TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Calls in for a Live Interview on Fox and Friends, 6.11.26
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Ainsley Earhardt: So, let's bring in Mr. President; he is on the phone with us right now. You can see the crude oil prices; they're at about $90.72 a barrel. Mr. President, thanks for joining us. So, you say -- you're announcing you're going to hit them very hard tonight. What went into posting that?
President Trump: Well, it's just one of those things. They have no defense; they can't do anything about it. The only thing they have is fake news. They have -- the New York Times writes stories like they're doing great and they're not, they've been wiped out. CNN and MS NOW or whatever they call it nowadays. NBC had to get rid of it because it was bad for their reputation.
But the publicity that they have is incredible. It's almost like they're doing well and they're getting decimated, just decimated. And they're dying to make a deal; they want to make a deal so badly. But you read the New York Times, and you read The Wall Street Journal, which is so fake. I know you guys own it, but it's a real piece of garbage.
And you read the Wall Street Journal, it's like -- they did an editorial today about we're not hitting them hard enough. I mean, it's just -- not hitting them hard enough? We dropped $250 million worth of bombs on them last night. The whole thing is crazy. And they're really in in submission, they just don't know it yet, OK, to be honest with you, they just don't know it yet.
And we are talking to them and all but -- look, my preference has always been take Kharg Island that's been -- Brian knows that; I spoke to him a long time ago. Lawrence knows it; I spoke to him a long time ago, I said my preference would be that. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you, to make a fortune.
But I don't know that America has the stomach. I think they'd like to see us come home. But we did it with Venezuela. Venezuela has worked out great for everybody. We've taken millions and millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela, we brought them to Houston and various other places, Louisiana, where -- you know, refineries that we have that are incredible, they're going 24 hours a day making a fortune.
And I like that in this case too, but I'm not sure that America has a long time. You know, it's a little longer process, something that's a guarantee if I want to do it.
Brian Kilmeade: Mr. President?
Trump: I'm not sure the country has the appetite for it, does that make sense to you?
Kilmeade: I understand what you're –
Trump: As good as it is. By the way, as good as it is, that's always been my number one thing. But as good as it is, I'm not sure the country has the appetite for it and that's OK, I understand that.
Kilmeade: Well, I mean, what you do is you came to power because you said America wants to win and you win. Even the even in 2020, more votes than anyone in the history of the Republican Party. So, when you look at this, this seems to be like an anaconda, you say laying the groundwork and suddenly -- and just suddenly squeezing them more and more and more until they have no options.
One of the hits yesterday, as our audience probably knows, is on a water facility. They were already running out of water. So, if you continue to blockade and now, you're taking down their eyes and ears, you're letting them know you're not playing games. And the rhetoric that's been coming out of them for the last eight weeks really looks hollow today.
Trump: Well, Brian, if you can hear me, I think you can, I will say that, first of all, you mentioned 2020. You're right in 2020, I got more votes than anybody in history, Republican Party, and got more votes but the election was rigged. But in 2024, I really got more, we made it too big to rig. And so, it's -- but we did great in 2020. That was a rigged election.
And you saw it in California, very interesting if I could just diverge. So, the kid got the shaft and he did -- Spencer Pratt; he did really pretty damn well and they threw him out. And it was happening to Steve Hilton, and I went on a tear. And they said it was going to be two weeks, and they'd know about Hilton, whether or not he's going to make it. I went on such a tear that they approved it immediately.
They approved Steve. It's such a rigged deal it's so crazy. They approved him so fast because everybody was watching. And he was leading and he was leading by a lot and you saw his lead was dissipating rapidly. They were taking it away from him, just like they took it away from the kid and I went on a tear.
And by the way, we have the US attorneys looking at it. And the two weeks, and all of a sudden, oh, we have a surprise, Steve Hilton won. And he did win, but they were going to take it away shortly -- they were going to take it away over a two-week period. You know, they announced that they wouldn't have the results for a week to two weeks.
All of a sudden, they approved Steve Hilton.
Kilmeade: But Iran.
Trump: It's a rigged election, OK, but just to go back to Iran.
Kilmeade: I shouldn't have brought that up. But how do you feel about it?
Trump: I know it, but let's get back, let's get back. That was -- I just want to say to the public, it's a rigged election. We need the SAVE America Act, period.
Kilmeade: Got it.
Trump: OK, let's get back to Iran, much simpler. This is a much simpler situation.
Lawrence Jones: Mr. President, so I get the impression that you're frustrated with Iran.
Trump: I'm not frustrated; I don't get frustrated.
Jones: Well, I'll say it this way, that it's almost an ultimatum now. That there's no more negotiation at this point. You went back and forth with them; you gave them two weeks, and now they have to take the deal that you have offered them, that you tried to negotiate in good faith, or everything goes and the people can be liberated.
