TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters on Board Air Force One, 1.22.26
[Video]
President Trump: Hello, everybody.
Question: Thanks. Over here.
Trump: So we have a nice, calm flight. I think the trip was great. We had a lot of good response even from the fake news. And I think, uh, Greenland is going very well. It's in negotiation. And I think what we did today was, was great, was great. That's gonna be a great board.
Question: Yeah.
Trump: That'll be a board, I think, like no other. Right? That's a board like no other. A lot of people joining. We just went out with the letters and a lot of people are joining. Now we have a flight back and we'll be landing in four hours and 45 minutes, and I'm gonna be very late for dinner, but that'll be okay.
Question: What are –
Trump: Go ahead.
Question: What are some of the elements of the Greenland concept that you can tell that there was a –
Trump: It was really a negotiation, but it's, uh, infinity. The time limit is infinity, meaning there is no time limit. It's forever. It's, uh, you know, you're about 99 years, 50 years. It's forever. That was discussed. We can do anything we want. We can do military. We can do anything we want. And it's being negotiated and let's see what happens. I think it'll be good.
Question: What the US have –
Trump: There's no price. You know, there's no purchase.
Question: What the US have pockets of sovereignty over - –
Trump: A lot of, we have a lot of, we have a lot of, uh, great things in the deal. And don't forget, they're also good for Europe. Because, you know, when we're good, they're good. And if we're not good, that's not very good for them because we hold it all together. We're holding it all together.
Question: Does that actually give you control of land in Greenland? Does it give US con- -- control ownership of land?
Trump: Yeah, whatever we want, yeah. We're all gonna work together, and actually NATO is gonna be involved with us. We're gonna be doing in conjunction, parts of it in conjunction with NATO, which is really the way it should be.
Question: Will the US own –
Trump: We won't have any expense because we're not gonna have expense. Other than building the Golden Dome. We're gonna build the Golden Dome. And we'll have participation in that also. The cost of the Golden Dome, we'll have participation in that also, meaning with the expense of it. And it'll be like no other. I mean, you know, our technology is incredible.
Question: Has Denmark signed off on this or are they on board with this concept? Is Denmark on board with this concept?
Trump: I think everyone likes it. I mean, we think. I'll let you know in about two weeks.
Question: Have you spoken with, uh, with Denmark about this plan?
Trump: The secretary general, Mark is a great guy. Rutte. He's a great guy, and, uh, he's spoken to everybody.
Question: And when you spoke with the NATO Secretary General, did you talk about US military presence in Greenland? About military presence?
Trump: We talked about everything and you saw him yesterday. He was interviewed on Bret Baier, and he was very happy. He was very convinced this is a good deal for everybody.
Question: How did the conversation go with President Zelenskyy?
Trump: We had a conversation. I've had numerous conversations [Laughs] on Ukraine. It'd be nice to end that war. We have, you know, it costs us nothing. We make money. I don't want to make money, but we make money. Whereas Biden spent $350 billion stupidly and lost a lot of money, but, uh, it's not about the money. It's about 25 to 30,000 soldiers upon, mostly soldiers.
Question: Are you -- did you sign a security, security deal? Are you able to sign that?
Trump: Steve Witkoff and Jared are right now on the way to Moscow. So we'll see how that works out.
Question: What kind of confusion –
Trump: I had a good meeting, but I've had, you know, numerous good meetings with President Zelenskyy and, uh, it doesn't seem to happen. You know, it's funny, I, I put out a 35-year war in a day, a 32-year war in two days. Another war is the worst, but it's like four days. And this one goes on and on forever, and actually they may have been more complex.
Question: Can you speak about that trilateral that, uh, the US, Russia, and Ukraine are having in Abu Dhabi? This weekend leads to a trilateral between you and Ze- -- Zelenskyy?
Trump: Look, it's all good. Anytime we meet, it's good. If you don't meet, nothing is gonna happen. I mean, they, for, for the first three years, nobody met. Under Biden, nobody met. And you know one thing, if you don't meet, nothing is going to happen. So we are meeting and we'll see what happens. I hope --
Question: What kind of –
Trump: I hope we can save a lot of lives and so –
Question: Mr. President, what kind of concessions does Vladimir -- Mr. President, what kind of concessions does Vladimir Putin need to make at this point?
