Trump press conference after signing Oval Office executive order addresses post-election goals

[0:00] Mr. President, thank you. [0:01] So speaking of what you've done in this room, [0:03] you've signed about 300 executive orders [0:06] in the past two years. [0:08] How do you plan to use the executive orders? [0:10] Mr. We've signed a record number of executive orders. [0:14] How do you plan to use executive orders [0:16] in the next two years? [0:18] In addition to the Cabinet Room and the Oval Office, [0:21] how else do you plan to preserve your legacy [0:23] in the next two years and onward? [0:25] The President So we're going to do a lot of things. [0:28] You'll be seeing a lot of things over the next week. [0:32] Two weeks, we have a lot of things cooking. [0:34] We're doing very well. [0:36] We have thousands of plants and factories [0:39] being built in the United States. [0:40] And somebody said, oh, about tariffs. [0:43] Let me tell you, if I took tariffs off right now, [0:46] every one of those plants would immediately stop construction [0:50] because they're only building them, [0:54] maybe for two reasons or three reasons. [0:56] But the 99 percent is if they don't build them [0:59] in order to sell their product into the United States, [1:03] they'd have to pay a 50, 100, 150, 250, even 300 [1:07] percent tariff. [1:09] And once they start building, once they open up, [1:15] they pay no tariffs. [1:16] So it's, you know, amazing. [1:17] So all of that money, $22.2 trillion is coming in [1:23] because these great companies from all over the world, [1:26] they'd rather not build them. [1:27] By the way, if you took the tariffs off, [1:29] they would be so happy, [1:30] they would stop construction immediately. [1:33] You know who knows that better than anybody? [1:35] Laura back there. [1:37] Laura, if we took the tariffs off, you know, every — [1:41] right, we're building over 3,000 factories right now. [1:44] Every factory would come to an immediate halt. [1:47] They would say, thank you, sir, very much. [1:49] We're going back. [1:50] We'll send you the product from Japan. [1:52] And if you didn't have tariffs — [1:54] if we didn't put tariffs on — [1:56] we've been ripped off for years [1:57] by other countries having tariffs and we didn't have — [2:00] and that woman understands it, I think, [2:02] may be better than almost anybody. [2:05] She's covered it very fairly young. [2:06] In other words, if we took tariffs off right now, [2:10] let's — you know, I watch these stupid people. [2:13] We have $22.2 trillion, [2:17] the highest number ever for any country at any time, [2:20] by maybe five times. [2:23] If we took that off, everybody would stop building. [2:26] You would have partially built factories [2:29] all over the country. [2:31] And they would just send in their product [2:33] from China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, everything. [2:39] No, but when they build, they open, [2:41] and they don't have to pay any tariffs. [2:43] So, that's why. [2:44] And by the way, prices will come way down. [2:46] Yes, please. [2:47] The Press, Mr. President, next week, [2:48] when House Republicans vote for their next leader [2:50] in the new Congress, [2:52] if they deadlock between Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, [2:55] would you intervene? [2:56] Would you endorse one of those gentlemen? [2:58] Well, I might. [2:59] I mean, I don't think I'll have to. [3:00] They'll end up picking somebody. [3:02] But those are two tremendous people, great people. [3:05] Yeah. [3:05] Mr. President, there's a tanker [3:07] on its way across the Atlantic [3:09] filled with Russian diesel fuel. [3:11] There's a law that was passed in 2022. [3:13] The President and where is it going? [3:15] It's coming to the United States, supposedly. [3:17] There's a law that says that that fuel [3:19] cannot be unloaded in the United States. [3:20] It makes it illegal. [3:22] The President and the President and the President [3:22] Is that under the Jones Act? [3:24] No, it was passed by Congress, signed by President Biden in 2022. [3:28] By Biden? [3:30] How are you important? [3:31] Well, that probably makes it a pretty bad law. [3:33] I'll take a look at it, sure. [3:35] Mr. President, there's reporting that Iran is reviewing [3:38] a set of proposals presented by mediators [3:41] that could shape the future of its nuclear program. [3:43] Is the U.S. involved in that? [3:46] They're not doing anything without our approval. [3:50] But what I said to you, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. [3:53] They're not doing anything