Trump holds a cabinet meeting

[0:01] And we all know him very well, and he was a very popular senator, a very effective senator. [0:06] Effective probably being the more important word. [0:09] J.D., don't you think? [0:10] Yes, sir. [0:10] And we wish you a lot of luck. [0:13] Thank you. [0:13] I think you do fantastically well. [0:16] Congratulations to you. [0:17] You have an amazing family that were here yesterday in the Oval. [0:21] Sworn in. [0:21] His family is amazing. [0:22] So thank you very much. [0:24] We're now on day 41 of the disgraceful Democrat shutdown of Mark Wayne's department. [0:33] Congratulations. [0:34] You came into a department that's shut down. [0:36] Shut down by the radical Democrats. [0:39] But Democrats are really punishing the American people. [0:43] I saw it today on one of the shows where they were interviewing people at the airport, and they're all angry at the Democrats. [0:49] They're saying they're actually angry at Schumer. [0:51] I didn't think anyone knew his name. [0:53] One woman said, that Schumer is disgraceful. [0:55] He's a disgrace to our country. [0:57] But they're angry at the Democrats. [0:59] They know what's happening. [1:01] But they're punishing the American people, including travelers at airports, all in the quest to return to open borders and give amnesty to illegal alien criminals. [1:11] They want to give amnesty to some of the criminals that came into our country. [1:16] Just about all of them, actually, if you look at it. [1:19] They love sanctuary cities, which is a sanctuary for criminals. [1:23] They want to make sure they're taken care of. [1:25] That's what we're fighting about. [1:26] That's really what they're fighting. [1:27] They don't talk about that, but that's what they're fighting about. [1:30] They want to protect criminals. [1:32] In many cases, 11,888 murders. [1:35] Many of them, I will say, are gone now because of us. [1:38] We got them out. [1:40] But we still have some left. [1:42] Should have never happened. [1:43] Should have never been allowed to come into our country. [1:46] But we're not going to let it happen. [1:47] We're not going to let the Democrats get away with this stuff. [1:50] And people are wise to them. [1:51] So they need to end the shutdown. [1:55] Immediately, or we'll have to take some very drastic measures. [1:59] This morning, I want to give an update on the Operation Epic Fury, [2:04] which is an appropriate name because we are absolutely obliterating them. [2:09] Over the past three weeks, we've been hitting Iran's military capabilities [2:15] at a level that few people have ever seen before. [2:17] People never knew there was such a capability. [2:20] We have the strongest military anywhere in the world by far. [2:24] I built it during my first administration. [2:26] And I used it during my second administration, unfortunately, [2:32] because I'd rather not have to use it. [2:34] But it's a display of force and precision and skill like nothing the world has really witnessed, [2:40] although you get a pretty good witnessing of it in Venezuela also. [2:43] And that was a smaller version of what we're doing now. [2:48] We're crushing their missiles and drone stockpiles, destroying their defense industrial base. [2:53] We've wiped out their Navy completely. [2:56] Their Air Force Base. [2:57] Our Air Force completely. [2:58] We've wiped out a large percentage of their missiles and the missile launchers. [3:05] Without the launchers, you can't — the missiles don't do any good. [3:09] And we've knocked out probably close to 90 percent of the launchers, [3:13] probably more than 90 percent of the missiles themselves. [3:17] Between some they fired and more than they fired, we knocked out. [3:22] We've also destroyed a lot of the factories. [3:26] We're continuing to do that. [3:27] But a lot of the factories where they manufacture the drones and the missiles, [3:31] the drones, too, are way down. [3:33] But the reason they're down is they go one way and they don't come back, [3:38] because, for the most part, we're shooting them down. [3:40] But we also are able to — we've really done tremendous damage to the places where they make them. [3:47] And just so we set the record straight, because I've been watching the Wall Street Journal's fake news [3:51] and all these stories that get printed like, oh, I want to make a deal, [3:56] not me — they're begging to make a deal. [4:00] And anybody that saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal. [4:05] But they say, oh, we're not talking to them. [4:08] Anybody would know they're talking — and only a total — and they're not fools. [4:12] They're very smart, actually, in a certain way. [4:14] And they're great negotiators. [4:16] I say they're lousy fighters, but they're great negotiators. [4:20] And they are begging to work out a deal. [4:25] I don't know if we'll be able to do that. [4:26] I don't know if we'll — [4:27] willing to do that. [4:28] They should have done that four weeks ago. [4:31] They should have done it two years ago. [4:34] Or they should have done it when we first came into office, because two years ago, [4:38] they had free reign under Biden. [4:40] Sleepy Joe, worst president in the history of our country, [4:44] when he allowed it to happen to our country at the borders. [4:47] And even with a thing like this. [4:49] But not just him. [4:50] Every president for 47 years, every president should have done this. [4:53] They should have done it a long time ago, because you cannot give lunatics a new — [4:58] a nuclear weapon. [4:59] And they would have had a big one. [5:02] It stopped, really, when we did the B-2. [5:05] But even before that, the — [5:06] Barack Hussein Obama, what he did, where he gave them the Iran nuclear deal, [5:12] gave them free will toward a nuclear weapon. [5:15] Basically, he chose Iran over Israel and others that didn't want him to do it. [5:22] But I terminated that deal. [5:24] Had I not terminated that deal, you would have had a nuclear weapon years ago, and it would have been [5:28] used, guaranteed. [5:30] And one of the reasons you know about the guarantee is because [5:34] their neighbors were sort of like bystanders. [5:38] They weren't involved very much. [5:40] They didn't choose heavy size. [5:42] They didn't want to, because people were concerned with Iran. [5:45] There was a big black cloud over the Middle East. [5:48] They were concerned. [5:49] But all of a sudden, the war starts, and they start shooting at these five — in particular, [5:54] five countries. [5:55] They start shooting at Qatar, Saudi Arabia. [5:59] UAE, Kuwait, Oman. [6:03] They start shooting at them, and they were — everybody was shocked, including us. [6:08] You know why? [6:09] Because they're sick, and they had a plan to take over the Middle East. [6:14] And some of those missiles that were shot at them were locked long before we even started [6:19] this process. [6:20] They were locked and loaded and aimed at those countries. [6:23] They wanted to take over the Middle East. [6:25] But we happened to come along, so it wasn't so easy. [6:29] So right now, their Navy is sunk in the largest elimination of a foreign Navy that has taken [6:37] place maybe ever, but certainly since World War II. [6:41] Their Air Force is gone. [6:42] Their anti-aircraft and communications capabilities are totally dismantled. [6:48] And one of the problems they do have when they deal with us is we deal with people and [6:52] the people aren't able to communicate with anybody else, you know, because all of their [6:57] leadership has been gone. [6:58] So, you know, I don't know. [6:59] The first level is gone, and they met to pick a new level, and they're gone. [7:04] They're all gone because they didn't make a deal and because they're sick people. [7:09] They're really sick. [7:10] They're — they're really sinister sick people. [7:13] And if anybody thinks it was okay to have a group of people like this to have nuclear [7:18] capability, nuclear weapons, and if we didn't attack with the B-2 bombers, they would have [7:23] had a nuclear weapon within two weeks of that — maybe four weeks. [7:28] But between two and a half weeks, maybe four weeks. [7:29] Between two and four weeks, they were planning to have a nuclear weapon. [7:32] If we didn't hit them at that time with the nuke — with the B-2 bombers and one of the [7:36] great air raids in history, maybe the greatest, dark at night, no moon, no light, every single [7:44] bomb hit its mark and just obliterated that place. [7:49] So it's now buried deep under Earth. [7:52] And it was an amazing thing. [7:55] But they would have a nuclear — and they would have used it without question. [7:58] And you know that. [7:58] Because why did they do that? [7:59] They shoot all these countries that weren't even really involved with them. [8:02] They weren't involved. [8:03] They had no big problems. [8:05] Because they're sick. [8:06] Because they want to take over the Middle East. [8:08] Not just Israel. [8:10] Certainly Israel would have been the first on their list. [8:12] They would have used nuclear weapons — a nuclear. [8:15] You don't need too many of them. [8:17] But they would have used a nuclear weapon on Israel, and they would have used it on [8:20] the other — in the neighbors. [8:21] And then they would have come after us. [8:25] And if we had a weak president, they would have done great damage. [8:28] But fortunately, you don't have a nuclear weapon. [8:28] But fortunately, you don't have a weak president. [8:30] I knew what was happening. [8:32] And I think we've been proven right. [8:34] You know, they took one missile. [8:36] It went 2,500 miles. [8:37] They supposedly didn't have a missile like that. [8:39] They had no missile with that capability. [8:42] But they shot the now-famous Ireland — the island that the U.K. [8:49] was very afraid to give us. [8:53] Because they didn't want to get dragged in. [8:54] But we don't want to get dragged into their wars, either. [8:57] You know, that's one thing we're very disappointed. [8:59] I'll say it. [8:59] Publicly, we're very disappointed with NATO, because NATO has done absolutely nothing. [9:05] And I've always said, 25 years ago — I mean, I was somebody that wasn't a politician, [9:10] but I was always involved in politics, and I understood politics. [9:14] I said, 25 years ago, that NATO is a paper tiger. [9:17] But, more importantly, that we'll come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours. [9:23] And I want you to remember that we said this. [9:25] They didn't come to our rescue. [9:27] Now they all want to help, when they're [9:30] annihilated. [9:30] The other side is annihilated. [9:32] They said, we'd love to send ships. [9:34] They actually made a statement, a couple of them, that we want to get involved when the war is over. [9:39] No, it's supposed to get involved when the war is beginning, or even before it begins. [9:45] We had the U.K. say that we'll send — this is three weeks ago — we'll send our aircraft [9:51] carriers — which aren't the best aircraft carriers, by the way. [9:54] They're toys compared to what we have. [9:56] But we'll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over. [10:00] I said, oh, that's wonderful. [10:02] Thank you very much. [10:03] We — don't bother. [10:04] We don't need it. [10:06] And we don't need it. [10:07] And we don't need them. [10:08] We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. [10:13] And we're way ahead of schedule. [10:16] If you look at what we've done in terms of the destruction of that country, I mean, we're way ahead. [10:23] Think of it. [10:23] They have no navy. [10:25] And they had good ships. [10:26] A hundred and fifty-four ships have been shot down and are resting. [10:30] Very, very good ships. [10:30] Very nicely at the bottom of the sea. [10:33] And we did that in a matter of less than a week, because we have the greatest military [10:38] in the world by far. [10:39] Nobody even close. [10:42] So we estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. [10:47] Twenty-six days in, we're extremely — really a lot ahead of schedule. [10:53] The Iranian regime is now admitting to itself that they have been decisively defeated. [10:59] They're saying to people, this is a disaster. [11:00] They're saying to people, this is a disaster. [11:01] This is a disaster. [11:03] They know it. [11:04] That's why they're talking to us. [11:06] They wouldn't talk otherwise. [11:08] But they're talking to us because they've got a disaster in their hands. [11:12] They're defeated. [11:13] They can't make a comeback. [11:15] We're free to roam over their cities and towns and destroy all of their crazy nuclear weapons [11:22] and missiles and drones that they're building. [11:25] We're doing that. [11:27] They now have a chance to make a deal, but that's up to them. [11:31] And they'll tell you we're not. [11:33] Negotiate. We will not negotiate. Of course they're negotiating. They've been obliterated. [11:37] Who wouldn't negotiate? They are begging to make a deal. We'll see if we can make the right deal. [11:44] And if they make the right deal, then the strait will open up. Hormuz Strait will open up. [11:51] And even now, we don't know if there are any mines. You know, they have 22 mine—they call [11:56] mine droppers. Think of it. Who would have 22 mine droppers? This is a boat that drops mines. [12:01] Who has 22 mine droppers? Except for people with very evil intention. [12:08] So every one of those mine droppers has been struck with the same weapon we use to [12:16] stop drugs from coming into the United States of America. When we hit those boats, [12:23] it's the exact same weapon. Extremely effective. We have unlimited supplies [12:27] and extremely effective. But they have no more mine droppers. By the way, [12:32] speaking of drugs— [12:33] We're 98% down drugs coming in by water, by the ocean, by the sea. 98%. And we're [12:43] trying to find out who are the 2% because we think