President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin make an announcement — 5/21/2026

[0:00] Okay, thank you very much. [0:03] It's a great honor. [0:04] We have tremendous people behind me. [0:06] You'll be hearing about that in a minute. [0:07] Today is my honor to be discussing the taking of a very historic action [0:16] to substantially lower costs for consumers, [0:19] protect hundreds of thousands of jobs, [0:21] and save Americans well over $2 billion a year [0:25] by officially terminating the Biden administration's ridiculous regulations [0:29] imposing costly requirements on refrigerators and air conditioners. [0:35] It's ridiculous. [0:38] Unnecessary and costly and actually makes the machinery worse. [0:43] I want to thank EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Senator John Huston. [0:48] John, thank you. [0:49] I heard you're doing very well in your race, I hear. [0:51] That's what the word is. [0:53] And Ashley, I know you're doing very well also. [0:55] Ashley Moody, Florida, great. [0:57] As well as Representatives Stephanie Bice, Zach Nunn, and Greg Goldman. [1:03] Thank you all. [1:03] I love you, Bob. [1:04] Thank you all. [1:05] You look good. [1:07] We're joined by Kroger, CEO. [1:10] That's a big one, Kroger. [1:12] That's a big one. [1:12] I see those stores all over the place. [1:15] Greg Farn. [1:16] Where's Greg? [1:17] Greg? [1:18] You look like Central Cassidy. [1:20] Just like you're supposed to look. [1:25] Fairway Store CEO Reynolds Kramer. [1:28] Mr. President. [1:29] Okay. [1:30] Hello, Reynolds. [1:31] Hello there. [1:31] Maybe I won't look around every time. [1:34] Why not stop CEO and co-owner Anne Guthier? [1:38] Anne? [1:39] Yeah. [1:40] Because it's Anne, I'm going to. [1:44] Colombiana Foods co-owner Ron Graff, Sr. [1:48] Right here. [1:49] Yeah. [1:51] Hello, Ron. [1:51] Neiman Foods, President Richard Neiman. [1:57] Right here, sir. [1:58] Hi, Richard. [2:01] Piggy. [2:01] That's a nice one. [2:03] Piggly Wiggly Franchise Owner. [2:05] And that's a big company, too. [2:07] It's got a cute name. [2:08] Kevin McDaniel. [2:10] That's Kevin. [2:11] How is that name playing? [2:12] Good? [2:13] Piggly Wiggly Franchise Owner. [2:14] Right. [2:14] Piggly Wiggly Franchise Owner. [2:15] I've heard that, actually. [2:17] That's great. [2:18] Franchise Owner, Kevin. [2:20] So you met Kevin. [2:21] And Food Fresh Owner, Michael Gay. [2:23] Food Fresh. [2:24] Hi, Michael. [2:25] How are you, Michael? [2:27] And this is a representative group of very large-scale retailers. [2:32] Under the Biden administration, the so-called technology transition rule, which was crazy, [2:40] forced companies to adopt specific high-cost refrigerants, massively driving up the price [2:46] of transporting and strong and storing refrigerants and various goods. [2:53] Many grocery stores and restaurants had no choice but to replace their refrigerators entirely. [2:58] They went out of business, half of them. [3:00] And these costs rose. [3:01] Americans faced higher grocery prices and reduced access to critical medical supplies. [3:07] It was a very catastrophic thing that they did. [3:12] At the same time, this rule also drove up the cost of living by forcing consumers to purchase [3:17] higher-cost residential air conditioning units. [3:21] They cost—they went up very substantially in cost. [3:24] And also, they were going to be obsolete very quickly. [3:28] It created national security risk by adding additional hurdles to the already complicated process of manufacturing semiconductors. [3:36] So, it was a mess. [3:38] Likewise, the so-called emissions rule imposed crippling leak repair requirements on virtually [3:44] all existing large-scale refrigeration systems, hurting consumers and small businesses, making [3:50] it almost impossible for many small businesses to even buy inferior—before it—inferior equipment. [3:59] And this is all across the country. [4:01] The higher cost threatened thousands of jobs and was passed on in the form of higher prices [4:06] and higher taxes. [4:09] Today's reforms will deliver significant financial relief, saving American families and businesses [4:14] more than $2.4 billion—think of that—each year. [4:19] Thanks to today's reforms, the American people have lower grocery prices, cheaper transportation of goods, [4:25] lower costs of air conditioning, at no detriment at all to our country. [4:31] Zero. [4:32] Including environmental detriment. [4:34] My administration's historic deregulatory agenda has already saved our country an estimated [4:40] $1.2 trillion—that's been done over a relatively short period of time—1.2 trillion, [4:47] with a T. We're committed to fixing the—and really completely ending Biden's disaster's regulatory [4:55] policies and delivering financial relief to each and every American, which is what we're doing. [5:01] This was a tremendous burden, a tremendous cost. [5:05] These people had to live with it—not only refrigerants, but a lot more. [5:09] And it was making the equipment unaffordable, and the actual benefit was nothing. [5:15] It just made it worse. [5:16] It made life worse, and it made it worse, and it drove up costs tremendously. [5:20] So now I'd like to ask Administrator Lee Zeldin, who's absolutely fantastic—he's doing an incredible [5:27] job. [5:27] We're proud of you, Lee. [5:29] Really, the job you're doing is incredible—followed by Greg, Kevin, and Michael. [5:33] Is that okay? [5:34] Lee, go ahead, please. [5:35] Well, thank you, Mr. President. [5:37] As you know, many Americans were expressing a lot of frustration and anger of this rushed, [5:46] frantic, reckless sprint by the Biden administration to phase out reliable equipment for grocery [5:53] stores, for restaurants, and for homes. [5:57] And the consequences—well, they've been devastating. [6:01] And once again, the Trump administration is answering the call, which will lower the cost [6:04] of living for hardworking American families. [6:08] Look at this chart to your far right. [6:10] Today's actions are saving over $2.4 billion for American families. [6:17] It's safeguarding 350,000 jobs. [6:22] Just at supermarkets alone, we're going to see a savings of $800 million, which Americans [6:27] will be able to see when they go and buy their food. [6:31] Buy an EPA face-planted when trying to jam through their restrictions. [6:37] Americans who wanted to be able to fix their equipment were instead being required to buy [6:43] far more costly new equipment, and that just doesn't make any sense. [6:48] Refrigeration trucks were being handed impossible restrictions to meet. [6:54] And once again, here we are in the Oval Office. [6:56] President Trump is righting another wrong. [6:59] The Trump EPA, we are proudly implementing President Trump's agenda every single day [7:04] and delivering for the American people. [7:06] Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Lee. [7:14] Look, on