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- [00:00]
Donald Trump
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Public Investing Representative
Guaranteed Human support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.com Ever wonder
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Martha Stewart
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- [02:15]
Donald Trump
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying Big Wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway, give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first three months only then full price plan options available,
- [02:42]
Press Secretary / Reporter
taxes and fees extra.
- [02:43]
Donald Trump
See full terms@mintmobile.com I think when you're diagnosed with cancer, you crave a semblance of normalcy and so work allowed me to be me. So I think it's really important that companies stay flexible. Cancer in a diagnosis can be all consuming, but it doesn't have to be.
- [03:01]
Scott Besant
Research shows there is a significant connection
- [03:04]
Donald Trump
between the ability to continue to work and cancer recovery.
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Eric Bolling
We can make work a better place
- [03:10]
Donald Trump
for healing, learn more and sign the pledge@workingwithcancerpledge.com the Bleacher Report app is your
- [03:17]
Bleacher Report / Howie Mandel
destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.
- [03:46]
Donald Trump
Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
- [03:50]
Neil McCabe
Okay, welcome back. Breaking news, the president, because of everything going on, and I think particularly the war, the president has called a cabinet meeting at 10 o' clock our time. We're going to be cutting to that. We've got Brian Glenn at the White House. We have our camera crew there. We also have Neil McCabe at the White House. So we're going to be going that may start a little late, maybe 11:30, but we're going to go live. I'm sure the president's going to have a few comments for the nation and then they're going to have a closed Cabinet meeting. As you know, we're in a, in a very tough fighting situation over there. In fact, John, I've got Eric Bolling is, by the way, is Bolling been doing a great job every day by oil and gas.
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Eric Bolling
Amazing.
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Donald Trump
I didn't know if that pundit thing
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Neil McCabe
was going to work out for you bowling, but oil and gas you got okay. It's just been a great, a great ride. Let's talk before we go to Eric. You saw the last 48 hours the President's been in a very tough actually to find who to negotiate with. You know the guys of the White House very well. You're talking to them all the time. What is the feeling around the White House this cabinet meeting is going to be another situation to push it forward. Where do we stand with this?
- [05:03]
Eric Bolling
Iran's military is completely decimated. All they can do is be a menace. Now, when they are menace and they fire a few rockets, they still kill people. They still have the Hormuz somewhat laced with mines. Now, the guy that laced those mines met Allah this morning. He was taken out by an Israeli missile about six o' clock our time. So we're continuing.
- [05:22]
Donald Trump
Saw that where they took out the
- [05:24]
Neil McCabe
head of the Iranian navy.
- [05:25]
Eric Bolling
Yeah. They are thinning out the Iranian military's leadership, their capabilities. We're now in close air support, meaning that we have such supremacy in the skies. We can bring in Black Hawk and Warthogs and other things and take out mobile missile launchers, armored vehicles and things like that. We are in total control of the military dynamic there. The question for the President is at what point does Iran say, I've had enough and we're willing to negotiate a real deal? They're not in the mood to negotiate a real deal right now. Nothing's real yet. I think the pain will continue to go and pretty soon there won't be anyone left in the regime to negotiate. And you'll go down to the civilian.
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Neil McCabe
Hasn't whatever is left of the Revolutionary Guard. Yeah. Aren't they taking on a little bit of President Trump's Persona?
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Eric Bolling
They are.
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Neil McCabe
I mean, the way they're coming back is very trumpy. You know, he goes out and says, I got a 15 point plan. We can talk about this. These things will be. And they come back and go, hey, look, straight Hormuz, ours, total reparations for everything. I mean, it's very trumpy in this negotiation. Even to find out who you can talk to is going to be tough. They're talking about sending the vice President of Pakistan.
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Donald Trump
Right.
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Neil McCabe
Jared and Wyckoff to Pakistan.
- [06:36]
Eric Bolling
Right.
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Neil McCabe
We don't really right now have a group that can deliver a deal, deliver the Iranian people.
- [06:42]
Eric Bolling
They can't right now. And I think that's why the thinning out of the ranks has to continue. They're hitting the Revolutionary Guard very hard. They're dropping these bunker buster bombs on these underground things and they're collapsing them in on them. I've heard from people that we've taken out maybe 10 to 15,000 of their 40,000 components. That's a big degradation. But I think you're going to see another two weeks of destruction until the Iranian regime is so humbled that someone comes out and said, enough's enough. Let's make a deal.
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Neil McCabe
So this massive, so this massive, this massive, this massive fight they're going to have, the massive thing President Trump's going to is talking about that will happen in the next 48 hours, 72 hours.
- [07:18]
Eric Bolling
Oh, I think there'll be more. We're dropping every day. It's nonstop. It never paused. It's all day long.
- [07:26]
Neil McCabe
Eric Bolling. Eric was going to be here live, but he's as Eric has become now, the nation's oil and gas analyst. You're going downtown for a big deal, we understand, but we still got you by car, Eric. First off, talk to us about the markets. Who are the markets telling President Trump they think is going to happen?
- [07:46]
Donald Trump
Great to be with you guys again.
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Scott Besant
Good, good analysis so far.
- [07:49]
Donald Trump
Solomon and Ben. Awesome, awesome stuff. So woke up this morning, oil is up $4 a barrel. It's sitting up $3 a barrel, $93 and change right now. And that's on the response that you just pointed out.
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Steve Witkoff
Hang on, Eric.
- [08:02]
Neil McCabe
We're going to cut live. We're going to cut live to the Cabinet meeting right now. Let's go live to the White House.
- [08:07]
Donald Trump
President, United States, you do fantastically well. Congratulations to. You have a, an amazing family that were here yesterday in the Oval sworn in. His family is amazing. So thank you very much. We're now on day 41 of the disgraceful Democrat shutdown of Mark Wayne's department. Congratulations. You came into a department that shut down, shut down by the radical Democrats. Right. But Democrats are really punishing the American people. I saw today on one of the shows where they were interviewing people at the airport and they're all angry at the Democrats. They're saying they're actually angry at Schumer. I didn't think anyone knew his name. One woman said that Schumer is disgraceful. He's a disgrace to our country. But they're angry at the Democrats. They know what's happening, but they are punishing the American people, including travelers at airports, all in the quest to return to open borders and give amnesty to illegal alien criminals. They want to give amnesty to some of the criminals that came into our country. Just about all of them, actually, if you look at it, they love sanctuary cities, which is a sanctuary for criminals. They want to make sure they're taken care of. That's what we're fighting about. That's really what they're fighting. They don't talk about that, but that's what they're fighting about. They want to protect criminals. In many cases, 11,888 murders. Many of them, I will say, are gone now because of us. We got them out, but still have some left. Should have never happened. Should have never been allowed to come into our country, but we're not going to let it happen. We're not going to let the Democrats get away with this stuff. And people are wise to them. So they need to end the shutdown immediately or we'll have to take some very drastic measures. This morning I want to give an update on the Operation Epic Fury, which is an appropriate name because we are absolutely obliterating them. Over the past three weeks, we've been hitting Iran's military capabilities at a level that few people have ever seen before. People never knew there was such a capability. We have the strongest military anywhere in the world, by far. I built it during my first administration and I used it during my second administration, unfortunately, because I'd rather not have to use it. But it's a display of force and precision and skill like nothing the world has really witnessed. Although you get a pretty good witnessing of it in Venezuela also. That was a smaller version of what we're doing now. We're crushing their missiles and drone stockpiles, destroying their defense industrial base. We've wiped out their navy completely, their air force completely. We've wiped out a large percentage of their missiles and the missile launchers. Without the launchers, you can't. The missiles don't do any good. And we've knocked out probably close to 90% of the launchers, probably more than 90% of the missiles themselves, between some they fired and more than they fired we knocked out. We've also destroyed a lot of the factories. We're continuing to do that. But a lot of the factories where they manufacture the drones and the missiles, the drones, too, are way down. But the reason they're down is they. They go one way or they don't come back because for the most part we're shooting them down. But we also are able to. We've really done tremendous damage to the places where they make them. And just so we set their own record straight, because I've been watching the Wall Street Journal's fake news and all these stories that get printed like, oh, I want to make a deal. They are begging to make a deal. Not me. They're begging to make a