TRANSCRIPT: Press Gaggle: Trump: Speaks to Reporters On Air Force One - October 12, 2025
[Video]
Question: Okay. Mr. President. Mr. President.
Donald Trump: He's a little bit more comfortable. That was a little, uh, little wet out there. Hello. Uh, go ahead.
Question: So President Trump, what's harder? Peace in the Middle East or ending a government shutdown?
Trump: Well, I think the hardest is this. This has been going on for 3000 years. The shutdown has only been for 10 days. So I think, uh, the shutdown, uh, it's gotten to be almost customary, but, uh, we're taking care of it and we've got the military paid in full, and, uh, we're doing a lot of things. We're ending some programs that we don't want. They happen to be Democrat-sponsored programs, but we're ending some programs that we never wanted and we're probably not gonna allow them to come back. I think they made a mistake. I think they made a big mistake. This is really a Schumer shutdown because, uh, he's become sort of irrelevant and he wants to make himself relevant to get.
Question: And in terms of the politics of this historic peace deal that we're on the way to go sign right now, you would think it's good for everybody. But at a rally this weekend, they were cheering for you and they were booing Netanyahu. What's up with that?
Trump: I don't know, but, uh, we're gonna make everybody happy. I, the one thing I can tell you is everybody is happy, whether it's Jewish or Muslim or, uh, the Arab countries. Every country is dancing in the streets. And it's a point in time. I don't think you'd ever see it again. They've never seen it for 3000 years. If you like one group, you don't like the other group. And if you like the other group, you don't like the first group. And this is the first time they've ever seen where everybody's unified. Because as you know, we're going to Egypt after Israel and we're gonna meet all of the leaders of the very powerful and big countries and very rich countries, uh, and others. And they're all into this deal. Everybody's into it. It's never happened before. So I would say this is a lot tougher, but we'll see how it all works out.
Question: Mr. President, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, has not gone so far as to say the war is over. In your view is the war between Israel and Hamas over?
Trump: War is over. The war is over, okay? Do you understand that?
Question: Mr. President, is the ceasefire going to hold? Are you confident the ceasefire will hold?
Trump: Say again.
Question: Are you confident that the ceasefire is going to hold?
Trump: I think so. I think it's gonna hold. Uh, I think people are -- A lot of reasons why it's gonna hold, but I think people are tired of it. It's been, it's been centuries, okay? Not just recent. It's been centuries. I think people are tired of it. Yeah. The ceasefire is gonna hold. And [Inaudible] gonna hold.
Question: What will Gaza look like a year from now?
Question: The international Stabilization Force, that's part of the --
Trump: We're a strong force.
Question: When will it go --
Trump: I don't think it's gonna have a big impact 'cause I don't think, I, I think barely we're gonna have to use it. I think people are gonna behave. Everybody knows their place. It's gonna be great for everybody. It's gonna be great for the surrounding countries. Arab, Muslim, all of them. It's gonna be great for Israel.
Trump: Everybody is happy. And I think it's gonna stay that way. Peter?
Question: And if this, if this piece, uh, if the ceasefire does hold, how long until we get to the part of the twenty-point piece plan where developers can go in and make Gaza the Riviera of the Middle East?
Trump: Well, it's -- I don't know about the Riviera for a while, because you take a look at what you have, you have to get people taken care of first. But, uh, it's gonna start really, essentially immediately. I mean, they're gonna have to start by removing a lot of the structures that you see that are down to the ground.
Trump: I mean, it's a very -- It's blasted. This is like a demolition site. Almost the entire site is, so you, you have to, you have to get rid of what you have there. You have structures that are very dangerous. They're falling down if they haven't fallen. They're going to fall down of their own volition. So, uh, that process, Peter, is gonna start pretty much immediately in that way.
Question: Like a year from now, in your view?
Trump: A year. That's very quick. But over the years it'll look very good. It'll be, uh, it's got the first chance it's had in centuries of being peaceful. It's always been a very, very, uh, strange area. It's always been loaded up with problems, religious problems, uh, problems like no other place probably in the world.And I think it's gonna, now, it's gonna normalize. All you could say, if it normalizes, that would be fantastic.
Question: Speaking about the structure, sir, that you have set up and, and that peace plan, how soon will that new governing body be in place?
Trump: Very quickly. And everybody wants to be a part of it. You're talking about the Board of Peace?
Question: That's right? Tony Blair, yourself.
Trump: Everybody wants, yeah, everybody wants to be a part of it. I've had calls from all of the leaders, the leaders of countries. They all want to be a part. I mean, the, the leaders themselves, they're not gonna send somebody. They want to be a part of it.
