Donald Trump (00:00):
... Spouse Commission. It'll be chaired...
President Donald Trump (20:01):
... Spouse Commission. It'll be chaired by Jennifer Hegseth, the wife of, and highly respected wife, I may add, of Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, both here. I also want to congratulate the new executive director of the commission, Desiree... So, where's Desiree? Where are you, Desiree, you do such a good job. Desiree Thompson Sayle, along with new commission member Christie Mullin, wife of Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary Markwayne Mullin. These are outstanding people, everyone. Male and female, outstanding. The commission will also include the spouses of our wonderful service secretaries, the spouses of the joint chiefs of staff, and the spouses of their senior enlisted leaders.
(20:48)
And we have some incredible talent. And I won't tell you these spouses I've looked at educationally in every other way. They're amazing. We're also pleased to be joined by Secretary Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. Thank you very much, Dan. America cannot have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses who make the extraordinary sacrifices for our country. They really are extraordinary. Many military spouses spend months separated from their loved ones while our heroes are deployed overseas. Military families also endure frequent moves and other unique challenges. And the challenges are legendary.
(21:34)
They write books about them. This commission will provide recommendations for improving the quality of life for military spouses so that we can better support both our military families and the entire United States armed forces. The commission will develop suggestions to address particular challenges in housing, employment, healthcare, education, childcare, and just about everything else you can think of. We've never had this opportunity. We're doing it now because we've done a lot for our military. We love our military. Every day our administration is fighting to give our military families the support they dearly need and they deserve.
(22:14)
As part of the great big, beautiful bill, we provided hundreds of millions of dollars for military childcare and improved housing on military bases. It's being built. Much of it's being built right now. Last Christmas, every service member received a warrior dividend of $1,776. Think of that. I wonder where we got that number. It's actually 1,775. The number worked out to be 70. I said, if you add $1, we have 70. That was one of my genius ideas. We have 1,776, but that was a great thing. And we've given it every member of our military hard-earned pay raise. We've also given the pay raise.
(22:56)
The commission will help ensure we continue to give military spouses our very best so our military can continue to be the strongest military anywhere in the world. And we're proving that. As you know, we had a conflict with Venezuela. Worked out very well and we have a conflict with Iran and that's working out very well. Very, very well. So, now I'd like to ask Jennifer Hegseth to say a few words followed by Pete, General Caine, and then I will sign the executive order putting this into play. And it's an order that's long overdue as far as I'm concerned, like by decades. And we're going to do a real job with it. And Jennifer, if you will, please.
Jennifer Hegseth (23:37):
Well, Mr. President, you have been a champion for the military and we are so grateful for that. And that continues today. And like you said, these are generational issues that are long overdue to address. And we have the most amazing women here who have decades of experience as military spouses themselves to take a look at it. There's really nothing we're going to find that they haven't experienced. And so, between what they've experienced and what they know, we're going to really tackle these things. And I've spent the last year traveling around, meeting with military spouses and families around the world and around the country. And it's the same from Kentucky to Singapore.
(24:14)
It's housing, it's healthcare, it's employment, it's childcare, it's education. And so, we're going to take a look at all of those things. Even one of the women up here, I won't say who, but was a paramedic. And as they moved from state to state, she could not get the license. Switch to that state in time before you move again, before you PCS. And it makes it really difficult for these families to survive, let alone all the other sacrifices we're asking for them. So, this is a big deal today. We're super grateful. Every time Pete travels around... Secretary Hegseth travels around to the troops, he tells them the president has your back. And now the families know that you have their back too. And we are grateful. Thank you.
President Donald Trump (24:54):
Thank you, Jennifer. Great job. Thank you. How might you say something first and then we'll go-
Pete Hegseth (25:00):
I can't really top it.
President Donald Trump (25:01):
... then we'll go back into the general? You're going to top that. =
Pete Hegseth (25:01):
I can't top that, Mr. President. I would just shot.
President Donald Trump (25:01):
You're not going to. It's a good job.
Pete Hegseth (25:07):
It's true. Strong families equal strong formations. I mean, when you look at it from a military perspective as a secretary, our job is to make sure our troops are prepared and ready on behalf of the nation. And if your family's not taken care of, then it causes hesitations and complications for the war fighters up front. And so, we say often and we mean it, no soldier, no Marine, no member of the joint force serves alone. And so, if we can address the issues of housing and make sure it's quality housing, make sure employment opportunities are maxed out, make sure childcare is taken care of, make sure DoDEA or DOEA schools are the best in the world so that our military kids are being educated.
(25:42)
The trade skills they might want to take the next chapter in life. If that warfighter knows that their family is good to go, they will go the extra mile, which is what our nation asks. So, this is not one of those window dressing efforts. Jen's right, this entire group has mountains of experience and they're raring to go to put it to use on behalf of the great Americans who serve our nation. And this is going to be full speed ahead to address every quality of life issue we can, which Mr. President, you invested in the One Big Beautiful Bill. People don't know how much went into housing and into barracks and into pay. That's a down payment.
(26:15)
And now with the 1.5 trillion, which we're working to get every dollar of, it's going to be a generational investment in barracks, in housing, in healthcare, in pay in ways no commander-in-chief has ever done before. So, Mr. President, thank you for leading on this and this commission's ready to go.
President Donald Trump (26:30):
Well, thank you very much. You're doing a fantastic job. General, please.
Dan Caine (26:34):
Mr. President, Mrs. Hegseth, Secretary Hegseth, it's an honor for me to be here today at the launch of this commission. As we stand here now around the world, military service members are out doing our nation's business and ready to do what is asked of them. The foundation of American military readiness is the families and the backstopping of all of that is the military spouses that serve behind them. Inevitably, every time somebody deploys, that refrigerator will break down, the car will break down. You think we're strong. American military spouses are 10 times stronger and the lift that they carry is significant every single day.