Trump: They'll make concessions. Uh, uh, everybody's making concessions to get it done. Uh, Europe is gonna be a part of it. It's gotta be a part of it. And look, it's more for Europe than for me. I mean, I'm doing this more for Europe than for me. I'm doing it to save lives, number one. I'm doing it secondarily for Europe. I'm not doing it so much for the U- -- it doesn't affect us very much other than the loss of lives. You know, we're not affected by this deal. It's thousands of miles away. We're separated by an ocean, but I have an ability to get things done like this, and we'll see if I can get it done. I mean, we, it would never have gotten done. I thought Putin wanted the whole thing. Maybe he does when he's not gonna, he's not gonna be going there unless we don't make a deal. We had a good meeting today with President Zelenskyy. I think a very good man.
Question: What's the main hold up? What's the, what's the main hold up to getting a deal?
Trump: Main hold up is the same things that have been holding it up for the last year. Look, this is a war, this is Biden's war. This isn't my war. This is a war that should have never happened. But it's complex because you have metes and bounds, you have, you have streets, you have rivers, you have everything, you know, where does it end? So it's a little bit complicated. But I've had that in five of the other wars. You know, there are metes and bounds. There are, it's a location. It's boundaries. And I got them done fast in days and this one is just going on. And you know, what's happened here is there were times when Putin didn't want to make a deal, times when Zelenskyy didn't want to make a deal. And it was like opposite times. Now I think they both want to make a deal. We'll, we'll find out.
Question: Did something change that ma, that makes you think that Putin and Zelenskyy now are, are serious about it?
Trump: I don't make any predictions. There are no changes. Uh, I think that President Putin would like to make a deal. I think that President Zelenskyy would like to make a deal.
Question: What did, what is, what'd Zelenskyy say today? I mean, he came all the way there to meet you. What did he say?
Trump: He said he'd like to make a deal. I mean, don't know. There's not much he can say. People know the parameters. It's not like he, you know, we're, we're discussing things that have been discussed for six to seven months and he came and he said he wants to make a deal because I wasn't necessarily sure. I think he should want to make a deal. 1 of 104 paragraphs scored. It's, it's pretty tough. It's really tough for the people of Ukraine, I'll, I'll tell you this.
Question: Mr. President –
Trump: What they, how they live without heat where it's 20 degrees below zero, you know, it's very cold. It's a very, that's a colder climate for the most part than Canada and they live without heat. I asked him, I mean, how do they, how do they do that? And he gave me an answer. It's pretty amazing what they do to, to live.
Trump: It's no way to live. Yeah?
Question: Mr President, back, back to Greenland. Can you elaborate more on just, we're trying to understand what exactly the concept is here. Is the U.S. gonna actually take ownership of --
Trump: We'll have something in two weeks. There's a good spirit to get something done and we have to have a strong freedom. We have to have the ability to do exactly what we want to do. Uh, we have a great military. I built a great military. I did this in my first term. And continuation. Big continuation. I think what we did with the defense companies was very important because we need things faster. We have the best weapons in the world by far. We showed that last week with Venezuela. We have the best weapons in the world. We have to make them faster.
Question: How would it be any different than the current situation? The U.S. can --
Trump: Well, much different. Much more detail. Uh, much more generous to the United States. It's a much more generous deal. It has to be. And we're building a golden dome and you see the way it works. That is so much better for us and for Europe to have that piece of ice covered by the golden dome.
Question: And you mentioned Venezuela. You, you've expressed, uh, uh, uh, optimism in, in your relationship with Delcy Rodriguez. Are, are you planning to let her stay in power?
Trump: Well, right now, they're very strong leadership. I mean, they're showing very strong leadership. I also spoke with Maria today and I, you know, who I like a lot. Uh, but Delcy's shown very strong leadership so far, I have to say. And, uh, we're moving in, you know, to the United States, millions of barrels of oil as we speak. You know that, you see it, you see what's happening. Uh, over 50 million barrels of oil is already moved or moving into the United States and much more to come. And we're working with them and they'll get some of that and we're gonna get some of that. And it'll be divided up and our country will become richer and that means our taxes are gonna be going down and, and they will do better. Venezuela's gonna do better than they've ever done.
