TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters Before Air Force One Departure, 3.23.26
[Video]
Question: Morning Mr. President.
Question: Good morning Mr. President.
President Trump: Okay, hello, let me get out of the sun, here.
Question: Good morning, Mr. President.
Question: [Inaudible] on Iran, you said that, uh --
Trump: Let me just, move over. Let's get out of the sun.
Question: Move back, move back.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: [Inaudible] Isn't that more comfortable?
Question: Mr. President, Iran's foreign ministry says you're not telling the truth when it comes to productive conversations to end the war.
Trump: Well, they're going to have to get themselves better public relations people. Uh, we have had very, very strong talks. We'll see where they lead. We have point -- major points of agreement; I would say almost all points of agreement. Perhaps that hasn't been conveyed. The communication, as you know, has been blown to pieces.
They're unable to talk to each other. But we've had very strong talks. Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner had them. Uh, they went, I would say, perfectly. I would say that if they carry through with that, it'll end that that problem, that conflict, and I think it will end it very, very substantially. We have very much in mind, our partners in the Middle East.
We have great relationships with a lot of them, as you know. A lot of them were surprisingly hit, and I was surprised to see it and so was everyone else. But we have -- uh, they're very much in mind in the discussions. So the discussions took place yesterday. They went into yesterday evening. Uh, they want very much to make a deal.
We'd like to make a deal too. We're going to get together today by, probably phone, because it's very hard to find a country. It's very hard for them to get out, I guess. But we'll at some point very, very soon meet. We're doing a five-day period. We'll see how that goes. And if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we'll just keep bombing our little hearts out.
Question: Who is Steve speaking with, Mr. President?
Trump: A top -- a top person. Don't forget, we've wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two, and largely phase three. But we're dealing with a man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. You know, it's a little tough. They've wiped out -- we've wiped out everybody.
Question: [Inaudible] supreme leader?
Trump: No, not the supreme leader. We don't -- well, nobody's ever -- nobody heard of the second supreme leader, the son. Nobody -- we have not heard from the son. Every once in a while, you see a statement made, but we haven't -- we don't know if he's living. But the people that seem to be running it and they seem that based on really fact because things they've said have taken place.
Question: Mr. President -- Can you say where that is?
Trump: I can't. I can't, because I don't want them to be killed. OK? I don't want them to be killed.
Question: Mr. President, you've deployed --
Trump: Nobody wants to be that -- nobody wants that job right now, you know? Nobody's exactly looking forward to being the head of that particular country, but perhaps we'll be able to solve that problem.
Question: Mr. President, you've deployed ICE agents to American airports -- Newsmax, sir. You've deployed ICE agents --
Trump: You're not doing a very good job.
Question: You've deployed ICE agents --
Trump: You're not doing a good job. Did you hear me? OK. Go ahead.
Question: What exactly do you want from these talks?
Trump: Can you believe it? I'm taking CNN over Newsmax. Do you believe it?
Question: What exactly are you looking for in these talks, Mr. President?
Trump: We're looking for all of the things that we've been talking about. We want to see no nuclear bomb, no nuclear weapon, not even close to it, low key in the missiles. We want to see peace in the Middle East. We want -- the nuclear dust, we're going to want that, and I think we're going to get that. We've agreed to that. Yeah, we've agreed to that.
Question: Do you want the enriched uranium before you can end this war?
Trump: Yeah, and we want no enrichment, but we also want the enriched uranium. We're -- if this happens, it's a great start for Iran to build itself back and it's everything that we want. And it's also great for Israel and it's great for the other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, all of them, Kuwait and Bahrain, in particular. So it's great for all of them.
Question: Mr. President? If the war is ending, do you still need $200 billion?
Trump: We -- uh, it's always nice to have. It's always nice to have. It's a very inflamed world and the Democrats inflame it. You know, largely, the Democrats inflame it. Let me just talk about the other. So ICE has done very well. I've requested -- Now, you know I'm a big believer that they should be able to wear masks when they go and hunt down, you know, murderous, criminals and others, but for purposes of the airport, I've requested that they take off the mask. I don't like it for the airport. And I believe they are willing to do that.
Question: Mr. President, ICE -- Why [Inaudible] wear masks not at the airport, but they need to do it when they're out in the country?
Trump: Because the people coming into the airport, typically speaking, aren't murderers, killers, drug dealers, etc. There may be a few of them, but there aren't many. They're people that want to come into the country, or they're people want to leave the country, going to maybe their home country. So I didn't think it was an appropriate look for an airport. I think it's a very appropriate look when they're out on the street trying to find one of the 11,888 murderers that Sleepy Joe Biden let into our country.
Question: Elon Musk, sir. Elon Musk -- Last year, you gave a $10,000 bonus -- sorry. Last year, you gave a $10,000 bonus to TSA workers who kept showing up to work during the shutdown. Will you do that again?