Question: Do you know who's gonna be a part of it yet?
Trump: I do. I do.
Question: Can you share?
Trump: No, not yet. It's a little --
Question: Have you spoken to Tony Blair? Have you spoken to Tony Blair about it since the --
Trump: You wanna take your ear things out. You --
Question: Have you, have you spoken to Tony Blair about this, this?
Trump: I, I, I, you know, uh, first, I wanna find out that Tony would be popular with all 'cause I just don't know that. And I like Tony. I've always liked Tony, but I wanna find out that he's an acceptable choice to everybody.
Question: What about, what guarantees have you been able to give to both the Israelis and the Arab countries?
Trump: Yeah, a lot of guarantees.
Question: The Israelis are very concerned.
Trump: We have a, we have a lot of verbal guarantees too.
Question: About s --
Trump: And I don't think they're gonna wanna disappoint me. I have a lot of verbal guarantees. Guarantees that aren't down in writing, but they were given to me, and I believe they're gonna be held very strongly. That's why I think it's gonna be successful.
Question: Mr. President, you have to like –
Question: Mr. President.
Trump: Oh, look who we have. Hi, Katie. Let me shake.
Question: Good to see you, Mr. President. Good to see you. Um, I'm sure you've seen reports of Hamas, uh, re-arming, instituting themselves as a Palestinian police force ta- -- uh, you know, shooting, shooting rivals.
Trump: Yeah, [Inaudible].
Question: What is your message to Hamas?
Trump: Where they are standing, because they do wanna stop the problems, and they've been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time. Uh, you have to understand, they've lost probably 60,000 people. That's a lot of retribution. Uh, they've lost 60,000 people. And the ones that are living right now, were, in many cases, very young when this all started. And we are having them watch that there's not gonna be big crime or some of the problems that you have, when you have areas like this that have been literally demolished. You know, you have two million people and probably it'll be less than that, but you have close to two million people going back to buildings that have been demolished. And a lot of bad things can happen, so we want it to be, we want it to be safe. I, I think it's gonna be fine.
Question: Mr. President, you h --
Trump: Who knows for sure, Katie, but I think it's gonna be fine.
Question: Mr. President.
Question: Mr. President.
Trump: Yes.
Question: Hi. What is the latest that you've heard about hostages, when they will be released? Do you expect to meet with any of them?
Trump: Well, I hear the hostages might be even a little early, but I don't wanna say that. So, they have the hostages. Um, I understand all 20 and, uh, we may get them out a little bit early. Uh, getting them was amazing actually, because we were involved and they were in places that you, you don't wanna know about. Deep, deep, deep.
Question: Do you know if the hostages --
Question: The, some of the top Biden administration folks who were there, like Anthony Blinken, seemed to want some credit for the peace deal. Blinken says, "It's good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan that the Biden administration developed."
Trump: Yeah.
Question: What do you think about that?
Trump: Uh, everybody knows that's a joke. Look, they didn't do, they did such a bad job. This should have never happened. This wouldn't have even happened. That was weak leadership. Terrible with -- And the same thing with Russia, Russia, Ukraine. Uh, if, if a, just a, a decent president, not a great president like me. Not a great president. If a decent president was in, you wouldn't have had the Russia, Ukraine. And this is, I would say even more so, this was bad policy by Biden and by Obama. Remember when Bibi came and he begged that you not do what they were doing with Iran, you remember that, right? Begged him and they wouldn't even listen to him.Everything they did was the opposite what you should have done. And it's nice that they try and take a little credit. That was years ago and the mistakes were made years ago, and it was both by Biden and Obama.
Question: And so, what did you do so differently? 'Cause a lot, I know a lot of it was behind the scenes. So, what did you do so much differently than Joe Biden and that, to, to end the war?
Trump: Well, I resonated with the Arab leaders, the Muslim leaders, and the Jewish leaders for whatever reason. You tell me why, you know. He, he said that in my first news conference, I answered more questions of him than Biden did in four years.
Question: It's --
Trump: And I think that's pretty close to being true.
Question: Now, there were, there were no Pinocchios in the fact check.
Trump: Were not, that's right, that's right.
Question: Mr. President.
Question: Mr. President, your relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu has been through some ups and downs.
Trump: Yeah.
Question: You had to get a little tough on him. Where is that relationship now? And can you tell us about it?
Trump: It's good, it's very good. He just put me up for the Nobel Prize. So you know, I don't know what it is with the Nobel Prize. But, uh, he put me up yesterday for the Nobel Prize that I should get it, uh, but, uh, so I mean, I think it's very good.
