text
stringlengths 62
2.91k
|
|---|
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- do solemnly swear --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- do solemnly swear --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- that I will support and defend --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- that I will support and defend --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- the Constitution of the United States --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- the Constitution of the United States --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- against all enemies --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- against all enemies --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- foreign and domestic.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- foreign and domestic.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
That I will bear true faith --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
That I will bear true faith --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- and allegiance to the same.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- and allegiance to the same.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
That I take this obligation freely --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
That I take this obligation freely --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- without any mental reservation --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- without any mental reservation --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- or purpose of evasion.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- or purpose of evasion.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
And that I will well --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
And that I will well --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- and faithfully discharge --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- and faithfully discharge --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- the duties of the office --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- the duties of the office --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- on which I'm about to enter --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- on which I'm about to enter --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
-- so help me, God.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
-- so help me, God.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Scott Bessent
Congratulations.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
Thank you, very much. Well, thank you all very much and especially, thank you, Mr. President. I'm really honored by your trust and confidence that you've placed in me to head the SEC. But I really must say, the Oval Office has never looked better. One could really describe it as glistening, and I've heard stories about it and it's true.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
It's the touch of a confident president leading with optimism towards an American golden age.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
So thank you for that. And so to my wife, Sarah, and to our sons, Stuart, Peter and Henry, thank you all for your steadfast love and support. I'm grateful for the sacrifices that each of you have made to enable me to serve America. And thanks to Secretary Bessant for administering the oath as well. But a note about my family real quickly, today would have been my father's 114th birthday.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
Colonel Atkins was a veteran of World War II and Korea, and yesterday would have been my late mother's birthday. So it seems altogether fitting to honor them and the example that they've set so that their son could stand here speaking to you all today. So to my friends, my family, my colleagues who have worked with me throughout my career and helped make my appointment by President Trump even possible, thank you for your work and dedication.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
There are many who quietly serve the nation in mostly unsung roles and I continue to be the beneficiary of your professionalism and good judgment. So at the helm of the SEC, I can confidently say it is a new day. It's time for the SEC to end its waywardness and return to its core mission that Congress set for it, investor protection, fair, orderly and efficient markets and capital formation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
I will work to protect investors from fraud, keep politics out of how our securities laws and regulations are applied and advance clear rules of the road that encourage investment in our economy to the benefit of Americans. A top priority of my chairmanship will be to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a rational, coherent and principled approach.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
We will work to ensure that the United States is the best and most secure place in the world to invest and to do business. So Mr. President, again, thank you very much for your graciousness and extending such a warm welcome to my family and me today in this storied room. I look forward to working with you, with colleagues in your administration and with Congress to advance your agenda to bolster the economy and build on U.S. leadership of the global market.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
So thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you. Congratulations.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
Pleasure.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Any questions for Paul?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. Atkins, if I may. Can you provide a -- I guess, what is your sense of how The CFTC and the SEC will differ when it comes to crypto regulation?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
I hope that we won't. Brian Quintenz, whom the president has nominated, is a great guy. I've known him for years and I intend to work closely with him and I really look forward to his leadership there. I think there's no reason why the two agencies can't be working cheek to jowl on these issues for the American investor and the American economy.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. Atkins, do you have a view on Chinese-listed stocks on the U.S. exchanges?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
Well, that's subject of statute and Congress has acted. And I mean, I look forward to diving into those issues.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. Atkins, do you have a sense, will the Democratic Commissioner continue in her role?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Paul Atkins
Her term, I guess goes through -- well, it ended last year and I guess she can hold over till the end of the year. So it's up to Mr. President and Congress to deal with that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, on China, your press secretary has suggested that some progress is being made. Are negotiations actively underway? And do you agree with Secretary Bessent who has suggested that the current standoff with China is not sustainable?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're doing fine with China. We're doing fine with every, I think almost every country. Everybody wants to have involvement with the United States. As you know, we were losing $5 billion a day during the Biden administration, during that last year, was a horror show what they were doing on trade, $5 billion a day.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And now we have it down to a very low number because we're getting 25 percent from the automobile industry, from autos. We're getting 25 percent for steel, 25 percent for aluminum, and we're getting the baseline of 10 percent. And think of it, we're losing almost $2 trillion, on trade and those days are gone.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're not going to do that again. We're not going to let that happen. We're being ripped off by almost, I don't say every, but very close to every country everywhere in the world, just being ripped off left and right. You had no leadership. You had people that didn't know what they were doing, and we're going to turn the country around.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You know, we have a very nice phrase, Make America great again. That's what we're going to do and it's going to start with trade. We're doing really well. I see the stock market was up nicely, but this is a transition period and it's going to be a little while, but we are doing well with every country. Ultimately, we have something they want.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And you have to view it that way, we have something they want, and they want very badly. And you know, it's going to be -- they're coming in, they're taking treasure, they're taking jobs when they do that, and they have to pay. And they don't have to pay if they come in and create their own jobs. You know, if they do their product here, if they build their product or make their product in the United States, we have absolutely no tariffs and we welcome people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But we're taking in a lot of money from tariffs and our country is getting stronger all the time because the other was not sustainable.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
-- started with China, are you going to play hardball with them? Are you going to mention COVID or --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I'm not going to -- I'm not going to say, no, I'm not going to mention COVID. I'm not going to say, oh, I'm going to play hardball with China. I'm going to play hardball with you, President Xi. No, no, we're going to be very nice. They're going to be very nice, and we'll see what happens. But ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise they're not going to be able to deal in the United States and we want them involved, but they have to, and other countries have to, make a deal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And if they don't make a deal, we'll set the deal because we're the ones that set the deal. Scott and Howard and myself and others, we're going to be setting the deal, and it will be a fair deal for everybody. And it will be a -- I think it's a process that's going to go pretty quickly. We've spoken to many, many countries and we're getting their views on things.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You know, there are a lot of things. They have VAT taxes; they have everything you can have. Don't forget as an example, the European Union was set up to take advantage of the United States. That's why it was set, and they've done that. But they're not doing that anymore. Yeah?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
-- will you allow -- will you prevent Hamas from having any role in governing a postwar Gaza? And will Hamas have to be permanently eradicated for a ceasefire to be reached?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, we're not going to let Hamas do that, and we're going to see what happens with Gaza. But we've made a lot of progress in the Middle East, tremendous, should have never happened. That date, that very special date, October 7th, should have never happened. It would have never happened if I were president, but we'll be stopping that whole situation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Earlier today, Treasury Secretary Bessent suggested that tariff rates as high as they are now is effectively an embargo of trade between the United States and China. Do you see it that way?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's true, 145 percent is very high, and it won't be that high. It's not going to be that high. It got up to there. We were talking about fentanyl where various elements built it up to 145 percent. No, it won't be anywhere near that high.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
What level do you think it will come down to if you haven't [Inaudeible]?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It'll come down substantially, but it won't be zero. It used to be zero. We were just destroyed. China was taking us for a ride and -- just not going to happen. It's not going to happen. We're going to be very good to China. I have a great relationship with President Xi, but they would make billions and billions and billions of dollars a year and they would build their military out of the United States and what they made.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, that won't happen, but they're going to do very well. And I think they're going to be happy, and I think we're going to live together very happily and ideally work together. So, I think it's going to work out very well. But no, it's at 145 percent. They will not be anywhere near that number.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, Reagan Reese with the Daily Caller. On the work that your team is doing on the border, are you happy with the rate of deportations right now?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Oh, it's amazing what they've done on the border. Thank you for the question because, honestly, it's one of the great successes. We have virtually nobody coming in illegally. We do have people coming in legally because we want people to come in, but we have nobody coming in through the border virtually that -- we were having hundreds of thousands of people a month come in under Biden and they came in from prisons; they came in from mental institutions; they came in from gangs in Venezuela and other countries all over the world, not just South America.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They were emptying their prisons into the United States. Venezuela emptied its prisons out, but many countries emptied their prisons into the Congo, as an example, in Africa, emptied their prisons into the United States. And we're getting them out and I hope we get cooperation from the courts because we have thousands of people that are ready to go out and you can't have a trial for all of these people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It wasn't meant -- the system wasn't meant. And we don't think there's anything that says, look, we are getting some very bad people, killers, murderers, drug dealers, really bad people, the mentally ill, the mentally insane. They emptied out insane asylums into our country. We're getting them out and a judge can't say no, you have to have a trial, let's -- the trial is going to take two years.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And no, we're going to have a very -- we're going to have a very dangerous country if we're not allowed to do what we're entitled to do. And I won an election based on the fact that we get them out and we've done an amazing job. Look, we've stopped -- everybody admits, even the radical left, we have got the strongest border we've ever had.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Even stronger than what I had for four years. We had a great border. We solved the problem, but it's actually -- it's a tad stronger, which is -- I don't know if that's disappointing or not to me. I said I beat my own record. But I appreciate the question.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, Daniel [Inaudible] with [Inaudible]. Thank you for taking my question, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you, Daniel.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
[Inaudible] Can you tell us about how you managed to lower prices [Inaudible]?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, thank you, Daniel. The question is about prices. Prices are going down, not going up. One of the big things is energy is going down. I see that we had a couple of states where gasoline was at $1.98 a gallon. Nobody thought they'd see that for years maybe. And that's a big thing. And we opened up our wells, we opened up our drilling.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We have more product now for sale, and we're also going to be selling outside of the country to a large extent. It's going to bring down our deficits -- largely going to bring down our deficits. But if you remember my first week, I was standing here, Paul, and they were screaming about eggs. The cost of eggs have gone through the roof.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They were up like 500 percent -- crazy, like four or five times and we won't have eggs for Easter they were saying -- be no eggs, you can't order eggs, they wanted us to order plastic in the shape of eggs. Well, yesterday we had 48,000 people at the Easter hunt, they call it the Easter Roll at the White House, and we had all eggs.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And as you know, the cost of eggs has come down like 93 percent, 94 percent since we took office, and they're pretty much normally priced now. Great job. Our Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, did a very good job. But groceries have come down, it's all coming down. The only thing that hasn't come down, but it hasn't gone up much, are interest rates.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, we think the fed should lower the rate. We think that it's a perfect time to lower the rate. And we'd like to see our chairman be early or on time as opposed to late. Late is not good.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, you've said -- .<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't want to talk about that because I have no intention of firing him.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, there are reports that you're considering doing something for moms across the country, giving them some type of bonus whenever they have a child. Are you considering that or [Inaudible].<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Sounds like a good idea to me. Yeah, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
