Defense Attorney (2:14)

Now, I'm going to ask you the same questions about officials. Did you inform any federal officials that one of your prosecution team members, a senior member of your office, had a child who was there at the time of the shooting?

Utah County Attorney (2:28)

No.

Donald Trump (2:37)

Did you.

Defense Attorney (2:43)

Tell anybody in. In federal government or federal law enforcement that you were going to be seeking the death penalty before Mr. Robinson was elected? I'm sorry, before Mr. Robinson was arrested.

Utah County Attorney (2:56)

I mean, other than. I mean, when I talked to the governor, Cash Patel and Dan Bungino were there as well. So they heard my statement that that's what I intended to do. Okay.

Defense Attorney (3:07)

And were you aware that before you filed that notice, the President, United States went on national television, said, I hope he gets the death penalty?

Utah County Attorney (3:17)

I had heard that he said that, yes.

Defense Attorney (3:20)

That was before you filed the notice.

Utah County Attorney (3:22)

Yes.

Donald Trump (3:23)

All right.

Defense Attorney (3:23)

Now, you stated in your briefing that your decision to file the death penalty notice when you did was partly because you ran for elected office three years earlier on a commitment to seek the death penalty?

Utah County Attorney (3:39)

Yes.

Defense Attorney (3:40)

So you made a commitment. Sometimes we call that a campaign promise. I'm not trying to make light of it, but that is what we call commitments that we make to the voters.

Utah County Attorney (3:52)

Right. It was a commitment that I would seek the death penalty in all appropriate cases.

Defense Attorney (4:22)

And you knew before you filed the notice that the governor thought it was an appropriate case.

Utah County Attorney (4:27)

Yeah.

Defense Attorney (4:28)

And the president thought it was an appropriate case?

Utah County Attorney (4:30)

Yeah.

Defense Attorney (4:30)

Did Mr. Patel express his views?

Utah County Attorney (4:33)

Not that I recall. I mean, he was doing the bidding of the president, so. But I did find it a little interesting, Governor Cox, because he plays no part in the decision.

Defense Attorney (4:49)

So did you tell Governor Cox after he made those public statements, this is not your decision? This is my decision?

Judge (4:56)

No.

Defense Attorney (5:04)

Was it important to you that the people you selected to be on the team for this prosecution remain on the team? I mean, you. You handpicked this team. Right?

Utah County Attorney (5:17)

I did hand pick this team.

Defense Attorney (5:18)

Right. And the person whose child we're talking about is a long standing, experienced senior member of your office.

Court Clerk (5:27)

Right.

Defense Attorney (5:28)

It was important for you to you that they be part of this case.

Utah County Attorney (5:32)

I want the best people on my team, and I believe I chose the best people.

Defense Attorney (5:39)

Have them on.

Court Clerk (5:40)

Of course.

Defense Attorney (5:47)

Thank you, Honor. We have no further questions for Mr. Gray. And if I may, what he told me is that he. After the examination, I assume that there's some cross examination, he'll be available to be on call, so we don't need the court to address that with him, but he's going to leave the building.

Utah County Attorney (6:03)

Okay.

Defense Attorney (6:03)

Which is fine with us.

Donald Trump (6:04)

Yeah.

Utah County Attorney (6:05)

But I'll be available to come back if needed.

Court Clerk (6:08)

Thank you, Mr. Gary. Thank you, Mr. Novak.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (6:09)

Thank you.

Defense Attorney (6:10)

And I'd just like the record reflect that it's five minutes after two when I've concluded my direct.

Court Clerk (6:14)

I appreciate that.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (6:15)

Did you.

Court Clerk (6:19)

To the state, Mr. McBride.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (6:26)

I'm going to refer to the prosecutor in your office whose child was present at the shooting as Prosecutor A. Do you know who I'm talking about?

Utah County Attorney (6:35)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (6:36)

Have you ever met Prosecutor A's child that was present at that shooting?

Utah County Attorney (6:40)

Not that I could remember. I could have in passing, but not that I can remember.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (6:47)

Did the presence of Prosecutor A's child have any effect on the decisions you've made in this case?

Utah County Attorney (6:53)

Zero.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (6:55)

Did that child's presence have any effect on your decision to seek the death penalty?

Utah County Attorney (7:00)

Zero.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (7:01)

Why did you choose to seek the death penalty in this case?

Utah County Attorney (7:03)

Because the evidence that had been gathered supports the aggravated murder charge. And I believe that the death penalty is entirely appropriate in this particular case.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (7:24)

On September 10th, did you. You've testified that you learned that Prosecutor A's child was present at the shooting, correct?

Utah County Attorney (7:31)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (7:31)

Did her present presence affect the decisions you made on September 10th at all?

Utah County Attorney (7:36)

No.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (7:38)

Will you describe how her presence affected your decision making on that day and in the few days following before you charged it made.

Utah County Attorney (7:48)

It had no effect whatsoever. I mean, quite frankly, as I think I testified earlier, I didn't even give it a second thought after I was told about that.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (7:59)

There's been some question about the reason you chose to seek the death penalty at the time you did. Now, the law in Utah allows you to wait to announce the decision to seek the death penalty until after arraignment, correct?

Utah County Attorney (8:15)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (8:16)

Why did you seek to. Why did you give the notice of intent to seek the death penalty at the time you did, rather than waiting?

