TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Meets with the White House FIFA Task Force, 11.17.25
[Video]
President Donald Trump: Well, thank you very much and good afternoon. I'm delighted to welcome FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, one of the greatest men of sport. He is an amazing man. He's done an incredible job with FIFA.
Gianni Infantino: Thank you.
Trump: Congratulations on the job.
Infantino: Thank you.
Trump: I hear you're setting records for the World Cup.
Infantino: Yeah.
Trump: We'll talk about it, but setting records in ticket sales for the World Cup. And we love having you back at the White House, Gianni and everybody that's with you.
Infantino: Thank you.
Trump: You guys have done fantastically. I also want to thank Vice President JD Vance. JD, wherever you may be. Where is JD? [Inaudible] oh, he's coming right over. Marco Rubio is doing a fantastic job and Secretary Kristi Noem, who is doing a fantastic job, as well as Representative Darin LaHood. Thank you all very much. Hi, Darin. This past summer the United States hosted the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, Club World Cup, and it was great. I actually went to a match and it was amazing. That was a big success too. It was sort of like a preview of what's to come. And now we're getting ready for an even bigger event next year as we host the official 2026 FIFA World Cup. That's the big one. The World Cup tournament, this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity, even for our country. Because frankly, you know, this goes to countries -- everybody wants it. I guess it's going all over the world. Do you know who's getting it the next time around? Who's getting it? Has that been selected?
Infantino: The next one will be Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
Trump: That's good.
Infantino: With three matches at the beginning in South America, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and the one after will be Saudi Arabia in 2034.
Trump: Wow, that's great. Wow, that's great. Well, we have the king coming. Crown Prince is coming tomorrow. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase the greatness of America and world-class athletic competition as we celebrate our nation's 250th year. The World Cup will also be an incredibly significant economic opportunity for countless American workers and businesses. It's expected to drive more than $30 billion. Gianni, I don't know about that. That sounds like a lot of money.
Infantino: No, It's true.
Trump: Are you sure?
Infantino: 100 percent.
Trump: How much does the country get out of that?
Infantino: $30 billion.
Trump: 20 percent? [Inaudible] like a percentage of the gross or anything?
Infantino: That's for negotiation.
Trump: That's right. Yeah. And it's going to create nearly 200,000 jobs for America. Since the creation of the White House FIFA Task Force earlier this year, Secretary Rubio's team at the State Department has worked tirelessly with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that soccer fans from all around the world are properly vetted and able to come to the United States next summer easily. Before I took office, it would often take a year to get a travel visa. But because of the administration's hard work, now in more than 80 percent of the world, think of that, the wait time for visa is 60 days or less. For those who intend to join us for the World Cup, I strongly encourage you to apply right away. And I want to thank FIFA Task Force and Secretary Rubio for the great job. Marco is doing a fantastic job in many ways too. So I want to just thank you all for a great job. Marco, you're doing a great job.
Marco Rubio: Thank you.
Trump: Beyond even this. We're also creating what we're calling the FIFA Prioritized Appointment Scheduling system. That's a hard one for most people to remember, but it's there nevertheless. And this will allow World Cup ticket holders with long wait times to opt with FIFA for a prioritized interview. And I've directed my administration to do everything within the power to make the 2026 World Cup an unprecedented success. I think it's going to be the greatest. And we are setting records on ticket sales nobody's ever really -- and FIFAs never -- you know, if you look at the numbers, nobody's ever seen anything like the kind of numbers we're doing. The early ticket sales are through the roof and much of it is even sold out.
So congratulations, Gianni, and I'd like to ask Gianni to say a few words. He's really done an incredible job. He's got unbelievable spirit and personality and talent, and intelligence I always like to say, because it's all a part of it. But the job you've done is based on what's happening unprecedented. Thank you, Gianni.
Infantino: Thank you. Thank you, President. Thank you very much. I would like to start, really, by thanking you, Mr. President, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Noem, Andrew, your entire team for approving and making this very important announcement. Today, the FIFA PASS is being announced that prioritize -- prioritized appointment scheduling system. That's the way people will remember it. So if you have a ticket for the World Cup, you can have a prioritized appointment to get your visa. Because we said it the very first time we met, Mr. President, America welcomes the world. America will welcome the world here. Next year we will have between six and seven million tickets sold for the matches.