deal. And anybody that saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal. But they say, oh, we're not talking to them. Anybody would know that. Only a total for. And they're not fools. They're very smart, actually, in a certain way. Way. And they're great negotiators. I say they're lousy fighters, but they're great negotiators. And they are begging to work out a deal. I don't know if we'll be able to do that. I don't know if we're willing to do that. They should have done that four weeks ago. They should have done it two years ago, or they should have done it when we first came into office. Because two years ago they had free reign under Biden. Sleepy Joe, worst president in the history of our country. What he allowed to happen to our country at the borders and even with a thing like this. But not just him. Every president for 47 years, every president should have done this. They should have done it a long time ago. Because you cannot give lunatics a nuclear weapon. And they would have had a big one. It stopped really when we did the B2, but even before for that, the Barack Hussein Obama, what he did, where he gave them the Iran nuclear deal, gave them free will toward a nuclear weapon. Basically he chose Iran over Israel and others that didn't want him to do it. But I terminated that deal. Had I not terminated that deal, you would have had a nuclear weapon years ago and it would have been used, guaranteed. And one of the reasons, reasons you know, about the guarantee is because their neighbors were sort of like bystanders. They weren't involved very much. They didn't choose heavy sides. They didn't want to because people were concerned with Iran. There was a big black cloud over the Middle East. They were concerned. But all of a sudden the war starts and they start shooting at these five in particular five countries. They start shooting at Qatar, Saudi Arabia, uae, Kuwait, Oman. They start shooting at them. And they were, they were, everybody was shocked, including us. You know why? Because they're sick. And they had a plan to take over the Middle East. And some of those missiles that were shot at them were locked long before we even started this process. They were locked and loaded and aimed at those countries. They wanted to take over the Middle east, but we happened to come along, so it wasn't so easy. So right now their navy is sunk in the largest elimination of a foreign navy that has taken place, maybe ever. But certainly since World War II. Their Air Force is gone. Their anti aircraft and communications capabilities are totally dismantled. And one of the problems they do have when they deal with us is we deal with people and that people aren't able to communicate with anybody else. You know, because all of their leadership has been gone. The first level is gone. And they met to pick a new level. And they're gone. They're all gone because they didn't make a deal and because they're sick people. They're really sick. They're. They're really sinister, sick people. And if anybody thinks it was okay to have a group of people like this, to have nuclear capability, nuclear weapons. And if we didn't attack with the B2 bombers, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks of that, maybe four weeks. But between two and four weeks, they were planning to have a nuclear weapon if we didn't hit them at that time with the nuke, with the B2 bombers. And one of the great air raids in history, maybe the greatest. Dark at night, no moon, no light. Every single bomb hit its mark and just obliterated that place. So it's now buried deep under earth. And it was an amazing thing. But they would have a nuclear. And they would have used it without question. And you know that. Because why did they shoot all these countries that weren't even really involved with them? They weren't involved. They had no big problems because they're sick. Because they want to take over them Middle east, not just Israel, certainly Israel would have been the first on their list. They would have used nuclear weapons. A nuclear. You don't need too many of them. But they would have used a nuclear weapon on Israel and they would have used it on the other neighbors. And then they would have come after us. And if we had a weak president, they would have done great damage. But fortunately, you don't have a weak president. I knew what was happening, and I think we've been proven right. You know, they took one missile, went 2,500 miles. They supposedly didn't have a missile like that. They had no missile with that capability. But they shot the now famous Ireland, the island that the UK was very afraid to give us because they didn't want to get dragged in. But we don't want to get dragged into their wars either. You know, one thing, we're very disappointed, I'll say it publicly, we're very disappointed with NATO because NATO has done absolutely nothing. And I've always said 25 years ago, I mean, I was somebody that wasn't a politician, but I was always involved in politics and I understood politics. I said 25 years ago that NATO is a paper tiger, but more importantly, that we'll come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours. And I want you to remember that we said this. They didn't come to our rescue. Now they all want to help. When they're annihilated, the other side is annihilated. They said, we'd love to send ships. They actually made a statement, a couple of them, that we want to get involved when the war is over. No, it's supposed to get involved with the war's beginning or even before it begins. We had the UK say that we'll send, this is three weeks ago. We'll send our aircraft carriers, which aren't the best aircraft carriers, by the way. They're toys compared to what we have. But we'll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over. I said, oh, that's wonderful. Thank you very much. Don't bother. We don't need it and we don't need it and we don't need them. We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission, and we're way ahead of schedule. If you look at what we've done in terms of the destruction of that country, I mean, we're way ahead. Think of it, they have no navy and they had good ships. 154 ships have been shot down and are resting very nicely at the bottom of the sea. And we did that in a matter of less than a week because we have the greatest military in the world by far. Nobody even close. So we estimate it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. 26 days in, we're extremely, really a lot ahead of schedule. The Iranian regime is now admitting to itself that they have been decisively defeated. They're saying to people, this is a disaster. They know it. That's why they're talking to us. And they're only, they wouldn't talk otherwise, but they're talking to us because they've got a disaster on their hands. They're defeated. They can't make a comeback. We're free to roam over their cities and towns and destroy all of their crazy nuclear weapons and missiles and drones that they're building. Are we doing that? They now have a chance to make a deal, but that's up to them. And they'll tell you we're not negotiating. We will not negotiate. Of course they're negotiating. They've been obliterated. Who wouldn't negotiate? They are begging to make a deal. We'll see if we can make the right deal. And if they make the right deal, then the strait will open up. Hormuz Strait will open up. And even now we don't know if There are any mines, you know, we. They have 22 mine. They call mine droppers. Think of it. Who would have 22 mine droppers? This is a boat that drops mines. Who has 22 mind droppers in, except for people with very evil intention? So every one of those mind droppers has been struck with the same weapon we use to stop drugs from coming into the United States of America. When we hit those boats, it's the exact same weapon. Extremely effective. We have unlimited supplies and extremely effective. But they have no more mind drivers. By the way, speaking of drugs, we're 98% down. Drugs coming in by water, by the ocean, by the sea. 98%. And we're trying to find out who are the 2% because we think they're the bravest men anywhere in the world. Maybe women, but whoever's on those boats is very brave or doesn't watch television. But where drugs coming in by saying sea, coming in by water are 98% down. And now we'll stop the drugs coming in by land. The land is the easy one. You had to stop the water. A lot of it came in through the water. Now it's all pinched. And these people are trying to come in by land. And we will. That's the easy one. But we had to take care of the water first. Nobody's. Nobody's coming. Very. Virtually nothing is coming in anymore. It was hundreds of millions of dollars a week were coming in by water. But they now have the chance, that is Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to join a new path forward. We'll see if they want to do it. If they don't, we're their worst nightmare. In the meantime, we'll just keep blowing them away unimpeded, unstopped. Well, there's not a thing they can do about it. They can't do anything about it. You know, I tell you, if they could. If they could, you'd be hearing about it. You'd be hearing about it. You don't hear anything about it. They can't shoot our jets. We have the best. We have the best military equipment in the world. No, not even a contest. You see that with Venezuela, they had other equipment. They didn't have ours. It didn't work. Didn't work. Think of that. We did a situation in Venezuela. It was a great military operation getting a very, very dangerous man who's killed a lot of people, forced people into our country. Incredible. He emptied his prisons in Venezuela, emptied his prisons into our country. And I hope that charge will be brought at Some point because that was a big charge that hasn't been brought yet. It should be brought. He emptied his prisons into our country and was a major purveyor of drugs coming into our country and he's now been captured and he'll, you know, I guess be given a fair trial. But I would imagine there are other trials coming because they have just, they've really sued him just in a fraction of the kind of things that he's done. Other cases are going to be brought, as you probably know, in the meantime with Iran we're to going, going to keep doing what we've been doing and nobody is a match for the United States. But they're not a match for the United States. It's small potatoes. That's why I'm so disappointed in NATO because this was a test for NATO. This was a test. You can help us, you don't have to, but if you don't have, you know, if you don't do that, we're going to remember, just remember, remember this in a number of months from now. Remember my statements. They have an expression, a great expression. Never forget, can never forget. So as we end threats to America abroad, we're focused here