'I'LL HAVE TO FIRE HIM': Trump issues STARK ultimatum to Fed Chair Powell

[0:02] Welcome back. Good Wednesday morning, everybody. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. [0:05] I'm Maria Bartiromo, and it is Wednesday, April 15th, [0:08] Tax Day. It is 7.03 on the East Coast. We are coming to you live this morning from our nation's [0:13] capital in Washington all morning long. We kick the hour off with a hot topic of the hour, [0:17] and of course, the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports is still underway. President Trump telling [0:22] me in my exclusive interview at the White House yesterday, he thinks the conflict with Iran is [0:27] close to over. He also told me about a letter that he sent to Xi Jinping, asking Xi not to send [0:34] weapons to Iran. He told me that Xi Jinping wrote back to him, denying that China is sending weapons. [0:40] Now, yesterday, the U.S. ambassador to China was also at the White House. We'll get into all of [0:44] that. Plus, we are getting into the president's expectations about Kevin Walsh getting confirmed [0:49] after his hearing next week. Here's the president with me yesterday. [0:53] China wants to beat us on so much. You know that. Of course, and we want to beat them. And we want to [1:00] beat them, too. To AI. I want to ask you about AI. [1:02] Maria, Maria. But we want to beat them, too. [1:05] Will we beat them? Well, we're leading in AI because of me. We're leading. You know why? [1:11] I'm letting them build their own electric power plants. They're becoming a utility. I said to Mark Zuckerberg, [1:17] congratulations, you're in the electric business. Because if I didn't do, that was my idea, [1:21] actually. They're building these massive plants, and if they took it from the grid, the grid wouldn't be able [1:27] to handle it. I said, no, if you want to build it, you have to build your own power, and then they [1:32] will be giving excess power back into our grid. And these things are all under construction right [1:37] now. So we're beating China on that. We're beating China on the economy. We have a great economy. [1:43] Remember, if I didn't want to make that little journey to Iran, it was a journey. I said, we're going to [1:48] have to do this for the good of the world. So you still expect growth in the economy this year? [1:53] I do. I mean, I do. Look, we had a couple of months where I'm, you know, I had to go to a war. [1:58] I had to go and fight either a military operation. Some people would call it a war. Some people call [2:04] it a military operation. It was easy because we have the greatest military in the world. But [2:10] I had to divert because if I didn't do that, right now, you would have Iran with a nuclear weapon. [2:17] And if they had a nuclear weapon, you would be calling everybody over there, sir. [2:22] And you don't want to do that. [2:23] Well, you keep saying was. Is this war over? [2:26] I think it's close to over. Yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over. [2:30] You know what? If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. [2:38] And we're not finished. But we'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly. [2:43] That's pretty unprecedented. I mean, having direct talks like that. [2:46] I have talks with everybody. But it's very effective. [2:50] I think you're going to have a great deal. I'm doing a great job for the country and for the world. [2:54] You know, we've had no help. Zero from NATO. We're there for them. They're not there for us. [3:01] We spend, you saw the chart that came out a couple of days ago with a big monster red ball. [3:06] That was us. And all these little satellite balls. [3:09] And it represented the money spent on military and NATO. [3:15] And it's ridiculous. And they should have been better. [3:18] They should have said, we'll send somebody. [3:20] It's a small operation compared to a big operation. [3:23] But NATO was not there for us. [3:25] And what it means, if they're not there for us here, they're not going to be there for us. [3:29] So why are we, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO if they're not going to be with us? [3:37] If they're not going to be with us on Iran, they're not going to be with us on a much bigger subject than Iran. [3:44] Did you see that Britain suffered the biggest growth forecast downgrade in the G7? [3:49] Yeah, well. [3:49] So their economy is impacted. [3:51] It's the UK. I would say this. [3:54] They got to stop with their windmills and they got to open up the North Sea. [3:57] They have the North Sea in Aberdeen, Scotland. [4:01] It's the biggest, one of the most incredible oil fields anywhere in the world. [4:07] It's got hundreds of years left. [4:09] And you know what they do? [4:11] They closed it because they want so much that the oil companies, the oil companies are begging them to go there. [4:17] They called me. Please speak to them. [4:20] They made it impossible because of the environmentalists, the horrible environmentalists that hurt that country so badly. [4:27] And they're going with the windmills, destroying their fields all over the place. [4:32] They have that problem. [4:33] And then they have the problem of immigration. [4:35] What Europe has