We'll have between five and 10 million people coming to America from -- from all over the world to enjoy the World Cup. And with this FIFA PASS we can make sure that those who buy a ticket that are legitimate football fans, or soccer fans, they can come and attend the World Cup in the best conditions, starting from getting their visa and then coming, of course, in the country to enjoy. You mentioned the economic impact, the $30 billion, 200,000 jobs, and this is just for the World Cup and we will build on that, to make soccer even greater. Here, you are the number one country in the world, the United States of America, Mr. President. You have to be the number one country as well in the number one sport in the world.
So we have to work for that, and we will do that and the World Cup will be very, very significant in this respect. So big, big, thank you, to you to the White House task force, to everyone involved. And we are celebrating next year, not just the 250 years, but also the greatest and most inclusive World Cup ever. We will have six billion people watching. We have the draw coming up on the 5th of December here at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, one billion people watching the draw to find out who plays whom and where. We have 32 teams already qualified before -- or by tomorrow night, we'll have 42 out of 48 qualified. So a quarter of the world will be here and we are looking very much forward. So thanks. Thanks for the support. Thanks for the great work and always happy to be here at home, if I can say that.
Trump: You are. We are. There's your beautiful trophy right there.
Infantino: Yeah.
Trump: You are, and a big part of it too. Marco, would you say a few words, please?
Rubio: Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President, first of all, for getting the games, because this happened in your first term, when the cup came here and it's a major undertaking. So we've deployed over 400 additional consular officers around the world to deal with that, in some cases, doubling the size of the consular presence in our embassies in certain countries. And the good news now is that in about 80 percent of the world, you can get an appointment within 60 days. It used to take, you know, half a year or longer. And now -- sometimes it took -- you know, now you can get in less than two months, where in places it took over a year. In places, for example, like Brazil and Argentina, you'd have to -- it took over a year to get an appointment.
Now you can get in less than two months. So our advice to everybody is if you have a ticket for any of the games, you need to apply if you haven't done so as soon as possible. Don't wait till the last minute. Your ticket is not a visa. It doesn't guarantee admission to the US. It guarantees you an expedited appointment. You're still going to go through the same vetting. We're going to do the same vetting as anybody else would get. The only difference here is we're moving them up in the queue. We're moving them up faster. But my advice to everyone that's watching around the world is, if you intend to come to the games, you have to have a ticket. You need to apply. Apply as soon as possible. You're going to get your interview within six to eight weeks and move forward from there. Don't wait till the last minute to do it. Thank you.
Trump: Mr. Congressman, would you like to say something?
Darin LaHood: Well, first of all, Mr. President, none of this would have happened without your leadership, securing this during your first term. I tell my colleagues all the time, this will be the largest sporting event in the history of the world. We expand from 32 to 48 teams for the first time ever. We're doing it with Mexico and Canada. But obviously, the 11 host cities will be here in the United States. And it's going to have a $30 billion impact economically in this country. And so it has been a team effort by everybody. But I also want to thank President Infantino and obviously you, Mr. President, your entire team, Andrew and Nick and everybody. It is going to be an unbelievable sporting event next summer.
Trump: That'll be great. That'll be great. Andrew, would you like to say something?
Andrew Giuliani: Sure. I think --
Trump: And we'll have somebody much more important.
Giuliani: Much more important. And honestly, without her work, without Secretary of State Rubio's work in the State Department, this would not happen. Without your leadership and your vision, this would not have happened. I think two key points, one that Secretary of State already highlighted, this is a welcoming message to the world without going around the safety and security procedures. It's so key to make sure that this World Cup be safe and secure in the White House task force is working every day to make sure that's the case. And also as Congressman LaHood said, the economic benefits for American businesses both small and large from a $30 billion event like this. So really thanks to all the White House task force members, from Secretary Rubio to Secretary Noem to notice of funding opportunities that went out to the cities and states last month were really key from the safety and security perspective to Deputy Chief of Staff Luna who is integral in this whole process, to the White House task force members that are standing in the back of the room today and they couldn't be here without your hard work.
This would not have happened and I really can't thank you enough for really the best team I've ever been a part of and also to FIFA, to the President Gianni Infantino, my good friend Carlos Cordero, your desire to make this World Cup the best yet, it's contagious. Every single day I come in and think what can we -- what can we do to make this even better. And Mr. President, your vision more than anything, I think it takes a unique visionary to be able to go and see a sporting event and realize that this can be one of the greatest cultural events in world history. And I think there are very few people aside from the 45th and 47th president of United States, Donald J. Trump, that can do that undertaking. So thank you.