Utah County Attorney (8:24)

I had learned from experience in a prior case, in particular the Michael Jayne case, that in a highly publicized case, the longer that you delay that decision, even though, I mean, I may very well make the decision early on, and I have in certain cases, but the more delay, then it just creates all this unnecessary public speculation and everything else. And we actually, in the Michael Jayne case, I was basically, I went to my attorneys and they said, yeah, we usually wait, but. So I was waiting, but then channel two, I believe it was, contacted me and said that they had learned information that we were taking the death penalty off of that case. And so I had to hurry and call them before that, say that's not true. And within a month, I filed the death penalty. But it's just. It creates unnecessary angst with families of victims. I knew that this particular case was. I mean, talk about publicity. It's even more so in this case than it was in Michael Jayne case. And I wanted to shut that out so that we have to deal with that. And. And so that Erica Kirk didn't have to deal with that uncertainty.

Judge (9:57)

Okay.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (9:57)

As you made the decision in this. So that's the reason you. You made the decision at the time you did, is that right? To avoid that uncertainty, speculation and so forth?

Utah County Attorney (10:06)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (10:07)

Was that decision made because prosecutors a's child was present at the event? You talked about a campaign promise. When did you run for county attorney and make that campaign, that campaign commitment to voters that you would seek the death penalty in appropriate cases?

Utah County Attorney (10:31)

It was. It was about four years from this very time.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (10:36)

Okay, so at that time, did you know Prosecutor A?

Utah County Attorney (10:42)

I. I knew of him, but, I mean, because I had handled. I'd handled.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (10:51)

Had you met him personally and interact with him personally?

Utah County Attorney (10:53)

No.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (10:54)

You just knew who he was?

Utah County Attorney (10:55)

Yeah.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (10:55)

Okay.

Utah County Attorney (10:57)

I mean, at some point after I won the election, I met with him and others to determine who understood.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (11:06)

But at that time, when you were making that campaign commitment, was it because you knew Prosecutor A?

Utah County Attorney (11:11)

No.

Donald Trump (11:11)

Okay.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (11:12)

Was it because Prosecutor A had a. An adult child?

Utah County Attorney (11:16)

No. Okay.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (11:18)

And. Decision making, as far as the decision making in this case goes, who makes the ultimate decisions on major decisions in this case?

Utah County Attorney (11:39)

I do.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (11:40)

Does Prosecutor A. Does the buck stop with Prosecutor A?

Utah County Attorney (11:43)

No.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (11:51)

There's been some evidence that deputy county attorneys in your office went to the command center at Utah Valley University on September 10th and the days after that?

Utah County Attorney (12:02)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (12:03)

Is that a normal process?

Utah County Attorney (12:06)

Yes. In any homicide case or big case, we'll have attorneys respond to the command post to offer any assistance that may be needed, which may include search warrants or discussions about, you know, the need for certain evidence.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (12:23)

So having attorneys appear at Utah Valley University that day was not unusual.

Utah County Attorney (12:29)

How many?

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (12:30)

I mean, my question is having attorneys.

Utah County Attorney (12:33)

Appear, not unusual at all.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (12:37)

Do you know which attorneys went?

Utah County Attorney (12:39)

Yes, I know that I went. Mr. Grunander went. You went. Ryan McBride and David Sturgill went. And I don't believe any others. Somebody else may have gone there for a short period of time, but I don't recall seeing them there.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (13:03)

Did those attorneys go there because Prosecutor A's child was present?

Utah County Attorney (13:08)

Not to my knowledge.

Podcast Host (13:09)

No.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (13:15)

Aside from charging, have many major decisions. Excuse me. Aside from charging and the notice of seeking the death penalty in this case, have many major decisions been made in this case?

Utah County Attorney (13:28)

I mean, major decisions? No. I mean, what comes to my mind is one major decision was to make sure that defense counsel gets discovery in a timely manner. That was, quite frankly, foremost on my mind once we filed the case. And I personally directed procedures to be put in place so that there would be no mistake as to what they. What the defense counsel received and what we had. I mean, every time there's a motion, obviously the team is working on it. We work on it together. But, I mean, as far as trial strategies or things like that, none of those decisions have been made.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (14:19)

Is it fair to say that the. Aside from charging and the death penalty decision, is it fair to say that the most important decisions are yet to be made in this case?

Utah County Attorney (14:27)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (14:28)

That includes trial strategy?

Utah County Attorney (14:29)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (14:30)

Preliminary hearing strategy?

Utah County Attorney (14:31)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (14:33)

Any plea negotiation?

Utah County Attorney (14:34)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (14:40)

In all the decisions that have been made up to date, has Prosecutor A's child come up in those decisions? No. I should say, aside from this motion.

Utah County Attorney (14:51)

Aside from this motion? Yeah.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (14:54)

And so aside from this, I'm going to ask that question again to make sure the record is clear. Aside from this motion to disqualify the county attorney, Utah County Attorney's Office, has Prosecutor A's child come up in any of the decisions made in this case?

Defense Attorney (15:06)

No.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (15:14)

Has Prosecutor A's involvement in this as a witness here affected the prosecution in any way in this case, in your opinion and observation?

Utah County Attorney (15:24)

No.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (15:25)

Do you believe it will affect the prosecution in the. In the future?

Podcast Host (15:29)

No.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (15:29)

Why not?

Utah County Attorney (15:31)

Because it's. I mean, this is somebody that happened to be there that has. I mean, what we're concerned about is the evidence supporting the charges. That's first and foremost. And that has nothing to do with somebody that happened to be there. I mean, quite frankly, completely irrelevant to anything that matters in the case. Okay.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (15:56)

A couple other follow ups. Earlier you testified that Prosecutor A received a mess. You were with Prosecutor A. Prosecutor A received a message from his child that Charlie Kirk had been shot.

Utah County Attorney (16:13)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (16:13)

Right. And then you testified that Prosecutor A left to go to the scene. Do you know why Prosecutor A left? Was it to go to the scene and help law enforcement or to be with his child?

Utah County Attorney (16:28)

To assist in any way we can with law enforcement.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (16:42)

You previously testified that you did not consult the Attorney General's office about whether or not this was a conflict of interest that would require your office to leave the case or to refer the case. Why did you not consult the Attorney General's office?