Trump: Well, it could happen. It's amazing. They're such -- they're people that are really, really loyal and great, and it's not easy for them. And this is all caused by the Democrats. Just so you know, all this money was approved, everything was approved. This is done. The Democrats went in and they want to have radical left lunatics come into our country.
They want to have drug dealers, they want to have murderers come into our country. They want to have open borders, and we're not letting it happen. That's what this is all about. They don't want voter ID. They don't want proof of citizenship they don't want mail-in ballots. They're so corrupt. What they want -- the only thing they want is mail-in ballots.
So we also added, as you know, into the -- into the SAVE America Act, and it's called SAVE America, it's not the SAVE Act, but we added no transgender mutilization of our children and no men in women's sports.
Question: Elon Musk, sir. If these talks go well and you reach --
Trump: I don't think he's going to be at Newsmax long.
Question: If these talks go well and you reach a ceasefire agreement with Iran, do you believe Israel would abide by that agreement?
Trump: I think Israel will be very happy with what we have. We just spoke to Israel a little while ago. I think they'll be very happy. This will be peace for Israel, long-term peace, guaranteed peace. If this happens, and I can't guarantee it, but I think it's going to. My life is a deal. That's all I do is deals, my whole life.
I think this is something that's going to happen. And why wouldn't it happen? So tomorrow morning sometime, their time, we were expected to blow up their largest electric generating plants that cost over $10 billion to build. It's a very good one. There was no dearth of money. And one shot, it's gone, it collapses.
Why would they want that? So they called. I didn't call, they called. They want to make a deal. And we are very willing to make a deal. It's got to be a good deal and it's got to be no more wars, no more nuclear weapons. They're not going to have nuclear weapons anymore. They're agreeing to that. Any of that stuff, there's no deal.
Question: Have they offered to reopen -- How are you -- you said you want to get the enriched uranium. How are you going to get the enriched uranium? Are you going to send --
Trump: Well, it's very easy. If we have a deal with them, we're going down and we'll take it ourselves.
Question: Can I ask you, the Treasury lifted sanctions on Iranian oil that was out to sea. You criticized President Obama for giving Iran $1.7 billion --
Trump: Well, I just want to have as much oil in the system as possible.
Question: But Iran --
Trump: And we don't even know if Iran gets that money. Frankly, I think it's very hard for them to get it. But you have ships that are out there that are loaded up with oil. Rather than keep it there, I would rather see it go to the system. Any small amount of money that Iran gets is not going to have any difference in this war, but I want to have the system be lubricated.
Question: Even $14 billion, you don't think helps them?
Trump: Where's the 14 billion?
Question: Because the inflated price, they get $14 billion from the oil.
Trump: I don't think they're getting the money. I could tell you -- when this is all over, I will tell you who's getting the money. It's not them.
Question: [Inaudible] Marines from California, given that it'll take them weeks to arrive, is the intention to police the strait or take [Inaudible]
Trump: What are you talking about?
Question: Well, it's been reported that there are Marines that left California, left San Diego last week at the end of the week. Why are they headed there now? And --
Trump: Well, let me ask you this. If you were in my position and I asked you that question, do you really believe I'd give you an answer? Crazy question. We don't talk about strategy. Yeah?
Question: Another young woman was killed by an illegal immigrant that was let in under the Biden administration.
Trump: Let in by Biden.
Question: Do you have a message for her family?
Trump: It's devastating. These people were led in by Biden. We're getting them out. We're getting them out fast. That's why ICE is so important. They're doing such a good job. This animal -- I saw the whole thing last night. They gave me a briefing, came in through Joe Biden with his open door policy and his border czar, Kamala, who never saw the border, never made one phone call.
All the ICE people, you see, they all know me. Everyone knows me. They like me. I speak to them all the time. Didn't make one phone call during four years she was the border czar to anybody on the border, never went there. This person came in through the open door policy of Joe Biden and we have others. We're taking them out by the tens of thousands.
We're doing a great job, but it's a shame. They've -- they've hurt our country. Just remember this, Joe Biden and that gang of radical left lunatics, some very smart but radical left and bad ideology, sick people, these people have hurt our country very badly.
Question: Are we directly talking with Iran? If you end up hitting those Iranian power plants, how is that different from what Russia is doing in Ukraine by ending Ukrainian power?
Trump: Well, I think it's a lot different. And if you look at the nuclear weapons that they wanted to have, that they wanted to possess, a lot of things are different. Uh, I'm no -- I'm not a fan of what Russia is doing either, just so you understand. All right? But it's a lot different. You're talking about a country that has been evil for 47 years.
