LIVE: President Trump address to the nation — PBS News Special Report

[0:12] AMNA NAWAZ Good evening, and welcome to this PBS News special report of President Donald [0:16] Trump's address to the nation. I'm Amna Nawaz. For West Coast viewers expecting to see the NewsHour, [0:22] we will resume that broadcast as soon as this special coverage concludes. [0:26] We're coming on the air as President Trump is about to speak to the nation about the war with [0:31] Iran. With the conflict now in its fifth week and spiking gas prices here at home hitting [0:36] Americans' wallets, the White House has billed tonight's address as an important update on that [0:42] ongoing war. I'm joined tonight by our White House correspondent, Liz Lander. So, Liz, [0:46] just tell us, what are we expecting to hear from the president? [0:49] AMNA NAWAZ Amna, a White House official told [0:51] us this evening that this will be an operational update about those military strikes in Iran. [0:57] This person said that the president is going to go over the stated goals that the White House [1:01] and he has laid out in the last few weeks, talking about destroying Iran's ballistic [1:06] missiles in their process. AMNA NAWAZ [1:07] Amna, we should also expect the president to reiterate the timeline for this, that this will [1:20] be concluding the operation in a two- to three-week timetable, which he also stated yesterday. [1:26] LISA DESJARDINS That was Liz Lander's reporting live from the White House. We expect President [1:30] Trump to walk through those doors any minute now. Now about to speak to the American public for the [1:35] first time since the U.S. president's visit to the United States. [1:36] AMNA NAWAZ [1:37] KERRY LINDEN [1:38] Thank you very much. My fellow Americans, good evening. Let me begin by congratulating the team [1:51] at NASA and our brave astronauts on the successful launch of Artemis II. It was quite something. [1:59] It will be traveling further than any manned rocket has ever flown and will [2:04] very substantially pass the moon, go around it and come back home [2:09] from a departure service. AMNA NAWAZ [2:09] distance that has never been done before. It's amazing. They are on the way, and God [2:17] bless them. These are brave people. We want to God bless those four unbelievable astronauts. [2:25] As we speak this evening, it's been just one month since the United States military began [2:31] Operation Epic Fury, targeting the world's number one state sponsor of terror, Iran. [2:40] In these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming [2:45] victories on the battlefield, victories like few people have ever seen before. [2:52] Tonight, Iran's navy is gone. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them terrorist [3:02] regime they led, are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard [3:10] Corps is being decimated as we speak. [3:13] Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons [3:20] factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces. Very few of them left. [3:27] Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale [3:32] losses in a matter of weeks. Our enemies are losing in America, as it has been for five [3:40] years under my presidency, is winning and now winning bigger than ever before. [3:45] Before discussing this current situation, I also want to thank our troops for the masterful [3:52] job they did in taking the country of Venezuela in a matter of minutes. That hit was quick, [3:59] lethal, violent, and respected by everyone all over the world. After rebuilding our military [4:05] during my first term, we have by far the strongest military anywhere in the world, and now we're [4:12] working along with Venezuela and are in a true sense joint venture partners. We're getting [4:17] along incredibly well in the production and sale of massive amounts of oil and gas, the [4:24] second largest reserves on earth after the United States of America. We're now totally [4:32] independent of the Middle East, and yet we are there to help. We don't have to be there. [4:38] We don't need their oil. We don't need anything they have, but we're there to help our allies. [4:44] Tonight I want to provide an update on the tremendous progress our warriors have made [4:49] in Iran and discuss why Operation Epic Fury is necessary for the safety of America and [4:55] the security of the free world. From the very first day I announced my campaign for president [5:03] in 2015, I have vowed that I would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. This fanatical [5:11] regime has been chanting, death to America, death to Israel, for 47 years. Their proxies [5:19] were behind the scenes. They were behind the scenes. They were behind the scenes. They [5:20] were behind the murder of 241 Americans in the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, the [5:27] slaughter of hundreds of our service members with roadside bombs. They were involved in [5:32] the attack on the USS Cole, and they carried out the countless other heinous acts, including [5:39] the blood, just horrible, bloody atrocities of October 7th in Israel, something that most [5:48] people have never seen anything like it. [5:50] This murderous regime also recently killed 45,000 of their own people who were protesting [5:58] in Iran. 45,000 dead. For these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an intolerable [6:05] threat. The