TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters on Board Air Force One, 11.30.25
[Video]
President Donald Trump: It's a little rocky out here.
Question: A little bit.
Trump: We're in a very nice air plane, but it's rocky. Uh, any questions? We had some great economic, uh, numbers come out. As you know, we're doing very well economically. A lot of factories are being built all over the country and all of that, but very strong numbers came out. Go ahead.
Question: Can you give us an update on, uh, what took place in South Florida today, those talks between the US and the Ukrainians?
Trump: Well, they're going along, and they're going along well. We wanna stop people from being killed. Doesn't have much to do with us, but I'd like to see if we could save a lot of souls. A lot of people are being killed. Last month we had 27,000 people killed in that ridiculous war that should have never happened. It would've never happened if I were president.
Question: Have you spoken with Rubio and Witkoff since that meeting?
Trump: I have, yeah. I've spoken to them, and they're doing well. Uh, Ukraine's got some, uh, difficult little problems. We may have some difficult problems, but, uh, I think Russia would like to see it end. And I think Ukraine, I know Ukraine would like to see it end.
Question: You just said that Ukraine has a little bit of problems. What are those problems?
Trump: But we have corruption situation going on, which is not helpful.
Question: And is that impeding the peace talks?
Trump: Oh, I said it was going on for three years, right? Didn't I say it? Three years? I said it, so I was way ahead of schedule, but I think that, uh, there's a good chance we can make a deal.
Question: Mr. President on Venezuela. Can you tell us more about why the airspace above Venezuela should be considered closed?
Trump: Yeah, because we consider Venezuela to be not a very friendly country. They sent millions of people really, and probably, uh, a number in excess of that. And, uh, a lot of those people shouldn't be in our country. From jails, from gangs, from drug dealers, from all of the people that came into our country, shouldn't have been in our country causing a lot of problems.
Question: Does your warning mean --
Trump: And drugs.
Question: Does your warning mean that an airstrike is eminent or should we not read it that way?
Trump: Don't read anything into it.
Question: The New York Times reported that you had a phone call with Maduro. Did you?
Trump: Uh, I don't wanna comment on it. The answer is yes.
Question: And can you tell us a little bit about it?
Trump: No, I can't do that.
Question: Mr. President, you --
Question: Would you say, would you say it went well?
Trump: I wouldn't say say it went well. Badly. It was a phone call. Yeah.
Question: And can you, can you talk a little bit about the strikes and the controversy around Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth?
Trump: I don't know anything about it. He said --
Question: The Washington Post --
Trump: He said he did not say that, and I believe him, 100%.
Question: So you don't know if there was a second two --
Trump: You're talking about the two men?
Question: -- the second strike to kill the two men after they were injured after the first strike?
Trump: Yeah. No I, I, he said he didn't do it. He did, he said he never said that.
Question: Would you be okay with that if he did?
Trump: He said he didn't do it, so I'd have to make that decision.
Question: What are you going to di --
Question: Uh, Mr. President, you've made so clear how you wanna keep drugs out of the US.
Trump: Right.
Question: Can you explain more about why you would pardon a notorious drug trafficker?
Trump: Well, I don't know who you're talking about. Which one?
Question: Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Trump: Well, I was told, I was, uh, asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras, they said it was a Biden setup. I don't mean Biden. Biden didn't know he was alive, but it was the people that surround the Resolute desk, surround Biden when he was there, which was about, uh, very little time. And, uh, the people of Honduras really thought he was set up and it was a terrible thing. Uh, he was the president of the country, and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set up. And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.
Question: What evidence can you share that he was set up and that he wasn't?
Trump: Well, you take a look. I mean, they could say that, uh, you take any country you want. If somebody sells drugs in that country, that doesn't mean you arrest the president and put him in jail for the rest of his life.
Question: Mr. President, can I just clarify. Do you think the US --
Trump: That includes this country, okay, to be honest. I mean, if somebody does something wrong, do you put the president of the country in jail? They said it was a Biden set up. It was a Biden administration set up. And you have a big race going on this week, you know, next week. Uh, I think it's gonna be a very important race. It'll be interesting to see Honduras. That's, that's what you're talking about, right?
Question: Correct. Yes.
Question: [Inaudible] when exactly is Steve Witkoff going to Moscow? And do you wanna extend Putin some sort of deadline for the, for agreeing to --
Trump: Well, what is the second part of your question?
Question: Do you want, like, to put to, to tell Putin, "Here is my deadline for you to agree to the deal"
Trump: No, I don't have a deadline. I have a deadline when the war is over. And, uh, hopefully the war's gonna be over. 27,000 people killed last week. 27,000. Over the last three or four weeks, 27,000 people killed. That war should end.
