TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters on Board Air Force One, 2.6.26
[Video]
President Trump: Hello everybody.
Question: Hello, Mr. President.
Trump: We had very, very good talks today, having to do with Russia, Ukraine. Something could be happening. We likewise had very good talks on Iran. Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We have to see what that deal is. But I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly, as they should.
Last time they decided maybe not to do it, but I think they probably feel differently. We'll see what the deal is. It'd be different than last time. And we have a big armada, we have a big fleet heading in that direction. We'll be there pretty soon. So we'll see how that works out. The stock market, as you know, broke a number that they thought was going to be impossible to break.
Certainly during my first year, they said if you could do it in your fourth year, by the fourth year, we broke 50,000 on the Dow. Most people thought that was not possible to do so quickly. We did it in the first year. So we're about three years ahead of schedule. It's going good. Prices are way down. You don't hear the Democrats talking about affordability anymore, which they caused the affordability problem, very badly.
But you don't hear that word. I haven't heard that word spoken in a week and a half because they can't speak because the prices are down. Energy's down. If you look at oil. If you look at gasoline, a gallon of gasoline in Iowa, I was there last week, was 1.85, 1.89, and 1.99 in three different stations. And it's that way in a lot of places.
So gasoline is way down, energy's down. Groceries are down. We've broken the Biden disaster, the mess that I inherited. The border is extremely secure, more so than it's ever been. We've got nine months with zero people coming in illegally. And I think the immigration problem is, we're doing very well. And crime is at a record low for 125 years. It was just announced. The lowest has been since 1900. That's pretty good. That's a long time. So do you have any questions, yeah?
Question: The social media posts that you took down earlier today, the White House says that a staffer sent it. Who sent it and are you going to fire them?
Trump: I looked at it. No. I looked at it. I saw it and I just looked at the first part. It was about voter fraud in someplace, Georgia. There was a lot of voter fraud, 2020 voter fraud. And I didn't see the whole thing. I guess, during the end of it, there was some kind of a picture that people don't like. I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it. I looked at the first part and it was really about voter fraud and the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing, but I guess somebody didn't and they posted it. And we took it down and we [Inaudible] it. Yeah. But that was a voter fraud that nobody talks about. They don't like to talk about that. The post, we took it down as soon as we found out about it.
Question: Mr. President, a number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post. Is that something you're going to do?
Trump: No, I didn't make a mistake. I mean, I look at a lot of, thousands of things. And I looked at the beginning of it, it was fine. They had that one post, and I guess it was a take off. By the way, a lot of people cover it. If you look at where it came from, I guess it was a take off on The Lion King. And certainly it was a very strong post in terms of voter fraud.
Nobody knew that that was at the end. If they would've looked, they would've seen it. And probably they would've had the sense to take it down. But that was a take off on The Lion King. And a lot of people were covered in different positions. But I spoke to Tim Scott. He was great. Tim is a great guy. He understood that a hundred percent. Go ahead.
Question: Mr. President, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, met with Iran's foreign minister today. You also had Brad Cooper there, the head of CENTCOM. A deal doesn't look like it's been reached yet. How long are you willing to wait?
Trump: I think a deal can be reached. Well, you have to get in position. We have plenty of time. If you remember Venezuela, we waited around for a while and we're in no rush. We have very good talks going with Iran. We have very good talks going with Russia and Ukraine. We're doing a lot of good talking. And I think we had, the results today were with Iran, it was a meeting.
We're going to meet again early next week. And they want to make a deal, Iran, as they should want to make a deal. They know the consequences if they don't. If they don't make a deal the consequences are very steep. So we'll see what happens. But they had a very good meeting with a very high representative of Iran, and we'll see how it all turns out.
Question: [Inaudible].
Trump: I'd love to see that. By the way, I'd love to see that. If we could, if we could do that, I'd love to see it.
Question: Mr. President --
Question: On Iran, is there a deal that is acceptable that only covers --
Trump: [Inaudible].
Question: With Iran, is there a deal that only covers nuclear that would be acceptable to you?
Trump: Yeah.
Question: Because they just wouldn't have nuclear. They don't want to have anything else.
Trump: Yeah, there's a deal that would be acceptable. But the one thing and right up front, no nuclear weapons. If we could have made that deal two years ago, we would have made that deal, but they weren't willing to do that. Now they are willing to do it so. They're willing to do much more than they would have a year and a half ago or even a year ago when we, don't forget, we've only been doing this for exactly one year.
And we started with them a few months after the beginning of this term. This term has been amazing. But the results, it could surprise people. If they would have offered this deal originally when we first started, they would have been accepted immediately. We'll see what happens there.
Question: Mr. President, a number of people in the MAGA base say they aren't satisfied with the administration just focusing on deporting violent criminals, that they --
Trump: Who are you with?
