TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters After Air Force One Arrival, 1.13.26
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President Trump: So we had great numbers introduced today. We had a wonderful speech in front of great people in Detroit, and mostly in the car business. And we're setting records in manufacturing. It's going very well. I think, uh, people appreciated what I had to say in terms of the numbers. So we're very happy about that.
I'm going back to the White House now. We're going to look at the whole situation that's going on in Iran. It's really bad stuff. And Minnesota is, uh, going to have to take care of itself for a little while. We have tremendous theft and fraud going on in that state because you have an incompetent governor, grossly incompetent governor and a corrupt governor, but we'll straighten that out.
But Iran is on my mind, when I see the kind of death that is happening over there, we think. So we're going to get some accurate numbers. I'll have it in about 20 minutes. We'll get some accurate numbers as to what's happening with regard to the killing. The killing, looks like it's significant, but we don't know yet for certain. I'll know within 20 minutes, so --
Question: On sanctuary city --
Trump: And we'll act accordingly.
Question: On sanctuary city -- [Inaudible] US -- US airstrikes, if it comes to that, will achieve -- will protect [Inaudible] the result of protecting the protesters?
Trump: Well, you never know, do you? You never know. So far, my track record has been excellent, but you never know.
Question: Do you think it's going to be something kinetic like that or more like cyber or --
Trump: Well, I can't tell you that I know exactly what it would be. We have to make a decision, but I can't -- obviously, I can't be telling you.
Question: Timeline? Yeah, yeah. Timeline? Sir, Jamie Dimon said today that it's not a great idea to be chipping away at the fed's independence. Do you think Jamie Dimon is wrong about that?
Trump: Yeah, I think it's fine, what I'm doing. We have a bad, bad person. He was extended by Biden. And yeah, I think he's wrong. I think it's wrong. He's -- he's done a bad job. We should have lower rates. Jamie Dimon probably wants higher rates, maybe he makes more money that way.
Question: On sanctuary city, sir, on -- But Jamie Dimon also was talking about the 10 percent credit card. The House speaker said that it could have negative side effects if it was imposed through Congress. Are you concerned about that? Have you talked to the speaker --
Trump: No, I'm not. I think that people that are paying 28 percent interest should be protected. We're talking about for a one year period. But when you have a bank, whether it's Jamie Dimon or anybody else, charging people 28, 32 percent, 30 percent, 31 percent, in one case, 35 percent, no, I'll help those people. That's all right.
Question: On sanctuary city, sir, in your speech you said --
Trump: It's a one year, 10 percent, let the people have a break.
Question: In your speech you said that you're going to be cutting off funding for sanctuary cities on February 1st.
Trump: That's right.
Question: What kind of funding?
Trump: You'll see. It'll be significant.
Question: All federal funding? On health care, is there something that you can do with insurance companies to bring down premiums like you're doing with [Inaudible]
Trump: Yeah, I'm going to meet with the insurance companies, but I want the money to go directly to the people. It's very simple, into a health care savings account, but directly to the people so the people can buy their own health care.
Question: Mr. President, on Thursday will be the six year anniversary of you signing the phase one trade deal with China, the signature on it. That deal open Chinese markets to US goods, it protected intellectual property. Can we get back to that?
Trump: Yeah, we can. We're doing very well with China. I have a great relationship with President Xi, as you obviously know. We're doing really well. We're making a lot of money with China.
Question: But can you open their markets to US goods [Inaudible]
Trump: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think it's going to happen.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: -- Hamas says that it will retaliate in the instance of US strikes against US assets in the Middle East. What do you say to US service members about why it's worth the risk to intervene in Iran?
Trump: Yeah. Yeah. Iran said that the last time I blew them up with the nuclear capability, which they don't have any longer. So Iran said that the last time. They better behave.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: Mr. President -- Intel's stock is really high after you invested. Are you going to invest more in Intel?
Trump: Yeah, I like it. So -- well, I don't know about Intel, but I'll invest more in other things.
Question: What other companies?
Trump: So as you know, Intel came to see me. They needed help. And I said, I'll help you, but I want 10 percent of your company to go to the United States of America. And we made, because of that deal, tens of billions of dollars, the stock. The stock went very up and very high and we made tens of billions of dollars.
We got -- they walked away and they gave us a lot of money, but they did a great deal for themselves because their stock has gone up. As soon as we went in, Apple went in, NVIDIA went in. A lot of smart people went in. They followed us. So yeah, we're doing that. We've done other of those deals. In Alaska, we did a deal where we got a big piece of a company, where we were helping them to get a road.
We're the only ones that could have done it. And we said we want something out of the company for the United States of America. OK? So I believe in that. We have some other ones that we're looking at. I believe in that. If it's up to us, if they can't do it without us and then I say, well, we'll do it, if you were a private guy, you'd say, what do we get for doing it. Now, I don't want anything for myself. I want it to -- I want our country to be rich as hell. But with Intel, we made billions and billions of dollars, right?
Question: So Mr. President, on Iran, do you have a message for the leaders currently of Iran?
Trump: Yeah, the message is they've got to show humanity. They've got a big problem and I hope they're not going to be killing people. And I'm going to have a report very soon. It would seem to me that they have been badly misbehaving, but that is not confirmed.
Question: Secretary Bessent -- a hostage rescue effort that ended in disaster. Are you saying --
Trump: Well, it was a disaster for Jimmy Carter. They had all sorts of problems and the helicopters were crashing and everything. You know what it was, the exact opposite of Venezuela. Do you agree with that? Do you agree, as a reporter -- who you're with? Who are you with?
Question: I'm with the Financial Times, sir.
Trump: Oh, good. Well, it's a nice paper.
Question: Are you committing not to send in US troops into Iran --
Trump: Why would I tell you that? Why would I -- I don't talk about military strategy with a reporter, you know, even though I do like the Financial Times.
Question: Sir, Secretary Bessent -- Mr. President, are you consulting with our allies regarding Iran?
Trump: Yeah. Yeah.
Question: What are they telling you? And why do you think --
Trump: Well, I'm not going to tell you what they're telling me. I don't tell you what they tell me.
Question: [Inaudible] leadership [Inaudible] Mr. President?
Trump: You think they are?
Question: Well [Inaudible]
Trump: It's only been a couple of days. Well, they said that about Venezuela too. You know, it's only been a couple of days. They haven't defied me. They haven't done anything, as far as we're concerned. But it looks like they're killing a lot of people, but it has not been confirmed. I'll know very soon.
Question: On Greenland, sir, the premier of Greenland said today, we prefer to stay with Denmark. Do you see that as the final word?
Trump: Who said that?
Question: The premier of Greenland.
Trump: Well, that's their problem. That's their problem. I disagree with him. I don't know who he is, don't know anything about him, but that's going to be a big problem for him.
Question: Do you want to see democracy in Iran?
Trump: Ideally, you'd like to see it. But what we want to see is we don't want to see people killed and we want to see a little bit of freedom for these people. These people have been living in hell for a long time. You know, that used to be a hell of a country. I have friends that used to invest in Iran and they did well with their investments. It was a great place. The people were great. Even the leadership was good. And now it's living in hell. Thank you very much, everybody.