most violent and thuggish regime on Earth would be free to carry out their [6:12] campaigns of terror, coercion, conquest, and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield. [6:18] I will never let that happen. [6:21] And neither should any of you. [6:22] I'm so glad it did. [6:25] This situation has been going on for 47 years and should have been handled long before I [6:31] arrived in office. I did many things during my two terms in office, to stop the quest [6:38] for nuclear weapons by Iran first. And perhaps most importantly, I killed General Qasem [6:46] Soleimani in my first term. He was an evil genius, a brilliant person, a horrible human [6:54] being, however, the father of the roadside bomb. And he lived just horrible, what he did. [7:01] Iran would have been perhaps in far better, stronger position. Had he lived, we would have [7:08] had probably a different conversation tonight. But you know what? We'd still be winning and [7:12] winning big. And then very importantly, I terminated Barack Hussein Obama's Iran nuclear [7:18] deal a disaster. Obama gave them $1.7 billion in cash, green, green cash, took it out of banks [7:27] from Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. All the cash they had, he flew it by airplanes in an attempt [7:35] to buy their respect and loyalty, but it didn't work. They laughed at our president and went on [7:41] with their mission to have a nuclear bomb. His Iran deal would have led to a colossal arsenal [7:47] of massive nuclear weapons for Iran. [7:49] They would have had them years ago, and they would have used them. It would have been a [7:54] different world. There would have been no Middle East and no Israel right now, in my opinion, [8:00] the opinion of a lot of great experts. Had I not terminated that terrible deal, I was so honored [8:06] to do it. I was so proud to do it. It was so bad right from the beginning. Essentially, I did what [8:11] no other president was willing to do. They made mistakes, and I am correcting them. My first [8:19] preference was always the [8:21] path of diplomacy, yet the regime continued their relentless quest for nuclear weapons and rejected [8:27] every attempt at an agreement. For this reason, in June, I ordered a strike on Iran's key nuclear [8:34] facilities, an Operation Midnight Hammer. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Those beautiful B-2 [8:42] bombers performed magnificently. We totally obliterated those nuclear sites. The regime [8:49] then sought to rebuild their nuclear facilities. I ordered a strike on Iran's key nuclear facilities. [8:52] For this reason, I ordered a strike on Iran's key nuclear facilities. The regime then sought to hating them and [9:01] 겠� NO LEGAL SURRENDER, RELOADING IT HELD CLACKS THAT COMM созн AMERICAN HOMELAND, EUROPE, [9:11] ABANDONING THEIR PURSUIT, THEIR NUCLEAR WEAPONS. THEY WERE ALSO RAPIDLY BUILDING A VAST STOCKPILE [9:16] OF CONVENTIONAL BALLISTIC MISSILES AND WOULD SOON HAVE HAD MISSILES THAT COULD REACH THE AMERICAN [9:21] HOMELAND, EUROPE, AND VIRTUALLY ANY OTHER PLACE ON EARTH. [9:22] the longest range possible, and they had some weapons that nobody believed they had. [9:27] We just learned that. [9:29] We took them out. [9:30] We took them all out so that no one would really dare stop them, and they raced for [9:35] a nuclear bomb, a nuclear weapon, a nuclear weapon like nobody's ever seen before. [9:40] They were right at the doorstep. [9:43] For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, but in the end, those [9:49] are just words if you're not willing to take action when the time comes. [9:55] As I stated in my announcement of Operation Epic Fury, our objectives are very simple [10:01] and clear. [10:02] We are systematically dismantling the regime's ability to threaten America or project power [10:08] outside of their borders. [10:10] That means eliminating Iran's navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their [10:18] air force and their missile program. [10:20] At least that's what we're doing. [10:20] We are dismantling their levels, never seen before, and annihilating their defense industrial [10:25] base. [10:26] We've done all of it. [10:27] Their navy is gone. [10:28] Their air force is gone. [10:29] Their missiles are just about used up or beaten. [10:33] Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran military, crush their ability to support [10:38] terrorist proxies, and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb. [10:43] Our armed forces have been extraordinary. [10:46] There's never been anything like it militarily. [10:50] Everyone is wrong. [10:50] Everyone is talking about it. [10:51] And tonight, I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion. [10:59] As we celebrate this progress, we think especially of the 13 American warriors who have laid [11:05] down their lives in this fight to prevent our children from ever having to face a nuclear [11:11] Iran. [11:12] Twice this past month, I have traveled to Dover Air Force Base, and it's been something [11:19] I wanted to be with those heroes. [11:20] I've been there. [11:21] Those are the return to American soil. [11:24] And I was with them and their families, their parents, their wives, their husbands. [11:29] We salute them. [11:30] And now, we must honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their lives [11:36] and every single one of the people. [11:39] Their