President Trump takes questions from reporters in the Oval Office, alongside Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Okay, thank you very much.
00:14It's a great honor to be with you.
00:16I just want to start by saying we had a meeting
00:18yesterday on the Department of Education,
00:20which is being moved.
00:23We are going to educate the children in their
00:25states where they can get a proper education.
00:28The numbers are horrible, the way it is.
00:31And we're going to make a move that's very big.
00:34I don't think it's even risky a little bit.
00:35I think it's going to be amazing.
00:38It should have been done years ago.
00:39They've been talking about doing it for many years,
00:41but nobody ever got it off.
00:44But we did.
00:45And there was great excitement and great
00:48acceptance of it by almost everybody, including a
00:52lot of Democrats, actually.
00:54I do want to say that I've decided that the SBA,
00:57the Small Business Administration, headed by
01:00Kelly Loeffler, is a terrific person, will
01:03handle all of the student loan portfolio.
01:07We have a portfolio that's very large.
01:08Lots of loans.
01:11Tens of thousands of loans.
01:13Pretty complicated deal.
01:16And that's coming out of the Department of Education
01:19immediately, and it's going to be headed up by
01:21Kelly Loeffler, SBA.
01:23And they're all set for it.
01:24They're waiting for it, and it will be serviced
01:27much better than it has in the past.
01:29It's been a mess.
01:31And also, Bobby Kennedy, the Health and Human
01:33Services, will be handling special needs and all of
01:37the nutrition programs and everything else.
01:40Rather complex, but that's going to be headed by and
01:44handled by Health and Human Services.
01:47So I think that'll work out very well.
01:48Those two elements will be taken out of the
01:52Department of Education.
01:53And then all we have to do is get the students to
01:56get guidance from the people that love them and
01:59cherish them, including their parents, by the way,
02:02who will be totally involved in their
02:04education, along with the boards and the governors
02:06and the states.
02:07And it's going to be a great — it's going to be
02:09a great situation.
02:10I guarantee that, in a few years from now — I hope
02:14I'm going to be around to see it, but I think we're
02:16going to see a lot of it.
02:17I think that you're going to have tremendous results.
02:20You're going to have results like Norway,
02:22Sweden, Denmark.
02:24A lot of the countries that do so well.
02:26I think you're going to have a lot of those results.
02:28If you look at Iowa and Indiana and Idaho — so
02:33many places that run so well.
02:35Florida, Texas — big ones.
02:38You're going to have great education, much better
02:40than it is now, at half the cost.
02:43And we're not even doing it as a cost item,
02:45although you will save probably half, maybe more
02:48than that.
02:49And you're not going to be at the bottom of the list.
02:51You're going to be much higher.
02:52And maybe you'll be — I will guarantee some of
02:55the states will be at the top of the list.
02:57They'll be comparable or better than these number
03:00one, two, three, four, five country — the countries
03:02that are in the top five positions.
03:05So that's — to me, it's very exciting, and it's
03:08been received very well.
03:09So I just wanted to tell you about the student
03:10loans and special needs.
03:13But we're here for a reason today that is very
03:16exciting, and I'm thrilled to announce that, at my
03:20direction, the United States Air Force is
03:22moving forward with the world's first sixth
03:25generation fighter jet.
03:27Number six.
03:28Sixth generation.
03:30Nothing in the world comes even close to it.
03:33And it'll be known as the F-47.
03:36The generals picked a title, and it's a
03:39beautiful number — F-47.
03:43It's something the likes of which nobody has seen
03:47before, in terms of all of the attributes of a
03:50fighter jet.
03:51There's never been anything even close to it,
03:53from speed to maneuverability to what it
03:55can have to payload.
03:58And this has been in the works for a long period of
04:01time.
04:02After a rigorous and thorough competition
04:05between some of America's top aerospace companies,
04:08the Air Force is going to be awarding the contract
04:11for the next generation air dominance platform to
04:15Boeing.
04:16As you know, it was highly competed for.
04:19There was a lot of competition, generals.
04:22And it's been going on for a long time.
04:25Very, very tough competition.
04:27But this plane has produced numbers that
04:31nobody has ever seen before.
04:33The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable,
04:36most lethal aircraft ever built.
04:39An experimental version of the plane has secretly
04:42been flying for almost five years, and we're
04:45confident that it massively overpowers the
04:48capabilities of any other nation.
04:50There's no other nation.
04:51We know every other plane.
04:53I've seen every one of them.
04:54And it's not even close.
04:56This is a next level.
04:58You know, level five is good.
04:59This is level six, they say.
05:02The F-47 is equipped with state-of-the-art stealth
05:05technology.
05:05It's virtually unseeable and unprecedented power.
05:11It's got the most power of any jet of its kind.
05:16maneuverability, likewise, is the — there's never
05:20been anything like it, despite the power and speed.
05:24Its speed is top — it's over two, which is
05:29something that you don't hear very often.
05:32America's enemies will never see it coming.
05:35Hopefully, we won't have to use it for that purpose,
05:37but you have to have it.
05:38And if it ever happens, they won't know what the
05:43hell hit them.
05:44A new fleet of these magnificent planes will be
05:47built in the — and in the — during my
05:49administration, over the next couple of years.
05:52It's ready to go.
05:53They've already built much of what has to be built,
05:57in terms of production, including the sheds.
06:01We'll ensure that the USA continues to dominate the
06:03skies.