You have no intention of firing Jerome Powell, because your Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett, a few days ago said that you and people in the White House are studying this idea possibly even before his term ends. Do you have any plans on doing that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
None whatsoever, never did. The press runs away with things. No, I have no intention of firing him. I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates. This is a perfect time to lower interest rates. If he doesn't, is it the end? No, it's not, but it would be good timing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It would be -- it could have taken place earlier. But no, I have no intention to fire him.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Have you talked to him, sir?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't want to comment on that. That doesn't matter.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, you said -- when can we expect the Epstein documents to be released, the rest of them?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Which documents?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
The Epstein files.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't know, I'll speak to the attorney general about that. I really don't know. I know that we've done the RFK, the Kennedy, Martin Luther King is out there very shortly. So, we'll find out. But -- and we've really, really announced -- we're doing them in full transparency. When we did JFK, people were saying, oh, maybe it wasn't all.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It was all. And people actually went up to the office and they looked at some things that were not really easily available and they were amazed that we gave it all. And I don't know if it solved any problems for people. People still have questions one way or the other, but that I'm not. But 100 percent of all of these documents are being delivered.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, you said you're ultimately going to make a deal with China, but where do things stand right now? Have you talked to them? The secretary [Inaudible]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
My relationship with President Xi is great. It was -- it's been great for a long time. We've had a very good relationship, and I think we'll make a deal with China.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, in your meeting with -- ?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
If we don't make a deal, we'll set it, we'll just set the number, and I think they'll want to be a part of the United States. We're doing great. We're going to -- this is the golden age as Paul said, we're talking about the golden age. It will never be a time like this in my opinion, and China wants to be a part of that too.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, in your meeting with -- Sir, on the [Inaudible] investigation. Are you getting intelligence briefings? And do you think --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I have. I have. I'll keep that to myself.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, is there a meeting --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Very personal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Are you concerned about the impact of tariffs on West Coast ports or just the sharp drawdown in Chinese imports?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No, I think that everyone's going to do well in this country because of tariffs. We have $7 trillion of investment already. You can go back many years, and for a whole year, they haven't had anywhere near that. Mostly, they'd be well under $1 trillion of investment and we've got $7 trillion. We really started five weeks ago.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And in just a few weeks, literally, we have $7 trillion, which is a record for a year. There's never been a year with that much, and that's coming in, I think for two reasons. It's coming because of an election that people liked and it's coming in because of tariffs. And if you look at Apple, Apple is going to start building here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Right now, they're in China, mostly. $500 billion, we have the computer -- All of the computer chip companies are coming in at levels that nobody's ever seen before, as you know. Jensen came in for $500 billion. You saw that, a great guy, highly respected. Mr. Wei coming in for $250 billion. Nobody's ever seen anything -- and the auto companies are coming in. I can name eight right now, already, auto plants that are either starting or about ready to start construction.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
There's never been -- and the United Auto Workers and the nonunion workers in the automobile industry. They love Trump and I love them. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Congratulations, Paul.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Have you seen the markets yet today, sir?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Tariff negotiations are going very well. We're dealing with many, many countries. They all want to be involved with America. Be careful, fellas. They all want to be involved with America and we have a lot of action going on. We're making a lot of money, this country. This country is not going to be losing money on trade anymore.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We were losing $2 trillion a year on trade, now we're going to be making money, a lot of money. So that's very good. Every country wants to partake, even countries that have ripped us off for many, many years. China is an example. But it's not just China, European Union, they ripped us off for many, many years and those days are over.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're going to make a lot of money for our people. We'll be able to lower taxes substantially and we're going to be proud of ourselves. We're not going to be a laughing stock that got taken advantage of by virtually every country in the world.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
We thought you said you were going up to [Inaudible] a flag. What was going on?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're putting up a beautiful, almost 100-foot-tall American flag on this side and another one on the other side, two flags, top of the line. And they've needed flagpoles for 200 years. It was something I've often said. They don't have a flagpole, per se. So we're putting one right where you saw us and we're putting another one on the other side, on top of the mounds.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's going to be two beautiful poles. Paid for by Trump. What?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
When do the flags -- when do they --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They arrive in about a week or so.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
On China, can you clarify, Mr. President, on China? Were you thinking about lowering their tariffs?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah, we are going to have a fair deal with China. It's going to be fair.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Are you talking to them actively, now?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Actively, everything's active. Everybody wants to be a part of what we're doing. They know that they can't get away with it any longer, but they're still going to do fine and we're going to have a country that you can be proud of, not a laughingstock all over the world for many years. And 1913, they traded to the income tax system.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We used to be all tariff, and we had no income tax and we had the wealthiest country we've ever had, proportionately, from about 1870 to 1913. It was all tariffs and we had more money than anybody. They had committees, how to spend the money. They had so much money, they didn't know how to spend. Then some brilliant person said, let's go income tax.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Let's let the people pay. Now, we're going to be able to substantially lower taxes when this is finished. does Yeah, please, go ahead.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
How does it look in the meantime? Are you considering lowering tariffs on China while you're negotiating?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It looks good. Yeah, no, it looks good. It looks good. We were losing anywhere from $3 billion to $5 billion a day. Think of it, were losing billions of dollars a day under Biden and other presidents, frankly. But under Biden, it got really worse. China got out of control. We're losing $1 trillion a year trillion, not a billion, not a million, a trillion.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And now we're going to be making money with everyone and everyone's going to be happy. But we're no longer going to be the country that's ripped off by every country in the world. Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. They've done a fantastic job. Even the microphone works well; that's good. Wow. Well, I'd like to just thank everybody for the incredible job they've done. I love this state. As you know, Ron and I have had a really great relationship for a long time. We had a little off period for a couple of days, but it didn't last long.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It didn't last long and a lot of respect for each other. And it's a great honor to be deep in Florida, the Florida Everglades to open America's newest migrant detention center. It's incredibly built and you're seeing that yourself. That's why I said, let the press join us on our walk so they can see what's happening.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's known as Alligator Alcatraz, which is very appropriate, because I looked outside and that's not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon. But very soon this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet. We're surrounded by miles of treacherous, swampland and the only way out is really, deportation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And a lot of these people are self-deporting back to their country where they came from, quite a few. We're amazed at actually the number. We took the FEMA money that Joe Biden allocated to pay for the free luxury hotel rooms where he was paying hundreds of millions of dollars in New York City. And we used it to build this project.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And Ron, it was just a little fraction of that money, the money they spent on that project. I happen to know the real estate developer. He never really made that much, but he became very wealthy. With luxury, he didn't do well. With people that are not exactly luxury, he's made a fortune. I want to thank Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Where is James? Where is he? You do a very good job. I hear good things. I hear good things about you from Ron too. No, you really do. He's even a good-looking guy. That guy's got a future, huh? Good job, James. I hear you're really, really fantastic, worked hard. You're like in the construction business for a few days, right?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Huh? Congratulations for all the hard work and to make this facility possible. It's amazing. Thanks as well to Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. Where is Wilton? Where are you? Hi, Wilton. It's been a long time. Thank you. Congressman Byron Donalds. Where's Byron? Hi, Byron. How are you? Good.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Florida Speaker of the House Daniel Perez. Daniel? Daniel? Thank you, Daniel? Why, you didn't want to sit up here with us, Daniel? Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie. Hi, Kevin. Good job. Acting Director of ICE, Todd Lyons. Todd, great job. And Senator Joe Gruters.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
He is a great guy. Hi, where is Joe? We love Joe.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Joe Gruters
Thank you, Mr. President. We love you. Welcome home.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Joe is great. With the help of those incredible Border Patrol agents, we now have the lowest level of daily border crossings ever recorded. As you know, last month, the month of May, just got released two days ago, the number of illegal aliens into the United States was zero -- zero.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Even I find that hard to believe. Somebody must have gotten in, I think. I don't know, but they say zero. And the people that count them are radical left Democrats. So, when a radical left Democrat tells me it's zero, I believe them. But there is still much work to do. In the four years before I took office, Joe Biden allowed 21 million people -- that's a minimum, I think it was much higher than that -- illegal aliens to invade our country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
He invaded our country just like a military would invade. It's tougher because they don't wear uniforms. You don't know who they are. More than the populations of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and Philadelphia combined. That's what came into our country from prisons, from mental institutions, from street gangs, drug dealers -- disgusting.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
This enormous country-destroying invasion has swamped communities nationwide with massive crime, crippling costs and burdens far beyond what any nation could withstand. No nation could withstand what we did. And we're in the process of doing it, but we have some great people doing it now. You see them up here with me. But it's a -- I'd call it like an unforced error.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's sort of like men in women's sports. It's sort of like transgender for everybody. How could they have done this to our country? And we're never going to forget it. Last year, 15 percent of all the hotel rooms in New York City were used to house illegal aliens at costs that they never got for luxury. They never got this much for luxury, people coming in from the wealthiest places on Earth.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They made more money with the illegal immigrants with many rooms costing more than $300 a night, six times the rent of a typical American family. In Denver, Colorado, the city was forced to cut $10 million from its police and fire department budget as part of a $90 million plan to house illegal aliens. And it's a population that's growing and growing and destroying Denver and growing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And again, it's destroying Denver and it's destroying many other cities too. Likewise, one of the city's largest hospital systems is drowning in unpaid medical bills -- unpaid in the billions -- after their emergency rooms were flooded with tens of thousands of illegals leading to the closure of critical services.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And these are really critical services. They can't even keep them open for American patients. The American patients were treated worse than any illegal immigrant. In Los Angeles, one in every four students in the public school system is from a household headed by an illegal and most of them don't speak English.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, they were in a school system, and they don't have interpreters, they don't have anything, they don't speak English. What a mess, what a mess, unforced error, all these people allowed to come in. The United States is now spending $78 billion a year on translation, OK? Think of that, $78 billion a year on translation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And smaller numbers on special education programs for non-English speakers in our public schools. So, $78 billion, I think that's not a mistake. I would say million dollars maybe, hundreds of thousands of dollars, $78 billion, Joe, on translators and non-English speaking work. The federal government, the Justice Department -- it's more than twice the cost of maintaining the United States Justice Department, what we're spending on translation and other things to help.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