at home on building the greatest economy in the history of the world. Now before this started, The Dow hit 50,000, the S&P hit 7,000. Both of those achievements were not, were not achievable. Every one of you, most of you I guess said you'll never hit 50,000 during a four year period because it was too high a number. Well, we hit it in our first year. And I said, well now we have to take an excursion to Iran and we have to stop this maniac who's no longer with us. The Supreme Leader wasn't so supreme, no longer with us. It's very sad but we have to stop him from blowing up the world, blowing up the Middle east and blowing up our country. And we did that. And I thought, frankly I thought the oil prices would go up more and I thought the stock market would go down more. Hasn't been nearly as severe as I thought. I think they have confidence in maybe the American President and maybe the people sitting there around this table. But Americans filing their taxes this year are receiving record setting refunds. It's been a very big story. Well, it should be a big story. I don't think you write about it that much. But I speak about it. You know, I speak about it because if I speak about it at least people here, you don't write about it. You don't write about the drug prices going down. It'll be going down 30, 40, 50, 60%, 70% favored nations called most favored nations. We're going to be paying the lowest price anywhere in the world before we paid the highest price in the world. Bobby. Right. And now we're going to pay the lowest price in the world. That's quite a difference. It's a difference of from 40 to 70 and 80 and even 90%. That's a pretty big difference. But we're slashing regulations and investment is pouring in from all over the world. World. We have the most investment of any country in history has been put into our country in the last year. And again we had to take a little detour. Won't be long, going to end soon. We had to take a little detour, go to Iran and we had to put out a fire, very dangerous fire that could have blown up big portions of the world, if not the whole thing. So tomorrow we'll be announcing a variety of actions that were taken to support American farmers who we never forget. We love the farmers. We gave them $12 billion out of tariff money. We had a tremendous amount of tariff money come in and we continue to have. We've gone. As you know, the Supreme Court gave us a very unfortunate, foolish ruling, a ruling that gives the people that have ripped off our country for many years, gives them some money back. But it's one of those things. Things. It's a terrible, terrible, horrible mistake they made. But it's okay because we have another method that's just as good. We'll use the other method. But because the tariff money has been so substantial, we gave our farmers who have been mistreated by some countries, we gave them $12 billion and they're extremely happy and they deserve it. They've been great. They never complain. They just go out and. And they farm. And they wouldn't do anything different. They wouldn't trade jobs with any of you, except maybe some of the fake media. I don't know. Some. I don't see that. I like their job better, actually. I love the farmers. So we gave them $12 billion. So in just a few moments, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant will discuss the actions that we're taking to address energy prices which have not gone up as much as I thought, Scott, to be honest with you, and you know, it's not over, so maybe it'll go up a little bit more. It's all going to come back down to where it was and probably lower. And my predictions have been right Trump was right about everything. They have a new hat. Trump was right about everything. It's pretty right. But Scott is going to address that. And I think before we go very much further, I want to ask Vice President J.D. vance to say a few words about where we are with the situation. He's involved with Steve and with Jared on negotiations. And then some of the others will speak. We'll have Marco say a few words. Pete Hag said who's. Who was born for this role. I mean, he's doing a great job. They gave him a hard time. And now, people, I'll tell you, somebody came up to me yesterday, gave you a very hard time, said, you know, I made a mistake. Pete Hagg sent this to an. Good job. Thank you, sir. So when I tell you who, you're not even going to believe it. He said, he gave you such a nasty hard time, but you're doing, you're doing great. And then Steve is going to speak and Scott will speak last. And if we have any questions, we'll take some questions. You may have questions. I doubt it, but you may answer. So JD Please.
- [28:45]
J.D. Vance
Yes, sir. Well, thank you. It's good to see everybody proud to be part of this team, proud to be serving the President and the country. Let me just say a couple things. The first of all is the president summarized this very ably. But look, the Iranian conventional military is effectively destroyed. They don't have a navy. They don't have the ability to hit us like they could have even a few weeks ago. And what that does is that gives us options, Mr. President. Now, there's been a lot of reporting about diplomatic options, about negotiations. There's, of course, Pete and his team. There are further military options. But what we have now that we didn't have when the President took over just a little over a year ago is the ability to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. Because when I say options, I think it's important the American people know options for what. And it's options to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. You talk about people who walk into a crowded super supermarket and have a vest on and they blow up the vest and a couple of people get killed. And that's a terrible tragedy. What happens when what's on the vest is not something that can kill a couple of people, but can kill many, many tens of thousands of people. That is the most important American national security objective that exists for any administration at any time, is you don't want the Worst people in the world to have a nuclear weapon. That's why the President is doing this. That's why the President cares so much about this particular issue. I'll let Steve talk a little bit about the details of the negotiation. But the last thing I'll say before I turn it over to Marco is I'm very mindful, of course, that we have a lot of folks overseas fighting very ably for the United States of America. I know Pete and the whole team were very proud of them. But they're fighting at a time where we are about to enter as Christians. The most important week of the Christian calendar, the Holy Week that sets celebrates the return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem. And so I want to say to all of my fellow American Christians, but particularly those serving in the Gulf, that I wish you all a very blessed Easter, a very blessed Holy Week, and we continue to stand behind you and continue to support you every step of the way. Thank you, sir.
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Donald Trump
Thank you very much, Marco.
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Marco Rubio
The most important job any president has is to keep the American people safe. And every president says it, but we have a president that means it and does something about it. As the President outlined very clearly to the world on the night this operation began, Iran has been at war with the United States for 47 years. For 47 years, Iran has been killing Americans and attacking Americans across this planet. And other presidents had an opportunity to do something about it. And they all warned about how Iran was dangerous, but they refused to act. And this president is not someone that's going to refuse to act. He's not going to leave a danger like this in place. He's going to address it, and that is what he is doing. From the very first night of this operation, the President made it very clear people like this. And now what I'm talking about is not the people of Iran. The people that run this country are radical Shia clerics. These are religious fanatics. Look what they are doing now at their weakest point. This is the weakest Iran has ever been. And look at what they're doing. They're attacking embassies.
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Donald Trump
Embassies.
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Marco Rubio
They're attacking hotels. Imagine what these people would do if they had a nuclear weapon. That is an unacceptable risk for the world. By the way, the President's not just doing a favor to the United States and to our people. This is for the world. He defined very clearly on the first night of this operation what the goal was. We were going to destroy Iran's navy. And that is happening. We were going to. If it hasn't Already happened. I'll let Pete speak to the specifics of it. We were going to destroy their missile launching capabilities. We're well on our way to achieving that goal. We were going to destroy the factory so they couldn't make more missiles and more drones. And that is moving forward. Every single objective the President clearly laid out on the first night of this operation is being effectuated. Again, Pete will speak to the specifics of it. This has been an incredibly successful operation. Every day it may not get covered because, you know, we're unlike them. We're not bombing embassies and hotels, we're hitting military targets. But every day, the Department of War lets the drummer get wicked over every portion of Iran that has these military capabilities. And the results are going to bear fruit for the world. The world is going to be a safer and a better place when President Trump's mission here is achieved. And frankly, I think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit, should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that's willing to confront a threat like this and not allow it to continue to persist. Because these people will kill as many Americans as they have a chance to do. And if they have a nuclear weapon, as the Vice President pointed out, they could kill millions of Americans in the future. That is a risk that was not going to continue to exist as long as we had this president.
- [33:14]
Donald Trump
Thank you, Marco. You know, it's very interesting because yesterday I was watching Is it Anthony Blinken? And he was saying that they should have done it, but they didn't do it. Nobody did it. Nobody did it for 47 years. Marco. That's the number. 47. I guess now it's 48, because we've been saying 47 for long time. It's probably 48. But for 47, 48 years, every president should have done this. And some are saying now that they made a big mistake in not doing it. But we're taking care of business. Steve Witkoff, please.
