. [15:15] The Save America Act. [15:16] Voter ID. [15:17] All of these things. [15:18] Proof of citizenship. [15:20] It's an 87 percent issue with all voters, [15:23] including Democrats. [15:25] The only ones that don't want it are Schumer and [15:28] these corrupt Democrat leaders, because it will [15:31] not give them the ability to cheat in an election. [15:35] Look, why wouldn't you want voter ID? [15:37] There's not a reason in the world you wouldn't [15:39] want it except to cheat. [15:41] And if they don't cheat, their policy is so bad [15:43] they'll never win another election. [15:44] The Press.: Mr. President, on Friday, you [15:45] mentioned that Cuba will be next. [15:47] What did you mean by that? [15:47] The President.: And who will be next? [15:49] The Press.: Cuba. [15:49] The President.: Yeah, Cuba's going to be next. [15:52] Cuba's going to be — [15:53] The Press.: In what way? [15:53] The President.: Cuba's a mess. [15:55] It's a failing country. [15:56] And they're going to be next. [15:57] Within a short period of time, it's going to fail. [16:00] And we will be there to help it out. [16:03] We'll be there to help our great Cuban Americans out [16:06] who were thrown out of Cuba. [16:07] In many cases, their family members were [16:10] mutilated and killed by Castro. [16:12] No, Cuba's going to be next, yeah. [16:14] The Press.: Are you considering withdrawing [16:19] in case you meet them? [16:23] The President.: We're looking at a lot of [16:24] different things and how she's doing in the [16:30] nomination process. [16:31] I'm more focused on Iran. [16:33] But something like that would be possible. [16:36] The Press.: Mr. President, is she still confident? [16:37] The President.: We certainly have a lot of — [16:38] we have a lot of great candidates for that. [16:41] The Press.: She's still confident in Tulsi [16:42] Gabbard, sir. [16:44] The President.: Yeah, sure. [16:46] I mean, she's a little bit different in her [16:47] thought process than me, but that doesn't make [16:50] somebody not available to sit. [16:53] The Press.: Is she on the same page as you? [16:54] The President.: I would say that I'm very strong on [16:56] the fact that I don't want Iran to have a nuclear [16:59] weapon, because if they had a nuclear weapon, [17:02] they'd use it immediately. [17:03] I think she's probably a little bit softer on that [17:05] issue, but that's okay. [17:06] Some people are. [17:07] Most people aren't. [17:08] Most people are saying, thank you very much for [17:11] doing what you did. [17:12] They are decimated right now. [17:14] They're going to give up nuclear weapons. [17:16] They're going to give us the nuclear dust. [17:18] They're going to do everything that we want to [17:20] do, and you know what? [17:21] They're going to go on and maybe have a great [17:24] country again. [17:26] But if they don't do that, they're not going to [17:28] have a great country. [17:28] They're not even going to have a country. [17:31] So she's softer on that issue, but I have other [17:34] people, not too many. [17:35] That's an issue that we've had great support. [17:38] You saw the CNN poll. [17:39] With Trump with MAGA, and I think MAGA is most of the [17:42] Republican Party, is 100 percent approval. [17:45] In fact, the young gentleman that does the [17:49] poll, who's very good, actually, because he's [17:51] honest, he said, I've never seen 100 percent before. [17:54] I'm 100 percent in the CNN poll, which just came out. [17:57] Thank you very much, everybody. [17:58] The Press.: One more thing on Cuba. [18:00] There's a report that the U.S. [18:01] is going to let a Russian oil tanker go to Cuba. [18:04] Is that true? [18:05] The President.: Well, we have a tanker out there. [18:06] We don't mind having somebody get a boatload [18:08] because they need — they'd have to survive. [18:10] It wouldn't bother me. [18:11] The Press.: So that report is true, as far as you know? [18:13] The President.: Well, I would say — I told them, [18:15] if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right [18:19] now, I have no problem with it. [18:20] The Press.: Do you worry that that helps Vladimir Putin? [18:22] The President.: Whether it's Russia or not. [18:23] What? [18:24] The Press.: Do you worry that that helps Vladimir Putin, though? [18:26] The President.: Does it help him? [18:26] Why? [18:27] If he loses one boatload of oil, that's all it is. [18:29] It's fine. [18:30] If he wants to do that, and if other countries [18:33] want to do it, it doesn't bother me much. [18:34] It's not going to have an impact. [18:37] Cuba and Spanish have a bad regime. [18:39] They have very bad and corrupt leadership. [18:42] And whether or not they get a boatload of oil, [18:44] it's not going to matter. [18:45] I'd prefer letting it in, whether it's Russia or [18:48] anybody else, because the people need heat and [18:52] cooling and all of the other things that you need. [18:54] Go ahead. [18:55] The Press.: Now, the issue of the Strait of Hormuz [18:57] and Iran control of it and charging tolls, what do [19:01] you think about that? [19:02] The President.: Well, I have to find out if it's true. [19:04] You know, they're going to do whatever they have to do. [19:06] We could close that up in two minutes. [19:09] We could close that up so fast your head would spin. [19:12] The Press.: Do you want to see both countries that [19:14] are being attacked by Iran to start to fight back? [19:17] The President.: They are fighting back. [19:18] Saudi Arabia is fighting back hard. [19:21] Qatar is fighting back. [19:23] UAE is fighting back. [19:24] Kuwait is fighting back. [19:26] Bahrain is fighting back. [19:27] They're all fighting back. [19:28] Actually, they were surprised to be hit. [19:30] I was very surprised they got hit. [19:33] Once they got hit, they started fighting very well. [19:35] We're in very strong communications with all of [19:39] those countries, and they've all been fighting. [19:40] They're 100 percent of our soldiers. [19:42] The Press.: How long can you pay TSA workers for? [19:44] How long can you pay TSA workers for from the [19:47] One Big Beautiful Bill? [19:48] The President.: Well, we're going to pay them for [19:49] as long as we have to. [19:50] And I will tell you, the ICE workers have been [19:52] amazing, and it's helping people with their bags. [19:55] It's very interesting. [19:57] We put ICE there, and ICE got a very unfair press. [20:00] They're doing an amazing job getting hardened [20:03] criminals' murders. [20:04] 11,888 murders were allowed to come into our [20:08] country through Biden. [20:09] And ICE has been amazing. [20:11] Now, we said, give us a little hand during this [20:13] period of time, because this is caused by [20:16] Democrat terrorists. [20:17] These people are sick. [20:18] They don't care about our country. [20:19] They don't care about people. [20:21] But what it's all about, really, is they want to [20:23] have open borders, and they want to have [20:24] criminals come into our country so they get more [20:26] votes, because they're losing votes fast. [20:29] Look at how I did with the Hispanic population. [20:32] And now I'm doing even better. [20:33] I'm doing even better with the Hispanic population. [20:36] And that's bad for them. [20:36] They always had it. [20:37] Now they don't have it anymore. [20:39] These are people that want our country to fail, and [20:42] the voters see that. [20:43] Thank you very much. [20:43] The Press Thank you. [20:44] The President Thank you, Mr. President.