Question: Has he made commitments to you personally about moving forward to the next phase of peace?
Trump: He's -- Look, let me tell you, he is a wartime president. He did a very good job. Uh, I had some disputes with him and they were quickly settled. I can tell you that. But as far as I'm concerned, uh, I think he's done a great job. I think he was the right person at this time. You know, look, it's been, it's been this way for centuries. You know, we're not talking about for 10 years, for five. It's been this way for centuries, and he did a great job and working with me, he was fantastic. Now, working with Biden no good. They didn't get along. And they had the opposite because Biden and Obama backed Iran. And just so when you talk about a thing like that, if you think they were backing Iran, when you back Iran, this wouldn't have worked. And had we not taken out the Iran nuclear facility and we made the same deal, it would have a really dark cloud over it and you wouldn't have people dancing in the streets, Katie. You would have people saying, "Oh, my -- You know, you're making a deal but we have a guy over there with nuclear weapons all over the place. He's gonna knock the hell out of us." If we didn't take out the Iran nuclear when we did, because in two months they would've had a nuclear weapon. This deal, even if it were done the exact same way, would've had a dark cloud over it. And now there's no dark clouds. There's nobody they have to worry about, Katie.
Question: Have you talked to the Qataris about their changing behavior in your first term? You talked about how they were funding terrorism. What are they doing --
Trump: The Qataris, yeah.
Question: -- what are they doing differently in your eyes to make sure they're not funding --
Trump: The Qataris really helped us with this deal, and the Emir is an amazing man who really helped us. You have to understand, his country is right in the middle of everything, more so than any other country. More so than UAE, where you have to fly an hour and a half to get there, more so than Saudi Arabia where you have to fly an hour and a half to get there.
Trump: His country, you walk across the line and you're there. So he's in the middle of this unbelievable hostile territory with people on all different sides of the, you know, of the opinion and the questions. Uh, they were a tremendous help. Qatar was a tremendous help to getting this done. I hope people can realize that.
Question: Mr. President, in other world --
Trump: It's very, it was very tough and very dangerous for Qatar. They were very brave and their leader, the Emir was very, very brave. And, and Qatar should start getting some credit. And you have to understand, they lived in the middle of everything. So they can't just be like -- They, they, you couldn't do it, I could, nobody, nobody could do it and say -- What?
Question: Have they changed their behavior from 2017, what you accused them of funding terrorism?
Trump: I don't know. At 2017, I didn't really know them very well. You know, 2017, that was at the very beginning of my, uh, my term. Uh, as I got to know them, I got to understand them, and I got to realize that they're in the middle of, they are right in the middle of everything. Other countries are there, but they're an hour and an hour and a half away, a big difference. They're literally, you walk over from Iran to Qatar, you can walk it in one second. You go boom, boom, and now you're in Qatar. That's tough territory. I think Qatar was amazing the way they helped us.
Question: Mr. President, another world leader -- Uh, there, there was a ceasefire that collapsed in March this year. There was a, a ceasefire earlier this year that collapsed in March. Do you think this could have been done then? This took a lot of pressure on both sides, but do you have any regrets
Trump: You know sometimes, I see it, and I see it with Russia, Russia, Russia too. Um, sometimes you have to go through some pain before it all happens. I saw it with Turkey. And by the way, Turkey was fantastic too. Uh, President Erdogan was fantastic. He really helped a lot because he's very respected. He's got a very powerful nation. He's got a very, very powerful military, and he helped a lot, President Erdogan. UAE was great. Uh, you know, we mentioned Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the King, they were great. Uh, Indonesia was great. We had, we had tremendous help. Uh, Jordan, the King, they were great. We, this is an amazing thing. Countries that, very diverse countries, some got along, some didn't, but for the most part, nobody got along with anybody And they all came together and, and they're all dancing in the streets, just like Israel. It's, it's a unique point in time. You were talking about the ceasefire. That wouldn't have had that held, that wouldn't have happened back then.
Question: I know -- Both, both of your elections, uh, the biggest issues were the economy and immigration.
Trump: Right.
Question: Now you're getting credit from Democrats and Republicans for this Middle East peace deal. Where does it fit? Where do you think it fits into your legacy?