(27:14)
I want to thank this commission for the work that they're going to do to help improve military families' lives and military spouses' lives. It is a critical enabler for American war fighting capabilities. So, to all of you here and all the work that went into putting this commission together, thank you. And Mr. President, we're honored to be here today.
President Donald Trump (27:35):
Where will they be meeting when you have meetings? Because you're going to be having a lot of meetings. Do you know where you're going to be meeting?
Desiree (27:40):
Every month here at the White House.
President Donald Trump (27:42):
Oh, that's great.
Desiree (27:42):
Yes.
President Donald Trump (27:46):
We can't do better than that.
Desiree (27:46):
Can't do better than that.
President Donald Trump (27:52):
Use the Oval Office. Would anybody like to say anything? Maybe Desiree, you could start and then if you want to say anything, great time to say it.
Desiree (27:56):
I'll just be really short. It's a pleasure for me to serve as the executive director of this commission. I think it's a long time coming. It's a little bit of a pet project out of my office simply because we have the chief of staff of the Air Force's wife that has been inspirational for this. She's a 41-year spouse. But collectively, this group has over 400 years of experience as an active duty military spouse, 400. And they've probably moved about 300 times.
(28:25)
So, if you can imagine that level of experience coming to this commission and solving real problems for the future of our military spouses and families, it's just an incredible thing that you're doing, President Trump, actually asking them to solve these problems and give you good recommendations. And we're happy to help them do that.
President Donald Trump (28:44):
So, you know, Desiree's been with us for a long time and she's directly and indirectly done what she's doing for a long, long time and covered numerous presidents. And she basically responds to the public when the public, they send things. Sometimes, they send gifts. Actually, it amounts to millions of dollars in small money. And I said, "Well, what happens to that money?" They send it back or they do charitable work, but it's literally millions. They send it to me. I should be able to get it. She won't give it to me. I should be entitled to it. No, but they send it to me as just a gesture.
(29:20)
But they write thousands and hundreds of thousands of letters and she's got a staff that's all volunteer. And I have one question. How do I compare in terms of response with other presidents of the past?
Desiree (29:34):
No comparison, sir.
President Donald Trump (29:35):
Is it good or bad?
Desiree (29:37):
No, it's good. Actually, it's very good.
President Donald Trump (29:39):
It's very good.
Desiree (29:40):
Yeah.
President Donald Trump (29:40):
We do okay?
Desiree (29:42):
You do great.
President Donald Trump (29:42):
A little more than Sleepy Joe?
Desiree (29:47):
100% possible.
President Donald Trump (29:47):
Little bit more?
Desiree (29:47):
Yes.
President Donald Trump (29:47):
I think so. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody have anything to say or a question or statement? Would you like to make a statement? Yes, please.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Can I just say, I'm so excited. We've served with the Wills Box now for a number of years and I've seen them champion the enlisted corps. As the spouse of a senior enlisted leader, it's pretty easy for something amazing like this to happen and not include the senior enlisted leaders from the enlisted corps. It means the world to me that this started with them in mind. And I don't know if you remember, but a few years ago, my husband was serving in Alaska and before you got on the plane, he asked your detail if he could ask you a question. And he asked if you would FaceTime me. And you did. It meant the world.
President Donald Trump (30:35):
The people I respect, I do that.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
You're getting ready to get on the plane and this E9, this enlisted command chief asked you to FaceTime me. And you put your arm around him and you said, "He's doing a good job. Take good care of him." And that picture has hung in his office since. And it just means the world to me that you highlight the enlisted corps every chance you get. And I love to tell people that story that you took the time for.
President Donald Trump (31:02):
Thank you very much. Say hello. Okay. I remember. Please, anybody else?
Dan Caine (31:07):
Mr. President, this is Cindy Wilsbach, who's humble to her-
President Donald Trump (31:10):
That's great.
Dan Caine (31:11):
... and has had a significant role in putting this commission together. So, I just want to highlight Cindy Wilsbach.
Cindy Wilsbach (31:17):
I would just like to say this is a red letter day for me. Just the honor that I feel to be surrounded by these spouses who, what I like to say is we serve by oath or by vow. We didn't all raise our right hand to take an oath, but we began serving this great nation when we extended our left hand and said a vow to the person that we love that served this country. And we represent people that are at the end of their careers. We have served decades, 20, 30, 40 years of service. This is about the legacy that we leave for the people that come after us.
(31:47)
For these people who have children who are serving now or for families that we say, "We love you. We care about you. And we are the greatest in military in the world." And part of that is taking care of our families. And that's what this commission will do.
President Donald Trump (31:59):
And your husband is highly respected. I have to tell you that-
Cindy Wilsbach (32:01):
Thank you.
President Donald Trump (32:03):
... by everybody, by everybody.
Cindy Wilsbach (32:05):
Thank you.
President Donald Trump (32:05):
Anybody over here? Yes, please.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Mr. President, on behalf of the Coast Guard, we cannot thank you enough for the amount of money that you have put into our organization. We are beyond excited about the new potentials that we have. We could just feel it. The whole Coast Guard, every time we go to visit our different units and our families, people are super excited.
President Donald Trump (32:29):
The 11 ice cutters, right?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Absolutely. I'll be talking. Yes.
President Donald Trump (32:32):
Going to be beautiful.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
President Donald Trump (32:34):
They had one. Russia has 48. They had one and was 50 years old. And you're going to soon be getting 11 brand new ones at top of the line. So, that's a big-
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Well, our people are very thrilled and super excited and very thankful to you. Thank you, Sir.
President Donald Trump (32:50):
That's great. Thank you very much. Good. Anybody else like to say? Last chance. That's it? So, I'm going to sign this and it's a real honor. And then if you like, you could ask questions of the people or me if you want. Okay, that's a good one. So, I wouldn't want a bad one on this time. Some are good. We rate them from six to 10. Six is usually when I'm standing up holding it. You can't do a very good one, but that's a 10. So, you deserve a 10 too. I think you should hold that.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
Thank you, Sir.