behalf of the Kroger Company—and we operate about 2,700 supermarkets—an orderly [7:21] transition of equipment reduces both capital costs and operating costs. [7:27] And at the end of the day, that's good for consumers because we're able to take that [7:33] into lowering prices, which is the key objectives that we have in our business. [7:39] So thank you very much. [7:40] We're going to save a lot of money and put it elsewhere by not having to do this week. [7:46] Exactly. [7:47] So it allows us, instead of having to outlay more capital at a faster rate and more operating [7:53] costs, to change that equipment. [7:55] Well, to replace a refrigerator that's working perfectly, right? [8:00] Yeah. [8:01] So that allows us—you know, obviously these things have a lifespan, but an orderly transition [8:06] allows us to move through that in a way which keeps the price of groceries down. [8:12] And that's something that we're, you know, desperately focusing on, Mr. President. [8:16] Thank you very much. [8:18] Thanks. [8:22] My name's Kevin McDaniel. [8:24] We operate 14 Piggly Wiggly stores in North Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. [8:30] On behalf of NGA, the Piggly Wiggly family, which operates, has about 250 stores in the southeast. [8:38] We want to thank President Trump for rolling this terrible Biden legislation back because without [8:45] it, there would have been a lot of independence out of business. [8:48] And what people don't realize is it's just not a refrigerant change, it was an equipment [8:53] change. [8:54] And those equipment per store—you take a store—our stores run from 25,000 to 50,000 square feet. [9:00] You could look for $800,000 to a million and a half dollars per store to do a change-out. [9:05] That would have done— [9:06] And the new equipment would not be as good as the old equipment. [9:09] No, absolutely not. [9:10] It would be inferior equipment because you weren't able to use a refrigerant. [9:15] It was thrown together too fast, the technology's not there yet. [9:18] It's just way too fast. [9:19] That's the problem. [9:20] Good idea, but it's terrible. [9:23] So you would have had all these independents go out of business. [9:26] You'd had the independent side of business, and you would have seen grocery prices soar. [9:30] That's what would have happened if this would have went through. [9:32] President Trump, thank you very much. [9:33] On behalf of every independent United States, we cannot thank you enough for what you've [9:36] done for us. [9:37] Thank you so much. [9:38] I mean, just the bottom line is, so you have great equipment that works incredibly, takes [9:45] care of your meats and foods and everything else, beautiful refrigeration systems. [9:50] Take it out and replace it with stuff that barely works, costs a fortune, and it's no good. [9:59] Think of it. [10:00] And everyone's going to go bankrupt because the equipment is much more expensive on top [10:04] of everything else. [10:05] So the big thing now, we're going to get rid of the law that was signed quite a while ago, [10:10] and we have to get rid of that because ultimately we want to make it permanent. [10:15] There's no negative impact by having a good system, but there's a tremendous impact. [10:20] I think it's going to be bad because a lot of people said the other stuff doesn't even, [10:24] it doesn't cool your product. [10:26] No, there's a problem with it. [10:27] It's so crazy. [10:28] Please. [10:29] Michael Gay. [10:30] I have a single store, Food Fresh, in Claxton, Georgia. [10:33] And exactly, I mean, to echo everyone up here, these refrigeration costs, I'm the only [10:38] store in a county of 10,000. [10:41] I literally two years ago put in equipment that should have about 20 more years of useful [10:45] life. [10:46] And to replace literally every single piece of equipment in our store would have been [10:50] unbelievably cost prohibitive, driving up costs as we fight every day to try to keep [10:55] them as low as we can. [10:56] And if that cost gets too high, especially attached to regulation, do you have independent [11:02] stores closed in neighborhoods that once I go away, you've created a food desert? [11:07] So it's very beneficial that this happened today. [11:10] It's much more complicated than anyone thinks, and to try to rush this through was just the [11:15] wrong way to go. [11:16] So we are very appreciative of you today. [11:17] Thank you. [11:18] I have one grocer who is a friend of mine. [11:20] He's pretty big. [11:21] And he said, I'm going to go ahead of the schedule. [11:24] And he actually replaced a lot of his equipment. [11:26] He called me up. [11:27] He said, this crap doesn't work. [11:29] It doesn't cool the food. [11:30] So you know about that, right? [11:33] What a shame. [11:34] Okay. [11:35] Would anybody, Kevin, would you like to say something? [11:38] I'd just like to say, sir, that this is part of your overall deregulatory agenda. [11:42] And the big number, $1.2 trillion, is the savings so far. [11:47] But we're going to be hitting that every year. [11:50] And we're rolling back stuff that – everywhere we look, there's stuff that's as awful as [11:55] this. [11:56] And I think that really one of the leaders has been Lee, because the EPA has been at a hold [12:00] up for so many years. [12:01] But Lee is just out there saving Americans money. [12:04] And right now, again, if you look at that number, it's $14,000 per family. [12:08] It's been saved at reduced costs because of your deregulatory agenda. [12:11] Do we agree that Lee is an MVP candidate? [12:14] MVP. [12:15] No, he's done a great job. [12:18] And he sees what's good. [12:20] And he's a big environmentalist. [12:21] I mean, he wants to make sure everything's good. [12:23] But he also sees stupid things like this. [12:27] Senator, would you like to each speak? [12:29] Sure. [12:30] Well, Mr. President, I'd like to thank you for this, because this hits our goal of trying [12:33] to keep prices low for working families. [12:35] In America, the cost of food. [12:37] I have the Graff family here right behind me. [12:40] They operate three grocery stores in Columbiana County. [12:43] They had already upgraded their refrigeration systems a few years ago. [12:47] This was going to cost them millions of more dollars in Columbiana County, which is [12:51] not an affluent county. [12:52] It has a grocery store in East Liverpool, Ohio, which is the hometown of the late, great [12:57] Lou Holes. [12:58] And these people, not only would it raise food costs, but it might have to be a [13:03] grocery store down so that the town didn't even have a grocery store. [13:07] So you're saving money for working families and their grocery prices. [13:12] You're also saving grocery stores so that we don't have food deserts in rural places across [13:16] our