they're the bravest men anywhere [12:47] in the world. Maybe women. But whoever's on those boats is very brave or doesn't watch [12:53] television. But where drugs coming in by sea, coming in by water, are 98% down. And now [13:02] we'll stop the drugs. [13:03] The land is the easy one. You had to stop the water. A lot of it came in through water. [13:08] Now it's all pinched. And these people are trying to come in by land. And we will—that's [13:15] the easy one. But we had to take care of the water for us. Nobody's coming in. Virtually [13:21] nothing is coming in anymore. It was hundreds of millions of dollars a week were coming [13:27] in by water. But they now have the chance. That is Iran. [13:34] To permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to chart a new path forward. We'll see [13:39] if they want to do it. If they don't, we're their worst nightmare. [13:43] In the meantime, we'll just keep blowing them away, unimpeded, unstopped. There's not a [13:51] thing they can do about it. They can't do anything about it, you know. I tell you, if [13:54] they could. If they could, you'd be hearing about it. You'd be hearing about it. You don't [13:58] hear anything about it. They can't shoot our jets. We have the best military equipment [14:04] in the world. [14:05] Not even a contest. You see that with Venezuela. They had other equipment. They didn't have [14:11] ours. It didn't work. Didn't work. Think of it. We did a situation in Venezuela. It [14:16] was a great military operation, getting a very, very dangerous man who's killed a lot [14:21] of people, forced people into our country. Incredible. He emptied his prisons in Venezuela, [14:29] emptied his prisons into our country. And I hope that charge will be brought at some [14:34] point. [14:34] Because that was a big charge that hasn't been brought yet. It should be brought. He [14:40] emptied his prisons into our country and was a major purveyor of drugs coming into our [14:46] country. And he's now been captured and, you know, I guess be given a fair trial. But I [14:56] would imagine there are other trials coming because they have just, they've really sued [15:01] him just in a fraction of the kind of things that he's done. [15:04] So, you know, cases are going to be brought, as you probably know. In the meantime, with [15:09] Iran, we're going to keep doing what we've been doing. And nobody's a match for the United [15:15] States, but they're not a match for the United States. It's small potatoes. That's why I'm [15:20] so disappointed in NATO, because this was a test for NATO. This was a test. You can [15:25] help us. You don't have to. But if you don't have, you know, if you don't do that, we're [15:30] going to remember. Just remember. Remember this in a number of months from now. Remember [15:35] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:35] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:36] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:38] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:39] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:40] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:41] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:42] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:43] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my [15:44] statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:45] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:46] my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember my statement. Remember [15:47] America abroad. We're focused here at home on building the greatest economy in the [15:52] history of the world. Now, before this started, the Dow hit 50,000. The S&P hit 7,000. [15:59] Both of those achievements were not achievable. Every one of you, most of you, I guess, [16:07] said you'll never hit 50,000 during a four-year period because it was too high a number. Well, [16:14] we hit it in our first year. And I said, well, now we have to take an excursion to Iran, [16:19] and we have to stop this maniac who's no longer with us. The supreme leader wasn't so supreme, [16:27] no longer with us. It's very sad. But we have to stop him from blowing up the world, [16:34] blowing up the Middle East, and blowing up our country. And we did that. [16:38] And I thought, frankly, I thought the oil prices would go up more, and I thought the stock market [16:44] would go down more. Hasn't been nearly as severe as I thought. I think they have confidence in [16:49] maybe the American economy. I think they have confidence in the American economy. [16:50] I think they have confidence in maybe the American economy. I think they have confidence in [16:50] the American economy. I think they have confidence in the American president and maybe the people [16:52] sitting around this table. But Americans filing their taxes this year are receiving [16:57] record-setting refunds. It's been a very big story. Well, it should be a big story. I don't [17:02] think you write about it that much, but I speak about it. You know, I speak about it because if [17:08] I speak about it, at least people here, you don't write about it. You don't write about the [17:13] drug prices going down. It'll be going down 30, 40, 50, 60 percent, 70 percent. [17:19] The President, for sure, will make the right decision. If the American Government doesn't [17:25] accept this, the U.S. would never accept it. And what's going to happen? [17:28] Most favored nations. Called most favored nations. We're going to be paying the lowest price [17:33] anywhere in the world. Before we paid the highest price in the world, Bobbie, right? And now we're [17:37] going to pay the lowest price in the world. That's quite a difference. It's a difference of, from [17:43] 40 to 70 and 80 and even 90 percent. That's a pretty big difference. But we're slashing regulations [17:50] has been put into our country in the last year. [17:52] And again, we had to take a little detour. [17:55] Won't be long. Gonna end soon. [17:58] We had to take a little detour, go to Iran, [18:02] and we had to put out a fire, a very dangerous fire [18:05] that could have blown up big portions of the world, [18:08] if not the whole thing. [18:10] So, tomorrow, we'll be announcing a variety of actions [18:13] that we're taking to support American farmers. [18:16] We'll never forget. We love the farmers. [18:18] We gave them $12 billion out of tariff money. [18:21] We had a tremendous amount of tariff money come in, [18:25] and we continue to have. [18:26] We've gone, as you know, the Supreme Court [18:28] gave us a very unfortunate, foolish ruling, [18:31] a ruling that gives the people [18:32] that have ripped off our country for many years, [18:35] gives them some money back. [18:36] But it's one of those things. [18:39] It's a terrible, terrible, horrible mistake they made, [18:43] but it's okay because we have another method [18:45] that's just as good. [18:46] We'll use the other method. [18:48] But because the tariff money has been so substantial, [18:51] we gave our farmers, who have been mistreated [18:53] by some countries, we gave them $12 billion, [18:59] and they're extremely happy, and they deserve it. [19:03] They've been great. They never complain. [19:04] They just go out, and they farm, [19:06] and they wouldn't do anything different. [19:08] They wouldn't trade jobs with any of you, [19:11] except maybe some of the fake media. [19:13] I don't know. Some I don't see there. [19:15] I like their job better, actually. [19:17] I love the farmers. [19:18] The President of the United States. [19:18] I love the farmers. [19:19] So we gave them $12 billion. [19:21] So, in just a few moments, [19:22] Treasury Secretary Scott Pesent will discuss the actions [19:26] that we're taking to address energy prices, [19:29] which have not gone up as much as I thought, Scott, [19:32] to be honest with you. [19:33] And, you know, it's not over, [19:34] so maybe it'll go up a little bit more. [19:37] It's all going to come back down to where it was [19:39] and probably lower. [19:40] And my predictions have been right. [19:42] Trump was right about everything. [19:43] They have a new hat. [19:44] Trump was right about everything. [19:47] It's pretty right. [19:50] And Scott's going to address that. [19:52] And I think before we go very much further, [19:56] I want to ask Vice President J.D. Vance [19:58] to say a few words about where we are with the situation. [20:04] He's involved with Steve and with Jared on negotiations. [20:07] And then some of the others will speak. [20:09] We'll have Marco say a few words, Pete Hagseth, [20:12] who was born for this role. [20:15] I mean, he's doing a great job. [20:17] They gave him a hard time. [20:19] And now people — I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man, I'll tell you, man. [20:20] I'll tell you, somebody came up to me yesterday, [20:21] gave you a very hard time, said, you know, I made a mistake. [20:24] Pete Hagseth is doing a good job. [20:26] So when I tell you who, you're not even going to believe it. [20:29] He said, Hagseth, he gave you such a nasty hard time. [20:34] But you're doing — you're doing great. [20:37] And then Steve is going to speak. [20:39] And Scott will speak last. [20:43] And if we have any questions, we'll take some questions. [20:45] You may have questions. [20:46] I doubt it, but you may have some. [20:49] So, J.D., please. [20:51] J.D. Yes, sir. [20:51] Well, thank you. [20:52] It's good to see everybody. [20:53] Proud to be part of this team. [20:54] Proud to be serving the President of the country. [20:56] Let me just say a couple things. [20:57] The first of all is, the President summarized this [21:00] very ably. [21:02] But look, the Iranian conventional military is [21:04] effectively destroyed. [21:06] They don't have a Navy. [21:07] They don't have the ability to hit us like they could [21:09] even a few weeks ago. [21:10] And what that does is that gives us options, [21:11] Mr. President. [21:12] Now, there's been a lot of reporting about diplomatic [21:15] options, about negotiations. [21:17] There's, of course, Pete and his team. [21:19] There are further military options. [21:21] But what we have now that we didn't have when the [21:23] President took over just a little over a year ago is [21:25] the ability to use every tool at our disposal to [21:29] ensure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. [21:32] Because when I say options, I think it's [21:34] important the American people know options for [21:36] what, and it's options to ensure that Iran never has [21:39] a nuclear weapon. [21:40] You talk about people who walk into a crowded [21:42] supermarket and have a vest on. [21:44] And they blow up the vest, and a couple of people get [21:46] killed, and that's a terrible tragedy. [21:48] But even though it's on the vest, it's not something [21:50] that can kill a couple of people but can kill many, [21:52] many tens of thousands of people. [21:54] That is the most important American national security [21:57] objective that exists for any administration at any [22:00] time is you don't want the worst people in the world [22:03] to have a nuclear weapon. [22:04] That's why the President is doing this. [22:06] That's why the President cares so much about this [22:08] particular issue. [22:09] I'll let Steve talk a little bit about the [22:11] details of the negotiation. [22:12] But the last thing I'll say before I turn it over to [22:15] Marco is I'm very mindful, of course, that we have a [22:18] lot of folks overseas fighting very ably for the [22:21] United States of America. [22:22] I know Pete and the whole team were very proud of them. [22:25] But they're fighting at a time where we are about to [22:28] enter as Christians the most important week of the [22:31] Christian calendar, the Holy Week that celebrates the [22:34] return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem. [22:36] And so I want to say to all of my fellow American [22:39] Christians, but particularly those serving [22:41] in the Gulf, that I wish you all a very blessed [22:43] Easter, a very blessed Holy Week, and we continue to [22:47] stand behind you. [22:48] And we will support you every step of the way. [22:50] Thank you, sir. [22:53] President Obama The most important job any [22:54] President has is to keep the American people safe. [22:57] And every President says it, but we have a President [22:59] that means it and does something about it. [23:01] As the President outlined very clearly to the world [23:03] on the night this operation began, Iran has [23:06] been at war with the United States for 47 years. [23:09] For 47 years, Iran has been killing Americans and [23:12] attacking Americans across this planet. [23:14] And other Presidents had an opportunity to do [23:16] something about it. [23:17] And they all warned about how Iran was doing the [23:18] dangerous, but they refuse to act. And this president's not someone that's going to refuse [23:21] to act. He's not going to leave a danger like this in place. He's going to address it, and that is [23:26] what he is doing. From the very first night of this operation, the president made it very clear. [23:31] People like this, and now what I'm talking about is not the people of Iran. The people that run [23:35] this country are radical Shia clerics. These are religious fanatics. Look what they are doing now. [23:40] At their weakest point, this is the weakest Iran has ever been, and look at what they're doing. [23:44] They're attacking embassies. They're embassies. They're attacking hotels. Imagine what these [23:50] people would do if they had a nuclear weapon. That is an unacceptable risk for the world. [23:55] By the way, the president's not just doing a favor to the United States and to our people. [23:58] This is for the world. He defined very clearly on the first night of this operation what the goal [24:03] was. We were going to destroy Iran's navy, and that is happening. If it hasn't already