without our approval. [3:56] So you've seen this proposal that Iran is looking at? [4:00] It doesn't make any difference what they're looking at. [4:02] They're not going to have a nuclear weapon. [4:04] They know that. [4:04] So do I. [4:06] Go ahead. [4:06] What do you think about Al Sayed not backing Chuck Schumer? [4:10] Do you think that it signals a larger divide [4:12] within the Democratic Party? [4:13] They have to work out their own situation. [4:15] He made a statement that he wouldn't early on, [4:17] and so he's just living by that statement. [4:21] I think Schumer probably gets it because, yeah, [4:23] he's been around a long time. [4:26] He's actually not a bad guy. [4:27] I know him. [4:27] I know him very well. [4:29] I know him better than most. [4:30] Yeah. [4:30] And on the election, so this week, [4:32] Democratic Socialists win today, for example, [4:35] the mayoral race in LA and also in Washington, D.C. [4:37] Now, together with New York, [4:40] three major cities are going to be led by Democratic Socialists. [4:43] What's your message to these mayors [4:45] who will be leading these cities? [4:46] And also, what's your message to the residents [4:49] in these cities who might not have voted for them [4:51] and are worried about where their cities are going? [4:53] Well, they're going to have to see what happens. [4:55] I mean, there'll be a point at which if people are unhappy, [4:59] there'll be changed. [5:01] But unfortunately, usually that happens so late [5:03] that you'll never be able to bring back a city [5:05] or a country or a state when it goes too far. [5:10] I watched the election in Los Angeles, [5:14] and it was a very disgraceful event [5:16] because I thought Spencer Pratt would be in the final, [5:19] and so did everyone else. [5:21] So did the one who was leading or winning. [5:23] She broke down and cried, and she said, [5:25] oh, I lost, I lost. [5:27] But then they found the votes necessary to bring her in. [5:30] Our elections are so crooked, you have no idea. [5:32] So, but look, if you go by history, [5:37] it's going to be a disaster, going to be a disaster. [5:39] I deal with a very nice gentleman. [5:42] I get along with him, great, from New York. [5:44] We'll see how that all works. [5:46] I'd like to make sure that New York does well, [5:51] and hopefully it will, but it's tough. [5:54] Those policies are very tough. [5:56] They're very tough on a city, a state, or a country. [6:00] That's been proven over a thousand years [6:02] with different names, see? [6:03] We see some chatter about Pete Hegseth. [6:06] Are you expecting any staffing changes between now and ... [6:09] No, I know. Pete Hegseth has done a fantastic ... [6:13] Now, he's got some interesting things. [6:17] You know, we had more generals [6:18] than we did in World War II. [6:21] We had so many generals. [6:23] Everybody was a force general. [6:24] I never saw anything like it. [6:26] And many of those people were awoke. [6:29] I don't like a woke general. [6:31] And so he probably has opposition. [6:33] I think he's doing a fantastic job. [6:35] So, we had a war with Venezuela. [6:39] It was over in 48 minutes. [6:40] We had total success. [6:42] No deaths. [6:44] We have, I guess, you have ... [6:46] I don't know if it's a war, [6:47] because there hasn't been anybody killed in many months. [6:51] But we have a war with a place called [6:55] the Islamic Republic of Iran. [6:59] Lovely place. [7:00] And we control the Straits. [7:03] We're doing more oil right now going through the Straits [7:06] than we did before the war started. [7:08] And nobody's been killed in about seven months, six months. [7:15] And, you know, if you look at Russia, Ukraine, [7:18] see, that's a war. [7:19] That's a war. [7:20] Twenty-five thousand people being killed a month. [7:22] We're going to get that settled pretty soon, by the way. [7:25] But 25,000 people a month being killed. [7:28] They fight day and night, day and night, all day. [7:31] And you have World War I, World War II. [7:34] Those are wars. [7:35] Somebody said a war with Iran. [7:37] No. [7:39] We have succeeded with the blockade tremendously. [7:45] We have destroyed — somebody, a man told me today, [7:49] that's from the area, a neighboring country, [7:53] that it'll take them 25 to 30 years right now [7:55] to rebuild their country. [7:57] And, you know, so we'll see how that all works out. [8:01] I think it's working out very well. [8:03] Somebody else called — you know, they say it's an occupation. [8:06] Remember what — because it is virtually an occupation. [8:10] And we're not looking to