country. [13:17] Mr. President, I think it is so important that the people see what you choose to hang right [13:23] by your desk, which is the Declaration of Independence, which is a reminder that government at its core is [13:28] to post a function in a way that allows people the opportunity to pursue happiness and not work [13:33] against them by coming up with regulations that just make it harder to live, more expensive to live. [13:40] And from day one, I remember standing with you with the same crew of folks. [13:44] From day one, you have been digging into all of these regulations that are issued with no thought to how [13:51] they affect real people and real small businesses and businesses trying to step up and provide jobs [13:58] and lift up their communities. [13:59] Thank you for that. [14:00] Thank you for getting back to the core of what government is supposed to be. [14:03] And that is working in the interests of the people. [14:05] Thank you. [14:06] Thank you very much. [14:07] Good job. [14:08] Thank you, everybody. [14:09] So any questions, please? [14:10] Go ahead. [14:11] Thank you, Mr. President. [14:12] Go ahead. [14:13] Thank you, Mr. President. [14:14] How much do you expect that this will save the average American family every week on groceries? [14:19] And do you expect this change to all the Republicans? [14:21] Okay. [14:22] Very, very substantial. [14:23] They're going to be a big saving. [14:24] I could — we're breaking it down. [14:26] In fact, numbers are coming out this afternoon sometime. [14:28] But the average family will save a lot of money. [14:31] And you're going to have stores. [14:32] You know, nobody actually thought of it until it was mentioned this morning. [14:36] You will have stores closing down in areas where they're not going to have a store anymore. [14:41] That's right. [14:42] And you really are being forced to spend money — much more money — on much more expensive [14:48] equipment that really doesn't work. [14:51] This friend of mine is a very savvy guy. [14:54] And, you know, big-league stuff. [14:56] And he put some in because he wanted to see. [14:58] And he said, the stuff doesn't work. [15:00] It doesn't cool the food properly. [15:02] That's why they call the thing that we're talking about a refrigerant for a reason. [15:07] It's a refrigerant. [15:08] So that's it. [15:09] Please, thank you very much. [15:10] Yeah, thanks, Mr. President Trump. [15:11] Are there any insurances from the grocery chains that will pass these savings down to consumers? [15:17] Well, let's ask Kroger about that. [15:19] Come on. [15:20] That's a very good question. [15:21] You have the biggest right here. [15:23] Yeah. [15:24] We're actually right in the middle of doing that at the moment. [15:28] So we're concerned about the cost of living. [15:31] It makes a big difference when you get your pricing right. [15:34] And we certainly are interested in ensuring that all our customers right across the country are paying the right price. [15:41] You know, if it were the right thing to do, if it would be, you know, bad for the environment, what they had. [15:49] And I'm all for it. [15:50] I'm all for that stuff. [15:51] But when you're forced to put in very inferior equipment, it's not going to work. [15:56] You're going to be wasting a lot of food product because it doesn't cool the food properly. [16:00] And it's actually a bad thing. [16:03] And it's the bad thing is more expensive than what they already have. [16:07] And in many cases, they just put it in. [16:10] You know, they just put in the other apparatus. [16:13] And a lot of people have said they've spent money recently to do it. [16:19] And then this rule came up out of nowhere. [16:21] And the stuff they just put in, they have to change. [16:24] I'd be all for changing if it, you know, if it was good, even if it was a little bit good. [16:29] But this is actually bad. [16:31] Do you not have any environmental concerns, though? [16:33] No, there is no environmental concern. [16:35] And Lee covered that really well. [16:37] There's no environmental concern. [16:38] It's not going to have any impact on the environment. [16:41] Mr. President, with many Americans concerned about affordability ahead of the midterms, [16:47] there is some backlash from the Senate Republicans to some of the other priorities, [16:51] the ballroom and that anti-weaponization fund. [16:54] You clearly still have a stronghold in the Republican Party. [16:57] Your candidates did very well this week during the primaries. [16:59] But are you losing control of the Senate? [17:01] My candidates did well. [17:02] Not all candidates did well. [17:03] But are you losing control of the Senate, sir? [17:06] Are you losing control of the Senate, the Senate Republicans? [17:09] I don't know. [17:10] I really don't know. [17:11] I can tell you, I only do what's right. [17:13] I don't need money for the ballroom. [17:15] You know, I'm making a gift of the ballroom. [17:17] This is the biggest misreporting that I've ever seen. [17:21] The ballroom is being built. [17:22] It'll cost — it was going to be $200 million. [17:25] I've doubled the size of it because we need it. [17:27] And it's being done in conjunction with the military and with the — very much in conjunction [17:33] with the military and Secret Service. [17:35] We're on time, on budget. [17:37] It's going beautifully. [17:38] I have all the money I need. [17:40] We're making a gift to the United States. [17:43] They came along and they said, we want to make it — the House, the White House overall [17:50] more secure. [17:51] And I understand that. [17:52] Not for me, because I'll be gone, you know. [17:54] I'll be gone and you'll have somebody else in for hopefully hundreds of years. [17:59] But that's what they're doing it for. [18:01] The ballroom is paid for. [18:02] It's a gift. [18:03] I mean, I want to make it clear because so many people say, I thought you were giving [18:07] this away. [18:08] And all of a sudden, the money that they're spending is for security, having to do maybe [18:11] around the ballroom and other parts of the House. [18:15] But this is not for the ballroom. [18:17] The ballroom is being — a tremendous amount of what's being done with respect to the ballroom [18:23] is for national security, including, as an example, a drone port on top, which was [18:29] top secret until litigation made it less than top secret. [18:34] But we have a drone port. [18:36] We have also — we have the glass that's four inches thick, bulletproof glass. [18:41] We have bulletproof walls. [18:42] We have — you need a place like this. [18:44] But this is being made as a gift from me and other people that are great patriots that [18:49] spend a lot of money. [18:50] We're building what will be the finest ballroom anywhere in the world. [18:55] If they want to spend money on securing the White House, I think it would be