Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters On Board Air Force One - July 8, 2026

It's a long walk to you.

[Laughs] Really, Mr. President.

That's about three times the walk we used to take, right? Uh, I hope you like it. So we had a very good day, very good two days, and a lot of things were determined. And what was really determined is the country's doing very well. We made a lot of good trade deals with Turkey and, uh, they've been a very good partner.

He's been great, by the way. President Erdoğan's been great. And I hope you had a good time. Any questions?

Mr. President, what is, what --

What was the security concern that caused us to change planes?

The which?

What was the co- -- security concern that caused us to change planes?

Uh, we sent this one in so that the Air Force base here was in the same exact line. So you saw, did you see the picture?

We did. We did.

Hundreds of pic- --

[Crosstalk]

Hundreds of people. Let me see that. Oh, yeah. But you can't see it too well, but there are hundreds of people out there.

So you --

So they wanted to see. So they came a little bit early and we switched planes.

You're saying there wasn't a security concern?

No. No. Why would they?

Is there any other issue?

No issues.

[Inaudible]

No. No, except, except we sent it a little early. Same line going back. Uh, we sent it a little bit early so that we could, uh, let them see it. The base, the whole base came out and saw the plane and then we landed.

Do you think, do you know why they had us close our, our window blinds? That was unusual?

Sir --

Well, yeah, because, uh, you're, you know, probably on a dangerous night because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with [Inaudible].

[Inaudible] that Iran was possibly trying to --

Well, I mean, if they asked you to close your windows, probably they feel that way. They didn't ask me to close mine, but if they did, I would've done it. No, these are sick people.

Were you --

So I could see something like that.

[Inaudible]

I didn't, I didn't know they did that, but I could see something.

Were you aware of any credible threat by Iran against Air Force One?

Well, I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list before you. But if I go, you go.

Mm-hmm.

Right?

But was there a specific [Inaudible]

So perhaps, perhaps some day you'll wanna change professions. What do you have, Daniel?

[Inaudible]

They just, we just hit them very hard. And I say we hit up 20 to one. Every time they hit us, we're gonna hit them 20. And, uh, we did it last night. They did a little something today, but it was really retribution for last night. They hit actually three boats, not two. And when they hit, we hit back much harder.

Are we returning to full scale military conflict, sir?

I don't know. I, I don't know. But win it very quickly. It's another way of doing, we have many ways we can win, but we've already won militarily. They got very little left. And they wanna make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago. They wanna make a deal so badly. I just don't know if they're worthy of making a deal.

I don't know that they're gonna honor the deal, that's the problem.

If they wanna make a deal, why do you think they attacked commercial vessels?

Because it's a lot of crazy, to be honest with you. They're sorta crazy. They're a little bit out of control, but they wanna make a deal. They -- badly.

[Crosstalk]

[Inaudible] have you spoken to Senator Mi- -- Mitch McConnell since his hospitalization?

No, I have --

How's he doing?

No. I have no idea.

[Crosstalk]

I have no idea how he's doing.

At the beginning of, at the beginning of, uh, before this, before the NATO Summit, you, uh, spoke, uh --

Who are you with?

Reuters. Uh, you, you had --

Not the best. Not the best.

You had issues with, uh, you said you had issues with leaders of Spain, U.K.

Yeah.

[Inaudible]

Spain, I will say I did have issues with Spain.

Also, Germany.

And I still do. But Spain then came back all the way today. Spain was very generous today. You know, I told them I'm gonna stop trading.

What, what did Spain do today?

They made, uh, they, they honored a request for lots of payments. And if they didn't, we wouldn't even talk to them. They were very bad. They behaved very badly, in my opinion. But it was a great unity in that room today, the NATO room. It was pretty much, pretty amazing actually. There was something very good about it. I actually wish the press was able to stay.

Now, they may, it may have been different if the press was there, but it was tremendous unity and, uh, togetherness. It was, it was quite nice.

Sir, are you gonna pull more U.S. troops out of Europe? And if so, how many and where's --

I haven't made that final [Inaudible]. A lot's gonna depend on Greenland and a lot, a lot. I mean, you know, we're gonna make a very good deal on Greenland. And if we don't, maybe I will. And, uh, a lot's dependent on Iran. I mean, they, uh, they wanna help now. You know, it's a little late to the thing because, essentially, there's not that much fighting to be done.

