TRANSCRIPT: Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters Before Air Force One Departure - July 3, 2025
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President Trump: So we have a very, uh, big trip planned to Iowa. Some of you are going with us, and, uh, perhaps a lot of you're going with us. How are you? And we have a very big crowd, so it's gonna be a lot of fun, and we're sort of celebrating, like, the biggest bill of its kind ever signed, and it's gonna make this country into a rocket ship. It's gonna be really great.
Question: Mr. President, you met with a lot of House Republicans yesterday, what response did you get?
Trump: Uh, the, uh -- I think, when you go over the bill, it was very easy to get 'em to a yes. You know, we went over that bill, and, uh, point after point, biggest tax cut in history. Great for security, great on the southern border. Uh, immigration is covered. We covered just about everything. Again, it's the biggest bill ever signed of its kind.
Question: Mr. President, when a couple House Republican senators learned about Bill, uh, said that they had conversations with you or you made promises. What promises did you make? Did you tell Representative Clyde that he could have some action on gun rights? What sort of deal did you make with those-
Trump: Well, I talked to a lot of, uh, different Republicans in doing it, and we had a good time in being there. I did not have much of a problem with any of 'em. Uh, as you know, we had two negative votes, but we had, whatever it was, the final votes.
Question: You also got them to agree to yes.
Trump: Yeah, I think a few of them I did, but I think they would've gone yes anyway.
Question: What were those deals?
Trump: No deals. No deals. What I did is we talked about how good the bill is. I mean, that's a deal, I guess, when you think about it. But, uh, obviously convinced 'em, but it was not hard. This is a great bill. This is gonna be a great bill for the country.
Question: Mr. President, [Inaudible] Brian Fitzpatrick was one of two nos, to vote no to the big beautiful bill. Do you want to primary him, too?
Trump: Well, I was disappointed that he did that. There were two of them that voted no. So I was disappointed that he voted no.
Question: Mr. President, [Inaudible, referencing call with Putin]
Trump: We had a call, it was a pretty long call. We talked about a lot of things, including Iran, and we also talked about, uh, as you know, the war with Ukraine. And, uh, I'm not happy about that. I'm not happy about that.
Question: Mr. President, [Inaudible] on a deal with Ukraine. Do you feel like you made any progress?
Trump: No, I didn't make any progress with him today at all.
Question: Mr. President, how much growth is the country expecting [Inaudible, relating to OBBB]
Trump: I think we're gonna get great growth. I think we'll have growth at record numbers. Uh, this is gonna be something that's amazing and everybody was watching it all over the world. And I wanna congratulate the Speaker, and Tom Emmer, and Steve Scalise, and everybody else. I mean, they worked so hard, so hard. This has really been going on for over a year, if you think about it. I think to be exact, about 14 months. And this was the culmination, and I guess it ended a lot earlier. A lot of people thought it would end up the following afternoon. Well, it ended up late in the evening. But, uh, they, they were great.They were great.
Question: Mr. President [Inaudible]-
Trump: And by the way, on the Senate side, I thought Senator Thune did a fantastic job.
Question: Mr. President, what do you think that says about the amount of power you have within your party compared to your first term that you were able to convince them to [Inaudible]
Trump: I think I have more power now. I do. You know, I could say, "Oh gee, I don't know." I think I probably do because we've had a great record of success. You know, my first term was very, very successful. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. Uh, I think we're gonna blow it away this term, but, you know, we've, we've proven certain things and, uh, yeah, I think probably it's got more gravitas, more power.
Question: Mr. President, you have a great deal of [Inaudible] now. Just a great deal [Inaudible]
Trump: Yeah.
Question: Inaudible
Trump: So we have a couple of other deals, but I, you know, my inclination is to send a letter out and saying what tariff they're gonna be paying. It's just much easier. We have, you know, far more than 170 countries, and how many deals can you make? And you can make good deals, but they're very much more complicated. I'd rather, and I've been like this from the beginning, I'd rather send out a letter saying, "This is what you're gonna pay to do business in the United States." And, uh, I think it'll be well received. I think it's just so many countries. And, you know, then they go specific, "Let's do this. Let's do that. Uh, beef, ethanol." And I'd rather just do a simple deal where you can maintain it and control it. Uh, you're gonna pay a 20% or 25 or 30% tariff.
Question: [Inaudible]
Trump: And we're gonna be sending some letters out, starting probably tomorrow, maybe 10 a day, to various countries saying what they're gonna pay to do business with the U.S.
Question: [Inaudible] Washington D.C. you getting behind [Inaudible] Do you think it’s time for Congress to take back D.C.?
Trump: I think that D.C., uh, has to become a very safe place and, uh, we're not gonna let anything bad happen to D.C. That's our beautiful D.C. And we're not gonna let anything bad -- And we'll have something to say about it next week.
Question: Mr. President, why did you call back the, why did you pause weapons [Inaudible] Ukraine?
Trump: Oh, what?
Question: Why did you pause weapons?
Trump: We haven't. We're giving weapons, but we've given so many weapons, but we are giving weapons and we're working with them and trying to help them. Uh, but we haven't. You know, Biden emptied out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.
Question: President Trump [Inaudible]
Trump: Who are you with?
Question: New York Times.
Trump: Ah, no wonder. Go ahead.
Question: [Inaudible] what message can Americans take [Inaudible]
Trump: Well, I think it's gonna be really a message of proudness. You're gonna be proud of your country because our country's doing fantastically well. The economy is great. You saw the stock market today. We're setting records. And, uh, in every aspect of our country, we're doing well, despite the fact that we inherited millions of people that shouldn't have been here. And I think we have crime stats that are coming out that are showing the lowest numbers we've had in many years, and that also, despite the fact that a lot of people are here that shouldn't have been led into our country. So, uh, they're gonna be very proud tomorrow. So we're signing at about five o'clock. And at about five o'clock we're gonna have B-2s and F-22s and F-35s flying right over the White House. And the Speaker and I and John Thune, we're all there together with most, I think most Republican senators and congressmen and women, and it's gonna be a great day. So we'll be signing with those beautiful planes flying right over our heads. All right.
Question: What are your expectations next round of talks with Steve Witkoff and the Iranian counterpart?
Trump: Well, we're gonna see. Uh, Steve is a great guy. He's a great negotiator. Uh, Iran does wanna speak, and, uh, I think they'd like to speak to me, and it's time that they do. We're not looking to hurt them, we're looking to let them be a country again. They got beat up and, you know, they were, they were both exhausted, frankly. But Iran really got beat up. And, uh, I think they wanna meet. I mean, I know they wanna meet, and if it's necessary, I'll do it. But Steve is involved and very much involved, and he's done a fantastic job. All right, one more.
Question: President, on Gaza, do you still want the U.S. to take over Gaza as a part of a peace [Inaudible]
Trump: I want the people of Gaza to be safe, more importantly.
Question: So that's [Inaudible]
Trump: W- -- I want, I wanna see safety for the people of Gaza. They've, they've gone through hell. Thank you very much, everybody.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President.