text
stringlengths 62
2.91k
|
|---|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Please, go ahead.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I wanted to ask you about the agreement again today. What changed between the first time that Secretary Bessent gave President Zelenskyy the agreement and today for the signing?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We made a deal, so --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
What was the deal? Was there deciding factor --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'm just -- I'm a businessperson. We made a deal. That's what changed.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I didn't think we were going to make a deal. And we ended up making the deal, so that changed.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, why and how do you envision a trilateral summit with President Zelenskyy? And --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't know, but it's -- well they don't like each other. I can tell you that OK. [Laughter] They do not like each other. This is not a love match. And it's unfortunate. That's why you're in this situation. Mr. President -- The United States should not have allowed this to happen. OK? The United States, run by a man that didn't know much, I'm going to be very nice, run by an incompetent person, a very incompetent person should never have allowed this to happen.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I've stopped wars. I've stopped many wars. My people will tell you. I stopped wars that nobody ever heard about. I stopped wars before they ever started. You can look at some of -- some of -- I could give you a lot of nations that would tell you right now they were probably going to war. I could tell you, right now, there's a nation thinking about going to war on something that nobody in this room has ever even heard about, two smaller nations, but big, still big.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
About --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think I've stopped it. But this should have never happened.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
About -- uh, sorry, just a second. About any negotiations. First of all, I want really to tell you and I think that everybody understands that more than Ukrainians, nobody wants to stop this war. But at the future, any negotiations, it's understandable that two sides of the war, not Russia and the United States, because this is not the war between Russia and the United States.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
This is war of Russia against Ukraine and Ukrainian people. So these two sides will be, any way, will be at the negotiation and negotiation table. Then of course the United States, like the strongest partner of the Ukraine, and of course Europe. I think Europe is very important. I want to speak about it with the president.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Yes, Europe is very important for us because we really defend Europe for today. All Europeans are really recognizing that we are defending the line and they have real life and our people are dying. That's why they helped us. And also it's about the need, yes, between like the president said you have big nice ocean.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Yes, between us, but if we will not stay, Russia will go further to Baltics and to Poland by the way. But first to the Baltics, it's understandable for them because they've been -- they've been in the USSR, you know, they've been one of the republics of the USSR And Putin wants to bring them back to his empire.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
It's a fact and when he will go there, if we will not stay, you will fight, your American soldiers, it doesn't matter. Do you have ocean or not, your soldiers will fight.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, what are you willing to visit Ukraine, maybe Kyiv or Odessa, which is known to be a 30 year old city?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
It was my question. [Laughter]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't want to talk about Odessa now. Let's not talk about Odessa. I want to talk about making a deal getting peace. We don't have to talk about Odessa, but a lot of cities have been destroyed. A lot of cities that are not recognizable, there's not a building standing and a lot of -- a lot of things have to happen --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
You have to come and to look, no, no, no. We have very good cities. Yes, a lot of things have been destroyed, but mostly cities alive and people work and children go to school, sometimes it's very difficult, sometimes closer to front line. Children have to go to underground schools or online, but we live.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Ukraine is fighting and Ukraine lives. This is very important and maybe it's Putin is sharing this information that he destroyed us. No, he lost 700,000 people, 700,000 soldiers, he lost everything. Yes.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
So Mr. President, Mr. President.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Please go ahead.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
When did you last speak with President Putin and what did he say that --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
A couple of days ago.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
And and what did he tell you that gave you the assurance that he wanted peace?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, that's what I do. My whole life is deals, I know pretty good uh and I really -- I've -- I've known him for a long time. I've dealt with him for a long time. He had to suffer through the Russia hoax, you know Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax, it was all Biden. It was nothing to do with him. So he had to suffer through that and he was able to do that.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think that he wants to make a deal and he'd like to see it end. That's all I do. That's what I do my whole life that's what I do is make deals and I'm in the middle of a mess because this is a real mess. It's a very dangerous one. If this doesn't get solved now, it's not going to get solved for a long time.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So I hope we're going to -- I hope we're going to get it solved. In the back please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Thank you, Mr. President. Prime Minister Starmer claimed repeatedly that his government believes in free speech and does not engage in censorship. But his country's government arrests people for memes and tough crimes and even more worrisome is pressuring American companies to censor Americans on its behalf.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
How can he be a reliable trustworthy partner when he says things that are demonstrably false on such an important topic?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, we actually spoke to him about that yesterday and we thought they took it very, very much too far. JD was very strong on it. So was I and so was Marco and we've been speaking to him about it. Marco, would you like to say something about that?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Marco Rubio
We have concerns obviously with the conduct of our -- particularly as it impacts Americans and there's real concern that Americans free speech, which is online, could fall into the hands of the British or any country's jurisdiction. And so this is a point the Vice President made in Munich and I think it's a very compelling one that what unites us with Europe as much as anything else is these shared values and one of them being free speech.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Marco Rubio
And so Americans are threatened by it. We're going to need to take action in that regard.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
it's a big -- it's actually a very important question.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
We spoke about this in detail with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary and others at lunch yesterday. And I know that Secretary of Commerce Lutnick followed up in private meetings last night. This is really important. We believe Americans have the right to speak their mind even if we in this room disagree with them.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
They have the right to speak their mind in the public square, which is often online these days. And we're going to defend that right as it pertains to American companies and American citizens vigorously if we have to. I do think that under the President's leadership, we're going to find common ground with our friends in the UK on this question.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
But it remains to be seen. The principle that will guide us is we believe in free speech in this country and will fight for it for American citizens.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr -- Mr. President on the deal, is there any other oil and gas component to the deal or is it all --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
A little bit we'll see --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
On LNG --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But we're not really looking for that so much. We got a lot we have more than anybody in the world by far. So no, we're not talking about it too much, but a little bit. I think it affects also, but for the most part, no.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Sir, is there any agreement from Ukraine to purchase us LNG as part of the deal --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No. No.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Or is that on the table at all?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No. We don't need that.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, I just wanted to ask you about -- you just mentioned that you'd spoken to Vladimir Putin a couple of days ago. Just to be clear, that's a new call, not the one that --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I've spoken to him on numerous occasions.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Ok. How was the latest call and what did you discuss? How did it go?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Are you serious with that question?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I am -- I'd love to know.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It went well. [Laughter] I think I think we're going to have a deal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
On the minerals deal. Mr. President, some of those minerals are in the east of Ukraine, not far from the front lines and in areas of Russia --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Very good question. Thank you so much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
[Inaudible] President Putin to withdraw his forces from those areas. If you're -- there's U.S. interests there.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, we'll take a look at it at the time. We have a lot of area. It's a very big area we're talking about. So we'll take a look, I'll study that and I'll see.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
And who would protect those minerals if they are US interests, would that be Ukrainian [Inaudible]?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They'll be protected. The agreement will protect them.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
US forces?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
The agreement, yeah, we're signing an agreement.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
You know what If Russia tries to invade or there's Russian aggression?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I just told you, I don't think that's going to happen. And if that were going to happen, I wouldn't make a deal if I thought that was going to happen, I wouldn't make a deal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
[Inaudible]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You know, they ought to focus on CNN on survival, not asking me these ridiculous questions, focus on surviving because CNN's got such low ratings. I don't think they're going to survive uh, let's go -- yeah, please go ahead.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