Utah County Attorney (16:55)

Because what they would have done is, you know, researched it and, and then come back. And I've done that for, you know, over 30 years in my, my practice. I'm capable of doing that. And researched it where case law and so forth. Again, I mean this, I do not believe that there's any conflict whatsoever. I made that conclusion. I, I stand by that. And I mean out of an abundance of caution. We certainly notified council out of an abundance of caution. And I think that's the appropriate action to take. So again, I understand what conflict. The concern about conflict is whether or not it has any possibility of affecting your decision making as a prosecutor. And I didn't see how this does in any way.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (17:54)

Okay, if I can have just a moment. Out. You said you had some neighbors that had, you learned, had children that attended the event where Mr. Kirk was shot.

Utah County Attorney (18:30)

I was told that they were there, yeah.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (18:34)

When did you learn that those people were there?

Utah County Attorney (18:38)

I don't know. A couple weeks after, I believe. After the event after the charging decision was made?

Podcast Host (18:44)

Yes.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (18:46)

How closely do you know, the. The. The children that were there.

Utah County Attorney (18:52)

Not well, at all. I mean, maybe a convert, maybe a hello or something out on occasion, but as far as I know, I'm not even sure that they even live in our ward at all at this point.

Defense Attorney (19:09)

Okay.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (19:12)

Thank you.

Defense Attorney (19:13)

All right.

Court Clerk (19:14)

Mr. Novak?

Defense Attorney (19:15)

No, thank you, your honor. I don't have any redirect at this time.

Donald Trump (19:18)

All right.

Court Clerk (19:19)

As previously discussed, may Mr. Gray be excused for now?

Defense Attorney (19:23)

Yes.

Utah County Attorney (19:24)

Thank you.

Court Clerk (19:24)

Thank you, Mr. Grandkid. Snowback, your next witness, or. I'm sorry, Ms. Nestor.

Reporter/Journalist (19:31)

Your Honor, at this time, we were going to call the adult child, but I believe that that individual's attorney.

Utah County Attorney (19:39)

They're ready.

Reporter/Journalist (19:40)

Okay, then they are ready. So we would like to proceed with calling the adult child. At this point, I think it would be appropriate to hear whether or not we close the hearing or at least come up with some ground rules about preventing any photography or mentioning of her name, however the court desires to handle it.

Court Clerk (20:04)

Thank you. I'll hear briefly from the parties. I did read the proper effects regarding the closure of portions of the evidentiary hearing on the motion to disqualify the Utah county attorney's office, and I'll hear any additional argument or statements prior to making a ruling.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (20:24)

Your Honor, Ryan McBride for the state. We do move to close the hearing for the testimony of the adult child. I think the rationale that I explained previously still stands. The rules of judicial administration allow closure for privacy and safety reasons. I believe with the proffer of facts the defense has accepted here, we have shown that there are privacy and safety reasons that favor closing the hearing. Defense counsel has stipulated a closure of this portion of the hearing. The media in the past has has stipulated to closure of of the hearing. I think the record is adequate. I think the safety concerns support closure. And absent any questions from the court, I would make that motion now.

Court Clerk (21:07)

Thank you. Anything further from the parties?

Reporter/Journalist (21:09)

No objection, your honor.

Defense Attorney (21:11)

All right.

Court Clerk (21:11)

So the media. The prosecution cited to the media. Did you want to weigh in?

Donald Trump (21:18)

Media is not objected to the closure of this portion.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (21:21)

Thank you.

Court Clerk (21:25)

The court has reviewed the party's prior arguments and materials submitted in advance of today's hearing, including the finally entitled proffer of facts regarding closure of portions of the evidentiary hearing on the motion to disqualify the Utah county attorney's office advance has requested that the testimony of certain witnesses, specifically prosecutor a and adult child witness, be received in closed session pursuant to Utah rule of Judicial Administration 4, 202. Citing concerns related to personal privacy and safety. The court acknowledges that Rule 4202 permits limited closure of court proceedings in appropriate circumstances. At the same time, this court is required to consider countervailing interests identified in Rule 4 202, including the public's right to observe the conduct of public business, to understand the operation of government and maintain confidence in the judicial process. This court must also be mindful of the constitutional rights of Mr. Robinson as well as the constitutional and statutory rights of Ms. Erica Kirk in her role as victim representative. The precipice of today's evidentiary hearing is limited and specific. The court is asked to consider the defendant's claim that a member of the prosecution team referred to as Deputy County Attorney in one of the motions has a personal conflict of interest that any such conflict extends to the Utah County Attorney's Office and that disqualification is therefore required. The court's role at this stage is to receive relevant evidence and to rule based on the record in applicable law without reaching the merits of those claims in advance. The parties have filed public motions outlining the anticipated evidence and testimony related to the motion to disqualify, including the state's opposition, the defense reply and request to take evidence, and the defense original motion. Those filings describe the general subject matter expected to be addressed at today's hearing. If the adult child witness is called to testify, which is the request at this point, the court will consider that testimony as part of the evidentiary record. After careful consideration of the record, the arguments of counsel and the interests identified in Utah rule of Judicial Administration 4 202, the court finds that closure of the adult child witnesses testimony is not necessary and would not be narrowly tailored under the circumstances presented. The court further finds that the interest of openness and transparency outweigh the asserted grounds for closure and as to that testimony, and that the rights of the parties and witnesses can be adequately protected through least restrictive means available to the court. For those reasons, the request of both the state and defense to conduct the adult child witnesses testimony in closed session is partially denied.

Podcast Host (24:23)

All right, folks are watching the pre trial hearing about conflicts of interest with the attorneys in Utah. So let's jump over now to the to the White House where Trump is speaking live.