06:04We've given an order for a lot.
06:06We can't tell you the price because it would
06:08give — it would give way to some of the technology
06:12and some of the size of the plane — good-sized plane.
06:15This contract also represents a historic
06:18investment in our defense industrial base, helping
06:20to keep America at the cutting edge of aerospace
06:22and technology.
06:24Our allies are calling constantly.
06:27They want to buy them also.
06:29And we'll — certain allies will be selling
06:32them, perhaps toned-down versions.
06:34We like to tone them down about 10 percent, which
06:37probably makes sense because, someday, maybe
06:39they're not our allies.
06:40Right?
06:41But I would like to ask Secretary Hickseth, who's
06:45doing a fantastic job.
06:46He's really — really been very inspiring in so many
06:51ways.
06:51And I must say that, before he speaks, we have had
06:55record people wanting to join our military in the
06:58last two and a half months, literally since
07:03this — I think probably since the election,
07:06November 5th, but especially since we came
07:09into office.
07:09And since I announced Pete, he's young, he's smart,
07:14he's strong, he loves it.
07:16And they love him.
07:17But we've had record numbers of people wanting
07:20to join our military.
07:22Now, if you go back six months, it was the exact
07:24opposite.
07:25You had record numbers of people not wanting to join
07:28the military.
07:29Now you have record numbers of people wanting to be
07:32in our military.
07:33And that's a really — that's a great honor.
07:36That shows you we're really on the right track.
07:38So, Pete, maybe you'd say a few words.
07:40Please.
07:40Mr. Trump.
07:41Well, Mr. President, this is a big day.
07:42This is a big day for our warfighters.
07:44This is a big day for our country, a big day in the
07:47world.
07:47The name of this program is the Next Generation of Air
07:52Dominance.
07:52And, Mr. President, because of your leadership, your
07:55clarity, we are going to — America is going to have
07:58a generations in the future of air dominance
08:03because of this sixth-generation fighter.
08:06We've had the F-15.
08:07We had the F-16, the F-18, the F-22, the F-35.
08:12Now we have the F-47, which sends a very direct, clear
08:17message to our allies that we're not going anywhere
08:21and to our enemies that we can — we will be able to
08:23project power around the globe, unimpeded, for
08:27generations to come.
08:28Mr. President, this is a gift to my kids and your
08:31kids, to my grandkids and your grandkids.
08:34This is a historic investment in the American
08:37military, in the American industrial base, in
08:40American industry that will help revive the
08:43warrior ethos inside our military, which we're
08:45doing, rebuild our military, which the
08:48previous administration did not do, by the way, Mr.
08:50President.
08:51They paused this program, and we're prepared to
08:53potentially scrap it.
08:55We know this is cheaper, longer-range, and more
08:58stealthy.
08:58President Trump said, we're reviving it and we're
09:00doing it.
09:02And then we are also going to reestablish deterrence.
09:04Under the previous administration, we looked
09:06like fools.
09:08Not anymore.
09:09President Trump has reestablished American
09:11leadership.
09:12The F-47 is part of it.
09:14And, Mr. President, thank you for having the courage
09:17to do it and leading the way for all our warfighters.
09:18The President Thank you very much, Pete.
09:20One of the things I will say, but the generals are
09:23going to — the generals are going to speak in just
09:25a couple of seconds, but this plane flies with
09:28drones.
09:28It flies with many, many drones — as many as you
09:31want.
09:32And it's a technology that's new, but it doesn't
09:35fly by itself.
09:36It flies with many drones — as many as we want.
09:40And that's something that no other plane can do.
09:43So I'd like to introduce, if I might, Air Force
09:46Chief of Staff General David Alvin, and also
09:49General Dale White — two incredible people that
09:52I've known over the years, but I got to know
09:54really well over the last few months.
09:56And would you say a few words, please, General?
09:58General Alvin Thank you very much, Mr. President.
10:01Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for your unwavering
10:05commitment to our military.
10:07I will say this is a big day.
10:09This is a big day for our United States Air Force
10:11as well.
10:12You know, air dominance is not a birthright, but it's
10:16become synonymous with American air power.
10:18But air dominance needs to be earned every single
10:20day.
10:21And since the earliest days of aerial warfare, the
10:24brave American airmen have jumped into their
10:26machines, taken to the air, and they've cleared the
10:28skies.
10:29And whether that be clearing the skies so we
10:31can rain down destruction on our enemies from above,
10:34or we can clear the path to the ground forces below,
10:37that's been our commitment to the fight, and that's
10:39really been our promise to America.
10:41And with this, F-47, as the crown jewel in the next
10:46generation air dominance family of systems, we're
10:49going to be able to keep that promise well into the
10:50future.
10:53I also want to thank everyone from industry and
10:56with the government, our engineers, who have put
10:58work tirelessly on this program to bring it where
11:01we are right now today.
11:02This shows that American talent, American skill, and
11:05American determination are second to none because this
11:08platform is second to none.
11:10So we believe that this provides more lethality.
11:14It provides more capability, more modernized
11:17capability in a way that is built to adapt.
11:21This, along with our collaborative combat
11:23aircraft, the President talked about withdrawals.
11:25This is allowing us to look into the future and unlock
11:30the magic that is human-machine teaming.
11:33And as we do that, we're going to write the next
11:34generation of modern aerial warfare with this.
11:38This enables us to do this.