- [33:54]
Steve Witkoff
Mr. President, it is my distinct honor
- [33:58]
Donald Trump
to be a member of your cabinet
- [34:00]
Steve Witkoff
and to report to you and your team on our negotiations with Iran. Mr. President, you directed Jared and I to pursue a diplomatic resolution with Iran prior to Operation Epic Fury, which we did. However, it became quite clear during these meetings with the Iranian negotiating team that we could not make a deal that fulfilled your objectives of the following. No enrichment whatsoever. No chance of weaponizing whatsoever. Decommissioning of Fordeau, Natanz and Espahan, which you destroyed in Operation Midnight Hammer. No stockpiling of any material which they flagrantly violated, turning all enriched material over to us and a cutback in Iran's missile inventory and range capability of those same missiles. Throughout our meetings with the Iranians, we heard the following from them. The Iranians have the inalienable right to enrich. Then we heard they possessed enough 60% enriched material, 460 kilograms to make 11 atomic bombs. Finally, we heard the following. They would not give up diplomatically what we could not win militarily. In other words, they were again miscalculating the success of Midnight Hammer, which was a total success. These are incontrovertible signs, among many other signs, sir,
- [35:43]
Donald Trump
that their regime had not
- [35:44]
Steve Witkoff
given their negotiating team authority to make a deal required by you. We conferred with you and all the other members of your foreign policy Suzy Wiles, Pete Hegseth, the Chairman, Marco Rubio, JD Scott Besant, Chris Wright, John Radcliffe throughout all of these negotiations and we were repeatedly rebuffed on everything we asked for. I have no doubt that we exhausted all efforts on behalf of a peaceful resolution as you directed. Jared and I both agreed that the Iranians were there to buy time until a weaker president arrived. This was a flawed strategy, as your clear direction was to never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon today or anytime in the future. Against that backdrop and our compelling military successes in epic fury, we have had multiple reach outs from the region and others who want to play a role in ending this conflict peacefully. I can report to you today that we have, along with your foreign policy team, presented a 15 point action list that forms the framework for a peace deal. This has been circulated through the Pakistani government acting as the mediator, and this has resulted in strong and positive messaging and talks, as you just indicated to the press. But these are sensitive diplomatic discussions and you have directed us to maintain confidentiality on the specific terms and not negotiate through the news media as others do. I can say this. We will see where things lead. And if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point, with no good alternatives for them other than more death and destruction, we have strong signs that this is a possibility. And if a deal happens, it will be great for the country of Iran, for the entire region and the world at large. Your policy of peace through strength is the most effective tool for a diplomatic resolution here, just as it was as this policy was an effective tool in each and every one of all of the other conflicts you settled in your first year. Iran is looking for an off ramp following your powerful threat on Saturday Your indications that you are willing to listen to peace proposals have been well received. You have instructed us that your preference is always peace and that we should make that our priority. We have delivered that message, sir, along with the 15 points for peace. Finally, we have told Iran one last thing. Don't miscalculate.
- [38:47]
Donald Trump
Again. Thank you very much. Good job. Doing a great job. Everybody around this table is doing a great job. Pete Hegseth, please. Mr. President.
- [39:00]
Pete Hegseth
I'll start kind of where you left off. Mr. President. Thank you for doing the work of the free world and having the courage to step up and stop the Iranian terror regime from holding the world hostage. That's really what it is. And 27 days ago, Iran had a modern military. Never in recorded history has a nation's military been so quickly and effectively neutralized. Operation Epic Fury is not an endless war. It's a decisive campaign with clear objectives to destroy Iran's offensive military capabilities and ensure they never obtain a nuclear weapon. This is stuff for the history books. This is stuff for legacy. Mr. President, you are acting now to ensure future generations do not have to live under the threat of a nuclear armed Iran. However, you wouldn't know it if you listened to the dishonest hate Trump media. As you referenced the folks here in the room, these cameras, they have a choice. You're either informing the American people of the truth or you're not. Because I hear it from my people every day. Behind every headline you write, there's a helicopter crew in the air. And behind every news banner you write, there's a battalion on the move. And behind every fake news story, there's an F35 pilot executing a dangerous mission. My message to the media is get it right. This actually isn't something new to me. Maybe a young guy, Mr. President, but I'm not a rookie in this realm. In 2007. In 2007, I helped lead the surge, the public fight for the Iraq surge. Stood and watched people stand in the Senate and declare the war is lost before it even started. Who was that? It was Harry Reid. That was the Democrats and the media working hand in glove. Back then it was three years into a war. Now we're three weeks into an operation. But see, unlike Iraq, this isn't a tie. This is not parody. This is not chaos. This is success. Pure American success on plan and as the President said, ahead of pace. Over 10,000 enemy targets destroyed. Over 140. I think now you're right, Mr. President. Over 150 naval vessels sunk, underground facilities destroyed, their defense industrial base in shambles. And overnight, not only do they not have a Navy, Mr. President, they no longer have a Navy commander. IRGC's Navy commander was killed overnight in operation. So no Navy, no Navy leader. Now that he's. Here's the thing about the media though. If President Trump had not acted, you'd be screaming, why not? And now that he has taken decisive action, you're asking, well, why did you? It's the same old tired playbook TDS in your DNA. But the hard working, God fearing patriotic Americans out there know better. And you alluded to this President Obama. Mr. President, here's a fact that you don't hear on your networks, but we know many of the Iranian military factories and bases that we're systematically destroying were paid for by the pallets of American cash that Barack Obama flew into Tehran under the Iran deal. You might call it an inconvenient truth. Iran took our money and turned it into weapons and bunkers and ammo and now we're destroying those weapons and we're righting. You're righting, Mr. President, that grievous wrong. And make no mistake, we had to act and our objectives are clear. No nukes, no Navy, and a complete dismantling of their missile program and defense industrial base. And as Marco pointed out, that mission, and the VP as well has not changed since day one. Yet two days ago they shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000km away. For years they told the world that their missiles could only range 2km.
- [42:58]
Donald Trump
Surprise.
- [42:59]
Pete Hegseth
Yet again, Iran lied. And to the world I say London is 4,000 kilometers from Iran. Washington D.C. is 3,300 kilometers from Venezuela, another country. President Trump did something about this that partnered for a long time with Iran. So you're telling us that Iran is not a threat to the world or to the U.S. president Trump knows better. And here's what success actually looks like right now you mention it Mr. President. A 10 Warthogs. If you know them, you love them. And Apache helicopter gunships are flying strike missions inside Iranian airspace and throughout the Strait of Hormuz at will. See you only send these slow, low flying close air support platforms when the enemy has no meaningful air defenses left. Their presence is proof that Iran's air defenses are gone. Their command and control is shattered. Their top leaders hiding in underground bunkers while their mid level commanders are being crushed in the field. The morale of their fighters plummeting. We see that disconnect daily. They're privately admitting, as you said Mr. President, very heavy losses. We know that President Trump has given us a clear mission. Our capabilities are only going up and Iran's are plummeting. We are here to win, and we're full speed ahead. So, Steve, we appreciate your efforts. We pray for a deal, and we welcome a deal. And we have the ultimate dealmaker to make it happen. But in the meantime, as I said yesterday, the Department of War will continue negotiating with bombs. War is negotiation by other means. And finally, I want to thank our incredible troops, our pilots, crews, sailors, refuelers, air defenders, the absolute best of America, the real 1% of our country. This president, President Trump has your back. And I know this Cabinet prays for you every single day. And we ask the American people to do the same as they continue in this mission. God bless.