Donald Trump (24:35)

Done an incredible job. Done really an incredible job. We appreciate it. Tom Cole, Ronny Jackson, come here. Steve. I want to just hear the rough that's a rough week or so, right? Incredible wife who passed away, but she was an incredible woman and everybody knows that. Everybody up here. So we just were with you all the way. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm glad you could be here Grateful. I understand that's a rough deal. He went through rough. He, he had a good marriage. Good marriage is better than a bad marriage, but it makes it a little bit tougher when something like that happens. Robert Aderholt, right here. Thank you. Susan Collins. Hi, Susan. I heard you're doing good. Cindy Hyde Smith, nice here. Cindy. When you always do good. Cindy. Thank you. Bill Hagerty. Hi, Bill. Lindsay Graham, who's way up in the polls. Lindsay, what's going on with you? You're so high. I don't know. Has a lot to do with you.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (25:36)

Don't forget.

Donald Trump (25:38)

Has the opponent dropped out? Is your Democrat opponent dropped you kind of South Carolina.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (25:43)

They're going.

Donald Trump (25:44)

Mario Diaz Ballard. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mario. Katie Britt.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (25:49)

Yes, sir.

Donald Trump (25:50)

Hi, Katie. What a job you're doing.

Defense Attorney (25:52)

Thank you.

Donald Trump (25:53)

John Barrasso. He knows more about healthcare than any human being on earth. I think when I need somebody, John is a great person too. Shelly moore, Capital thank you, Shelley. Thank you, sir, very much. Hal Duncan, associate director of the Legislative Affairs. Thank you, Hal. Great job. And Susan Ross avison and Betsy McGonnell, they were really instrumental and they really worked hard. So I want to thank you all. I don't want to anybody I didn't mention. Oh boy. It'd be nice because, you know, it's a little embarrassing when they stick their head up. I think they'd just be quiet. It's probably easier. But I'm glad we got you in because you really have worked hard. This bill is a great victory for the American people. Instead of a bloated and wasteful omnibus monstrosity full of special interest handouts, we've succeeded in passing a fiscally responsible package that actually cuts wasteful federal spending while supporting critical programs for the safety, security and prosperity of the American people. And this group of people behind me and others and a lot of votes, they really have done a fantastic job because closing the country, you know, we had a five point, it looks like 5.6 and it could have been seven. We lost a point and a half because of a 42 day shutdown and that's the least of it. But we would have been at 7. Can you believe it? 7 GDP. Nobody ever heard of a 7 GDP. So I'm glad we got this done because this would be another point and a half or something, or maybe worse. The bill officially ends all taxpayer subsidies for radical far left woke programming on NPR and PBS. Just a waste of money. It slashes nearly $10 billion in wasteful foreign aid spending, giving money to countries that don't need it. They have plenty of money. And we ended that. That was so important. $10 billion. Think of continues the closure of USAID and creates a brand new America First Opportunity Fund who are responsibly providing foreign assistance to nations where it actually serves American interests. So we have nations that do help us and it serves our interests so we have something to help them out with. This bill also cuts funding to abusive and weaponized IRS programs. I was a victim of that too. You probably read that. Did you read that recently? Right? Yes sir. I was, I guess the ultimate victim that were used to harass American taxpayers. It builds on the Republican decisions package passed last summer which saved Americans billions and billions of dollars. It fully funds our military, includes a well deserved pay raise for all American service members and makes historic investments in the American shipbuilding industry, which is great. We're really starting to do something incredible with shipbuilding. And I don't know if you saw that the United States of America for the first time in over 30 years beat Japan. We love Japan. Great country. But their power and steel making that we produce more steel this year than Japan.

Court Clerk (29:18)

Think of that.

Donald Trump (29:19)

More steel than Japan. And Japan is a powerhouse at that. And we were pretty much dead when it came to steel. So what do you think of that? To me, when I heard that we did more than Japan. It continues to fund deportation flights that are removing dangerous illegal aliens from our country. It continues historically successful efforts to reduce crime in our nation's capital. We have a very safe city right now. We have a city that is like a different world from what it was a year and a half ago when you couldn't walk down the street without being hurt very badly. I want to say that in a nice way. Washington D.C. is a safe city. Memphis, by the way, is that crime is down 77%. And in New Orleans you heard these numbers. But in New Orleans we started three weeks ago, four weeks ago max, and crime is down 68%. It's going to be down to practically nothing within the next month. It's pretty amazing. But it all helped cut the number of murders in D.C. by 80%. And we have numbers coming up. Newer numbers went down 97% in murders. A horrible thing to even be talking about, murders in D.C. but we were. A lot of people were being killed in Washington D.C. if you can believe it. And now we have a very safe, very. I don't know if there's any such thing as crime free but pretty, pretty close in January compared to 12 months ago. So we have close to 90, 95% down crime in Washington, D.C. it allows all of you people to walk to the White House instead of getting into an Uber and getting mugged, even as the Uber progresses. Okay. And it continues funding for the Department of Homeland Security until later in the year. And finally, I am extremely pleased to announce that this bill includes a newly designated. Oh, wow. Movie star Melania Trump Foster youth to independence initiatives. So she really loves the children and she's had a tremendous success. So It's a number one documentary in 19 years. Can you believe this? What do I get out of it? Nothing out of it. Now I have. So I had a top model. Now I have a top movie star. But we have a great first lady. She loves children and she had a tremendous vote on this. And I want to just say Melania Trump forced her youth to independence initiative within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will support America's foster youth and provide them critical resources as they age out of the foster care system. And the first lady loves children, and she's been very much involved with children and helping them out and making them better. That's what she wants to do, wants to help them, and she wants to make them better. And she does a great job of it. She's respected, and her movie got really incredible reviews. She's. She's. We're all proud of her, actually. It's amazing. Not easy to do that. Not easy to do it. So I just want to thank everybody for being here. If you would have some questions, I might just ask before you do that. These are all outstanding politicians. The top. My opinion, the top in the whole world. But that's, you know, one of those things. I like to build it up a little bit. But they are. They're the top politicians at the top political minds. And if you have any statement. Does anybody have a statement that you'd like to make? We'll start on the left side. Anybody? How about Mr. Speaker?