They've been horrible, death all over the world, not just us. Look at the way they attacked, unexpectedly, all of those countries surrounding them. That was not supposed to -- nobody was even thinking about it, but they wanted to take over the Middle East, and they wanted to knock out Israel permanently. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they would have been able to do that.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: What?
Question: Mr. President, do you know whether Joe Kent was leaking?
Trump: Look, I'm not a fan of the guy. If you look at -- and you never cover this. If you look at his Truths or whatever, he went on, if it's X or Truth, uh, if you look at his Truths, or his statements, he was all for everything. All of a sudden, he wasn't. He was, uh, a man that I met at Dover. He came, and his wife was killed.
He remarried fairly quickly. His wife was killed, and I felt badly for him. He ran for Congress, he lost. He ran for Congress again, and he lost. I said, you know, he's a guy -- nice guy, seemed like a very nice guy. I met him. He was pretty heartbroken, pretty. But I said, you know, it's a shame, he ran for Congress twice, call him up, give him a job in the White House, smart.
They gave him a job in the White House and this is what he does to me. You know, being a nice guy doesn't pay off too much. Think of it, he loses twice in Congress, ran not very good campaigns. He should have won. But he loses twice. How do I get him? I have my people call him, because I didn't deal with him, for the most part.
I saw him a couple of times, but I never dealt with him at all. I had no idea his ideology was left or right, whatever it is. I can say this, he said very strongly that Iran is not a threat. Iran's been a threat for 47 years, and there's not a country in the world that doesn't agree with me on that. So I take this guy, Joe Kent, who lost twice for Congress pretty badly and tough, and it was devastated and I know that he lost his wife.
So instead of letting him live out his life, I brilliantly have my people call him and offer him a job in security, essentially, in the White House. And what does he do? He goes out and he says that Iran is not a threat to get publicity. Now, he probably signed up with CNN or maybe signed up with your division of Newsmax.
I don't know. But probably signed up with CNN or somebody. But if you look at his -- his tweets, Xs or Truths, whatever he uses, I don't know because I don't follow him, what he said is 100 percent he agrees with me. All of a sudden, he leaves. I never knew he had a problem. Now, I hear they're looking at him for leaking.
That's possible. But just so you understand, just to put it to rest, he lost twice badly. He also lost his wife. He's remarried since. He lost his wife. I felt badly for him. So I told my people, reach out to him, give him a job at the White House. This is the thanks I get. Any other questions?
Question: He said Iran was not an imminent threat, that that's what the intelligence showed.
Trump: I think it was an imminent threat. I think that Iran, if they -- if we didn't bomb them with the B-2 bombers, now that set them back, but if we didn't hit them with the B-2 bombers, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks to a month. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it as soon as they got it.
Question: If you obliterated their nuclear sites last summer with your strikes, then how can you argue it was an imminent threat now?
Trump: Oh, we hit them so hard. We obliterate them, but -- obliterated them. But that doesn't mean with the right equipment, you can't dig down and go get it. We don't want that, and we won't have that, but we obliterated that site. They still haven't been able to get it. That was a complete success. But if it wasn't, they would have had -- If we didn't hit them, if we didn't use the B-2 bombers, which are unbelievable.
We just ordered 22 more of them, modern version by the way, super modern version. If we didn't hit them with the B-2 bombers, they would have had, within two weeks of that attack -- that's why we hit them, because we knew. They would have had a nuclear weapon. They would have used it on Israel and the entire Middle East.
Question: Overall crime in Memphis is down 43 percent since you began this task force. Is this a template you think is working --
Trump: Well, what I'm doing -- what I'm doing today, really, this was supposed to be -- this was a little bit before -- set up a couple of weeks ago. This was before we had this situation with Iran take place last night. And by the way, they're just not -- when they say -- I'm sure they don't mean that, when somebody says, oh, I didn't know you were talking -- we were talking last night and I'm sure they have a lack of communication, which is appropriate considering we blew up, in addition to their Navy Air Force, every division, their radar. We also blew up all of their anti-aircraft and communications. So they have no telecommunications, so there is a lack of -- I would imagine a lack of coordination.
Question: [Inaudible] are reliable. If there -- if you're worried about the miscommunication, how --
Trump: Well, we think -- we think -- all we can do is think -- look, we have numerous leader groups. They've all been killed, very dangerous position. Khomeini was killed. Khomeini's son is unavailable. Nobody knows what happened to him. I can say, they haven't seen him there either. Something is going on with him.
But regardless, I don't consider him really the leader, but they do have some leaders left. Because we blew up group number one, group number two, a lot of group number three, but we think we have people that are very representative of the country and will do a good job in representing.
Question: Elon Musk, sir? Elon Musk has offered to pay -- Elon Musk has offered to pay TSA workers during this DHS shutdown.
Trump: Yeah.
Question: Is this something that you've been speaking to him about?