President Donald Trump (33:50):
Okay. Questions for us, please.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
On behalf of the press corps, I thank you ladies for what you do for our service members in this country. Mr. President, are the talks with Iran now off and are airstrikes on?
President Donald Trump (34:01):
No, they're on. They're going on right now. It's an amazing thing. We have a little problem with Iran because we have many talks and we'll say we have or we don't have. We're straight about it. But they deny, but they're not denying it now. They just put out a say, but not denying it. But for some reason when they're talking, they don't like saying that they're talking. So, I say we're in talks. Big deal. We're in talks. And they'll sometimes deny it even though they spend hours and hours together talking. No, the talks are going along. We're going to hit them very hard yesterday. Very, very hard. Harder than any attack.
(34:40)
I think I can say general from a point of knowledge, any attack since World War II, that's pretty big. And we were set to go and they called. And in addition, Saudi Arabia called and UAE called. Qatar called. Got calls from numerous people. I don't want to use the word begging, but some were in particular Iran did not want to be hit. And they said, "We want to talk. We want to talk about the strait, but more importantly, from my standpoint, we want to talk about the denuclearization of Iran because it's what it's all about. This is why I'm doing this." And it should have been done. It's now 50 years. We keep saying 47 years, but three years have gone by.
(35:26)
But it's for 50 years that other presidents should have been doing what I. Or other countries. Didn't have to be us, but other countries. And nobody did it. And it was time. And we hit them hard with the B2s more than a year ago now. And that knocked out their capability for their potential capability. And we've done a great job. But when we talk, we say we're talking. If we're not talking when you ask me, no, we're not talking. I'll say it. But we are talking right now, we're talking and we're talking at the request of Iran, backed by Saudi Arabia, backed by UAE, and backed by Qatar in particular, but others also. Many countries called. The leaders of many are friendly with a lot of them.
(36:11)
Almost all of them one way or the other. And they all wanted to give this a last chance. This is the last chance. This is not something that if it doesn't happen, this is a last chance for them to sign a good document. Yeah, please.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Mr. President, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is requiring an ID to access his government run grocery stores. What then is your message to Democrats who do not want to pass the SAVE America Act and ensure ID at the ballot-
President Donald Trump (36:44):
When was this announced? This was just announced. I heard about it. Yeah. Well, I wish they'd have an ID to access the voting booth. They don't want to access the voting booth with any identification. We want voter ID and we want proof of citizenship. Well, he also had a thing where you had to have two different IDs to shovel snow during the winter, right? So, that's a very friendly question. I like her. Who are you with?
Speaker 5 (37:09):
One American News, Sir.
President Donald Trump (37:10):
Very good. All right. Good question. Very good.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
There are almost 20 GOP senators who have pledged to stay in DC to pass the SAVE America Act. So, what's your message to the rest of the senators who are still on their summer recess?
President Donald Trump (37:24):
I think there's nothing more important than the SAVE America Act. I think they should stay. They do what they want, but I think they should stay. I think it's so important to get it past. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (37:36):
Mr. President, where are the Iran talks and what are your requirements right now?
President Donald Trump (37:40):
We'll find out today or tomorrow. I mean, they're going to go quickly one way or the other. It's not very complex. We're talking about the opening of the strait, having it open literally by tomorrow, completely open. And that's phase one. And phase two is we then will talk about the nuclear capacity, the nuclear, as we've been mentioned. Basically, it's I think most the denuclearization of Iran. Has to happen. Has to happen. And that'll be the second phase. But the first phase is the opening of the straits. The second phase will be the denuclearization, and that'll take a little while. But we're very strong on it.
(38:21)
They cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And I have never changed in that. Yeah, please, in the back.
Speaker 8 (38:26):
Thank you, Mr. President. You said that if Democrats get back into power, what is happening in Spain awaits America. What should voters in other countries with elections coming up soon take away from what's going on?
President Donald Trump (38:38):
We have to be very careful with the whole socialist thing. I think in many cases it's much more than socialists. They skipped socialism. They went directly to communism. But when I saw what happened in Spain, I said, "You know, we had a version of that. You could say much worse. We allowed 25 million people under Joe Biden, the Democrats. We had open borders and countries all over the world, almost all of them, sent people that they don't want into our country. And we've gotten a lot of them out and we're getting more, including murders." And I always say, 11,888. That was the number of murders. Many of them committed more than one murder.
(39:20)
And we're going to be just like that if you put these lunatics in that I see running for office. We had an open border a year and a half ago. We had the worst border in the history of our country. Now we have the best border. We haven't had one person come in, and this is done by the Democrats, not by left-leaning people. They do charts. And they have, in 15 months, not one person has come in through our Southern border illegally. Now that's pretty amazing. I'd say maybe 10, maybe 15. They say none. And believe me, if they did, they'd love to report it. But you could go outside in those vast plazas where hundred...
President Donald Trump (40:00):
... but you could go outside in those vast plazas where hundreds of thousands of people gathered when they stormed our country, just like they did, in my opinion, worse, just like they did to Spain. They stormed our country and those borders are... Those big plazas that were built, they put concrete down. And now you look at them and there's grass growing in the cracks. Nobody comes up because they know they're not going to get through. And if they do get through, they're going to be taken out, brought back to their country. So we've done a fantastic job. Somebody said you did it too fast. I did it in 30 days, my first 30 days. Biden couldn't do it. He couldn't get it done. He tried at the end. He tried to do something because it was so overwhelming or so bad politically. But we did it in 30 days.
(40:48)
Somebody said you should have taken a year and a half or two years to complete it because everyone forgets. Even my speech writers, they say, "Sir, nobody wants to hear about the border anymore. You've done it. It's an incredible job you've done, but nobody wants to hear about it." And I should have taken a couple of years to do it because... And actually the public has about a two year, people do, they have a two-year memory for certain things. They have a two-week memory. I may have gotten elected, certainly partially on the border. And because we did such a great job, it was a long time ago. I did it twice. I did it in 2016 when it was bad, but I did it this last time when it was really bad. It was, Steve, I would say many, many times worse than it was in 2016.