This is already -- I already mentioned Poland. Poland was under Russian control for decades after the Second World War. When I was a kid, I looked at the United States not only as a most powerful country, richest country in the world, the country that has great music, great movies, great muscle cars, but also as a force for good.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Do you -- And now I'm talking with my friends in Poland and they are worried that you align yourself too much with Putin. What's your message for them?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, if I didn't align myself with both of them, you'd never have a deal. You want me to say, uh, really terrible things about Putin and then say hi, Vladimir. How are we doing on the deal? It doesn't work that way. [Laughter] I'm not aligned with Putin. I'm not aligned with anybody. I'm aligned with the United States of America.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And for the good of the world. I'm aligned with the world. And I want to get this thing over with. You see the hatred he's got for Putin. It's very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He's got tremendous hatred. And I understand that. But I can tell you the other side is exactly in love with, you know, him either.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So it's not a question of alignment. I have to -- I'm aligned with the world. I want to get the thing set. I'm aligned with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough? I could be tougher than any human being you've ever seen. I'd be so tough, but you're never going to get a deal that way, so. That's the way it goes.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
All right. One more question.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
I want to respond to this. So look, for four years, the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin. And then, Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
We tried the pathway of Joe Biden of thumping our chest and pretending that the president of the United States words mattered more than the president of the United States is actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That's what President Trump is doing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Can I ask you?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
Sure.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Yeah?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
Yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Okay. So he occupied our parts, big parts of Ukraine, part of East and Crimea, so he occupied it on 2014. So during a lot of years, I'm not speaking about just Biden, but those time was Obama -- then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now the President Trump. And God bless now President Trump will stop him.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know, what the --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
2015?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
2014<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
2014-2015?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
2014, Yeah, yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I was -- I was not here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
So he killed --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I was not here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Yeah, but -- but --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
That's exactly right.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Yes, but during 2014 till 2022, you had -- was the situation the same that people have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that. We had conversations with him. A lot of conversations. My bilateral conversations. And we signed with him. Me, like you, president, in 2019, I signed with him the deal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I signed with him, Macron and Merkel, we signed ceasefire. Ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him with gas contract, gas contract, yes. But after that he broken the ceasefire. He killed our people. And he didn't exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners. He didn't do it. What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
What -- what -- what -- what do you mean?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
I'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of your country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Yeah but --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
-- But, Mr. President -- Mr. President, with respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
I have been to --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Then come once.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
I have actually -- I've actually watched and seen the stories and I know that what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you've had problems bringing people into your military?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Do we have problems?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
And do you think that it's respectful --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- I will answer --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
-- to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to -- trying to prevent the destruction of your country?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
A lot of -- a lot of questions, let's start from the beginning.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
Sure.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you, but you have nice ocean and don't feel now, but you will feel it in the future. God bless --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- You don't know that --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
God bless you, god bless you, you would not have a war.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I'm not telling you. I'm answering all his questions.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're in no position to dictate that. Remember this.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I'm not dictating.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
That's exactly what you're doing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel. We're going to feel very good.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
You will feel influence.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're going to feel very good and very strong.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I'm telling you, you will feel influence.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're right now not in a very good position, you've allowed yourself to be in a very bad --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
From the -- from the very beginning of the war --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- position and he happens to be right about it.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- From the very beginning of the war --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I'm not playing cards.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Right now, you don't --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I'm serious, Mr. President. I'm very serious.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're playing cards, you're playing cards, you're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
What are you thinking about? What are you thinking about it?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I'm giving respect to your country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's back to you. Far more than a lot of people said they should have.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
[Inaudible] respect.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
A lot of times.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
No, in this entire meeting have you said, thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I said thank you today.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October, offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- What are you thinking about?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- and the president who's trying to save your country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Please you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war you --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- He's not speaking loudly, he's not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Can -- can -- can I answer?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No, no. You've done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I know.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're not winning.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I know.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out, okay because of us.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
We are staying. Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong from the very beginning of the war we've been alone and we are thankful. I said thanks --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- You haven't been --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- in this cabinet.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You haven't been alone.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I said thanks in this cabinet.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You haven't been alone. We gave you through this stupid president $350 billion.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
You voted for your president.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We gave you military equipment.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
You voted for your president.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You and your men are brave, but they had to use our military.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
What about [Inaudible]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
If you didn't have our military equipment --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- You invited me.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
If you didn't have our military equipment --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- You invited me to speak.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- this war would have been over in two weeks.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
In three days I heard it from Putin, in three days. This is something --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- Maybe less.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
In two weeks. Of course, yes.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's going to be a very hard thing to do business like this, I tell you.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
You say thank you --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- I said a lot of times thank you --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
-- Accept that there -- accept --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- to the American people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
-- accept that there are disagreements and let's go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you're wrong. We know that you're wrong.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But you see, I think it's good for the American people to see what's going on.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
I understand, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think it's very important that's why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful. You don't have the cards.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I'm thankful.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're buried there, your people are dying.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
I can tell you again -- I know --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- You're running low on soldiers. Listen --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Don't -- don't -- please --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- You're running low on soldiers.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- Mr. President --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It would be a damn good thing --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- Mr. President --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- and then you then you tell us I don't want a ceasefire. I don't want a ceasefire. I want to go and I wanted this. Look, if you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you you'd take it, so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Of course -- of course we want to stop the war.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But you're saying you don't want a ceasefire?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