In total the average illegal alien costs American taxpayers an estimated $70,000 -- that's each, $70,000. I think that number is even lower. If you care about balancing the budget, the single most impactful step we can take is to fully reverse the Biden migration invasion, one of the worst invasions we've ever had.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We've never had an invasion like this. We've had invasions, but we've taken care of them. We've never had an invasion like this. And it's with us and we have some very bad people out there looking to do big harm. That's why the One Big, Beautiful Bill includes funding for 3,000 new Border Patrol officers and 10,000 new ICE agents.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I've gotten to know the Border Patrol and ICE very well. Unlike Kamala -- she was the border czar, but she never saw the border. She never made one phone call. She was some boarder czar, she would have been some president, probably would have been slightly better than Biden though. I had to run against both of them, you know.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
The one guy -- it's like a fighter, you knock out the one guy who's doing badly, then they put somebody else in. But fortunately, she was a stiff also. Otherwise, I would have been very angry. I would have been extremely angry. The heroes of ICE will also help round up and remove members of the savage drug cartels, which are coming back into our country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And we are -- we got them out. Now, some of them came back in, we just got them out again, and that's going to be a vicious cycle. But these are foreign gangs. They're horrendous people, killers, that have infiltrated our territory including eight which we have designated as foreign terrorist organizations, which gives us a lot more power for speed and getting them out much easier.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And we had a great court victory, as you know, on Friday that allows us to do what we have to do from the Supreme Court of the United States. In five months, my administration has already arrested over 2,700 members of the murderous Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, including a pack of these sadistic animals arrested last month with over 280 guns.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And these are guns of the latest caliber. These are guns that were made over the last period of less than a year -- getting brand new guns, the latest and the greatest. Every day, our brave law enforcement officers are hunting down and deporting migrant criminals who have committed heinous crimes, including more than 13,000 murderers -- 11,888 to be exact, but I'd probably say the 13,000 is right also.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Think of it, 11,888 and more than half of them -- they committed more than one murder. So, Ron, many of them are out of here already, but it's still -- it's a hell of a number to be confronted with. Just this year, ICE agents in Miami have apprehended illegals with arrests for murder, kidnaping, rape, child sexual abuse and arson, people of the worst order.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're getting these monsters out of the United States, out of Florida, out of all the places that they're in. And on January 20th, I signed an executive order empowering governors and state police to be deputized to enforce federal immigration laws. And Ron's already taken advantage of it. It really -- it's a tremendous advantage for the states.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Most of them are doing it. Actually, the blue states tend not to do it. Even a couple of them have though. And I want to express my tremendous thanks to the state of Florida for embracing this opportunity and being a true partner. They've worked so well with the federal government. It's been just a beautiful, beautiful partnership.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, Ron, I'd like to thank you personally, you're my friend and you'll always be my friend. And we may have some skirmishes even in the future. I doubt it. But we'll always come back because we just seem to -- we have blood that seems to match pretty well. We have a relationship that's been a very strong one for a long period of time and I appreciate it, very much appreciate it. And also, Secretary Noem, I'd like to say have you say a few words.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You have been unbelievable, the job you've done. You and our favorite person, Tom -- Tom Homan have done -- and your whole staff because it's a lot of people. And Tom acknowledges it all the time. He respects you so much. He respects the staff that you both built and you're really doing one of the great jobs.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And it was great that you could work with Ron in Florida so well, build such a great facility. So, please say a few words. Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
Thank you. I don't know if this will work well. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I want to thank you for putting the safety and the security of the American people first. And the way that you never lose focus on making sure that America stays our priority and that the families that live here get the chance to grow up and to raise their children in communities that are safe and that give them an opportunity to pursue the American dream.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
This facility here is a fantastic representation of what can happen when all of government works together, and when it's accountable to the taxpayers and to the citizens that live here. The president signed an executive order that allowed us to build partnerships with states and with local law enforcement officers, which is exactly how things should function in this country, more power, more authority given to people locally so that they can take control of their own destiny.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
And so, we have already been working under the 287(g) Program to deputize law enforcement officers, whether they be state highway patrol, local sheriff's departments in all of our states and allow them to go out with our ICE officers, our Border Patrol officers and make sure that we're getting the worst of the worst off of the streets.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
We also recognize that as we've been doing that and returning people back to their home countries, that we need detention facilities. We need beds to put them in place so that they can have their due process before they return home. And this facility is exactly what I want every single governor in this country to consider doing with us. What happened to start this conversation was that a young man named Jimmy Percival, in my office, my general counsel who came from Florida and used to work here, called up the attorney general and the governor and said, hey, what do you think about partnering with us on a detention facility that we could put in place that would allow us to bring individuals there?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
There's an airstrip close by. You guys volunteered the assets that you have and the connections that you have and worked with Kevin extensively so that we could come here, have their due process given and return them home to their countries. And in eight days, this facility has been stood up. And I want everybody to recognize that detention facilities that ICE adheres to is a higher standard than is required at state levels, at local Department of Corrections facility, sheriff's offices.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
This is a state-of-the-art facility, air conditioned, isolated though for security purposes, which is very helpful and I appreciate so many people being willing to work together to make a project like this happen. Right here on this location, we'll have about 3,000 beds. Other locations will have another 2,000 beds that will allow us to bring individuals across the country that we are bringing in and incarcerating for violating our laws and immediately get them out of the country as soon as we possibly can.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
It's exactly what we need to be perpetuating in other states. And what I would say is, I want all of you to notice these fliers that we've got, is that everybody who sees these fliers or anybody who sees these news clips should know, you can still go home on your own. You can self deport. If you go on the CBP home app and go home now, you will get the chance to come back to the United States legally.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
You will get the chance to come back and do it the right way. If you don't, you may end up here and you may end up here and being processed and deported out of this country and never get the chance to come back. That is the consequences of breaking the law in the United States of America. Listen, our job is to uphold the law.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
This is a country of laws. We have a border now and because we have a president that cares and recognizes that we need to be a nation of borders and a nation that upholds the law. If you break the law, there's consequences. We will deport you and you will never get to be a United States citizen. You'll never even get to come back here and work and to pursue the American Dream.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
But if you decide you want to go home now, go home and we'll help facilitate it. We'll buy your plane ticket. We'll get you there. In fact, I just got back from Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras. Those countries are excited to get their citizens home. They're setting up programs to loan them money to buy houses when they get there, help them with food assistance, get their children educated, scholarships.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
They want their citizens that are living here in the United States illegally to come home and to be a part of their economy and help their countries grow. So this is a win-win for everyone. And I just want to end, Mr. President, by thanking our law enforcement officers, by thanking our ICE officers and our Border Patrol officers for what they do every day.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
They are out on the streets and violence against them has increased over 500 percent since Trump has gone back into the White House, because he's upholding the law and because a bunch of liberals, socialists and Marxists are out there lying about what President Trump is doing. President Trump is upholding freedom by what he is doing, the freedom to live safely in this country and to do things legally and to have justice.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
And because those liberals and I'm calling out you, CNN, I'm calling you out because you lie every single day about what these operations are. We are going after murderers and rapists and traffickers and drug dealers and getting them off the streets and getting them out of this country because Joe Biden let the worst of the worst come in here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
The other day I was talking to some marshals that have been partnering with ICE. They said that they had detained a cannibal and put him on a plane to take him home. And while they had him in his seat, he started to eat himself and they had to get him off and get him medical attention. These are the kind of deranged individuals that are on our streets in America that we're trying to target and get out of our country because they are so deranged they don't belong here, and they shouldn't be walking the streets with their children and they shouldn't be living in the communities with our families who just want to grow up, go to job -- raise their children to grow up and get a job and to live the American dream.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
So thank you to all of our law enforcement officers, those in our military that have been helping our National Guard. Thank you to Governor DeSantis for stepping up and being an example to other governors. I hope my phone rings off the hook from governors calling and saying how can we do what Florida just did?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
How can we do exactly what they did? Because if this -- we need this big, beautiful bill. We absolutely have to have this big, beautiful bill that has the funding so that we can continue this operation and we can get those bad criminals off of our streets and have the officers to do it, so that when they go out in an operation, somebody's got their back, somebody's got their back, they can do it safely and they can go home to their families at night too.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
So this bill needs to pass through Congress, so we have the resources at the Department of Homeland Security to make sure that our homeland is secure. And Mr. President, thank you for Stephen Miller. I just want to thank you for him. This guy calls me night and day and tells me all of his wise advice and wisdom, but he's a rock star because he loves this country and he's passionate about making sure that nobody is prioritized over an American citizen.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
We love everybody, we do. We love everybody.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Not everybody.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
Well --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
A lot of people, but not everybody.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
But we shouldn't be putting people illegally above citizens. We should be making sure that we do things right and that's what America has always stood for. And we're an example to the rest of the world because we do it right. So Mr. President, you surround yourself with great people and I think that's because everybody wants to work for the greatest president that the United States has ever had, and that's President Donald J. Trump.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
So thank you, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much, Kristi. That's so nice.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you. Thank you very much. And I have to say that when Kristi's name was put before me by Tom Homan, by the way, because I wanted him for the border and somehow, I thought that was going to be good and that sort, but he didn't want the upper job. And I said, who do you recommend? Kristi Noem. I said, are you kidding?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
She's great, but she's such a fine, elegant person. He said, sir, she's tough as hell. I said, are you sure? You are tough as hell, I tell you, and you do it in a very nice way, but you are -- if you ever saw a ride a horse, she rides a horse like she should be in the rodeo. She's like an unbelievable horse person and you've done a fantastic job and Steve Miller would even agree to that and he likes nobody, by the way.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't think he likes anybody. And another one we like is Ron, and Ron, would you say a few words, please?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
Sure. Well, thank you, Mr. President. Welcome back to Florida and I think this is the first time you've been back since the events of a couple of weeks. So just let me say as somebody that was serving on active duty in Iraq back in the day, we witnessed the number of our troops that were killed or wounded by the Iranians.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
We know that they're a militant Islamic regime that was hell-bent on getting nuclear weapons. And under Joe Biden, they were about to get nuclear weapons. And because of your strong actions, those dreams and those ambitions have been reduced to rubble. And I thank you. I know a lot of veterans thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
And people in Florida really thank you for stepping up and really making a strong, tough, but strong decision. I think we're much safer as a result of that. Now on the immigration, I think President Trump's election represented the chance for us to finally solve this illegal immigration and border problem once and for all.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
I knew he was going to do the border, although he did it very quickly and very thoroughly. I think that no one can say that that's been anything but a spectacular success. But then we have the issue of Biden let in how many millions of people and you had millions had been in over decades previous to that.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