happened, [24:09] I'll let Pete speak to the specifics of it. We were going to destroy their missile launching [24:14] capability. [24:14] We're well on our way to achieving that goal. We were going to destroy the factories so they [24:19] couldn't make more missiles and more drones, and that is moving forward. Every single objective [24:23] the president clearly laid out on the first night of this operation is being effectuated. Again, [24:28] Pete will speak to the specifics of it. This has been an incredibly successful operation. [24:32] Every day, it may not get covered because, you know, we're unlike them. We're not bombing [24:37] embassies and hotels. We're hitting military targets. But every day, the Department of War [24:42] lets the drummer get wicked. [24:44] If you look at the potential potential. You think, Oh, the United States will be able to [24:48] carry out some of these operations that we just did over every portion of Iran that has these [24:53] military capabilities, and the results are going to bear fruit for the world. The world is going [24:57] to be a safer and a better place when President trump's mission here is achieved. And frankly, I [25:02] think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit [25:06] should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that's willing to confront a [25:09] threat like this and not allow it to continue to persist because these people will kill as many [25:13] millions of Americans in the future. [25:15] And that is a risk that was not going to continue to exist [25:18] as long as we had this president. [25:20] Thank you, Marco. [25:21] You know, it's very interesting [25:22] because yesterday I was watching, [25:25] is it Anthony Blinken? [25:27] And he was saying that they should have done it. [25:29] But they didn't do it. [25:31] Nobody did it. [25:32] Nobody did it. [25:33] For 47 years, Marco, that's the number. [25:36] 47, I guess now it's 48. [25:39] Because we've been saying 47 for a long time. [25:41] It's probably 48. [25:43] But for 47, 48 years, [25:46] every president should have done this. [25:49] And some are saying now that they made a big mistake [25:54] in not doing it. [25:55] But we're taking care of business. [25:57] Steve Witkoff, please. [26:00] Mr. President, it is my distinct honor [26:04] to be a member of your cabinet [26:06] and to report to you and your team [26:08] on our negotiations with Iran. [26:11] Mr. President, you directed Jared and I [26:13] to pursue a diplomatic resolution [26:16] with Iran prior to Operation Epic Fury, which we did. [26:22] However, it became quite clear during these meetings [26:26] with the Iranian negotiating team [26:29] that we could not make a deal that [26:31] fulfilled your objectives of the following. [26:34] No enrichment whatsoever. [26:37] No chance of weaponizing whatsoever. [26:40] Decommissioning of Frodeux, Natanz and Esfahan, [26:44] which you destroyed in Operation Midnight Hammer. [26:47] No enrichment. [26:49] stockpiling of any material which they flagrantly had violated turning all enriched material over [26:56] to us and a cutback in iran's missile inventory and range capability of those same missiles [27:05] throughout our meetings with the iranians we heard the following from them [27:10] the iranians have the inalienable right to enrich then we heard they possessed enough 60 [27:17] enriched material 460 kilograms to make 11 atomic bombs finally we heard the following statement [27:27] they would not give up diplomatically what we could not win militarily in other words they [27:34] were again miscalculating the success of midnight hammer which was a total success [27:40] these are incontrovertible signs among among many other signs sir that their regime [27:50] has been in the hands of the iranians and the iranians have been in the hands of the iranians [27:50] have been in the hands of the iranians and the iranians have been in the hands of the iranians [27:50] not given their negotiating team authority to make a deal required by you we conferred with [27:57] you and all the other members of your foreign policy team susie wiles pete hegseth the chairman [28:05] marco rubio jd scott besant chris wright john radcliffe throughout all of these negotiations [28:15] and we were repeatedly rebuffed on everything we asked for i have no doubt that we exhausted [28:20] all efforts on behalf of a peaceful resolution as you directed jared and i both agreed that the [28:27] iranians were there to buy time until a weaker president arrived this was a flawed strategy [28:35] as your clear direction was to never allow iran to obtain a nuclear weapon today or any time in [28:42] the future against that backdrop and our compelling military successes in epic fury we have had [28:51] a lot of reasonable reach-outs from the region and others who want to play a role in ending this [28:58] conflict peacefully i can report to you today that we have along with your foreign policy team [29:07] presented a 15-point action list that forms the framework for a peace deal this has been [29:14] circulated through the pakistani government acting as the mediator and this has resulted in strong and [29:23] deep Antonio coulomb policies and their response to our [29:43] nation-led war on innovation at length including images and videos on our public faas telephone [29:48] canceled ابت frei proceduring to немнож Rudolph [29:51] peace vows there'll be aank 요. [29:52] all right thank you very much to all 8.8. [29:53] destruction. We have strong signs that this is a possibility, and if a deal happens, it will be [30:00] great for the country of Iran, for the entire region, and the world at large. Your policy of [30:07] peace through strength is the most effective tool for a diplomatic resolution here, just as this [30:15] policy was an effective tool in each and every one of all of the other conflicts you settled in [30:21] your first year. Iran is looking for an off-ramp following your powerful threat on Saturday. [30:29] Your indications that you are willing to listen to peace proposals have been well received. You [30:36] have instructed us that your preference is always peace, and that we should make that our priority. [30:43] We have delivered that message, sir, along with the 15 points for peace. [30:48] Finally, we have told Iran one last thing. [30:51] Don't miscalculate again. [30:55] Thank you very much. You're doing a great job. Everybody around the [31:00] table is doing a great job. Pete Hegseth, please. [31:04] Mr. President, I'll start kind of where you left off, Mr. President. Thank you for doing the work [31:09] of the free world and having the courage to step up and stop the Iranian terror regime [31:15] from holding the world hostage. That's really what it is. And 27 days ago, Iran had a modern military. [31:21] Never in recorded history has a nation's military been so quickly and effectively [31:25] neutralized. Operation Epic Fury is not an endless war. It's a decisive campaign [31:31] with clear objectives to destroy Iran's offensive military capabilities and [31:36] ensure they never obtain a nuclear weapon. This is stuff for the history books. [31:43] This is stuff for legacy. Mr. President, you are acting now to ensure future generations do not have [31:51] to live under the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. However, you wouldn't know it if you listened to [31:57] the dishonest hate Trump media, as you referenced. The folks here in the room, these cameras, [32:03] they have a choice. You're either informing the American people of the truth or you're not. [32:08] Because I hear it from my people every day. Behind every headline you write, [32:13] there's a helicopter crew in the air. And behind every news banner you write, there's a battalion [32:20] on the move. [32:21] And behind every fake news story, there's an F-35 pilot executing a dangerous mission. [32:28] My message to the media is get it right. This actually isn't something new to me. [32:33] I may be a young guy, Mr. President, but I'm not a rookie in this realm. [32:38] In 2007, I helped lead the surge, the public fight for the Iraq surge. Stood and watched [32:45] people stand in the Senate and declare the war is lost before it even started. Who was that? [32:50] It was Harry Reid. [32:51] That was the [32:52] Democrat. [32:52] The Democrats and the media working hand in glove. Back then it was three years into a war. [32:56] Now we're three weeks into an operation. But see, unlike Iraq, this isn't a tie. [33:05] This is not parody. This is not chaos. This is success, pure American success, [33:12] on plan, and as the President said, ahead of pace. Over 10,000 enemy targets destroyed, [33:18] over 140, I think now you're right, Mr. President, over 150 naval, [33:22] Incoming missiles sunk, underground facilities destroyed, their defense industrial base in [33:26] shambles, and overnight, not only do they not have a navy, Mr. President, they no longer have [33:31] a navy commander. IRGC's navy commander was killed overnight in operation. So, no navy, [33:38] no navy leader. [33:41] Here's the thing about the media, though, if President Trump had not acted, you'd be [33:45] screaming why not? And now that he has taken decisive action, you're asking, well why did you? [33:51] It's the same old tired playbook, TDS in your DNA. [33:57] But the hardworking, God-fearing, patriotic Americans out there know better. [34:02] And you alluded to this, President Obama, Mr. President, here's a fact that you don't [34:05] hear on your networks, but we know. [34:08] Many of the Iranian military factories and bases that we're systematically destroying [34:13] were paid for by the pallets of American cash that Barack Obama flew into Tehran under the [34:20] Iran deal. [34:22] You might call it an inconvenient truth. [34:25] Iran took our money and turned it into weapons and bunkers and ammo. [34:29] And now we're destroying those weapons and we're righting, you're righting, Mr. President, [34:33] that grievous wrong. [34:35] And make no mistake, we had to act. [34:37] And our objectives are clear. [34:38] No nukes, no Navy, and a complete dismantling of their missile program and defense industrial [34:43] base. [34:44] And as Marco pointed out, that mission, and the VP as well, has not changed since day [34:49] one. [34:50] Yes. [34:51] And yet, two days ago, they shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000 kilometers away. [34:59] For years, they told the world that their missiles could only range two kilometers. [35:04] Surprise. [35:05] Yet again, Iran lied. [35:08] And to the world, I say London is 4,000 kilometers from Iran. [35:14] Washington DC is 3,300 kilometers from Venezuela, another country President Trump did something [35:20] about. [35:21] And we've been talking about this for a long time with Iran. [35:23] So you're telling us that Iran is not a threat to the world or to the U.S. President Trump [35:27] knows better. [35:28] And here's what success actually looks like right now. [35:31] You mentioned it, Mr. President, A-10 Warthogs, if you know them, you love them, and Apache [35:36] helicopter gunships are flying strike missions inside Iranian airspace and throughout the [35:42] Strait of Hormuz at will. [35:44] See, you only send these slow, low-flying, close air support platforms when the end of [35:51] the war is near. [35:52] The enemy has no meaningful air defenses left. [35:55] Their presence is proof that Iran's air defenses are gone. [36:00] Their command and control is shattered, their top leaders hiding in underground bunkers [36:04] while their mid-level commanders are being crushed in the field, the morale of their [36:08] fighters plummeting. [36:09] And we see that disconnect daily. [36:12] They're privately admitting, as you said, Mr. President, very heavy losses. [36:16] We know that. [36:19] President Trump has given us a clear mission. [36:20] Our capabilities. [36:21] They're only going up, and Iran's are plummeting. [36:24] We are here to win, and we're full speed ahead. [36:28] So Steve, we appreciate your efforts. [36:30] We pray for a deal, and we welcome a deal, and we have the ultimate dealmaker to make [36:35] it happen. [36:36] But in the meantime, as I said yesterday, the Department of War will continue negotiating [36:40] with bombs. [36:42] War is negotiation by other means. [36:46] And finally, I want to thank our incredible troops. [36:50] Our pilots, crews, sailors, refuelers. [36:51] Thank you. [36:52] Thank you. [36:53] The air defenders, the absolute best of America, the real 1% of our country. [36:58] This president, President Trump has your back. [37:01] And I know this Cabinet prays for you every single day. [37:05] We ask the American people to do the same as they continue in this mission. [37:09] God bless. [37:10] Thank you, Mr. President. [37:11] Thank you very much. [37:12] That's great. [37:13] I think before I ask Scott to say a couple of words, it would be great if people like [37:23] the mayor of Chicago. [37:25] and the governor of Illinois, would say, [37:29] please come in and stop the crime. [37:33] A beautiful young lady was killed the other day. [37:39] And the father was a very good friend of Dan Scavino. [37:44] And he took it very hard. Dan took it very hard. [37:47] He liked the father, friends. They grew up together. [37:50] And it's a young lady whose life would be saved [37:59] if we did what we did, as an example, in Washington, D.C., [38:04] which is now a safe city. [38:06] All the time, people come up to me in the building. [38:08] People that work here, they say, thank you so much. [38:10] I know immediately what they're talking about. [38:12] They're able to walk to work. They walk to work. [38:14] You all walk to work. Some of you were mugged. [38:16] I know you told me stories. Some of you were mugged. [38:19] One person in particular was viciously mugged. [38:22] In the group right here, it's not happening anymore. [38:26] You have a safe