Question: I'm Natalie Allison with The Washington Post.
Trump: Washington, but you're having a hard time getting readers. The Washington Post is doing very poorly. Go ahead. You have a very bad attitude. Go ahead.
Question: Well, a number of people in your base say that they want to see all illegal immigrants deported, even ones who were otherwise not [Inaudible] --
Trump: Let me tell you about my base. Let me tell you about my base. My base has never been stronger. My base is me and other very good people, people that love our country. And if you talk about my base or the MAGA base, you could call it a lot of, the America first base, they couldn't be more thrilled. We have crime down to the lowest level that it's been in 125 years.
We have a border that's totally closed. We have all the things that our base wanted and we have the best economy in history. Prices are down. We inherited very high prices and the highest inflation in the history of our country. Think of it, the highest in, or 48 years. Some people say 48 years, but I'll take either one. So my base is very happy.
Question: But would you support mass deportations of people who are otherwise law-abiding?
Trump: I want to see everybody, but we're focusing on the criminals. We're focusing on killers. We're focusing, but ultimately they all broke the law. Some, if they do it in a certain way, they can go out, they can come back if they do it properly. But as you know, a lot of people have been deported. A lot. But the focus is on the murderers, the drug dealers. We have many people mentally insane. They dumped everything in our country. But ultimately, yeah, it's exactly as I said during the campaign.
Question: Mr. President, can you set the record straight? There were reports circulating that you told Chuck Schumer that in order to restore funding for the Gateway train tunnel in New York, New Jersey, you would want Penn Station and Dulles Airport to be named after you. Is that true?
Trump: He suggested that to me. Chuck Schumer suggested that to me about changing the name of Penn Station to Trump Station. Dulles Airport is really separate. Dulles Airport is really not too involved with Congress. That's a separate kind of a deal, as you know. But it was suggested to me by numerous people, unions, Democrats, Republicans, a lot of people suggested. Nothing's been done on that.
Question: Mr. President, you frequently criticize Joe Biden for not knowing what is going on in his name. This racist video that was posted on your social media --
Trump: I know what's going on a hell of a lot better than you do. You don't know what's going on. I know what's going on. No, Joe Biden didn't have a clue, but we know everything. And when you look at what's happening with our economy, think of it, we're way ahead, years ahead of schedule. We have thousands and thousands of businesses being built right now. So Joe Biden had no clue. If Joe Biden were elected or if Kamala were elected, we wouldn't have a country right now.
Question: [Inaudible] you won the election because of minority voters. Does this post maybe hurt Republicans with Black voters after the [Inaudible]?
Trump: [Inaudible] Look, we did criminal justice reform. I did the historically Black colleges and universities. I got them funded. Nobody has been, and that's why I got a tremendous, the highest vote with male Black voters that they've seen in many, many decades. I've done great with the Black voters. They've been great to me. I've been great to them.
Black voters have been great to me. I've been great to them. And I am, by the way, the least racist president you've had in a long time, as far as I'm concerned. I've had a great relationship. Think of what I've done. Criminal justice reform. Nobody else could do it. Obama couldn't do it. Nobody could do it. Clinton couldn't do it. They actually went the other way.
They went into a very bad thing for African American people, Black people. They went to, they did very bad things. I did very good things. But criminal justice reform. And then I funded the universities, which nobody else was willing to do. They were going, every year they'd come back to Washington and they'd be begging for money, begging.
I got to be friendly with some of the heads of the schools and they would come back and they would literally tell me they're forcing us to beg. I'm the one that got them long-term financing and more than they were looking for. So there's nobody that's done more. And I think maybe more than anything else was criminal justice reform.
They've been trying to get it for years. And I'm the one that got it done. So nobody can tell me about that. That somebody posts, a staffer post. And I knew it was all about, if you take a look at that and see the whole thing, it was a small section at the very end, but that was about fraudulent elections, which we have a lot of them.
We're going to get it stopped. And I liked the beginning, I saw it and just passed it on. And I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it. Because what I saw at the beginning was really, really strong. It was about fraudulent elections. And anytime I see that stuff and when it's credible, you put it up. But somebody slipped and missed a very small part.
Now, by the way, again, a take off on, I guess, I didn't do it, by the way, this was done by somebody else. This was a re-Truth that was not done by us. But I would say very strong truth. There was a very strong statement made about the fraudulent elections in a certain part of our country, which are really bad.
Question: Mr. President, you promised Savannah Guthrie's family the full support of federal law enforcement. FBI is now –
Trump: I'll give you a little statement. I think we're doing very well on that regard. You're probably surprised to hear that. I think we're doing very well. Very well, meaning we have some clues, I think, that are very strong. And I think we could have some answers coming up fairly soon.
Question: Is this a nationwide search? Is this a search going to Mexico?