loved ones said, please, sir, please finish the job, every one of them. [11:44] And we are going to finish the job, and we're going to finish it very fast. [11:47] We're going to get very close. [11:49] I want to thank our allies in the Middle East. [11:52] Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain. [11:59] They've been great, and we will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape, or form. [12:06] Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at [12:11] home. [12:13] This short-term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching [12:17] deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers in neighboring countries that [12:23] have nothing to do with the conflict. [12:26] This is yet more proof that Iran can never be trusted with nuclear weapons. [12:30] They will use them, and they will use them quickly. [12:33] It would lead to decades of extortion, economic pain, and instability worse than we can ever [12:40] imagine. [12:42] The United States has never been better prepared economically to confront this threat. [12:46] You all know that. [12:48] We built the strongest economy in history. [12:51] We're going through it right now, the strongest in history. [12:54] In one year, we've taken a dead and crippled country — I hate to say that, but we were [13:00] a dead and crippled country after the last administration — and made it the hottest [13:08] country anywhere in the world by far with no inflation, record-setting investments coming [13:13] into the United States, over $18 trillion, and the highest stock market ever, with 53 [13:21] all-time record highs in just one year. [13:23] It all positioned itself in the United States. [13:25] It positioned us to get rid of a cancer that has long simmered. [13:29] It's known as the nuclear Iran, and they didn't know what was coming. [13:35] They've never imagined it. [13:36] Remember, because of our Drill Baby Drill program, America has plenty of gas. [13:41] We have so much gas. [13:43] Under my leadership, we are number one producer of oil and gas on the planet without even [13:48] discussing the millions of barrels that we're getting from Venezuela, because of the Trump [13:54] administration. [13:55] With these policies, we produce more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. [14:01] Think of that. [14:02] Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, and that number will soon be substantially higher than [14:07] that. [14:08] There's no country like us anywhere in the world, and we're in great shape for the future. [14:14] The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won't be taking any [14:21] in the future. [14:22] We don't need it. [14:23] We haven't needed it, and we don't need it. [14:24] We've got to do it. [14:26] We've beaten and completely decimated Iran. [14:30] They are decimated, both militarily and economically and every other way. [14:35] And the countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care [14:41] of that passage. [14:43] They must cherish it. [14:44] They must grab it and cherish it. [14:46] They can do it easily. [14:48] We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately [14:54] depend on. [14:55] So to those countries... [14:56] To those countries that can't get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation [15:02] of Iran. [15:03] We had to do it ourselves. [15:05] I have a suggestion. [15:06] Number one, buy oil from the United States of America. [15:09] We have plenty. [15:10] We have so much. [15:11] And number two, build up some delayed courage. [15:14] Should have done it before. [15:15] Should have done it with us, as we asked. [15:18] Go to the Strait and just take it. [15:21] Protect it. [15:22] Use it for yourselves. [15:23] Iran has been essentially decimated. [15:25] And we have to do it. [15:26] The hard part is done, so it should be easy. [15:30] And in any event, when this conflict is over, the Strait will open up naturally. [15:35] It'll just open up naturally. [15:37] They're going to want to be able to sell oil, because that's all they have to try and rebuild. [15:42] It will resume the flowing, and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. [15:48] Stock prices will rapidly go back up. [15:50] They haven't come down very much, frankly. [15:52] They came down a little bit, but they've had some very good days over the last couple of years. [15:56] We've done actually much better than I thought. [16:00] But we had to take that little journey to Iran to get rid of this horrible threat. [16:05] With our historic tax cuts, where people are just now talking about receiving larger refunds [16:11] than they ever thought possible, they are getting so much more money than they thought. [16:16] That's from the great, big, beautiful bill. [16:18] Our economy is strong and improving by the day, and it will soon be roaring back like [16:23] never before. [16:24] It will top the levels that it was a month ago. [16:26] I've made clear from the beginning of Operation Epic Fury that we will continue until our [16:32] objectives are fully achieved. [16:35] Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete [16:40] all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly. [16:45] We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. [16:49] We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong. [16:54] In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. [16:56] Regime