Question: Going up on that. What day --
Question: Mr. President, just for clarity, On the, on the Venezuela boat strike. If there were a second strike that killed wounded people, wounded in the first strike. Are you thinking that would be legal? Do you think that that's [Inaudible]
Trump: I don't know that that happened. And Pete said he did not want them. He didn't even know what they were talking about. So we'll look at, we'll look into it, but no, I wouldn't have wanted that. Not a second strike. Uh, the first strike was very lethal. It was fine that, if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn't happen.
Question: Does that make you lose?
Trump: I have great confidence.
Question: Would you say there's no second strike?
Trump: I don't know. I've gotta find out about it. But, uh, Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.
Question: Do you have any concerns about how those boat strikes have been carried out at all?
Trump: Very little. Because you can see the boats. You can see the drugs in the boats. And each boat is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans. So, uh, I, I, and they're doing an amazing job.
Question: Mr. President --
Trump: And you know, we're getting, you just look at the numbers. The amount of drugs coming into our country by sea is infinitesimal compared to what it was just a few months ago.
Question: On immigration, you're, you're --
Trump: And each boat, think of this. Each boat on average is responsible for the death of 25,000 Americans.
Question: On a, on immi- -- immigration, your administration made a lot of moves, uh, throughout the last few days after we know that an Afghan national, uh, is a suspected shooter of these national guardsmen. Um --
Trump: Yeah, yeah. They, people that shouldn't be in our country. That's right.
Question: So you announced that asylum, that --
Trump: And that includes Somalians and includes plenty of others.
Question: How long does your administration plan to pause asylum into the US?
Trump: I think a long time.
Question: Can you, can you give any kind of time? What's a long time?
Trump: We don't want those people. We have enough problems. We don't want those people.
Question: Is that a year or two years?
Trump: Uh, no time limit.
Question: And then you --
Trump: But it could be a long time.
Question: -- you said this --
Trump: We don't want those people. Do you understand that?
Question: I understand.
Trump: You understand that?
Question: I understand what you're saying.
Trump: Who are you with?
Question: I'm with News Nation, so --
Trump: Okay, News Nation, News Nation.
Question: -- my name's Libby Dee.
Trump: Great, great.
Question: Thank you.
Trump: Let me just tell you something. We don't want those people. Does that make sense? You know why we don't want 'em? Because many of 'em are no good and they shouldn't be in our country.
Question: What do you mean by, "Those people"? Can you clarify?
Trump: The people from different countries that are not friendly to us and countries that are outta control themselves. Countries like Somalia that have virtually no government, no military, no police. All they do is go around killing each other. Then they come into our country and tell us how to run our country. We don't want them.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: Yeah. How many countries, yeah, would you put on that list?
Trump: Well, I guess we gave you 19, right?
Question: Okay.
Trump: And it's probably more than that.
Question: Is that what you mean, when you mean third-world countries, those 19?
Trump: No, that, I don't think they're all third world, but in many cases they are third world. They're not good countries. They're very crime-rid countries. They're countries that don't do a good job. They're countries that don't register from the standpoint of success. And we frankly don't need their people coming into our country telling us what to do.
Question: When you talk about de-naturalization --
Trump: I'm talking about like Somalia, where you have a congressman goes around telling everybody about our constitution, and yet she supposedly came into our country by marrying her brother. Well, if that's true, she shouldn't be a congressman and we should throw her the hell out of our country.
Question: Off of that, in that same post you mentioned Tim Walz and you called him, uh, what many Americans do find an offensive word, uh, "Retarded." Do you stand by that claim of calling Tim Walz retarded?
Trump: Yeah. I think there's something wrong with him. Absolutely. Sure.
Question: You don't have the --
Question: Mr. President? Mr. President?
Trump: But if you have a problem with it, uh, you know what? I think there's something wrong with him. Anybody that would do what he did, anybody that would allow those people into a state and pay billions of dollars out to Somalia, we give billions of dollars to Somalia. It's not even a country because it doesn't function like a country. It's got a name, but it doesn't function like a country --
Question: But are you talking about --
Trump: -- yeah, there's something wrong with Walz.
Question: And Mr. President, you said that you might de-naturalize some American citizens. Can you talk about --
Trump: You mean people that are in here that shouldn't be here?
Question: Well, that became Americans. Are you trying to revoke their citizenship?
Trump: Well, we'll see. I mean, yeah, we have criminals that came into our country and they were naturalized, maybe through, uh, Biden, or somebody that, uh, didn't know what they were doing. If I have the power to do it, I'm not sure that I do, but if I do, I would de-naturalize, absolutely.
Question: Uh, when it comes to --
Question: What do you mean by rever --
Trump: Yeah, do you, do you have a question? Yeah?
Question: What do you mean by, uh, reverse migration?