Question: So that continues to –
Trump: Even with us, you know, taking a, a very fair piece of it, Venezuela will do better by far than they've ever done. Gonna be very rich. And she has done a very good job.
Question: Mr. President, have you spent with Jamie Dimon since the lawsuit?
Trump: Yeah, Jamie Dimon, no, I haven't spoken to him. No, he, he debanked me. So we'll see if that means anything, but I think it should. You shouldn't be debanked. You get debanked if you don't have money or if you default. To have this great company and all of a sudden I was told, no, you can't, can't do that. So wrong. That's so, uh, I don't know, I don't know what their excuse would be. Maybe their excuse would be the regulators. I don't know. But, uh, regardless, I guess it's a good lawsuit because every pundit has come out and said, "Trump has a great lawsuit here." You're not allowed to do what they did. Jamie Dimon, what he did, he's not allowed to do that.
Question: Where the, where do things stand with Iran? The U.S. has got sizable military - --
Trump: We're watching Iran. You know, we have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction and we'll see what happens. We have a big force going toward Iran. Uh, I'd rather not see anything happen, but we're watching them very closely. I saw 837 hangings on Thursday. They would have been dead. Every one of them would have been hung. This is like from 1000 years ago. This is an ancient culture. Very smart people, by the way, but it's an ancient culture. 837 mostly young men were going to be hung, hung on Thursday, and I said, "If you hang those people, you're gonna be hit harder than you've ever been hit.
It will make what we did to your Iran nuclear look like peanuts." And an hour before this horrible thing was gonna take place, they canceled it, and they, they actually said they canceled it. They didn't postpone it. They canceled it. So, that was a good sign. But we have a, uh, in armada, we have a massive, we have a massive fleet heading in that direction. And, uh, maybe we won't have to use it. We'll see.
[Crosstalk]
Question: You said you'd like the Supreme Leader to step down or go on exile?
Trump: I don't want to say right now. I, I don't want to get into that. But, uh, they know why we're looking.
Question: You said today that they want a lot of --
Trump: There's a lot of killing going on.
Question: You said today they want to talk and we'll talk.
Trump: They do.
Question: S- -- so if you set something up and they ask you to –
Trump: Yeah. I do. I would. I think that they - --
Question: What will happen?
Trump: But, you know, we've talked to them a lot. They should have made a deal before we hit them with the nuclear, 'cause we really, that, that was a devastating hit that took that, that whole area's out of play. And if they try and do it again, they're gonna have to go to another area. We'll hit them there too, just as easily, much more easily. So, it's very advanced. They were building that for 10 years. And they'd have to start anew, so, you know, there was, that was a total obliteration.
Question: Are you still planning to go ahead with those tariffs that you had mentioned in th --
Trump: With who?
Question: -- on, um, the secondary tariffs for those affected by businesses in Iran, the 25% tariffs
Trump: Uh, we're doing that. Yep. We're doing that. If you do business with Iran, you're gonna have a tariff on 25%.
Question: And when should that go into effect?
Trump: It goes into effect very soon.
Question: Do you still th- -- do you still think there's a possibility that the UK or France could join the Board of Peace?
Trump: Well, I think they're gonna want to. Um, but look, most countries, some countries have a prohibition and they're going to their legislatures and getting out. In most countries, the, uh, Prime Minister or the President can sign. So, a lot up to date. Hopefully we get, the letter only went out two days ago. We have almost 30 people already, uh, and very important judges. But, uh, there are some countries like Italy who told me she wants to sign, she wants to be desperately, but I think she has to go back to her legislative branch, and we have that with Poland too. We said, uh, we said, "We want to." I mean, I was the one that endorsed him. He's great, by the way. He's doing a great job, Karol. Uh, but, uh, he has to get an approval. Some have to get an approval. Some don't. Most don't, but some do. They have, I mean, a legal requirement to get it approved.
Question: Can you be chairman of the board if it's past your second term in office?