Trump: Thank you very much. Kristi?
Kristi Noem: Mr. President, thank you for Andrew. Thank you for making him the head of our FIFA task force. He's fantastic. And Nick has been a rock star in facilitating all of our meetings, getting everybody together and making sure that we're prepared to host this event. And it's going to be the world's largest sporting event ever hosted and it's happening under your leadership. So every department has been working, but the Department of Homeland Security is working on making sure people can travel here safely. They know that they're welcome to the United States, that each of these events will be a cooperative events with our cities to make sure that security needs are met. We put out over $600 million worth of grants to the 11 host cities that they'll have the advantage to partner on technologies and screening technologies, drone technology, counter UAS as well will be implemented.
So we'll be prepared to host it safely, but also with Marco's leadership at the State Department, making sure that people that come in on these tourist visas are coming in thoroughly vetted just like anyone who would travel here. And they would come and enjoy our country and then they would go home and go home in a timely manner. So we're excited about that and we're excited to partner with you, Mr. President, on creating memories for people around the world that will make them not just fall in love with the United States, but also fall in love with the sport of soccer.
Trump: Yeah, well, thank you. How many games are there in total?
Infantino: Total 104 games, meaning 104 Super Bowls, uh, in one month. This is the magnitude of the event.
Trump: It's --
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: -- when you think, right?
Noem: It is -- it's incredible.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: It's going to be the biggest sporting event we've ever had. It's like having 104 or even if you cut it in half 50, 60 Super Bowls, right? That's Ok too. Any questions? Please.
Question: Mr. President, can you just take us through this FIFA PASS idea that you guys are talking about here? How exactly is it going to work for ticket holders to this big event that the United States is hosting?
Trump: I'll let my guys do that because they can do it much better and either one of you two. Nick, would you like to talk about it?
Nick Luna: Sure, well, Mr. President, without your leadership, this would not happen and we came in in ten months. We have a system that's going to welcome the world. The greatest host in the history of the world is going to host the world here. Basically this system allows folks with a FIFA ticket purchased through FIFA to go through the FIFA portal. That is then going to get prioritized with the State Department so that those appointments are going to be had before existing appointments. So that people -- when they buy tickets, they have confidence that they're going to be able to come to the games and spend their money and travel this country and do all the things that they want to do and enjoy the game. So it's an incredible vision that the president executed here within 10 months, we started with really not that much. And so this whole team here with the president's guidance has made this possible. It's going to be the greatest games in the history of the world.
Trump: Ok, do you have that?
Question: Yes, sir.
Trump: Not too complicated. Daniel, please. Daniel.
Question: Mr. President, you -- you were talking about the economic impact of this billions and billions of dollars. This builds on the framework and the groundwork that you've built already up for a major year in 2026, deregulation, energy independence, tax cuts, historic amounts of private sector investments. What do you envision for the 2026 economy when this event comes to town next year too on -- on top of everything else?
Trump: Yeah, it's just a huge economic boon to this. You know, we had a little shutdown that was caused by the Democrats and this will make up for it many times over. So that's good. But I think it's the importance of the event all over the world. The world is watching and it really is, it's like having, you know many Super Bowls, actually each game is almost a Super Bowl. Some of them are, I guess you could say bigger than Super Bowls. I guess when you get to the finals, it's of that -- it's of that level or more.
Infantino: Much more.
Trump: Worldwide, I think, it's got to be more. So it's great. You know, when Gianni and I made the deal, I never thought I was going to be president because I was supposed to be, uh, retired by that time. [Laughter] And I got a little lucky, so I'm very honored to have it and we have the Olympics coming too. That'll be great. And the 250 -- the 250 is going to be right out on the lawn. You're going to have a UFC event with Dana White and his people. He's going to have the greatest card they they've ever assembled. I was talking to Dana White the other day and they're going to have the greatest card they've ever assembled, Gianni, so you'll be sitting up there with me, Darren, uh, we'll be watching it. So right opposite the front door of the White House. It's going to be on June 14th. So it's really going to be an amazing period of time. But, uh, this is something very, very special. World Cup, all my life, I've heard about it.