very, very [19:01] much a good expenditure. [19:02] But the ballroom is being built. [19:03] But what if Congress doesn't sign off on the security money, sir? [19:07] Then the White House won't be a very secure place. [19:10] But then, regarding Cuba, there was an aircraft carrier that just arrived there just this week, [19:16] an aircraft carrier. [19:18] Are you sending that there to intimidate the Cuban government? [19:21] No, not at all. [19:22] The Cuban — look, it's a failed country. [19:24] Everybody knows it. [19:25] They don't have electricity. [19:26] They don't have money. [19:27] They don't have really anything. [19:29] They don't have food. [19:30] And we're going to help them along, and we're going to help them because the people — because, [19:34] number one, I want to help them, you know, on a humanitarian basis. [19:38] But we have the Cuban American population, much of it living in Miami and Florida. [19:43] That's a great group of people, amazing group of people, industrious. [19:47] Just — they're great Americans. [19:49] They've wanted this to happen. [19:51] They want to go back to their country. [19:52] They want to help their country. [19:53] I hope they're going to stay here, but they want to go back. [19:56] They want to invest in their country and, you know, see if they can bring it back. [20:00] And other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years doing something. [20:05] And it looks like I'll be the one that does it. [20:08] So, we'd be happy to do it. [20:09] We want to open it up to Cuban Americans where they can go back and help. [20:13] The Press. [20:14] The Press. [20:15] The CDC released the last election on why you won and Democrats lost. [20:20] One thing that it mentions is how they failed to reach Middle America, Southern Americans. [20:25] Do you think they've learned lessons from that election? [20:28] And have you seen that report? [20:30] I think the elections are so rigged, and we have to do something about it. [20:33] And we're going to do something about it. [20:35] But we cannot continue to have — and, frankly, the Senate and the House, they ought to get [20:40] together and they ought to pass the Save America Act so that you have voter ID. [20:44] And it's so important you have proof of citizenship — little thing like proof of citizenship — and [20:51] also mail-in voting, which is so crooked. [20:53] So, in Maryland, as you probably saw, they had 500 — 500,000 mail-in votes that were corrupt. [20:59] They were corrupt. [21:00] They were corrupt. [21:01] They said the printer made a mistake. [21:02] Don't believe that. [21:03] And they got caught with 500,000 mail-in ballots that were corrupt. [21:07] We're going to stop it. [21:09] We have a country that has a very corrupt — we have more corrupt elections than third-world [21:15] countries have. [21:16] And we ought to get smart. [21:17] Pass the Save America Act. [21:19] That'll be a long way. [21:20] Yeah. [21:21] Voter ID. [21:22] Voter identification. [21:23] The Democrats don't want to pass — now, I'll tell you what, the Democrat voters do [21:27] want to pass — 87 percent. [21:29] But the Democrat politicians don't want to pass. [21:32] And the reason is they'd never be elected again, because with their policy of open borders, [21:39] transgender for everyone — I call it transgender mutilization of your children for everybody, [21:45] men playing in women's sports — all of the stuff that they do — high taxes. [21:49] They won a tax hike. [21:50] They voted in favor of high taxes. [21:53] They voted against a tax cut. [21:56] They voted in favor of men playing in women's sports. [21:59] I don't know what these people are thinking. [22:01] The only way they can win is to cheat. [22:03] And that's what they want to do. [22:04] And we ought to pass the Save America Act. [22:06] Yeah, please. [22:07] Yes, Mr. President. [22:08] I have two questions for us about the Stafford County. [22:20] And you know a lot about history and stuff like that. [22:22] So you know the stone that was quarried for the Capitol in the White House is from Stafford County. [22:27] They still have quarries, so hang on down there. [22:30] We're using marbles and granites. [22:32] Mostly marbles and granites. [22:33] All right, excellent. [22:34] And then my second question is, the Vice President mentioned the other day [22:37] there would be accommodations — they were willing to make accommodations with the Iranian deal. [22:41] Could you kind of expand on those possible accommodations? [22:44] Does that include — [22:46] When you say combination of what? [22:47] Accommodations — he's talking about accommodations as far as making a deal. [22:50] Making a deal going. [22:51] Is that — [22:52] I don't know. [22:53] I can't tell you. [22:54] Right now we're negotiating. [22:55] And we'll see. [22:57] But either — we're going to get it one way or the other. [22:59] They're not going to have a nuclear weapon. [23:00] You know, when people hear it — [23:02] because oftentimes they won't put up the second part of the sentence having to do with — [23:06] I'll say, this is more important than anything that we have to talk about. [23:10] And usually they'll cut it off, the fake news. [23:13] I said, because this is the nuclearization of a country that some people would say is somewhat crazy. [23:22] And we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. [23:25] That's all it is. [23:26] We can't let it. [23:27] You will have a nuclear war in the Middle East. [23:31] And that war will come here. [23:32] That war will go to Europe. [23:34] We cannot let that happen. [23:35] And it won't happen. [23:36] It's not going to happen. [23:37] That's more important than anything else. [23:38] We can't — I can think of nothing that's more important than the fact that we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. [23:44] And we won't. [23:45] Yeah, Jeff? [23:46] On this negotiating with formalization of charging tools in the strait reform, is that acceptable to you? [23:55] Well, we're looking at it. [23:56] We hear about it. [23:57] They've negotiated. [23:58] They've had a relationship with them before. [24:01] And we'll see. [24:02] We have total control of the strait of Hormuz, as you know, with our blockade. [24:08] The blockade's been 100 percent effective. [24:10] Nobody's been able to get through. [24:11] It's like a steel wall. [24:12] It's our navy. [24:13] We have the greatest military anywhere in the world. [24:16] We wiped out their navy. [24:17] We wiped out their air — I think they're down to about — I would say we knocked out 85 percent of their missile capacity. [24:25] It's very hard for them now to build missiles, to build drones. [24:31] We have great drone technology, anti-drone technology now that, frankly, we didn't have even two months ago. [24:38] We have unbelievable drone technology, both for making them and also