Trump: Well, look, I solved, this will be my eighth war that I've solved. And I hear there's a war now going between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I said, "I'll have to wait till I get back. You know, I'm doing another one," because I'm good at solving wars, I'm good at making peace, and, uh, it's an honor to do it. I saved millions of lives, millions of lives. Now, in all fairness to the Nobel Committee, uh, I was -- it was for 19- it was for 2024, and this was picked for 2024. But there are those that say you could make an exception because a lot of things happened during '25 that are -- that are done and complete and great. Um, but I did this not for Nobel. I did this for -- I did this for saving lives. I mean, we've saved millions of lives. Think about India, Pakistan. Think about some of the wars that were going on for years. We had one going for 31, one going for 32, one going for 37 years with millions of people being killed in every country. And I got every one of those done for the most part within a day. It's pretty good.
Question: One of the world leaders, sir, that you've been –
Question: What -- what do you think you can take from this pro- -- these negotiations and this peace process into Moscow and try to end the Russian-Ukraine war?
Trump: Well, I think -- I think what you can take is that never give up. Just never give up. You know, last week, they killed over 7,000 soldiers, mostly soldiers. And, uh, a li- -- a little bit more, frankly, Russian soldiers than Ukrainian soldiers last week. But think of it, every week, they're losing from 5,000 to 7,000 soldiers. It's ridiculous. And I thought that would be one of my easier ones. I mean, uh, when you settle something that's been going on for 31 and 32 years, that's in theory a lot harder than setting, you know, something that's been going on for three years. But this is a war going on for three years. Should have never started. Frankly, I give Ukraine credit for doing so well. I mean, they've- they're good fighters. They're very good fighters. I -- I think that -- I really think that President Putin would look great if he got this settled. And I think he's gonna settle it, but we're gonna see. And if he doesn't, it's not gonna be good for him. Not going to be good.
Question: President Xi of China, you've been Truthing about another world leader. You said not to worry about China, but he's been putting out some tough statements in regards to your tariffs, sir. Are you planning to speak with him? When's the last time you spoke?
Trump: He's putting out tough statements because we are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars, not only from China, from other countries. We've become a wealthy country again. And the tariffs have given us a diplomatic strength. They've given us negotiating strength. I settled a few of the wars just based on tariffs. I said with -- as an example, with India and with Pakistan, I said, "If you guys want to fight a war and you have nuclear weapons, I'm gonna put big tariffs on you both, like 100%, 150, and 200%." "No, no, no, don't do that." I said, "I'm putting tariffs." I had that thing settled in 24 hours. If I didn't have tariffs, you could have never settled that war.
Question: You said November 1st --
Trump: You knew that better than anybody, McGee.
Question: -- 1st more tariffs on China. Are you considering walking that back?
Trump: Boy, she asks a lot of questions. Who are you with?
Question: Uh -- uh, Politico. Dasha Burns, sir.
Trump: Oh, you're Dasha Politico, huh? Politico's gone bad. They've been so wrong about everything. Politico --
Question: [Inaudible]
Question: sir.
Trump: No, no. Politico has been so wrong about everything. Let's get somebody else to ask some questions, do you mind? Is that all right?
Question: So you plan on -- do you plan on --
Trump: Because Politico is fake news.
Question: Do plan on meeting with Xi now when you go to Asia in a couple weeks?
Trump: Well, you saw the statement I put out, that he had a bad day.
Question: Right.
Trump: And, uh, I think we're gonna be fine with China. Look, I have a great relationship with President Xi. He's a very tough man. He is a very smart man. He's a great leader for their country. He's a great leader and I have a great relationship with him. I think we'll get it set. I know what happened. I really understand what happened. And I'm not even saying he's wrong. But then we met him with something much tougher than what he did to us. Again, because of the tariffs, it's much tougher.
Question: Would you ever visit Gaza?
Trump: What?
Question: Would you ever visit Gaza?
Trump: I would. Yeah, I would, I'd be proud to. I see it. I mean, I know it so well without visiting, but I do see it. Um, yeah, I would, actually. I'd like to do it. I'd like to put my feet on it at least. Uh, but I think it's gonna be a -- a great miracle over the -- over the coming decades. And you know, if you go too fast, that's not gonna be good. You have to go at the right speed. Can't go too fast.
Question: Mr. President.
Trump: Who are you with?
Question: BBC. BBC, [Inaudible] BBC with the radio show.
Trump: Nice accent.
Question: [Inaudible] Thank you. When Steve Witkoff was in Hostages Square last night, he mentioned Prime Minister Netanyahu and the crowd booed. I wondered if you saw that.
Trump: I did.
Question: What you made of that?
Trump: I also saw the crowd cheer when he mentioned Trump, like really cheer, and it's an honor. Uh, no, as I said, I think Bibi did a great job. I had some words with him a couple of times where I didn't agree, and he was always, uh, he was the right guy at the right time.