done with immigration, most of the countries, not all, what they've done with immigration is horrible. [4:42] Do we still have the same relationship with Italy right now and Georgia Maloney? [4:46] No. No. [4:47] She's been negative. [4:50] Anybody that turned us down for helping with this Iran situation, we do not have the same relationship. [4:57] Just so you know, Italy gets a lot of oil from the strait. [5:02] You can call it the strait of Hormuz or the Hormuz strait. [5:06] I said, which is better? [5:07] They said, either is okay. [5:09] But you can call it either one. [5:10] The only thing you can't call it is the Trump strait. [5:13] They don't like that idea. [5:15] By the way, speaking of that, I did a thing that people like very much except for Mexico. [5:20] I took the Gulf of Mexico. [5:22] We now call it the Gulf of America. [5:24] That's not bad. [5:25] And Google changed it. [5:26] But I know that. [5:26] And Google, and by the way, Google was great on that. [5:29] Did you see Europe is now drafting a program and plan to open up the Hormuz strait without the United States? [5:36] They're so sad. [5:38] We're doing it now. [5:39] By the way, it's opening. [5:41] The ships are coming back and forth. [5:43] Oh, without the United States. [5:44] It just shows you how can you have a country, how can you have a group of countries with that attitude? [5:50] Look at Greenland. [5:51] We should have Greenland to protect the world against Russia and China. [5:56] And the mention of it, all of a sudden, they get you, this country, should not be paying trillions of dollars to NATO. [6:07] Mr. President, I've got to ask you about AI. [6:09] This is an important question, I think, for our audience. [6:10] And we saw reports that Treasury Secretary Besant and Chairman Jay Powell called an emergency meeting with the major banks [6:18] because they said that there was a risk over the anthropic model. [6:22] And the worry is that bad actors are actually going to be able to hack into these banks [6:28] and faster than institutions can actually respond. [6:32] Do you see this as a systemic threat? [6:35] Not systemic. [6:36] We'll work it out. [6:38] AI is very important. [6:40] Billions and even trillions of dollars is being invested in our country because of it. [6:45] It's got some bad aspects. [6:46] It's got mostly good aspects medically and so many other ways. [6:49] You'll be finding cures to diseases that you would have never found before. [6:53] There are a lot of good things, but we have to be careful with it. [6:56] Like everything else, we have to be careful with it. [6:58] But when you tell me Besant is great, when you tell me about Jerome Tulade Powell, he's a disaster. [7:03] Here's a man who took this little tiny building and a couple of other little tiny complex [7:09] and he's spending more than $3 billion. [7:16] I want to know who the contractor is because that contractor is making billions of dollars perhaps. [7:21] So he's doing a bad job. [7:24] He should be lowering interest rates. [7:26] But do you think that Kevin Warsh is going to get confirmed next week? [7:30] I think so. [7:31] I hope so. [7:31] Yeah, I hope so. [7:32] But I mean, Tom Tillis is still blocking. [7:34] Yeah, but Tom Tillis is an American. [7:36] He knows what to do. [7:37] He's, I think he's, let's see what happens. [7:40] Will you tell or at least advise Judge Jeanine to end that probe, criminal probe into Jay Powell? [7:48] So that Tom Tillis? [7:49] Well, it's really more than that. [7:50] It's more than a criminal probe. [7:52] It's a criminal probe, I guess. [7:53] But it's also a probe of incompetence. [7:55] How do you take a little building? [7:57] I built a hotel for $201 million that's bigger than that building down the road. [8:01] It was a little while ago, seven years ago, eight years ago. [8:04] I built the Trump Hotel, which I sold to Waldorf Astoria. [8:09] It's a good deal. [8:10] I built it like around $200 million in construction. [8:16] They're going to spend maybe $4 billion. [8:19] And you know what? [8:19] I'm not sure the thing's ever going to open. [8:21] You know, I do that stuff very well. [8:23] I went past the site the other day. [8:25] I was driving past. [8:25] They said, take me past the Federal Reserve Building. [8:29] They took me past. [8:30] There's very little work done inside. [8:33] Kevin may never get to have the use of that building. [8:36] And he told me something very interesting. [8:38] He said, the saddest part of it is they ripped down the most beautiful building of them all. [8:43] They ripped it down. [8:44] He said they had boardrooms and various rooms in that building that were the most beautiful in [8:48] Washington and they ripped it down. [8:52] What they've done to that. [8:53] So it is probably corrupt. [8:58] But what it really is, is incompetent. [9:01] And we have to show the incompetence of that. [9:04] And he headed the job. [9:05] He was, you know, this guy, Jerome. [9:07] You want Joe Powell out of the way. [9:09] I do. [9:09] Is it the easiest way to get him out of the way? [9:10] I do. [9:11] Does that mean we stop a probe of a building that I would have done for $25 million that's going to cost [9:17] maybe $4 billion, don't you think