But I -- but I said to you --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- I want a ceasefire --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-- with guarantees.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Because you'll get a ceasefire faster than any agreement.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Ask our people about ceasefire. What they think?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That wasn't with me.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
It doesn't matter for you what --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- That wasn't with me, that was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
But this was your -- this is your president --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
-- That was with Obama.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
It was your president.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Excuse me, that was with Obama who gave you your sheets and I gave you javelins.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Yes.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins, you got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don't have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us you don't have any cards.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
One more question, Mr. Vice President, I'm sorry, here.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's gonna be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
What if Russia breaks ceasefire? What if Russia breaks peace talks? What do we do then? I understand that it's a heated conversation right now.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
What are you saying?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
She's asking what if Russia breaks the ceasefire?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
What if they -- what, if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
But they have broken ceasefire --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Okay. What if they broke it? I don't know. They broke it with Biden because Biden they didn't respect him. They didn't respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt, where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That was a phony -- that was a phony hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam, Hillary Clinton, Shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam and he had to go through that and he did go through it and we didn't end up in a war and he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden's bathroom.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It came out of Hunter Biden's bedroom, it was disgusting. And then they said, oh, oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia, the 51 agents, the whole thing was a scam and he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff. All I can say is this, he might have broken deals with Obama and Bush and he might have broken them with Biden.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
He did maybe, maybe he didn't, I don't know what happened, but he didn't break him with me. He wants to make a deal. I don't know if you can make a deal. The problem is I've empowered you to be a tough guy and I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States and your people are very brave.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But you're either going to make a deal or we're out and if we're out, you'll fight it out. I don't think it's going to be pretty, but you'll fight it out, but you don't have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position, but you're not acting at all thankful and that's not a nice thing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'll be honest, that's not a nice thing. All right. I think we've seen enough. What do you think, huh? This is -- this is going to be great television. [Laughter] I will say that. All right, we'll see what we can do about putting it together.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Thank you. All right, guys. Let's go. Guys, come on, let's go.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We'll see, I don't know.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
All right, guys. Guys, come on, please. Hey, come on. Let's go -- let's go guys come on, let's move. Please, please, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Hello everybody. So, enjoy your flight? That was a great four days. It was -- I think -- it was a historic four days. The jobs and money coming into our country is, uh, there's never been anything like it.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You see that, and the companies are American-based companies, are doing work that wouldn't have been available to them except for November 5th.November 5th was a big day for our country. So, I just want to thank you. You have great stamina also; we all have stamina because you needed it. That was a test. I think they were giving us a test, but it was amazing what they've done in all three countries.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You can't speak more highly -- the job they've done is -- in a fairly short period of time, is just outstanding. And they're great people, great leaders, great leaders, three great leaders. So, it's an honor. Now we'll go back to DC and I have a nice grandchild waiting, which I'll see soon, but this was a fantastic moment for our country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I really believe that. Everyone's talking about it and the respect shown to our country was incredible because nobody's treated like that. Nobody's treated well like that. So, thank you all very much. Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, you arrived here with a big victory. Nice to see you. Thanks for bringing us. You arrived here with a big victory, getting Edan Alexander out, working directly with Hamas, the last remaining American. Do you think the Israelis and Bibi Netanyahu can get his hostages out?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't know; we're going to find out pretty soon. We're going to know pretty soon. They're not in good shape, as you know. And different places -- you know, it's not one place, it's different places. Some of them are in better shape than others. A little bit depends on the place where they are, but we'll be working with them to get them out.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
The Israelis didn't want the US to be recognizing the new Syrian government. Is there a message that that --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't know, I didn't ask them about that. I thought it was the right thing to do. I've been given a lot of credit for doing it. Look, we want Syria to succeed. It's been a mess for 10 years and much longer than that. It would not have been -- these were very biting -- you know, when you look at the sanctions, these were really brutal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And they would have; I would say zero chance of success and this way they have a chance. Their leader is a strong person, but young and a lot of energy and wants to do a good job.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, IDF was planning to send in tens of thousands of more troops and expand the war in Gaza, especially if there wasn't a ceasefire while you were here. Do you support that?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, we're going to see what happens. I think a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month, and we're going to see. And we have to help also out the Palestinians. You know, a lot of people are starving on Gaza. So, we have to look at both sides, but we're going to do a good job. We're very happy with what happened with -- I hope it continues, and I think it will.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But what happens with India and Pakistan, that was a big -- that was a big success. If you would have seen the level of anger between the two, that was not a good thing. Yes.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
A senior Hamas leader said that they might be willing to give up power, an Egyptian proposal, in order to bring peace. Is that a step that you're welcoming?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We welcome everything, but we want to get the hostages back. I've gotten, you know, a majority, a big majority back, but we want to get the hostages back. So, we'll see how that works out. OK.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, are you planning to call Vladimir Putin? How do you think you can get those talks on track?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I may, I may. Look, we have to meet, he and I will meet. I think we'll solve it, or maybe not, but at least we'll know. And if we don't solve it will be very interesting.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
And then did Austin Tice come up when you talked to the Syrian president?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I always talk about Austin Tice. Now, Austin Tice hasn't been seen in many, many years. You know that. He's got a great mother who's just working so hard to find her boy, so I understand it. But Austin has not been seen in many, many years.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
You were joking about the endurance that it takes to do this. This was a lot to do in a short period of time. Conversations about endurance often focus now on Joe Biden and his endurance and his abilities. The Hur tapes right now, there's a lot of discussion about it. When will they be released? Will you release them?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
How soon should we anticipate that?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I haven't looked into that. That's up to Pam and the group. I haven't really looked into it. Look, everybody understands the condition of him. I know people that are 89, 90, 92, 93 years-old that are literally perfect. But Joe was not one of them and they did a lot of hiding. They were really playing games and, you know, you can't do that; our country is at stake.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You see even a thing like this. There's so many decisions for billions and billions, but then you have even more important decisions. You have decisions for life, and you can't have a man in that condition. And everybody was holding back, including the press, including the media.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Sir, you're welcoming white south Afrikaners into the country as refugees when you've closed off that door to a lot of other refugees from other parts of the world. What message does that send -- to those who say it isn't, why is that fair?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I think if I see people in distress, I don't care what color, what they look like, what anything, their size, their height, their eyes, I don't care. But I think that from all evidence, the farmers in South Africa are being treated brutally. And it's been reported, and nobody wants to cover it, but they happen to be white.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And if they were black, I'd do the exact same thing. And we treat people very well when we see there's a genocide going on. So, if it's a genocide that's terrible and I happen to believe it could very well be. South Africa is out of control, and it's been out of control for a long time. And the media doesn't report it. And I'm not looking for reporting because, believe me, it's easier for me not to do anything.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's a lot easier because I don't get nasty questions like that, but the fact is that we're about saving lives and we're going to do that. So, we've made a home, and we'll make a home for other people that are treated badly no matter what their color. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
-- to the G20 there?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'm not sure. I'm really not sure.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
On Iran, has the US given them a formal proposal? Has Steve Witkoff handed that over?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They have a proposal, but more importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad, something bad's going to happen. Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