for knocking them down. [24:44] But, look, we're going to either make sure they don't have a nuclear weapon or we're going to have to do something very drastic. [24:51] And the people of the country — I believe when it's put to the people of our country, they will all agree that we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. [25:00] How do you want things to end up — just let me just — there's one follow-up on that. [25:03] How do you want things to end up with Australia and Barbados, though? [25:05] Would you like that to happen? [25:06] Well, we want it open. [25:07] We want it free. [25:08] We don't want tolls. [25:10] It's international. [25:11] It's an international waterway. [25:13] They're not charging tolls. [25:15] Right now, they are losing $500 million a day is what it's projected. [25:19] I don't know. [25:20] It sounds like a lot of money, but whether it's 500 or 200 or 300, they're losing a lot of money. [25:25] There hasn't been a ship that's been able to get through without our approval. [25:29] And the Navy has done an amazing job. [25:33] And no ship is going to Iran, as you know. [25:37] No ship is going to — or out of Iran, without our approval. [25:40] Can they keep their highly enriched uranium? [25:42] No, no. [25:43] We get the highly enriched — we will get it. [25:46] We don't need it. [25:47] We don't want it. [25:48] We'll probably destroy it after we get it. [25:50] But we're not going to let them have it. [25:52] Okay? [25:53] Mr. President, I have two questions. [25:54] First, on deregulation. [25:55] Second, on — you, coming from business, you've seen the effects of unnecessary red tape from [26:02] the business. [26:03] Do you believe that, given the amount of deregulatory actions — taking along with this, [26:08] the danger-mind finding, the cafes, the tax cuts, the tariffs — do you believe that [26:13] you've made the United States the most pro-business, pro-investment country? [26:18] Yeah, thank you very much for that question, because we are — we are — for every one [26:23] new regulation that we add, we're getting rid of 20 to 30 to 40. [26:27] And now it's actually at even a number. [26:29] In my first term, for every regulation that was added, we got rid of a minimum of 10. [26:35] And I understand, Lee, that it was up — it's up to 43 or 44 right now. [26:40] So if we add a regulation, we get rid of 43, 44. [26:44] We're making it a much more pro-business, pro-people. [26:48] You know, regulations are very costly for the people. [26:51] They're bad for everybody. [26:52] They're bad for jobs, bad for everybody. [26:54] And we have — as of today, we have more people working in the United States than at [26:58] any time in the history of our country. [27:00] To me, it's one of my favorite stats. [27:02] But we have more people today working in the United States than at any time in the history. [27:06] And this is with the Iran conflict. [27:09] That'll end soon — very soon. [27:11] And when it ends, your gasoline prices will go down lower than they were before. [27:16] You know, I left Iowa a few months ago, and gasoline was at $1.85 a gallon. [27:22] And we'll be hitting numbers like that again soon. [27:25] But we'll be hitting them in a much nicer way, by the way. [27:29] We will be hitting them, and we will have a country that will not have a nuclear weapon. [27:33] Yeah, Daniel? [27:34] So I'm in Southern. [27:35] So I'm on this today. [27:36] Yeah, let me just finish with him. [27:37] On the Supreme Court, sir, we're still waiting for the decision on birthright citizens. [27:41] Yeah, birthright citizens. [27:42] You presented the oral arguments of that. [27:43] Can you just explain what's at stake with that decision, sir? [27:46] It's a big decision that we're waiting for from the Supreme Court. [27:50] We had a terrible tariff decision. [27:53] They cost — they cost our country a fortune. [27:56] They said, do it a different way. [27:58] We're doing it a different way. [27:59] But we're going to most likely have to pay back $149 billion. [28:04] All they had to do is put a little sentence in there, half a sentence, [28:07] saying that any money is paid don't have to be paid back. [28:10] You know, you're talking about the people in many cases that hate our country. [28:14] Give them back money. [28:16] It was a terrible decision. [28:18] And it's not going to affect because we do the tariffs a different way. [28:22] The tariffs are what's bringing in all of this money. [28:25] It's really made our country rich, modernly rich. [28:29] Now we have another one coming up, which is birthright citizenship. [28:33] And we're the only country in the world that has it. [28:36] You step into our country and you're all of a sudden a citizen. [28:40] You come in a certain way. [28:41] This was not meant for Chinese billionaires to have their children become citizens of our country. [28:49] This was meant — or other rich people, poor people — this was meant for the babies of slaves. [28:56] This was signed during — right after the Civil War. [28:59] You look at the dates. [29:00] The dates alone. [29:01] Immediately after. [29:02] This was having to do with the babies of slaves. [29:06] And people have used it. [29:08] And if this is allowed to stand, it will be a disaster economically for our country. [29:14] And you'll have 25 percent of the people coming into our country coming in through birthright citizenship. [29:21] And we won't have any control. [29:23] This decision by the Supreme Court is a very big one. [29:27] They'll probably rule against me because they seem to like doing that. [29:31] You know, frankly, I'm not happy with some of the decisions. [29:36] Look at NIL. [29:38] Look what they've done. [29:39] Look what — look what the courts have done to college sports. [29:42] They're destroying college sports. [29:44] They're destroying universities. [29:46] But birthright citizens, a big deal. [29:49] And literally, if that's allowed to stand — and again, this was a civil war. [29:55] This was right after the Civil War. [29:57] And it has to do with the babies of slaves. [30:00] It doesn't have to do with the babies of very rich people coming into the country. [30:06] One of them came in with 57 children. [30:09] Okay? 57 children. [30:11] They're using the system. [30:12] And it's usually people that hate our country, if you want to know the truth. [30:16] A birthright citizen is done by no other country — no other country in the world the way we're doing it. [30:25] It's — we're a laughingstock. [30:28] And if the Supreme Court approves that decision, they have done a great disservice to the United States of America, just like they did a great disservice by costing us $149 billion on tariffs by saying, do it a different way. [30:43] Get the same result, do it a different way. [30:46] We should have won that decision. [30:48] We had a very strong, very powerful