11:40The manner in which we put this program together puts
11:42more control in the hands of the government so we can
11:45update and adapt at the speed of relevance, at the
11:48speed of technology, not at the speed of bureaucracy.
11:51This is more Air Force.
11:53This is more options for the President.
11:56We say as our mission in the United States Air Force is
11:58to fly, fight, and win air power anytime, anywhere.
12:01If you want to go anywhere, you have to have a platform
12:03that gets you anywhere.
12:04This provides the President options from the very one
12:08end, which is a quick response, and then we can
12:11get right back into fighting stance without having to
12:14deploy troops that are going to take maybe months and
12:16cost more lives.
12:18We can be back in fighting stance and maybe restore
12:19that deterrence, all the way to decisive victory as part
12:22of a joint force that is most lethal and capable
12:25military ever known in history.
12:26That's what we provide now, and this allows us to
12:29provide it into the future.
12:31It's more deterrence, more capability.
12:34It's what peace through strength looks like into
12:36the future, Mr. President.
12:37And so we're very proud to do that.
12:38And all we can say is, on behalf of the United States
12:40Air Force, let's deliver.
12:42The President.
12:43Thank you very much.
12:44Thank you, General.
12:45Would you like to say something?
12:46No, sir.
12:46I'll just double-check what the chief said.
12:48He knows what to do.
12:49He's a generational chief.
12:51He knows who the boss is.
12:52That's exactly right.
12:53Transparency is what it's all about, and this is
12:54what we'll deliver.
12:55That's great.
12:56Thank you very much.
12:56Great job.
12:57We've worked together long and hard on this, and this
12:59was a big secret.
13:01In fact, we don't show too much of the plane for that
13:03reason.
13:04You see what we show?
13:07You see how beautiful that is, but that's just a
13:10very small part of it, sir.
13:13I wasn't surprised.
13:14I was wondering, how much are you going to show if
13:16they came in with that?
13:16You see a wheel in the front?
13:18That's about it.
13:21Any questions?
13:22Mr. President, 80,000 pages of documents is a lot
13:26to sit through.
13:28Can you just tell us who killed Kennedy?
13:30Well, you know, I was given the task of
13:34releasing that because many presidents have gone
13:36through it, and they haven't released.
13:38And I said, release.
13:40We even released Social Security numbers.
13:42I didn't want anything deleted.
13:44They said, sir, what about Social Security?
13:46People long gone, but they're long gone, so I
13:49can't imagine.
13:50But I said, if you don't delete it, if you do
13:53delete it, we have people are going to say, why did
13:56you delete it?
13:56There's something in there.
13:57So we gave Social Security and we gave
13:59everything.
14:01And the rest is for you to look at, Peter.
14:03You're going to see whether or not you see
14:05anything.
14:06But we've given it.
14:07We're doing it with Dr. Martin Luther King, too.
14:09They're preparing all of that.
14:11They're going to release everything and whoever
14:16else we they want.
14:17I mean, you know, we have nothing.
14:19We really have nothing to hide.
14:20We shouldn't have, you know, when a lot of time
14:22goes by.
14:23But with the Kenney files in particular, they were
14:27going crazy on them.
14:28I don't think there's anything that's
14:31earth-shattering, but you'll have to make that
14:34determination in those.
14:35You know, it's 80,000.
14:36It's actually 88,000.
14:38And we have some additional things, as you
14:40know, come out today.
14:42And for that, you can go to the offices and you can
14:44see whatever you want to see.
14:46Everything is out there totally open.
14:49The additional stuff is available later on today.
14:52You go over to the offices and you can have it
14:54immediately and you'll make a determination.
14:57And on something else, these Trende Aragua guys,
15:01because of your executive order, they are designated
15:03as foreign terrorists.
15:05If ISIS or al Qaeda foreign terrorists were
15:08operating here in the United States, cops would
15:11probably be shooting first and asking questions later.
15:15And so what is the difference between
15:18terrorists, between somebody like an ISIS or
15:21an al Qaeda operative versus a MS-13 or Trende Aragua?
15:24The President Well, these are people that focus on
15:27destroying people in their homes.
15:30They're not as international in that sense.
15:34They're a group of thugs.
15:35They come from Venezuela.
15:37They come from the prisons of Venezuela.
15:39They're very, very dangerous people.
15:42But they didn't look so dangerous when the guards
15:45took care of the situation from El Salvador.
15:48And I want to thank the President.
15:50He's a friend of mine.
15:51He's a he's done a great job.
15:53But I just can't imagine that the Democrats are
15:57taking this issue where they want to have them back.
15:59You know, so now they have men playing in women's sports.
16:03They have transgender for everyone.
16:05They have open borders.
16:06They have all of their crazy policies that are, I
16:08think, 95-5, not 90-10.
16:10Okay.
16:12And their new policy is, let's bring Trende Aragua
16:16back into our country.
16:17Let's bring the worst.
16:19These are the worst gang members there are.
16:21They looked amazingly frail, though, by the way
16:25they were handled.
16:26It's very amazing.
16:27You know, they weren't, when they were in Colorado,
16:29cutting the fingers off a man because he made a phone
16:31call to the police, they seemed a lot tougher then
16:33than they did when they were having their head
16:36shaved and they were in shackles.
16:39They're tough people.
16:40They're bad people.
16:41They're bad in our country.
16:42We can't let a judge say that he wants them.
16:44You know, he didn't run for president.