How's Tiffany doing? She's well? Everything's good at home? Congratulations.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you. Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Travel safe, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thanks.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much for being here. We had a very, very good cabinet meeting. We're on our way to some tremendous numbers. I think, first of all, many companies are now moving into the United States. They're coming back. Some of them left us from many years ago, decades ago, and they're all -- it seems they're all coming back.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We have probably identified maybe $4 trillion worth of companies moving back or going to move back, and many of them have announced. It's going to be tremendous jobs, high-paying jobs, too. And you probably know, the chip business -- not because of the CHIPS Act, which was a disaster. You gave billions of dollars to companies that already have many billions of dollars.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They're just -- they said, "Thank you very much." It was no incentive for them to use it. But what is good is the tariffs, we'll make it so that they want to come back. That's why they're coming back. I think they're coming back because of the election that took place on November 5th and because of the fact that they have to come back because the tariffs are forcing them to come back.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And remember, there are no tariffs if you build here, and that's a big factor. So, we have record numbers. Howard was just telling me the numbers that we're talking about are crazy, beyond anybody's wildest expectations. So, they'll be doing a lot of -- a lot of building, all sorts of businesses, including the basics of automobiles.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We have -- as you know, Indiana is -- Honda is coming in with a massive plan to Indiana. But there are many plants that are happening. And literally, some have started already. General Motors is already redoing plants that were half abandoned or they have plants that weren't being fully utilized. They're going to be -- they and others are going to be making parts and other things in those plants so that it's one-stop shopping finally.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's ridiculous. You had to go to Mexico. You had to go to Canada. The car went all over the place, it was like -- I don't know how -- how that would have worked. But that's the way it sort of ended up. We had a deal and -- we have a deal, it's fine, but people took advantage of the deal. They cheated. And when you cheat, the deals are unfortunate.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But now, what's happening is the numbers are beyond our wildest expectations. Now, having to do with cutting, we've done a lot of cutting, a lot of cutting from people, ideally the people that aren't doing their job. In many cases, people weren't attending jobs. In some cases -- in many cases, people didn't exist.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They had on the government roles people that don't even exist. But of the ones that did exist, as you know, many didn't come to work, many had no intention of coming to work, many were paid and working someplace else. There were lots of bad scenarios, but they're being weeded out. And I think we're probably ahead of schedule on that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And to me, something that was just terrible is the contracts that were finding, the fraudulent contracts that we're finding where millions and millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, in some cases, were given out. And we'll -- I think we'll start with that. I'd like to start with Doug Burgum, secretary of the interior.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
He told us about a couple of contracts that we have now found when he got there. They saw this with Chris and everybody, and they couldn't believe it. Doug, could you just --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Doug Burgum
Eight hundred and thirty million dollars. So, that's one -- one that we've stopped. And -- and that contract was going out after you were inaugurated, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Doug Burgum
So, it was jumping --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Such pure fraud.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Doug Burgum
Yeah.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's a fraud. But we've had many fraudulent contracts that were caught by the work that Elon and his people are doing and working with our people. It's been brought to light the fraud, not just waste and abuse. The fraud has been incredible. You mentioned one, Madam Secretary.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
Well, yes, sir. Well, let me just add to that -- and thank you. We just had a wonderful cabinet meeting, all aligned on -- on certainly the -- the effort to realign the government. But even at the US Department of Agriculture, we've canceled a $300,000 contract educating on food justice for queer and transgender farmers in San Francisco.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
A similar contract we canceled in New York, again educating transgender and queer farmers on food justice and food equality. I'm not even sure what that means, but -- but apparently the last administration wanted to put our taxpayer dollars towards that. We canceled a $600,000 contract in -- out of Louisiana that was studying the menstrual cycles of transgender men, a $600,000 contract.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
We canceled another contract out of a university in the middle of the country that focused on getting more diversity, equity, and inclusion into our pest management industry. Again, these are nonsensical. It makes zero sense to use taxpayer dollars to fund these. I know these are just a few examples of the hundreds and hundreds --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
There's fraud.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
That we have found.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Elon Musk
A case -- a clear case of fraud was with the Small Business Administration where they were handing out loans -- $330 million worth of loans to people under the age of 11. I think the youngest, Kelly, was a nine-month-old who got a $100,000 loan. That's a very precocious baby we're talking about here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Kelly, what about that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kelly Loeffler
Well, we're tackling the fraud, waste, and abuse of the agency. We've seen, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud go unprosecuted, so we're taking that on. We have a zero-tolerance policy for fraud, and we continue to crack down on it and make sure people are held accountable.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's amazing. And you have a lot of that. You found far too much of it. It's a pure fraud. We like to use the words waste and abuse because they make -- they sort of sound good. But many of these things are pure fraud. Now, there was a contract that you've heard about where Stacey Abrams got $2 billion just before we took over, and it was a rush to get her the money, and that was environmental, and nobody knows what she was doing, but 2 billion.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
If you got 2 million, that's a lot. If you got 200,000, that's a lot. But this was $2 billion was given. Lee, do you want to talk about that and the other one that was even worse?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Lee Zeldin
EPA has now canceled over $22 billion worth of contracts, $2 billion going to this NGO that Stacey Abrams was tied to. They received only $100 in 2023, and then the Biden administration gave them $2 billion. The director of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund saw his former employer get $5 billion. So, $20 billion went to just eight NGOs, and they're all pass-throughs.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Lee Zeldin
And then they were giving it to other entities, many of them were pass-throughs. And what you have is all these extra middlemen, they're taking their cut, and the taxpayer ends up getting screwed. They're losing out on all this hard-earned money. They can't afford to have the federal government waste. The partnership with DOGE -- and Elon Musk has been incredible at EPA. Their team is -- is very talented.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Lee Zeldin
We wouldn't have been able to do it without them, and of course, this mandate from President Trump to make sure that we identify every last penny, whether we're saving $50,000, $5 million, or $22 billion. We will not rest until every last penny is saved. Thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to do this for the American public.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you. Great job you're doing. So, we have a lot of that. We're getting down to a point -- we think probably over the next two or three months, we'll be pretty much satisfied with the people that are working hard and want to be members of the administration and our country, really. And they're doing -- a lot of good people.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We have a lot of great people. We want to keep the -- we want to keep the good ones, and we want to get rid of the ones that don't exist and we want to get rid of the ones that do exist but don't work, and we have quite a few of them. Would anybody else like to say something before we take some questions from the press, please?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Doug Collins.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Doug Collins
Yes, Mr. President. I think one of the things that you've always told me is take care of our veterans, and that's what we're doing at the VA. And one of the things, though, is you also have to know who your employees are. You have to know the very fact of who you are. We're 470,000 roughly when we started this, larger than the active-duty Army when you think about that in the perspective.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Doug Collins
But, however, this is an interesting point. When I first got there and we started looking at this, you know, how you take care of people, we didn't have an HR system that could actually give us a rundown on who actually was working where, that we've had to work with that working with our -- our VA employees who are DOGE liaisons.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Doug Collins
We've been able to put together an organizational chart which we can start looking at that. But the interesting part about it is it's about taking care of veterans. And what you've told me to do is how do we get the people in the right places. And I think when we look at this, GAO has told us we were high risk for years.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Doug Collins
The previous administration put literally tens of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of employees over the last four years, and we saw our statistics basically go -- stay the same or go down. Backlogs went up. You know, maybe the question is not money and employees anymore. Maybe it's the organization and how we effectively deliver for the American people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Doug Collins
And that's what we're going to do.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
OK.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Well said.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And, you know, one thing I want to add to it, it is not necessarily a very popular thing to do. You know, you're talking about employment, you're talking about people and the lives of people. And yet, I think the American public understands we're trying to save our country and make our country great again.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I mean you could say it, but we're trying to save our country from this extraordinary thing that was happening. What they were doing to our country was just a horrible thing. And I have no idea how it plays out in the public. I have -- I guess you see poll numbers that are very good numbers, but I don't know what that means long term.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But it's something that has to be done. If we don't do it, we're not going to have much of a country left. So, we have to do it. So, we're doing things that I think a lot of presidents wouldn't be inclined to do. But we're doing it to really -- you know, I don't want to use cliche, I don't want to say we're doing it to make America great again because I say that on the campaign trail, but there's really no other words that could express it better than that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's -- we're doing it to help our country. And our country was -- was riddled with fat like no country probably anywhere in the world, and we're getting rid of the fat. And at the same time, we're bringing in -- we're going to be bringing in millions of very good high-paying jobs and we're going to be taking in a lot of money.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Our country is going to be very strong. We've been ripped off by every country in the world, friend and foe. We were taken advantage of like nobody's ever seen. And you saw what happened today with Venezuela. We did something with Venezuela, which is long in the making, and it's very substantial. And we'll be announcing cars very shortly.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And we already announced steel, as you know, and aluminum. We'll be announcing pharmaceuticals at some point in the not too distant -- because we have to have pharmaceuticals. We don't make pharmaceuticals anymore in our country. And if we have problems like wars or anything else, we need steel, we need pharmaceuticals, we need aluminum.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We need a lot of these things that we sort of don't make anymore, and yet we're equipped to do it all. So, we'll be announcing some of these things in the very near future, not in the long future, the very near future. And it'll bring -- it'll bring in billions of dollars, billions and billions. And it'll bring in maybe more importantly jobs.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It'll protect the jobs we have. And it's going to be really, really quite amazing. Chris, did you have something to say?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Chris Wright