dissent. [30:51] We had three dissents. [30:52] So it wasn't like a unanimous decision by any means. [30:55] We had very powerful dissents. [30:57] When you read that dissent, people that read that dissent say, you really should have won this case. [31:01] We should have won that case on tariffs. [31:04] That case cost our country $149 million. [31:07] It goes to people that hate our country. [31:09] So now we have another one coming up — birthright citizenship. [31:13] It would be a disgrace. [31:15] It would be a disgrace if the Supreme Court of the United States allows that to happen. [31:24] Remember what I said, 20 to 25 percent of the people coming into our country will come in through birthright citizenship. [31:31] They'll become citizens through birthright citizenship. [31:36] And it'll cost us numbers that are — I don't even think they're doable. [31:42] And it's all up to a couple of people. [31:44] And I hope they do what's right. [31:46] Birthright citizenship is a disgrace. [31:49] The fact that — look at the people that are bringing the suit. [31:52] Study the people that are bringing the suit. [31:55] These are not people that love our country. [31:57] I can tell you that. [31:58] Why is today's executive order on AI been postponed? [32:02] Because I didn't like certain aspects of it. [32:05] I postponed it. [32:06] I think it gets in the way of — you know, we're leading China. [32:10] We're leading everybody. [32:11] And I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of that lead. [32:15] We have a very substantial — on AI. [32:17] It's causing — it's causing tremendous good. [32:20] And it's also bringing in a lot of jobs. [32:23] Tremendous numbers of jobs. [32:24] Tremendous numbers of jobs. [32:25] Again, we have more people working right now than we've ever had. [32:28] I really thought that could have been a blocker. [32:30] And I want to make sure that it's not. [32:32] Mr. President, your heart. [32:33] Thank you, President. [32:34] Mr. President. [32:35] Wait, one second. [32:36] With President Xi last week, did you discuss AI safeguards? [32:38] Who? What? [32:39] In China last week, with President Xi, did you discuss AI safeguards? [32:42] I did. [32:43] I did. [32:44] No, I discussed it. [32:46] And he acknowledges how well we're doing. [32:49] We're doing well. [32:50] It was the two of us. [32:51] The two countries are fighting for it. [32:53] Other countries are way behind. [32:56] Way, way behind. [32:57] They're fighting for it. [32:58] They want it. [32:59] Everybody wants it, but they're way behind. [33:01] But I didn't want to do it. [33:02] I postponed that meeting. [33:03] It was a press conference. [33:04] It was a signing, actually, because I didn't like what I was seeing. [33:08] Mr. President, a few moments ago, the Commission of Fine Arts approved your design, the design, [33:13] for your arch. [33:14] Do you think you need congressional... [33:15] Oh, that's good news. [33:16] I finally get good news from you. [33:19] What was the vote? [33:20] Do you know what the vote was? [33:21] What was the vote? [33:22] I'm just seeing the headline here. [33:24] I don't have the exact vote, but... [33:26] So we're building what's called the Triumphal Arc, right opposite the Arlington Memorial Bridge, [33:31] right by Arlington Cemetery. [33:33] It's beautiful. [33:34] The Arc de Triumph would be the one that you would probably know in Paris. [33:38] It's one of the most beautiful. [33:39] It's a very similar size, slightly larger. [33:42] We're doing it. [33:43] We have to do slightly larger. [33:44] It doesn't have to be a lot larger. [33:46] Otherwise, you'd all be disappointed in me. [33:48] But it's even far more beautiful. [33:50] And I think that the Arc de Triumph is beautiful. [33:53] It's a couple of hundred years old, but I think it's beautiful. [33:56] And some arcs go back over a thousand years. [34:00] And it's called a triumphal arc. [34:02] It's usually done for victories and war and things. [34:06] Fifty-nine of them in the world. [34:08] And some are really beautiful. [34:10] And we're the only major, Washington, D.C., which should be number one. [34:15] We're the only important and major city that doesn't have one. [34:18] We don't have a triumphal arc. [34:20] So it was meant to be built for many years. [34:23] The circle going up to the bridge, it was people pass that circle. [34:27] They say, why isn't something built here? [34:29] And so that's very good. [34:31] We just got approval from Fine Arts. [34:33] That's fantastic. [34:34] Do you need Congress to sign off on it? [34:36] No, we don't. No, no. [34:37] We're doing it. [34:38] The land is owned by Secretary, by the Interior Department. [34:42] We don't need anything from Congress. [34:45] Are you attending your son's money this weekend, by the way? [34:48] He'd like me to go. [34:50] But it's going to be just a small little private affair. [34:53] And I'm going to try and make it. [34:55] I'm in the midst. [34:56] I said, you know, this is not good timing for me. [34:59] I have a thing called Iran and other things. [35:03] That's one I can't win on. [35:05] If I do attend, I get killed. [35:08] If I don't attend, I get killed. [35:10] By the fake news, of course, I'm talking about now. [35:13] But he's got a very person who I've known for a long time. [35:18] And hopefully they're going to have a great marriage. [35:21] Mr. President, actually, to add to that, I just actually passed by it on my way here. [35:25] I saw the penny flags. [35:27] There's just geese in there all the time. [35:29] So that's perfect. [35:30] How long will that take? [35:31] And also, I have to say, I have to pass along something for my mother. [35:34] She drove in with me. [35:35] She was amazed by all the people she was seeing on the streets here in D.C. [35:39] She doesn't get in here as much. [35:40] D.C. is hot again. [35:41] She was noticing how clean and beautiful. [35:43] It's clean. [35:44] So I'm passing it along. [35:45] That's right. [35:46] Well, that's the way I do. [35:47] Clean. [35:48] Take a look outside. [35:49] We had a broken path. [35:51] It was so terrible coming into the White House. [35:54] It was slate. [35:55] Slate's a roofing material. [35:56] It's not a walking material. [35:57] But the slate was all broken and chipped and terrible. [36:00] And I put down a new granite floor and paid for it myself, by the way. [36:05] But I put down a nice new granite floor. [36:07] It looks beautiful. [36:08] It's actually getting rave reviews. [36:09] It's beautiful. [36:10] It's terrible having people walking up to the White House and they're walking over broken [36:14] tiles and broken floors. [36:16] So now we just finished it. [36:18] It's going to be finished when the moldings are put on. [36:20] But we just, you might take a look at it. [36:22] I don't know if you've seen it, but it's beautiful. [36:24] Thank