change was not our goal. [16:59] We never said regime change. [17:01] But regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders' death. [17:09] They're all dead. [17:10] The new group is less radical and much more reasonable. [17:14] Yet if during this period of time no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. [17:20] If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating [17:25] plants very hard. [17:26] And probably simultaneously. [17:28] We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all, because it would [17:34] not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. [17:39] But we could hit it, and it would be gone. [17:42] And there's not a thing they could do about it. [17:45] They have no anti-aircraft equipment. [17:48] Their radar is 100 percent annihilated. [17:51] We are unstoppable as a military force. [17:55] The nuclear sites. [17:56] That we obliterated with the B-2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would take months [18:02] to get near the nuclear dust. [18:05] And we have it under intense satellite surveillance and control. [18:09] If we see them make a move, even a move for it, we'll hit them with missiles very hard [18:15] again. [18:17] We have all the cards. [18:18] They have none. [18:19] It's very important that we keep this conflict in perspective. [18:23] American involvement in World War I. [18:26] Lasted one year, seven months, and five days. [18:32] World War II lasted for three years, eight months, and 25 days. [18:37] The Korean War lasted for three years, one month, and two days. [18:42] The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, five months, and 29 days. [18:47] Iraq went on for eight years, eight months, and 28 days. [18:53] We are in this military operation. [18:55] So powerful. [18:56] So brilliant. [18:57] Against one of the most powerful countries for 32 days. [19:03] And the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat. [19:09] They were the bully of the Middle East, but they're the bully no longer. [19:13] This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren's future. [19:18] The whole world is watching, and they can't leave the power, strength, and brilliance. [19:24] They just can't believe what they're seeing. [19:27] They... [19:28] Give it to your imagination, but they can't believe what they're seeing, the brilliance [19:32] of the United States military. [19:34] Tonight, every American can look forward to a day when we are finally free from the wickedness [19:40] of Iranian aggression and the specter of nuclear blackmail. [19:45] Because of the actions we have taken, we are on the cusp of ending Iran's sinister threat [19:50] to America and the world. [19:52] And I'll tell you, the world is watching. [19:54] And when we do, when it's all over, we're going to do it. [19:56] We're going to do it. [19:57] We're going to do it. [19:58] We're going to do it. [19:59] The United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous, and greater than it has ever [20:03] been before. [20:05] May God bless the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, and may God bless the [20:11] United States of America. [20:13] Thank you very much, and good night. [20:14] AMNA NAWAZ And that was President Donald Trump there addressing the nation for the first [20:21] time since the U.S. and Israel launched that war in Iran over 30 days ago, saying tremendous [20:27] progress has been made. [20:28] AMNA NAWAZ Thank you. [20:29] AMNA NAWAZ And the U.S. is going to finish the job, saying very shortly all the American [20:33] military objectives will have been met, laying out a two- to three-week guideline and timeline [20:40] ahead. [20:41] Our Liz Landers, White House correspondent, has been following along from the White House. [20:44] Nick Schifrin joins us here as well. [20:46] And, Liz, I will begin with you. [20:47] Just tell us a little bit about your reaction to that speech and why the White House felt [20:51] he needed to deliver those words right now. [20:53] LIZ LANDERS Well, the president laid out there in the [20:56] first few minutes of this address to the nation the why. [20:59] AMNA NAWAZ Yes. [21:00] LIZ LANDERS And he said why he thought that this was necessary. [21:04] So finally explaining clearly to the American public and laying out the reasons that he [21:10] thought it was necessary to make sure that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon and [21:14] run through again some of those objectives that we have heard from the administration, [21:19] including he talked again about being able to eliminate their navy, eliminating and hurting [21:25] their air force, get rid of their defense industrial base. [21:29] He said that he wanted to make sure they cannot obtain a nuclear weapon. [21:32] In that portion, though, Amna, we did not hear the president speak to the imminency [21:37] of the Iranian threat, which is something that has fluctuated somewhat when the president [21:43] has talked about this in the last few weeks. [21:45] How imminent was that threat? [21:47] And we saw that a top appointee, political appointee, Joe Ken, who was running the Counter [21:52] Terrorism Center, resigned a few weeks ago, saying that there was no imminent threat. [21:57] AMNA NAWAZ Yes. [21:58] And the president not exactly addressing that in today's address, instead talking about [22:04] how those