- [45:04]
Donald Trump
Thank you. Thank you very much. It's great. I think before I ask Scott to say a couple of words, it would be great if people like the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois would say, please come in and stop the crime. A beautiful young lady was killed the other day, and the father was a very good friend of Dan Scavino, and he took it very hard. Dan took it very hard. Like the father, friends, they grew up together. And it's a young lady whose life would be saved if we had. If we did what we did. As an example, in Washington, D.C. which is now a safe city, all the time, people come up to me in the building, people that work here, they say, thank you so much. I know immediately what they're talking about. They're able to walk to work. They walk to work. You all walk to work. Some of you were mugged. I know you told me stories. Some of you were mugged. One person in particular was viciously mugged in the group right here. Not happening anymore. You have a safe city, Louisiana. The governor of Louisiana called me. Can you help me with New Orleans? They just had the money grill. He said it was the safest Mardi Gras we've ever had. Sounds terrible to say no murders. You know, it sounds like, who would say this? No murders, but they always had murders. They had a lot of crime during Mardi Gras. He said, virtually no crime. We had the troops down there. Memphis, Tennessee. I just got back. We were there. Crime is down 75% in a short period of time. We're there five months. We could do that for Chicago. We could do that for New York. We could do that for L. A. And we could do that for, frankly, San Francisco. I know they have a mayor who's trying very hard. He's a Democrat. But he's trying very hard, but we can do it much more effectively because he can't do what we do. He can't take people out from the city and bring them to. Back to the country from where they came, where they were in prisons, they were allowed to go in prisons. There were drug dealers, the highest level drug dealers, murderers. 11,888 murders. We do things that they can't do. I had friends calling me up from San Francisco. Could you give him a chance? I said, absolutely, if you want. I'm no given chance. And he said, he's trying, he's doing okay, but we could do much better. We could make it a lot safer than it is. San Francisco, a great city, was a great city, could quickly become a great city again. But, you know, they're going very slowly. I tell my friends, they're very substantial people. They're in a certain business where people have made a lot of money. I hope that lasts. But they have a. A tremendous, tremendous potential. It was one of the greatest cities in the world. Now it's got a lot of crime. And the mayor is really trying again, a Democrat trying. And I spoke to him. He just wants to have a chance. And I said, we'll give you a chance, but we can solve it very quickly. This young lady would be around today if we were around, because we have nobody coming through our border. I mean, literally for nine months, it's zero. It's hard to believe that that number can be possible because millions of people came in through Biden, but nobody even tries. We don't have the caravans of thousands, 25, 30,000 people pouring into our border. They come up in caravans. We don't have caravans anymore. There's no such thing anymore. It was a name that I think I developed, but somebody developed it, but I think it was me. I thought it was inappropriate. Thousands of people would come up and just barge into our country totally unchecked, totally unvented. And this man came in, Dan, right? And he came in through the ridiculous open border of Biden. If we were there, the election was rigged. What are you going to do? Came back, big comeback. But if we were there, we wouldn't have had people coming through. It's amazing. You know, it's so easy now because everyone knows they're not getting through. We don't have any caravans once they know that. When it was easy to come through, when I heard that they had an open border policy, I said, boy, this is going to be. I couldn't Believe it. But when it was actually, you know, it dawned on me because I had built 1,000 miles of wall, and we were finishing up some, and he didn't want to finish it up. I said, they really do want to have an open border. And we got it finished. But that young lady would be alive today, and she'd be alive for another reason, because we would have the National Guard in Chicago and in New York and in other places. And they love doing it. It's like training, to be honest. It's actually training. I never want to take them out of D.C. i mean, maybe somebody later on will do it, but I never want to take. You know, the people, they look, they say, we feel so good. We feel so safe. We see these beautiful, strong people, and they're so nice. They help. They open the doors for people. They carry bags. They pick up paper when they see paper on the ground. I looked at D.C. last night. I drove to make a speech, and I drove through and I said, take me this way, Take me that way. The city's clean. The fences are down. You don't have homeless all over your parks. I mean, we had parks you couldn't. There was no room for anything else other than homelessness. All clean and nice. It's going to. And it'll be even more beautiful in a year from now. And we have some projects that are great. This ballroom is going to be something that's so beautiful for the city, so desperately needed by presidents. I mean, now it's no secret. The military wanted it more than anybody. It was supposed to be secret, but it became unsecret because of people that are really unpatriotic saying things, but. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. It's going to be great. We're building an arc, a triumphal arc, which will be incredible for the city. Incredible. We're fixing up the. What was the Kennedy Center. I was honored when the board changed the name a little bit, actually. It shows that the Republican in and the Democrats who work together, it's really something. We work together. I think it's a great symbol, actually. But we're doing a lot of work. That building is ready to fall down. It's in. It's in terrible shape. We're closing it. We're going to open it with a bang. In less than two years, it'll come in under budget, ahead of schedule. That's what I do. It won't be like the Federal reserve that's costing $4 billion or something, thereabouts. Think of it. $4 billion. You know, it's amazing. I said to the group before, I said everything I do, I get sued. I build under budget ahead of schedule. I get sued over a ballroom that's going to be the most beautiful ballroom in the country. So desperately needed. You won't have to have tents sitting on the wet White House lawn. If it rains, you get wiped out. To honor the president of China or the president of France or the president of somewhere, you could have the grass. We get sued by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They don't know what they're doing. Then I just found out we got sued by that group and another group, I guess on the, on the fixing up of again, I'll use the old name Kennedy center because they're not fixing up Trump can. And what it's going to be beautiful when you add the name Trump. But we got sued and all I'm doing is fixing it up. We're fixing broken marble. We're putting on a roof because it leaks like a sieve. We're fixing steel that's broken. It's the same building. Same exact building we're fixing. It's going to be beautiful. It's going to be so beautiful and safe, it's actually unsafe. You had some of those columns on the outside that would painted a fake gold. Now we painted them a beautiful white color. Beautiful cream white. It's beautiful. Everyone said so much more beautiful. Now instead of a cheap. You can't imitate gold. See, I'm a gold person. It's all real stuff. You can't imitate it. Someday they'll discover a paint that will look like gold and the guy's going to be the richest man in the world. But you can't imitate real gold. It just doesn't let's 24 karat, which is what this building deserves. But think of it. I get sued because I'm fixing up the Trump Kennedy Center. We're going to make it gorgeous and safe. We're fixing new windows, new this, but just all fix up. I got sued by preservationists, but you know who they didn't sue? The man that took this beautiful, beautiful Federal Reserve building. That's small, much smaller than the hotel I built. I built the Waldorf Astoria Hotel down the road and it was a beautiful job for $200,201,000,000. It's bigger, I think than the Federal Reserve building and it's got rooms and bathrooms. And it's not like just an open office space which is much cheaper to build. Think of this I hear he's going to be over $4 billion for a little building. He doesn't get sued by anybody. But me. I sue because it's either somebody who's very crooked, which has to be because what happened to all that money? You can't sue. I would have done that building for $25 million. It's going to cost maybe 4 billion. And we have a great new person coming in to, to take over the Fed. And Kevin may not ever have an office because I don't know if they're going to be able to build. I passed that building the other day. It's a see through. You know what see through means? There's no walls up and they're going to spend. But the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is a joke, by the way, they didn't sue that building. They didn't sue anybody. But they sue me and I build. And by the way, my buildings, it's all donations. Rich people and people are putting up the money. Zero taxpayer dollars. Is that right, Scott? Zero taxpayer dollars. Stuff is all done for free and I get sued. This can only happen to Trump. But they don't sue the guy whose interest rates are too high. That's why we call them Too late. His name is Jerome Powell. We call him Jerome Too Late Powell and done a terrible job. He suffers from Trump derangement syndrome, as he probably should because I hit him pretty hard. So I don't blame him. But they don't sue a man who has taken this gorgeous building, ripped it down from the inside, taken ceilings that are as beautiful as you've ever seen, taking the ceilings down instead of leaving them, taking walls down that were 2ft thick of solid concrete and plaster, replacing them with 6 inch walls with no insulation. I said, let me ask you, are you going to put insulation in? No, it's not in the budget. Insulation cost $5. Now you're going to hear the guy next door. If he's next door to me, I'll be able to hear his military plan. I'll know exactly if Lutnick is in there. I'll say, oh, I know exactly what Lutnick's got planned. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. They've ripped this gorgeous building apart and you can never build it again. You can. I could, but it costs a lot of money. But a normal person can never build a. So you're going to have crummy little walls, a flat little ceiling eventually. But right now you don't have anything and nobody Sues this guy. And then when Jeanine Pirro, working with Pam and others, has the courage to sue to find out what happened to maybe $4 billion at a building that may never be occupied by Kevin Warsh. He may never get there. We're going to have to find him some space in the White House. We'll put them in the basement of the ballroom. But when, now think of it, when Jeanine Pirro and Pam in the group, when they bring a suit, it's like, oh, this terrible thing. And then we have a judge that attacks us, attacks us. So we've got to get our priorities straight. You know, it's a very sad thing that's happened with the Fed. And then just one other thing, very quickly, you have Gavin Newscomb in California railroad that's 100 times over budget. It's out of control. It was supposed to go from the middle of San Francisco to the middle of L. A. Well, now it stops way short of both. It now goes into areas that nobody ever heard of. It's billions and billions of dollars over budget years and years, maybe decades later. And that's why we have a country that has a lot of problems. You know, we have incompetent people. It's all people. Think of this Federal Reserve. I would have had that building done for $25 million. I would. If I did it, somebody else would have done it for more. So maybe 50. But you could have done that building. If it was properly done and planned, you would have have done that building for. I would have done it for 25 million. And it would be better. It would be better. See this pen right here? This pen is an interesting example. It's the same thing. So this pen is very inexpensive, but it writes well. I like it, but I can't have the pen the way it was. You know what it is? I don't want to give too much publicity, but they do treat me well. Sharpie. So I came here, they have thousand dollar pens. And you know, you hand pens out, you're signing and you hand them out, you're handing them to all these people. Sometimes you have 30, 40 people and they were a thousand dollars a piece. Beautiful pen. Ballpoint thousand. It was gold, silver, gorgeous. But I'm handing out to kids that don't even know what they are. What is this, Mommy? These kids, they're getting a pen for a thousand dollars. They have no idea what it is. And I feel guilty because I'm like, you know, I'm. By nature, I don't, you know, it's the government. I love the government like I love myself economically. I want to save money. So I'm saying, this is crazy. And it had another problem. They didn't write well. So I take it out and I sign it and there's no ink. And I got all you people looking and you say, there must be something wrong with Trump. And there's no ink in the pen. And it costs $1,000 this one. I called a guy, I said, I'd like to use your pen, but I can't have a gray thing with a big S on it saying Sharpie as I'm signing a trillion dollar airplane contract to buy brand new fighter jets, brand new B2 bombers, of which we just ordered plenty. I can't do that with the press. Use your pen. But I like the pen the best. But I'll sign it. I could do like Biden did, you know, give it to somebody else to sign or an auto pen or maybe sign it separately in another room. But I can't use your pen. He said, well, I can make it nicer. I said, what can you do? He said, I'll paint it black. I said, that's nice. And I can even paint the White House on it, sir, if you like, in gold, almost real gold. Not bad. And I can even do your signature, sir. And by the way, this was not staged. I just saw the pen sit there. I thought of this as an example of how $25 million spent by me at the Federal Reserve building would be a better job than $4 billion that they're spending. And you know one of the things that Kevin Wash told me, he said they ripped down the nicest building. I don't know what building they're talking about. They ripped down a building, Scott, right. Kevin Wash said it's the most beautiful building in Washington. He said, the most beautiful space. They ripped it down. Why did they do that? I don't know. Do you know what he's to trying talking about? Is it true they ripped it down? We have a moron at the Fed who wouldn't be lowering interest rates right now. But I want to thank Jeanine Pirro and Pam and her group for having the courage to bring this suit. And I believe that the contractor on that job, he's probably one of the richest men in the country right now. I believe that it's not possible to spend that kind of money. Three billion, four billion. Nobody knows, nobody has any idea what it is. But it's over 3 billion and it's probably going to be over 4 billion by the time they finish. And it may never get finished unless I take it over. I'll get it finished, but it can never be where it was. It's never going to have those beautiful, beautiful ceilings. It's never going to have those incredible walls. The walls were a foot and a half thick of solid masonry. They ripped them down for no reason. And I just gave you the story and just to finish on this one. So I told that story to somebody and said, yeah, but, I mean, but it's not the same thing. I said, you're right, this one is better. It writes. So the guy said to me, you don't have to pay me, sir, I'll give him to you for nothing. I said, no, I don't want that. Let me pay you. I want to pay you. No, sir, you don't have to. You're the President of the United States. He was shocked. The head of Sharpie gets a call. I don't even know who the hell he is. He said, is this really the President? He said, no, you don't have to pay me, sir. This is such an honor. I said, no, I want to pay you. And he said, what would you like to pay? I said, how about five bucks a pen? They said, that's all right. Whatever the hell we agreed to. Peanuts as opposed to a thousand. And these were thousand dollar pens and we were giving them out. Sometimes, you know, you were there for signage. I'd have 30, 40 people standing behind me. I'd give out 40 pens to people. Then somebody would say, could I have a couple extra this way? I'd go like this. Here, you want five here. But the bottom line is they're better pens. It's a business story. So for $5 could be zero. But for $5 I get a much better pen than for $1,000 and I can hand them out and actually they become hot as a pistol. So what can I tell you with that? Could I give it to please a man who's done a great job at Treasury? Good luck, Scott.
- [64:06]
Scott Besant
Well, sir, as always, you're a tough act to follow, but that is very illustrative. Your economic leadership has made our military mission possible, Mr. President. National security, as you always say, is economic security. Your leadership has shown the American people that there is no prosperity without security. That our mighty military on one side, but the US Economic strength is fighting off this evil regime. The Iranians believe they are fighting a two front war. It is the military war that our great warriors are prosecuting. But on the other side, they are trying to take control of the global economy through a choke point that we believe does not exist and that we will overcome. Your historic Operation Epic Fury seized a generational opportunity to demolish a regime that has coordinated over four decades of global terror and claimed thousands of American lives. Many people, especially the Democrats, underestimate the will of the American people for short term volatility for 50 years of safety that we are going to have on the other side of this. And I believe energy prices will be lower, inflation will be lower. Before we had the appearance of security, which is not real security. Now the American people and the world will have absolute security. Through your maximum pressure campaign, treasury has worked to uncover all financial lifelines through the regime and cut them off. You gave that order last March. This was not the. This was not something that happened overnight. This is something that has been contemplated for almost a year. Therefore the Iranian financial system collapsed in December. We have systematically weakened Iran's ability to fund operations and procure weapons. And that required months of preparations. Threats to American national security have no place in the global economic system. The oil market is well supplied. We have taken actions to ensure oil supplies stranded at sea are made available to the global market. Your bold actions, like the Development Finance Corporation's maritime reinsurance program in conjunction with Central Command will soon provide shippers through the Gulf region with a level of security we have never seen before. Mr. President, we are starting to see more and more movement in and out of the Gulf today. And this is more than yesterday. And this is the beginning. I am confident that shipping traffic will continue to increase on a daily basis even before we secure the straits. Turning to the home front, the US economy remains strong. We had a strong economy thanks to you. We are the best insulated in the world thanks to your energy efforts in term one and term two. The US is an energy superpower. American workers purchasing power is finally being restored. The latest figures indicate robust real compensation increases. We are starting to see the working family tax cuts benefits bearing fruit. This tax season. 44% of people tax returns have claimed at least one of your signature policies. No tax and tips. No tax and overtime. No tax and Social Security deductibility of auto loans. The average tax refund is up more than 10% for working Americans. The economy you vitalize through your pro growth policies is well positioned to withstand these temporary disruptions. The United States dollar has reasserted itself as a safe haven asset. The US dollar has appreciated since the hostilities began. Because everyone knows thanks to your efforts the US economy is the best position in the world and capital is flowing in. Efforts to reprioritize economic security are ensuring the United States remains secure, resilient and prepared for the challenges ahead. As we approach, approach the 250th anniversary, America will never be safer and more secure militarily and economically.
- [68:38]
Donald Trump
Thank you. I just want to ask you a question. Is this guy central casting? I'm looking at him. I mean, Treasury. He might not be so good for war. I don't know. I'm looking pretty good, too. I'm looking at this guy. He's central casting. Even the glasses are perfect. What are you getting? I think I'm going to get glasses. That's beautiful. Great job. That's really good. No, he's done a great job and you all have. Proud of you all. Do you have any questions? Yes, Mr. President. Are you going to go in for the uranium?
- [69:15]
Press Secretary / Reporter
Like, how do you secure Iran?
- [69:17]
Donald Trump
And let's assume I was or I wasn't. Why would I ever answer a question?
- [69:22]
Scott Besant
Can you accomplish.
- [69:23]
Donald Trump
What kind of a question am I going to go in for the. Oh, yeah, I'm going in. We're going in tomorrow at 3 o'. Clock. How could you possibly ask a question like that and expect an answer? I don't know. But I don't know. I think you're a friendly person, too. It's just such a ridiculous question.
- [69:45]
Press Secretary / Reporter
Mr. President, please. Thank you. Mr. President, there's been a report that potentially, potentially, the U.S. is looking at diverting some munitions, air defenses that were meant for Ukraine to the Middle East. Is there any accuracy to that? Is that something you're considering?