(41:36)
2016 was bad, but what we just had a year and a half ago, that was the worst border maybe in world history. There's not a Third World country that would have allowed that to happen where people coming in from prisons and people coming in from mental institutions and people forced in by government because these are the people that those governments, those countries, I know them all, they didn't want. And they walked into a country totally unvetted, totally unchecked. Not anymore. Nobody comes in. Except if they come in legally. Yeah, please.
Speaker 9 (42:11):
Thank you, Mr. President. Yesterday you were-
President Donald Trump (42:13):
Who you with?
Speaker 9 (42:14):
I'm with the Washington Examiner, sir.
President Donald Trump (42:15):
They're doing good. They've been very nice.
Speaker 9 (42:19):
You were asked yesterday whether Representative Max Miller should resign from Congress over the allegations and you said that you'd have a look at it. Have you though about that? And also, do you think that the should be a replacement?
President Donald Trump (42:31):
[inaudible 00:42:29]. I know Max. He's a good person. I mean, I always thought he was a very good person. And I'm going to let the families figure that out. Those families, I know they're working on it. It's a very sad thing, especially when you know somebody so well to be going through that. But it's accusations and I'm going to let them figure that out. Yeah, please.
Speaker 10 (42:51):
Mr. President, did you sign off on Todd Blanche rescinding the anti-weaponization fund? And also there are Democrats right now who say there's essentially two tax codes. There's the Trump family tax code and a normal people tax code. Why do you think that your family deserves some level of special exemption when it comes to the auditing of taxes?
President Donald Trump (43:10):
Well, I'll go into that. First of all, I had a 10-year case that was settled until I announced I was running for office. It was a settled deal like I've been doing all my life. I've been audited every year for my entire life, which I have a lot of wealthy friends. They were never audited. To this day, they were never audited. I was audited. And my deal was settled. In writing, it was settled, subject to final approval. Then I announced I was running for president and all they did was haunt me with it. They ended the settlement and they went after... And they went after me illegally. And they did a lot of bad things to me like they did to other people. And I was treated very unfairly by the IRS. It was weaponized against me.
(43:54)
Think of it at a case from, this is a 10-year-old case and it was settled. It was done. The case was over. I announced I'm running for president and they terminated the settlement in Washington and they went after me. And what they did here was very, frankly, if you talk about reparations or if you talk about payment, what they did to me, I had a very good case against them. So this was a case that was settled that when I decided to run for president right at the beginning, this is a long time, it's been going on for a long time. They terminated the settlement, which is something that never happened before.
(44:34)
We have letters from the biggest law firms in Washington saying that this case is nonsense, just like the Russia-Russia. Russia was nonsense. They weaponized government. And so that's that, and most people understand that. On the other, on the fund, these were people that were treated unbelievable. 22 suicides, more than that, I think. Look at Ashley. Look at so many other things that happened. These people were treated horribly. And this fund could have given them some solace. But it happens to be very popular among many quarters. And I don't participate in that fund. I was certainly treated badly.
(45:16)
I don't participate, but I though it would be very fair for people that spent years in prison, people that were treated so badly, for in many cases, people that did absolutely nothing wrong. So I view that fund as a positive. And a lot of Republicans do too. Not so many Democrats. And it's not only for that, it's for other things too. People that have been treated unfairly, that have been weaponized by a corrupt government that we had with Obama and that we had with Biden. You had a corrupt government with both of them.
Speaker 10 (45:47):
Mr. President, did you sign on Todd Blanche rescinding that?
President Donald Trump (45:51):
I didn't look at it. All I know is that Todd Blanche is great. He's going to do a great job. Everybody knows it. And I understand there's been a sign-off, but I don't know what they agreed. I think Todd Blanche agreed to reconfirm things that he's already said. And what he said was okay.
Speaker 10 (46:10):
Are there other avenues you'd have supporters get paid potentially if it's not the anti-weaponization fund? Is there another way to do it?
President Donald Trump (46:16):
Who you with?
Speaker 10 (46:16):
I'm with MS NOW, sir.
President Donald Trump (46:17):
You who?
Speaker 10 (46:18):
MS NOW.
President Donald Trump (46:19):
MS NOW?
Speaker 10 (46:20):
Yes, sir.
President Donald Trump (46:20):
What a terrible show that is. They have the worst people on that show.
Speaker 10 (46:25):
Are there other avenues that you'd want to see people paid through?
President Donald Trump (46:27):
No, there's no other avenues that I know about. Go ahead.
Speaker 13 (46:29):
Mr. President, on the Iran talks-
President Donald Trump (46:31):
MS NOW. That's the failed MSBNC, right? They failed-
Speaker 10 (46:37):
Formerly MSNBC.
President Donald Trump (46:37):
They failed. They gave it a new name. You know why? Because nobody watched it. Go ahead. And fewer people are watching it now.
Speaker 13 (46:43):
On the Iran talks, is there discussions? Is Iran willing to return to a fully free navigation of the Strait? Is that on the table?
President Donald Trump (46:53):
Say it again differently.
Speaker 13 (46:56):
Would Iran be willing to return to fully free navigation of the Strait?
President Donald Trump (47:01):
It has to be. I'm not going to let them charge.
Speaker 9 (47:03):
Would you yourself-
President Donald Trump (47:04):
If anybody's going to charge, we'll charge. We're the one that has total... We have total control. We have a thing called a blockade with his Navy. And that Navy is... They call it a wall of steel, the United States wall of steel. And no, no, there's not going to be charging. We're not talking about charging at all. There won't be charging. Yeah, please debate.
Speaker 11 (47:24):
Mr. President, you said last week that illegal immigration-
President Donald Trump (47:25):
Who you with?