Question: Are you confident because many Palestinians would be concerned that after the hostages are handed over, uh, that Israel might restart the war for some reason? Are you worried?
Trump: I'm not worried about anything. I think we have a great deal, and it's a great deal for everybody. You know, a great deal is a deal where everybody's happy, and every country, they're dancing in the streets. That's a great deal. It's a unique -- It's a unique period in time.
Question: It's the first day, November 1st, "A hundred percent tariffs on China," is what you said. Is that still the plan?
Trump: Yeah, right now it is. Yeah. Let's see what happens. Uh, you know, for me, you know what, November 1st is, an eternity. November 1st is an eternity for me because somebody else is right around the corner for me, when I hear November 1st, it's an eternity. Go ahead.
Question: You had talked a couple weeks ago, you were doing an interview and you talked about how you hope to end the war in Ukraine because it might help you get into heaven. How does -- How does this help? Does this help?
Trump: I mean, you know, I'm being a little cute. I don't think there's anything gonna get me in heaven. Okay. I really don't. [Laughs]. I think, I think I'm not maybe heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One. I'm not sure I, I'm gonna be able to make heaven, but I've made life a lot better for a lot of people. And you know, as an example, had the war -- Had the election of 2020 not been rigged, you would have millions of people living just in Russia, Ukraine alone. That would've never happened, and it didn't happen for four years, and I knew Putin very well. It was the apple of his eye. All the things I've said would've never happened. We had an incompetent administration, we had an incompetent president, and because of a crooked election, millions of people are dead. And by the way, the Israeli thing was much harder to get settled because of the best administration. Okay. Rest, enjoy yourselves. Say hello to your boss, and I'll see you guys. Right? Good. There you go.
Question: Before you go, can you tell us about your conversations with President Zelenskyy? Did you talk about why [Inaudible] called?
Trump: We had a very good conversation this morning and yesterday, and he basically would like to -- As you know, we are not sending any weapons. We're sending them to NATO, and NATO is paying, which is a big difference between Biden and Trump because Biden gave them $350 billion, and we didn't, we gave them -- We gave them nothing, but we gave them respect and some other things, frankly. So we talked about weapons, and the weapons are sent to NATO, and NATO then sends us a check. They pay for info and, uh, they would need more weapons, and we're looking into doing that. We, we hope we're gonna be able to provide 'em. You know, our country needs weapons too. We can't give so many weapons that we don't have weapons.You never know what's gonna happen? Who knows what's going to happen. But, uh, NATO pays us a hundred percent for the weapons, and then they send them into Ukraine, and we talked about the weapons they need, what kind of weapons. They need Patriots very badly. They'd like to have Tomahawks. That's a step-up. They'd like to have Tomahawks. We talked about that. And so, uh, so we'll see. Well, I don't know. I make -- I might have to speak to Russia to be honest with you about Tomahawks. Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don't think so. I think I might speak to Russia about that, in all fairness. I told that to President Zelenskyy because Tomahawks are a new step of aggression, right?
Trump: You understand that very well. Okay.
Question: Are you saying that you'll speak to Putin first about Tomahawks –
Trump: And I might talk to him, I might say, "Look, if this war's not gonna get settled, I'm gonna send them Tomahawks." I may say that. Tomahawk is a, an incredible weapon, very offensive weapon, and honestly, Russia does not need that. They don't need that. Yeah. I might tell 'em that if the war is not settled, that we may very well do it. We may not, but we may do it. I think it's appropriate to bring up, yeah. I want to -- I wanna see the war settled. Thank you very much. Tell them to be honest, they're not honest.
Question: Hey, sir. Talk to Caroline. She'll vouch for him.
Trump: Oh.
Question: Thank you.
Trump: Thank you, man. Have –
Question: My first time on the plane.
Trump: Oh, really?
Question: Oh, yeah
Trump: Ah. What do you fly? He flies private. He's doing pretty well, huh? So, who's gonna be the head anchor at CBS?
Question: [Inaudible]
Trump: Not Norah O'Donnell. I don't believe. [Laughs]. I don't believe it. You know, there's a story that they're gonna. I don't believe.
Question: Well, what do you think of Laura Weiss?
Trump: Well, I'll tell you what, Larry Ellison is great, and his son David is great. They're friends of mine. Big -- They're big supporters of mine, and they'll do the right thing. They're gonna make CBS -- Hopefully, they'll -- You know, they called it the Tiffany network. And uh, it's got great potential. CBS has great potential.
Trump: Thank you all. Thank you.
Question: Thank you, sir.