16:46He didn't get much more than 80 million votes.
16:48And we just can't let that happen.
16:52It would be so bad for our country.
16:54I won on the basis of getting criminals out of
16:57our country that were let in.
16:59It was called unforced error.
17:01They were let in by Biden, incompetently let in, and
17:05let in by the millions, actually.
17:07Twenty-one million people.
17:08I believe it's 21 million and that's not even
17:12including the Gottoways, but these are rough people.
17:14We want them out of our country.
17:16And I won the election based at least partly on that.
17:19And that's a big part.
17:20Yeah?
17:20I don't know if you saw this, Tim Walls is now
17:27saying about Trump supporters, and forgive me
17:30for just reading a quote from Tim Walls.
17:32I think I can kick most of their ass.
17:34Oh boy, he'd be in trouble.
17:36Is there any way to know?
17:38He's a loser.
17:39You know, I mean, the guy's a loser.
17:41He lost an election.
17:42He played a part.
17:43You know, usually a vice president doesn't play a part, they say.
17:46I think Tim played a part.
17:48I think he was so bad that he hurt her.
17:50But she hurt herself.
17:51And Joe hurt them both.
17:53They didn't have a great, a great group.
17:55But I would, I would probably put him at the bottom of the group.
17:58Have you heard that Biden wants to get back involved for Democratic politicians, fundraising
18:03and campaigning against your policies?
18:06I hope so.
18:07I hope so.
18:09Mr. President, there are families from some of the people, there are families from some
18:15of the people that were on those flights to El Salvador that claim that they're not criminals,
18:20they're not members of Prenderagua, of MSF-13.
18:24What can you tell them and what guarantees can you give them that everyone in those planes
18:30were actual criminals, terrorists, as you said?
18:33Well, I was told that they went through a very strong vetting process and that that
18:38will also be continuing in El Salvador.
18:42And if there's anything like that, we would certainly want to find out.
18:45But these were these were a bad group.
18:47This was a bad group and they were in bad areas and they were with a lot of other people
18:51that were absolutely killers, murderers and people that were really bad with the worst
18:58records you've ever seen.
19:01But we will continue that process.
19:03Absolutely.
19:04We don't want to make that kind of a mistake.
19:05Is the U.S. planning to give up the position of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander?
19:09And if so, why?
19:12NATO is something that I saved.
19:14NATO was gone until I came along.
19:16In fact, the previous Secretary General, very good man.
19:20Both of them are good.
19:21The current man is fantastic.
19:24But both of them said if it wasn't for Trump, you wouldn't even have a NATO because we were
19:28paying the costs of almost all of the countries.
19:31And now they're paying.
19:32I said, we're not going to do this.
19:33We're not going to continue.
19:35You heard us on trade.
19:36You do bad things on trade.
19:37And then on top of it, we're supposed to pay for your military.
19:40And because of what I did, hundreds of billions of dollars flown into NATO by countries that
19:46just weren't paying.
19:47They were delinquent.
19:48They weren't paying their bills.
19:50So NATO is solid, they're strong, but they they have to treat us fairly.
19:56Are you going to give up?
19:58Because look, without us, NATO is not the same.
20:01And I can tell you, I've been having very good discussions, as you know, with President
20:05Zelensky and with President Putin.
20:08And President Putin will tell you that without the United States, he wouldn't be worried.
20:15But he is worried when the United States is involved.
20:17And I have to tell you, I've dealt very well with both gentlemen and we have I think we
20:25have the confines of a deal.
20:26I hope we have the confines of a deal.
20:28I'm doing it for two reasons.
20:30Number one, and by far most importantly, thousands of young people and they're not American people.
20:36They're Russian and the Ukrainian are being killed every week, thousands a week.
20:41And also the United States is has paid because of Biden, 350 billion dollars on a war that
20:48should have never happened.
20:50If we had a competent president in this right sitting right here, that war would have never
20:54happened.
20:56Absolutely never happened with me.
20:58And it didn't happen for four years.
20:59It didn't happen.
21:00Mr. President, do you think you have the authority, the power to round up people, deport them?
21:05And then you're under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them?
21:08Well, that's what the law says.
21:10And that's what our country needs, because we were unfortunately they allowed millions
21:16of people to come into our country, totally unvetted, totally unchecked.
21:19So you ought to ask, did he have the authority to allow millions of people?
21:23Did Biden have the authority to do something that's unthinkable?
21:27Have open borders where millions of people poured into our country, totally unvetted
21:32and totally unchecked, just as you would say.
21:35And many of those people were criminals.
21:37Many of them were from jails and prisons and mental institutions and gang members and drug
21:42dealers and very dangerous people.
21:45Many were murderers.
21:46We have eleven thousand and eighty eight that we know of murders they murdered.
21:50Of that number, at least half killed more than one person.
21:53They're in our country there.
21:55They're in a location near you.
21:59Biden allowed that to happen to our country and his people that really ran the country
22:04and the person that operated the auto pen.
22:07I think we ought to find out who that was, because I guess that was the real president.
22:11So when you ask me if we have the authority, did Biden have the authority to allow millions
22:16of people to come into our country?
22:17Many of these people hardened criminals at the top of the line who have caused tremendous
22:23damage in our country.
22:25You see him in New York City fighting with our police.
22:28I mean, literally having fistfights in the street with our police.
22:31These are tough, hard criminals.
22:34Many of them came out of jails and not just South America from all over the world.