Yes, Mr. President. I want to say energy is the infrastructure that makes our country run and drives our national security. The Biden administration grew my department, the Department of Energy, by 20 percent and expenditure much more than that, all in an effort to reduce the production of energy in the United States and to make energy more expensive.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Chris Wright
We are stewards of the American taxpayer dollars, right? That's the job of everyone around this table, led by you. We want to reverse that trajectory and care about every dollar an American taxpayer gives us and are we using it for the benefit of Americans. Let me tell you one thing, huge growth in expenditures, huge growth in employee count.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Chris Wright
Puerto Rico, an American territory, had its electricity grid destroyed. They had billions of dollars in the Department of Energy to help Puerto Rico. Yet, they didn't spend that money because that money would have meant more energy, more jobs, more prosperity in Puerto Rico. They wanted to have them as a poster child of wind and solar.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Chris Wright
This island should run on wind and solar. That just doesn't work. But they cared about politics more than the American people, and they didn't treat the dollars like they were their dollars. This table, the team you have assembled, we're treating the American dollars like they're our dollars.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you. We're doing a great job on energy, by the way. We have -- we have things happening with energy that will knock your socks off. And really, amazing, amazing job. Howard, do you want to say a couple of words?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Howard Lutnick
Well, what is so exciting is April 2nd is just around the corner, and that's American Liberation Day. That's the day when the rest of the world starts to treat America with respect. And your leadership, understanding how the rest of the world treats us and what balance and what fair trade finally is going to be, is going to take care of America.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Howard Lutnick
It's going to launch the External Revenue Service to start to build the power and prestige of America back. And I'm honored to be helping you on that course.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's an interesting term, right, the External Revenue Service. We're going to take in a lot of money from the outside, and that's going to keep our taxes low and I think getting a lot lower. It's going to be a lot of money, and that will -- the external will take care of the internal to a large extent. So, I think it's -- it's going to be a beautiful transformation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Linda, you might say a couple of words. You've done so amazingly. It's a 50 percent cut. And more importantly, we want to bring education into the states. We're at the bottom of the pack, but we're the most expensive per pupil, and we want to bring education back to the states where they can teach the students lovingly with their parents and with the boards and everything else, and they'll be every bit as good as these other countries.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
These states -- these individual states will do a phenomenal job. You want to say something?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Linda McMahon
Yes, sir. And if we think about education, if we don't address the issues in education now and start getting our scores up, what are we going to find in our next generation and generation after that? Where are our engineers, our doctors, our lawyers, our scientists, our -- our AI and technical experts going to come from?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Linda McMahon
We will go farther and farther down. And with everything else we're doing within our country, building manufacturing, bringing all of that back, if we don't educate in the best way we can, we will be lost and those generations will be lost. It is, I think, the cornerstone of our culture and what we need to focus on. And so, by having education at the best place where it can be, which is at the state, the local levels with governors, with best practices and tools, which I hope the Department of Education can help supply for them, we'll do it.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And, Linda, as you know, the SBA has taken over student loans, which is a lot of loans. It's a big job. And, Kelly, we appreciate that. You're going to do fantastically well. And Bobby is going to be taking over their various medical aspects and health aspects of the educational process. So -- and he's going to do a fantastic job of it. So, thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Thank you, Mr. President. I would just say that I'm very grateful to you and very grateful for the partnership with DOGE, with Elon. We've identified extraordinary ways in my department and HHS. The expenditures, the budget of HHS during the Biden administration went up by 38 percent, the employees went up by 17 percent, and health care went down.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
We have 40 comms departments. We have 40 procurement departments. We have 40 IT departments. And we have 40 -- procurement, HR, none of them talking to each other. We are, with Elon's help, eliminating the redundancies. We are streamlining our department. We're going to go back to providing gold standard science.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
We're going to get the money to the scientists and to the patients rather than to the administrators and to the bureaucrats. And we're going to restore gold standard science, and we're going to make America healthy again.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. It's great. If you might, Madam Secretary, say a little bit about what's happening and how well we've done at the border.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
Sir, this last week, I was in Arizona, California, Alaska, and Florida, and CBP literally has almost 100 percent operational control of the border, which means that our country is secure and that we know who's coming into this country and that they love our country and they want to help keep it great into the future.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
We are in the month of March, the last couple of weeks, increased our deportations by 50 percent. So, we're now not even just getting the worst of the worst out. We're making sure that there's consequences for being here and committing crimes in our communities. And we're -- the numbers are continuing to escalate and to go up, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
This next week, I'm headed -- or this week, I'm headed down to El Salvador. I'll be in the prison where we sent TdA members. I'll be meeting with the president and also Colombia and Mexico and talking about building these relationships so that we can continue to get people out of this country that don't belong here and take them home.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
And also, you had talked to me about sending the message worldwide about the fact that people shouldn't be coming to this country and they shouldn't be coming here illegally. So, we are in several other countries around the world with a message right now that's saying if you are thinking about coming to America illegally and coming here, don't do it. You are not welcome.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
We have a legal process to becoming a United States citizen and there are consequences if you come here illegally, and America has changed because we're putting Americans first. So, we've also -- the Coast Guard has done phenomenal work. I don't know if you all have reported on it, but we have broken historic records in the amount of drug interdictions that they have brought in. We've repositioned the fleet to go after the fentanyl crisis and to go after the southern border and securing it, and they've done amazing work as far as that.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
We were down in Florida, they brought in $0.5 billion worth of cocaine that they had done in 14 interdictions and had brought them in, going right directly after the cartels, and doing great work there. And we have a cutter that we have sped up the process, sir, the icebreaker. That will be hitting the waters here this summer.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
And we've got two more that will be coming. But, you know, Russia is using their cutters and icebreakers up in the Arctic to do surveillance on us, and we're going to reposition our fleet to continue to partner. I want to thank the secretary of defense and the Navy for all of their help and partnership, too.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
We -- we do operations together because they're -- obvious Navy warships are in certain regions, but our cutters are faster and can work together in a partnership that's securing America. So -- and we're going to eliminate FEMA. So, we've got a lot -- a lot to do, but it's all good, and -- and we're working hard, and we're going to make sure that we're continuing to do exactly what you promised.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's great. Great job. Yesterday, there was a plaza that you know well, there'd be hundreds of thousands of people standing at that plaza, pouring into our country, totally unchecked, many people from jails and prisons and mental institutions and gang members, and horrible, horrible. And they just pour into our country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yesterday, I was speaking to somebody, I was checking on the border, and they said there was literally nobody in this massive plaza. You know what we're talking. A plaza that would hold hundreds of thousands of people. There was literally nobody there. There was one person sweeping it, but there were no people.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's been amazing. It's been an amazing transformation, very quickly. And we're getting the bad ones out first, and we're taking them out. And there are some really bad ones, really bad ones, murderers, murderers of more than one people. At least 50 percent murdered more than one person. These are the people they were letting in through their open border policy.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It was terrible. But I want to just congratulate you and Tom Homan on the job you've done. You've been -- it's really --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
Sir, in Boston this weekend, hundreds of dangerous criminals were removed. Four killers taken out of the country just by what they did in Boston these last few days.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah. And these are killers that there's no reasoning. It's not like, oh, let's talk them out of it. These are stone-cold killers. They don't care. They don't even think about it. They kill somebody, they go to sleep, they wake up, they don't even remember they killed them. These are bad people that should have never been allowed into our country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Pam is doing such a fantastic job. I thought maybe you could say a few words.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Pam Bondi