You can't have a country if you don't have respect for the rule of law. You can't have a country if foreigners get to decide who comes in. No, we the American people make that decision who's allowed or not allowed to come into our country. We've seen Europe be overrun by open borders, so we're not going to let that happen here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
So when president got elected, I knew that the states had an important role to play in facilitating this really, really historic mission. We're the only state in America, Florida, that requires full cooperation with ICE from all state and local law enforcement entities. And what is the net result of that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
We have these agreements for these 287(g) task force with sheriff's departments, police departments, state agencies and it's really instrumental in rounding up a lot of really bad people who shouldn't be here. If you look at the number of those full-blown 287(g) agreements that have been executed around the country, the state of Florida accounts for 60 percent of those.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
If you look at the number of immigration arrests of illegal aliens on any given day, the arrests happening in Florida constitute between 15 and 20 percent nationwide. So we're all in on this because we understand how important it is to our citizens. It crowds schools, it crowds medical, it crowds housing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
Yes, you have illegal alien crime as well, and people want the problem solved. And the only way we're going to solve it is if states like Florida step up and help the president, help Secretary Noem get the job done. Now this facility here was really in response to us working with DHS and ICE from the time the president got sworn in. And the number one thing they kept coming back to was, Biden decimated the agency.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
I mean, let's just be clear, you could have illegals in Florida, Biden would just release them. Even when they had notices or they had orders to be removed, Biden wouldn't send them back. So, the interior enforcement collapsed under Biden. So, they're building it back up. But they're like we need detention space in order to be able to bring about more deportations.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
And so, what we have here is -- can hold 3,000 now; we have a 2,000 facility up at Camp Blanding that we're going to be opening, which is our National Guard site. But think about what you have here, they come here -- say they already have been ordered to be deported. You drive them 2,000 feet to the runway and then they're gone.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
It's a one stop shop. And this airport that's been here for a long time is the perfectly secure location. It's going to make a big difference. And let me just thank everyone who was involved. We got the call from DHS a little bit more than a week ago and here we are eight days later with this facility open.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
And as soon as Air Force One departs, it will be swept, and it will be open for business to be able to do. But our goal here is to process them and be able to effectuate their return to their home country. This is the opposite of what they were doing in New York by just putting them up in a hotel and then just letting them stay there indefinitely.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
No, we want to be able to send back. And when you walk into the processing, the president and I, Secretary Noem, Kevin Guthrie walked through that initial intake. The first thing you see is information on how to go home on your own. Why would you want to come through Alligator Alcatraz if you can just go home on your own?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
I think a lot of people are going to make that decision. So, you're going to have a lot of deportations that are going to be done by the administration, but I think you're going to have a lot of voluntary as well. So, this is a force multiplier for the president's efforts. I would just say and echo what Secretary Noem says, there is no reason why other states can't be doing -- and I know Louisiana, Texas, a couple of them, but we've got -- I mean, if only the red states did this, they would be able to expand their capacity by tens of thousands, maybe 50,000 or 100,000 on a given day.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
That's how you really start to make a difference. And so, we're proud to be able to partner with the Trump administration on that. Mr. President, thanks for coming down. I think you highlighting this is going to move the needle in a big way throughout the country. And I think it's going to help all of us achieve the really big results that I think our voters want to see.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you. Great job. Thank you. Please, thanks.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
Thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity. My name is Kevin Guthrie; I'm the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. And I'd also like to thank President Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem for joining us here today and for their continued support. I want to thank by -- first by thanking the man to my right and that's Governor Ron DeSantis, whose bold leadership and swift action made this project possible.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
Make no mistake, this facility would not be standing here without the president, the secretary and the governor's vision and determination to uphold the rule of law. Florida is and will always be a law-and-order state. Even before the president took office, the governor made it clear that illegal immigration would not be tolerated in the state of Florida.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
When the president and the secretary asked Florida to help, the governor empowered our state and private partners to work collaboratively and deliver real results on a rapid timeline. The Florida Division of Emergency Management is best known for leading the nation in hurricane response and other natural disasters.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
We understand how to act fast without bureaucracy in the face of any emergency. Our teams built roads in eight hours, bridges in three days, base camps in 72 hours and full causeways in two weeks. Getting things done quickly, efficiently and correctly is at the core of our mission. We simply just want to be the best at what we do in the nation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
When the governor called me we answered, and we were proud to bring our logistical expertise to the table. We know how to set up base camps for guardsmen, first responders, linemen, volunteers and other aid sources and distribute that in a matter of days before a storm. We were able to translate this knowledge to what we did here at Alligator Alcatraz.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
Florida has put the best teams together who check their individual logos and egos at the door to get this done, not just for you, governor, but Mr. President, for you as well. There are over 13 different vendors that came together to get this solved in eight days, truly a whole of private sector partnership to get that done.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
Behind you on these boards -- in only eight days, we have built a fully compliant detention facility with a detainee capacity of up to 3,000 people, with room for additional capacity if you asked us to do so. The detention facility includes over 158,000 square feet of housing and has a fully aluminum frame structure rated for winds of 110 miles an hour or a high-end category 2 for those people that don't think that we're taking that into consideration.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
This is Florida, by the way. Power supply is fully redundant with backup generators in place. We've put a staff village here on site with a capacity of 1,000. Our services are a hot meal three times a day, 24-7 medical facility, pharmacy, air conditioning, access to indoor and outdoor records, legal and clergy support services, laundry.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
Our security element is over 200 security cameras throughout the facility, more than 28,000 feet of barbed wire, 400-plus security personnel to include 200 men and women soldiers and airmen underneath Major General John Hoss's command as the Adjutant General of Florida. And it's all surrounded, as you pointed out, Mr. President, by 10 miles of beautiful Florida Everglades.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
Contingencies, as with all state correctional facilities, we have a hurricane plan. We will not wait for a cat 2. We will follow our normal evacuation procedures, as we do for any other facility statewide in our great state of Florida. We have on-site fire and EMS resources so that we do not locally -- we don't burden the locals with any type of response.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
All in all, sir, this has been a perfect state logistics exercise for this hurricane season. Everything we did here in the last eight days, God forbid, if we have a hurricane, we're going to do it again. This was a dress rehearsal for us, and we are ready, willing and able to support you, sir, the governor, secretary in everything that you need us to do. Just a week ago, it was a taxiway and a runway and now it's a fully functioning facility.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
We are happy to support you, Mr. President, governor, secretary.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Fantastic job. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Byron Donalds
Ah, there we go. First of all, Mr. President, we all have to thank you for your leadership and for the mandate that the American people gave you to finally secure our borders and to deport criminal, illegal aliens and long-standing illegal aliens out of the United States. That is a mandate given to you by the American people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Byron Donalds
I know Secretary Noem, Stephen Miller, Governor DeSantis, myself, on behalf of the other members of Congress and the Senate and, of course, here in Florida, we are behind you 100 percent in that mission. To the governor, I really appreciate you and commend you for your leadership on this taking swift, decisive action to building this facility.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Byron Donalds
One of the things that has occurred because of the work you did earlier this year with the legislature is that our sheriffs are out there every single day. They are arresting these criminal aliens in our streets, and they're seeing some backlog in their jails. So, this facility primarily goes to address some of that backlog, and then to help us fulfill the mission that the president has led us to. So, governor, thank you for your leadership and thank you for your decisive action on this.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Byron Donalds
It really does mean a lot to all the people of Florida, of course the people of the 19th Congressional District. Secretary Noem -- I mean, what can I say? The president is right, you're double tough. So, we appreciate all your leadership. You and Tom Homan have been doing a great job and I'm actually going back to DC after this because we have to vote on One Big, Beautiful Bill in the House.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Byron Donalds
We have to get that to the president's desk so we can get you the resources that you need to fulfill the mission that the American people have asked us to do. I totally agree with what Mr. Guthrie has said. This is a logistical marvel when something like this occurs. We've seen the Florida Department of Emergency Management answer the bell time and time again.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Byron Donalds
The governor has said we need to accomplish this, and DEM gets that job done. And we had a side conversation about -- I know there were some concerns. People were like, well what happens if a hurricane comes? What happens if this happens? And I looked at Kevin Guthrie and I said you already have a plan, don't you?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Byron Donalds
And he goes, of course, we have a plan, you know that we do. This is what Florida does, Mr. President, and so I want to commend you for your leadership and your vision on this. Governor, thank you for all that you've done with your vision and determination. Secretary Noem, we're going to get the bill done so you get the resources you need, see you sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
The Big, Beautiful Bill just passed.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Oh, thank you, wow. Thank you. You know, I'm waiting, listening to these wonderful words and they are music to my ears. But I was also wondering how are we doing, because I know this is prime time. It shows that I care about you because I'm here and I probably should<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Oh, thank you, wow. Thank you. You know, I'm waiting, listening to these wonderful words and they are music to my ears. But I was also wondering how are we doing, because I know this is prime time. It shows that I care about you because I'm here and I probably should be there, but we do care. Thank you very much.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
James, please. We're all happy now, James.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>James Uthmeier
Yeah. Well, I can speak on behalf of all of our sheriffs, state law enforcement, our police chiefs. We are going to continue to make arrests, our pedals to the metal, as many as we can. We want to fill this place up. The governor and Kevin have shown they can build bridges in three days, so why not some detention facilities?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>James Uthmeier
Hopefully, there's more to come and you really kind of were the inspiration for this. We like the idea of reopening the original Alcatraz. I don't know if that can happen or not, but we thought, hey, we've got our own natural Alcatraz in the middle of the Everglades, great runway, great perimeter, so let's make it happen.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>James Uthmeier
In Florida, we walk the walk and we will deliver for all of you. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I heard you were responsible for the locational pick and you cannot have picked a better location. I said, whoever the hell made this choice -- I know you're taking a little heat from some environmental groups, but I take it all the time and that's an honor. But I heard you were very responsible for that choice and that was a big choice.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. Great job, James. Thank you. Do you want to finish over here, and then we'll go over here and we'll go back and celebrate the big, beautiful bill that just got passed. You sure that's right? Right, Brian?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Yes, sir. Vance [Inaudible]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Wow. Good. He's doing a good job. Wow.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Wilton Simpson
Mr. President, first of all, I just want to say how grateful we are that you're back here in your home state of Florida. You've been doing an amazing job not only at our border but around the world keeping this country safe and Americans. We are grateful for your leadership. God had a plan for us and it was Donald Trump, so thank you for that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Wilton Simpson
As a member of the immigration board and as the commissioner of agriculture of this state, I've been happy to help lead with the governor and the rest of the cabinet on this issue. We're very proud, Secretary Noem is here today and others, to represent not only the United States and our efforts to make this commitment to keep our citizens safe.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Wilton Simpson
But we're going to continue in Florida to remove the barriers to have your vision come true of a safe United States. We're going to get these illegal criminals out of this state, and we really appreciate you and your leadership in this effort. So thank you for being here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. You're doing a great job too. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Joe Gruters
Thank you, Mr. President. Joe Gruters, state senator. I'm a member of your Homeland Security Advisory Council, your vice chairman. Thank you for that appointment. And thank you for coming back to Florida and everything that you do. Every single day, you are delivering on the promises that you promised to us at all the events you've done throughout the years, but specifically this last campaign.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Joe Gruters