22:38They came out of from Africa, from the Congo.
22:40They came out from Asia, not just South America, but many from South America.
22:45These are hard, tough criminals, and we have to get them out.
22:50And a judge sitting behind a bench someplace got a nice appointment.
22:55You can't take that away from the people that are responsible.
22:58Now, in this case, Marco Rubio has a lot of big decisions to make, and he's a fantastic
23:04person, a great man that you'll be our best.
23:08I think he has a chance to be our best secretary of state.
23:11He's been doing incredible.
23:12He works so hard.
23:13He's stopped.
23:14He's gone to so many different countries already, and he's got the authority to get bad people
23:20out of our country.
23:21And you can't stop that with a judge sitting behind a bench that has no idea what goes
23:26on, who happens to be a radical left lunatic.
23:28Do you think the judiciary...
23:29You guys today are denying...
23:30You guys are denying this New York Times report that Elon Musk was going to be shown a 20
23:39to 30-page presentation about a theoretical war plan against China.
23:44Why not just show it to Elon?
23:47Because I don't want to show it to anybody.
23:49You know, you're talking about a potential war with China.
23:53Now, I deal with these people all the time, and I'm dealing with Pete.
23:57I'm dealing with these gentlemen on numerous different airplane purchases, and I think
24:02they're all going to be great.
24:04But I don't want other people seeing anybody seeing potential war with China.
24:10We don't want to have a potential war with China.
24:11But I can tell you, if we did, we're very well equipped to handle it.
24:15But I don't want to show that to anybody.
24:16But certainly you wouldn't show it to a businessman who is helping us so much.
24:21He's a great patriot.
24:22He's taking...
24:23He's paying a big price for helping us cut costs, and he's doing a great job.
24:26He's finding tremendous waste, fraud, and abuse.
24:30But I certainly wouldn't want...
24:31You know, Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that.
24:37But it was such a fake story.
24:38The New York Times is just as fake as CNN and MSDNC.
24:43And anybody who read that story, people laughed at that story.
24:47Who would do such a thing?
24:49And the first thing I did is I called Susie and I called Pete.
24:53I said, is there any truth to that?
24:55And they said, it's ridiculous.
24:57No, he's over there to talk about costs.
24:59You might want to address that, Pete.
25:01But Elon was over there today to address costs.
25:05Doge.
25:06A thing called Doge, which you've heard about, Pete.
25:08That's exactly right, Mr. President.
25:10You pointed out it was a fake story.
25:11We pointed out it was.
25:13It was meant to sort of undermine whatever relationship the Pentagon has with Elon Musk.
25:18Elon Musk is a patriot.
25:20Elon Musk is an innovator.
25:22Elon Musk provides a lot of capabilities our government and our military rely on, and I'm
25:26grateful for that.
25:27We welcomed him today to the Pentagon to talk about Doge, to talk about efficiencies, to
25:32talk about innovations.
25:33It was a great informal conversation.
25:36The rest of that reporting was fake.
25:37There was no war plans, there was no Chinese war plans, there was no secret plans.
25:42That's not what we were doing at the Pentagon.
25:43I might add that I think Elon, if they ever wanted to do that, I think Elon wouldn't do
25:48it.
25:49I think he wouldn't do it.
25:50He wouldn't want to put himself in that position.
25:51But if you read what's out of the New York Times, it's such a dishonest newspaper.
25:55It's such garbage.
25:57You know, it used to be called all the news that's fit to print.
25:59Well, it's all the news that's not fit to print.
26:02They have fake sources or they don't have sources.
26:05I think they make most of it up.
26:07But this was a made up story by the New York Times.
26:09I call it the failing.
26:10It's a failing newspaper, it's failing.
26:13And they shouldn't do that.
26:15They really are the enemy of the people.
26:18We do need honest journalism in this.
26:21You know, we've made such big strides over the last two months.
26:25But we just need honest journalism.
26:27And we don't have it.
26:28When you have a CNN, I watch.
26:30You have to watch these people every once in a while just to see where they're coming
26:33from.
26:34And it's so dishonest.
26:35MSNBC is, I think, probably worse.
26:38And they're both doing horribly in the ratings.
26:39I think they're going to be turned off.
26:41I don't think they're not doing any ratings.
26:44You're doing well in the ratings.
26:45Thank you, Mr. President.
26:46I understand that your trade rep is meeting their Chinese counterpart next week.
26:48Is there anything that they can do to stop April 2nd or to roll back the tariffs that
27:00you put on China already?
27:01Well, we can talk.
27:02But basically, I call April 2nd.
27:05I would have made it April 1st, but I didn't want to be April Fool's Day because then nobody
27:08would believe what I said.
27:09And they do believe me.
27:11April 2nd is going to be Liberation Day for America.
27:14We've been ripped off by every country in the world, friend and foe.
27:19We've been ripped off on trade.
27:20We've been ripped off on military.
27:22We protect people, and they don't do anything for us.
27:25It's just so unfair for years and years.
27:27And now some of that money is going to be coming back to us in the form of tariffs there.
27:35I mean, tens of billions.
27:37It's going to be numbers like nobody's ever seen.
27:40So NVIDIA announced today, you saw that, hundreds of billions of dollars of investment.
27:47The biggest chipmaker in the world announced hundreds of billions of dollars of investment.
27:51Hundreds of billions, not millions, but billions.
27:55They're all coming here.