Thank you, President. As far as the -- we are hearing a lot about fraud, waste, and abuse. A lot of waste and abuse, but there is a tremendous amount of fraud. And, Elon, thank you for your partnership. Thank you for your team. You have uncovered so much fraud in our government, and we will prosecute you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Pam Bondi
We have an internal task force now working with every agency sitting here at this table. And if you've committed fraud, we're coming after you. Thank you, Elon, for that. On the violent crime level, thanks to President Trump's directive, we are seeking the death penalty again. So, all of these horrible violent criminals that you're hearing about around the country, they will face the death penalty federally within our country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Pam Bondi
And the drug dealers need to get out of here because we are coming after you. We're going to have 94 great US attorneys around this country. And everyone will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Pam Bondi
Thank you, President. It's at your directive.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I couldn't have said that better. That's very good. That's very good. She's doing a fantastic job. Thanks, Pam. Do you have any questions, please?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah. Yeah, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, what can states do now to implement your Department of Education executive order?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I think what's going to happen is we are cleaning out a lot of things like the loans, student loans, which will be handled very professionally by people that do that. And then, as you know, RFK Jr. is going to do a fantastic job having to do with health and the other things and frankly better than the people at the Department of Education.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You see the buildings all over DC. And then the rest is the states are going to start coming in and taking all of the information on all of their students. And I think a lot of that information is going to be shipped to different states like Iowa, like Indiana, like so many. They're so anxious to get -- they're calling us, and they're so anxious to get it. We'll be shipping the records of the children that they're taking care of, that they want to take care of, and the process will begin.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I think it won't be that long before the states will be really running the Department of Education. Our teachers are going to be taken very well care of. And I said, you know, personally, I don't care union, nonunion. That doesn't matter. Teachers are so important to this country and to me, and we're going to take great care of our teachers.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I know it's very important to Linda. So, I think you're going to see a tremendous change very quickly having to do with education. And it's -- the process has already begun, very strongly begun. I think we've done, you know, in whatever it is, eight weeks, people are amazed at how much we've done in terms of the safety of the country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
In fact, I would like to ask maybe Marco to say a few words on what's happening with respect to, in particular, Russia and Ukraine, where we have some pretty good news. I think we want to get it stopped losing 2,500 young people, and these are Russian and Ukrainian people largely. And they're not American people, but on a human basis, we want to get it stopped, and we want to stop spending billions and billions of dollars to a country that we think it's -- it's time, and we're doing pretty well.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Marco, do you want to say something?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Marco Rubio
Yeah. Mr. President, first of all, I think the American people should be proud that we have a president that's promoting peace and the end of conflict on this planet. This is a war that's gone on for three years, as you pointed out, that, as you rightly pointed out, would have never happened had you been president.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Marco Rubio
But now, it's here and it needs to be brought to an end. There is no military solution to this war. It has to end through negotiation. And there's only one leader in the world that's capable of bringing the two sides to a table, and that's our president, the president of the United States, President Trump.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Marco Rubio
And that's what he's done. And so, today, even as we speak, we have teams on the ground in Saudi Arabia meeting with the respective sides in the hopes of making progress towards this outcome that we all want to see. And -- and I think that the country owes you a great debt of gratitude and the world, really, because I mean you're the only leader in the planet that can bring the two sides together to bring an end to this conflict, and that's what you've done, and you've done it despite, you know, impediments from other countries and others who maybe have different opinions about how this should go. But ultimately, I think that the only chance we have for peace is through the president's leadership, and you've shown that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Marco Rubio
And we hope it will bear fruit. And today, we'll hopefully be one step more in that direction.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you, Marco. And on the Middle East, another hotspot that we didn't have a problem with. There was no problem in the Middle East when we left. And now, there's a lot of problems in the Middle East, but we're working on that. But I think we've seen significant progress, and I think you'll have start -- we're going to start -- we were talking with the vice president a little while ago, and you're going to see countries start to fill up the Abraham Accords.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
More and more countries want to join. That was a great success, tremendous success, and then Biden and his group did zero with it. That should have been filled up within a year of the election. It would have been filled up. So, countries are starting to want to get involved very much with the Abraham Accords again, so that'll be great.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
JD, do you want to say something?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
Yes. Sure. Yes, sir. Just on that topic, if you think about what happened with the Abraham Accords, one of the great diplomatic breakthroughs under the first Trump administration really in the last 30 or 40 years of American history in the Middle East, and the Biden administration did absolutely nothing with it. Built on it, not add at all, added zero additional countries.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
Purely out of political spite, the Biden administration, I think, hurt the United States and really hurt the project of world peace. That has changed. Luckily, about two months ago, we got a new president, and that president has given us the task of building out the Abraham Accords, adding new countries to it. And really, what you see is a lot of these -- these -- these countries that have historical, ethnic, or religious hatreds want to build.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>JD Vance
They want to build new artificial intelligence. They want to build new real estate projects. They want their citizens to become rich and prosperous and peaceful. And they're setting to the side some of those old hatreds under the leadership of President Trump. So, it's early, but we made a lot of progress, and we'll keep on making progress, sir.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
One other -- thank you, JD. One of the things that's very important I think to mention, I saw a show yesterday and they had a Democrat congressman on. It was on Fox. And he said, "Well, President Trump said prices would be coming down. And instead, he's focused on other things." Well, we are focused on a lot of other things like peace, like all of these companies that are moving in, and jobs.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But what he didn't say is that prices have come down very substantially. And if you look at -- when I came in, after one week, they were screaming at me about eggs. Eggs had nothing to do with me, but they went through the roof, and you couldn't get them. And now, they're down about 35, 40 percent, maybe even more than that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'm going to let -- Brooke, if you would just discuss that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
Yes, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And groceries. Generally, prices are coming down, and energy prices are coming down. And I hope the Fed lowers interest rates, and then you're going to see interest rates coming down. And I'll have you speak about that in a second, Scott. Brooke, go ahead.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
Well, sir, thank you. I think the first thing that's really remarkable to note is that the prices of eggs under the four years of Joe Biden increased 237 percent. Two hundred thirty-seven percent in those four years, and yet it wasn't covered in the press at all. No one talked about the price of eggs in the summer of last year, for example, from the media.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
So, of course, the president wins and he is inaugurated; and the next day, everyone is yelping about why the price of eggs are so high. So -- so, it was certainly one of many, many issues we took on. Under the four years of Joe Biden, we had the cost of input go up 30 percent for all of our agriculture products.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
At the same time, the trade deficit increased $49 billion. So, it was zero under the first Trump administration. And then under Joe Biden, we sold $49 billion less of our ag products around the world. Then you combine that with the avian bird flu. And I know I've talked to a lot of you in the press on this over the last three or four weeks.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
But listen, here's the deal. The president, under his vision and support, we released about a month ago a very significant plan on how to bring the price of eggs down. It included five prongs. I won't go into it now because I don't want to bore everyone. But -- but since that day, since we released that plan regarding biosecurity, repopulation, importing eggs, research, and then deregulating, taking those onerous rules off of our farmers, our egg laying farmers, since that time, the price of eggs -- the wholesale price of eggs has come down 53 percent.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
So, we're going to keep working on it. Listen, it's not something you solve overnight, avian bird flu and some of the other animal diseases. We're working across the government, several partners out in the cabinet on that, especially my friend Secretary Kennedy over at HHS. But we have a long-term solution.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
But at least for now, in the short term, thanks to President Trump and so many that have worked so hard, the price of eggs are coming down, as well as the price of groceries. So, thank you, sir, for the opportunity to lead on that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And the number is 53 percent, and they're readily available. So, that's -- I think it's a fantastic job. And overall, groceries are down, too. So --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Brooke Rollins
That's right. They're coming down.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, the consumer is finally seeing some good news instead of year after year of prices going up because of grossly incompetent leadership. Scott, do you want to talk about interest rates, where you see it all going?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
Yes, sir. So, we are -- under your direction, we're reprivatizing the economy, we're bringing down government spending, we're bringing down excess employment in the government sector. On the other side, we're going to re-leverage the banking system. We're going to have all the new manufacturing jobs, so everyone who's laid off the -- from the government will have an opportunity to go into the private sector, and that is going to lead to disinflation.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