You deserve all the credit for everything and you are surrounding yourself with incredible people like Secretary Noem, Stephen Miller, and just like your big, beautiful bill, here in Florida, there was a lot of commotion about our immigration bill and we had three B's in that, beds, badges and bad guys. And this goes right along with our beds and the resources.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Joe Gruters
And I give the governor, Ron DeSantis, a lot of credit for stepping up and making sure that we all work together, because at the end of the day, even sometimes there are skirmishes. As a result of the back and forth, we ended up with a better bill and we all win. And what we're doing here in Florida hopefully will happen all across the country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Joe Gruters
Your leadership is amazing. Keep up the great work and just know that Florida loves President Donald J. Trump.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much, Joe. Appreciate it, for a long time. Appreciate it. By the way, Okeechobee is something that we did together also and that was a lot of money spent. I hope it was well spent. I know we did a Rolls-Royce job, but it's a lot of money that we spent out there together and how is it going?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
You can delegate that to us because we move faster than the Army Corps. So we will finish that reservoir. If you delegate it to us, I'll get it done much quicker.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Oh, I would do that. I'll tell you, let me ask myself permission, permission granted. Go ahead, get it complete. You want to do that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
All right. We're going to go talk to the Army Corps then after this.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Good. You can move faster, actually. Please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Todd Lyons
I think -- oh. No, sir, just first on behalf of the men and women of ICE, we just want to thank you for allowing us to do our job again. You know, your vision and under Secretary Noem's leadership, this is what the American people want and I hope that you see great results of what we're doing out there every day, of getting the worst of the worst out of out of our communities.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Todd Lyons
Because of you and Secretary Noem, I have the privilege to lead one of the most premier and the finest law enforcement agencies that we do have in the United States and the men and women of HSI and ERO Miami do incredible work, like you highlighted. And with the governor and the state of Florida, the partnership in Florida has been amazing.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Todd Lyons
The 287(g) program is only going to help us to identify all those known got-aways and get the worst of the worst out of the neighborhoods and through our Homeland Security task force, we are going to make America safe again. So thank you very much, to both you and the secretary.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you, Todd. Great job, really great job you're doing. Thank you. Please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Garrett Ripa
Good morning, Mr. President.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Hi.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Garrett Ripa
Thank you so much for coming. Again, Garrett Ripa. I'm the field office director for ICE ERO here for the Miami field office, incredible collaborative work we've been doing together working with the state, working with our local partners. And again, just the 287(g) is going to open up that aperture and allow us to get those bad hombres off the street and get them into this facility and we're looking forward to it. And again, just appreciate all your support.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you. Thank you. Always, thank you. You've always been so great. Thank you very much. Please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Andres Blanco
Good afternoon, Mr. President. On behalf of Air Marine Operations, my name is Andres Blanco. I'm the executive director for Southeast Region. AMO continues to execute and support your executive orders. Air Marine operations brings a unique capability both in air and the maritime domains and in partnership with our Border Patrol OFO officers and ERO, we continue to conduct effective operations both interior along the border and along the maritime approaches.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. Good job.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Jose Figueroa
Good afternoon, Mr. President. Jose Figueroa. I am the acting special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations here in South Florida and our office covers from Key West to Fort Pierce. Tremendous collaboration here with the state and our federal partners. HSI is conducting criminal investigations into TDA, MS-13s that are involved in human smuggling, sex trafficking of minors and we will continue that effort with your support.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Jose Figueroa
Governor DeSantis, thank you very much for this facility, looking forward to continue the great work. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. Steve, would you like to say something? Our star.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Stephen Miller
Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say on a personal note, getting to watch what you've done over the last five months to deliver on a 50-year hope and dream of the American people to secure the border. When President Trump came into office on January 20th, the United States had endured the largest wave of illegal immigration in human history, not just American history, human history.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Stephen Miller
And within just a few days, President Trump, through his strength, leadership, diplomacy and vision achieved the most secure border anywhere in the world has ever seen. When we recently went overseas to the NATO summit, I had senior staff in foreign governments come up to me and ask me how he achieved the Trump miracle on his border and could that be replicated in their countries?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Stephen Miller
For individuals who don't work in this space, to have zero successful illegal entries in an entire month should be an impossible achievement. There's a 2,000-mile border with one of the poorest countries in the world and you have open travel from 150 countries into Central America and South America. There are two billion people in the world that would economically benefit from illegally coming to the United States.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Stephen Miller
And through the deployment of the military, through the deployment of novel legal and diplomatic tools, through the building of physical infrastructure, through the empowering of ICE and Border Patrol and the entire federal law enforcement apparatus, President Trump achieved absolute border security. And now, once this legislation is passed, he will be able to make that, with those resources, permanent.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Stephen Miller
Watching what you've done sir has been one of the honors of a lifetime. I'm proud to be able to play any role in it. And what President Trump is going to achieve next with the resources in this bill will make America safer, stronger, freer, more sovereign and more prosperous than it has ever been before.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Stephen Miller
Thank you, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you, Steve. Wow. Thank you. And the bill is going to be great for Iran. It's going to be great for Florida too. A lot of set asides for Florida, some of the things that you've wanted, you wanted to do. And so it's great news to hear that it was approved. Do you want to take a few questions? Ron, we'll take a few questions from these -- Yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Please, go ahead. Yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President? Thank you, Mr. President. Given the likelihood of the one big, beautiful bill passing and we look forward to the success of this facility here, how many more facilities like this do you feel that the country needs in order to enact your agenda of mass deportations?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I think we'd like to see them in many states, really, many states. I know Ron is doing a second one, at least a second one and probably a couple of more. And at some point, they might morph into a system where you're going to keep it for a long time. It's not that far away from jails that take years to build and the money is spent and wasted.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And like the railway that they have [Inaudible] in California, they cost like 40 times more than it was supposed to cost. The same thing happens with prisons. You look at this; in a short period of time, Ron, James and some of the people that really worked on it, along with our people, they did this in less than a week.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And you look at it, it's incredible. Look, the incredible thing is picking the site because the site was one of the most natural sites. It might be as good as the real Alcatraz site. It could be -- well, that's a spooky one too, isn't it? That's a tough site. But -- so, I really think it could last as long as they want to have it. I mean, you may morph this into your prison system frankly, which I know you always need, unfortunately.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'd like to say, you know a little controversial, but I couldn't care less. We have a lot of bad criminals that came into this country and they came in stupidly. It was an unforced error. It was an incompetent president that allowed it to happen. It was an auto pen maybe that allowed it to happen, and it did happen.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But we also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time, people that whack people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they're not looking and kill them, people that knife you when you're walking down the street. They're not new to our country; they're old to our country; many of them were born in our country.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too, you want to know the truth. So, maybe that'll be the next job that we'll work on together. But I think getting them out -- you know, we forget about them. We have some very bad -- we had some bad accidents in New York and they're not accidents. They were done very much on purpose.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
People being pushed into a subway just before it arrives going 40 miles an hour and they're 10 feet away from where the thing is, you get pushed right into the face of the subway train, get whacked and killed. These are sick people. I'd like to get them out of here too. Yeah, please, go ahead. White shirt, glasses.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Julio Rosales, Blaze Media, sir. A couple of months ago, I ran into former DHS Secretary Mayorkas, and I asked him a couple questions about his disastrous handling of the border. He didn't like my questions. But the number one question that I heard from people in responding to my video was why hasn't he been arrested yet?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Obviously, you guys are cleaning up the mess that was made deliberately for the past four years. And so, people want accountability. It's great to see that the border is secured and it's great to see the state level cooperation. But I guess I would ask you why hasn't he been held accountable or anybody really held accountable?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You know, pardons were given out by many -- to many people, and they shouldn't have been given out, like the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs was given a pardon, because they destroyed all of the information from two years of hearings and they should be arrested. But they were given pardons. Was he given a pardon, Mayorkas?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Was he not?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I don't believe so, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I'd take a look at that one because what he did is -- it's beyond incompetence, something had to be done. Now with that being said, he took orders from other people, and he was really doing the orders. And you could say he was very loyal to them because it must have been very hard for him to stand up and sit up and talk about what he allowed to happen to this country and be serious about it, so he was given orders.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
If he wasn't given a pardon, I could see looking at that. In fact, why don't you take a look at it, Kristi? He was impeached. But yeah, but it was just a fake impeachment -- it was a fake impeachment. Why don't you take a look at it? I think he was so bad -- they were all so bad. Look, it was the worst president in the history of our country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We've had some bad ones, but he was the worst president, but somebody told Mayorkas to do that, and he followed orders, but that doesn't necessarily hold him harmless. So, take a look at it. Very good question actually. Thank you. Yeah, please, go ahead.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, you and the secretary have both said that many people have self-reported since you came back into office. How many is many and has the rate gone up? How do you see the tempo of that moving forward going on?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
We have had several hundred thousand, but also, we have many that have self-reported not even using the CBP home app. When I have gone to these other countries to negotiate security agreements and information sharing on criminals, who's coming and going into their countries, they report that hundreds of thousands have come home that weren't on our radar, that they are coming home on their own and self-deporting because they want the chance to be able to go back to America someday.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kristi Noem
So, we believe it's over a million, possibly more than that. I'm asking all of those countries for their information on what they have of individuals that may have returned home that they have taking advantage of their programs to help them become a part of their civilization again too. So, we know it's over a million, but we have to -- I'm getting more information and that number will grow.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
If they don't leave, they never get the chance to come back. If we have to take them out, and we will, they'll go out, but they never get a chance to come back. The other way we actually make it a little bit easier for them to come back. OK? Thank you. Good question. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
The bill is now passed in the Senate, but we are already hearing from some Republicans in the House who say they cannot get on board with the changes that were made to the bill in the Senate. What is your message to those holdouts?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I just heard that about the Senate, and the bill just passed. And it tells you there's something for everyone. I mean we have -- it's a great bill, there is something for everyone. And I think it's going to go very nicely in the House. Actually, I think it will be easier in the House than it was in the Senate.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
And just to be clear on the Medicaid cuts, you've promised not to cut Medicaid, said this is all just targeting waste, fraud and abuse? Are you saying that the estimated 11.8 million people who could lose their health coverage, that is all waste, fraud and abuse?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying it's going to be a very much smaller number than that, and that number will be waste, fraud and abuse. And if you look, they took a much more liberal stance on the Medicaid situation than they could have. They had a tough stance and a weak stance. They took not a very strong stance on that to start off, and it's waste, fraud and abuse and everybody wants that covered.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