- [69:59]
Donald Trump
Well, I'd have to ask, but we do that all the time. You know, we have tremendous amounts of ammunition. We have them in other countries like in Germany and all over Europe. We have, you know, we're packed and we take. Sometimes we take from one and we use for another. We helped Ukraine. Biden started, and he gave $350 billion away. Too much. Way too much. And we sell it now to NATO. We sell it to NATO and they probably give it to Ukraine. Mostly. I think they give it to Ukraine. But we get paid for everything that we give. We don't give anything anymore. That's a tough situation, that whole Ukraine situation. Very, very tough. We're working very hard on getting that one solved. It doesn't have any impact on us. Virtually nothing. In fact, if anything, I mean, we sell a lot of equipment for that unfortunate war. 25,000 people died last month. 25,000, mostly soldiers, some in the Towns, but for the most part, soldiers, they're dying. Nobody's seen anything like it since World War II. It's a terrible situation, and hopefully that's going to get settled. You know, I settled eight wars, and many of them, I think, were more difficult than this one. In theory, they were more difficult, but there's tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelensky. Tremendous hatred. I've seen it before, but I've never seen it maybe to this extent. And I think that's calming down a little bit, and I think we have a chance of getting it done, but it doesn't affect us thousands of miles away. That's why it's. When I heard the head of Germany say, this is not our war, about Iran, I said, well, Ukraine's not our war. We helped, but Ukraine's done our. I thought it was a very inappropriate statement to make, but he made it. You can't erase it. But he felt that way. I said, well, you know, Ukraine's not our war, but. And it's not. But I would like to see all those young people stop being killed. I mean, they're being killed. It's like a slaughterhouse. What's happening there is horrible. 25,000 on our last two months ago was. 31,000 people died in one month. Marco. Right. I look, I said, it's getting crazy. It's getting worse. Think of it, 31,000 soldiers, both Russian and Ukraine, died two months ago, 25,000 last month. And if I can solve that, it would be a great honor to do it. I wish it could have gone faster. The. You know, I solved other ones in one day that had been going for 32 years. We solved. We stopped one that was starting. It was already started. India and Pakistan. And the Prime Minister of Pakistan, a very fine gentleman, said President Trump solved something that was going to cost 10 million lives, that was going to cost a lot of lines. Two nuclear nations. And those were complicated, but we got them done quickly. This one is. It's a shame. And the only reason I'm doing it, frankly, is because I want to stop death. I want to stop the death from happening. I think I'm going to go with a man that I've missed. Brian, I haven't seen you in a long time. I miss you. He's been in a very strange location. I don't know. He's had a strange thing happen. But anyway, go ahead, brother. Well, good to see you, too, actually.
- [73:27]
Pete Hegseth
Good to see the entire cabin here
- [73:28]
Donald Trump
when they see you, too. You talked about gas prices Coming down. Obviously they will. Would you ever consider suspending the federal gas tax in order to kind of temporarily? Well, some people should do that. As an example, in California, every time prices go down, his prices go up because they, you know, the gas taxes bigger than the tax itself, bigger than the product itself. It hasn't, I mean, we've thought about it, I guess. But honestly, when I did this, I knew it was going to be a little bit. We had the greatest economy ever with the greatest stock market in history. I said we're going to take a little bit of a hit, a short term hit. It's going to end up going much higher than it was in my opinion. I said, I said we're going to have a great stock market. Nobody thought we could get to 50,000 or 7,000 in their respective indices. Nobody thought that that was going to happen, but it did. In the first year. They said it couldn't happen in four years, that you wouldn't hit 50 in four years, but you could maybe get close. We hit it in the first year and I said this is a good time to start solve a problem that you had to solve. And that's what I did. But, but the gas tax, you know, people have talked about it. It's something we have in our pocket if we think it's necessary. And if I follow real quickly, you just recently took off, Secretary Duffy, 17,000 truckers off the road that could, quite frankly could not speak English, which is a safety. Yeah. Could we ever extend that to Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, cab drivers? For someone who takes a lot of movement, a lot of my drivers can't see. Oh, well, that's not good. I didn't like that. Go ahead, John.
- [75:15]
John Radcliffe
So that's a really good point. The problem is that our states are the ones that issue these licenses. So with commercial driver's licenses, we do have some federal control, but again, we have thousands of people who can't speak the language. Long standing rule. And it's a safety issue.
- [75:34]
Donald Trump
Right.
- [75:34]
John Radcliffe
If you can't understand road signs, if you can't communicate with law enforcement when you're pulled over and communicate what's on your rig, huge problem. But the last administration, Mr. President, they let truck driving schools self certify that they were qualified to train truck drivers. And so this is like the learning center. So you pay $100 and you get a certificate that you passed a CDL driving school. And again, they have no skills. They never, they don't, they don't have the knowledge and they don't have the skills. They haven't gone through any of the testing and then they get licenses and they're killing Americans on our roads. So it's remarkable the rot that the last administration allowed to take place. We are ending that and I need partnership with our states. Even California started to come on board. Even Gavin has started to play ball with us, which is surprising. Not all the way a little bit.
- [76:28]
Marco Rubio
A little bit of shovel.
- [76:31]
Donald Trump
You know, it's interesting because I just saw something that the nursing home business and the daycare centers in particular, they went out and inspected them in Minnesota and they didn't exist. They're knocking on door, happens to be a young man, Nick, nice young man. He's done a very good job. They're knocking on doors. It's like homes and they're getting hundreds of thousands of. They didn't exist. And in California it's worse. It's even worse. And I spoke with Russell vote. I said, russell, don't send them any money. He said, but we have a court order that we have. Can you believe it? A judge. The judges are really hurting this country. Our judges. Justice Roberts doesn't like what I say it, but the judges are really hurting this country. And frankly, the justices. The Supreme Court has really hurt our country too. Do you have a new deadline?
- [77:32]
Pete Hegseth
Given that there are some talks now,
- [77:33]
Donald Trump
do you have a new deadline before taking. No announce it. I mean, right now you're talking about a deadline for doing some pretty big damage, even bigger than we've done. Well, we'll see. Look, we have very substantial talks going on with respect to Iran with the right people. You know I told you about a president, right, Steve, Can I reveal the president? You can do anything you want. They said to show you the fact that we're real and solid and we're there, we're going to let you have eight boats of oil. Eight boats. Eight big boats of oil. This was two days ago and they'll sail up tomorrow. That was three days ago. And I didn't think much about it. And then I watched the news and they said a very good anchor actually happened to be Fox. But I watched it and they said something's unusual happening. There are eight boats that are going right up the middle of the Hormo Strait. Eight big tankers are going loaded up with oil right through. And I said, well, I guess. I guess they were right. And they were. They were real and I think they were Pakistani flagged. And I said, well, I guess we're dealing with the right people. And actually they then apologized for something they said. And they said, we're going to send two more boats and ended up being 10 boats. All right. I hope I haven't screwed up your negotiations. But I thought it was appropriate to say, because I did taunt you the other day by saying they're going to give us a present.
- [79:24]
Press Secretary / Reporter
Two illegal immigrants who were arrested at San Francisco Airport for ignoring deportation orders at the same time as you highlighted really great reception from American travelers for ICE agents. Is there a PR aspect of this that can allow future deportations to go on with less protests and less outrage?
- [79:44]
Donald Trump
Yeah, it's amazing because by putting ICE there, look, the press was very unfair to ice. So was everyone else. These are great American patriots. They have a tough job. They have to find murderers and take them out of our country. I wouldn't want to do it. You wouldn't want to do it. Most people wouldn't want to do it. They do it and you know, 11,888 murderers. And that's murderers. That's not drug dealers. That's not lots of other things. It's not people from mental institutions. Entire jail populations were released from major countries and let into our country through the open border. And ICE has done an amazing job. I wouldn't want that job. It's a tough job. Dangerous. The upper white. So what happens is by putting them at the airport and I just said, do me a favor, take off your masks. And they did. For that. Not for when they're looking for some, you know, cold blooded killers and they're in the neighborhood, but for that. And they did, they took them off. And the passengers, I see the interviews of people, they're saying, these are nice people. One person said, he's a very strong man, but he's a nice guy. He grabbed my bag. He helped a woman with a bag that she couldn't lift. And I'll tell you, I don't want to use the word rehab because there was nothing to rehab but rehab from the press, you know, because the press is so tough on him. And these crooks in Minnesota, these crooked politicians and dirty cops. They're dirty cops. They're dirty politicians. Waltz is a dirty crooked politician. The attorney general is a crooked guy. No investigations. And I hope JD is going to do a great job. He's in charge of it now with somebody who's very talented. But I think it's easy sell. They say $19 billion. Think of it, is missing 19 billion. Do you know we would solve half of the fraud problem, Pam, in This country, we would have more than a balanced budget. We have, we'd have a surplus. And in the case of Minnesota, it's a lot. It's very Somalia oriented. Think of it. These people come from a crooked country. Disgusting country. One of the worst countries in the world. Acknowledged to be one of the worst countries in the world. Some people say it's the worst. They have no money, they have nothing. They come to our country, low IQs, and they, they rob us blind. Stupid people. And they rob us blind because we have crooked politicians and we have dirty cops. The attorney general is a dirty cop. It's my opinion. It's only my opinion. And something should be done about him. Let's see what kind of a job.