Trump: Uh, I have the right to be if I want. I mean, I'll decide. See what happens. But, uh, they'd like me to be.
Question: Was –
Trump: It's, it's in theory for life, but I'm not sure I want that. But, but it's gonna do great work with Gaza and maybe other things. You know, it could be beyond Gaza. And we'll work in terms of the united, eh, with, with the United Nations, who I've always said the United Nations has great potential, great potential, but they have not lived up to it, it. I, I mean, I say eight wars and I never spoke to them. You'd think I would have spoken to them a lot, but the United Nations has great potential. I think working with the Board of Peace is gonna be a good thing for the United Nations.
[Crosstalk]
Question: Will you tell us who your Fed pick is? [Inaudible] said a couple of days ago that there would be something in the works where you could take money out of your 401(k) to help on purchasing a home. Is that something that the administration is working on?
Trump: I'm not a huge fan of it. Other people like it. Um, they're talking about taking money out to put a deposit down on a home. And one of the reasons I don't like it is that their 401(k)s are doing so well. You know, 401(k)s are up 80, 90 percent in some cases, and you're talking about a lot of people. We're talking about very [Inaudible]. And they're really doing, and the housing market's good, but the 401(k)s are doing much better than the housing market. I like keeping the 401(k)s in great shape. I like keeping the 401(k)s. And I'm not a huge fan of putting down a deposit. I'm not. I like I l- -- I'm so happy with the way 401(k)s are doing. I have people telling me they're up 88 percent. And over the period of a year, over a full year, it's gonna be, I mean, it's gonna be close to 100 percent. Yes.
[Crosstalk]
Question: Can you tell us, back, back to the, uh, Board of Peace, some of the countries are tr- -- I think the permanent members contributed a billion dollars. What's, is that money supposed to be for Gaza?
Trump: Some countries have already put up with the, uh, some of the countries have already put up much more than that.
Question: [Inaudible] more?
Trump: I mean, that's a lot of money, but it's nothing compared to the value of peace. Peace is so destructive for everyone, even countries that aren't involved. I mean, it's so destructive for everybody when you have wars.
[Crosstalk]
Question: Can you tell us who your Fed pick is, sir? Can you tell us who your Fed pick is?
Trump: No. [Laughs] I can't, I'll, I'll be telling you soon. No. I have somebody that I think will be very good, but I'm not gonna reveal it.
Question: Is it someone from Wall Street? Someone from Wall Street?
Trump: Somebody that's very respected, very, very well-known and will do, uh, I think a very good job.
Question: President Putin has said that he may use frozen Russian assets to pay for his entry to the Board of Peace. Are you inclined to let him do that?
Trump: I don't know about that. I mean, I've heard that. Well, who said that?
Question: President Putin.
Trump: Yeah, it's, uh, very interesting. But he said he's gonna use his money.
Question: His frozen assets.
Trump: If he's using his money, I think that's fine. Yeah. You're talking about where he said this morning?
Question: Yeah.
Trump: He, he's going to join the Board of Peace and he's going to make a contribution of a billion dollars. Yeah, by using his money. I mean, if he's using his money, that's great. I think it's important to have everybody.
Question: Are you concerned about the investigation into Jay Powell, uh, making Jay Powell stay longer on, on the Fed?
Trump: No, I'm not concerned. We'll have to see what happens. He, uh, it's too late. Just always too late. Despite that, we have interest rates going down. And also he's, you know, building a small complex with that building and they're close, they're gonna be close to four billion dollars. It's the most expensive job and it's a renovation. It's the most expensive job per square foot ever built of any kind. It's either gross incompetence or it's worse.
Question: Are you done with the inter- -- are you done with the interviewing people for the job?
Trump: Yeah. I'm done.
Question: [Inaudible] -- are you worried about the market reaction to your tariffs on Monday and Tuesday?
Trump: The market reaction's been good. It was up very big today. It was up big yesterday. It's, uh, it's where it started. It's very close to 15,000 on the Dow. And nobody thought you could be breaking 50,000 during the first year. So we'll see what happens. Now, pretty much even, right? Just about even.
Question: Marketing came up only after you backed –
Trump: Market was up –
Question: -- away from your friends.