What number is that? What analysis are you seeing?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'm not seeing a number, but I know it's much less than the number you gave. And we really were very, very cognizant of three things: Social Security, we're going to take care of it beautifully; Medicare; and Medicaid. And we are going to save it whereas the Democrats are going to -- you won't have it, they will destroy Medicare and Medicaid, and they have to because their numbers don't work.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, it's not going to happen. They're the ones that have destroyed -- they have made it so bad already. They're going to make it a lot worse. But now we'll be in charge, so we're going to have no problem with Medicaid or Medicare or Social Security. Thank you. Yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, Claire Galt with WINK News in Fort Myers. What is your direction to ICE when it comes to arresting farm workers here illegally, other workers in industries that are pretty critical to Florida's economy?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, we're very much cognizant of that. And as you know, I won the farmers by 92 percent and I'm not going to be abandoning my farmers. We were strong on the borders, but we're also strong for the farmers -- and for others in the hotel industry, etc. You know, we have similar situations. And Kristi and I, and we'll be working with Ron and a lot of the states.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're going to work something where the farmers can be responsible for some of the people that have -- and they have people, Ron, for 10 or 15 years that they know very well. We're going to put them in responsible -- and have -- we're going to issue a form of a card or document, and the farmer is going to be responsible for these people.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They're not going to have citizenship, but they'll be working, they'll be paying taxes. We need to get our farmers the people they need, otherwise our farmers aren't going to be able to do their land. You know, it was tried once before many, many years ago where there was a very strong guy and he got everybody out and every farm almost in the country, but every farm in California, every farm in Iowa -- almost all the farms went bankrupt, they had nobody to work and we don't want to have that situation.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, we're going to work it. We're going to put our farmers and others in charge of the people that they have under them. They know the people, and I think it's going to work out really well. We're going to take care of our farmer, but we're going to get the criminals out, OK? Yeah, go ahead, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Thank you. Mr. President, how do you respond to critics who fear that a 3,000-bed detention center and the waste that that could produce will pollute the surrounding federal protected land, including land that both administrations have invested billions of dollars in restoring?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I was one of those that invested billions of dollars and hundreds of millions of dollars right here in the Meadowlands, but -- in the Everglades. But -- and the Meadowlands too, in New York, if you look at what we did up there. Speaking of the Meadowlands, a lot of places like this, but this is a very unique one.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
One thing I'll say about this land, we'll be gone a million years, and this land is still going to be here. It's not going to be much different. You'll have the water moccasins, you'll have the alligators, you may not have people, but you're going to have all those animals, they're going to be around, and you've got plenty of them out here.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think it was a brilliant choice. And I think almost anybody in his or her right mind would say this was a brilliant choice. I give the governor a lot of credit for using this piece of land. And in addition to that, it's on top of something that was already developed. It's an airport -- you know, you have the runways, you have the -- so it's already been developed.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So. it's not like you're dropping dirt right into the thing -- there was zero movement of that. That was done many years ago because the airport is very old, but it was an abandoned airport. And frankly, it's like perfect. And you can do expansion on this site substantially without doing anything. So, the people -- I heard them complaining about the Everglades -- there's no -- I don't think you've done anything to the Everglades.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think you're just enhancing it. This was already here. How long has the airport been here?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
Decades.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Many decades. Yeah.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
And they have, Kevin, all these guys have a waste plan. Like, the wastewater gets trucked out. Potable water gets -- literally -- they have -- even our DOT has put things up in case there's any seepage, which we don't -- so you are literally doing this on concrete that's already here. So I don't think those are valid and even good faith criticisms because it's not going to impact the Everglades at all.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
The president's been a champion, we've been a champion, really changed the game in Florida on it. I think it's just people don't want to see illegal immigrants deported and that's their ideology, and they have a right to that. But illegal immigration is unpopular, so they know that they're going to have less effect to try to do that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
So they're going to say, oh, well, no, it's just about the Everglades. But really, I think a lot of those people, they just don't want to see illegals deported. Because if you actually -- here, everyone's here. You obviously know there's zero land that's being disturbed.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, you know, when we talk about popularity, though, I will say I ran on the issue of illegals and we have to get them out. And I won 82 percent on that issue. So I think that they may not like certain aspects of it, but ultimately, they do not want them in their country. And if this is a part of a use.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But I think from an environmental standpoint, it's incredible. In fact, when we landed that very big heavy plane today, they came out and checked it fairly -- I think they want the president to be able to land on a piece of concrete that's not going to go six feet underground and they checked it and they came back and they said, this thing is really solid.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So it's been there a long time. It's going to be here a long time and it was a great choice of a site. Thank you. Yes, please. Brian, go ahead.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Yes, sir. The people of Syria were recently seen on the streets waving American flags, chanting Trump, Trump, Trump. They're so appreciative of the economic sanctions that were lifted on that country, giving them a little bit of hope for prosperity. Do you want to comment on that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, they're great people and the man that is leading them has a reputation and he was the head of some pretty tough organizations and a lot of people criticized me for that. I said, well, what are we going to do, take him out of a day school, a country day school, you're going to -- it's going to be by nature.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I would think, Ron, they'll be pretty tough. And he is pretty tough, but I think -- I met him, spent a lot of time with him, good guy. I took off the sanctions because if I didn't do that, they wouldn't have had a chance and Syria has a chance. You know, the people are great. They work hard. They're very smart, used to be a place of professionals, accountants and lawyers and doctors and high academic credentials in that part of the world.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I think it's going to work out great. I took off the sanctions and they were very appreciative. They were shocked, but they were very appreciative. And we're giving them a chance at survival. With the sanctions, it couldn't have worked. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, your beloved New York City may well be led by a communist soon, Zohran Mamdani, who in his nomination speech said he will defy ICE and will not allow ICE to arrest criminal aliens in New York City. Your message to communist Zohran Mamdani?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, then we'll have to arrest him. Look, we don't need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I'm going to be watching over them very carefully on behalf of the nation. We send him money. We send him all the things that he needs to run a government. And by the way, they get already -- they get about three times what you get, Ron.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
If you look at the per capita, Florida gets one third of what New York gets in terms of the numbers. Why don't you give us those numbers, because that's what we should send him.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
Yeah, like, sometimes people say Florida gets more because they count Social Security recipients, but that's not money to the state. Those are seniors that live here. If they move to North Carolina, you could count it there. So it has no interaction with the state government. They get more in the city and state governments than we get.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Right, substantially. We're going to be watching that very carefully and a lot of people are saying he's here illegally. We're going to look at everything. And ideally, he's going to turn out to be much less than a communist. But right now, he's a communist. That's not a socialist. I've always said we will not have socialism in this country.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And the speeches, I said -- well, they skipped socialism and you got a lot of them like that. And you see AOC, she's out there with her bad IQ. She's out there ranting and raving about how wonderful he is and look so far, he's winning. He still has a race to win, but so far, he's winning and he has an advantage as a Democrat in New York City.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I was there a long time ago and it was a long time since a Republican won the city, but you would think that a Republican would be able to win, or you have a good independent running, Mayor Adams, who's a very good person. I helped him out a little bit. He had a problem and he was unfairly hurt over this question.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
He made a statement to the effect that this is terrible. New York City can't have all these immigrants come in, and he was indicted the following day. And I said that was a phony indictment and it was a phony indictment. That was a Biden indictment. I said, don't feel bad, I got indicted five times. Every time you opened your mouth.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That was a bad group. That was a very dangerous group. I will tell you, these were not nice people. That was the only thing they could do. They had no policy. They had no skill, they had no anything, but they were very good at that. They were vicious, vicious, horrible people. Thank you very much. Yeah, please, go ahead.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Anna Giaritelli with the Washington Examiner. Governor DeSantis has proposed using National Guard, deputizing them as immigration judges to get through this massive backlog of people in the immigration court. Would you be open to that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yes, he has my approval. That wasn't too hard to get, was it, Ron? He didn't even have to ask me, James. You didn't even need James to ask me. He has my approval. OK? Good. I also like what he's doing in Okeechobee. He has my approval for that too. I don't know how we work that out, but we'll work it out.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Ron DeSantis
We'll follow up.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Go ahead, please.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
President Trump, Jake Stofan Action News Jax from up in Jacksonville. There's some talk about a facility similar to this up in Camp Blanding. Has that been approved by DHS? If not, what's the timeline? When could we see ground break on that? Well, I'll ask Ron or James to talk about it. Do you want to mention it, James?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>James Uthmeier
The overarching plan, I think the secretary has said she supports the whole plan. So the guys are going to keep going.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Kevin Guthrie
Mr. President, just specifically, the response for proposals is out for that today. It closes, I can't remember what day of the week it is, but it closes on Wednesday at 5:00. Then we will do notice to proceed. So I would say right after our wonderful Independence Day, we will be starting construction here at that facility.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>James Uthmeier
You have another big runway there too.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's great. Wow. Well, I love these runways. It's very convenient, I must say. Having a runway is a nice thing. Today you don't get runways approved, I will tell you. It's tough to get a runway. Although in the age of Trump, you get them approved fast. We're approving massive electrical bins, whether you call them bins, but big electrical facilities for all of the factories and the AI that's coming in. They're going to build their own electric.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They're going to be made into electrical providers. They're going to have a lot left over. They'll put it into the grid. I think they're going to end up doing so much, they'll put it into the grid, won't even cost anything from their standpoint, but -- so we have a lot of that happening. We get approvals fast so -- but I was just saying runways are hard to get, but we'll get them now.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But in the past, I would say over the past 30, 40 years when you can get a runway, that was considered gold. OK. Please, go ahead. Go ahead. Sure.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Who is it?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
OK. Go ahead. Yes.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
President Trump, Laverne McGee, News 6 Orlando. You have fulfilled several campaign promises along with the help of Governor Ron DeSantis. What is the next campaign promise that you plan to fulfill to the American people?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So we have turned this country around in less than six months. And when I was away and I was telling Ron, I was telling some others, I've said it a little publicly, I guess, but I met a lot of very important people. The king of Saudi Arabia. I was there two weeks ago, and Qatar, the leader of Qatar, who's great and the leader of UAE, who's great.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
He's a very substantial people, very smart people and good people. And all three of them said essentially the same thing, along with many other people because I just left NATO and NATO is going to -- we took it up to five percent. Nobody can believe that one, Ron. That would be a hard one. Nobody believes that, what happened in NATO, over $ 1 trillion a year from, like, nothing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It was an honor. But every leader said that a year ago this country was dead. They had no confidence in the United -- they really felt it was a dead country and it was going to -- bad things were going to happen. But they used the term, it was a dead country and now they said you have the hottest country anywhere in the world.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're the hottest country in the world right now and we turned it around fast. I thought it would take longer than this. We turned it around fast. Some of it was psychology and we had to know how good we were, but others was getting rid of rules, regulations and all of the things that I got rid of already.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I signed more executive orders than anybody in history, times like three or four and I got rid of just one -- I got rid of the other night, you buy a house, they have a faucet in the house, Joe, and the faucet, the water doesn't come out. They have a restrictor. In areas where you have so much water, they don't know what to do with it. You have a shower head, the shower doesn't -- you think it's not working, it is working, the water is dripping out and that's no good for me, I like this hair nice and -- I like that hair nice and wet.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Takes you -- you have to stand in the shower for 20 minutes before you get the soap out of your hair. And I put a thing in, and it sounds funny, but it's really not -- it's horrible. And when you wash your hands, you turn on the faucet and no water comes out. You're washing and the water barely comes out, it's ridiculous.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