Speaker 11 (47:28):
GB News. You said that illegal immigration is killing the UK. Nigel Farage today has proposed the use of the Royal Navy to combat small boats crossing the channel. Do you think that European nations, including UK, should be using their militaries to stop illegal immigration?
President Donald Trump (47:44):
Look, you have to stop illegal immigration in Europe. I know Europe better than anybody, better than the people that run it and have great relationships. Two things are killing Europe. Number one is immigration. Number two is energy. Like the UK, when you look at the UK, they have one of the best energy fields in the world, North Sea oil. Now I think your new prime minister is going to actually open up the, from what I hear, I spoke to him and he sounded terrific on this subject. But you open it up, you'll be a wealthy country. You keep it closed, you're going to be a bankrupt country, which is what you are now. Essentially, you're a bankrupt country.
(48:17)
You have one of the greatest energy for the North Sea oil. One of the greatest fields in the world. The UK buys its energy from Norway, who gets the energy from the North Sea, from not as vibrant a part of the North Sea oil wise. You're sitting on top of gold, better than gold. And you don't do anything with it. It doesn't work. You don't allow the oil companies in and it doesn't work. And I spoke with your new prime minister. I was very impressed. And he sort of indicated to me, I said, "Look, you can be a wealthy country or a bankrupt country. You have your choice." Not every country has that choice. Almost no country has that choice. But in the case of the UK, Scotland, I'm talking about Scotland, right off the shore, in Aberdeen, Scotland.
(49:08)
Aberdeen was the oil capital of Europe for years. And then one day the liberals got in and they closed it. And your energy rates have quadrupled. You have among the highest energy prices in the world. You could cut them in half. You could give away free energy if you'd open up the North Sea. And it's good for another 500 years, maybe more, probably a thousand years.
Speaker 11 (49:30):
Has our new prime minister restored your faith in the leadership of Britain? Or has our new prime minister restored your faith in the leadership of Britain or do you think it's too late?
President Donald Trump (49:39):
Look, I think we're going to have a very good relationship. We'll see. I'm not going to tell him how to run his country, but I can tell you, immigration is an incredible problem for Europe. You're allowing people in that in many cases are not going to help you. I'm going to be nice. They're not going to help you. And the people that are there, people from your country, people from other countries that have been there for a long time and did a great job, beautiful place. Look, I love it. My parents both came from Europe indirectly. So a German, Scott, and it's like one of those things. It's very sad.
(50:20)
When I see what's happening to Europe, it's very sad to me. But they have a problem with immigration. They have a problem with energy. You have windmills all over the place. Windmills, you'll lose your shirt. Any country with windmills is a loser. Okay? You just have to look. If they have windmills, they're a loser. Because you lose money with windmills.
John Fredericks (50:42):
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
President Donald Trump (50:44):
Who are you with?
John Fredericks (50:45):
John Fredericks Media.
President Donald Trump (50:46):
That is fake?
John Fredericks (50:47):
Original name.
President Donald Trump (50:49):
What was your name before?
John Fredericks (50:50):
John Fredericks.
President Donald Trump (50:52):
Go ahead, John.
John Fredericks (50:53):
We're marking. Two domestic questions, sir. The first one is Exxon and Chevron integrated all US. Just announced record profits second quarter. Unbelievable. For Exxon, for instance, 14 billion highs, they've had in over a decade. For Chevron for the quarter, highest in history. On the backs-
President Donald Trump (51:14):
12 times.
John Fredericks (51:15):
On the backs-
President Donald Trump (51:15):
You saw that?
John Fredericks (51:18):
Yes. I mean, it's unbelievable. On the backs are-
President Donald Trump (51:21):
I don't like it.
John Fredericks (51:22):
... workers paying higher gas. What is our department of [inaudible 00:51:27]-
President Donald Trump (51:26):
They're making too much money. Okay. Based on a shortage, they're making too much money. I don't like it. And I should be the last one to say, because I'm a big free enterprise guy. Nobody bigger. And you're going to see oil when we're finished with Iran, you're going to see the prices drop through the floor. But they made too much money. Too much money. Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much, too much money. When you look at one company where they made 12 times what they made the year before, they're going to give some of that back to the public. And they better cut the retail price, the consumer price. Too much money. You surprised I'm saying it? I'll say it loud and clear. I'm not happy about it. Go ahead.
Speaker 10 (52:11):
President, have you talked to Jeanine Pirro since Friday?
John Fredericks (52:12):
Follow up. Just one. For those of us here that live in Washington DC with our families like I do, the renaissance of the city that you've been able to do in 18 months is incredible. Before you were here, I couldn't take my-
President Donald Trump (52:29):
[inaudible 00:52:29] everybody. The renaissance of Washington DC in 15, 16 months is incredible. And it is. It's clean. It's safe. And you haven't seen anything yet. We're replacing all of the grass that hasn't been replaced in the fields, all the beautiful fields where the grass is. Grass is like humans. It has a life. This grass hasn't been changed in a hundred years. We're doing all the fields. We're doing all... Most of the graffiti is moved. But the most important thing is it's been beautified. We did 78 monuments and fountains and waterfalls. And they went from being horrible. Mostly graffiti, said most of them for 25 years never worked. They haven't worked. And it's a renaissance.
(53:15)
You use the word renaissance, but it's a renaissance. But the biggest thing is we have very little crime now. This was the crime capital, frankly, of the world. It was the most unsafe capital of any country in the world. Now it's one of the safest, and it's one of the safest places in the United States. And people are coming down. You see it, the tourism in Washington. Everyone's safe now. Nobody's getting mugged, shot. We used to lose three people a week. Death. That's the least. I mean, it's three people in terms of death. 150 people a year were killed. They come down from Iowa. They come from Indiana. "Mom, I'm looking at the Washington Monument. I'm looking at..." And they end up getting killed.