Trump: I'm not talking about a search. I'm talking about a solution. We have some things I think that will maybe come out reasonably soon from DOJ or FBI or whoever, that could be --
Question: The suspect?
Trump: Yeah, it could be definitive.
Question: [Inaudible].
Trump: A lot's taken place in the last couple of hours. A lot of things have happened with regard to that horrible situation in the last couple of hours.
Question: Mr. President, at the very least, do you condemn the racist parts of the video?
Trump: Of course I do. Yeah.
Question: The Dow and S&P have done really well under you, Mr. President.
Trump: Who?
Question: The Dow and S&P have done very well under you.
Trump: Yeah.
Question: Do you think that there's still more to --
Trump: Everything's done well.
Question: Do you think there's still more --
Trump: Everything. What hasn't done well?
Question: Do you think there's still more to do for Americans who can't afford to invest in the stock market?
Trump: Well, I brought prices way down. You don't hear it anymore. When I first came in, the Democrats were screaming affordability and I just got there. Remember eggs? Because eggs were up four times higher than they ever were. And that was, I think my first press conference was about three days in and they were screaming about eggs.
They said, "I didn't do it. They did it." We got the eggs down. We got the groceries down. We got it all down. It's really going good. Now we have interest rates. We have a great new Fed person coming in hopefully soon. Interest rates are trending downward even without that. And it's been amazing. I mean, we have potentially the greatest economy in history.
If you look at what's happened, $18 trillion, we have $18 trillion coming in. No other country's gotten anywhere near that. No other country, China, nobody. And I think we have potentially the greatest, and you're going to see that, when these factories that are being up, we have car plants, AI plants, many plants, and thousands of businesses right now are being built.
When they start opening up in a year from now, less than a year from now, it's going to be something that I don't think we've ever witnessed before in this country. Nobody's ever seen investment like this. We have never seen anything like it. So it's very exciting. But when you add that to the best crime numbers we've ever had, when you add that to so many other things, the wall.
As an example, we had a border that was out of control. 25 million people came in during four years of Biden. We have nobody coming in. They come in, but they come in legally. They have to come in legally. Our country's doing really well.
Question: Mr. President, you're suing the federal government about your taxes. And I'm wondering, is it fair to ask the American people to pay for that?
Trump: Well, anything I win, I'm going to give 100% to charity.
Question: But that still takes it from the American people.
Trump: No, it isn't. No, no, because they give money to charity anyway. They give away $40 billion a year to charity, our government. Our government gives away $40 billion plus a year to charity. So anything I win from that. But when they go and release your tax returns, which is totally illegal, people go to jail for that. And they've already found the person that did it. And as you know, they got in big trouble. And based upon that and other things we did, and we did sue. And anything I win, I'm giving 100% to charity. Really good, very, very good and respected charities.
Question: Do you decide if you win?
Question: The Winter Olympics begin this weekend, Mr. President.
Trump: It's going to be great. I just spoke to Marco Rubio. I just spoke to JD Vance, they're over in Italy and representing us very well. They're doing a great job.
Question: Did you see that the vice president got booed during the opening ceremony though? What do you make of that sort of frosty --
Trump: [Inaudible] what?
Question: The vice president got booed during the opening ceremony. What do you make of that frosty –
Trump: I didn't see it. No, I didn't see it. Is that true? Is that right?
Question: Yeah.
Trump: It's surprising because people like him. Well, I mean, he is in a foreign country, in all fairness, but he doesn't get booed in this country.
Question: Is there a particular sport you're interested in seeing?
Question: In the Super Bowl, who are you going for?
Trump: On what, the game?
Question: The Super Bowl, yeah.
Trump: I can't say that, but they are really two good teams. They're very interesting because you had one quarterback who looks like he wasn't going to make it and he made it. And then you have another one who's young and they probably wish they played him last year, right? He's done great. But you have two great teams.
Bob Kraft is a fabulous owner, a friend of mine. New England's amazing that they're there. Who would think? It's like a second, you can't say dynasty, yet they had a dynasty. You'll have to win a lot of games before you create another one. But I think it's going to be a great game. There's a lot of interesting storylines. Going to be very interesting.
Question: What's your message to the many Americans who were offended by the video? What do you want to tell those Americans?
Trump: Well, I have no message. I didn't know about it, so I mean, it went up. I really have no message. All I know is, here's my message that our country has never been in a position like this. We were a laughing stock all over the world, and now we're a country that's respected more than we've ever been respected before.
If you go back a year and a half ago, our country was a laughing stock, and now we're respected all over the world, like probably almost never before. I would say maybe like never before. And if you look at from an economic standpoint, the king of Saudi Arabia said it and others said it, we were not a country that was even thought of as a country that was going to make it back. And in one year we're the hottest country. We are right now the hottest country anywhere in the world, so that's my message. Thank you everybody. Thank you.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.