you. [36:25] Of other things we're doing while you're at it, we've fixed. [36:29] We have 31 fountains in Washington. [36:34] Of the 31, not one worked. [36:36] Now we have 21 working and the others are going to be fixed. [36:40] And people are calling and saying, it's amazing what's happening, the fountains. [36:44] And they're working top level. [36:45] And my most exciting is the reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Washington [36:54] Monument Lincoln Memorial. [36:55] It's 2,500 feet long by almost 200 feet wide. [37:01] It's a massive structure if you think of it. [37:04] It's taller than the tallest building in the world. [37:06] If you sat the building down, the tallest building in the world would not reach the end [37:11] of it. [37:12] It's a very big thing. [37:13] It hasn't worked properly since it was built in 1922. [37:18] President Obama and Biden spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to fix it. [37:22] They didn't. [37:23] Of course they couldn't do that. [37:24] They didn't fix it. [37:25] It was a mess. [37:26] So mostly they turned it off, collecting garbage. [37:29] It looked horrible. [37:31] And we are very close to getting it finished. [37:33] And when it's finished, it'll be beautiful. [37:35] It'll be blue water, dark blue. [37:37] We call it American flag blue because that's the name of the color that we chose. [37:42] American flag blue. [37:43] Can't do better than that. [37:45] It's a rich, dark blue. [37:47] And it'll be, I think, very reflective. [37:51] Very, very good. [37:53] Big project. [37:55] I decided to do a much bigger job. [37:57] I was going to just get it open. [37:59] But I said, let's do it right. [38:00] Let's get it open and let's have it be good. [38:02] Because President Obama, President Biden spent hundreds of millions of dollars. [38:07] Much more than a hundred million. [38:09] But hundreds of millions. [38:10] It never worked. [38:11] In fact, when they finished it, it was much worse than it was before. [38:15] It leaked at a higher level. [38:17] They would have to fill it up every single day with water. [38:20] The whole thing was ridiculous. [38:21] So they ended up turning it off. [38:23] And it became like a garbage dump. [38:25] Well, it's pretty close to finished. [38:30] So they were going to, they had estimates of $350 million to fix it. [38:35] I'll be doing it for a tiny fraction of that. [38:39] A bigger job than I, I originally thought I'd do it for $2 or $3 million, just to a base. [38:45] But now we're fixing up the exterior of it. [38:47] We're doing it. [38:48] So we'll probably be in there for less than $20 million. [38:51] And the estimate was going to be using a different method, $350. [38:56] It was going to take four years, $350 million. [39:01] I'll be doing it in basically a couple of months for less than $20 million. [39:07] That includes all of the exterior, basically, which I never included in my original numbers. [39:12] When I went there last week, I saw the exterior was in very bad shape, as well as the interior. [39:18] So I said, we're going to fix that too. [39:20] The stone. [39:21] It's going to be beautiful. [39:22] When that's done, you might see it. [39:24] It's probably three quarters done. [39:26] We have rain delays. [39:27] We get a lot of delays. [39:28] But that will be something special, the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln and Washington [39:37] monuments. [39:38] I think it's going to be incredible. [39:41] It's largely done. [39:42] If you want to go see it, you can see it before we put the water in. [39:45] The key is to have it done before July 4th. [39:48] We want to see if we can have it done before July 4th. [39:51] We have about 20 or 21 of the water features in Washington open. [39:59] And I can say, top of the line, they look better than they did the day they were built. [40:05] Some of them have been closed for 25, 30 years. [40:08] There's been no water for 25 or 30 years. [40:11] And they're really beautiful. [40:12] Some of the fountains are as beautiful as I've ever seen. [40:15] And you probably see them. [40:17] And in addition to that, you brought up something. [40:20] Washington, D.C. is now a safe city. [40:23] We had a city that was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the country. [40:28] And now it's considered a very safe city. [40:31] Restaurants are opening. [40:32] Restaurants were closing. [40:34] You couldn't go to a restaurant. [40:36] The restaurants were closing all over because of the danger from during the Biden administration. [40:43] Now you have restaurants opening. [40:45] It's thriving. [40:46] And it was very nice that you said that. [40:48] I like this reporter. [40:49] No, it's nice. [40:52] We have a vibrant city again. [40:54] People are going out. [40:55] I have a lot of people in the White House. [40:57] Every time I see somebody, they thank me. [40:59] And I know immediately what? [41:00] They thank me for making the city safe. [41:02] They walk to work now. [41:04] Before that, they would take Uber or something. [41:07] And they felt unsafe even in Uber. [41:10] You know, we moved over 5,000 people out of the city. [41:14] Career criminals that came in through the open borders and other reasons. [41:18] And we moved over 5,000. [41:21] And an interesting statistic is that 2% of the population creates 91% of the crime. [41:31] And the reason I like that is that you can handle 2% of the population, Mr. Kroger. [41:36] I see. [41:37] Do you have stores in Washington? [41:39] Do you see a big difference? [41:40] We do. [41:41] Boy, you said it right. [41:42] Thank you. [41:43] That would have been the end of Chrome. [41:46] All right. [41:47] Okay. [41:48] We'll do one or two more. [41:49] Please. [41:50] Yeah. [41:51] Do you think Democrats are genuine in their focus on affordability, especially after [41:55] they delivered 40-year high inflation last time they were in power? [41:58] And then — or do you think they're using it or focusing on it as a means to try and [42:03] win midterms and begin the impeachment process? [42:05] Yeah. [42:06] The second — look, the Democrats had the highest inflation in the history of our country. [42:10] 48 years, they say, but the history of our country. [42:13] They had the highest inflation that we've ever had. [42:17] When I inherited it, I inherited very high prices. [42:21] And from day one, they said, affordability — affordability is a word. [42:27] Because they're good at that. [42:28] They're good at words. [42:29] But I'm good at words, too. [42:30] But they hit me with affordability. [42:32] I'd just gotten there. [42:33] They hit me with eggs. [42:35] And we had a news conference on my third day. [42:38] And they said, egg prices are through the roof. [42:41] I said, I just got here. [42:42] Tell me about eggs. [42:43] And we got the prices down. [42:44] Way