Is that what's happening right now?
Trump: Well, that could happen if we want to keep going and the deal is a very good deal. The problem with the deal is that it could be the greatest deal in history -- they could wave the white flag of surrender, they could say, we surrender, we surrender, and they could do all of this, they could say it loud and clear.
And the fake news would say it was a great victory for Iran. I mean, it's the craziest thing I've ever seen. We're killing them, just killing them. They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no anti-aircraft. You know, we're flying planes over the middle of Tehran and they don't -- they have no idea what we're there.
We've knocked out all of their radar, all of their anti-aircraft, much of their missiles. They have probably less than 20 percent, we think about 20 percent. Most of their launchers, they have the missile launchers, which are quite important, their drone capacity is way down. You see it; I mean, it's way down.
Their attacks are very minor. They're finished and yet the fake news, just like with the election, the fake news is out there saying, wow, Iran is doing just so well. Trump is doing terribly. I watched it yesterday, one of the shows, for five minutes -- I haven't seen the show in a long while, this fake Joe Scarborough talking about how well Iran is doing.
I'm saying, where do they come from? It's just the craziest thing. And behind the scenes, I will tell you, they won't even dispute it, although they probably would because it makes sense. They're very good -- Iran is very good at publicity, but they're not good at fighting. I took a look and, I must tell you, they can't believe the press they're getting.
They can't even believe it. And they told me, they said, it's amazing how well we're doing in the papers, we're not doing so well. They're negotiating with us to make a deal. It's hard for them because they are proud, they're very proud. They've been the bully of the Middle East for 47 years.
Earhardt: Yeah, they have.
Trump: They've been ripping off our presidents and other countries for years. They've been -- they played Obama for a fool. The JCPoA is the worst, one of the worst deals I've ever seen -- other than NAFTA, the NAFTA trade deal, which was maybe the worst deal ever made. But the JCPoA was a road to a nuclear weapon.
Mine is a road to no nuclear weapon. They can't have a nuclear -- it says you cannot have a nuclear weapon, we will not have, and I didn't like it, it wasn't strong enough, because it said develop, you cannot develop. I said, no, I want buy also. So, they fought me on that for a day and then they agreed to it. You cannot develop or purchase a nuclear weapon.
So, it's through; we got everything, but the press just covers it so crazily.
Kilmeade: Don't worry about it.
Trump: No matter what I do, no matter what I do, the press will say it was a great victory for Iran. These people are crazy.
Earhardt: Mr. President?
Trump: It's Trump derangement syndrome.
Earhardt: Mr. President, I agree with Brian, don't worry about it. Our viewers are watching Fox and so they see this coverage. They're not reading the New York Times. But we know that you've destroyed their air defense systems, their radar, their Navy is at the bottom of the ocean. We know that America is winning this fight.
But when they destroy or they shoot down one of our Apache helicopters and we strike Iranian targets, and then they fire missiles at our bases in Bahrain and Kuwait and Jordan, we have to fight back. So, when you say you don't think America has the appetite to do what we're seeing tonight, I think we do. I think we're ready to see this because, like you said --
Trump: Part of the problem is that they read the fake news. I mean, because Fox is great; all the anchors on Fox have been fantastic, from Sean to Jesse, Laura -- I mean, they've all been great, everybody, every single anchor has been great. You guys have been amazing. And Trey Yingst is a superstar, I mean --
Kilmeade: No question.
Trump: So accurately. And I don't know Trey Yingst, but I mean he covers it so accurately, it's so beautiful to watch. And he's got a level of excitement that's amazing. But the accuracy is so good. I just saw him on your show a little while ago and I said, that's exactly what's happening. I'm not saying I want the advantage or the this -- I just say that's what's happening.
Kilmeade: Just be right.
Trump: And that's the way it should be covered. And if it was covered that way, the public would say, wow, what a great situation this is. Because we are stopping a very evil nation, which has killed thousands of our people -- no legs, no arms, face obliterated -- you know, what they've done with the roadside bombs, Soleimani, who I killed.
But Soleimani was their top general; he was a brilliant general, an evil general, an evil person. But he was a brilliant general, a violent general, and he was the father of the roadside bomb. And they set them off by the thousands; and every time you see a soldier without his legs or without his legs and arms and beyond, that's Soleimani.
95 percent is Soleimani. So, I took care of that. And now we have Iran in a very -- I mean, I guess the ultimate position, they have no choice. The only negative we have is we have everybody writing about it incorrectly. You know, we have fake news, that's where the term fake news came from.