But some will depend on Iran, you know? But when, uh, they had a chance, an opportunity to help, they chose not to, so. But we're sort of forgetting about that.

Mr. President --

And now they wanna help. They all wanna go and, they wanna help on Iran so badly, but we don't really need help. It's, it's, uh, little things, but we don't really need help.

Did President al-Sharaa make any commitments to you on helping with Hezbollah in Lebanon?

Yeah, he did.

What did --

He's, he's done a great job. He's unified Syria, the president. Uh, I'm not gonna say what he said, but, but yeah, he did. He was, uh, he was great today. He was great and President Zelensky was great today. We had a lot of good meetings today.

Mr. President -- You suggested that the only reason you came to the summit was because it was held in Turkey. Was this your last NATO summit?

No. Uh, I think they came a long way today. They made some concessions and I think NATO came a long way today. And one of the things, you know, we shouldn't be paying for the kind of money we paid for. No, no pre- -- I did in my first term, but Biden immediately gave it back. No president should be having to pay the kind of money we pay.

And again, we're really there for protecting them, not for protecting the United States. It was ultimately it was protected against, it was protection against the Soviet Union, now Russia. But it was against the Soviet Union and, you know, honestly, we're very far away. We have an, an ocean separating us. But we'll, uh, we'll see wh, the meeting today settled a lot of things.

It was a very, very good meeting. And people understand that the United States is, uh, we've been treated very unfairly. And then on top of that, they weren't there for a, uh, a really de-nuking because it's really not a war so much. It's a de-nuking of Iran. Denuclearization of Iran but, so, uh, this is all about taking nuclear weapons, not allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons, and everybody should like that even you.

You have a question?

Yeah, the housing bill we could call on [Inaudible] about signing. What do you plan to do?

About what?

The housing bill.

It's a very good question. See, I'm a big fan of many bills. Uh, but I'm a much bigger fan of the most important bill. It's called the Save America Act. It's voter ID, it's proof of citizenship, and it's no mail-in ballots other than it would be very, you know, easy on this, frankly. But military, illness, disability, vacations, you can't get there, you're away, business.

But other than that, you should go and vote. And if you don't, people would see it. People would see it. You look in California, look at what happened to this Spencer Pratt thing. I mean, the way the vote, votes, hundreds of thousands, probably millions of votes gone. Where he didn't make the runoff. He was so far ahead of third place, it was ridiculous.

Maybe ahead of first place. But look at that. Look at what's happened with Steve Hilton. Had the US Attorney not started an investigation, they would've gotten Steve Hilton out too. So it's a, you know, it's a very way of a, we're a Third World country in some states with respect to voting.

Friday, Friday is the deadline for the housing. Friday is the deadline w- -- after which the housing bill will become law without your signature.

I'll make a decision. Not that I dislike it. I dislike the fact that people aren't voting for voter ID with a picture. How could you not vote for voter ID? And by the way, the public wants it 94%. Voter ID, proof of citizenship, no mail-in ballots, other than with the exceptions.

On Venez, on, Venezuela, did you, uh, uh, did you tell Machado not to go back to Venezuela the other week? And what's your relationship?

You mean, did I tell him a long time ago?

No, not, María Corina Machado, the o- -- the opposition figure. Did you tell her not to go back?

Oh, no, no, no, not at all. No, she's terrific. She's a wonderful person. Uh, did she go back? I guess, right?

Uh, she did. Yeah. It was reported that --

She did or didn't?

She did not. It was reported at the State Department.

I did not tell any, not to go back. I think she's a good person. She gave me the Nobel Prize, right? So how can I dislike her? She gave me the, she won the Nobel Prize. She said, "The only one that should win it is Trump." I didn't know her at all. She said, "Trump settled eight wars," which is true. They were talking about it today.

Azerbaijan. I mean, think of the wars I settled. Eight. Wars that were going on for 30, even if you look in the Congo, the Congo versus Rwanda. I settled it, after 14 years and about 15 million people had their heads chopped up. I settled that one. I settled eight wars. And when she won the Nobel Prize for Peace, she said, "I can't believe I won it. The only one that should win it is Trump." Actually, they probably will do the wrong thing.