- [82:28]
Press Secretary / Reporter
He said that you hate mail and be able.
- [82:31]
Donald Trump
Excuse me, Should Iran be able to
- [82:33]
Press Secretary / Reporter
charge a toll for the straight up home? They're charging some vessels to go through.
- [82:38]
Donald Trump
Oh, yeah. Well, should they be able to? I mean, they shouldn't be able to, but they're doing it a little bit. I don't know. Look, look, their capability is a lot less than it was two weeks ago. And with every week and every day, frankly, it gets less and less. All I can tell you is they're begging to make a deal. So let's see what happens. We may make a. Tell me about mail in ballots going.
- [83:03]
Steve Witkoff
I.
- [83:04]
Donald Trump
You mean I use the mail in ballot, you probably said. Yeah, I did. You know what? Because I'm President of the United States and because of the fact that I'm President of the United States, I did a mail in ballot for elections that took place in Florida because I felt I should be here instead of being in the beautiful sunshine, taking the last few weekends. That's right. And I. Yeah. And I've decided that, that I was going to vote by mail in ballot because I couldn't be there because I had a lot of different things. But you know, we have exceptions for mail in ballots. You do know that, right? So if you're away, we have an exception. If you're in the military, we have an exception. If you're on a business trip, we have an exception. If you're disabled, we have an exception. And if you're ill, if you're not feeling good. So I was away mostly in Washington D.C. so I used a mail in bell. But I pretty much appreciate the question because I know, I know. It was so well meaning. Yeah, I actually just looked at the
- [83:59]
Pete Hegseth
company that owns Sharpie and they stuck composite after you mentioned it.
- [84:07]
Donald Trump
By the way. They deserve it. It's a good product. You gave a five day deadline with
- [84:13]
Pete Hegseth
oil tankers going through the strait. Is that a condition to remove that five day deadline?
- [84:18]
Donald Trump
We don't want anything impeded. We want ships to go through. We don't know that they've dropped any mines by the way because we blew up all their mine droppers. Right? We blew up every one of them. They're going to have to take them out on a rowboat or something. I don't know how the hell they get about it, but we don't really know. You might speak to it. We don't know. There could be a few of them out there, but that's a lot. You know, if you have a billion dollar ship and you get hit by a mine, it's not the greatest thing in the world. So if you think the problem with that, that's not like you've decimated a military. If you think there may be a mine, that's a bad thought and it stops things up. How are we doing in that regard, Pete?
- [85:00]
Pete Hegseth
We Mr. President, you're right. We have so heavily degraded their coastal defense capabilities and their naval capabilities that any strategic or operational attempts to do those types of things are extremely limited. And we continue to move over the top of that. Now whether Iran makes a wise choice or not to try to execute that is part of how this deal comes together. But with every passing day, the military pressure that we're putting on them lessens their ability to really hold that militarily at issue.
- [85:28]
Donald Trump
I mean the problem, the problem with the issue of the homo strikes is this. We've decimated them as a military. No Air force, no Navy, very few riders, rockets left. We blew up so many, hard to manufacture. Same thing with drones. The leadership is good. The problem with the streets is this. Let's say we do a great job. We say we got 99%. 1% is unacceptable because 1% is a missile going into the hull of a ship that cost $1 billion. Right. So 1% is we can't. If we do a 99% decimation, that's no good. So it's really, you know, but I have a feeling it's going to clean up pretty quickly. I could just say this. They want to make, they want to make and I probably hurt our little negotiation. It gives them a little impetus to say, well I wish you didn't say that. But they said yesterday that we weren't negotiating with them and now they admit that we were, were negotiating with them. So they want to make a deal. The Reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit.
- [86:37]
Pete Hegseth
Are you thinking of taking control of Iran's oil?
- [86:41]
Donald Trump
It's an option. I mean, I wouldn't talk about it, but it's an option.
- [86:45]
Pete Hegseth
Is that something you thought about?
- [86:46]
Donald Trump
Well, in Venezuela, we've done very well working with Venezuela. Certainly we've taken in billions and billions of dollars. And by the way, Venezuela is doing better right now than they've done ever done in the history of their country, and sort of like a joint venture. But the United States has made a lot of money, Marco. Right. With it. Do you want to talk about that for a second?
- [87:08]
Marco Rubio
Venezuela?
- [87:09]
Donald Trump
Yeah.
- [87:09]
Marco Rubio
Yeah. I mean, I think Venezuela in the first two months of this year generated more revenue from oil sales than they had in most of all of last year. But the money's not being stolen anymore and it's being held in a US treasury blocked account. And to the extent it's flowing to the Venezuelan government, it's going to help people, like fund hospitals, pay teachers.
- [87:27]
Donald Trump
And we get a lot of it. And they got more than they have in many years. Think of it, we get a lot of it. We have a deal. We get a lot of it. We had 100 million. Think of this. 100 million barrels we took in in the first two weeks. 100 million barrels. That's a lot of oil. It's a lot of ships. And we got some. And they got some who pay for the ships. A lot of money left over. And Venezuela has done better now with us. Call it a partner, call it whatever you want. We've made a lot of money, and they've made a lot of money. We've paid for the cost of that military hit many, many times over, and we've only just started. Our relationship with Venezuela is. Been amazing. The people, Actually, I'm the highest polling person. In other words, after the presidency, I think I may go to Venezuela and run against Elsie. I may run against Elsie. It's an option. No, they like me in Venezuela, but it's an option for me. It's a wonderful option. Yes.
- [88:39]
Press Secretary / Reporter
There's some reports that Gulf allies are concerned about winding down the war too soon and potentially leaving Iran.
- [88:45]
Donald Trump
Well, they'd probably like us to stay, but.
- [88:48]
Press Secretary / Reporter
But the concern if we.
- [88:49]
Donald Trump
If we don't stay, like, it's a beautiful thing about airplanes that go 2,000 miles an hour. You can get back there very quickly. If we don't say we're going to be protecting them, we know, you know, they've been very good. Hey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia in particular. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Arabia, UAE the three of them, Kuwait, Bahrain, they've been 100%. Now in all fairness, you know they could have gone the other way. They were surprisingly missiled they were shot at. Nobody ever thought they'd be shot at. UAE had 1400 missiles aimed at them. Fortunately they had the greatest anti missile weapon in history called the Patriot. Almost every single missile was shot down. You know we had an incident recently where 101 missiles were shot at. A certain thing that we own that's very valuable, 101 missiles going 2,000 miles an hour. Out of the 101 missiles, every single one of them was shot down in midair and fell into the ocean. It's amazing technology. There's nobody has equipment like we
- [90:00]
Eric Bolling
still
- [90:01]
Press Secretary / Reporter
has that enriched uranium.
- [90:02]
Donald Trump
Is it even possible? Well you're gonna have to see but you know I think we'll be, we're in just very good shape. We're roaming, you know what we're doing. You know the word roaming free. We're over their skies with the most beautiful plains you've ever seen. Roaming free. There's not a damn thing they can do about. Would be nice if like the fake news New York Times which are. It's so fake. And the Wall Street Journal is terrible, terrible. I mean I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. I'm not, I don't. If I was desperate he'd be the first to know. Pete, let's get the hell out of there. I'm the opposite of desperate. I don't care. I want to know. In fact, we have other targets we want to hit before we leave.
- [90:45]
Martha Stewart
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- [91:27]
Donald Trump
People at work supported me while I was going through treatment. By not treating me like somebody who was going through treatment. Treatment sucks. Cancer sucks. Being engaged with work really helped to oh, I just knew I was going to beat this thing.
- [91:43]
Scott Besant
Research shows there is a significant connection
- [91:46]
Donald Trump
between the ability to continue to work
- [91:48]
Eric Bolling
and, and cancer recovery. We can make work a better place for healing.
- [91:53]
Donald Trump
Learn more and sign the pledge@workingwithcancerpledge.com the
- [91:58]
Bleacher Report / Howie Mandel
Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report Apple. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time, scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. The Global Gaming League is presented by Atlas Earth, the fun cashback app. Hey, it's Howie Mandel and I am
- [92:33]
Donald Trump
inviting you to witness history as me
- [92:35]
Bleacher Report / Howie Mandel
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