TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters at Kennedy Center for Les Miserables Opening Night, 6.11.25
[VIDEO]
President Trump: [inaudible] Over $10 million tonight for the center itself. We want to bring it back and bring it back better than ever. As you know, it needs a little help, from the standpoint of age and fitness, but it’s going to be fantastic.
Question: Are you feeling any better [Inaudible] last night [Inaudible]
Trump: I really [Inaudible]
Question: [inaudible]
Trump: Oh, I love [Inaudible] we've seen it many times. We love it. Yes. What?
Reporter: [Inaudible]
Trump: Well, let's not talk about that. It's a very serious subject. It could be -- it could happen.
Question: Mr. President, can you come to the pool camera, sir? [Inaudible]
Trump: I believe so, as far as I know, yes.
Question: Mr. President, Corey Lewandowski says that you love Les Mis. Is it true?
Trump: Say it.
Question: [inaudible]
Trump: We’ll see what happens, yeah. We’re going to beat with a lot of people. I look forward to it.
Question: [inaudible]
Trump: Oh, I have – I would say every one of them. It’s just great, it’s truly great – great talent, this is a great production.
Question: Mr. President, can you tell us about the reception? [Inaudible] Kennedy Center [Inaudible]
Trump: Well, we’re going to save the Kennedy Center, we’re going to make it incredible. We have all the funding, we raised a lot tonight. And we’re putting a lot of money to bring it back to the highest level – higher than it was ever before. It’s got great sound, you know the bones [?] are very good. The sound is great – you’ll see that tonight. So we look forward to do a real job. It’s a big honor actually to be chairman. They asked me to be chairman – that’s a great – I have a lot of other things going, but it’s a great honor to be chairman.
Question: [inaudible] Marine presence in Los Angeles – [inaudible]
Trump: Well, they [inaudible] we were going to be there. If we weren’t there, if we didn’t bring in the National Guard and the Marines, you would probably have a city that was burning to the ground, just like it was a number of months ago with the housing. You would have had a big problem there. If we weren’t there – in fact, the police chief said so much, if you look at what his statements were, he said “we’re very lucky to have had them”. If we weren’t there, that city would have been burning to the ground, it would be burning right now.
Question: [inaudible] of unrest, what are you prepared to do, sir?
Trump: About what?
Question: If this turns – well, the protests [inaudible] in 16 cities across the U.S.
Trump: Well, I don’t know. That’s what you’re saying. Do I believe you? I don’t think so. I can tell you that what we have is a situation in Los Angeles that was caused by gross incompetence, they didn’t have the police to handle it. The police were asking us to come in, they were very late. We had to go in to save a lot of ICE officers, as you know, who were held up in a building, and they were being attacked. And the military went in, the National Guard went in, and we got them. The police weren’t able, unfortunately, to move fast enough, but we moved fast enough. And while we were there, we stayed there and we stopped tremendous destruction and death. We stopped the death. We stopped a lot. And if you look at them coming up and breaking up the sidewalk, getting it, and using it as a weapon—did you see that? With the curb? They were breaking up the curb. And they broke it up with a hammer since they couldn’t get the bricks in. You know, we had them under arrest, and they were bringing in bricks to throw at our police—to throw at our National Guard and the people. They couldn’t get them in because we got them. And then after we got them, they went and got a big hammer, started to break up the sidewalk and concrete curb, and they were handing it out to people to throw and drop on the cars.
They did it themselves. So, we’re going to do something about that. It was wrong. And we will have law and order in our country.
Question: It has been reported that some actors are boycotting tonight—
Trump: I could not care less. Honestly, I couldn’t. All I do is run the country well. The economic numbers—you saw them today—they are setting records. We took in $88 billion in tariffs, far beyond what anybody expected. There’s no inflation. People are happy. People are wealthy. The country is getting back to strength again. That’s what I care about. You have a safe country. You’re not going to have what happened in Los Angeles. And remember, if I wasn’t there and I didn’t act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now.
Question: How excited are you for a new era of your great leadership—
Trump: Well, he is a great guy. Rick is great. He has always done well for me. The new era, right here—it will be something. The bones of this facility are incredible. We are going to make it really great.
Question: A question from Newsmax: Could you provide an update on Iran? We're hearing reports that U.S. personnel are being moved out of the region within striking distance.
Trump: Well, they are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place. We’ll see what happens, but we've given notice to move out, and we will see what happens.
Question: Is there anything that could potentially dial the temperature down in the region?
Trump: They cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. They can’t have it. We are not going to allow that.
Question: Question on the musical: Have you seen Les Misérables before, and do you identify more with Jean Valjean or—?
Trump: That’s a tough one. You better answer that one, honey. I don’t know. We’ve seen it. We’ve seen it a number of times. It is fantastic. We have others coming—other great ones are coming.
Question: My question is on trade. Would you be willing to extend the deadline for trade talks with these countries?
Trump: I would, but I don’t think it will be necessary. We made a great deal with China. We are very happy with it. We have everything we need and will do well with it. Hopefully, they are as well. And also a very big one, as you know, we did with the UK. And I’ll tell you what—we are rocking in terms of deals. At a certain point, we’re just going to send letters out—and I think you understand that—saying, “This is the deal. You can take it or you can leave it.” You don’t have to use it. You don’t have to shop in the United States. And so, at a certain point, we’ll have to do that. But we’re not quite ready. We’re dealing with quite a few countries, and they all want to make a deal with us. Every one of them.
Question: Who’s next? Who do you expect to make a deal with next?
Trump: Well we are dealing with Japan, we are dealing with South Korea, we are dealing with a lot of them. We’re dealing with about 15 countries and as you know we have about 150 plus and you cannot do that. So we are going to be sending letters out in about a week and a half, two weeks, to the countries telling them with the deal is, like I did with E.U..
Question: Are you happy with the E.U. right now or are you unhappy with the E.U.?
Trump: Well I will let you know in about a week. They do want to negotiate, I will say that.
Question: What does it mean to be here tonight, bringing class back with your administration, in the golden era of theatre?
Trump: We are. We have a golden era here in our country. You see these trade numbers came in today. It’s fantastic. The deficit was cut in half over a period of two months. We cut what they’ve, they tried to destroy our country, and you saw how good the numbers were. We took in 88 billion in tariffs in two and a half months and we didn't even start yet. Now we’re bringing the country back fast and I’m very proud to helped Los Angeles survive. In Los Angeles right now, if we did not do what we did, it would be burning to the ground. And that’s not over yet, you know these are radical left lunatics that you’re dealing with, they’re tough, they’re smart, they’re probably paid many of them, you know they’re professionals, when you see them chopping up concrete and the bricks got captured, they’re chopping up concrete and using that as a weapon. That's pretty bad and thank you very much for your question.
Question: You’re a New Yorker. You’ve been to a million theatres. Do you remember your first theater production you attended?
Trump: That was a long time ago, I would say maybe it was Cats.
Question: First lady do you remember the first theatre production you saw?
Melania: Phantom of the Opera.
Question: There’s a parade this weekend. Are you excited?
Trump: Oh the parade is going to be incredible. It will be great like one we haven't had in many, many decades here. And it's a celebration of our country, it's a celebration of the army actually, you know the army was one year earlier than the union itself, one year than the founding of our country itself, one year. And it’s going to be a celebration of the army and military itself. The greatest weapons in the world and the greatest people in the world. It’s going to be a big parade.
Question: You guys look amazing tonight. You guys look amazing.
Trump: It's going to be great.
Question: Thank you, sir.