city. [38:29] Louisiana, the governor of Louisiana called me. [38:31] Can you help me with New Orleans? [38:33] They just had the money grow. [38:34] He said it was the safest money grow we've ever had. [38:37] Sounds terrible to say. No murders. [38:40] You know, it sounds like, who would say this? [38:42] No murders. But they always had murders. [38:44] They had a lot of crime during money grow. [38:46] He said virtually no crime. [38:48] We had the troops down there. [38:51] Memphis, Tennessee, I just got back. We were there. [38:53] Crime is down. [38:54] 75%. [38:55] In a short period of time, we're there five months. [38:59] We could do that for Chicago. We could do that for New York. [39:01] We could do that for L.A. [39:04] And we could do that for, frankly, San Francisco. [39:07] I know they have a mayor who's trying very hard. [39:09] He's a Democrat, but he's trying very hard. [39:11] But we can do it much more effectively because he can't do what we do. [39:15] He can't take people out from the city and bring them back to the country from where they came, [39:22] where they were in prisons. [39:24] They were allowed to go. [39:25] They were allowed to go in prisons. [39:26] They were drug dealers, the highest level drug dealers. [39:30] Murderers, 11,888 murderers. [39:32] We do things that they can't do. [39:35] I had friends calling me up from San Francisco. [39:37] Could you give him a chance? [39:38] I said, absolutely. [39:39] If you want, we'll give him a chance. [39:41] He's trying. He's doing okay. [39:43] But we can do much better. [39:44] We can make it a lot safer than it is. [39:47] San Francisco, a great city, was a great city. [39:50] Could quickly become a great city again. [39:53] But, you know, they're going very slowly. [39:56] I tell my friends, they're very substantial people. [39:59] They're in a certain business where people have made a lot of money. [40:03] I hope that lasts. [40:05] But they have a tremendous, tremendous potential. [40:09] It was one of the greatest cities in the world. [40:11] Now it's got a lot of crime. [40:13] And the mayor is really trying it. [40:14] Again, a Democrat trying. [40:16] And I spoke to him. [40:17] He just wants to have a chance. [40:19] And I said, we'll give you a chance, but we can solve it very quickly. [40:23] This young lady would be around. [40:25] Today, if we were around, because we have nobody coming through our border. [40:33] I mean, literally, for nine months, it's zero. [40:35] It's hard to believe that that number can be possible because millions of people came in through Biden. [40:41] But nobody even tries. [40:42] We don't have the caravans of thousands, 25,000, 30,000 people pouring into our border. [40:49] They come up in caravans. [40:51] We don't have caravans anymore. [40:52] There's no such thing anymore. [40:54] There's a name that I think I developed. [40:56] Somebody developed it, but I think it was me. [40:58] I thought it was inappropriate. [40:59] And thousands of people would come up and just barge into our country, totally unchecked, totally unvented. [41:05] And this man came in, Dan, right? [41:09] And he came in through the ridiculous open border of Biden. [41:15] If we were there, the election was rigged. [41:19] What are you going to do? [41:20] Came back. [41:21] Big comeback. [41:23] But if we were there, we wouldn't have had people coming through. [41:26] It's amazing. [41:27] You know, it's so easy now because everyone knows they're not getting through. [41:30] We don't have any caravans. [41:31] Once they know that, when it was easy to come through. [41:34] When I heard that they had an open border policy, I said, boy, this is going to be. [41:38] I couldn't believe it. [41:40] But when it was actually, you know, it dawned on me because I had built a thousand miles of wall and we were finishing up some. [41:49] And he didn't want to finish it up. [41:51] I said, they really do want to have an open border. [41:55] And we got it finished. [41:58] And that young lady would be alive today. [42:02] And she'd be alive for another reason, because we would have the National Guard in Chicago and in New York and in other places. [42:10] And they love doing it. [42:11] It's like training. [42:12] To be honest, it's actually training. [42:15] I never want to take him out of D.C. [42:17] I mean, maybe somebody later on will do it, but I never want to take, you know, the people they look, they say, we feel so good. [42:23] We feel so safe. [42:24] We see these beautiful, strong people. [42:28] And they're so nice. [42:29] They help. [42:30] They open the doors for people. [42:32] They carry bags. [42:33] They pick up paper when they see paper on the ground. [42:37] I looked at D.C. last night. [42:39] I drove to make a speech and I drove through and I said, take me this way. [42:43] Take me that way. [42:44] The city's clean. [42:45] The fences are down. [42:47] You don't have homeless all over your parks. [42:49] I mean, we had parks. [42:50] You couldn't. [42:50] There was no room for anything else other than homeless. [42:53] It's all clean and nice. [42:55] It's going to be even more beautiful in a year from now. [42:59] And we have some projects. [43:00] This ballroom is going to be something that's so beautiful for the city, so desperately needed by presidents. [43:07] I mean, now it's no secret. [43:09] The military wanted it more than anybody. [43:12] It was supposed to be secret, but it became unsecret because of people that are really unpatriotic saying things. [43:21] But it doesn't matter. [43:22] It doesn't matter. [43:23] It's going to be great. [43:24] We're building an arc, a triumphal arc, which will be incredible for the city. [43:28] Incredible. [43:29] We're fixing up the. [43:30] What was the Kennedy Center? [43:32] I was honored when the board changed the name a little bit. [43:36] Actually, it shows that the Republican and the Democrats, they work together. [43:40] It's really something we work together. [43:43] So I think it's a great symbol, actually. [43:45] But we're doing a lot of work. [43:46] That building is ready to fall down. [43:47] It's in terrible shape. [43:49] We're closing it. [43:50] We're going to open it with a bang in less than two years. [43:53] It'll come in under budget, ahead of schedule. [43:55] That's what I do. [43:56] It won't be like the Federal Reserve that's costing $4 billion. [44:00] Or something thereabouts. [44:02] Think of it. [44:02] $4 billion. [44:05] You know, it's amazing. [44:06] I said to the group before, I said, everything I do, I get sued. [44:10] I build under budget, ahead of schedule. [44:14] I get sued over a ballroom that's going to be the most beautiful ballroom in the country. [44:17] So desperately needed. [44:19] You won't have to have tents sitting on the wet White House lawn. [44:22] If it rains, you get wiped out to honor the president of China or the president of France [44:30] or the president. [44:30] You're going to have to be out of somewhere. [44:33] You're going to have to have the greatest. [44:34] We get sued by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. [44:40] They don't know what they're doing. [44:42] Then I just found out we got sued by that group and another group, I guess, on the fixing [44:47] up of, again, I'll use the old name, Kennedy Center, because they're not fixing up Trump [44:55] Kennedy. [44:56] It's going to be beautiful when you add the name Trump. [45:00] But we got sued. [45:01] We got sued. [45:01] And all I'm doing is fixing it up. [45:04] We're fixing broken marble. [45:06] We're putting on a roof because it leaks like a sieve. [45:09] We're fixing steel that's broken. [45:11] It's the same building, same exact building. [45:14] We're fixing it. [45:16] It's going to be beautiful. [45:17] It's going to be so beautiful and safe. [45:19] It's actually unsafe. [45:20] You had some of those columns on the outside that were painted a fake gold. [45:23] Now we painted them a beautiful white color, beautiful cream white. [45:27] It's beautiful. [45:28] Everyone said it's so much more beautiful now. [45:30] Instead of a cheap. [45:32] You can't imitate gold. [45:33] See, I'm a gold person. [45:34] It's all real stuff. [45:36] You can't imitate it. [45:37] Someday they'll discover a paint that will look like gold and the guy's going to be the [45:42] richest man in the world. [45:44] But you can't imitate real gold. [45:47] It's 24 carat, which is what this building deserves. [45:52] But think of it. [45:54] I get sued because I'm fixing up the Trump Kennedy Center. [45:58] We're going to make it gorgeous and safe. [46:01] We're fixing new windows, new this, but just all fix up. [46:05] I got sued by preservationists. [46:10] But you know who they didn't sue? [46:12] The man that took this beautiful Federal Reserve building. [46:16] That's small, much smaller than the hotel I built. [46:18] I built the Waldorf Astoria Hotel down the road. [46:22] And it was a beautiful job for 200 million, $201 million. [46:28] It's bigger, I think, than the Federal Reserve building. [46:31] And it's got rooms and bathrooms. [46:33] And it's not like just an open office space, which is much cheaper to build. [46:37] Think of this. [46:39] I hear he's going to be over $4 billion for a little building. [46:45] He doesn't get sued by anybody but me. [46:47] I sue because it's either somebody is very crooked, which has to be, [46:53] because what happened to all that money? [46:55] You can't sue. [46:56] I would have done that building for $25 million. [46:59] It's going to cost maybe $4 billion. [47:03] We have a great new person coming in to take over the Fed. [47:07] And Kevin may not ever have an office. [47:12] Because I don't know if they're going to be able to build it. [47:15] I passed that building the other day. [47:16] It's a see-through. [47:17] You know what see-through means? [47:18] There's no walls up. [47:19] And they're going to spend. [47:22] But the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is a joke, by the way, [47:26] they didn't sue that building. [47:28] They didn't sue anybody. [47:31] But they sue me and I build. [47:33] And by the way, my buildings, it's all donations. [47:36] Rich people and people are putting up the money. [47:40] Zero taxpayer dollars. [47:41] Is that right, Scott? [47:42] Zero taxpayer dollars. [47:44] This stuff is all done for free. [47:46] And I get sued. [47:47] This could only happen to Trump. [47:51] But they don't sue the guy whose interest rates are too high. [47:55] That's why we call him Too Late. [47:57] His name is Jerome Powell. [47:58] We call him Jerome Too Late Powell. [48:01] And he's done a terrible job. [48:05] He suffers from Trump derangement syndrome, as he probably should, [48:08] because I hit him pretty hard. [48:10] So I don't blame him. [48:12] But they don't sue a man who has taken this gorgeous building, [48:17] ripped it down from the inside, [48:21] taken ceilings that are as beautiful as you've ever seen, [48:27] taken the ceilings down instead of leaving them, [48:30] taken walls down that were two feet thick of solid concrete and plaster, [48:36] replacing them with six acres of land. [48:39] Six-inch walls with no insulation. [48:42] I said, let me ask you, are you going to put insulation in? [48:45] No, it's not in the budget. [48:48] Insulation costs $5. [48:52] Now you're going to hear the guy next door. [48:54] If he's next door to me, I'll be able to hear his military plan. [48:57] I'll know exactly. [48:59] If Lutnik is in there, I'll say, oh, I know exactly what Lutnik's got planned. [49:03] It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. [49:07] They've ripped this gorgeous building apart. [49:10] And you can never build it again. [49:12] I could, but it costs a lot of money. [49:14] But a normal person can never build. [49:16] So you're going to have crummy little walls, a flat little ceiling eventually, [49:20] but right now you don't have anything. [49:22] And nobody sues this guy. [49:24] And then when Jeanine Pirro, working with Pam and others, [49:28] has the courage to sue to find out what happened to maybe $4 billion [49:34] in a building that may never be occupied by Kevin Walsh. [49:37] She may never get there. [49:39] We're going to have to find him some space in the White House. [49:42] We'll put him in the basement of the ballroom. [49:48] Now think of it. [49:50] When Jeanine Pirro and Pam in the group, when they bring a suit, [49:55] it's like, oh, this terrible thing. [49:57] And then we have a judge that attacks us. [50:00] She attacks us. [50:02] So we've got to get our priorities straight. [50:05] It's a very sad thing that's happened with the Fed. [50:08] And then just one other thing. [50:10] It goes very quickly. [50:11] You have Gavin Newsom in California Railroad. [50:15] That's 100 times over budget. [50:17] It's out of control. [50:19] It was supposed to go from the middle of San Francisco to the middle of L.A. [50:23] Well, now it stops way short of both. [50:26] It now goes into areas that nobody ever heard of. [50:30] It's billions and billions of dollars over budget, years and years, [50:37] maybe decades late. [50:40] And that's why we have a country that has a lot of money. [50:42] We have a lot of problems. [50:44] We have incompetent people. [50:46] It's all people. [50:48] Think of the Federal Reserve. [50:50] I would have had that building done for $25 million. [50:52] If I did it, somebody else would have done it for more. [50:56] So maybe 50. [50:58] But you could have done that building if it was properly done and planned. [51:01] You would have done that building for, I would have done it, for $25 million, [51:06] and it would be better. [51:09] It would be better. [51:11] See this pen right here? [51:12] This pen is an interesting example. [51:13] So this pen is very inexpensive. [51:16] But it writes well. [51:17] I like it. [51:18] But I can't have the pen the way it was. [51:20] You know what it