(54:01)
You call their parents, "I'm sorry." Doesn't happen anymore. We don't have that anymore. We're rough, but we don't have that anymore. Our military has been unbelievable, and they work very well with the DC police, but our military came in. The general people that we know so well, general, right? They don't play games. And we got the gangs out. We removed almost 5,000 people who were career criminals who came in with Biden with the open borders, a lot of them. And they're no longer here. We sent them back to their countries.
REPORTERS (54:35):
Mr. President [inaudible 00:54:36].
John Fredericks (54:36):
The Democrats-
President Donald Trump (54:39):
I've never seen such a transformation.
John Fredericks (54:41):
It's unbelievable if you live here. It's just, you don't want to go back. Democrats-
President Donald Trump (54:45):
You walk to work. You can walk to the White House. The people in the White House, they tell me, "Sir, thank you." They're thanking me all the time. They used to have to take Uber and the Uber would be robbed. Okay? They weren't even safe. They'd go to a restaurant and they'd feel safe at a restaurant and then the restaurant would be robbed. Do you know the restaurants were all closing? And now you can't, if you're a restaurateur, you can't get a restaurant. I mean, you literally can't. The restaurants are booming. Crime is down 92%, maybe more. I want to get down 100%.
(55:19)
The greatest statistic though that you have is that 2% of the people create 91% of the crime. You could really handle that. And we've moved almost 5,000 people out. They're criminals, career criminals. We've moved that or in some cases they're in jail. In some cases, they were so bad. They came in through Biden. They're so bad. We don't want to move them out. We want to put them in jails because we're afraid they're going to come back in somehow. So I appreciate you saying that.
REPORTERS (55:49):
Mr. President [inaudible 00:55:50].
John Fredericks (55:50):
If you consider going to Congress if they come in and try to roll with back the new Democratic mayor and-
President Donald Trump (55:56):
We have a mayor who is, I guess, she's a communist. I mean, she says she's a socialist, but I guess she's a communist based on what she says. But I have not met her yet. I look forward to meeting her. Would I federalize... Basically you're saying federalized DC.
John Fredericks (56:11):
Yeah.
President Donald Trump (56:11):
Well, I'm allowed to do that. Would I do it? If they want to... We took something that was in deep trouble. It was a graffiti filled, crime-filled mess. We turned it into Shangri-La. We turned it into a great place. Look outside. Look what's happening. Look at the beautiful ballroom and military center. It's a military center much more than... We have a drone port on top. Look at the grass in front of the White House being all replaced with the top stuff. The parks are all being replaced. It starts very soon, actually. We'll do one at a time. It's about 700 acres of parks.
(56:47)
We're all going to have brand new, the best grass you can get. Scotts. You know Scotts? ScottsMiracle-Gro. They're doing it. They do great grass. What can I tell you? I got to give them a plug because they did the White House for free. Sir, a friend of mine, a guy that, he's terrific. We'd like to give you new grass at the White House. I said, "I'll take it. How much?" He said, "Free." "I'll take it." Thank you.
Speaker 12 (57:12):
Mr. President, this is at least the fifth time you've turned off airstrikes against Iran since April to negotiate. What is your message to the American people who are wondering what has changed this time? Why should it be any different?
President Donald Trump (57:23):
Well, you don't know. I don't know. I think we're going to maybe get something, but I want to give them every last chance before decapitation. Very tough to do what we have planned, still planned. We'll see what happens. But it's a very, very tough thing to do. I think I'm very proud of the fact that I will give people. I'll give people a chance. This is a big move. To do an attack that big on a country, I'd rather not do it. Now we've already through lots of large attacks, but they were normal large. Hopefully they'll come to their senses because what happened cannot have a nuclear weapon, but hopefully they'll come to their senses.
(58:07)
So they called me and they said, "Please don't attack. We'll make a deal." That's the real truth. And everyone knows it. And who wouldn't call? And they found out through leaks and sleaze bags, a lot of sleaze bags, leakers. Leakers should be put in jail. They have to straighten up the laws for leakers. But in this case, leakers helped because they said the severity of the attack. And Iran knew it. They knew what was coming. It was going to come last night. And it would have gone on for a long time and there'd be essentially very little left. There'd be nothing left. And if I'm given a chance to let a lot of people live, I want to give that chance.
(58:57)
So I'm under no time constraint. I don't happen to be running, but a lot of very good Republicans are running. And you have a sick ideology taking place right now that hopefully they'll be defeated because it'll destroy the country if they ever take over. But this desk is like a blocking desk. No matter who gets in. If it's bad, I block. And I'm good at blocking. If it's bad, if it's stupid things like the things they want to do, we want to get rid of the US Senate. I don't like a lot of Senate, just to be honest with you. I don't want to get rid of the Senate.
(59:29)
We want to get rid of the Supreme Court. They want to put now 21 or 23 people on the Supreme Court or get rid of it. They want to get rid of the presidency. They want to have an appointed executive running. That's a communist thing. That's a communist thing. These are sick people. And I said it the other day and it maybe doesn't sound that important, but when a country goes bad, like look at the blue cities, what do they have in common aside from massive crime? Much more crime. The Republicans have very little crime.
President Trump (01:00:00):
Yeah. Much more crime. The Republicans have very little crime, but what do the blue cities have in mind? Also, you can say this with nations when they go bad. The blue cities have something in common, crime, high crime, vicious violent crime. But what do they have in common? They're all dirty. They're filthy, dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty. I don't want to mention any specific city. It's really all of them. But you go into these cities that are blue, they're crime-ridden and they're filthy dirty. They're like Washington DC was a year and a half ago with graffiti all over the place, with crime all over the place, with people afraid to be here. You had to be ashamed of your capital.
(01:00:57)
Some of the most beautiful buildings built in the real time. Like you look at the Supreme Court building and they put graffiti on it. The most beautiful columns I've ever seen. In fact, our columns are going to be nicer at the ballroom. I said, "I want the Supreme Court, but better." But you look at those columns, and then you see graffiti on the side of the building. No artistry, just bad people. But the one thing they all have in common, crime, the two things, crime, but they're disgusting. They're filthy, dirty. The streets are dirty. They have people lying all over the street doing you know what. They're all the same. This is what we're going to put in to not going to happen in our country.