Trump: As of yesterday, the market came up very nicely.
Question: President, on that 10% cap with credit cards, um, is that an end goal? Is that a negotiating point? And are you speaking with certain --
Trump: [Inaudible]
Question: -- lawmakers?
Trump: The people, the credit card companies are getting 28% interest. So a guy goes out, he, they don't even know it. You know, these are people, regular people, they don't know that they're making 28%, and then it's a little bit overdue and they end up having to file for bankruptcy? We're not gonna let that happen. So it's, uh, it's a one year, 10% cap on credit cards. We have to get that approved by Congress too.
Question: Right, but - –
[Crosstalk]
Trump: So, you know, that's not a, that's not a no-brainer.
Question: Did you, did you say that –
Trump: It should be a no-brainer, but it's not.
Question: Sir, did you say that you spoke with Maria Machado today?
Trump: Yeah. Yeah, I called.
Question: Can you tell us about that conversation --
Trump: Let's just say that we have a very good relationship, just to say hello. She's a good woman. A very nice woman. She's been through a lot. And, uh, at the same time, I'll tell you, they're doing a very good job at Venezuela. So it's interesting. I get along with both sides. I get along with everybody but the media. You know, the fake news that I don't get along, but I get along with everybody else --
Question: So what, when will you pivot, sir, too, what would, at what point will you pivot in Venezuela to say we should have an election there?
Trump: I want to see how they do. First of all, they have to, you know, we have to take in a lot of money. We have to get that back. Right now, uh, they're not living well because of what's gone on for years. Years, it, really, it's years of socialism and worse. It's really, you know, worse than socialism. But we're, uh, gonna start drilling very soon. We have the biggest companies in the world. We have them, and they're gonna be going in. They're all negotiating right now. And we're representing the nation, and the nation is very thrilled by that because we're really good at this. And they'll be taking in more money than they ever have, but we'll be taking in a lot of money too.
That's gonna do two things. It's gonna make the United States a lot of money. And it's also, I mean, it's gonna make Venezuela a lot of money, but it's also gonna bring down oil prices even further. We, you know, we have oil prices down in many cases to $2.30 a gallon. And in also numerous cases, $1.99, below $2. There was $4.50, $5, $3.90. I mean, prices are coming down very rapidly, including groceries, including just about everything, and they're starting to come down even more. We're getting them low. I inherited very high prices. You know, when they talk about affordability, they caused it. I inherited very high prices, and we've done a great job. Prices have come down a lot. And I would say led by energy. We're pumping more oil right now, we're drilling more oil than at any time in the history of our country by far.
Question: One more on the Fed if you, if you will.
Trump: Add Venezuela to it. It's a tremendous part of the market.
Question: One more on the Fed, if you will. The Supreme Court seems skeptical of, of your power to remove Lisa Cook from that, from the board.
Trump: Well, we'll see.
Question: Your reaction to that?
Trump: We'll see. Uh, I mean, I listened to some, I read some of it, and I didn't get that impression other than they thought maybe it should have gone through a more normal court system. But nobody was saying that she's innocent. What they're saying is maybe it should have been a longer process. Uh, but, so we'll see what happens.
[Crosstalk]
Question: Back to Iran for a second. We've seen wild variation and the numbers supposedly killed in those protests. Have you seen a revival estimate of, a- -- about how many people were killed?
Trump: Well, we, nobody knows the number. I mean, uh, it's, it's a lot no matter what. Hey, if it was one person, in this country, if it's one person, it's, you know, front page news. Uh, it's a lot of people. It's, uh, but, you know, there's a difference between a lot and 20,000 people. So we'll find out what it is. Look, we're gonna find out exactly what it is.
Question: Haven't you, have you arranged a meeting with health insurance executives who mentioned you would have –
Trump: Yeah.
Question: -- when will that take place?