We're going to -- inflation is under control. We're going to get the affordability crisis fixed, so lower energy, deregulation, more private sector jobs that will naturally get interest rates down. Interest rate is down. Mortgage rates are down almost every week since January 20th. The energy costs are down, about 15 percent.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
Crude oil is down about 15 percent. And as we keep that going, interest rates are going to keep declining. It will be good for mortgages. It will be good for credit card debt. It will be great for auto loans.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's great. And you're doing a really, really good job. I hope -- I'd like to see the Fed lower interest rates. That's just my opinion. Because things are coming down, we have inflation under control. Tremendous amounts of money will be soon coming in from tariffs, which is about time that we were able to partake.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We've been ripped off by every country on that -- on that basis, and it's about time. But that will be, I think, very -- treated very fairly. We'd be very fair. But the money that we're talking about is rather astronomical, and it should be because we've put years and years -- I was able -- in the first term, we had a great first term, with the highest stock price increase ever, all the different things that we had.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But one of the things, we took in a lot of money in tariffs. And I had just started that process, and we had to slow it down because of the COVID. We didn't -- we didn't go forward. We had a -- we did a very good job with COVID, but that was something that happened to the whole world. It was a shame. What a shame, all those people dead and all of the problems that it caused for countries far worse.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I mean, some countries still haven't recovered. Economically, they haven't recovered. But we were -- we took in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs just starting the process. But this is a program that's going to be, I think, unbelievable for our country, and I think it's -- it's treating other countries very fairly, very, very fairly.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'd like to ask, if I might, Sean Duffy to say a few words about the air traffic control situation. You know, there were some mishaps. One, in particular, the helicopter crashing into the plane. We have a system that's 40 years old. They spent tens of billions of dollars trying to patch it up and, you know, make it work, but it doesn't work.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And my pilot says they use different systems. They don't want to use our system, it's so obsolete. And it's an obsolete horrible thing that happened with respect to it, and we were going to -- I said, "Day one, if this happens, if we are successful, we're going to have to get a brand-new, modern, top-of-the-line air traffic system." And I think I can say that I've been working a little bit with Sean on it, but Sean's been working hard on it and with his new person at FDA, who's going to be terrific, by the way.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And maybe you want to talk to them about that because we need safety in the air, total safety in the air, and this will give that to you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
Sure. Thank you, Mr. President. We had a conversation on Friday. Again, our -- our air traffic control system, as we talked about maybe privately or, I don't know, publicly with all of you, but we have decades of ideas and billions of dollars and no progress is ever made on any of these initiatives. Air traffic control is the same thing.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
And so, we're having a conversation about building a state-of-the-art, brand-new, best technology, envy of the world air traffic control system. And what's interesting from -- from the DOGE team is they'll look and say, "Well, what is the problem? Why hasn't this been built? This is about safety. This is about people's lives." All of you fly.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
Your family flies. Why hasn't it been done? And the problem is in government, it takes way too long. So, technology changes, and money changes, and administrations change. We have to do this fast, which is why we need the partnership from the Congress to give us the money upfront. The best ideas and the best technology available in the world, we're going to build in the system.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
I think, Mr. President, we can do it in three years. I think Trump Tower was built in three or three and a half years. I think we could match the Trump Tower time frame.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Two years.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
OK.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Two years.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
Maybe not that good, but about -- about --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Actually, 18 months to be exact.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
About three years. And again, it's a -- it's a -- we have to choreograph because, again, our towers are operational, keeping planes in the air. So, it's a -- we have to choreograph this. But we can do it in short order. If I could just make one other point, Mr. President? We're at $36 trillion in debt. You have never had a DOGE. We've never come in and looked at our government the way, Mr. President, you've looked at this government and said there's too many people, there's -- there's contracts fraud, waste, and abuse.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
And so, we've had a few bumps in the road as we've gone through this process. But if you look around this room, everybody has -- has seen the -- how the process has evolved and everyone appreciates some of the insight and -- and technical support that we've gotten to make this government more efficient, to -- to -- to make it more responsive to the American people.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
And so, again, when you have a new system like this, you'll -- you'll get some bumps. But things are rolling out. The last three weeks have been much, much better as our teams have integrated and we're working to -- to deliver for the American people. And I would day some of the press had made comments last time about what happened in the last meeting.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
We had a -- we had a great conversation in the last meeting. Elon and I had a great call after -- after the meeting. And so, sometimes, the reporting can be a little bit off. I love the -- the -- the analysis that you guys do when you're not in the room. But I would just note that we're working well together, Mr. President.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's right.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Sean Duffy
And the whole team here is working well together.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, actually, we decided to see you after the cabinet meeting instead of before, and I think that's nice. But if you think about it, I guess never in history has anybody invited you to a cabinet meeting. We're very open and transparent, and we had a very good meeting today. So, I mean, you're standing here and you're seeing what the result of the meeting is. I think we're doing an amazing job for essentially eight weeks on the job.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think it's -- there's never been anything like it. Did you have a question, please?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Two actually, if you don't mind. Thank you for having us.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
We appreciate it. One, actually, to follow up on the attorney general's comments and then one for you. You said that you're now preparing to prosecute examples of fraud across federal agencies that have been referred to you. Is that what you said?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Pam Bondi
We are working with a team. We have a team of attorneys in place, working with Elon's incredible team, helping us, taking referrals from the cabinet members. And these are your tax dollars, and a lot of it is just abuse. A lot of it's waste. But if it's fraud, we are investigating it, and we're coming --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
So, you got referrals. You got referrals.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Pam Bondi
We are looking at multiple cases of fraud throughout the federal government.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
One for you, Mr. President. Greenland is confused about the second lady and the national security advisor visiting this week. They're concerned that this is a further provocation of whatever it is you ultimately want for Greenland. Could you further explain why they're going, what is the ultimate end goal when it comes to Greenland?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah, well, not provocation. This is friendliness, not provocation. We're dealing with a lot of people from Greenland that would like to see something happen with respect to their being properly protected and properly taken care of. They're calling us. We're not calling them. And we were invited over there.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I thought it would be a great -- I have great respect for the wife of our first -- of our great vice president. I think she's doing a -- she's a brilliant woman, she's a very nice woman, and she loves the concept of Greenland. And so, she's going there. And I think Marco is going there, and some others are going there.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But we've been invited. And they really like the idea because they have been somewhat abandoned, as you know. They haven't been taken well -- good care of. And I think Greenland is going to be something that maybe is in our future. I think it's important, it's important from the standpoint of international security.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And if you look at the ships outside of Greenland, you have Russia, you have China, you have lots of different people and lots of different places, and it cannot go on the way it is. It's not going to go on the way it is. I'll make a statement. It's not going to happen. So, they're going there, and that's purely friendship.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Who's doing the inviting? You said people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
A lot of people, yeah. People -- people from Greenland are asking us to go there. We have many, many requests from many, many people, some officials, too.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yes, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Can I ask you about economic forecasts? I saw one economic forecast coming out from the OECD this past week. They are forecasting stagflation for the United States, a downtick in terms of GDP growth. Do you agree with that forecast? What do you see over the course of 2025 for our country?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, we inherited a very, very bad and perilous situation from a group of people. Again, we just got here. From a group -- and this takes a long time to develop. From a group of people that truly didn't know what they were doing. And you see that with not only costs, you see that with all of these fake contracts that have been given out.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, we inherited a bad situation. But I think we're going to have an economy that booms. I think when -- when it all kicks in, it's not going to take very long because some of these people that announced that they're going to spend billions of dollars -- I mean, literally, Apple is spending $500 billion.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They've never made anything close to that to do that. They're building plants here instead of China, instead of other places. When it all happens -- and it's going to happen very soon. These are people that are already -- in many cases, they're already starting. They just announced -- in some cases, they -- literally, they announced, but they actually started before the announcement, as you know, because some are already building.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
This is going to kick in. I think it's going to be amazing. So, they're looking at -- based on numbers that I was looking at six months ago, seven months ago -- I was very concerned about the economy. We're going to have something that's like nobody's ever seen before. We have -- we have numbers, and we have job generation that I don't think we've ever seen before.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