we have to find out what happened there? [9:22] You know, we have other jobs like that, like the railroad in California, where it's, you know, [9:27] 25 times more than it was originally going to cost. [9:30] And I think they're going to end up abandoning it. [9:33] Okay, that's Gavin Newsom. [9:35] Or as I call him, Gavin Newsom, who's so bad. [9:38] But that's the one. [9:40] But I think the Federal Reserve Building is just as bad. [9:42] And so whether it's incompetence, corruption or both, I think you have to find out. [9:47] I really do. [9:49] I think you have to find out. [9:50] So you're not going to drop the probe? [9:51] I'm not. [9:52] I have to find out. [9:54] And he said he's not leaving. [9:55] If, you know. [9:56] Well, then I'll have to fire him. [9:57] Okay? [9:58] If he's not leaving on time, I've held back firing him. [10:01] I've wanted to fire him. [10:03] But I hate to be controversial, you know? [10:06] I want to be uncontroversial. [10:08] But he will be fired. [10:09] And you think Kevin Worsley can get confirmed? [10:11] You think Tom Tillis is going to give you a vote? [10:12] Well, we're going to have to find out. [10:13] He might not. [10:14] But that's why Tom Tillis is no longer a senator. [10:16] On the AI thing. [10:19] You know, Tom Tillis is no longer a senator, right? [10:20] Well, he's on his way out. [10:22] Well, no, he quit. [10:22] But he quit. [10:24] And I think he doesn't want the legacy of stopping a great, a person who could be great. [10:31] I think Kevin Worsley is going to be great. [10:34] He doesn't want the legacy of having an incompetent guy stay there for longer than is necessary. [10:39] I know Tom Tillis, he's a good man. [10:42] I don't think he's going to hurt. [10:43] I know he said what he said. [10:44] And maybe it's true. [10:45] In which case, he'll have to live with it. [10:48] But not his chairman. [10:49] This guy is a bad chairman, really bad chairman. [10:52] And I was surprised when Biden extended him, to be honest with you. [10:57] But he did. [10:58] Interest rates should be much lower than they are right now. [11:01] And you think they will go lower later this year? [11:03] When Kevin gets in, I do, yeah. [11:05] Just to close the loop on AI, Mr. President, in a worst case scenario, [11:08] could that be the kind of technology that undermines confidence in the banking system? [11:15] Yeah, probably. [11:16] But it could also be the kind of technology that allows greatness in the banking system, [11:22] makes it better and safer and more secure. [11:24] So should government have some safeguards? [11:26] Should there be a kill switch for some of the AI agents? [11:29] There should be. [11:30] But we're leading in AI. [11:32] We're leading China by a lot, actually. [11:34] We're building plans that nobody ever imagined before. [11:37] And it's going to be a tremendous, bigger than the Internet. [11:41] It's going to be tremendous. [11:43] And there are always difficulties when you're at this stage of something. [11:46] But, you know, when you mentioned banking, [11:48] it could also make banking much bigger, much safer, much more efficient. [11:53] Let me just ask you about the midterms. [11:55] Do you expect the Republicans to lose seats in the House? [11:58] And what does that mean for your agenda? [12:00] Well, I just left with Mike Johnson and some great people, [12:03] some great congressmen and women, [12:05] and in the Oval Office. [12:08] I think we're going to do good. [12:10] Now, with that being said, [12:12] when somebody gets elected president, [12:14] that party always loses the midterms. [12:17] I don't know why. [12:18] I don't know why. [12:18] Nobody could explain it. [12:20] I ask people that are deep into the psychological world, [12:23] I said, why is it that a voter votes for the opposite party? [12:28] Even when you have a good president, [12:29] I think I had the greatest year, the greatest opening year. [12:32] I've read the greatest... [12:35] Look, I ended eight wars. [12:37] A ninth is coming. [12:38] But I ended eight wars. [12:40] Nobody's ever ended one war. [12:42] Who's ended one? [12:43] Nobody. [12:44] I ended eight. [12:45] We have the biggest tax cuts ever. [12:47] We have the biggest regulation cuts ever. [12:49] The greatest economy ever, [12:51] pretty much including the fact [12:53] that I took a detour into Iran [12:55] in order to stop something [12:57] that could have destroyed the world, right? [13:00] But even when you have a great president, [13:03] they tend to lose the midterms. [13:05] It doesn't make sense to me, [13:07] so we're going to try turning it around. [13:08] You know, in 50 years, [13:10] I guess the president, [13:13] the person, the party with the president, [13:15] has won twice. [13:17] Why that happens, I don't know. [13:19] We are really working hard to turn that around. [13:21] We've had the greatest year [13:22] in the history of the presidency, first year, [13:25] and we should be giving credit. [13:27] Look at the border. [13:29] So we had a border that was an open sieve. [13:31] You covered it better than anybody. [13:33] So is that the message for voters? [13:34] I should get credit. [13:36] The border. [13:36] Yeah, I should get credit. [13:37] Is