Trump: Soon. With the biggest company, yeah. We have, I mean, what I'd like to see is that the money is made not to the health insurance or not to the insurance companies, directly to the people, into a healthcare account, savings account. And the people buy their own healthcare. Now, the Democrats don't like that because they're owned by the insurance companies. The Democrats are owned by the insurance companies. Obamacare, and I said this for a long time. Obamacare was set up for the insurance companies. They made a fortune. 1,000 thousand points, they're going up 1,000, 1250, 1,359%. That's all the money pouring in. I want the money to go to, directly to the people, let the people buy their own health- -- healthcare. Now, their healthcare is gonna be better and they'll be paying less money. It's gonna be amazing, but we have to get the Democrats to support it, most likely, yeah.
Question: Mr. President, You're going to Iowa on Tuesday. What's your message there, uh, ahead of the mi- midterm elections?
Trump: Well, straight to the farmers. The farmers have been great. I helped them out when we were going through the difficulty with China, which we saw. China's buying a lot of product right now, as you know. Uh, but while we had that negotiation, and I gave them, you know, billions of dollars, and they were very happy. You know, the farmers like Trump, and I like the farmers. I won their vote very s, oh, I won almost all aspects of a lot of, look at the auto workers, how well I did with the Jeepsters, the auto workers. But the farmers have been very special to me, very successful. All three terms. I've won it all the time. So I, I think they're really happy, the farmers, with what's happened.
Question: Y- -- you've expressed some concern, though, about the midterm elections? Uh --
Trump: Oh, my only concern is that presidents never win. You know, what is it? Two times in 50 years. Democrat or Republican. Even, I mean, nobody had a better first year than I did. Look at, look at what we've done. Uh, we have the, the greatest economy in the world. We have the greatest investment in a country and history by many times. Nobody's ever had that. Think of it, $18 trillion. We have thousands of businesses being built right now. And they're gonna be opening soon, and it's gonna be amazing. Also, the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill kicks in now, you know, now and over the next couple of months. That's gonna have a huge impact when you have no tax on tips, no tax on social security, no tax on overtime. That's gonna have a huge effect. Also, the one-year depreciation is big for businesses. They're gonna have to hire a lot of people. So I don't think there's ever been anything like it. I think we're gonna have, we have a great country. We have a country back. We were a dead country and now we're great.
Question: Mr. President, how much travel are you gonna do this year, campaign travel?
Trump: I'm gonna do a lot of campaign traveling. I hate to tell you guys, but it's gonna keep you employed. No, we're gonna work hard. The only problem with that question is, for whatever reason, it's a deep down psychological reason, sitting presidents that won, even that won big, we won big. All seven swing states, a popular vote. Sitting presidents don't seem to do well in the midterms. I guess over a 50-year period, they won twice. So I don't know what that is. That's something down deep. You'd have to ask a psych- -- really a psychiatrist about that. But we should do great. We won the election big. Uh, the border is now great. The border's the best we've ever had. The border's the best there is anywhere in the world. Look at, look at some of the European countries, what happened. They wish they had our border. And they tell me that openly. They wish they had our border and they have to do something about immigration.
Question: Mr. President, how many times, how many times do you think you'll meet with the Chinese president this year [Inaudible]
Trump: I don't know, but I'm gonna make a trip. We're gonna, we have, I'm going in April. He'll come toward the end of the year. And I look forward to seeing President Xi. I've always had a, his wife is fantastic. He's a, an amazing guy. And I've always had a great relationship. Presidency Xi of China, always had a great relationship with him. It was a very strained relationship during COVID, but now it's an excellent relationship. Look, you see that. Look at all the farm product they're buying now. Soybeans are, they're buying a lot of soybeans. That, that makes our farmers happy, and that makes me happy. Thank you very much, everybody.
Question: Mr. President, we saw the, we saw the bruising on your hand. Are you okay?
Trump: Very good.
Question: You're good?
Trump: My hand, I clipped it on the table. So I put a little, uh, what do they call it? Cream on it, but I clipped it. I would say, take aspirin if you like your heart, but don't take aspirin if you don't wanna have a little bruising. You know, if you take the big, I take the big aspirin. And when you take the big aspirin, they tell you, "You'll bruise." The doctor said, "You don't have to take that, sir. You're very healthy." I said, "I'm not taking any chances." So anyway, but then that's one of the side effects of taking aspirin. Thank you very much, everybody. Appreciate it.
Question: Thank you.