be wise guys, [8:12] but it is an occupation. [8:16] Remember this. [8:17] So we've lost 18 lives, and 18 is far too many. [8:22] But in Vietnam, we lost thousands and thousands of lives [8:25] over a 21-year period. [8:27] In Afghanistan, we lost tremendous numbers of lives. [8:31] Eighteen is too many. [8:33] One is too many. [8:34] But we lost 18 lives, and we've been there for seven months. [8:38] And we have full control of that place. [8:42] They shoot a rocket every once in a while, we get hit by a drum, [8:46] and it bounces off a metal object, you know. [8:48] Or we shoot it down. [8:49] Most of the time, we shoot it down. [8:51] But there's nobody been killed in a long time. [8:55] I don't want to jinx myself by saying that, [8:58] because we'll walk out the door. [8:59] So guess what just happened? [9:02] But it's 18 souls, and that's too many. [9:05] But in Vietnam, if you look, [9:06] it's thousands and thousands of Americans. [9:11] And you can also look at it in a different way. [9:15] Over the years, the SS coal and Iran has caused [9:19] a lot of bloodshed for America. [9:21] They started it in 19, think of it. [9:24] They really started it in probably 1979, right? [9:30] That's when it started. [9:31] And during that period of time, [9:33] they killed thousands of Americans and many other people. [9:38] And if you go back just over the last seven months, [9:41] they've killed 75,000, at least that's as of two months ago. [9:46] They've killed 75,000 protestors, hanging many from cranes. [9:51] So we've done a good job. [9:54] The Press So you're not making changes here [9:57] between ... [9:58] The President No, I was just going to say, [10:00] so Pete's in charge of war, right? [10:03] Department of War made that change. [10:06] Venezuela has been unbelievable. [10:10] Considered one of the greatest attacks [10:12] anybody's ever seen. [10:13] He was in charge of that, along with me and others. [10:17] But Venezuela, we've taken out billions and billions [10:23] of dollars' worth of oil. [10:25] I saw this lightweight congressman the other day [10:28] criticizing me on Iran for spending $25 billion. [10:32] I said, well, we've taken much more money out of Venezuela [10:34] than the Vietnam, because it's basically two wars. [10:38] So in Venezuela, we lost nobody. [10:41] It lasted 48 minutes. [10:43] I caught one day, but it lasted 48 minutes and it was over. [10:45] It was a violent attack. [10:49] And in Iran, we are there for seven months, [10:53] and we control everything that we've wanted to control. [10:56] And now we'll make a decision, do we want to go further [10:59] and just certify it by certifying it, [11:02] meaning where it'll never happen again. [11:05] I think it'll take them 25 years to rebuild the country. [11:08] I would rather not destroy the rest of the country [11:11] if possible, but maybe I'll have to. [11:13] You'll know soon enough. [11:15] The Press, Mr. President, on Republicans in Congress. [11:17] What would you like them to focus on in the next two months [11:20] when they still have the majorities? [11:22] The President Biden has been a tremendous two years. [11:26] I don't think there's ever been a president [11:28] that's done more between the great, big, beautiful bill [11:32] with the tax cuts, with the biggest tax cuts in history, [11:35] biggest regulation cuts in history. [11:37] What we've done is amazing, though. [11:39] Even in the military, between Iran and Venezuela, [11:45] and the border. Take a look at the border. [11:48] I mean, the border. [11:49] So we're now in the 18th month with not one person. [11:54] And I don't make out these statistics. [11:55] They're made by people that lean left, as they say. [12:00] Not one person has come into our border, our southern border, [12:04] over the last 18 months. [12:05] I think, you know, it's pretty amazing. [12:07] So we had a tremendous border. [12:08] Probably got elected on the border. [12:09] I can't even talk about it now because people say, [12:12] nobody's interested because you fixed the border. [12:13] My own people, they say, [12:16] nobody is interested in the border. [12:17] You fixed it. [12:20] But we've had a tremendous success. [12:23] The stock markets hit 91 all-time highs. [12:28] 401 s are at the highest they've ever been by far. [12:31] With Biden, they were down 25 percent. [12:34] With me, they're up 74 percent. [12:37] It's in a short period of time. [12:38] So 401 s are the highest. [12:40] Stock market is the highest. [12:42] I mean, we've had a tremendous period of time. [12:44] It's been it's been amazing. [12:46] We've rebuilt