is. [51:21] I don't want to give too much publicity, but they do treat me well. [51:24] Sharpie. [51:26] So I came here. [51:28] They have $1,000 pens. [51:30] And, you know, you hand pens out. [51:31] You're signing and you're handing them out. [51:32] You're handing them out to all these people. [51:34] Sometimes you have 30, 40 people. [51:36] And they were $1,000 apiece. [51:38] Beautiful pen. [51:39] Ballpoint. [51:40] $1,000. [51:42] It was gold, silver, gorgeous. [51:43] But I'm handing it out to kids that don't even know what they're doing. [51:45] What is this, mommy? [51:47] It's kids. [51:48] They're getting a pen for $1,000. [51:50] They have no idea what it is. [51:52] And I feel guilty because I'm like, you know, by nature, I don't, you know, it's the government. [51:57] I love the government like I love myself economically. [52:00] I want to save money. [52:02] So I'm saying, this is crazy. [52:04] And it had another problem. [52:05] They didn't write well. [52:06] So I take it out. [52:08] And I saw it, and there's no ink. [52:10] And I got all you people looking. [52:12] And you're saying, there must be change. [52:13] There's something wrong with Trump. [52:15] And I'm signing. [52:16] And there's no ink in the pen. [52:18] And it costs $1,000. [52:20] This one, I called the guy. [52:22] I said, I'd like to use your pen, but I can't have a gray thing with a big S on it. [52:27] Saying, Sharpie, as I'm signing a trillion-dollar airplane contract to buy brand-new fighter jets, [52:34] brand-new B-2 bombers, of which we just ordered plenty, I can't do that with the press. [52:40] Use your pen. [52:41] But I like the pen the best. [52:42] I signed it. [52:43] I could do like Biden did, you know? [52:45] Give it to somebody else to sign, or an auto pen. [52:48] Or maybe sign it separately in another room, but I can't use your pen. [52:51] He said, well, I can make it nicer. [52:53] I said, what can you do? [52:54] He said, I'll paint it black. [52:56] I said, that's nice. [52:57] And I can even paint the White House on it, sir, if you like, in gold. [53:03] Almost real gold. [53:04] Not bad. [53:05] And I can even do your signature, sir. [53:07] And by the way, this was not staged. [53:09] I just saw the pen sit there. [53:10] I thought of this as an example. [53:11] I thought of this as an example. [53:12] Of how $25 million spent by me at the Federal Reserve Building would be a better job than $4 billion that they're spending. [53:23] And you know, one of the things that Kevin Walsh told me, he said they ripped down the nicest building. [53:28] I don't know what building they're talking about. [53:29] They ripped down a building, Scott, right? [53:31] Kevin Walsh said it's the most beautiful building in Washington. [53:35] He said the most beautiful space. [53:37] They ripped it down. [53:38] Why did they do that? [53:39] I don't know. [53:40] Do you know what he's talking about? [53:41] Is it true? [53:42] Yes, sir. [53:43] They ripped it down. [53:45] We have a moron at the Fed. [53:50] Who wouldn't be lowering interest rates right now? [53:53] But I want to thank Jeanine Pirro and Pam and her group for having the courage to bring this suit. [54:03] And I believe that the contractor on that job is probably one of the richest men in the country right now. [54:10] I believe that it's not possible to spend that kind of money. [54:15] Thank you. [54:16] Three billion, four billion. [54:17] Nobody knows. [54:18] Nobody has any idea what it is. [54:20] But it's over three billion. [54:22] And it's probably going to be over four billion by the time they finish. [54:25] And it may never get finished. [54:28] Unless I take it over, I'll get it finished. [54:30] But it can never be what it was. [54:32] It's never going to have those beautiful ceilings. [54:34] It's never going to have those incredible walls. [54:36] The walls were a foot and a half thick of solid masonry. [54:39] They ripped them down for no reason. [54:42] And I just gave you the story. [54:45] And just to finish on this one. [54:46] So I told that story to somebody said yeah, but I mean, but it's not the same thing. I said you're right [54:52] This one is better [54:54] It writes [54:56] So the guy said to me [54:58] You don't have to pay me sir. I'll give him to you for nothing. I said no, I don't want that [55:03] Let me pay you. I want to pay you. No, sir. You don't have to you're the president the United States [55:08] He was shocked man of Sharpie gets a call. I don't even know who the hell he is [55:13] He said this is really the president [55:15] He said no, you don't have to pay me sir. This is such an honor. I said, no, I want to pay you [55:20] He said what would you like to pay? I said, how about five bucks a pen? [55:24] I said so that's all right, whatever the hell we agreed to [55:27] Peanuts as opposed to a thousand and these were thousand dollar pens and we were giving them out sometimes, you know [55:35] You were there for science that have 30 40 people standing behind men give out 40 pens to people [55:40] Then somebody say could I have a couple extra this way go like this. He won five here [55:45] But the bottom line is [55:47] They're better pens. It's a business story [55:50] So for five dollars could be zero but for five dollars I get a much better pen than for a thousand dollars [55:57] And I can hand them out and actually they become hot as a pistol [56:01] So what can I tell you with that? Could I give it to please a man who's done a great job? [56:09] Good luck Scott [56:12] As always you're tough act to follow but that is very [56:16] Your economic leadership has made our military mission possible [56:21] Mr. President national security as you always say is economic security [56:26] Your leadership has shown the American people that there is no prosperity without security [56:32] That our mighty military on one side, but the u.s [56:38] Economic strength they is fighting off this evil regime the Iranians believe they are fighting a two-front war [56:46] It is the military war that our great warriors are [56:50] prosecuting but on the other side [56:52] They are trying to take control of the global economy through a choke point [56:57] That we believe does not exist and that we will overcome [57:01] their historic operation at epic Fury seized a generational opportunity [57:06] to demolish a regime that has coordinated over four decades of global terror and claimed thousands of American lives [57:14] many people [57:15] especially the Democrats, underestimate the will of the American people for short-term volatility [57:22] for 50 years of safety that we are going to have on the other side of this. And I believe [57:28] energy prices will be lower, inflation will be lower. Before, we had the appearance of security, [57:37] which is not real security. Now, the American people and the world will have absolute security [57:44] through your maximum pressure campaign. Treasury has worked to uncover all financial lifelines [57:50] through the regime and cut them off. You gave that order last March. This was not something [57:59] that happened overnight. This is something that has been contemplated for almost a year. [58:04] The Iranian financial system collapsed in December. We have systematically weakened Iran's [58:11] ability to fund operations and procure weapons. [58:14] And that required months of preparations. Threats to American national security have no place in the [58:22] global economic system. The oil market is well supplied. We have taken actions to ensure oil [58:28] supplies stranded at sea are made available to the global market. Your bold actions, like the [58:34] Development Finance Corporation's Maritime Reinsurance Program, in conjunction with [58:39] Central Command, will soon provide shippers through the Gulf region with a level of [58:44] security we have never seen before. Mr. President, we are starting to see more and more movement in [58:51] and out of the Gulf today. And this is more than yesterday. And this is the beginning. I am [58:58] confident that shipping traffic will continue to increase on a daily basis, even before we secure [59:05] the straits. Turning to the home front, the U.S. economy remains strong. We had a strong economy, [59:14] thanks to you. We are the best [59:16] insulated in the world, thanks to your energy efforts in Term 1 and Term 2. The U.S. is an energy [59:26] superpower. American workers' purchasing power is finally being restored. The latest figures indicate [59:33] robust, real compensation increases. We are starting to see the working family tax cuts benefits [59:40] bearing fruit this tax season. Forty-four percent of tax returns have claimed at least [59:46] one of your signature policies. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. [59:50] Deductability of auto loans. The average tax refund is up more than ten percent for working Americans. [59:56] The economy you vitalize through your pro-growth policies is well positioned to withstand [1:00:04] these temporary disruptions. The United States dollar has reasserted itself as a safe haven asset. [1:00:13] The U.S. dollar has appreciated since the hostile return of the dollar to the U.S. dollar when the U.S. dollar has paid its [1:00:16] hostilities began because everyone knows, thanks to your efforts, the U.S. economy is [1:00:22] the best position in the world and capital is flowing in. Efforts to reprioritize economic [1:00:28] security are ensuring the United States remains secure, resilient, and prepared for the challenges [1:00:34] ahead. As we approach the 250th anniversary, America will never be safer and more secure [1:00:42] militarily and economically. Thank you. [1:00:44] I just want to ask you a question. Is this guy central casting? I'm looking at him. I'm [1:00:51] in Treasury. He might not be so good for war. I don't know. No, I'm looking pretty good [1:00:57] too. I'm looking at this guy. He's central casting. Even the glasses are perfect. I think [1:01:03] I'm going to get glasses. That's beautiful. Great job. That's really good. No, he's done [1:01:10] a great job. You all have. Proud of you all. [1:01:14] Do you have any questions? Mr. President, are you going to go in for the uranium? Like, [1:01:21] how do you secure Iran? Let's assume I was or I wasn't. Why would I ever answer a question? [1:01:28] What kind of a question? Am I going to go in for the? Oh, yeah, I'm going in. We're going [1:01:33] in tomorrow at three o'clock. How could you possibly ask a question like that and expect [1:01:39] an answer? I don't know. But I don't know. I think you're a friendly person, too. It's just [1:01:44] such a ridiculous question. [1:01:49] Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, there's been a report that [1:01:55] potentially the U.S. is looking at diverting some munitions, air defenses that were meant [1:02:00] for Ukraine to the Middle East. Is there any accuracy to that? Is that something you're [1:02:04] considering? Well, I'd have to ask me, but we do that all the time. You know, we have [1:02:07] tremendous amounts of ammunition. We have them in other countries like in Germany and [1:02:12] all over Europe. We have, you know, we're packed and we take. [1:02:15] Sometimes we take from one and we use for another. We help Ukraine. Biden started and [1:02:21] he gave three hundred and fifty billion dollars away. Too much. Way too much. And we sell [1:02:28] it now to NATO. We sell it to NATO and they probably give it to Ukraine. Mostly, I think [1:02:33] they give it to Ukraine. But we get paid for everything that we we don't give anything [1:02:39] anymore. That's a tough situation. That whole Ukraine situation. Very, very tough. We're [1:02:45] working very hard on getting that one solved. It doesn't have any impact on us. Virtually [1:02:51] nothing effective, if anything. I mean, we sell a lot of equipment for that unfortunate [1:02:56] war. Twenty five thousand people died last month. Twenty five thousand. So mostly soldiers, [1:03:01] some of the towns, but for the most part, soldiers are dying. Nobody's seen anything [1:03:05] like it since World War Two. It's it's a terrible situation. And hopefully that's going to get [1:03:11] settled. You know, I settled eight wars. And. [1:03:16] Many of them, I think, were more difficult than this one. In theory, they were more [1:03:19] difficult. But there's tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelensky. Tremendous [1:03:25] hatred. I've seen it before, but I've never seen maybe to this extent. And I think that's [1:03:32] calming down a little bit. And I think we have a chance of getting it done. But we it [1:03:37] it doesn't affect us thousands of miles away. That's why when I heard the head of Germany [1:03:42] say, this is not our war about Iraq. [1:03:47] I said, well, Ukraine's not our war. We helped. But Ukraine's not our war. I thought it was [1:03:52] a very inappropriate statement to make. But he made it. You can't erase it. But he felt [1:03:59] that way. I said, well, you know, Ukraine's not our war, but and it's not. But I would [1:04:04] like to see all those young people stop being killed. I mean, they're being killed. It's [1:04:08] like a slaughterhouse. What's happening there is horrible. Twenty five thousand on our list. [1:04:14] Two months ago was thirty one thousand people died. [1:04:17] In one month, Mark. All right. I look, I said, it's getting crazy. It's getting worse. [1:04:22] Think of it. Thirty one thousand soldiers, both Russian and Ukraine, died two months [1:04:29] ago. Twenty five thousand last month. And if I can solve that, it would be a great honor [1:04:35] to do it. I wish it could have gone faster. The you know, I saw the other ones in one [1:04:39] day that had been going for thirty two years. We saw we stopped one that was starting. It [1:04:46] was already started. [1:04:48] India and Pakistan and the prime minister of Pakistan, a very fine gentleman, said President [1:04:54] Trump solved something