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (33:04)

Well, this is a big thing, Mr. President. Thank you for your leadership and helping us steward this through for a long time. We wanted to get back to regular order in the appropriations process. You're standing up here with the best appropriators in the business and have served him many years. And we, we forced the muscle memory back. We're getting back to that regular order process. 12 separate appropriations bills. We've gotten them to your desk. And this is a big thing. It seems like a small thing, but it's a big thing. And we're spending less money year over year. And with all the innovations and things that you said there, this is good for the country. And America is back. The hat is appropriate. That's the right slogan.

Donald Trump (33:38)

This is a new hat. We just came out. America is back. Look, CNN's thrilled. Look at her. She never smiles. I never see her smile. Somebody I'll see her smile. Mr. President, did I mention that there's significant health care reform in this bill, PBM reform, something that you have been working on.

Judge (33:55)

And we appreciate and applaud your efforts.

Donald Trump (33:57)

Bringing drug prices down for citizens here in America. Not only that, but we extended telehealth and also we are addressing maternal mortality in this bill.

Judge (34:09)

Rural health care has been a big.

Donald Trump (34:11)

Part of your, of your focus and we appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you. You know, a very big thing I think for all of us is most favored nations on drug pricing. So for 30 years they've been talking about it more than that. And it's basically we now will take many prescription drugs will come down to the lowest price anywhere in the world. So if a country is selling a pill for $10 and we're selling it for $130, which is not much of an exaggeration at all, we were paying the highest drug prices anywhere in the world. Now we'll be paying tied with the lowest price. It's most favored nations. We will have the lowest price anywhere in the world. So a pill that was for $130 will be down to $20. So you can make a case that that's 800, 900% or like the press likes to hear, it's about 80%. But we're going to get reductions like nobody's ever seen. And frankly, the Republican Party should be able to win the midterms on that alone. That's the biggest thing there is, most favored nations. We're going to be bringing the price of drugs down. In my first term, I got it down 1/8 of 1%. And I was so proud because it's the first time in 28 years that drug prices came down. And now we're talking about bringing it down by 80, 90, 75, 68. I mean, we have, I have numbers in the back that nobody can believe. Most favored nations. And remember, the Republicans did that, the Democrats did not do that, Republicans did it. And that's going to have a huge impact also on health care, because medicine, I mean, it's a big chunk of health care. And if you're bringing something down from $100 down to $20, $18 because we were subsidizing the entire world. And frankly, I had to get the countries to go along with it. And I had to threaten tariffs against them if they didn't approve. And the health care companies, who weren't easy either, but they said it doesn't matter because they'll never get the countries because they didn't really want to do it. And I got the countries, I got every one of them. And really, it's. People can't even believe it. But for the people standing behind me, you should, if you use that alone, you should win. We should win the elections coming up. Anybody else? How about on this side?

Senator (36:39)

You mentioned the IRS, Mr. President. Their behavior has been atrocious. If you think about leaking your tax returns, the tax returns of others, and never any accountability. I must have questioned Janet Yellen four times, five times, times under oath about this, and never an answer. We spent $10 billion from the IRS in this bill that you just signed. And today I launched an investigation with my staff on all of these contractors that are associated with the ones that allowed your information to be put out. These contractors that hire activists to come in and do their work, these corporations here in America that bring activists in to do their work, that's going to come to us.

Donald Trump (37:18)

They did leak my tax returns. It was terrible. The good news is I paid a hell of a lot of tax. I paid tens of millions of dollars. I said, where are my accountants? I want to talk to my accountant. So. But they did. They leaked my tax return. They didn't do it in a nice way. They tried to get something out of it. Now they're bad people.

Senator (37:37)

Accountability is coming, though. You think about the phone companies that leaked our telephone records. Several of us here, right? Verizon leak, Mike, telephone records. You think about what's happened across the country. This is going to come to an end.

Donald Trump (37:49)

We should have voter id, by the way. We should have a lot of the things that I think everybody wants to see. Who would not want voter id? Only somebody that wants to cheat. Think of it. We don't have voter id and the Democrats don't want it. And the reason they don't want, because they want to cheat, because there's no reason in the world. And I love that debate, Lindsey. I love saying, well, why don't you want voter id? And you watch them say, I don't know, I just made them vote, then. It's a terrible thing. So anyway, anybody else? Well, Mr. President, you said you wanted to make America safer and more prosperous. And we. And we have done it. More prosperity means more money in people's pockets. And they notice that every time they go to fill up with gas. And they're going to know it when they get their tax returns that this year are going to be at least $1,000, if not more greater than it's been in the past. And that's a result of the work that you've done with this whole group. And in terms of America being safer, a number of us were at the border two weeks ago. The border is secure. No one is coming across. Not the 10,000 we saw every day with Joe Biden and the American people. Still in overwhelming numbers. Republicans, Democrats and Independents all say illegal immigrant, criminals need to be deported. And Mr. President, you're doing that. And no tax on tips, Social Security, no tax. More money in people's pockets. Think of it. And that was all. The great big beautiful bill, as I call it, the great big beautiful bill. To me, that's what it is. And people are starting. And people are starting to realize it now. They're starting to see it. A tax deduction on your. If you borrow, buy a car, and if it's made in America, Only if it's made in America. The rest we don't care about so much. But you buy a car, you get an interest deduction. You borrow money, you get an interest tax deduction. And that is you take interest, you deduct it against your tax. So to me, that's unbelievable for the people, unbelievable for our car companies, which is jobs. Anybody else have anything? Mr. President, the biggest part of this.