Trump: Yeah, I'd love it. I think it's great. Let him do that. And I want to thank ICE because they stepped in so -- so strongly. They'll do great. And if that's not enough, I'll bring in the National Guard. We're not going to have the Democrats destroy our country. These people are the most destructive, sick people, the Democrats.
They want -- and they're fighting for this. They're fighting for men in women's sports. They're fighting for transgender for everybody, everybody go out, get your kid a nice operation and change the sex of your kid. They're fighting for no -- think of it, they don't want you to do voter ID. You walk into a booth -- in California, if a person who's doing voting, an official, asks you for identification, they're subject to being arrested.
What's wrong with this country? So we're fighting it hard. And I think they should -- because the Democrats are being blamed for the shutdown and it's their fault and they're getting killed. That's why when I -- when I announced yesterday about ICE, the Democrats called, we want to settle, we want to settle. And I told the people, don't settle, don't settle, because we have something bigger. Only settle if you get the SAVE America Act, voter ID and so important, proof of citizenship, etc. Thank you very much.
Question: Whose idea was that, to put ICE at the airport? [Inaudible] Iranians?
Trump: We're dealing, really --
Question: Whose idea was it?
Trump: Mine. That was mine.
Question: And can I ask you, you said --
Trump: That was like the paperclip. You know the story of the paperclip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paperclip. It was so simple and everybody that looked at it, say, why didn't I think of that? ICE was my idea. I called -- first person I called was Tom Homan. I said, what do you think? He said, I think it's great.
Then I saw today there was some masks on. I didn't think the masks were appropriate. I put out a statement and I asked him, would it be possible to take off the masks? Because they should wear a mask when they're dealing with the murderers and the thugs left -- let into our country.
Question: And just a detail, you said there's many points of agreement with Iran right now.
Trump: Many. Many.
Question: What -- can you give us just a few of those?
Trump: Like 15 points. 15 points.
Question: The Iranians said --
Trump: Well, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. That's number one. That's number one, two and three. They will never have a nuclear weapon.
Question: And they've said yes to that?
Trump: They've agreed to that.
Question: [Inaudible] illegal migrant arrests at airports, sir?
Trump: Arrests --
Question: Will we see ICE arresting illegal migrants at airports?
Trump: Yeah. Yeah, that's -- that's why the Democrats are going crazy, because they've allowed -- by what they did and hold up, we put ICE, who are a very high level -- I mean, they really are a high level group of people. And they love it because they're able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. That's -- that's very fertile territory, but that's not why they're there. They're really there to help.
Question: Are we talking to Iran directly? [Inaudible] have they agreed to no enrichment whatsoever even for medical purposes, civilian purposes?
Trump: They have. Thank you. Thank you.
Question: What about the Strait of Hormuz, who's going to be in control of that?
Trump: That'll be opened very soon if this works.
Question: How soon?
Trump: Immediately. Immediately.
Question: And who's in control of it? Will Iran still be able to control the flow of oil?
Trump: Be jointly controlled.
Question: By whom?
Trump: Maybe me. Maybe me.
Question: Both the United States --
Trump: Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is, whoever the next Ayatollah -- look, and there'll also be a form of a -- a very serious form of a regime change. Now, in all fairness, everybody's been killed from the regime. They're really starting off -- there's automatically a regime change. But we're dealing with some people that I find to be very reasonable, very solid.
Uh, the people within know who they are. They're very respected. And maybe one of them will be exactly what we're looking for. Look at Venezuela, how well that's working out. We are doing so well in Venezuela with oil and with the relationship between the president elect and us. And maybe we find somebody like that in Iran.
Question: Are you considering any more options to lower the price of oil while these talks --
Trump: The price of oil will drop like a rock as soon as a deal is done. I guess it already is today. No, we have a very serious chance of making a deal. That doesn't guarantee anything. I'm not guaranteeing anything. I'm not going to come out here in a week or two weeks and have you all say, oh, you said -- I didn't say anything.
All I'm saying is we are in the throes of a real possibility of making a deal. And I think -- if I were a betting man, I'd bet for it. But again, I'm not guaranteeing anything. They want to make a deal very badly. Thank you.
Question: What changes would you like to see in DHS under Markwayne Mullin?
Trump: Well, he's going to be fantastic. He'll make his own change. He's already given me a list of people he wants to bring. He's a fantastic guy. I think he's just the right guy. You all know him. He's a very open, smart guy, very successful actually, in business, which people don't know. And he's a friend of mine. I think Markwayne is going to be fantastic. Thank you. Thank you.
Question: Are these direct talks to Iran? [Inaudible] LaGuardia, Mr. President, on the plane crash that happened there last night?
Trump: Terrible. They made a mistake. It's a dangerous business. That's terrible. Thank you.
Question: Thank you.