Kilmeade: But my feeling is like -- your strategy is like an anaconda. You'll slowly -- you'll talk to them, but you're slowly squeezing them to death and --
Trump: Yeah, I'm talking to them. Hey, I'd sort of like -- I mean, I'd like to get a deal now less than three or four weeks to go, because, once you do this, you could just go a step further. But I don't know that America has the appetite to do what I would really much prefer doing. You remember in Iraq, I said, don't go in but they went in; they made a big mistake.
It should have never -- you know, that war lasted 10 years, killed tens of thousands of people, millions of people on both sides, millions of people. Nobody ever reported that. We've lost 13 soldiers in two wars. In Venezuela, we lost none, took over the country. And in Iran, we lost 13. In Vietnam, we lost hundreds of thousands, 19 years, nobody says that.
They say you've been there for three months, three months -- you know, they're going you said you'd be out of there faster. [Inaudible] situation now.
Kilmeade: 90 million people.
Trump: Because we've done a better job than anybody anticipated you could do in such -- look, we were in Vietnam 19 years, but we didn't do the job because we didn't have the right leadership to be honest. That would have been -- if it were me, I would have had that war done in three months, four months.
Kilmeade: But victory here would be total capitulation. And the one thing you brought up yesterday is it's going to be bridge and power plants next. Is that next and is –
Trump: Yeah, but I'd rather not do it because, once you do that, the people suffer. Like I heard you mentioning water. Water is really a devastating loss for them. I could do that in one minute if they knock out --
Note: [Crosstalk]
Kilmeade: What is your message to the Iranian people then?
Trump: But the problem is that people won't be able to drink water. I mean, what are they going to do? So, I don't want to do that.
Kilmeade: But what is your message to the Iranian people? Mr. President? They now have the internet.
Trump: Well, my message to the Iranian people is they're afraid because they have no guns and the other side has guns, and they have a rally and they get shot. They hung the wrestler and his two friends, they hung him from a crane, believe it or not, violently, it was a very top wrestler and they hung him. They've killed at least 40,000 to 50,000 people and the people are afraid.
You know, when you have a machine gun staring you in the face, or when you have four snipers on four different buildings shooting people in the head, it's hard to have a rally, OK, it's not a rally that one goes --
Jones: Are you going to get them weapons?
Trump: Down, another, another, two, three, four people laying down alongside of you with a bullet in their brain and they run. I can't blame them. Who's going to blame them for that because they don't have weapons?
Jones: So, can you get them weapons, Mr. President? Can you get them weapons?
Kilmeade: Provide air cover?
Trump: Well, we actually sent them weapons, and we were very disappointed by the Kurds, to be honest with you. The Kurds let us down. I disagreed with the decision. I was saying, no, I don't believe they'll deliver them. I think they kept them for themselves. I think it's a disgrace. But I'll remember that, Kurds; I'll remember that.
But they have some guns, but they don't have the weapons. Look, even if they had some, they're petrified because this is different. This isn't like in this country. If you shout, you have a vicious group of people rioting someplace -- if the police shout at them, they end up ruining the policeman, you know, they ruin them.
They take away his badge; they take away his --
Note: [Crosstalk]
Kilmeade: Yeah, in Iran they'd give him a medal.
Trump: His life, his pension, his everything, they'd take away his car.
Earhardt: Mr. President?
Trump: It's slightly different. Over there, they shoot them and the rallies dissipate very quickly as, frankly, I think is pretty normal.
Earhardt: Why won't they just --
Trump: Very rarely can that happen because there are not many countries -- China was one that was able to do it in Tiananmen Square with the tanks. That tank operator, boom, rolled right over them when they went in front of the tank. There are very few people that can do that to their own people. In other words, the tank operators didn't. With Erdogan in Turkey, they were unable -- they tried to pull something on him.
He's a friend of mine; he's a very strong leader.
Jones: Mr. President?
Trump: They were doing and the tanks could not do it, they could not run over their people.
Kilmeade: We only have a minute left. But will there be more bombing tonight?
Trump: Yeah, there will be more bombing tonight. It'll be bigger, bigger, more powerful. Don't forget, we've knocked out all of their anti-aircraft. They don't have any anti -- they have nothing. I mean, they may get lucky with a shoulder weapon or something, but for the most part, they have no defense. They're finished.
Jones: What did the Representative say in your phone call with him?
Trump: Excuse me, they're finished. But the papers, the media refuses to write it. They're finished. We can walk in there tomorrow. We could take soldiers. I don't want to have boots on the ground, but if I wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the whole place. They're finished. And the media is crooked.
They're just like our elections; the media is crooked.
Kilmeade: Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us today.
Earhardt: Thank you, Mr. President.
Kilmeade: With everything on your plate.
Jones: We appreciate it.