Utah County Attorney (39:49)

Bill is our national security. And thank you.

Donald Trump (39:52)

The men and women who serve this country are grateful to you. We give them a pay raise. We're building more ships, as you said, planes, missiles. We need to defend this country. And you're doing a great job in leading us in the right direction. Thank you very much. Katie, go ahead. You want to say something?

Judge (40:06)

Yeah.

Reporter/Journalist (40:06)

No, Mr. President, this is just unprecedented leadership. The fact that you got everyone to come together and actually get these bills across the finish line. You heard it from the speaker, but that hasn't happened in a long time. So 97.6percent of the government being funded. Your priorities put in place, Mr. President, so that we can make the country safer, we can make it more prosperous. And not only can we make America great again, but we can tell people now, America is back.

Donald Trump (40:30)

Yeah, it's a great. It's a great. We'll never forget maga, and we're all with maga, but I thought this was very appropriate, right, Cindy, Hyde, come on, say something.

Reporter/Journalist (40:41)

Well, there's a little hospital in here, a rural hospital in Maple, Mississippi, right. Called Franklin County Hospital.

Donald Trump (40:48)

It would have closed the end of.

Reporter/Journalist (40:50)

This month without this bill.

Prosecutor Ryan McBride (40:52)

Thank you.

Reporter/Journalist (40:53)

Thank you from everybody in Mississippi, especially Franklin County.

Donald Trump (40:56)

And we've covered the rural very well. Nobody ever thought it was possible because we had a lot of opposition from the Democrats, as you know, but nobody thought it was possible. That's great. How about it? Anybody back there? Tomorrow, budget for Native Americans ever. Mr. President, appreciate that help. So we'll sign and then if you would have some questions of anybody up.

Judge (41:19)

Here, let me just piggyback you this.

Donald Trump (41:21)

Rural America is taken care of in this bill. And I mean, as Cindy says, so thank you for all America, but especially rural America. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. So I probably won't hold this up. And I think holding up one little page doesn't do it justice in there. It's a lot of stuff, but it's signed. Are the negotiations still happening this week? Where will they be and what you need to hear from Iran, roll over. But they are negotiating. They'd like to do something and we'll see if something is going to be done. They had a chance to do something a while ago and it didn't work out. And we did Midnight Hammer. I don't think they want that happening again. But they would like to negotiate. We are negotiating with them right now. Yes. Where will the meeting be? It seems like there really is more than one meeting. Yeah, please.

Reporter/Journalist (42:34)

How was your meeting with Gustavo Petro earlier today? And did you come to any agreement on counter narcotic efforts?

Donald Trump (42:40)

Yeah, we did. We worked on it and we got along very well. He and I weren't exactly the best of friends, but I wasn't insulted because I never met him. I didn't know him at all. And we got along very well. And we are. We're working on that. We're working on some other things, too, including sanctions. And we had a very good meeting. I thought he was terrific. You know, he was very good. He got along great. Give us any update on how the.

Reporter/Journalist (43:05)

Talks are going for potential changes to the Department of Homeland Security. Have you agreed to any specifics?

Donald Trump (43:11)

Well, we have a secure border. In fact, we have nine months now where nobody has come into our country illegally. Now, I don't know if I can believe that because, you know, you go from 25 million people to nobody. But the Democrats do that. You know, they're leaning left, the people that do that report. And for nine months they have Said nobody has come into it. It is a strong, great border. We do have people coming into our country, but they're all coming in legally. You take a look at that and look at what was going on a year and a half ago on our border where criminals were coming in, drug dealers were coming in, people from mental institutions were coming in. The worst. You know, they say the worst. I don't even know if I like the term, but the worst of the worst was coming into our country. And now we have virtually no country is. It's beautiful to see, even if you go down, you know, some of you, I think, were down there a couple of weeks ago and you couldn't believe it, right? Because you were there two years ago, 10,000 a day and 10,000 a day now. You didn't even see anybody. Nobody. Nobody comes up with saving lives because nobody comes up. They have to come through the jungles and they're dying of all sorts of problems, including murder. And we have nobody coming in. And we're getting people out that we're getting. We have 11,888 murderers who came into our country. We're getting them out. We're getting them out fast. And the only place where there's a little bit of. And I will tell you this, Minnesota, their crime, because of us, because we've taken out thousands of criminals, their crime is down. Not because of anybody else. It's because of us. Their crime is down. But all over the country, wherever we're involved, we're getting criminals out of our country. And the crime rate now is the lowest it's been since 1900. That's 125 years. And that's despite the fact, with an open border, stupid policy, 25 million people, in my opinion, came into our country. And many of those people should not have been allowed to come into our country. On Ukraine, Mr. President, yesterday you were.

Utah County Attorney (45:21)

Talking about how Vladimir Putin had agreed to a pause during the cold weather. Overnight, those attacks have started up again.

Donald Trump (45:28)

It was Sunday. It was Sunday to Sunday. And it. It opened up. And he hit him hard last night. No, he agreed. He kept his word on that. It was. It's a lot. You know, one week is. We'll take anything because it's really, really cold over there. But it was on Sunday. And he went from Sunday to Sunday.

Utah County Attorney (45:48)

You disappointed he didn't go further or go.

Donald Trump (45:50)

I would like to. I want him to end the war. I spoke to him. I want him to end the war.

Reporter/Journalist (45:59)

Did you mean when you said that you should nationalize elections. In which 15 states are you talking?