Question: Mr. President, a question about Venezuela, but can I just first ask the health of the president is always news. Your voice sounds a little rough. Are you feeling all right?
Trump: I feel great. I was shouting at people because they were stupid about something having to do with uh trade in a country and I straighten it out, but I blew my stack at these people. They're such a stupid bunch. [Laughter]
Question: Well, it sounds like there's a follow up there, but can I ask you about Venezuela? You suggested --
Trump: -- Sounds there's a what?
Question: It sounds like there's a follow up there. Can I ask you about Venezuela?
Trump: I thought you said there was a polyp. [Laughter] I said I don't want to hear that. Ok.
Question: You suggested you made a decision about what you want to do next up with Venezuela. I understand you don't want to tip your hand, but is there anything you're ready to rule out at this point? Are you ruling out US troops on the ground?
Trump: No, I don't rule out that. I don't rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela. They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons. Nobody knows better than this young lady right here. She's done an incredible job with Tom Homan and all of your people, amazing. You know, we have a tight border right now. Nobody comes in, but we had millions of people pouring through. A year ago we had millions of people pouring through our border and many of them came from Venezuela, including Tren de Aragua, the gang. And I guess what I'm hearing, Kristi, is that's as bad a gang is there is anywhere in the world.
Noem: It's the worst.
Trump: Is that accurate?
Noem: Absolutely, they are the worst.
Trump: I mean, they're worse than MS-13.
Noem: They're killers. They massacre people. They cut them up into pieces and they bury them in their communities where they grew up. They're horrible people.
Trump: And we had a lot of them and many of them, most of them -- pretty soon most of them are going to be out, uh. But they said to me, like we're a dumping ground. So, uh, I'm not in love with the people running Venezuela. I love Venezuela. I love the people of Venezuela, but what they've done to this country -- and I really say this, what Biden and the Democrats have done to this country can never ever be forgotten.
Question: You suggested Maduro wants to talk. Are you prepared to speak with him directly? Would you commit to doing that before you ordered strikes?
Trump: Yeah, I probably would talk to him. Yeah, I talk to everybody.
Question: Mr. President! Mr. President!
Trump: Go ahead, please.
Question: [Inaudible] Garrett, was that through your [Inaudible] deal? Was that India? Rebecca [Inaudible] with Blaze news. So you, in a recent interview, you had made some remarks about H-1B visas.
Trump: About what?
Question: You said -- about H-1B visas. You said that there were certain talents that Americans needed to outsource to foreign workers. Could you clarify maybe --
Trump: -- Until they learned that -- yeah, like for instance, if you're going to be making chips, we don't make chips too much here anymore, but we are going to be in a period of a year. We're going to have a big portion of the chip market. But we have to train our people how to make chips because we didn't do it, we used to do it and then foolishly we lost that business to Taiwan very, very foolishly because if they had a president that thought like I did, they would not have let that happen. But it's all coming back. I think we're going to have a -- within a few years, we're going and not because of the CHIP -- CHIPS Act. The CHIPS Act was a disaster for this country. We gave away billions of dollars to other countries and other locations and companies and all they did was rob, our money. But because of tariffs, the chips are coming back, chip makers are all coming back. And I think within a very short period of time, we're going to have maybe even a majority of the chip making in the world will be right in the United States --
Question: -- Mr. President --
Trump: -- where it should have been all along. But because we had people that didn't believe in tariffs, they believed in them, they didn't know how to use them. We would have had nobody leaving our country right now and instead you have almost 100 percent of the chips are made in Taiwan. It's so disgraceful. The good news is it's all coming back. Yeah, please.
Question: Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr. President!
Trump: Gentlemen in the back.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to just follow up on Venezuela. In these talks with Maduro, is there anything that he could say or do that would let -- allow you to feel like he could stay with your support? Is there anything that he could say that you would be Ok, you can stay?
Trump: It's hard to say that. You know, the question's a little bit tricky. Uh, I don't think it was meant to be tricky. It's just that look, he's done tremendous damage to our country, primarily because of drugs, but really because we have that problem with other countries too. But more than any other country, the release of prisoners into our country has been a disaster. He's emptied his jails; others have done that also. He has not been good to the United States, so we'll see what happens. At a certain period of time, I'll be talking to him.