our military. [12:48] We're building more weapons right now in our military [12:51] than we've ever built before. [12:53] And and we're locked and loaded. [12:55] If we if we have to do the rest of the Iran thing, [12:59] we're very much locked in. [13:00] The Pressure, thank you. [13:03] What prompted this decision? [13:05] And what do you hope future generations will understand [13:07] about this decision? [13:08] And what do you say to those who criticize your updates? [13:11] I mean, all this gold Hillary Clinton even criticized [13:15] your updates about the gold. [13:16] She did? [13:17] Yeah. [13:17] I don't like her house either. [13:19] I know her house very well. [13:23] Look, the Oval Office is a place of victory. [13:27] It's a place of prestige like the White House. [13:30] If you would have looked, see that beautiful white wall? [13:32] There's no gold in that. [13:34] But I fixed all of the monuments. [13:37] I fixed all of the borders. [13:40] You have border borders and you have broken windows. [13:43] We had broken windows or cracks in many windows. [13:47] You'd look up, you'd see a crack in a window. [13:49] This is representative nation. [13:53] I think to me, maybe more than it was between the Capitol, [13:55] the White House, maybe a few others, Supreme Court. [14:00] To me, the White House is so important. [14:04] If you looked at the wall, if you looked at that wall one year ago, [14:11] it was badly damaged from years of service. [14:16] It was badly damaged with cracks, broken stone all over the place. [14:22] The borders, the borders up on top, they were all broken. [14:29] They call them monuments, the figures on the sides. [14:33] You'd have a window with one broken, one not broken. [14:35] So we made a mold of the one that was not broken [14:38] and placed it very carefully. [14:40] And then it's been resurfaced. [14:42] So because the surface was falling off, it was falling off. [14:46] The columns outside, you can take a look at them. [14:49] They're all beautiful. [14:51] They were all in horrible shape, you know, [14:53] from being beaten up over hundreds of years, actually. [14:57] They would get beat up and the building was beat up [15:01] and it was a shame and I fixed it and I do it very easily. [15:04] I didn't devote time to it a lot of time. [15:06] I just said I have very talented people that were able to do it. [15:09] I paid for it and we fixed up the exterior of the White House. [15:14] There's no gold, but there's no cracks. [15:17] There's no broken stone. [15:20] They have beautiful ornamentation on it. [15:23] Original from 1792 when it was built. [15:26] But much of it was broken. [15:29] It was either broken or gone. [15:31] And in many cases, you'd have it on one side of a window [15:34] and on the other side, there was nothing there [15:36] because it would fall and you'd see the holes. [15:39] You'd see the metal that held it from all these years. [15:43] And it was many years and I said, we've got to fix it. [15:47] So, because I did that, I get criticized. [15:50] Oh, isn't that terrible? [15:51] I view the White House as a very important symbol in the country. [15:55] And we can't have broken windows. [15:57] We can't have broken stone. [15:59] I mean, they'd have a big hole in the stone, [16:01] a gaping hole, this deep. [16:03] And instead of fixing it beautifully that you can't even see, [16:06] they'd just paint it. [16:07] People would look up and say, this is the White House. [16:10] It's so inappropriate. [16:12] So, I devoted very little time. [16:18] The ballroom is going to be the most, the best in the entire world. [16:21] Even President Xi of China, he said, wow, that's going to be something. [16:25] And he has the Great Hall of China, which is quite nice, I must tell you. [16:29] But we didn't have a place, so 150 years. [16:32] And then we have a big military component, drones on top and five stories underneath [16:38] of all military stuff that was supposed to be top secret [16:41] until I got sued by a group of people that are very bad for our country. [16:46] We asked them not to sue because then people will see the under, [16:50] you know, when you sue, they see what you're building. [16:52] We built five stories underneath that ballroom and it's going to be great. [16:57] But when you look at that White House, you know, I hear Obama, [17:00] but he doesn't, Obama doesn't know about dirt and filth [17:03] and he doesn't know about cracked stone [17:05] and he doesn't know about broken windows. [17:07] He's probably fine with them, but I'm not, I'm not fine with them. [17:10] Yeah. [17:11] The