This was done by crazy people, and I wrote it all off and got it approved in Congress so that they can't just change it because I did it in my first term. Everyone was so happy. And then one of the first things that Biden did when he came back, is he put the restriction on showers, toilets and sinks, put this restriction -- and washing machines.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
The washing machine, they give you like a quarter of this bottle to do your clothing and people needed 10 of these bottles. And the people came to me from Whirlpool, and they said we can't make a machine that's competitive. We can't make a machine; it just doesn't work. Why? They don't let us use water. Do you have any problems with water?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
No, we have so much, we don't know what to do with it. You know, it comes down from heaven, right? And I approved all of that, the washing machines, the whole thing. The dishwashers, that was the other one, they give you like this much water right up to there to do your dishes. So, people, you know what they do, they keep pressing the button.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, they end up doing the dishes 10 times. They end up using more water than you would have used if you did it right in the first place. So, all of that stuff has been written off. It sounds crazy, it's little things. The straw -- I let you go back to a plastic straw. The other -- I was tired of having straws melt in my mouth, you know.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It wasn't working, the paper wasn't working too well. So, these are little things that I did. Then we have the big things. We have the biggest things and that has to do with some of the subjects we're talking now. I think the things we're talking about now are the biggest because if you don't have borders in this country, borders and good elections and we're working on that next.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
There are some bills coming in that's going to make sure that you're a citizen, that people aren't counted in the voting when they were here and they're here as illegals and they're criminals in many cases and they give them a count and you end up with extra congressmen. We're going to work on that. We're going to straighten that out next.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's going to be easy compared to what we were doing. But we did the big things too. But little things like that, a straw, little things like a washing machine with no water, people go out, they spend all their money on a washing machine, the damn thing doesn't work. You can't use the water. Then you go to your sink and that doesn't work either.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You're stuck. You know what you do? You have dirty plates the next day, that's it. And we solved so many commonsense problems and they weren't easy. You know, there are people that really believe in this stuff. But you know, most states have so much water, they don't know what to do with it. And look at North Carolina.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I mean, they had a lot of water, and they have to get restrictors on their kitchen faucets. So, we're very proud of the things we did and we're going to do a lot more of them. Yeah, please go ahead. Guy's in good shape.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
It's Eric Bolling, how you doing, sir? Something we've talked about for, I'd say, the better part of 20 years. I think it's something near and dear to your heart, energy, our energy security. Under Joe Biden, the average price of oil for the four years was about $79 a barrel. He drained the SPR halfway down, promised to replenish it, never did.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Under you first term $53 average price for four years. Biden was $78 for eight years. It was never refilled. The question is now it's $64 or so.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah, and we're coming down rapidly.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Coming down and what a great opportunity to do -- fix another one of Joe Biden's problems, one of the things he broke in America -- giving us the energy security of an emergency SPR, fill it to -- maybe even go beyond and fill it to a billion barrels this time at a much cheaper price. Thoughts on the energy sector?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, it holds 77 million barrels, and we had it up to the top, if you remember. And I was proud of that, and I made a deal to buy it at the lowest price of oil, it was a good deal, good instinct and we filled it up. And when he came in, he started using it to keep oil prices down because he blew our energy policy out.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Energy is what caused -- energy and his bad spending is what caused inflation. So, now we have no inflation. Gasoline just hit $1.99 today in five states -- $1.99, isn't that a nice sound? It was up to $4 and going up to $5, $6 and $7. In California it was $7.70. But we just hit in five states, $1.99, $1.98. And it's coming down to that level.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, that will be a big thing. And one of the reasons the prices and costs are going down when you go to the supermarket, because I said I was going to get costs down, we're getting the cost down. Food is coming down. When I came out of my first week, if you remember, I had a lunatic reporter screaming at me saying eggs are going through the roof.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
What are you going to do about eggs? I said I just got here; I didn't know anything about eggs. I had to call you. I said, look, I just got here. Tell me the problem. Well, they're doubled in price and they're going to be five or six times higher. They were right, actually. I said, let me work on it, and now we have eggs down to the same number as it was when I first came in. You know, we lowered the cost of groceries.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
A simple word like that, groceries, it was like almost a strange word; I hadn't heard the word in so long. But what could be more beautiful than the word grocery? And we have the prices way down. We have the energy way down. Energy brought the groceries down, if you want to know the truth. So, we think we're going to get it lower and we're going to fill up the national strategic.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's called the strategic national reserves. I had it topped out and this guy would use them -- every time before the election he'd use them. Whenever they had an election, it was artificial. But believe it or not, as big as that, tens of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil all filled up at low prices.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But it was really meant for wars. And it wasn't meant for keeping your prices down during a holiday so that somebody could get elected. But they used it and they didn't bring -- the only mistake you made, they didn't bring it a little down, they brought it right down to the bottom. The thing is practically empty.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They never filled it up. They never spent $0.10 in filling it up. And we'll do that -- when the market is right, we'll fill it up. I want to fill it up when the market's right. Thank you. How about one more question? OK, please. In the back.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Danamarie McNicholl, Fox News Channel. Mr. President, is there an expected time frame that detainees will spend here, days, weeks, months? And does that have anything to do with the immigration judges you just spoke about being trained and staffed here?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
When you say -- what was the first part of your question, who?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Is there a specific time frame you expect the detainees to spend here, days, weeks, months?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
In Florida?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Yes, here at Alligator Alcatraz.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'm going to spend a lot -- look, this is my home state. I love it. I love your government. I love all the people around. These are all friends of mine, I know them very well. I mean, I'm not surprised that they do so well. They're great people. Ron has been a friend of mine for a long time. I feel very comfortable in the state.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I'll spend a lot of time here. I want to -- you know, for four years I've got to be in Washington and I'm OK with it because I love the White House. I even fixed up the little Oval Office. I made it -- it's like a diamond, it's beautiful, it's so beautiful. It wasn't maintained properly; I will tell you that.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But even when it wasn't, it was still the Oval Office, so it meant a lot. But I'll spend as much time as I can here. You know, my vacation is generally here because it's convenient. I live in Palm Beach, it's my home and I have a very nice little place, nice little cottage to stay at, right. But we have a lot of fun and I'm a big contributor to Florida, you know, pay a lot of tax.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And a lot of people moved from New York. And I don't know what New York is going to do. A lot of people moved to Florida from New York, and it was for a lot of reasons. But one of them was taxes, the taxes are so high in New York, they're leaving. I don't know what New York's going to do about that because some of the biggest, wealthiest people and some of the people that pay the most taxes of any people anywhere in the world for that matter, they're moving to Florida and other places.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, we're going to have to help some of these states out I think. But thank you very much. I'll be here as much as I can. Very nice question. With that, I'd like to just end by saying I want to thank Ron and James and all of the people that have done such a great job, all of your staff, really fantastic work.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And it really started with site selection. You can do a great job but if you have the wrong site -- in real estate, you have the wrong site, you're dead. And this was a great site selection, despite what you may read in the environmental press. Good job. And this was an honor for Kristi and myself and Steve and all of our people to be here.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I also appreciate the media. They've treated us very fairly. Over the last few weeks I've been treated very nicely and it's so unusual, I'm not used to it, but we've gotten great accolades. Brian, I want to thank you for calling out because I was waiting here because I knew the vote was taking place and I'm answering questions, right?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So, I want to thank you very much and say hello to our friend and I will see a lot of you. Thank you very much. We're going to make America great again. Thank you very much. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Thank you very much. Nice looking crowd. Hello Lindsay.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
[Inaudible]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Nice to see you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
[Inaudible; Laughter]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And you'll like it. Good evening and welcome to this magnificent iftar dinner, very special, as we honor the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Let me begin by saying to our Muslim friends, of which I have many tonight, and I think we have many all over the world based on the results in Michigan and other places. [Laughter] But I just want to say hello to all of the people that supported us so strongly.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Ramadan Mubarak. We're grateful to be joined by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi, thank you very much. Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau. Chris. Thank you, Chris. Congratulations, by the way.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Unidentified
Thank you.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Deputy Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus. Morgan. Hi Morgan. A very good friend of mine who I just endorsed, actually, Senator Lindsey Graham. Lindsey. Congressman Abe Hamadeh. Abe, thank you. Thank you, Abe. Thank you, Abe. Good job. Counselor to the president, Alina Habba and going to be the US attorney in New Jersey.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Very importantly. Great job. Pastor Paula White, my friend for a long time and somebody that's done an incredible job with Faith and all of the things that so many in this room stand for. Paula White. Thank you, Paula. And a person that Paula would have a hard time not being with, I would say. Jenny would be about impossible for you, right? [Laughter] But Jenny Korn is here, and she's been incredible, the Faith Office director.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And right out of the White House, right, Jenny? Hi Jenny, how are you? And a great friend of mine, Massad Boulos. Massad, how are you? Thank you. I also want to extend a very special thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Americans who supported us in record numbers in the 2024 Presidential Election.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It was incredible. We started a little slow with you, but we came along. And by the time that election was finished, we figured we -- uh, we went up like a rocket ship. So I just want to thank everybody very much for that. That was great. And in particular, I want to thank two great gentlemen, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Hamtramck. How are you, Mr. Mayor? And he's done a great job as mayor, and he's done a great job with his support of us. And Mr. Amer Ghalib. And thank you very much. He was such a tremendous endorsement right at the right time. Your timing was excellent. Thank you very much. And uh, you'll be the next ambassador to Kuwait.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And you're going to have a great time with Kuwait, wonderful people. And it's a great place, so congratulations, really terrific. You're going to love them and they're going to love you. And they're going to love you. Thank you very much. Congratulations, too. As well as the mayor of Dearborn Heights, Mr. Bill Bazzi.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Bill. Good job, Bill. And Bill actually is going to be the next ambassador to Tunisia. And that's big stuff. Those guys, you're very upwardly mobile. You're doing very well. [Laughter] That's great. You're going to have a tremendous time. Both great countries and enjoy it. Every day we're keeping our promises to the Muslim community.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
My administration is engaged in relentless diplomacy to forge a lasting peace in the Middle East, building on the historic Abraham Accords, which everybody said would be impossible. And now we're going to start filling them out. Because as you know, Biden did nothing to fill them out. He did absolutely. We had the four great countries, and nothing happened, despite the importance of the Abraham Accords.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
But I have a feeling it's going to fill out very quickly. It's already -- people are talking already about it. They should have had them long -- long ago, it should have been done. We're rapidly defeating inflation by reducing energy costs and even slashing the price of eggs by 50 percent. Doesn't sound like much, believe me. You know when I got here, I was -- I was in one week and I was being hit by the fake news media.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They were saying egg prices have quadrupled. I said I just got here. [Laughter] I didn't even know I said what's -- what's the problem with eggs? But the problem with eggs was Joe Biden. That was the problem. He let them get out of control. [Laughter] And as you probably saw last -- uh, last month, they went down 35 percent.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And the quantity, uh is so much that I don't know. I think they're going to go down a lot further. We have a total of over 50 percent in a few weeks. Lindsey, I'd say that's pretty good. And nobody wants to talk about it. Now they don't want to talk about it. They talked about it when it went up under somebody else, but when it went down under me, they don't want to talk.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So we have to talk ourselves. If they won't say it, we have to say it, right? I learned that a long time ago. We're fighting for parents rights and school choice. And we're stopping schools from indoctrinating children with transgender ideology, something which the people of this room are not happy about.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I know that for a fact. And it's a shame what's happened. But we're turning it around. And turning it around at levels that nobody can even believe. I signed an order also, and I think very importantly also, in particular for people in this room, we're keeping men out of women's sports. Is that OK? Men out of women's sports.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
