Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters After Air Force One Arrival - October 10, 2026

Mr. President --

[Inaudible], uh, tremendous crowd, tremendous people and, uh, great -- we're gonna have a great new senator. He'll continue [Inaudible] Bill Hagerty. We're gonna have, uh, a brand-new governor, and she's gonna do good. You know her very well. And we have the, uh, congressmen who are there, and woman. Uh, and I think it was a great success.

The people liked it. There were a lot of people. It was packed, as you saw. They're always packed, but Tennessee was really great. [Inaudible].

Lisa Cook. Mr. President, why did you decide to appoint a committee to investigate Lisa Cook? Why did you decide to form a committee to investigate Fed Governor Lisa Cook?

Because I think she's dishonest. I think it's a very important decision and she's an automatic "no" vote and, uh, that's not a good thing. No, I think she [Inaudible].

[Crosstalk]

Is Zelenskyy delaying peace because he can't hold elections while Ukraine is at war?

Well, I think he should have an election. And, uh, he could have settled this thing many times. And he should have an election. And he can't, uh, raise the price of oil than enough. This is a war that should have never happened. Ukraine, Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened.

[Crosstalk]

President Zelenskyy could have solved this war or he could have, he could have made a deal many times. I've been there.

[Crosstalk]

Mr. President, at your rally, at your rally, you said that the U.S. had stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

That's right.

Why not just declare victory and be end with it?

'Cause I have to keep it that way. I don't want to have to do it in two years -- that we have to have a guarantee that they won't have it in the future.

[Crosstalk]

It's actually a very good question. We can leave right now --

Yeah.

-- but, uh, we have to guarantee that they can't have it in the future. And we'll get that.

[Crosstalk]

[Inaudible]

Well, I think that Russia would like to make a deal. And we've had it back and forth, but Russia would like to make a deal. But, uh, as I said, this is something that could have been solved many times, but for whatever reason, Zelenskyy does not want to make a deal. And if you look at the odds, you know, you're talking about millions more soldiers on one side than the other.

I think it, it would have been smart. If he would have made a deal two years ago, it would have been a lot -- he would have been a lot better off.

[Crosstalk]

He could have made a much better deal two years ago.

[Crosstalk]

What did -- what did President Putin tell you on the phone call the other day?

He'd like to see a settlement. President Putin would like to see a settlement strongly. And look, he's, he's freeing up a lot of oil for the world, okay? A good thing.

Are you --

At, at -- by the way, at a very low price.

[Crosstalk]

Are you surprised that Democrats have embraced socialism and communi- -- uh, socialism so openly? Democrats have embraced that. Are you surprised?

Well, I think that the Democrats have become the socialists of America and I think that they ought to get rid of the name Democrat because it's no longer accurate. But you have a combination of socialist and communist, and I think, frankly, the word "Democrat" is a -- or "Dumocrat," as I call it -- but I think it's a very inaccurate thing.

Democrat is a ve- -- they're really socialists. They've become socialists. And they're being dragged much further left than socialists.

[Crosstalk]

Have you s- -- have you spoken, have you spoken to Senator John Fetterman about becoming a Republican? Would you like to see that?

I'd love to see it. I think he's great. Uh, it's gonna be hard for him to get the nomination as a Democrat, but I'd love to have him as a Republican. John Fetterman's a great guy with magnificent parents. I got to speak to his parents about something and they were great, the mother, the father. He's a, he's a very solid person.

You know, he's a person, he's smart and all that, but he's got great common sense. But if you look at the polls, he does better as a Republican than he does as a Democrat.

[Crosstalk]

Mr. President, you saw the attack on, on Riyadh airport, killed, like, a dozen people.

Yeah.

What do you think about that? Are you gonna --

I think it's terrible.

Are you gonna get the United States involved?

Well, you're gonna find out, see, but I think it's terrible.

Are, are the Saudis able to defend themselves without U.S. support?

Well, they're able to defend. Look, the Saudis are good fighters, but I think the attack was a terrible thing.

You just chose your new press secretary. Uh, what stood out to you about Katie and what do you hope that she brings to the table?

Well, I've watched Katie, who is, uh, taking the place of Karoline. You know how fabulous Karoline was. Karoline is gonna have some very big success, I believe. I know. She's very outstanding. I think Katie's gonna do a great job. I've known Katie a little bit, but I've watched her a lot on television and, and she does a very good job and she believes in us and she believes in what we're doing, which is making America great again.

She really does. Thank you for that question.

The federal, the federal deficit last year, last fiscal year, was $2 trillion. Do you blame the Supreme Court for that because of the tariffs ruling?

Well, it hurt. The Supreme Court hurt very badly because they wanted us to gi- -- give back a certain form. You know, I have numerous forms of tariffs, but they wanted us to give back a certain form of tariff, and that was hundreds of millions of dollars. So the Supreme Court decision was very bad for our country.

Very, very bad for our country and frankly very [Inaudible] the tariffs [Inaudible] bad for our country, yes.

Mr. President, the United States in communication with the Houthis, are you telling them to stop [Inaudible]?

We have communication with the Houthis and, uh, we'll see what happens, but what they [Inaudible] very bad. Thank you very much.

You've done about, you've done about four or five. Uh, how are you feeling about things now? Are you going to adopt [Inaudible]?

Well, I think, well, I will be doing that, you know, we're waiting a little bit. And to a certain extent, and you heard me say it today, I want to give some recognition to places that have just backed me automatically, like Tennessee, and I'll be going to Ohio, which backed me, but we have very close races.

And I won, I won all of them by a lot. Uh, and I think I'm more popular with them now than I was -- you saw the CNN at 98 and 99% approval, but nobody ever puts that. But CNN did, I'll tell you what. Thank you, CNN. You know, I respect CNN from putting that up.

Can I ask you about that, Mr. President?

CNN put up a chart just saying that my approval rating is 99% and I'm the most popular Republican in the history of the country, beating Abe Lincoln by 53 to 8%. So I don't know about that, but I'm very good. What do you have?

Can I ask, can I ask you about that, Mr. President? The CNN clips that you were playing at the rally. Obviously you trust CNN enough to play those clips at the rally. Why not put them back on the plane, put them back in the Oval Office? I'm asking you that question.

Well, I just think that they were good polls. They did a poll. CNN did a poll that said that I was 99% on the Republican Party. So I think, I think it's right too, by the way. And I think almost all of the Republican Party is MAGA.

On Lisa Cook, if the committee you put together finds cause for her removal, will you fire her?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Did you talk to MbS on the plane on the way back?

No, but I will be speaking to them and, uh, what happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable.

Mr. President, on Lisa Cook, on Lisa Cook, Mr. President, on Lisa -- Mr. President.