Pressure at the White House, [17:13] the First Lady brought together a Russian [17:16] as well as Ukrainian officials to celebrate the ceasefire. [17:20] Do you see that as a stepping stone for a larger peace deal? [17:23] I do. I do. I think it's great. [17:26] I think she did a great job and we're, we're, [17:29] I think we're going to be very close to settling Russia, Ukraine. [17:32] Did you yourself meet with President Putin's envoy [17:35] who was here earlier meeting with the First Lady? [17:37] I did. [17:38] The First Lady, you said you met with him? [17:40] Yeah, I did. [17:41] What did you, what did you discuss? [17:42] I don't, can't tell you what I discussed. [17:44] But you met with him today. [17:44] But I'm just telling you, it's going to be an agreement. [17:48] It's going to be a big agreement [17:49] and it's going to involve more than Ukraine. [17:52] It's going to be a very big, [17:53] it's going to involve more than Ukraine. [17:56] And I could even say it might involve all of Europe. [17:59] It's going to be a big, beautiful agreement [18:01] and everyone's going to be thrilled. [18:03] Yes, Steve? [18:04] The Press. [18:05] Did you meet with the Ukrainian delegation as well today? [18:06] No, just with the head person of Russia. [18:09] Okay. [18:10] Are you, are you ready to reinforce the Texas? [18:13] The President Putin right now kills Ukrainian civilians [18:16] in their apartments, in their buses, in their schools. [18:20] And he's targeting civilians all the time. [18:23] Did you bring that up with an effort? [18:24] I always bring it up and I also bring it up the other way [18:27] because the other way they killed too. [18:30] You know, a lot of people are being killed. [18:32] They have, they're losing, between the two of them, [18:36] they're losing 25,000 people to death, [18:41] 25,000 people a month. [18:43] And I bring it up on both sides. [18:46] You know, Russia's losing civilians also. [18:49] They, they are, it is a bloodbath and it has to end. [18:53] And I think we're going to get it ended pretty soon, [18:56] very soon maybe. [18:57] Yeah. [18:57] Are you ready to reinforce the Texas southern border [19:00] now that democratic, the new democratic governor [19:03] is removing state manpower from border defense? [19:07] The President Putin I am sure that the new governor [19:09] is going to want to have security of this Texas border. [19:13] There were people on television two days ago saying [19:17] how it's like living in heaven compared to living in hell, [19:20] when Biden was there and I'm sure they'll continue my policy. [19:24] And if they don't continue my policy, I will. [19:28] Okay. [19:29] On going on that on Alaska today, [19:31] you are should transfer to both of the two reportedly [19:33] recruited candidates to senator, [19:35] the real Senator Dan Sullivan. [19:37] How do you see that actually happening? [19:38] And what other actions you have administration? [19:40] You have a Dan Sullivan, the real Dan, [19:43] I call him the real Dan Sullivan. [19:44] You have the fake Dan Sullivan, [19:46] the fake Dan Sullivan got a lot of votes, [19:47] meaning 2% or something, but a lot. [19:50] And then they also have somebody else in there that they put. [19:53] They put two people, not just Dan Sullivan. [19:55] They put the fake Dan Sullivan. [19:57] They put another guy who never ran for office or anything. [20:01] And they said certain things and he got like three, [20:03] four thousand votes. [20:05] And when you add up those votes, Dan Sullivan, [20:07] the real Dan Sullivan wins in a lance, not a lance, [20:10] but wins by thousands of votes. [20:13] And I say they, because it was a fraud, it's voter fraud, [20:18] because it was a fraud. [20:20] And they took that and they took that fraud. [20:23] And they thought they confused the voter. [20:25] And the people that liked Dan Sullivan, [20:26] he's a very good senator. [20:28] The people that liked Dan Sullivan, by mistake, [20:31] voted for the fake Dan Sullivan. [20:33] Likewise, they have another Republican candidate in there. [20:37] So people said a Republican candidate probably had some policy [20:42] down there and they voted for him. [20:44] So they cheated on thousands of votes. [20:46] Everyone knows it's a cheat. [20:48] And they should be mandated to take the fake Dan Sullivan's votes [20:51] and the other person and give it to the real Dan Sullivan. [20:55] And when that happens, he wins by thousands of votes. [20:59] Thank you very much, everybody. [21:01] Thank you. [21:01] Thank you. [21:02] Thank you. [21:02] Thank you. [21:03] Thank you.