It's very sad with Norway. But I would say I should have won that award more than anybody that ever received the Nobel Peace Prize. Because nobody settled wars. I, I settled eight of them. Because I have a certain type of personality, I was able to settle. Think of it, India and Pakistan. You know, because you covered it, that war was raging.

They were a week into it, 11 planes were shot down, and that war was gonna go nuclear. The Prime Minister of Pakistan said, "President Trump saved from 30 to 50 million lives." Well, guess what? It could have been a lot more than that.

Do you think the Democrats should be able to pick a replacement for --

A story that hasn't gotten a lot of attention, starting on July 1st, Medicare is now covering GLP-1 drugs --

Yep.

-- for weight loss, wellness. First time it's ever happened. It happened under your leadership.

Yeah.

How big of a deal is that?

Well, we, because of Favored Nations, the drug prices have come down tremendously. And also, if you look at TrumpRx, it's been unbelievable, the price cuts. But take a look at what we've done in terms of, uh, Favored Nations. We paid the highest drug price in the entire world, and now we pay the lowest drug price in the entire world.

And that means 4, 5, 600% difference. Think of it. The press doesn't wanna write about it. And to get that, I had to get the drug companies to do it, and they were good. But they were good because they knew that I couldn't get the countries to do it. You had to get both. And I called the countries, I said, "If you don't do it, I'm gonna put a very big tariff on you that's more money." And every country agreed to it. So we went from the highest drug prices in the world, like in New York, a pill would cost $130 and in London it costs $10. So now it costs $20 at $20 because the world is a bigger place so it's not really split 50/50. So we got it down and it's a great question because that should have a huge impact on healthcare because prescription drugs is a big price.

But prescription drugs have come down 400 to 500 to 600% under Trump. And that alone should win us the midterms. And the Democrats will terminate it and try and blame somebody else like us. [Inaudible]. As I call 'em, the Dumocrats.

Do you, do you think --

You know, Dumocrats. You know, a Dumo --

Speaking of Democrats, um, do you think that the Democrats should be able to pick a replacement for Graham Platner? He's had all these new allegations that have come out. Now Democrats are talking about picking a replacement for him. Should they be able to do that?

They're picking what?

A replacement for Grant Platner if he steps --

Well --

-- out of the race.

So he won the primary.

Mm-hmm.

And --

And now there's these allegations.

It's very hard for them to do. And it's really a question of whether or not you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods. It's, uh, he's in a bind. He's in a bind. But, uh, should they be able to do it? Well, he's, I guess he's gonna lose. I would imagine he's gonna lose. Uh, it's very interesting when a Republican woman came out with the same charge, nobody believed her.

When this woman came out, everybody believed her. Right, Doug? Did you get any pictures of it, Doug? Uh, you know why? It's, they wouldn't sell, Doug. So any other questions?

Yes, Mr. President --

Well, sir, a new Federal Reserve working paper came out and it suggested that the illegal migration surge under Joe Biden caused housing costs to spike --

Yes.

-- 30, 30%. What is the lesson to be learned in that?

Well, what's happening is housing costs are going down because, and rental costs go down because we're getting so many illegals out of the country. But Joe Biden raised, uh, the cost of housing by 40 and 50%. The cost of rental, because they were housing illegal aliens in the, uh, in all of those empty units, and now they're coming down because we're removing people that are here illegally, criminals from the Congo, from Venezuela.

We love Venezuela, but he emptied, maduro emptied out his jails. They opened up their jails, they let them in. But many countries did that. 25 billion people. And we've gotten, I think we're getting most of the bad ones out and we start the process, but we've done very well on that. But it c- -- it was a tremendous increase in housing costs.

By allowing, you, you don't even think of that. And you know who paid for it? The federal government. So the federal government is renting at tremendous prices, all of these houses, to service illegal immigrants, but they're not taking care of our soldiers. They didn't take care of our soldiers. So it's, uh, a sad thing.

Enjoy the flight. Okay?

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, sir.

That was number five or six or seven today. And every, every question is a kill. But then we have Daniel and some very good reporters. You're a great reporter, by the way.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody.

Thank you, sir.

Mr. President.