core strategic objectives have been meeting completion. [22:08] He paid honor, Amna, to the 13 service members who have been injured. [22:13] And we know that there are several hundred more service members who have been wounded [22:18] in these attacks throughout the Middle East in the last few weeks. [22:21] Amna, just going back to that final point that you made there, the president reiterating [22:26] again this timetable. [22:27] That we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly. [22:34] So, Amna, we will see in the next few weeks if America withdraws from the region, if these [22:38] military strikes stop. [22:40] AMNA NAWAZ All right, Nick Schifrin, let's turn to you. [22:42] Give us your reaction, what you heard, anything new in the speech, and also the president's [22:47] assessment of where this war is and what happens next. [22:49] NICK SCHIFRIN This was a case for war on day 33 of the war, [22:52] rather than the day before the war. [22:54] Most presidents have given this speech before launching the war. [22:58] But this president, for whatever reason, believed that, tonight, he had to make the [23:03] case that, for 47 years, the Islamic Republic has been a threat, listing everything that [23:08] has been listed by the president and, frankly, his predecessors about Iran, in terms of pursuit [23:13] of nuclear weapons or nuclear technology, largest inventory of missiles in the Middle [23:17] East, drones, long-term threat of ICBMs that the Defense Intelligence Agency says will [23:22] take almost 10 years to make. [23:24] That list is essentially just an argument for why we went in. [23:28] AMNA NAWAZ That's right. [23:28] NICK SCHIFRIN That's right. [23:28] NICK SCHIFRIN It is day 33. [23:31] The polls are down. [23:32] Gas prices are up. [23:33] We see the president trying to manage this in the realm of public relations, frankly. [23:40] But tonight, the argument was, this is why we went to war in the first place, again, [23:44] on day 33 of the war. [23:46] The assessment to what you said of how the war is going, yes, Iran's missile and drones [23:51] are vastly degraded. [23:53] If you compare it from the first night, it's down 90 percent. [23:55] But if you compare it to last week, it's actually pretty consistent. [23:58] There are some days where you have dozens of missile strikes on Israel and the Gulf. [24:03] That is not a totally defeated Iran. [24:06] And Iran has a card that it did not have the day before the war, which is a stranglehold [24:11] on the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil and natural gas [24:14] used to flow. [24:16] And that card they are playing every single day. [24:18] One last quick point. [24:20] He did make a new threat that we have not seen. [24:22] The president said that if we see Iran make a move, even a move, for Italian-rich uranium [24:27] that is buried. [24:28] In one to three nuclear sites across the country that the U.S. hit last summer, the president [24:34] says we will hit them with missiles very hard again. [24:36] He has not explicitly said that we are watching whether you even move to the highly enriched [24:41] uranium. [24:42] That's 60 percent enriched, one step below 90 percent weapons-grade. [24:46] That is new language from him. [24:47] Threatening even that move will get a U.S. response. [24:50] AMNA NAWAZ Liz, pick up on that point that Nick was [24:52] just making there about this moment in time for the president, this administration. [24:57] His poll numbers are down, specifically on the economy. [25:00] They are down. [25:01] He's making the case for this war more than a month after starting the war. [25:05] What's the White House thinking on this? [25:07] LISA DESJARDINS Well, Amna, it's an election year. [25:09] We have these huge midterm elections in November. [25:11] The president, the White House are keenly aware of this. [25:14] And they had been prior to this conflict at the beginning of this year focused on affordability. [25:19] The White House chief of staff said that the president was going to be traveling on a weekly [25:22] basis across America, talking about bringing down housing prices, rent costs, groceries. [25:25] AMNA NAWAZ That's right. [25:26] That's right. [25:27] LISA DESJARDINS Gas, now all of that messaging is to the [25:31] side, particularly the president, I think, is concerned about these gas prices. [25:36] We heard him make passing reference to that, saying that these short-term increases can [25:41] be withstood by the American public. [25:43] But, Amna, you and I know, talking to people across the country, people are feeling this [25:47] right now imminently, as they are paying for gas and living their lives right now. [25:53] AMNA NAWAZ All right. [25:54] That is Liz Landers and Nick Schifrin. [25:56] After the president's address. [25:57] To the nation. [25:58] Thank you to you both. [25:59] And that concludes our live special coverage of President Trump's address to the nation. [26:04] We will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming for some stations. [26:08] That will be the NewsHour. [26:10] For additional coverage, be sure to join us online and right back here for the NewsHour [26:13] tomorrow night. [26:14] I'm Amna Nawaz. [26:15] Thank you for joining us and have a good night. [26:17] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers [26:23] like you. [26:24] Thank you. [26:34] You're watching PBS.