27:56Apple just announced $500 billion worth.
27:59They're going to build plants here.
28:00You know, they built their plants in China.
28:01They're going to build them here.
28:03And they're starting immediately.
28:06We have investment, the likes of which this country has never seen, already announced.
28:12And they all want to have news conferences.
28:14I don't have enough time to have that many news conferences.
28:17But I would say so far, at least $4 trillion, $4 trillion is coming in.
28:24Car companies, very importantly, a lot of the car companies that were going to build
28:27in Mexico or Canada are now building here, because I don't want cars from Canada.
28:31I don't want cars from Mexico.
28:33They want to do it.
28:34It's fine.
28:35But I want the car companies to build here, not — you know, they were building in Mexico
28:39three plants, big plants, really big plants, and they were going to sell the cars right
28:42across the border.
28:44We wouldn't have the jobs.
28:45We wouldn't have the profits.
28:46We wouldn't get the taxes.
28:47We'd get nothing.
28:48All we'd get is unemployment and empty factories.
28:51Those days are over.
28:52So now those three places are going to build here, but many more than that.
28:56We have a big one.
28:57Honda is building — just announced a really big plant in Indiana.
29:02Great state.
29:03Great state.
29:04Smart place to build.
29:05And we have many car companies coming here.
29:07The steel — the steel mills are going to be booming — going to be booming.
29:12And many other things — many other things come with that.
29:15But we need that for defense.
29:16You know, you have — there are certain things you have to have.
29:18You have to have steel.
29:19We would have had — if I didn't do, in my first term, tariffs to stop the onslaught
29:26— because they were dumping steel in order to destroy our steel plants — if I didn't
29:31do 50 percent and even 100 percent, in certain cases, tariffs on steel, you wouldn't have
29:36a steel plant in the United States.
29:39And Biden was unable to get rid of those tariffs because they threw off so much money that
29:45his numbers — which didn't work anyway, because his numbers were terrible — what
29:48he did.
29:49The way he spent money was so horrible.
29:51And what he allowed to happen to energy.
29:53That's the other thing.
29:54Energy is going to be like it's never been before.
29:57Mr. Vice President is here.
29:58Do you have anything to say while you're here?
30:01He's a very good vice president.
30:03I'm just here to watch the show, sir.
30:04I think airplanes are pretty cool, so I wanted to check this out.
30:05Airplanes are cool.
30:06It is cool.
30:07Mr. President, would you be willing to take off the trademark at this point, though?
30:08Well, I'll be speaking to President Xi.
30:09I have a great relationship with him.
30:10We're going to have a very good relationship.
30:19But we have a trillion-dollar deficit because of Biden with President Xi.
30:25More than that.
30:26I mean, I've heard $1.2 trillion.
30:28We have a deficit.
30:30And I've explained that to President Xi.
30:32We also have a problem where he's allowing fentanyl to be sent into Mexico and then cross
30:37the border and, you know, killing — I think the number is much higher than the 125, 115
30:43that you — I think it's closer to 300,000 people a year.
30:47And so that's a problem.
30:48But they have — they have a tremendous surplus against the United States, and we don't want
30:54that.
30:55Mr. President, why do you want to increase tariffs?
30:56I know some ministries have come to you asking for exemptions on tariffs.
30:57Is that something that is under consideration by you?
30:58Well, people are coming to me and talking about tariffs, and a lot of people are asking
31:07me if they can have exceptions.
31:09And once you do that for one, you have to do that for all.
31:12So, I mean, generally — I did something, interestingly, during — two weeks ago.
31:19I gave the American car companies a break because it would have been unfair if I didn't
31:25And everybody said, oh, he changed his mind on tariffs.
31:27I didn't change my mind.
31:28I helped our, you know, sort of big three, big four.
31:32I helped some of the American companies.
31:35And instead of taking it properly, they said, oh, he changed it.
31:38I don't change.
31:39But the word flexibility is an important word.
31:42Sometimes it's flexibility.
31:43So there'll be flexibility.
31:44But basically, it's reciprocal.
31:48So that if China is charging us 50 percent or 30 percent or 20 percent — and I don't
31:54mean China.
31:55I mean anybody.
31:56Any country.
31:57Canada.
31:58Nobody knows that Canada is charging our dairy farmers.
32:01They have 270 percent tariffs.
32:04Nobody knows that.
32:06Nobody knows that.
32:08They have up to 400 percent.
32:10They have a couple of tariffs at 400 percent.
32:14Nobody knows that.
32:15Nobody talks about that.
32:16And remember, with Canada, we don't need their cars.
32:18We don't need their lumber.
32:20We don't need their energy.
32:21We don't need anything from Canada.
32:23And yet it costs us $200 billion a year in subsidy to keep Canada afloat.
32:28So when I say they should be a state, I mean that.
32:30I really mean that.
32:31Because we can't be expected to carry a country that is right next to us on our border.
32:40It would be a great state.
32:41It would be a cherished state.
32:44The taxes for Canadian citizens would go down in less than half.
32:50They don't spend money on military because they think we're going to protect them.
32:54There are many things that they do, like icebreakers.
32:57They want us to provide icebreakers for them.
32:59Oh, that's wonderful.
33:00So the Canada, they're very tough traders too.
33:05I want to just tell you, all the people, they're tough traders.
33:08They trade very tough.
33:10And you know, the expression I use is some people don't have the cards.