Audience (01:01:41):
[inaudible 01:01:43].
President Trump (01:01:48):
Yeah, in the back.
Speaker 14 (01:01:49):
When someone... Me, sir, or her?
President Trump (01:01:50):
Go ahead.
Speaker 16 (01:01:50):
Okay.
Speaker 14 (01:01:52):
Sir, when a group loses [inaudible 01:01:55]. I'm sorry.
President Trump (01:01:55):
He was very rude to you, right? Go ahead. Who are you with?
Speaker 14 (01:01:59):
I'm with Real America's Voice, sir. Sir, when a group such as the Haitians lose their temporary protective status, how soon should they be bust and flown out?
President Trump (01:02:09):
Well, we had a big victory in court on temporary, the protective status. I largely leave it up to my people, but we've had people here for many years that they were here temporarily. We had people coming in. They've been here for many, many years, and they had a tragedy in their country. Sometimes it was storms or it was hurricanes. They come in and they're here for 12 years, 14 years, so something's got to be done. Yeah, please.
Speaker 15 (01:02:42):
Have you spoken to Jeanine Pirro about her decision to drop criminal funds?
President Trump (01:02:46):
No. Jeanine Pirro made a mistake.
Speaker 15 (01:02:47):
Have you spoken with her?
President Trump (01:02:48):
It was vandalism. I just told you we did, I think, 78. One of the things was the reflecting pool. Hasn't worked since 1922, because it always leaked. It always leaked from 1922. It's the largest, longest pool ever, all that.
(01:03:04)
The concept is beautiful, but it always leaked because of the size, because of maintenance, whatever. But it was built in 1922. From the day it was built, it leaked. Biden spent $58 million. Barack Hussein Obama spent much more than that. He said, "I have an idea. Let's take the water from the Potomac." They took the water from the Potomac, and it was putrid. It was putrid. It was a disaster. Biden was a disaster. I said, "I'm going to get that fixed." Along with Doug Bergham and Department of Interior, and we worked hard on that. Now we worked hard on all 70. It's actually, I think, 81 now. You saw the new horses that just opened by the bridge with the gold. That was the way they were many years ago. Now they look better than they did many years ago. But these monuments look better than they did when they were originally built.
(01:03:58)
Not just a little fix- up. We made them the way they were plus, and everyone's so proud. One of the bigger jobs was... Not really the biggest, believe it or not, but one of the biggest was the reflecting pool, and we did a great job. We sandblasted the stone outside as granite, so it does a long life. We did a great job. We got very expensive material to put on top of the surface that always leaked because it was stone. It was a stone surface. Always leaked, and we put it on, and it was beautiful. Now, we have photographs or tapes like moving cameras, right? We have them where people are on the side cutting it with a box knife.
(01:04:46)
Now I'm not saying I was 100% thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing. We wanted to get it open for July 4th, and we got it done. But in addition, there was vandalism. Number one, look at the grass where the grass was all knocked out with a very, very powerful ingredient that we know very well what it is. I'm not going to say the name because people get ideas. They put a terrible phrase, I won't say that either, but a terrible phrase on a massive piece of grass that we had just replaced, killed the grass. We had to replace the grass, a lot of grass. In addition, they took knives or cutters and they cut the material. It's material. They put their hands and they pulled it. There was also some maintenance things that we would have routinely fixed, but we had that up and it was perfect.
(01:05:47)
Then you had the bubblers, which get rid of what forms in the water, and that works great, but they turned it off because of the fight, because it competed a little bit of noise during the fight. They turned it off, and it grows very rapidly in the water. But that actually works very well, and that's all. Now we're just about set to reopen it. We had to replace cut areas where they cut it and ripped it. But there's a tape, and Jesse Waters, by the way, did a whole big thing on it. There's a tape that's out there that I posted on Truth where you have people leaning over the side, the weakest part, because of the flexibility, it moves. It's very complicated. It moves. The softest part has to be flexible. That's the stuff you can cut, and these guys knew what they were doing.
(01:06:41)
They cut all the way along the base. Cut, cut, cut. Now, when Jeanine looked at it, it was the day after the 4th of July with the largest fireworks display in the world, and the stuff was laying all over the pool, the fireworks, because they used the pool as one of the... It was all over the pool. It was the day after, very shortly thereafter. But that was working beautifully, and it was vandalized. If you look at the tape, now the tape isn't a great tape in the sense that it's a little hard to say who it exactly was, but it was people cutting this very expensive material, waterproofing material. Anyway, it looked beautiful. Then they cut it, and they vandalized. We weren't necessarily thrilled with the contractor, but they did a job and they were fixing any problems. But then it got carried away because the judge was extremely unfriendly to Jeanine.
(01:07:45)
Frankly, I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department. I guess she choked. I don't know what the hell happened.
Speaker 17 (01:08:01):
Are you reconsidering her role? [inaudible 01:08:05].
President Trump (01:08:04):
I don't know what... You're fake news. Don't ever talk again. You're fake news. One of the worst in the business. Fortunately, nobody watches you. But something happened. There was vandalism there, and there was some things from the contractor, which we would fix. But it's almost complete. When it opens, it's incredible. It's really incredible. But remember this, it leaked from 1922. It opened in 1922. They never solved the leak problem because it was stone. The cracks with the stone... Stone is really not a waterproofing material. We essentially use a very high grade swimming pool type material, which was my idea. I was very proud of that idea. By the way, I didn't know the contractor. Everyone said the contractor... I didn't know the contractor. But when it was completed, it was perfect. But then somebody went in and cut it, just like they did the grass.
(01:09:01)
Nobody talks about the grass. The grass have helicopter pictures of what they did. Wasn't it 87? Right? Do you know what they did, right? Did you see what they did? You see what they wrote? What did they write?