Question: Mr. President, can I just follow up? You mentioned your voice and you were shouting about trade. Which country in particular upset you? Was it India, Switzerland?
Trump: Well, I don't want to say. No, no, no, the country wanted to try and renegotiate the terms of their trade deal and I wasn't happy about it.
Question: But, which country was it? People want to know.
Trump: Why would I say that to you? I can't believe it.
Question: Mr. President, on the World Cup, if you would. Seattle and the World Cup, the new mayor of Seattle is a Democratic socialist.
Trump: [Inaudible] I watched her. That's more than socialism.
Question: Right. Seattle has six World Cup games. How close are you going to be watching that city with the crime in that city?
Trump: Well, if we think -- and I'll have to speak to Gianni about this, but if we think that -- the mayor of LA is incompetent, everybody knows that. You know, that I was there I guess two years ago and we got all the federal permits taken care of, far more complex than the state permits and the city permits. And Lee Zeldin, who's a superstar, got everything taken care of, the toughest part, you know, having to do with the fires. That should have never happened. If they let the water come in, it wouldn't have happened, right? Do you know that people aren't building their houses yet? I mean, can you imagine that? And if we didn't go in early on, Kristi, I think we could say, well, the -- the head of their police department said it, they were unable to handle -- you would have -- not only did you have the fires, but you would have had total insurrection in Los Angeles.
And if we didn't go in and the head of, you know the gentleman, he said it and he said it strongly, said we could not have done it without the federal government. We did a great job. If we think there's going to be a sign of any trouble, I would ask Gianni to move that to a different city. We have a lot of cities that are -- would love to have it, number one, and would do it very safely. So if we think there's a problem in Seattle, where you have a very, very liberal/communist mayor, I would say, you know, it's certainly beyond just liberal. I watched her over the weekend. Wow, that's another beauty we got there. But if we think there's going to be a problem, we'll -- Gianni, can I say we will move -- I don't think you're going to have this problem, but we're going to move the event to someplace where it's going to be appreciated and safe.
Infantino: Yeah, well, I think safety and security is the number one priority for a successful World Cup. We can see today that people have trust in the United States when we see the tickets -- ticket sales. We sold, I mean, record breaking figures of tickets, almost two million already sold out of two million that you've been selling. This is because people, they know that they will be coming here and they will experience a safe and secure World Cup. This is the responsibility, of course, of the government, of Secretary Noem, of everyone, and obviously, we will -- I mean we will discuss -- we are working together. We have a task force for this. And we must ensure that uh, all fans coming from abroad or being here, they can experience a celebration of coming together of the sport. And this goes only with 100 percent safety.
Trump: Go ahead.
Noem: We are communicating with all these mayors about what their responsibilities are. They know the safety and security of these events is their number one responsibility and we'll be there. The president's always there to keep Americans safe, but he also makes sure the people that know their responsibilities and that they're prepared to host these events and do so in a safe manner.
Question: Is there a timeline [Inaudible] --
Trump: Yeah. Go ahead, please.
Question: There was some news this morning from an Axios report that Senator Ted Cruz was laying the groundwork for a potential 2028 Presidential run. Could I get your reaction to -- would you -- could you see yourself supporting Senator Cruz?
Trump: Well, he's a friend of mine. I mean, I haven't spoken to him about it. It's a little early. It's three and a quarter years. It's a long time. But he's a very good guy. He's a very good friend of mine. You remember we had a quite a campaign against Ted and it worked out quite nicely. Let's see. Where are we? Oh, we're in the Oval -- But I'm not that surprised to hear that.
Question: Mr. President, on the tariff exemptions, you had some recently on a variety of different goods. I'm wondering, are you ruling out going forward, no more exemptions on products? You're mentioning a disagreement [Inaudible] so I'm wondering --
Trump: Look, we've taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money. We're going to be issuing dividends later on, some -- somewhere prior to probably in the middle of next year, a little bit later than that, of thousands of dollars for individuals of moderate income, middle income. We're going to pay down debt. You know, we have a lot of money from tariffs. If we didn't have tariffs, this nation would be in serious trouble. And we've taken in tremendous amounts of money. And you know what's more important than that, we've protected our businesses from being raided like we did with the chip business. Now we're bringing them all back.