Donald Trump (46:03)

I want to see elections. Be honest. And if a state can't run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it. Because, you know, if you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections. I don't know why the federal government doesn't do them anyway. But when you see some of these states about how horribly they run their elections, what a disgrace it is. I think the federal government, when you see crooked elections, and we had plenty of them, and by the way, we had them last time. But go to 2020 and look at the facts that are coming out. Rigged crooked elections. If we have areas, take a look at Detroit, take a look at Pennsylvania, take a look at Philadelphia. You go take a look at Atlanta. Look at some of the places that horrible corruption on elections and the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.

Reporter/Journalist (47:02)

The Constitution says it to be states that administer elections.

Donald Trump (47:04)

Mr. President, you know what? They can administer the election, but they have to do it honestly. Are you open to negotiating on warrants when it comes to ice?

Court Clerk (47:14)

This is an ask from Senator Schumer.

Donald Trump (47:18)

Requiring search warrants for ICE and an immigration official. I haven't even thought of it. I'm not thinking about search warrants. Lindsey Graham is going to answer that one.

Utah County Attorney (47:28)

No.

Judge (47:28)

Makes no sense. If we have to get a search Warrant to get 15 million people out. Schumer's telling me he doesn't want them out. It's the most ridiculous idea. They do have some good ideas, I think. But I've got a better idea. It's your idea in sanctuary cities on immigration. I know what I'm talking about. I've got the scars to prove it. They're playing. Y' all are playing like Biden didn't exist. Y' all won't tell the American people about Lake and Riley. It's a one sided debate. Four years our border was obliterated. They let them come in by the tens of millions and they want to go back that way. We're not going. So, Mr. President, stick to your guns. If you got reforms that make ICE blood better, more professional. Talk to me. But you should embrace what I'm suggesting. As long as 12 states have sanctuary policy, they'll keep coming. Unfortunately, you won't be present forever. These magnets of illegal immigration have to go. There is no upside to Sanctuary city. Unless you're a complete radical nut job, the cops hate it. Fraud around sanctuary city cities and you're going to get more illegal immigration. We're going to have a debate. I've been trying to solve this problem, but what the Democrats are doing is they're not getting to the underlying problem. It's not Stephen Miller, it's not Chrissy Noem, it's not me, it's not you. It's policies that have been on the books that don't work. So if you want a debate on how to solve this problem, show up next week. I'm going to take President Trump's idea that it's time to end the insane policy of sanctuary cities. We're going to take it the floor and we're going to vote. And people in November are going to get to see who they trust to keep the border secure, Schumer or Trump. I'm with Trump, Mr. President.

Donald Trump (49:21)

And by the way, I hope you're going to press that very hard. And the other thing, we are not. We are not. Well, we are with you. I think everybody's with you. It's a sanctuary for criminals. That's who it is. They could make our lives so much easier. All they have to do is hand over their criminals, hand over people that came into our country illegally, that are murderers, that came out of jails, that came out of mental institutions, that are drug dealers. I don't, I can't believe in Minnesota that they want to have murderers walking all over the streets. I just don't believe it. Maybe somebody says it's good. I don't think it's good politics. I think it's really bad. The other thing we can't lose sight of is you probably have in Minnesota, and it's worse in some places, like California. $19 billion in fraud. And we're going to find out, you know, we have, we're very deep into that investigation, but we're not going to forget that. A lot of people think that a lot of this nonsense that's going on is to try and, you know, hide what's going on. With respect to the fraud and 19, at least $19 billion. You know, you're hearing nine now. I'm hearing it's 19, and it's probably much more. So it's, it's, you know, they talk about incompetence. I think it's not incompetence. I think it's just pure fraud. These are dishonest people. They're bad people. I think they hate our country, and we're going to get to the bottom of it. But don't let this hide the fact that, that you have tremendous fraud. And, you know, we find the fraud in this country. You have a balanced budget without even cutting anything. You literally have a balanced budget. Yeah. Please. Colombia, are you planning to work with President Petro to fight guerrilla groups and terrorist organizations in Venezuela? Well, they want me to do that, and we will. We're getting along very well in Venezuela with the leadership. Very, very well. You know, we took in 50 million barrels of oil. It's right now heading to Houston, and we're getting along very well with them, but we're going to work with them. Yes. A few months ago, you had in.

Utah County Attorney (51:29)

Your office here Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador. You were shaking hands with him over a trade deal. He's today been forced to resign from the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, over his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Just wondered if you had any reaction to that since.

Donald Trump (51:44)

Obviously I didn't know about it, but I really don't know too much about it. I know who he is. Too bad. You know, speaking of Epstein, I will say this. A reporter named Wolf and Epstein conspired. This just came out yesterday in the millions of pages of documents, how crazy this is. Conspired against me in order to fight like hell to make sure I lose the election. That's the only thing that was mentioned about me. Now, about Democrats, some really bad stuff. But about me, that Wolf, whoever Wolf is, he wrote a book, a couple of books, and Epstein conspired against me. Did you know that, Mr. Senator? I didn't know that. They conspired against me. So I lose the election or worse. So that takes care of Epstein as far as Trump is concerned. But you got a lot of Democrats out there that are very much involved with Epstein. But I'll be honest with you, you got to get back to running the country, too. Millions and millions every week. You know, when Epstein was alive, nobody cared about him. When he's dead, they care about him. But it's really a Democrat problem. It's not a Republican. It's a Democrat problem. The only problem Republicans have is that we have to get back to, number one, running our country and then, number two, very importantly, letting the public know what a great job we're doing. We have the greatest economy in the history of the world. We have $18 trillion being spent. The record was 3 trillion, many years ago. Not by us, by another country. I won't say the country. Yeah, have you been raped? On Savannah Guthrie's mom missing in Arizona. I think it's terrible.