Speaker 18 (01:09:18):
87... I'm sorry, 86, 47.
President Trump (01:09:19):
That's right. 86, 47. It's 86, 47. They didn't do 45. At least they left 45 out. Massive letters on the grass, 86 47, and nobody talked about that. That was vandalism too. We had to replace all that grass. It was a tremendous amount of grass because when you hit it with this poison, it's acid, it kills the grass. No matter how... You can't even clean it even if you got there right after. It's very powerful stuff. I know it well. People did great damage to this thing, because they're sick people. You know who's representing the man? Is a man from Crew, a sleazebag who's been suing me for my whole political... Hasn't won. He's lost all the time. But Crew, do you know what Crew is? It's a third rate operation that's supposed to be a charity, but it's not. They used it for political reasons.
(01:10:20)
We should be proud of our monuments. We should be proud of our city. That was open before they did the damage. That was open. It never looked more beautiful. It looked like a mirror. That's what it was supposed to be. It was a very dark color because otherwise you don't see it as a reflecting pool, and it looked beautiful. Well, it'll look just as beautiful. It'll be fixed and open over the next week and a half, two weeks.
Speaker 19 (01:10:43):
Mr. President [inaudible 01:10:45].
Speaker 20 (01:10:44):
Who are you rooting for Michigan tomorrow?
President Trump (01:10:44):
One more.
Speaker 20 (01:10:46):
Who are you rooting for in Michigan tomorrow, Mr. President?
President Trump (01:10:48):
Well, you have a very interesting group. Who I really voted for is Mike Rogers, because I think he's going to be a great senator. But you have a communist versus a socialist. That's the way I look at it. You have a communist versus a socialist. It looks like the communist is leading. We're talking about for the Democrat primary. But for the Republican, you have a very good man and he should be able to win. Okay, one more.
Audience (01:11:16):
[inaudible 01:11:17].
Speaker 21 (01:11:19):
Lafayette Park.
President Trump (01:11:21):
Lafayette Park, it's great. Do we do a good job in Lafayette Park?
Speaker 21 (01:11:26):
It's phenomenal.
President Trump (01:11:26):
Lafayette Park is right across from the other side of the street. I made a donation of $10 million. That was me personally. It's unbelievable. It was so dirty and so disgusting, like everything liberal becomes dirty and disgusting. Socialism, liberalism, progressivism. The word progressive is such a nice word. They love using it. But the radical left isn't letting them use that word anymore. But Lafayette Park is a large park. It was known as the gateway to the White House, and it was disgusting. The monument is beautiful, graffiti all over it. I won't say what was on the sidewalk, but horrible, horrible, horrible, disgusting stuff. Not only did we fix it, we have military standing there watching it. If anybody touches it... That was the one mistake with the reflecting pond. They hadn't put up the cameras yet. They had enough up because you see what's happening.
(01:12:29)
But if they would've had them up, it would've been a lot easier. I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella. People get away with things, and it's a disgrace. But we're very proud of Lafayette Park. Now we have a big decision to make. Do we take the pavers that are red, the red brick pavers, and do we change them into a granite, to gray granite? They're beautiful, but they're not the original. We're going to have to make that decision. You have a good sense of taste. What would you do?
Speaker 21 (01:13:07):
Yes.
President Trump (01:13:07):
Huh?
Speaker 21 (01:13:07):
Yes, change it.
President Trump (01:13:08):
You would change the red brick into the granite?
Speaker 21 (01:13:09):
Heartbeat.
President Trump (01:13:10):
The granite is much stronger, holds up much better. Different color.
Speaker 21 (01:13:14):
Legacy.
President Trump (01:13:15):
Change it.
Speaker 22 (01:13:16):
Okay.
President Trump (01:13:16):
Great.
Speaker 23 (01:13:16):
Are you considering firing Bureau, Mr. President?
President Trump (01:13:18):
Go ahead, please.
Speaker 24 (01:13:19):
Thank you, Mr. President. Today's the MLB trade deadline, and there's been talk lately about a potential lockout next year, I think, over salary cap concerns, proposed salary cap. Do you support a salary cap in the MLB? What are your thoughts on that?
President Trump (01:13:34):
Well, we're going to talk about that at a different time. It's a complex situation, but not too complex for me. Yeah, please.
Speaker 20 (01:13:40):
What do you think of the nationals training Luis Garcia to the Yankees? Do you think Brian Cashman-
President Trump (01:13:45):
Which one?
Speaker 20 (01:13:45):
Luis Garcia from the Washington Nationals to the New York Yankees. You're New York Yankees. What do you think of the job Brian Cashman's doing?
President Trump (01:13:51):
Well, I've known Brian Cashman for a long time. Look, he's done a good job. I think Randy Levine is great. He's a great executive. By the way, the NIL or whatever it is very close to getting solve college sports. Randy Levine and Nick Saban and a whole group of people have done an unbelievable job. That was a case that should have been appealed by the NCAA. They never appealed it. Whoever ran the NCAA, they never appealed it. The original case was thrown out by a judge that knew nothing about sports, nothing about sports or college sports. That case should have been appealed. They didn't appeal it. They didn't know. I think they forgot something happened. College sports was and is in turmoil right now. Turmoil.
(01:14:41)
Randy Levine from the Yankees, the President of the Yankees, got together with a lot of people. We had it right here, 60 people. 60 people that were in that world, including legal people. From football, it was Nick Saban who won six or seven championships. Fantastic coach and very respected, and many other people, very, very respected. We have a bipartisan deal as of right now, so we'll see what happens. They'll be voting on it soon. I hope they get it. I hope they get it done. Thank you all very much. Thank you, guys.
Audience (01:15:13):
[inaudible 01:15:14].
Speaker 26 (01:15:13):
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
President Trump (01:15:13):
Have a good time. Thank you, everybody. Good luck.
Speaker 27 (01:15:13):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 26 (01:15:13):
Thank you.
Audience (01:15:13):
[inaudible 01:15:26].