But our -- you know, we had 100 percent of the chip industry and then they left. They went mostly to Taiwan and South Korea, but mostly Taiwan and they have almost 100 percent. And we're going to have within a short period of time, a big percentage of the chip business are coming back because of tariffs, because they don't want to pay the tariffs. Because the tariffs will be very steep if they don't come back. And they're all -- they've committed to come back. As you probably heard, Apple is now up to $700 billion. We have NVIDIA at $600 billion. We have tremendous amounts of money pouring in. Our country has become amazing again and really, really rich again.
I will say this, we have a decision we're waiting for. It's a very big decision. The numbers that we've taken in, if you talk about investments, is trillions. Not with -- not with a B, not with an M, millions, but trillions of dollars. I can't imagine having to give that money back on something that we're allowed to do. And the ones that are fighting us are countries, largely, they're backing -- countries that have been ripping us off for years, using tariffs to rip us off and now we're able to defend ourselves. It really is a matter of national security because economic security is national security. So I think you're going to see another thing happening. I think you'll see food prices, they've come down very substantially since -- since Biden. But I think you're going to see food prices coming down very substantially.
Question: On Saudi Arabia, tomorrow, you're hosting Saudi Arabia.
Trump: Yeah.
Question: Are you planning to sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia?
Trump: Yeah.
Question: I mean, and also, are you looking at doing a similar security agreement like you did with --
Trump: Yeah, no, I am planning on doing that. Yeah. They want to buy. They've been a great ally. They've got to like us very much. Look at the Iran situation, what we did in terms of obliterating, you know, their -- we obliterated their nuclear capability. Yeah, I will say that we will be doing that. We'll be selling F-35s. Yeah.
Question: [Inaudible] something you posted on Truth Social last night. You urged House Republicans to vote in favor of this Epstein release bill they're going to vote on tomorrow.
Trump: Yeah.
Question: I just want to be super clear on your position. Do you want to see that pass the Senate? Would you sign that bill, if it gets to your desk?
Trump: I do want to -- here's what I want. We have nothing to do with Epstein, the Democrats do. All of his friends were Democrats. You look at this Reid Hoffman, you look at Larry Summers, Bill Clinton, they went to his island all the time and many others. They're all Democrats. All I want is I want for people to recognize a great job that I've done on pricing, on affordability, because we brought prices way down, but they're going way lower, on energy, on ending eight wars and another one coming pretty soon, I believe.
We've done a great job and I hate to see that deflect from the great job we've done. So I'm all for it. You know, we've already given 50,000 pages. You do know that. Unfortunately, like with the Kennedy situation, with the Martin Luther King situation, not to put Jeffrey Epstein in the same category, but no matter what we give, it's never enough. You know, with Kennedy, we gave everything and it wasn't enough. With Martin Luther King, we gave everything and it's never enough. We've already given, I believe the number is 50,000 pages, 50,000 pages and it's just the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, as it pertains to the Republicans now. Now, I believe that many of the people that we -- some of the people that we mentioned are being looked at very seriously for their relationship to Jeffrey Epstein, but they were with him all the time.
I wasn't. I wasn't at all. And we'll see what happens. What I just don't want Epstein to do is detract from the great success of the Republican Party, including the fact that the Democrats are totally blamed for the shutdown. You know, they cost our country hundreds of billions of dollars with that and a lot of inconvenience. So I'm for -- Any -- I know -- they can do whatever they want. We'll give them everything --
Question: You would sign --
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: Sure, I would. Let -- let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it, but don't talk about it too much because, honestly, I don't want to take it away from us. It's really a Democrat problem, the Democrats were Epstein's friends, all of them. And it's a hoax, the whole thing is a hoax and I don't want to take it away from -- really the greatness of what the Republican Party has accomplished over the last period of time. Yep?
Question: Mr. President, since the shutdown is now over and administration officials had said when the shutdown ends, they'll reevaluate the farmer relief. Now we have the deal with China. So is the administration still looking to dish out farmer relief now that the government is back open?
Trump: I'm always going to help our farmers.
Question: So, are you still looking to do --
Trump: -- I would do that, yeah. If they need relief, we'll be there for them. We're going to always be for our farmers.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: Yeah, please in the back.
Question: Mr. President, just speaking of the -- the economic impacts of FIFA and possibly moving to another city, some games, if you feel there's crime. Is there like a timeline that you would do that? Because these cities, there's sponsorships, there's economic impacts for these communities.