The Muslim community was there for us in November. And while I'm president, I will be there for you. I'm going to be there for you. And I think, you know, that. And our two great mayors understand that. I said that I would see you after. And I saw you after. And I think you're doing better than we are. You're doing better than anybody.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So it's -- so it's so great. I'm so glad you're here. But as we approach the end of Islamic holy month of Ramadan, we're also deeply honored to be joined by many of the international friends and partners, including the ambassador from Saudi Arabia to the United States, a very, very special woman, Princess Reema.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Princess, thank you. Thank you, princess. Say hello to everybody. It's great to see you. Thanks as well to the ambassadors and chiefs of mission from the United Arab Emirates from Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Malaysia, Brunei, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Morocco, Indonesia, Algeria, Djibouti, Cameroon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Guinea, Tanzania, Kenya, the Maldives, Libya, Senegal, Bangladesh.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And we have a few others. I'm sorry if I forgot, but I am going to be in big trouble if I did. But that's a pretty good group of people represented tonight. Wouldn't you say, Senator? I think so. And we're greatly honored by your presence this evening. I just really want to thank you all. It's a special group.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I look forward to it. You know, we have long days not like other people that had this position. I work long hours. [Laughter] And I said tonight after making three calls for people running for office, they call them tele-town-halls, and they're not easy to do, and I said well, now I go home and can relax.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They said, no, you can't, sir. [Laughter] You're seeing your friends from lots of different places. And that's OK. As soon as I found out who they were, I said all right, that's OK. But Ramadan is a season of spiritual reflection and self-restraint. Every day during the sacred ninth month of the Islamic calendar Muslims fast from dawn to dusk deepening their focus on prayer and devotion to God.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So nice. Then Muslims all over the world join family and friends each night in sundown to give thanks to the Almighty and break their fast with an iftar dinner just like this one. This is what we have tonight, right Paula? I hope you like it. If you don't like it, don't complain, OK? [Laughter] You're still in the White House, right? [Laughter] We're all in the White House together, so how bad can that be? So tonight we gather with the goodwill and the gratitude for God's many blessings.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And that's what it's all about. This tradition exemplifies the beautiful spirit of all three Abrahamic faiths and the spirit that inspires us to seek happiness and prosperity at home and peace for the entire world. We're all looking for peace for the entire world. When I was in Michigan, I met with so many leaders of faith.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I said what about your attitude here, your attitude there, all of the attitudes and all of the things I heard. They said, sir, all we want is peace, right? You remember, Mr. Mayor. I said, but I understand you don't mind death. They said, no, sir, we want to live. We want to live, and we want to be happy, and we want to love everybody.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I actually, uh, it was a very inspirational period of time for me. And I want to thank you also for introducing me to so many of your friends. It was absolutely incredible. Thank you very much. To our Muslim friends, I look forward to working with each of you to achieve a brighter and more hopeful future.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I think together we're going to do great. You're going to make strides like you've never made. You have somebody in the White House that loves you. Thank you all very much. And now we'll have a little dinner. Have a little dinner. [Laughter] Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Those young people, they just said, too much winning, too much winning, sir. They know it, and it is a lot of winning. We had the best six months ever. We're now heading to Scotland. I'm meeting with the prime minister of UK. Some of you are going, I guess, and a lot of you aren't. Are you going, Huh? Well, you got to get moving.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
That's a good one. That's going to be a good one. So we have great numbers we just announced. I don't have to go over it because you've seen them, but we have great economic numbers. The deal with Japan is amazing. They give us $550 billion and we have totally open access into Japan. Those numbers are great.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I mean, the kids actually just said, very, very cute actually, I walked up and they said, sir, there's too much winning. They picked up on a little routine. You know? Go ahead.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, can I ask you about the DOJ lawsuit that you just filed yesterday against New York City and Mayor Adams? In the lawsuit saying name the CBP officer that was off-duty who was shot, and your thoughts on that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah. Yeah, that's DOJ going against New York, but we're going against a lot of other places too. We want to bring safety to our cities, but that's a pretty -- that's going to be a pretty routine filing with other cities too. As you know, we've started numerous lawsuits with other cities. We want to bring safety.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We've got to get the criminals out and we're doing it in record numbers.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
-- on Gaza and negotiations?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah, Gaza, they pulled out of Gaza. They pulled out in terms of negotiating. It was too bad. Hamas, Hamas didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very, very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job. They really -- they asked for things -- don't forget, we got a lot of hostages out.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
So now we're down to the final hostages and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically, because of that, they really didn't want to make a deal. I saw that. So they pulled out and they're going to have to fight and they're going to have to clean it up. You're going to have to get rid of it.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
-- meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell? What are you hoping Todd Blanche gets out of his meetings with Ghislaine Maxwell?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I don't know about the meeting. I know it's taking place and he's a fantastic man. He's a great attorney and people should really focus on how well the country is doing, or they should focus on the fact that Barack Hussein Obama led a coup, or they should focus on the fact that Larry Summers from Harvard, that Bill Clinton, who you know very well and lots of other friends, really close friends of Jeffrey Summers, should be spoken about because you know, Jeffrey Epstein should be spoken about and they should speak about them because they don't talk about them.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Are you considering clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Easy. Easy.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Will you do any business deals with the UK?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah. I'm going to meet with the prime minister right now. We're going to be over there in about six hours. We're meeting with the prime minister tonight. We're going to be talk about the trade deal that we made and maybe even improve it.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Are you considering clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell, sir?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I walked to the White House today. I saw homeless people sleeping right outside the gates of the White House. Are you concerned about that, sir?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think it's terrible and we'll have them removed immediately. We did remove it. We've got to get the mayor to run this city properly. This city has to be run. I have the right to take it over and I think it's terrible. Where are they? Where did you see them?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Right -- right outside on Pennsylvania Avenue.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
By the -- near the Treasury?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Right across the street from Lafayette Park. Mr. President, have you heard about Todd Blanche's interview with Ghislaine Maxwell?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I have.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
And would you consider a pardon or clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, I don't want to talk about that. What I do want to say is that Todd is a great attorney, but you ought to be speaking about Larry Summers. You ought to be speaking about some of his friends that are hedge fund guys. They're all over the place. You ought to be speaking about Bill Clinton, who went to the island 28 times.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I never went to the island.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Do you maintain you did not write a letter for Jeffrey Epstein's birthday?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I don't even know what they're talking about. Now, somebody could have written a letter and used my name, but that's happened a lot. All you have to do is take a look at the dossier, the fake dossier. Everything's fake with that administration. Everything's fake with the Democrat. Take a look at what they just found about the dossier, everything is fake.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
There are a bunch of sick people. Where did you see the people laying outside, again?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Right across the street from Lafayette Park, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We'll take care of it.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Note
[Crosstalk]<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
What are the plans for bringing hostages home? What are the alternative methods to bring hostages home from Gaza?<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, we got a lot of them out and it's always -- I've always said those last 10 or 20 are going to be the toughest because Hamas knows what happens when they don't have any bargaining chip and they really broke a deal. They broke a deal and you're going to have to do what you have to do right now. It's a terrible thing.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And I always knew that. I said, when we get down to the last one, they're not going to be able to make a deal.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Would you consider a pardon or commutation for Ghislaine Maxwell if --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's something I haven't thought about. It's really something --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
If someone recommended it to you --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
It's something -- I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
But you wouldn't rule it out, sir? Mr. President, why has the dollar, why has the dollar fallen so much and are you concerned about that?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, you know, I'm a person that likes a strong dollar, but a weak dollar makes you a hell of a lot more money. I hate to tell you. I don't know if you study it, but I study it and if you look at the Yen --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I went to Penn and Wharton, so I know this.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You understand.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Absolutely.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Oh, you did go?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I went to Wharton. Yes, sir.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Well, that means you're a smarter guy than I even thought, and I know you're smart. So when we have a strong dollar, one thing happened. It sounds good, but you don't do any tourism. You can't sell tractors. You can't sell trucks. You can't sell anything. It is good for inflation. That's about it. And we have no inflation.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We've wiped out inflation. But it's an interesting question. So I will never say I like a low currency, but you remember the battles I had with the yuan, with China and with Japan. Japan being the yen. They always wanted a weak currency. They're trying to get a weak currency now. Now, it doesn't sound good, but you make a hell of a lot more money with a weaker dollar, not a weak dollar, but a weaker dollar than you do with a strong dollar.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And the first people that are going to notice it are the manufacturers of trucks and various other things. Like, look at Caterpillar, how well they're doing now. When you have a strong dollar, you can't sell anything. It's only good for inflation and it's good psychologically. It makes you feel good. But with that being said, I love a strong dollar, but you make your money with a currency -- and I had so many different fights with President Xi with -- I mean, with -- between Japan and China, all they want to do is have a weak currency.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
They're always fighting for a weak currency and that's how they really dominated over the years. So when I see it down there, I don't lose sleep over it. Let's put it that way. In fact, sometimes I go to sleep very happy. You understand.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I do.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Do you agree with me?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
I agree with a lot of what you said, Mr. President. Do you think it makes any easier to impose your tariff with that lower dollar? Because the --<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think it makes it easier even for tariffs, yeah. And it makes the tariffs worth much more. And it's easier to pay off debt and it's easier to get a low Interest rate, too. There are a lot of good things. It's hard to explain to people the headline will read, oh, Trump wants a weak dollar, not a weak dollar.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
You take a look at the history of China over the last 20 years, all they do is fight for a weak currency. Look at Japan when they were really doing well. They had a very weak currency. So to me, I just say thank you very much. It is what it is.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Mr. President, what's your comment on -- Have you given up on a Gaza ceasefire?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
Yeah. Well, the Gaza situation, and I said this was going to happen when you get down to your last 10 or 20. We got a lot of hostages out. We took them out in numbers that nobody believed a lot of them. And I said when you get down to 10 or 20, I don't think Hamas is going to make a deal because that means they have no protection.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
And basically, that's what happened. Hamas didn't want to make a deal.<end_of_turn>
|
<start_of_turn>Question
Have you seen the photos --<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
I think what's going to happen is they're going to be hunted down.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Have you considered secondary sanctions sooner on Russia? Are you closer today to secondary sanctions?<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Donald Trump
We're looking at that whole situation. It could be that we'll have to put secondary sanctions on them.<end_of_turn>
<start_of_turn>Question
Sooner than 50 days?<end_of_turn>
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.