33:15I used that expression about a week and a half ago, right?
33:18Somebody was negotiating who didn't have the cards, who's now, I think, saying that
33:22he wants to do it.
33:23And I think we're going to have a big deal on that very special something.
33:27We got to make a deal on that.
33:29But Canada has been a very nasty negotiator against the United States, took advantage
33:34of the United States for a long time.
33:36But nobody knows that they were getting 270% tariffs on dairy products.
33:41I don't think I've heard you say this in all of the talk about Canada becoming the 51st state.
33:48Are you concerned that if they became the 51st state, they would be a very, very blue state?
33:55Very, very big and very, very blue.
33:56No, they might be.
33:57But it would, you know, you have that artificial line that goes, that straight artificial,
34:03that looked like it was drawn by a ruler.
34:05Somebody with a, I don't mean a ruler like a king, I mean like a ruler, like a ruler.
34:09This way.
34:10And it's just an artificial line that was drawn in the sand or in the ice.
34:17And can I tell you, Peter, just you, you add that to this country.
34:22What a beautiful landmass, the most beautiful landmass anywhere in the world.
34:26And it was just cut off for whatever reason.
34:29It would be great.
34:30Now, is it liberal?
34:32Maybe.
34:33But, you know, a conservative, until I got involved, because I don't care who wins up
34:36there, I frankly probably would do better with the liberal than the conservative, if
34:40you want to know the truth.
34:41But just a little while ago, before I got involved and totally changed the election,
34:47which I don't care about, probably it's our advantage, actually.
34:52But the conservative was leading against, I call him Governor Trudeau.
34:57The conservative was leading by 35 points.
34:59So, you know, so I don't know about that.
35:01I think Canada is a place like a lot of other places.
35:05If you have a good candidate, the candidate is going to win.
35:07And I don't know if you've seen this, but the two astronauts that you just helped save
35:12from space, they didn't get any overtime pay for all that extra time.
35:16They got $5 a day per diem for 286 days.
35:20That is $1,430 in extra pay.
35:26Is there anything the administration can do to get them, to make them whole?
35:30Well, nobody's ever mentioned this to me.
35:33If I have to, I'll pay it out of my own pocket, okay?
35:35I'll get it for them.
35:36I'll take care of that.
35:37I like that.
35:38I think I'll pay it right out of my...
35:41Is that all?
35:42That's not a lot for what they had to go through.
35:45And I want to thank Elon Musk, by the way, because think if we don't have him, you know,
35:50there's only so long, even though they're in the capsule up there, that the body starts
35:55to deteriorate after nine or 10 months and gets really bad after 14, 15 months with the
36:01bones and the blood and all the things that you've been reporting on very well.
36:07And if we don't have Elon, they could be up there a long time.
36:10Who else is going to get him?
36:12And I just want to thank him.
36:13He's going through a lot, what they're doing to him.
36:17And these people are going to be caught and they're going to be caught and they're going
36:19to be prosecuted.
36:21And from what they tell me, I see this just by watching your programs and reading the
36:27news.
36:28And from what they tell me, they could get 20 years in jail and they'll get it.
36:31I'll tell you, there's going to be no leniency and there'll be no pardons.
36:34I can tell you that right.
36:35And you said this morning, 20 years in jail, and then maybe they'll go to one of these
36:42prisons in El Salvador.
36:43Do you think with the way that the judges have been issuing injunctions, it would be
36:48easier or harder to send these Tesla domestic terrorists to a jail in El Salvador than these
36:54MS-13 or Trenday arrival guys?
36:56Well, I view these people as terrorists, just like others.
37:00When I looked at those showrooms burning and those cars, not one or two, like seven, eight,
37:0610, burning, exploding all over the place.
37:09These are terrorists.
37:10You didn't have that on January 6th, I can tell you.
37:12You didn't have anything like that on January 6th, which is sort of amazing because on January
37:176th, the Democrats were talking.
37:22Nobody was killed other than a very beautiful young woman, Ashley, Ashley Babbitt.
37:29Nobody was killed.
37:30And you look at what's going on now with these terrorists.
37:33These are terrorists.
37:34And that's an organized event.
37:35You know, take a look at their signs.
37:36Take a look.
37:37They're all made by the same sign company, a nice expensive job.
37:41Now, these are the people that finance it are, in my opinion, in just as big a trouble
37:47as the people that are setting the match and setting the fires.
37:51So we'll see.
37:53It's under very serious investigation by the FBI and by the Justice Department.
37:57These people are terrorists.
37:58Okay.
37:59Yeah, go ahead, behind you.
38:00Mr. President, what do you say to American military families who are seeing Elon Musk
38:01at the Pentagon today, are hearing about Defense Department cuts, and their thoughts are immediately
38:02going to the safety of their loved ones who are currently deployed?
38:03Well, we're making our country strong.
38:17And when they see a thing like that, and they hear that story about Elon and China,
38:22what they should do is realize that the New York Times is a corrupt institution, because
38:27I think they're the ones they knew that story wasn't true.
38:29Nobody believed that story.
38:31People that when I first caught, they laughed when they heard this story.
38:35Nobody believed it, that the Pentagon was giving him a briefing on what war with China
38:40would look like.
38:41And he has business.
38:42No, they made that up because it's a good story to make up that they're very dishonest
38:47people.
38:48Look, I have it with the Times, and you'll see more and more of it.
38:52To me, it's a very, very dishonest organization.