that was going to cost ten million lives. That was going to cost [1:05:01] a lot of lives to nuclear nations. And those were complicated. But we got them done quickly. [1:05:08] This one is it's a shame. And the only reason I'm doing it, frankly, is because I want to [1:05:15] stop death. I want to stop the death from happening. [1:05:17] I'm going to go. [1:05:19] I'm going to go with the man that I've missed, Brian. I haven't seen you in a long time. [1:05:23] He's been in a very strange location. I don't know if he's had a strange thing happen. But [1:05:30] anyway, go ahead, Brian. [1:05:31] Well, I'm good to see you, too. Actually, good to see the entire category. You talk [1:05:36] about gas prices coming down. Would you ever consider suspending the federal gas tax in [1:05:41] order to kind of temporarily? [1:05:43] Well, some people should do that. As an example, in California, every time you go to a gas [1:05:49] company, you go with a gas tax, and the gas tax is the same, you know, $100,000. You can [1:05:52] take a lot of gas taxes, you know, you can take a lot of gas tax. But the gas tax is [1:05:54] the same, you know, you can take a lot of gas taxes, you know, you can take a lot of [1:05:55] gas taxes, you know, you can take a lot of gas taxes. [1:05:56] And the reason is, you know, the gas tax is bigger than the tax itself, bigger than the [1:05:57] product itself. It has it. I mean, we we've thought about it, I guess. But honestly, when [1:06:05] I did this, I knew it was going to be a little bit. We had the greatest economy ever. We [1:06:12] had the greatest stock market in history. I said, we're going to take a little bit of [1:06:16] a hit. A short term hit. It's going to end up going much harder. So it's going to be [1:06:17] your term hit, it's going to end up going much higher [1:06:20] than it was, in my opinion. [1:06:22] I said we're going to have a great stock market. [1:06:25] Nobody thought we could get to 50,000 or 7,000 [1:06:28] in the respective indices. [1:06:31] Nobody thought that that was going to happen. [1:06:33] But it did in the first year. [1:06:35] They said it couldn't happen in four years, [1:06:37] that you wouldn't hit 50 in four years, [1:06:40] but you could maybe get close. [1:06:43] We hit it in the first year. [1:06:44] And I said, this is a good time to solve a problem [1:06:47] that you had to solve. [1:06:48] And that's what I did. [1:06:49] But the gas tax, you know, people have talked about it. [1:06:54] It's something we have in our pocket [1:06:56] if we think it's necessary. [1:06:58] The Press And if I follow real quickly, [1:06:59] just recently, to Bob, Secretary Duffy, [1:07:02] 17,000 truckers off the road that could, [1:07:05] quite frankly, could not speak English, [1:07:07] which is a safety issue. [1:07:09] Could we ever extend that to Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, [1:07:13] cab drivers, for someone who takes a lot of Ubers, [1:07:16] a lot of my drivers who can't speak English? [1:07:17] Secretary Duffy Oh, well, that's not good. [1:07:19] I didn't like that. [1:07:20] Go ahead, John. [1:07:21] Secretary Duffy So that's a really good point. [1:07:23] The problem is that our states are the ones [1:07:26] that issue these licenses. [1:07:28] So with commercial driver's licenses, [1:07:29] we do have some federal control. [1:07:32] But again, we have thousands of people [1:07:35] who can't speak the language, a longstanding rule, [1:07:39] and it's a safety issue. [1:07:39] But if you can't understand road signs, [1:07:42] if you can't communicate with law enforcement [1:07:44] when you're pulled over and communicate [1:07:46] what's on your rig, [1:07:47] that's a huge problem. [1:07:48] But the last administration, Mr. President, [1:07:51] they let truck-driving schools self-certify [1:07:55] that they were qualified to train truck drivers. [1:07:59] And so this is like the Learing Center. [1:08:01] So you pay $800, and you get a certificate [1:08:06] that you passed a CDL driving school. [1:08:09] And again, they have no skills. [1:08:11] They don't have the knowledge, and they don't have the skills. [1:08:14] They haven't gone through any of the testing. [1:08:15] And then they get licenses, and they're killing [1:08:17] Americans on our roads. [1:08:19] So it's remarkable the rot that the last administration [1:08:22] allowed to take place. [1:08:23] We are ending that, and I need partnership with our states. [1:08:27] Even California started to come on board. [1:08:29] Even Gavin has started to play ball with us, [1:08:31] which is surprising. [1:08:33] Not all the way, a little bit, a little bit of a ball. [1:08:36] Mr. President. [1:08:37] You know, it's interesting because I just saw something [1:08:40] that the nursing home business and the daycare centers [1:08:45] in particular, they went out, [1:08:47] and I was expecting them in Minnesota, [1:08:50] and they didn't exist. [1:08:52] They're knocking on doors. [1:08:53] Happens to be a young man, Nick. [1:08:55] Nice young man. [1:08:56] He's done a very good job. [1:08:57] They're knocking on doors. [1:09:00] It's like homes. [1:09:02] And they're getting hundreds of thousands of that. [1:09:04] They didn't exist. [1:09:06] And in California, it's worse. [1:09:08] It's even worse. [1:09:10] And I spoke with Russell Vogt. [1:09:13] I said, Russell, don't send them any money. [1:09:14] He said, but we have a court order that we have. [1:09:16] Can you believe it? [1:09:17] A judge. [1:09:18] The judges are really hurting this country. [1:09:20] Our judges, Justice Roberts doesn't like when I say it, [1:09:25] but the judges are really hurting this country. [1:09:29] And frankly, the justices, the Supreme Court, [1:09:33] has really hurt our country, too. [1:09:35] The Press-Mr. President, do you have a new deadline, [1:09:38] given that there are some talks now? [1:09:39] Do you have a new deadline before taking drastic action? [1:09:41] The President No, I'll announce it. [1:09:43] I mean, right now, you're talking about a deadline [1:09:45] for doing some pretty big damage, [1:09:46] even bigger than we've done. [1:09:49] We'll see. [1:09:51] Look, we have very substantial talks going on [1:09:54] with respect to Iran, with the right people. [1:09:58] You know, I told you about a present, right? [1:10:00] Steve, can I reveal the present? [1:10:04] You can do anything you want. [1:10:08] The President They said, to show you the fact [1:10:12] that we're real and solid, and we're there, [1:10:17] we're going to let you have eight boats of oil [1:10:19] eight boats, eight big boats of oil. [1:10:22] This was two days ago. [1:10:24] And they'll sail up tomorrow. [1:10:26] That was three days ago. [1:10:28] And I didn't think much about it. [1:10:32] And then I watched the news and they said, a very good anchor actually, happy to be Fox. [1:10:40] But I watched it and they said, something's unusual happening. [1:10:44] There are eight boats that are going right up the middle of the Hormuz Strait. [1:10:52] Eight big tankers are going loaded up with oil right through. [1:10:56] And I said, well, I guess I guess they were right. [1:10:59] And they were they were real. [1:11:01] And I think they were Pakistani flagged. [1:11:04] And I said, well, I guess we deal with the right people. [1:11:08] And actually, they then apologized for something they said. [1:11:12] And they said, we're going to send two more boats. [1:11:15] And it ended up being 10 boats. [1:11:16] I hope I haven't screwed up your negotiations. [1:11:19] I thought it was appropriate to say because I did taunt you. [1:11:23] The other day, by saying they're going to give us a present. [1:11:25] You were arrested at San Francisco Airport for ignoring deportation orders at the same [1:11:37] time as you highlighted really great reception from American travelers for ICE agents. [1:11:42] Is there a PR aspect of this that can allow future deportations to go on with less protest [1:11:48] and less outrage? [1:11:49] Yeah, it's amazing. [1:11:51] Because by putting ICE there. [1:11:53] Look, the press was very unfair to ICE. [1:11:57] So was everyone else. [1:11:58] These are great American patriots. [1:11:59] They have a tough job. [1:12:00] They have to find murderers and take them out of our country. [1:12:02] I wouldn't want to do it. [1:12:03] You wouldn't want to do it. [1:12:04] Most people wouldn't want to do it. [1:12:06] They do it. [1:12:07] And, you know, 11,888 murderers. [1:12:10] And that's murderers. [1:12:11] That's not drug dealers. [1:12:12] That's not lots of other things. [1:12:14] It's not people from mental institutions. [1:12:18] Entire jail populations were released from major countries and let into our country through [1:12:24] the open border. [1:12:26] And ICE has done an amazing job. [1:12:28] I wouldn't want that job. [1:12:29] It's a tough job. [1:12:30] Dangerous job. [1:12:31] So what happens is by putting them at the airport, and I just say, do me a favor, take [1:12:38] off your masks. [1:12:39] And they did for that. [1:12:41] Not for when they're looking for some, you know, cold blooded killers and they're in [1:12:45] there. [1:12:46] But for that. [1:12:47] And they did. [1:12:48] They took them off. [1:12:49] And the passengers, I see the interviews of people. [1:12:52] They're saying, these are nice people. [1:12:53] These are nice people. [1:12:54] One person said, he's a very strong man, but he's a nice guy. [1:13:00] He grabbed my bag. [1:13:01] He helped a woman with a bag that she couldn't lift. [1:13:04] And I'll tell you, I don't want to use the word rehab because there was nothing to rehab, [1:13:10] but rehab from the press, you know, because the press is so tough on them. [1:13:14] And these crooks in Minnesota, these crooked politicians and dirty cops, they're dirty [1:13:18] cops. [1:13:19] They're dirty politicians. [1:13:21] Waltz is a dirty, crooked politician. [1:13:24] The attorney general is a crook. [1:13:25] The crooked guy is. [1:13:26] No investigations. [1:13:27] And I hope J.D. is going to do a great job. [1:13:29] He's in charge of it now with somebody who's very talented. [1:13:32] But I think it's easy sell. [1:13:34] They say $19 billion. [1:13:38] Think of it. [1:13:39] He's missing. [1:13:40] $19 billion. [1:13:41] You know, if we would solve half of the fraud problem, Pam, in this country, we would have [1:13:47] more than a balanced budget. [1:13:48] We have, we'd have a surplus. [1:13:52] And in the case of Minnesota, it's a lot. [1:13:55] It's very Somalia-oriented. [1:13:58] Think of it. [1:13:59] These people come from a crooked country, disgusting country, one of the worst countries [1:14:02] in the world, acknowledged to be one of the worst countries in the world. [1:14:06] Some people say it's the worst. [1:14:07] They have no money. [1:14:08] They have nothing. [1:14:11] They come to our country, low IQs, and they rob us blind, stupid people. [1:14:19] And they rob us blind because we have crooked politicians and we have dirty cops. [1:14:24] The attorney general is a dirty cop. [1:14:25] He's a crook. [1:14:26] He's a crook. [1:14:27] He's a crook. [1:14:28] It's my opinion. [1:14:29] It's only my opinion. [1:14:30] And something should be done about him. [1:14:31] Let's see what kind of job he does. [1:14:32] Q Mr. President, yesterday you said that you hate mail-in ballots. [1:14:33] THE PRESIDENT. [1:14:34] Excuse me? [1:14:35] Q Should Iran be able to charge a toll for the Strait of Hormuz? [1:14:36] They're charging some vessels to go through. [1:14:37] THE PRESIDENT. [1:14:38] Well, should they be able to? [1:14:39] I mean, they shouldn't be able to. [1:14:40] But they're doing it a little bit. [1:14:41] I don't know. [1:14:42] Look, look, their capability is a lot less than it was two weeks ago. [1:14:43] And with every week and every day, they're doing it a little bit. [1:14:44] I mean, they're doing it a little bit. [1:14:45] I mean, they're doing it a little bit. [1:14:46] I don't know. [1:14:47] Look, look, their capability is a lot less than it was two weeks ago. [1:14:48] I mean, they shouldn't be able to. [1:14:49] But they're doing it a little bit. [1:14:50] I don't know. [1:14:51] Look, look, their capability is a lot less than it was two weeks ago. [1:14:52] And with every week and every day, frankly, it gets less and less. [1:14:53] And with every week and every day, frankly, it gets less and less. [1:14:54] All I can tell you is they're begging to make a deal. [1:14:55] So let's see what happens. [1:14:56] We may make a deal. [1:14:57] Q Mr. President, yesterday you said that you hate mail-in ballots. [1:14:58] THE PRESIDENT. [1:14:59] Q Mr. President, yesterday you said that you hate mail-in ballots. [1:15:01] THE PRESIDENT. [1:15:02] Q Tell me about mail-in ballots. [1:15:03] Go ahead. [1:15:04] Q You recently voted for mail-in ballots. [1:15:05] THE PRESIDENT. [1:15:06] Q You recently voted for mail-in ballots. [1:15:07] Q You recently voted for mail-in ballots. [1:15:08] THE PRESIDENT. [1:15:09] Q Tell me about mail-in ballots. [1:15:10] Go ahead. [1:15:11] Q You recently voted for mail-in ballots. [1:15:12] THE PRESIDENT. [1:15:13] Q You recently voted for mail-in ballots. [1:15:14] THE PRESIDENT. [1:15:15] Q You may not use the mail-in ballot. [1:15:16] You probably said, yeah, I did. [1:15:17] Q Why did you use the mail-in ballots? [1:15:18] THE PRESIDENT. [1:15:19] Q You know what? [1:15:20] Because I'm President of the United States. [1:15:21] And because of the fact that I'm President of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot [1:15:22] for elections that took place in Florida because I felt I should be here instead of being in [1:15:26] the beautiful sunshine, taking— [1:15:27] Q But you were on Palm Beach, sir, the last few weekends. [1:15:29] THE PRESIDENT. [1:15:30] Q That's right. [1:15:31] And I decided that I was going to vote by mail-in ballot because I couldn't be there [1:15:35] because I had a lot of different