See how it works out, but I think the economy is going to go through the roof. OK.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah, please. OK.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
About Ukraine, in an interview with Time magazine published this morning, President Zelenskyy said he believes that some members of your team have been influenced by Russian information. Those were his words. What do you -- what do you have to say to that?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, probably, they have been influenced to get this thing settled because Ukraine wants to see it settled. I think they have to have it settled. And Russia wants to see it settled. And I think if I were president, this would never happen. Marco is doing a great job, and Steve Witkoff has been incredible, Michael Waltz.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We have a great group of people working on it. And it takes a good part of their day settling something that really -- well, it affects us monetarily because we've given so much money. And we're getting that done. In fact, Scott is telling me that the agreement on rare earths is just about completed. They'll sign it shortly.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, it's -- as you know, Europe is in for a very small fraction of what we're in for. It affects them much more than it affects us. And again, they are in as a loan, which nobody knew until I came along. Europe is giving the money to Ukraine as a loan. We were just pouring money into Ukraine. It was a very unfair situation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, we made a deal on rare earths. But most importantly, we want to stop the killing that's going on. Two thousand five hundred, on average, mostly soldiers, a week are being killed, and they're Russian and Ukrainian. And if we can stop it, that's a very important thing to me on a human basis. OK? Anybody else?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Sir, are you signing the rare earths deal today? Is that what you mean?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No, we'll be signing it soon.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
So, as Ukraine --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It'll be signed very soon.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
China has -- May I ask another question on Ukraine?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
You recently mentioned the fate of all the Ukrainian children abducted and transported to Russia.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Right.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
So, are you demanding that Russia return these kids to their families in Ukraine?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, it's one of the things that we're talking about. I know that -- that no decision has been made. We're talking about territory right now. We're talking about lines of demarcation. We're talking about power -- power plant ownership. Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant and then work it that way because we have the expertise to fix it up, etc., etc.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, OK, that would be -- something like that would be fine with me. But they are talking about ownership of the big nuclear power plant, in particular. But all of these things will come up, and they have come up, and we -- that has been discussed. Yes. OK, I want to thank everybody very much. This was a great meeting.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
These are phenomenal people. We're lucky to have them. I have to tell you, I want to thank you all. And, Elon, I want to thank you. I know you've been through a lot with this horrible situation that happens.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Elon Musk
I'm not [Inaudible] the costs in there. So --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
That's right, saving America. Good answer.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's very unfair. What he is is a patriot. He's a man that -- I can tell you. He's a friend of mine. He's become a friend of mine. He supported me in the election. That's when I got to know him really. I knew him a little bit from the first term, but not much. But he's a patriot more than anything else. He's never think of it. He has never asked me for a thing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
He could have. I always say "I wonder if he's ever going to ask me for something." And that's always subject to change. And if it does change, I'll let you know about it. But Elon has never asked me for a thing. I mean, I got rid of the electric car mandate. I have no idea how that affects him but possibly not good.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't know. But he's never asked me for a thing, and I think that's an amazing tribute. I did get activated last week when I saw what they were doing. I said he makes an incredible product, and we're going to go out and tell people you can't do that stuff and support him. They got to support him because if he wasn't doing this, he wouldn't have any of these difficulties.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I think it's getting less and less. Pam has done a great job with regard to all of the -- I mean, I know the kind of investigations that are going on. If she finds them, which she will, she's already found four of them.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Pam Bondi
We will.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But I think they're going to suffer very grave consequences because they're really terrorists when you think about it. They're -- they're very -- terrorists at a high level. And I think the people that are financing them, they could very well be people I know, people that you write about. But those people are in big trouble, so they better cut it out.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But Elon is a patriot. We want to thank you very much for the job you're doing.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Elon Musk
Thank you, Mr. President.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Elon Musk
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Sir, how many months do you expect --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you, everybody.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Sir, how many months do you expect [Inaudible]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Thank you, press. Thank you. Exit now, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Elon Musk
I just want to also say thanks to all the DOGE team who are getting death threats on a daily basis just trying to do the right thing for the American taxpayer and for the American people. Just a thank you to the DOGE team who are literally getting death threats and being accosted.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Hear. Hear.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Elon Musk
And, you know, these are -- a lot of them are just kids. You know, they're just trying to help out. And they're very talented. They could get jobs for millions of dollars a year. Instead, they come here, earn peanuts, and get death threats. So, thanks to the DOGE team.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
OK. Thank you very much. We all know the great prime minister of the UK and we just signed a document. This is -- oh, sorry about that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Keir Starmer
A very important document.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
A little windy out here. Give me that. We just signed it and it's done. And so we have our trade agreement with the European Union and it's a fair deal for both, going to produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income and we have other many other ones coming. But you see the level of enthusiasm is very good, but the relationship that we have is fantastic.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So I just want to congratulate you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Keir Starmer
Well, Donald, thank you very much. This now implements on car tariffs and aerospace, our really important agreement. And so this is a very good day for both of our countries, a real sign of strength. So thank you again, Donald, a really important day for both of us.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Great people. Great people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Has anything changed in the agreement since you spoke on the phone from the Oval Office?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Not much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Keir Starmer
No. This is [Inaudible]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, may I ask you a question, please? G-7 leaders are calling for de-escalation in Israel and Iran, but you are the key to unlocking that.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And here I am.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
And here you are. So can I ask you, sir, have you spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu? When might you speak to him and what will you say?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
[Inaudible] Israel is doing very well as you probably noticed and I gave Iran 60 days and they said, no. And the 61st, you saw what happened, day 61. So I'm in constant touch and as I've been saying, I think a deal will be signed or something will happen, but a deal will be signed. And I think Iran is foolish not to sign one.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, Iran is accusing Netanyahu of attacking them to deliberately derail your nuclear plan that you had. What do you say to that? Do you think that's true?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No, no. Look, Iran should have signed sign the deal.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
And if it would help bring Iran to the negotiating table, would you guarantee that the US would not get involved militarily?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I think this, I think Iran basically is at the negotiating table. They want to make a deal. And as soon as I leave here we're going to be doing something, but I have to leave here. I have you know this commitment. I have a lot of commitments. I have a commitment to a lot of countries, including the UK, where we just signed our deal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, where are you settling on steel tariff with respect to the UK? Are those going to zero or are they staying at 25?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're going to let you have that information in a little while.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
On Russia Ukraine talks, sir. [Inaudible] Russia talks, when will that be starting?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They're starting already.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President. Do you agree to the European push to apply more sanctions on Russia? Does the US support that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, Europe is saying that, but they haven't done it yet. Let's see them do it first.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
You told me earlier that you could sanction Russia, why wait? Why wait to sanction them?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Because I'm waiting to see whether or not a deal is signed.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Can you guarantee the UK won't be --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And don't forget, sanctions cost us a lot of money. When I sanction a country, that costs the US a lot of money, a tremendous amount of money. It's not just, let's sign a document. You're talking about billions and billions of dollars. Sanctions are not that easy. It's not just a one-way street.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
And just quickly, do you think that Israel can -- [Inaudible] submarine agreement, is that still proceeding? You've initiated sort of review of that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Keir Starmer
Yeah. We're proceeding with that. It's a really important deal to both of us. I think the president is doing a review. We did a review when we came into government, so that makes good sense to me, but it's a really important --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're very long-time partners and allies and friends and we become friends in a short period of time. He's slightly more liberal than I am, to put it mildly.<end_of_turn>
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.