down. [42:45] Actually, lower than it was four years before. [42:48] But we've gotten everything. [42:49] The thing that we have now — the only thing that's really of great concern — two things. [42:55] Beef is coming down. [42:57] And the reason is they put restrictions on beef under the Biden administration. [43:01] And it takes a while to settle that. [43:03] But prices are down. [43:05] But the big thing is, of course, energy. [43:07] We had the energy way down. [43:09] But I had to do a journey to Iran. [43:11] I had to say, you know, we just hit the best markets. [43:14] By the way, the stock market today is at the highest it's ever been. [43:18] And we've had 59 of them. [43:20] 59 days out of a very short period of time where the stock market hit all-time highs. [43:25] So we have an all-time high stock market. [43:28] We have all-time high job numbers. [43:30] We have 401Ks just hit the highest number they've ever been. [43:34] So many of you have 401Ks. [43:36] That means you're richer than you've ever been. [43:39] And we're doing really well. [43:40] But they came up with this word, affordability. [43:44] But it's them that caused the problem. [43:47] And they used that word, Senator, Senator. [43:51] They used that word right from the beginning. [43:53] I was in one day, and I heard somebody on television say, affordability. [43:59] And I inherited this mess from them. [44:02] But we've got it in great shape. [44:05] The country is doing well. [44:06] We're respected all over the world. [44:08] This country is respected. [44:09] We're the hottest country. [44:10] We were a dead country two years ago. [44:12] And now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. [44:15] So I think most of you appreciate that. [44:18] Some of you don't. [44:19] Yeah, please. [44:20] I think the Washington Times. [44:21] If the Supreme Court doesn't rule in your favor on birthright citizenship, are there any other [44:27] avenues that your administration has explored to remedy this? [44:30] And did you talk with President Xi about Chinese foreign nationals taking advantage of birth [44:35] tourism here in this country and how it didn't happen? [44:37] here in this country and how we can pass it? [44:39] Well, it's a great question. [44:40] Now, if the Supreme Court hurts our country [44:44] by ruling against us on birthright citizenship, [44:47] that would be just between that and tariffs, [44:51] what damage they've done, what damage they've done. [44:54] Again, they could have said, which they said, [44:58] do the tariffs a different way. [45:00] But they could have said the money taken in, [45:03] hundreds of billions of dollars, [45:06] $149 billion we have to pay back. [45:09] Kevin understands that better than anybody. [45:11] All they had to do is say, any money taken in, [45:14] because they agree you could do it a different way. [45:17] Any money, this is a better way, [45:19] but the other way is a very secure way. [45:22] And maybe in many ways, it's a stronger way. [45:24] They could have said, any money taken in thus far [45:28] does not have to be paid back. [45:30] To, in many cases, the enemy, [45:32] people that don't like our country. [45:34] Well, it was a half a sentence. [45:35] The Supreme Court could have saved us [45:38] $149 billion with a half a sentence. [45:42] But they chose not to do that. [45:44] Now they have a ruling, which is a much bigger ruling, [45:47] actually, birthright citizenship. [45:50] The cost, forgetting about the fact that it's wrong, [45:54] the cost of birthright citizenship [45:56] is barely not affordable by our country. [45:59] It's going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars. [46:04] And it's in their hands. [46:05] What can I tell you? [46:06] It's a common sense ruling. [46:08] It's common sense. [46:09] It was about, it was exact timing. [46:13] And it's about the babies of slaves. [46:16] Thank you for that question. [46:17] I think if Democrats took control of the Congress, [46:28] I think that, and let's say took control of the country, [46:33] I think that this country's finished. [46:36] These people are sick. [46:38] They suffer from Trump derangement syndrome. [46:40] But really, they have bad policy. [46:43] They have horrible policy. [46:44] They cheat on elections. [46:45] They get elected by cheating on elections. [46:48] But you would have two states added. [46:51] They'll terminate the filibuster immediately. [46:53] Republicans should do that. [46:55] They'll terminate the filibuster. [46:56] You'll have Washington, D.C., [46:58] and you'll have Puerto Rico as a state, [47:00] which will be a disaster, [47:03] which would be four Senate seats, [47:05] tremendous numbers of electoral college votes. [47:10] You will have, you will have the, [47:14] that's really bad, [47:16] but you'll have the destruction of our country. [47:18] They want to go to 21 Supreme Court judges. [47:20] That's their perfect number. [47:22] They talk about 13, [47:24] but they want to go to 21. [47:26] 21 Supreme Court judges. [47:29] If they get in power, [47:32] I think this country would be, [47:34] may be finished. [47:35] If I didn't win the election, [47:37] I'll say this, [47:38] we've become the hottest country anywhere in the world. [47:41] We were a dead country two years ago. [47:44] If I didn't win this election, [47:46] we would have been a country that was essentially, [47:49] would have been, [47:50] I don't even know that we would have been a country any longer. [47:53] They were destroying our country. [47:55] They were letting hundreds of thousands, [47:56] millions of people pour through our southern border. [48:01] Criminals, people from jails, [48:04] people from mental institutions, [48:06] drug dealers and drug addicts. [48:09] They were sending everybody, [48:11] countries were sending everybody that they didn't want [48:13] by the millions, 25 million people. [48:17] If I didn't win this election, [48:19] I believe our country would have been finished. [48:21] Thank you very much. [48:23] Thank you. [48:24] Thank you, guys. [48:26] Thank you, guys. [48:27] Thank you, guys. [48:28] Keep going. [48:30] Thank you, guys. [48:31] Come on, guys. [48:33] Thank you, guys. [48:34] Thank you. [48:36] Thank you, guys. [48:38] Thank you. [48:38] Thank you. [48:41] I've got to get a wire. [48:46] Don't worry. [48:51] Don't worry. [48:51] Don't worry. [48:52] Don't do it. [48:56] I used to help me that way. [48:58] You got a wire. [48:59] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:00] Thank you. [49:01] Thank you. [49:01] Thank you. [49:01] Thank you. [49:01] Thank you. [49:01] Thank you. [49:01] Thank you. [49:01] Thank you. [49:02] Thank you. [49:02] Thank you. [49:02] Thank you. [49:02] Thank you. [49:03] Thank you. [49:03] Thank you. [49:04] Thank you. [49:04] Thank you. [49:04] Thank you. [49:05] Thank you. [49:05] Thank you. [49:06] Thank you.