things. [1:15:37] But you know, we have exceptions for mail-in ballots. [1:15:39] You do know that, right? [1:15:41] So if you're away, we have an exception. [1:15:44] If you're in the military, we have an exception. [1:15:46] If you're on a business trip, we have an exception. [1:15:48] If you're disabled, we have an exception. [1:15:50] And if you're ill, if you're not feeling good, we have an exception. [1:15:54] So I was away, mostly in Washington, D.C., so I used a mail-in ballot. [1:15:58] But I appreciate the question. [1:15:59] Because I know—I know it was so well-meaning. [1:16:02] Yes? [1:16:03] Q Mr. President, I actually just looked up the company that owns Sharpie, and they stock [1:16:07] composite it. [1:16:08] After you mentioned it— [1:16:09] THE PRESIDENT. [1:16:10] Q By the way, they deserve it. [1:16:11] It's a good product. [1:16:12] Q You gave a five-day deadline. [1:16:13] With oil tankers going through the Strait of El Muz, is that a condition to remove that [1:16:14] five-day deadline? [1:16:15] THE PRESIDENT. [1:16:16] Well, we want—we don't want anything impeded. [1:16:17] We want ships to go through the Strait of El Muz. [1:16:18] We want ships to go through the Strait of El Muz. [1:16:19] We want ships to go through the Strait of El Muz. [1:16:20] We want ships to go through the Strait of El Muz. [1:16:21] We want ships to go through the Strait of El Muz. [1:16:22] We don't know that they've dropped any mines, by the way, because we blew up all [1:16:33] their mine droppers, right? [1:16:36] We blew up every one of them. [1:16:37] They're going to have to take them out on a rowboat or something. [1:16:40] I don't know how the hell they get out there. [1:16:41] But we don't really know. [1:16:43] You might speak to it. [1:16:44] We don't know. [1:16:45] There could be a few of them out there, but that's a lot. [1:16:47] You know, if you have a billion-dollar ship and you get hit by a mine, it's not the greatest [1:16:52] thing in the world. [1:16:53] So if you think the problem with that, that's not like you've decimated a military. [1:16:59] If you think there may be a mine, that's a bad thought, and it sops things up. [1:17:04] How are we doing in that regard, Peter? [1:17:06] We've — Mr. President, you're right. [1:17:07] We have so heavily degraded their coastal defense capabilities and their naval capabilities [1:17:12] that any strategic or operational attempts to do those types of things are extremely [1:17:18] limited. [1:17:19] And we continue to move over the top of that. [1:17:20] Now, whether Iran makes a lot of money — [1:17:21] Whether Iran makes a wise choice or not to try to execute that is part of how this deal [1:17:25] comes together. [1:17:26] But with every passing day, the military pressure that we're putting on them lessens their ability [1:17:31] to really hold that militarily at issue. [1:17:33] I mean, the problem with the issue of the Hormuz stretch is this. [1:17:37] We've decimated them as a military. [1:17:40] No Air Force, no Navy, very few rockets left. [1:17:44] We blew up so many. [1:17:47] Hard to manufacture them. [1:17:48] Same thing with drones. [1:17:50] The leadership is gone. [1:17:51] The problem with the stretch is this. [1:17:54] Let's say we do a great job. [1:17:56] We say we got 99 percent. [1:17:59] One percent is unacceptable because one percent is a missile going into the hull of a ship [1:18:04] that cost a billion dollars, right? [1:18:06] So one percent is — we can't — if we do a 99 percent decimation, that's no good. [1:18:12] So it's really, you know, a little bit — [1:18:17] But I have a feeling it's going to clean up pretty quickly. [1:18:20] I could just say this. [1:18:22] They want to make — they want to make — and I probably hurt our little negotiation. [1:18:26] It gives them a little impetus to say, well, I wish you didn't say that. [1:18:30] But they said yesterday that we weren't negotiating with them, and now they admit that we were [1:18:34] negotiating with them. [1:18:35] So they want to make a deal. [1:18:37] The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit. [1:18:41] Are you thinking of taking control of Iran's oil? [1:18:44] It's an option. [1:18:45] I mean, I wouldn't talk about it, but it's an option. [1:18:48] Is that something you thought about? [1:18:49] No. [1:18:50] No. [1:18:51] No. [1:18:52] No. [1:18:53] Well, in Venezuela, we've done very well working with Venezuela, certainly. [1:18:56] We've taken in billions and billions of dollars. [1:19:00] And by the way, Venezuela is doing better right now than they've ever done in the history [1:19:04] of their country. [1:19:06] And it's sort of like a joint venture. [1:19:09] But the United States has made a lot of money, Marco, right, with — do you want to talk [1:19:13] about that for a second? [1:19:14] About Venezuela? [1:19:15] Yeah. [1:19:16] Yeah. [1:19:17] I mean, I think Venezuela, in the first two months of this year, generated more revenue [1:19:20] from oil sales than they had in most of all of the other countries. [1:19:22] And we've got a lot of oil, actually. [1:19:23] We had oil sales. [1:19:24] And the oil sales were not as good as they had been last year. [1:19:25] But the money's not being stolen anymore, and it's being held in a U.S. Treasury-blocked [1:19:26] account. [1:19:27] And to the extent it's flowing to the Venezuelan government, it's going to help people, like [1:19:31] fund hospitals, pay teachers. [1:19:32] It's not being stolen. [1:19:33] And we get a lot of it, and they got more than they have in many years. [1:19:36] Think of it. [1:19:37] We get a lot of it. [1:19:39] We have a deal. [1:19:40] We get a lot of it. [1:19:41] We had 100 million — think of this — 100 million barrels we took in, in the first two [1:19:48] weeks. [1:19:49] A hundred million barrels. [1:19:50] That's a lot of oil. [1:19:51] And we got some, and they got some. [1:19:56] We paid for the ships. [1:19:58] A lot of money left over. [1:20:00] And Venezuela has done better now with us. [1:20:04] Call it a partner. [1:20:05] Call it whatever you want. [1:20:07] We've made a lot of money, and they've made a lot of money. [1:20:10] We've paid for the cost of that military hit many, [1:20:15] many times over, and we've only just started. [1:20:18] Our relationship with Venezuela has been amazing. [1:20:22] The people, actually, I'm the highest polling person. [1:20:27] In other words, after the presidency, [1:20:29] I think I may go to Venezuela and run for president [1:20:32] against Elsie. [1:20:33] I may run against Elsie. [1:20:36] It's an option. [1:20:37] No, they like me in Venezuela. [1:20:40] But it's an option for me. [1:20:43] It's a wonderful option. [1:20:44] Yes. [1:20:45] There's some reports that Gulf allies [1:20:47] are concerned about winding down the war too soon [1:20:50] and potentially leaving Iran. [1:20:51] Well, they'd probably like us to stay. [1:20:52] But if we don't stay, look, it's a beautiful thing [1:20:57] about airplanes that go 2,000 miles an hour. [1:20:59] You can get back there very quickly. [1:21:03] If we don't stay, we're going to be protecting them. [1:21:05] We know, you know, they've been very good. [1:21:07] Hey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, in particular, Qatar, [1:21:12] Saudi Arabia, UAE, the three of them, Kuwait, Bahrain, [1:21:18] they've been 100 percent. [1:21:19] Now, in all fairness, you know, [1:21:21] they could have gone the other way. [1:21:22] They were surprisingly missiled. [1:21:26] They were shot at. [1:21:28] Nobody ever thought they'd be shot at. [1:21:31] UAE had 1,400 missiles aimed at them. [1:21:34] Fortunately, they had the greatest anti-missile weapon [1:21:38] in history called the Patriot. [1:21:40] Almost every single missile was shot down. [1:21:42] You know, we had an incident recently where 101 missiles [1:21:46] were shot at a certain thing that we own that's very valuable. [1:21:49] 101 missiles going 2,000 miles an hour. [1:21:53] Out of the 101 missiles, every single one of them [1:21:56] was shot down in midair and fell into the ocean. [1:21:59] It's amazing technology. [1:22:01] There's nobody has equipment like we have. [1:22:03] The Press Is it even possible Iran still has [1:22:06] that enriched uranium? [1:22:07] Is it even possible to launch that? [1:22:08] The President Well, you're going to have to see. [1:22:10] But, you know, I think we'll be, we're in just very good shape. [1:22:13] We're roaming, you know what we're doing? [1:22:15] You know the word, roaming free? [1:22:17] We're over the skies with the most beautiful planes [1:22:20] you've ever seen. [1:22:21] Roaming free, there's not a damn thing they can do about it. [1:22:24] The Press Is there anything you can do about it? [1:22:25] The President It would be nice if, like the fake news, [1:22:28] New York Times, which writes so fake, [1:22:30] and the Wall Street Journal is terrible, terrible. [1:22:33] I mean, I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. [1:22:35] I'm not, I don't, if I was desperate, [1:22:38] he'd be the first to know me. [1:22:40] Let's get the hell out of there. [1:22:41] I'm the opposite of desperate. [1:22:44] I don't care. [1:22:46] I want to know, in fact, we have other targets [1:22:48] we want to hit before we leave. [1:22:50] We're hitting them on a daily basis. [1:22:54] I don't talk about you. [1:22:55] I can't talk about specifics. [1:22:57] A lot of people say that wouldn't matter. [1:22:58] Maybe it does matter. [1:22:59] Who knows? [1:23:00] But I wouldn't talk. [1:23:01] It's like the question this young lady asked. [1:23:02] Sorry about, I embarrassed her. [1:23:04] I don't want to embarrass you, because I think you're, [1:23:06] I think she's a friendly reporter, so I'm sorry. [1:23:08] But, you know, I can't say what we're going to do, [1:23:10] because if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here for long. [1:23:14] They'd probably, what is it called? [1:23:15] The 25th Amendment? [1:23:19] They'd institute the 25th Amendment, [1:23:21] which they didn't do with Biden, which is shocking. [1:23:25] I don't feel safe enough to leave the region, [1:23:29] because Steve said that they've got enough uranium [1:23:30] to make 11 bombs. [1:23:31] That's a very scary thing. [1:23:32] So. [1:23:33] Well, again, I can't talk to you about that. [1:23:35] You're asking me a question. [1:23:36] You're essentially saying, will I go in and do something? [1:23:39] I can't talk to you about that. [1:23:40] Mr. President, you're looking at a coalition of ships [1:23:44] to help, warships to help protect tankers. [1:23:46] How close are you to getting that coalition? [1:23:48] Well, we have a coalition for them, [1:23:49] but they should have been up here a long time ago. [1:23:52] And, you know, they're effective. [1:23:53] The amazing thing is, [1:23:55] we don't need it, Hormuz Strait. [1:23:57] We don't need it. [1:23:58] We don't need it at all. [1:23:59] We don't, we have so much oil. [1:24:01] Our country is not affected by this. [1:24:03] We have more, we have twice the amount of oil [1:24:08] as Saudi Arabia or Russia, [1:24:10] and soon it'll be three times the amount. [1:24:12] Chris, do you want to speak to that for a second? [1:24:14] The President Yeah, that's correct. [1:24:15] Our total oil production is greater [1:24:17] than Saudi Arabia's plus Russia, [1:24:19] and more than we consume in the United States. [1:24:21] So we're the largest. [1:24:22] The President Pretty good, pretty good. [1:24:23] Pretty good. [1:24:24] The President You know what they call it? [1:24:25] Drill, baby, drill. [1:24:26] The President Yes. [1:24:27] The Press Mr. President, [1:24:28] Mr. President. [1:24:29] The President Anything else you want to say? [1:24:31] The President Well, same thing for natural gas. [1:24:33] We, WIGS, before your first term, [1:24:35] we were the largest exporter of natural gas in the world. [1:24:38] Today, we're just by far the largest. [1:24:41] And we were the largest importer. [1:24:42] Now, we're by far the largest exporter. [1:24:44] And it's growing rapidly this year. [1:24:46] New facilities are coming online. [1:24:48] The production is ramping up. [1:24:49] The President We're doing an amazing job. [1:24:50] We're getting a lot of help from that man right over there. [1:24:52] He's getting approvals done quickly. [1:24:53] And very interesting. [1:24:55] The President He's an environmentalist, actually. [1:24:57] He does a great job. [1:24:58] But he gives you a fast approval or rejection. [1:25:01] Do you have anything to say? [1:25:02] The President Well, back on Venezuela, [1:25:04] where Chris and I both had a chance to be there, [1:25:07] I literally think they're going to put a statue [1:25:09] to President Trump. [1:25:10] And I'm not being, it's not a political statement. [1:25:13] It's an actual thing. [1:25:14] The President I hope so. [1:25:15] That would be a great honor. [1:25:15] The President No, because it's like they view [1:25:17] President Trump like Simon Waller. [1:25:18] He's the liberator of a country. [1:25:20] And this is a country where they, you know, [1:25:21] they love American baseball. [1:25:23] You look on the street. [1:25:24] They're wearing NBA jerseys. [1:25:25] And Delcy and her team working with us, [1:25:29] getting back, Chris and I both experienced it. [1:25:31] It was the first time in Venezuelan history [1:25:33] that they had the free press allowed to come on [1:25:37] to essentially what's their, where the White House, [1:25:39] the Palacio de Minas Flores. [1:25:40] And it was like, it was an emotional thing [1:25:42] for people that had been for 20 years [1:25:44] that never had a chance to be there. [1:25:45] So whether it's the, and then production, [1:25:48] it's showing up in production. [1:25:49] The American companies that are coming back, [1:25:51] most of those American companies have many [1:25:53] American Venezuelan, [1:25:55] Venezuelan team members. [1:25:56] One