Trump: Sure.
Question: Is there a --
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: Well, you know, the governors are going to have to behave, the mayors are going to have to behave. You know, in the case of California you have a problem. Uh, you have high crime and you have a place that just suffered great fires and everything else and they didn't do a very good job. And if we didn't go in from the crime standpoint, you would have had a disaster. It would have been -- it was not going to be handled properly. It wasn't able to be. Uh, the head of the police said without, as I said, without the federal government, they could not have done it. So here's the story. Uh, I love Los Angeles if they want help during this, I would love to send in National Guard or whoever's necessary to help them.
I want it to be great. I'd love it to be in Los Angeles. I love the place. It's a natural for Los Angeles. Uh, if we think they're going to -- there's going to be crime, if we are obstructed by the governor and maybe he won't obstruct, maybe he'll be great. But I'd love him for -- for him to call and say, you know, we'd like to have some extra because if there's even a hint of a problem, we want to get in there before the problem occurs. We want to make it totally safe for Gianni and FIFA and all of the great people that are going to be there and I think that's going to happen. I would -- I would be honored to help, uh, California if they're going to have a problem. And if they think they're going to have a problem, they should say so. We can be in there in 24 hours notice and do a great job.
Question: Mr. President, a year -- by the -- by the end of the year, by the end of the first quarter --
Trump: -- Well, I think this -- if they would tell us if they would tell us now they're not going to have a problem because if we go in, they don't have a problem. Look at DC, there's no crime in DC anymore and DC was a mess. Uh, if they want us to go in, I'd like them to tell us right now. But if we go in, there will be no problem. There will be no crime.
Question: What's the message then to local businesses who are considering sponsoring --
Trump: -- Tell your governor to ask for federal help. We'd love to help them.
Question: You're also potentially launching strikes in Mexico or putting American troops or American personnel into Mexico to deal with the --
Trump: -- Would I want strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? It's Ok with me. Whatever we have to do to stop drugs. Mexico is -- look, I looked at Mexico City over the weekend. There's some big problems over there. Uh, if we had to, would we do there what we've done to the waterways? You know, there's almost no drugs coming into our waterways anymore. Isn't it down like 85 percent?
Noem: It is, sir.
Trump: I don't know who the 15 percent would be.
Noem: Yup, yup.
Trump: It wouldn't be, you know.
Unidentified: No, that's for sure.
Trump: No, I think it's been, uh --
Noem: -- Tons and tons of drugs.
Trump: You would say that's a big signal?
Noem: Absolutely.
Trump: We have almost no drugs coming into our country by the sea, by -- you know, the waterways. And you know why, Ok? I mean it's pretty obvious. Uh, would I do that on the land cars? I would -- look, every boat we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. Not to mention the destruction of families. These families are decimated forever. The mother, the father, the children, they never recover really from it. You know, when you lose somebody like the way they -- any -- if you lose them, but the way they die is horrible. So when we knock out a boat and we save 25,000 lives, that's great. Now, do I feel the same way about the -- the corridors that they use?
We know every one of them. We have every one of those corridors under major surveillance. Uh, we have nobody coming in through our southern border, but we know exactly how they get their things here, how they get the drugs here, fentanyl, cocaine. Uh, Colombia has cocaine factories where they make cocaine. Would I knock out those factories? I would be proud to do it personally. I didn't say I'm doing it, but I would be proud to do it because we're going to save millions of lives by doing it.
Question: Would you need Mexico's permission though?
Trump: Uh, I wouldn't answer that question. Um, I've been speaking to Mexico. They know how I stand. We're losing hundreds of thousands of people to drugs. So now we've stopped the waterways. But we know every route, we know every route, we know the addresses of every drug lord. We know their address, we know their front door. We know everything about every one of them. They're killing our people. It's like a war. Would I do it? I'd be proud to. I'd probably go into Congress and say, hey -- and you know what? The Democrats or the Republicans would both agree, unless they're crazy. Uh, and, uh, they are a little crazy on the Democrat side. But, um, we have -- we have lost hundreds of thousands of people a year, death. And that's not talking about family destruction, that's talking about death and much of it comes through Mexico. So let me just put it this way, I am not happy with Mexico, Ok? Thank you very much, everybody.
Unidentified: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you, guys.