TRANSCRIPT: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters Before Air Force One Departure, 6.8.25
[VIDEO]
Donald Trump: [Inaudible] two for the the price of one.
Marco Rubio: Yeah. [Laughs]
Donald Trump: We have Marco. And I said, "Come on, let's go see the fake news and enjoy ourselves. Get a couple of nice questions." How are you? Who would like to ask a question?
Question: Mr. President, on California. Are you prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act?
Donald Trump: Uh, depends on whether or not there's an insurrection.
Question: Do you believe there is, sir?
Donald Trump: No, no. But you have violent people and we're not gonna let them get away with it.
Question: Do you think if Democrats continue to side with illegal aliens over law enforcement, that they'll ever be able to win a national election again?
Donald Trump: I love this guy. I think that is a, a gre- -- Who are you with?
Question: Breitbart News.
Donald Trump: Great, it's a great group. Breitbart, great group. Uh, I think that, uh, you're gonna see some very strong law and order.
Question: [Inaudible] CNN's Dana Bash suggesting that this wasn't a real riot, um, in Los Angeles?
Donald Trump: Is that what she said?
Question: [Inaudible]
Donald Trump: Oh, I think it was a riot. I think it was very bad. It was covered really as a riot by almost every outlet.
Question: [Inaudible] Camp David, sir, what is the purpose of your meetings at Camp David over the next 24 hours?
Donald Trump: We're going up to Camp David. We have meetings with various people about very major subjects. Now we thought we'd do it at Camp David. There's probably better security there than anyplace. We'll be meeting with a lot of people, including generals, as you know, and admirals.
Question: What are the meetings about?
Donald Trump: No, no. So we'll be meeting with military people and others.
Question: Will there be any foreign, any foreign visitors at Camp David?
Donald Trump: I can't say that.
Question: Do you think --
Question: Even if you don't plan to invoke the Insurrection Act, do you plan to send troops to Los Angeles?
Donald Trump: What?
Question: Even if you're not planning to invoke the Insurrection Act, do you still plan to send troops?
Donald Trump: Well, we're gonna have troops everywhere. We're not gonna let this happen to our country. We're not gonna let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden and his auto pen.
Question: What's the bar for sending Marines, the --
Donald Trump: The bar is what I think it is. I mean, if we see danger to our country and to our citizens, uh, we'll be very, very strong in terms of law and order. It's about law and order.
Question: Is sending active-duty Marines on the table, sir. Secretary Hegseth --
Donald Trump: We're gonna see what we need. We'll send whatever we need to make sure there's law and order.
Question: Do you foresee those protests spreading into other cities, Chicago, New York, for example, in the, in the next few days?
Donald Trump: Yes, we're gonna be watching it very closely. And uh, where they spit at people, you know, they spit. That's their new thing. They spit and worse. You know what they throw at them, right? And when that happens, I have a little statement. They, they, they spit, we hit. And I told them, "Nobody's gonna spit on our police officers." Nobody's gonna spit on our military. Which they do as a common thing. They get up to them this far away and then they start spitting in their face. That happens, they get hit very hard.
Question: What are the rules, what are the rules to be engagement for federal troops?
Donald Trump: Let's see what happens. If we think there's serious insurrection, or less than that, we're gonna have law and order. Very important.
Question: How would you define, how would you define an insurrection?
Donald Trump: You have to really just have to look at the site. You have to see what's happening. Uh, last night in uh, Los Angeles, we watched it very closely. There was a lot of violence there. There was a lot of violence that it could have gotten much worse. And you have an incompetent governor. Just take a look at the, at the train stations that he's building, like 20 times over budget.
Donald Trump: Nobody's ever seen anything like it. So, uh, I did call him the other night. I said, "look, you gotta take care of this, otherwise I'm sending in the troops." That's what we did. Thank you very much. Do you have a question for Marco? Question for Marco?
Question: Could California officials face federal charges if they stand in the way of the deportations? Something Homan may have just [Inaudible]
Donald Trump: If officials stand in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges. Thank you very much.