38:57But a story like that is made up, it's total fiction.
39:01And I just wanted to make sure.
39:04I called up Chief of Staff, and I called up Pete, and I said, is there any truth to that?
39:10Absolutely not.
39:11He's there for Doge, not there for China.
39:13And if you ever mentioned China, I think he'd walk out of the room.
39:16He wouldn't.
39:17He wouldn't take it anyway.
39:18So it's just a made up story.
39:22Nobody's taking better care of the military.
39:24One of the things that I know that Pete's doing is he's talking about a lot of the civilian
39:27staff and and we're going to get them other jobs.
39:32You know, we're going to have a lot of jobs in this country because but we don't want
39:35to have wasteful jobs.
39:36We want to have meaningful jobs.
39:38And those were wasteful jobs.
39:39Those are jobs that not only military but jobs where people don't show up.
39:45We had you take a look at Department of Education.
39:47I've never seen so many buildings with the names on it.
39:50You go past one after another, Department of Education, and they're empty.
39:54The people don't show up.
39:55You know why?
39:56Because they have other jobs, because they're playing golf, or they're playing something.
40:00They're doing something.
40:02And we have a lot of great people, but we have to move that back to the states.
40:05We're going to make our country strong and we're going to get people much better jobs
40:10because we have companies moving into our country, the likes of which we've never seen
40:14before.
40:15Nothing like this has happened.
40:17And and it's automatic.
40:19They don't want to pay the tariffs.
40:20How do you get it?
40:21How do you avoid paying the tariffs?
40:24You build your plant in the United States and it's going to be it's a beautiful thing
40:29to see.
40:30I see it.
40:31So far, I would say four trillion dollars.
40:34Nobody's ever heard of them.
40:35No country's ever heard of numbers like that.
40:37Four trillion dollars.
40:38And those are the best ones.
40:40The biggest, best chip maker in the world.
40:42I don't I'm not a fan of the chip act where you give billions away to billions of dollars
40:47away to companies that don't need it and it won't bring them here.
40:52I'm giving nothing away.
40:53All they're doing is coming here.
40:54They're building because they want to avoid.
40:56Remember this on the tariffs, because that's going to be, you know, Liberation Day, April
41:002nd.
41:02It's reciprocal.
41:04If they charge us, we charge them.
41:06So somebody say, well, how much are the tariffs?
41:09Very fair.
41:10If India, as an example, has been very bad to us on tariffs, they charge 100 percent,
41:17200 percent, whatever they charge.
41:20Now, Europe just announced they're lowering the tariffs on cars.
41:25You know, we charge like a joke, two and a half percent.
41:28That's what this country charges.
41:31Europe just announced that they're reducing their tariffs on cars to two and a half percent.
41:37But they also have non-monetary tariffs where they make it impossible for the cars to get
41:41in, even without the dollars on a dollar size.
41:44It's called a non-monetary tariff where they put on controls where no matter what happens
41:49because they don't want cars, they don't want the American car in their market.
41:53And yet they send us millions of cars.
41:55They send us big agriculture.
41:56They don't want our agriculture.
41:57They don't want anything from us.
41:59The European Union is very tough.
42:02But now it's fair.
42:03So whatever they do to us, we do to them.
42:06Mr. President, as Russia continues to attack Ukraine, are you planning to impose any sort
42:14of sanctions on —
42:15Well, they're fighting against each other.
42:16Yeah, I think we're going to have — we have a ceasefire on a lot of areas.
42:21And so far, that's all held very well.
42:24And getting that ceasefire, you know, they had a lot of guns pointing at each other.
42:28They had some soldiers, unfortunately, surrounded by other soldiers.
42:32And they are going to be — I believe we're going to pretty soon have a full ceasefire
42:39and then we're going to have a contract.
42:41And the contract's being negotiated.
42:43The contract, in terms of dividing up the lands, et cetera, et cetera, it's being negotiated
42:48as we speak.
42:49What do you say to critics who say that your actions towards law firms amount to coercion?
42:55Well, the law firms all want to make deals.
42:58You mean the law firms that we're going after that went after me for four years, ruthlessly,
43:02violently, illegally?
43:03You mean, are those the law firms you're talking about?
43:06They're not babies.
43:07They're very sophisticated people.
43:10Those law firms did bad things.
43:12Bad things.
43:13They went after me for years.
43:15Russia, Russia, Russia, hoax.
43:17All a hoax.
43:18It was a hoax.
43:19It was Hunter Biden's laptop.
43:21It didn't come out of Russia, by the way.
43:23It was his — like, came out of his bedroom.
43:25It was all a hoax, developed by Democrats, Hillary.
43:31I don't think Biden did, because I don't think Biden knows what the hell he's doing, frankly,
43:35based on everything I see.
43:36I've seen things since being here that are so sad.
43:40What he's done to this country, what he and they did to this country, those people that
43:45surrounded him — who, by the way, are radical left but smart.
43:49He's not smart.
43:50He was never smart.
43:51But these are radical left, smart people.
43:53They totally controlled him.
43:55He did whatever they told him to do.
43:57And it's a shame.
43:58It's so sad to see what happened.
44:00What they've done to this country, both — not only the inflation, the inflation you saw,
44:04but allowing millions of criminals — millions and millions of criminals into our country.
44:10That's an inexcusable act.
44:13And many other things besides that.
44:15Thank you very much, everybody.