TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters On Air Force One, 10.25.25
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President Donald Trump: [Inaudible] I've only come back to tell you that you were so well-behaved.
Question: [Laughs]
Trump: I couldn't believe it. You were so respectful and well-behaved. I appreciate it. Okay. He's a great guy actually. He's a great leader. They helped us a lot and it was really nice that he came. We were just refueling and he came and said hello. He was very, very nice. Great, great man, actually. Great gentleman too.
Question: How did it go?
Trump: Great. I mean, we talked about, uh, peace. We have peace in the Middle East. That's what we have. Great peace in the Middle East. He thinks it's enduring. He's never seen anything like it. And, uh, he's very happy that I got involved and he helped. And we had a lot of help. We have 59 countries. We have a lot of countries that, uh, are signed on. It's just, this should be an enduring piece.
Question: What makes it different?
Trump: That everybody agrees. A year ago, it would've been very tough. I think the big thing was when we took out the nuclear power of Iran, when we took out that nuclear capability, which would've happened over the next month to two months, uh, that made a whole big difference in the Middle East. It made it possible to do the deal.
Question: Did you talk with them about how the new security arrangement between the US and Qatar will work?
Trump: No, I talked to 'em about a lot. We actually covered a lot of territory. Uh, it's working very well. It's all smooth. US doesn't have to get much involved. They're able to take care of it. They're very substantial nations. And you know, we have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar. You have, uh, the three and then you have many behind them, and, and even with them.
Question: When will the stabilization --
Trump: I mean, if you look, Turkey is involved, Indonesia is involved. Jordan, Egypt. I mean, it's uh, it's an amazing group of -- And many more, many others aside that are a little further away or, uh, not as close to the situation. Everybody's, everybody's on board. It's pretty amazing.
Question: [Inaudible] less confidence that the ceasefire and Gaza would hold?
Trump: I believe it will hold, yeah. Oh, it's gonna hold.
Question: Do they believe it will hold?
Trump: Well, if it doesn't hold, I mean, if it does hold, that would be Hamas and, uh, Hamas will be not hard to take care of. It'll be very quickly.
Question: Is Qatar --
Trump: But I, I hope it holds for Hamas too 'cause you know, they, they gave us their word on something and they said they took out gang members. Well, I hope that's right. But, uh, they gave us their word on something. So I, I think it's going to, and if it doesn't, uh, then they'll have a, a very, very big problem.
Question: When will the stabilization force be in place or when do you need it in place?
Trump: Pretty soon, pretty quickly.
Question: Weeks, months?
Trump: So far, it's just -- Uh, yeah, period of time. You know, I don't want to give you -- We're doing it right now. They're actually picking leaders right now. You're gonna have peace in the Middle East. This is real peace. It's never happened before. 3000 years, it's never happened. And great respect when, uh, he came to the airport, came onto the plane, uh, that's never happened either. And he's a highly respected man. Okay, any other questions?
Question: Can I ask you -- Qatar said they would send peacekeeping troops into Gaza.
Trump: Yeah, they'll do it at the time they need them. And by the way, Israel will go in there very easily. You know that, right? So right there, you have a country, but, uh, you have the Arab countries, uh -- Everybody, Muslim, Arab, Israeli, everybody's on board. It's been really an amazing thing. It's a, it's a great success and --
Question: [Inaudible]
Trump: -- it's a, it's gonna be a long-lasting, hopefully everlasting, but long-lasting.
Question: What will Russia have to do for you to reschedule your meeting with Putin?
Trump: We're gonna have to know that we're gonna make a deal. I'm not gonna be wasting my time. Um, I've always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing. I thought this would've gone long before peace in the Middle East. I mean, we have, uh, Azerbaijan and Armenia. That was very tough. In fact, Putin told me on the phone, he said, "Boy, that was amazing." 'Cause everybody tried to get that done and they couldn't. I got it done. You had others that -- If you look at India and Pakistan. I could say almost any one of the deals that I've already done, I thought would've been more difficult than Russia and Ukraine. But it, uh, didn't work out that way. There's a lot of hatred between the two. Between Zelensky and Putin, there's tremendous hatred.
Question: Will you discuss purchases of Russian oil with Xi Jinping? Are you worried about the Chinese buying Russian oil?
Trump: I may be discussing it, but you know, China's --
Question: [Inaudible] about what the Indians --
Trump: I don't know. You probably saw today, China's cutting back very substantially on the purchase of Russian oil and India's cutting back completely, and we've done sanctions. Thank you very much, everybody.
Question: What did you talk with the Japanese Prime Minister?
Trump: By the way, very, very, uh, respectful. I appreciate it.
Question: Mr President, can you talk about what you hope to walk away from with the, the, the meeting with President Xi?
Trump: China?
Question: Yes. What are you hoping to walk away with?
Trump: I think a complete deal. I want our farmers to be taken care of and he wants things also. Uh, we're gonna be talking about fentanyl, of course. You know, fentanyl is killing a lot of people, a lot of people. It comes from China. And, uh, we'll be talking about that. We'll be talking about a lot of things. I, I think we have, I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal.
Question: Have you seen this NBA gambling investigation?
Trump: Yeah. Terrible.
Question: What do you think about it?
Trump: What do I think (laughs)? I think it's very bad. I think it's terrible. Thank you.
Question: How was your call with the Japanese Prime Minister?
Trump: Very good. She was, she's great. Beautiful. We're gonna be, uh, seeing her very soon. She's very friendly. She was very friendly with Abe, as you know, Prime Minister Abe.
Question: What did you guys talk about in the call?
Trump: Just, uh, look forward to seeing you. I'm gonna see her in a couple of days. Uh, but she was a very, very close ally and friend of Prime Minister Abe. And, you know, he was one of my favorites. He was a great man. Thank you very much, everybody.
Question: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.