company in Houston's got 600 Venezuelan Americans [1:25:59] that know more about reviving that industry. [1:26:01] So their GDP went, is it one fourth of what it was before? [1:26:05] They want to get back. [1:26:06] They remember what it was. [1:26:07] Their production on oil production is climbing [1:26:10] towards 50% increase just in the three months [1:26:13] we've been here. [1:26:14] That flows to American refineries on the Gulf Coast, [1:26:17] lowering the price of gas in America. [1:26:19] So it's a- [1:26:20] Forget that. [1:26:21] When are they gonna do the statue? [1:26:32] I'm not sure. [1:26:33] You mentioned earlier about how disappointed you are [1:26:37] in Sakhir Starmer, particularly in relation to Iran. [1:26:39] So I'm curious about your phone calls with him, [1:26:41] how easy they might be. [1:26:42] And also, were you surprised by- [1:26:43] Are we talking about Starmer? [1:26:44] Yes. [1:26:45] And are you surprised by how weak- [1:26:46] I think he's a lovely man, I do. [1:26:47] I think he's a lovely man, [1:26:48] but I think he did something that was shocking. [1:26:52] He didn't wanna help us. [1:26:54] And maybe in particular that country, [1:26:57] you know, the longest bond, the longest ally, [1:27:01] Australia too. [1:27:02] Australia was not great. [1:27:03] I was a little surprised by Australia. [1:27:07] I wouldn't say anybody was great, [1:27:08] other than the five countries in the Middle East. [1:27:12] We never really had very much support. [1:27:14] You know, we spent trillions of dollars supporting countries. [1:27:19] And this is Little League. [1:27:21] This isn't the big league deal. [1:27:23] This is sort of Little League pool for us. [1:27:24] This was an easy — this was — [1:27:27] look, we decimated them in a period of a week. [1:27:29] In the first week, it was over. [1:27:31] In the first few days, it was over. [1:27:33] I think the Navy took us three days [1:27:35] to essentially annihilate the — they weren't there. [1:27:39] So if there's ever a big one, which I hope there's not, [1:27:42] but if there's ever a big one, [1:27:44] I don't think they're going to be there. [1:27:46] And that's not fair. [1:27:47] And we have to remember that as a country, [1:27:49] because we spent trillions of dollars protecting Europe, [1:27:54] protecting the countries of NATO. [1:27:57] They weren't there for us, for small time. [1:28:00] This is small time. [1:28:01] You know what? [1:28:02] Israel is a big deal, but it's not the big one. [1:28:06] They weren't there. [1:28:08] So what makes you think they'd be there if we needed them for something? [1:28:10] And your prime minister was not there, as you know. [1:28:16] He was there after we won. [1:28:17] He said, we'd like to send some ships. [1:28:19] I said, we already won. [1:28:21] We don't need them anymore. [1:28:22] The Presser 2. [1:28:23] But can you explain why he was reluctant? [1:28:25] The President. [1:28:25] The Presser 2. [1:28:26] Why he what? [1:28:27] The Presser 2. [1:28:27] Why he was reluctant to help with Iran? [1:28:29] The President. [1:28:29] The Presser 2. [1:28:30] He didn't have to. [1:28:31] I didn't ask him. [1:28:31] I just said, you tell me, no? [1:28:34] I mean, we're — [1:28:35] we're always going to be there, or at least we were. [1:28:38] I don't know about anymore, to be honest with you. [1:28:40] I don't have to be honest. [1:28:42] We were always there when they needed help. [1:28:45] We always would have been there when they needed help. [1:28:48] I mean, think of it. [1:28:49] We're there to protect Europe from Russia. [1:28:52] In theory, it doesn't affect us. [1:28:54] We have an ocean — big, fat, beautiful ocean. [1:28:57] But we're there to protect NATO, to protect them from Russia. [1:29:02] But they're not there to protect us. [1:29:04] It's a ridiculous — [1:29:05] it doesn't make sense. [1:29:05] I'll tell you, a lot of people were big NATO people. [1:29:12] I was never big. [1:29:13] It was okay. [1:29:14] I got them to pay 5 percent. [1:29:16] By the way, they haven't paid it yet. [1:29:18] You know that. [1:29:19] You know, I got them to pay 5 percent from 2 percent to 5 percent. [1:29:23] They didn't pay it yet. [1:29:24] I got them to pay up to 2 percent because they weren't paying the 2 percent. [1:29:28] Then I got them to pay 5 percent, which they should be at. [1:29:31] And we had a lot of — oh, that was great, great. [1:29:33] Oh, only Trump could do it. [1:29:34] But the problem is, they haven't paid. [1:29:36] Because if you look at the numbers, they haven't paid yet. [1:29:39] So we were there for them, but they were not there for us. [1:29:45] Did we need them? [1:29:46] No. [1:29:47] I never thought we needed them. [1:29:49] I was more doing a test. [1:29:51] I said, I really would love to have you come up. [1:29:54] Bring your boats. [1:29:56] You can sail through the beautiful Harmo Straits, [1:29:59] and you can protect people that are being shot at. [1:30:03] They didn't do it. [1:30:04] And that's small potatoes. [1:30:05] Do you understand what I'm saying? [1:30:06] Yeah, I do. [1:30:07] I was just going to say, does it affect the state visit with the king that you're having [1:30:12] in April? [1:30:14] With the king? [1:30:15] No. [1:30:16] No. [1:30:17] He's a friend of mine. [1:30:18] He's a great gentleman. [1:30:20] As you know, he honored me and our country. [1:30:23] He really honored our country. [1:30:25] But we had an amazing time. [1:30:28] I've known him as Prince Charles. [1:30:30] I know him as King Charles. [1:30:31] I'm proud of him. [1:30:32] He's fighting a tough battle. [1:30:33] He's tough. [1:30:34] I think he's a fantastic — it has nothing to do with that. [1:30:39] It's different. [1:30:40] But — and we're going to — he's going to be here very soon, as you know. [1:30:42] We're going to have a state dinner. [1:30:43] It's going to be great. [1:30:45] But I was very disappointed when the prime minister said, I won't be able to. [1:30:50] It started with the island. [1:30:52] The island that the indigenous have claimed away from your country. [1:30:56] And for some reason, you went for it. [1:30:59] And all of a sudden, indigenous people that never saw the place — they never saw it [1:31:02] — he was afraid that we would do something to himself. [1:31:07] Because he's a liberal. [1:31:08] That's the way they think. [1:31:09] Mr. President. [1:31:10] And when we needed the island to land that beautiful B-2 bomber, we were told we can't [1:31:16] use it. [1:31:17] We'd have to fly back to Missouri, which is a 17-hour flight, as opposed to a couple [1:31:23] of hours. [1:31:24] And I said, you've got to be kidding. [1:31:27] Not good. [1:31:28] They made a big mistake. [1:31:29] Mr. President. [1:31:30] Is the Friday deadline for Iran — is that pushed back now, and if not, when is the [1:31:34] second? [1:31:35] I don't know yet. [1:31:36] I don't know. [1:31:37] I'll — Mr. Witkoff and J.D. and Jared will — I don't know. [1:31:38] I don't know. [1:31:39] Jared will tell me whether or not they think it's going along, and if it's not going [1:31:44] along, maybe not. [1:31:45] And we have a lot of time. [1:31:47] You know what? [1:31:48] It's a day. [1:31:50] In Trump time, a day — you know what it is? [1:31:53] That's an eternity. [1:31:55] Say it. [1:31:59] What? [1:32:00] The President. [1:32:01] The European Parliament just passed a major deportation plan. [1:32:02] Some of the tenets of it are that member states can deport rejected asylum seekers to their [1:32:03] countries, regardless of whether they have a connection to it. [1:32:04] It allows for detentions. [1:32:05] The President. [1:32:06] The President. [1:32:07] The President. [1:32:08] The President. [1:32:09] The President. [1:32:10] The President. [1:32:11] The President. [1:32:12] The President. [1:32:13] The President. [1:32:14] The President. [1:32:15] The President. [1:32:16] The President. [1:32:17] The President. [1:32:18] The President. [1:32:19] The President. [1:32:20] And now they prefer extending detention periods of up to two years, and also offshore return [1:32:21] hubs or detention centers similar to our thinking — [1:32:22] Who did this? [1:32:23] Who? [1:32:24] Which country? [1:32:25] — European Parliament. [1:32:26] And the vote was not close — [1:32:27] Good. [1:32:28] — it was 389 in favor to 208 against — [1:32:29] I'd vote — I'd vote with them, yeah. [1:32:31] Yeah, yeah. [1:32:32] Iran is where you are now. [1:32:33] Do you think that would move the needle with Democrats? [1:32:35] I don't care about the Democrats. [1:32:36] The Democrats hate our country. [1:32:37] The Democrats are in chaos right now. [1:32:38] And they have no common sense. [1:32:40] You know, they have one quality that they have, and that's that they are not there [1:32:44] That's amazing. They stick together. And it's harder because they stick together in a ridiculous [1:32:48] policy like men playing in women's sports, open borders for everybody, including murderers [1:32:55] and anybody else that want it. We're open to you. Come in, murderers. You know why they [1:32:58] do that? They do that for a couple of reasons, but they do it for votes because they think [1:33:02] they're going to vote for the Democrats, even though I did great with the Hispanic vote. [1:33:06] Tremendous with Hispanic vote. You know, I turned that whole thing around. The Hispanics [1:33:11] like me and I like them. And, you know, it's interesting with Hispanics. When I built [1:33:15] the wall, everybody said, oh, that's going to ruin us for the Hispanic was just the opposite. [1:33:20] They know all about immigration and then all about death and crime. And they're smart people [1:33:27] and they have common sense. They wanted to be protected from the people that were coming [1:33:31] into our country. So, you know, I won the election with a very tremendous Hispanic vote. [1:33:36] And I think it's higher now than it was then. [1:33:39] So we're a party. [1:33:43] Party of common sense. The Democrats are a party of insanity. They're a party that [1:33:50] will destroy our country. If I didn't win this election, I believe our country would [1:33:54] have been destroyed by now. One year. That's all it would have taken. If you had Kamala [1:33:59] or Sleepy Joe, either one, it wouldn't have mattered. They're the same thing. Two sleepy [1:34:03] people, two stupid people, I believe. And by the way, Gavin Newsom, who is one of the [1:34:09] candidates, I believe he took himself out of the running. [1:34:13] When he says he is he suffers from mental disability. And a reporter said it was terrible [1:34:18] that I talked that way about somebody with mental disability. I said, I have no problem [1:34:22] with it, but I don't want a person with mental disability to be my president. I mean, you [1:34:27] don't want to have a person with mental disability being your president. And Gavin Newsom said [1:34:33] that he can't read a speech. He can't do almost anything. And then he said he's as dumb as [1:34:39] all the people in the room. And he got accused of being a racist, which was an amazing thing. [1:34:43] I thought it was the worst interview I've ever seen anybody give. He's actually a very [1:34:48] stupid person. So I believe he's out of the running. I think that that statement, that [1:34:52] interview, he admitted that he's a stupid person. I don't want a stupid person being [1:34:59] president. You know, I'll say it right now. I say it because don't press every person. [1:35:04] I'm the only president that ever took a cognitive test. I took it three times. It's actually [1:35:10] a very hard test for a lot of people. It wasn't hard for me. [1:35:13] But it's a cognitive test. It starts off with an easy question. And by the time you [1:35:18] get to the middle, it gets tougher. By the time you get to the end, very few people can [1:35:22] answer those questions. They get very tough, mathematical equations and things. I took [1:35:27] it three times. I aced it all three times in front of numerous doctors that I have no [1:35:32] idea who they are. And I was told when I went in, they said, Dr. Ronnie told me this. My [1:35:39] current doctors are fantastic doctors. They said, well, if you're going to be a doctor, [1:35:44] you take it. You know, it's Walter Reed. It's essentially a public hospital. And if [1:35:49] you do badly, it's probably going to get out. But I aced it. I got them all right. And one [1:35:53] doctor said, I've never seen anybody get them all right. I've been doing the test for 20 [1:35:58] years. I want people I would love to see anybody that's a president or a vice president or [1:36:03] anybody that has any chance of being a president. I would like to see them take a cognitive [1:36:10] test because we had a man in this office. [1:36:14] That had no clue what was happening. And let me give you a little secret. He wasn't [1:36:19] a smart man 30 years ago. And I'll tell you about President Obama. He wasn't a smart man [1:36:25] either. I know all about him. He wasn't a smart man. Highly overrated. He was a great [1:36:31] divider. And our country can't go through that anymore. Can't go through. We have done [1:36:37] an amazing job. I had to do a little stopover. I call it an excursion. I had to do a little [1:36:44] stopover. [1:36:44] And we had to knock the hell out of him because our country would not have been safe. The [1:36:50] world wouldn't have been safe. I've done a great favor for the world. The world has [1:36:53] not been it has not been reciprocal. Because when I told NATO where we give billions and [1:37:00] billions of dollars, trillions over the years, I said, do you mind coming up and giving us [1:37:05] a little hand with the streets? Send up some. They didn't want to get involved. And I believe [1:37:11] that's going to cost them dearly. Thank you very much. [1:37:14] Thank you. [1:37:17] Thank you, Mr. President. [1:37:18] Thank you, guys. Keep moving. Thank you. Thanks. Keep moving, guys.