Hello everybody. The jet fighters will be surrounding the plain in about seven minutes. Oh, I heard they threw you out of the press conference.
They tried but Karoline stopped them.
Karoline saved you. You're lucky. You're lucky. They were a little out of control.
[Inaudible]
Very, very well, I think it's really going well, great relationships and now we're meeting that group that's fantastic. The emir is a great young man. I know them all very well.
Oh, yeah, great. Thank you.
You're going to be surrounded by eight fighters, you know, in about seven minutes. And you say, do we need them, and when they say yes, that doesn't make me feel good, right?
The threat? Did they tell you what the threat is?
No, Let's assume there's no threat. We have to assume that.
How did you find the Syrian president?
Great, right, I think very good. Young, attractive guy, tough guy. Yeah, strong pass, strong pass fighter, he's got -- he's got a real shot at pulling it together. I spoke with President Erdogan, I'm very friendly with him. He feels he's got a shot, going to give it a try. It's a torn-up country.
Do you think Syria will join the [Inaudible]?
Yeah, but I think they have to get themselves straight there. I told him I hope you're going to join when it's straightened out. He said yes, but they have a lot of work.
What about Lebanon [Inaudible] Lebanon [Inaudible]?
You know, a friend of mine is the new ambassador to Lebanon, and I didn't even know. And I never knew his relationship, but he was born in Lebanon. And he said I'd like to be the ambassador for success of God. And I said, you know that's very dangerous. He said, I don't care, I love my country and it's worth it to do. So, [Inaudible] you may want to go [Inaudible] if you had some [Inaudible] great guy.
But he's approved or almost approved. But you know there's a danger there for a very successful man to go and do that. I said are you sure you know what you're doing. It's like Doug taking pictures, right? So, you got some good shots, I guess, just a beautiful seat. The last seat at the airport I thought was beautiful, we rode out together.
They generally don't do that. They don't generally meet presidents.
There had been some reports of the Syrian president wanting a Trump Tower in Damascus. Did that come up at all in your --
No, with that I have to -- we'll have to wait a little while until things calm down a little while with the country. I think he's going to do -- he's got the potential to be a real leader. You know, he led the charge and he's amazing. But did you see him? Did you get to see him?
No.
No. He's there. You know, he was with us at the event.
Did the PGA tour or LIV Golf come up at all in your conversations with the Crown Prince?
No, No. You mean [Inaudible]
Yeah.
No, it didn't, we didn't [Inaudible]
What about that Saudi -- The Saudi intelligence agent, the 9/11 family on [Inaudible] intelligence agents being extradited to the United States to be charged with that.
Yeah, I did.
Did that come up in conversations?
No, it didn't. But I know all about it.
On Israel, you're not going to Israel. Does this [Inaudible]
No, we didn't discuss it.
The Saudi intelligence agent, the 9/11 families want the Saudi intelligence agent to be extradited to the United States to face charges for 9/11. Did that come up in conversation, no?
But I know all about it, but it didn't come up.
On Israel, you're not going to Israel. Does this trip sideline Israel at all?
No, not at all. No, this is good for Israel. Having a relationship like I have with these countries, Middle Eastern countries, essentially all of them -- well, I think it's very good for Israel.
Can I ask you again on Israel, on the hostage deal, did any of your people speak with Israel about the release of the American hostage -- I'm sorry, on the sanctions lifting of Syria. Let me ask [Inaudible] first. What credit does Israel deserve, if any, for that release of the hostage?
Well, they've been fighting a long time. They've been -- you know, they're warring, and I think they deserve a lot of credit. I think my people deserve a lot of credit, maybe the most credit. Look, he wouldn't be there. If it weren't for us, he wouldn't be living right now. Probably none of the hostages would be living right now.
We probably have 20 that are living that we'll be getting out step by step. A lot of progress. You know, we've gotten a lot of them out. At last time, a couple of weeks ago, 10 people walked into my office, the Oval Office, and they said they had a 59 on their shirt, on their front. And I said what does that represent?
The number of hostages. I said, wow, that's a lot. They said, well, 24 are living and now it's 20. The number is 20 are living, four have died. And they're young people. Young people don't die. You know, young people are killed, they don't die. So, the 24 living of the 59, the 24 living is now down to 20 and we got Edan out.
It's great. His family was so thankful. We did a good job with that. We'll continue to do it.
One comment on Thursday. If President Putin doesn't show up in Turkey for the talks with Ukraine, what will you do?
Well, I don't know if he's showing up. I know he would like me to be there and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that. Now tomorrow we're all booked out. You understand that. We're all set.
But you'd go if he goes?
You will heed tomorrow and so we have a very full situation. Now that doesn't mean I wouldn't do it to save a lot of lives and come back. But, yeah, I think they're thinking about something. I don't know that he would be there if I'm not there, we're going to find out. Marco's going and Marco's been very effective.
How are you feeling about how Putin is handling this? I know you had said a few weeks ago you thought maybe --
How who?
How Putin is handling this. You said a few weeks ago you thought maybe he was tapping you along.
I'll let you know in a week. I'll let you know in a few days.
Mr. President, on Israel again, has any of your team been in touch with Israel? Are you, your team, about lifting the sanctions on Syria. What's their reaction?
Well in touch, I mean we told them we're doing it. The reason I did it, and I think it's been very popular actually, certainly in the Middle East, it's been popular with virtually everybody. But the reason I did it is because I spoke with President Erdogan, who I get along with very well, and I spoke to Mohammed, as you know, is with him.
And they thought it was very important to do. It gives them a much better chance of survival as a country.
[Inaudible] you think Netanyahu thinks about it?
Well, I think what's happened is Turkey feels we should do it, other countries -- if you looked at my speech last night, which I assume most of you were at, I think the biggest applause was when I said that we're lifting the sanctions on Syria. And that's because they want to give Syria a chance to live and to be great, you know, etc.
Mr. President, an Emirati government backed firm did a $2 billion deal. An Emirati government backed firm did a $2 billion deal using the Trump digital coins. How did that come about?
I don't know anything about it. I really don't know anything about it. But I'm a big crypto fan, I will tell you, I've been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I'm a believer in crypto and if we're not going to do it China's going to do, it's the way I look at it. It's like AI. I'm a believer in AI because we have to have it. We're leading China by a lot.
And in crypto, we're leading China by a lot. So, I'm a big crypto fan.
Senator Schumer said he wants to block your Justice Department political appointees until he gets answers about questions --
[Crosstalk]
Schumer is -- you know, he's become a Palestinian, something wrong with him. I don't know. I've known him a long time and there's something wrong. He's lost his confidence totally and there's just something wrong with him. I don't know what it is with Schumer. Yeah, did you have a question, go ahead.
Oh, I've got two questions on Iran and Russia. Are you still considering secondary sanctions on Iran's oil exports?
Let's see what happens over the next week. I don't really want to answer it because I want to see what happens over the next week. Go ahead.
And then on Iran and Russia, are you considering sanctions on Russia for supporting Iran and for the continued war in Ukraine?
Well, again, I don't want to talk about it, but I'm always considering the secondary sanctions. I had the secondary sanctions on Iran and drove them into bankruptcy and there would have been no October 7th. There would have been no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or anybody else. So, I'm always -- and as you know, I put secondary sanctions on Iran again.
And hopefully they're going to make the right decision because something's going to happen one way or the other. It's very simple, it's going to happen one way or the other. They can't have a nuclear weapon. So, we'll either do it friendly or we'll do it very unfriendly and that won't be pleasant. Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you, Mr. President.