Judge (53:29)

Would you commit to more federal agents.

Donald Trump (53:31)

Like helping out on this? Sure, I would. I'm going to call her later on. I think it's a terrible thing. I always get along very good with Savannah. Very unusual situation. But we're going to find out. Yeah, what do you want?

Reporter/Journalist (53:42)

On the FC Miles, you talk about Democrats who were in there. Elon Musk was also in there and so was your commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and correspondents that he had with him. Did you read those new files that were published by the Department of Justice?

Donald Trump (53:53)

I have a lot of things. I'm doing a lot of things and I don't know. You mentioned two names. I'm sure they're fine. I'm sure they're fine.

Podcast Host (54:01)

Otherwise.

Donald Trump (54:01)

Otherwise it would have been major headlines.

Reporter/Journalist (54:03)

A lot of women who were or survivors of Epstein's are unhappy with those redactions that came out. Some of them entire witness interviews are totally blacked out.

Donald Trump (54:11)

Do you think that they should be more transparent, the fact that they thought they released too much? You know, I heard that. And you tell me something else. I think it's really time for the country to get onto something else. Really. You know, now that nothing came out about me other than it was a conspiracy against me literally by Epstein and other people. But I think it's time now for the country to maybe get onto something.

Reporter/Journalist (54:36)

Else like health care, justice.

Donald Trump (54:38)

Mr. Something that people care about. You know what, what do you say?

Reporter/Journalist (54:41)

What would you, what would you say to the survivors?

Donald Trump (54:44)

You are the worst reporter. No one to see. CNN has no ratings because of people like you. You know, she's a young woman. I don't think I've ever seen you smile. I've known you for 10 years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face. You know why? You know why you're not smiling? Because you know you're not telling the truth and you're, you're a very dishonest organization and they should be ashamed of you. Okay, go ahead. And the bill that was just passed.

Reporter/Journalist (55:13)

Does not include your health care savings account.

Donald Trump (55:15)

So this is a question for you and maybe for Mr. Speaker as well. So proud of the health care savings accounts because it's going to happen and hopefully instead of insurance. And I hope this happens and I hope you guys can do it. Let the insurance companies not do quite as well. You know, they're going up 15, 16, 1700%. Think of it. The money should be paid directly to the people. You know, trillions of dollars goes out. The money should go to the people. They should buy their own health care. It could be in a health care, you know, account, savings account, any account you want to make. The money should go to the people. The people should buy their own health care, and they're going to save a lot of money and they're going to have much better health care. And it's very simple. The problem is the Democrats are owned by those insurance companies. They're owned lock, stock and barrel. And the Democrats will never vote on it because the Republicans should get that through. And you know how you get it through? The filibuster. Get rid of the filibuster and start voting yes.

Reporter/Journalist (56:18)

Mr. President, today we heard that the Clinton set deposition dates to testify before the House Oversight Committee. Any reaction to that related to the Oscar?

Donald Trump (56:26)

I think it's a shame, to be honest. I always liked him. Her? Yeah. She's a very capable woman. She was better in debating than some of the other people, I will tell you that. She was smarter. Smart woman. I hate to see it. In many ways, I hate to see it. But, you know, then I look at me, they went after me like, you know, they wanted me to go to jail for the rest of my life. Then it turned out I was innocent. Very innocent. You know, I had a friend that said, a very smart friend, he's a very wealthy man, knows the life. Streetwise guy. He said, you have to be the most honest person anywhere in the world, because there's never been anybody who's been examined up and down. You know, I have hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, millions of pages, millions of pages. With all of that, they found absolutely nothing wrong. Remember his tax returns? All his tax returns. They fought for years and years. And then the Supreme Court, I was surprised they ruled I had to give my tax returns. I'm the only one that had to ever do that. But I had to give my tax returns. I gave them my tax returns. They hired the best tax accounting firms in the world. They found nothing. And this friend of mine said, you have to be the most honest person in the world. He actually said, you know, I'm me referring to him. I'm a pretty honest guy, but I could have never withstood that. They've gone through millions and millions of pages, and here I sit, winning an election in a landslide, winning the popular vote, winning all seven swing states, winning 86% of the counties in the United States. That's why those maps that you see are all red. And so they tried to put me in jail. And I shouldn't feel this way, but I feel badly that they have to go through that. But then I say, but they did far worse than me. They wanted to put me in jail. Think of it. I was a very good president. We had a great first term, rebuilt the military, biggest tax cuts ever, biggest regulation cuts ever. But you know, I will say this, I think I can say, what do you think, Lindsey? My second term is blowing my first term away. And my first term was really good.

Judge (58:41)

Reagan plus.

Donald Trump (58:43)

Reagan plus. Well, whatever. Thank you very much.

Utah County Attorney (58:54)

Wow.

Podcast Host (58:55)

Well, well, well. I don't know about you, but the highlight of the last hour, I gotta say, was Trump calling out Kaitlan Collins, calling her a nasty person, a terrible reporter. And that's why CNN's ratings are so low. I tend to agree with it. She used to be a nice. She used to be just to work for Daily Caller, for Tucker Carlson, a Daily Caller. Her original job was that and then somehow decided she was going to be a liberal. But she was a very fair reporter when she was on the right of center, Caitlin Collins just taking the full force and thrust of Donald Trump right to the facade, if you know what I'm saying. There is that, that, folks, I hate losing the show. I hate losing the show. I hate stepping aside. I know we got to do it. I know we have to do these things. But if I want to step aside, I want more of that. CNN taking it right on the chin from Trump and Kaitlan Collins, Boom, man down, so to speak. Or I'm coming up next. Have a good night. We'll see you tomorrow. And try and get some content in tomorrow.

Donald Trump (59:59)

This is an I heart podcast, guaranteed human.