there anything else you want to leave them for? [13:38] Yeah, I think we should... [13:39] Well, I think we have to bring it back to talk... [13:42] We don't need help on the border. [13:44] But, you know, I built over 1,000 miles of wall. [13:48] We have to talk about it [13:50] because we should be giving credit [13:52] for having taken this disaster [13:54] where people were criminals [13:56] were coming in from all over the world [13:57] and pouring into our country. [13:59] The worst thing... [14:00] It's the worst thing that's ever happened. [14:02] It was like an invasion. [14:04] And we should be giving, Maria, credit for it. [14:06] So I'm going to be talking about it. [14:08] But I'm also going to be talking about [14:10] what we gave the voters [14:11] the biggest tax cut in history, [14:14] the biggest regulation cuts in history, [14:16] the best economy in history. [14:18] And now what we're doing is we went, [14:20] we took this path, [14:22] we knocked the hell out of Iran. [14:24] We stopped them from... [14:25] They're not going to have a nuclear weapon, [14:26] regardless. [14:27] By the way, I could leave tomorrow. [14:30] They would never be able to have a nuclear weapon. [14:32] For years, they would... [14:34] Because their country is devastated. [14:36] They don't have a Navy. [14:37] They don't have an Air Force. [14:39] They don't have an airplane. [14:41] They're all gone. [14:43] And the press doesn't write about it. [14:44] The New York Times, you think... [14:46] If you read the New York Times, [14:48] this fake, horrible newspaper, [14:50] you would think they're doing well in the war. [14:53] They have nothing left. [14:55] They're going to make a deal. [14:56] We'll see what happens. [14:57] We have to explain to the voters, [14:59] so importantly, [15:01] the great job that we've done, [15:03] because there's no reason [15:04] why the Republicans should be losing. [15:06] These people, [15:07] they'll open up the borders again. [15:09] They'll have transgender for everybody. [15:11] They'll have men and women's sports. [15:14] They'll end. [15:15] No tax on tips. [15:17] No tax on overtime. [15:18] No tax on Social Security for our seniors. [15:21] They'll end it all. [15:22] And if people hear that, [15:24] I don't see how we lose the election. [15:25] Final question on space, [15:27] because Artemis II, [15:28] what a success. [15:29] Congratulations. [15:30] Yeah, it's great. [15:30] Do you expect the United States [15:32] will beat China in this race to the moon? [15:36] And what do you want to say [15:38] about the astronauts who circled the moon [15:40] in Artemis II? [15:41] Where's that going? [15:41] So, number one, [15:42] they were great. [15:43] I spoke to them as they were circling, right? [15:44] Just after they came out of the dark, [15:46] that dark cavity. [15:49] Great. [15:49] They're great. [15:50] I'm the one that started that program. [15:53] NASA was closed. [15:54] It's totally closed. [15:55] There was grass growing on the runways. [15:57] I went there. [15:58] I was there in Florida. [16:00] Looked at, got pictures of all of their facilities. [16:04] They had grass growing out of the cracked asphalt in Florida and elsewhere. [16:08] And I said, you know what? [16:09] This is terrible. [16:10] Let's start it up. [16:11] And we started it up. [16:12] And it gave great pride. [16:13] Everybody watched that the other night. [16:15] It was really something. [16:16] Everybody, everybody I know watch it. [16:18] They watch a landing. [16:19] They watch a takeoff. [16:20] And it gives us pride. [16:22] And something very good will come out of it. [16:24] But, you know, from a military standpoint, it's very helpful. [16:27] And one of my greatest achievements, I think, [16:30] will be the fact that I started Space Force [16:33] because we were losing to Russia and China. [16:35] And now we're way ahead of them. [16:37] And we're going to beat China to the moon. [16:39] I think so. [16:40] Look, we already did many years ago. [16:43] You know, maybe they'll get lucky. [16:44] They'll send a ship up or something. [16:46] You know, they tried yesterday to send a ship, [16:48] but it wasn't very successful, to put it mildly. [16:51] I think so. [16:53] I don't like to put myself in that position. [16:55] If they beat us, I'll say, oh, I said on Maria's show. [16:59] You know, I don't worry. [17:00] But we're looking to have, we have a very good guy, Jared, who you know. [17:04] He's doing a very good job as the head of NASA. [17:07] Very proud of him. [17:08] And I think we'll probably win. [17:11] But I don't want to get into that. [17:12] Because if they win, I don't want you saying, oh, Trump was wrong. [17:16] Trump was wrong. [17:17] What a terrible thing. [17:18] The fact is, we're way ahead in space. [17:21] We're way ahead in the military. [17:22] We have the greatest submarines in the world. [17:25] We have the greatest military in the world. [17:27] Nobody makes equipment like us, whether it's the Patriot or the Tomahawk. [17:31] We have the best military equipment anywhere in the world. [17:34] And we're going to keep it that way. [17:37] Mr. President, thank you. [17:38] Thank you. [17:39] Thank you very much. [17:40] Thank you so much.