Trump: It means, uh, get people out that are in our country. Get 'em outta here. I wanna get 'em out. We got a lot of people in our country that shouldn't be here, and they came in through Biden and he was the worst president in the history of our country. But the single biggest thing he did was allow million, the worst, allow millions of people into our country that shouldn't be here.
Trump: Drug dealers, uh, prisons were opened up and allowed to come into our country. Uh, you take a look at the people that were allowed to come into our country. We're paying a big price for it and we will for years to come, including the recent killer of two wonderful National Guards people. And I'll tell you what, that animal should not have been allowed to come into our country. Thank you very much, everybody.
Question: Andrew Wolfe. Have, have you spoken --
Trump: Thank you.
Question: Have you spoken with Andrew Wolfe's family and can you give us an update on his condition?
Trump: I have spoken to both families. Well, I mean, I could give you an update. They're devastated. Does that make sense to you?
Question: Of course. Are --
Trump: They're devastated.
Question: Can you give us an update on Andrew Wolfe's condition?
Trump: Well, as you know, the one is no longer with us, and, uh, Andrew is fighting for his life.
Question: And a --
Trump: And his parents are unbelievably great people, highly religious people, and they're praying and they want everybody to pray for Andrew. And he has a chance to make it. But he is, uh, I mean, his mother and father, they were so unbelievable. They were so positive. From West Virginia, great state. Uh, I spoke with Sarah's parents too and the only thing I can say, they were devastated.
Question: Do you plan to bring them --
Trump: They can't even believe it could happen.
Question: I, it's absolutely devastating, of course, to lose your children. Do you plan to bring the Beckstroms to the White House? Do you plan to --
Trump: Yeah, I do. I do.
Question: And do --
Trump: I've already suggested it. I said, "Uh, when you're ready," because that's a tough thing --
Question: Of course.
Trump: -- come to the White House. We're gonna honor Sarah.
Question: Okay.
Trump: And likewise, uh, with Andrew, recover or not, uh, we're gonna hond- -- honor.
Question: And Mr. President, you --
Question: I do have one more question about Witkoff because you mentioned, and this was asked previously. Do you, can you tell us what day Witkoff is going to meet with Putin? And then on that, is that meeting --
Trump: Sometime next week --
Question: Okay. You don't have a, is it early --
Trump: Yeah.
Question: -- next week? Late next week? Okay, I understand.
Trump: Sometime next.
Question: And you --
Question: Mr. President, on healthcare, because it's so important to so many Americans.
Trump: Yeah.
Question: You wanted to --
Trump: You know, one of the reasons that healthcare can work is because of what I just did with favored nations. You're gonna have drug prices coming down 500, 600, 700% 'cause of me.
Question: And you wanted to ex --
Trump: In other words, we're gonna have the lowest drug prices, tied for the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world. It's called favored nations. And you don't talk about it. It's probably the biggest thing to happen in medicine in the last hundred years. And it can have a huge impact, positive impact on pricing for healthcare.
Question: Are you any closer --
Question: What about healthcare --
Question: Yes.
Question: What about stemming these --
Question: -- decision on, on picking a new Fed chair? Are you any closer on that right now?
Trump: I know who I'm gonna pick. Yeah.
Question: Oh, tell us.
Question: Is it Kevin Hassett?
Trump: I'm not telling you [Laughs]. We'll be announcing it. Thank you very much, everybody.
Question: Thank you.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
Trump: This is a rocky flight. I'm gonna --
Question: He's a rocky one.
Trump: We're gonna get outta here before something happens. Uh, they asked about my MRI.
Question: Oh.
Trump: MRIs are very, you know?
Question: If Governor Walz asked you to release the, the MRI records.
Question: Will you tell us what it was for?
Trump: Governor Walz? You mean the incompetent Governor Walz? So if they wanna release it, it's okay with me to release it. It's perfect.
Question: Mm. What was the reason for it?
Question: What were they looking, what --
Trump: It's like my phone call where I got impeached. It's absolutely perfect. So if you wanna hear about it or if you wanna release it. Do you wanna have it released NewsNation?
Question: Yes, please.
Trump: Failing, failing NewsNation.
Question: No, sir, we're not failing.
Trump: Uh, Newsnation is doing a lousy, by the way. But if you wanna have it released, I'll release it.
Question: Yes, please.
Trump: Absolutely.
Question: Can you tell us what they were looking at?
Trump: For what? Releasing?
Question: No, no, no. What part of your body was the MRI looking at?
Trump: I have no idea. It was just an MRI. What part of the body? It wasn't the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it. I got a perfect mark, which you would be incapable of doing. Goodbye, everybody. You too.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
Question: Thank you.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
Question: Thank you, sir.