Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters After Air Force One Arrival - November 6, 2026

We have a lot of meetings set up at Mar-a-Lago with a lot of different people having to do with Russia and having to do with other things. The economy is incredible other than we lost about $3 trillion when they found out that the Democrats did well in the election, rather surprisingly, but that's the way life goes.

Mr. President --

Had to do -- it had to do with the fact that we won't let Iran have a nuclear weapon, so you always have to go with that first. But, uh, we just had a very good meeting and we have a lot of good calls made and we're doing very well. So, uh, we're working well with Russia-Ukraine. We're making a lot of progress.

We've made a lot of progress with Iran. We're taking out more oil now than we were before the war. And you could -- it's not a war. It can't be a war when for five months nobody is hurt, killed, or anything else. It's not a war. You know, in Russia-Ukraine, they lose 25,000 people a month. We haven't lost anybody in seven months, so I don't think that's a war.

We have total control, but we're dealing with the Iranians. We'll see how that all works out.

Uh, does it --

Uh, do you have any questions?

[Crosstalk]

Mr. President, you're gonna be working with Democrats a lot over the next two years.

I'd answer it.

What is an initiative or effort led by the Democrats that you think you could get behind?

I think a lot. I mean, I said before, immigration's one, tax cuts or maybe certain things having to do with taxes to make it more convenient and better. A lot of economic development initiatives we can do. I think we can do a lot of things together, actually. You know, a lot of them are about common sense also, and I think you'll see that.

You can see already some of the people that are elected wanna meet and wanna discuss things having to do with, as an example, Texas, South Carolina, you know, et cetera. So I'm very much open to it.

Mr. President, there's people describing Stephen Miller as your wartime consigliere. Do you agree with that characterization?

Well, he's a great fighter. He's been with me right from the beginning. 2015, with -- with me from before 2016, 2015. And he's very loyal, smart. That's a great job. He's been an MVP every year. He's been this great. So we're very happy when he --

Mr. President, Mr. President.

He's gotten great reviews, I have to say.

Were you unhappy with your team because of the results of the election? You're put --

No, not because of the election. It's just time. Sometimes you change. Uh, the election wasn't my election. I wasn't on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, you saw the rallies. They were the biggest, most powerful rallies in the history of midterm elections. We were -- every arena was full. We had thousands and thousands of people outside that couldn't get in. We had to use the big televisions, Jumbotrons.

They were unbelievable. They were unbelievable rallies. Uh, but I wasn't on the ballot. I wish I was on the ballot. I think you would've had a much different outcome.

[Crosstalk]

Do you expect more, do you, do you expect more departures in the coming months?

Very little. I mean --

Mr. President --

-- we have a great, we have a great Cabinet.

Mr. President, now when you first --

Who are you with?

The Washington Times. When you first struck Ira- -- uh, Iran, rather, um, it was very popular with GOP voters, but then you eventually pulled back as far as going into negotiations. Who persuaded you to do that?

Nobody. We hit Iran very hard. We -- look, if we didn't hit Iran, you wouldn't have Israel today. Israel would be gone. It would've been wiped off the face of the earth. And, and they know it, the face of the earth. They know that. Uh, you wouldn't have, I believe, the Middle East, because if you look, Iran just with regular missiles started hitting Qatar and Saudi Arabia, UAE. Nobody thought that was gonna happen.

If they had nuclear, they would've used nuclear. Uh, they would've obliterated the Middle East. They would've gone after Europe and they would've gone, gone after some of our cities because I know them very well. I deal with them a lot and I know that they're crazy. So we'll see what happens. We're dealing with them now.

They wanna make a deal very badly. They have 300% inflation. Their navy's gone, their air force, everything's gone. And they wanna make a deal, so we'll see if they make a deal.

Mr. President, do you wanna make the deal really soon, or are you open to waiting?

Well, we have nobody getting hurt, nobody getting killed. You know, this is a war that we may have been there for seven months, but we probably fought for three or four weeks, really fought. And again, you look at World War I, that's a war. World War II, that's a war. You look at Russia, Ukraine, that's a war.

We're not fighting.

No.

We have, we have the greatest blockade in military history. Nothing comes through the Hormuz Strait without our approval. Nothing is going to Iran. No oil is going to Iran.

Mr. President, you got a couple months before the new Congress takes, uh, takes their seat. What are your priorities? What would you like to get done? What do you think you need to get done before they step in?

The Senate has to act. The Senate is getting nothing passed and it's just killing our country. And that means Democrats and Republicans are just not getting anything done. So the Democrats voted a bloc. We could have the best bill in the world for our country. They vote in a bloc and we always have a few Republicans that obstruct.

And hopefully John Thune can finally get them to act. I mean, the Senate has to act. The biggest problem we have, it's a roadblock. It's you send things to the Senate when you want it to die. So they have to get together -- Schumer and John Thune, or whoever is gonna be representing the Democrats -- they gotta have to get things done.

The Senate, the Senate is killing our country.

[Crosstalk]

Nothing is getting through the Senate.

Mr. President --

And you know what? Our voters saw that, and that's one of the problems we had. In my opinion, the biggest. The SAVE America Act didn't get passed. All of these things didn't happen. And I mean, think of it, SAVE America. It's the simplest thing in the world. So the Senate has to -- now, the Democrats voted against it unanimously.

So they voted against voter ID and proof of citizenship.

Mr. President.

That's SAVE America. And how do you do that? You do that because I guess you wanna cheat. But the Republicans should have passed it. So with John Thune, who's a good man, but he's gotta get things done.

[Crosstalk]

Do you still think he's the appropriate leader for Republicans in the Senate?

It's gonna be up to the Republicans. They choose. I don't choose. They choose.

Mr. President.

I mean, I get involved, but they, they choose. It's, it's a very strong custom and it's gonna be happening, I guess, next week.

Mr. President.

They gotta put John or whoever it is, they gotta get things done. We have many judges and many other people waiting for approval. They can't get anything done in the Senate.

Mr. President, there were reports of strikes here in Iran today in Qeshm Island. Did the U.S. do those?

About what?

Strikes near Qeshm Island in Iran. Was the U.S. involved in that?

I don't wanna talk about it. We do minor strikes, but they knocked out, they, uh, built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five.

Mr. President, how does the Republican Party now rebuild after such devastating losses?

Well, we have a great party. We had a bad election because of a few things. One thing was not getting things approved in the Senate. One thing was we had a higher, uh, oil price than we had before. Still lower than Biden and still lower than Obama. And what we did is something very significant. We ended Iran having a nuclear weapon.

They did nothing. And you know, right now the oil is coming down very rapidly. Unfortunately, when it was learned that the Democrats won that particular, uh, interim and, and, and just so the midterm election, uh, just so you understand, presidents always lose them. I don't know why. They lose them all the time.

There were a lot bigger losses than this. But when they learned about the midterms, uh, the stock w- -- stock market lost $3 trillion. That's the most in history. So in other words, the markets all over the world, when they heard that the Democrats won that election, the market dropped $3 trillion, the highest amount in history, but it'll level off and we'll do great.

[Crosstalk]

Mr. President, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House sent a letter to a lot of conservative groups warning them that the White House is monitoring their statements, their press statements, TV appearances. Why is it important for the White House to make that warning to the president?

I've never heard that. I mean, I'd like to see it. I haven't heard that. I don't know. I mean, I, maybe somebody said something, but I know nothing about it.

[Crosstalk]

Should, should the White House be monitoring them?

Who are you?

I'm with, I'm Frank Ordonez with NPR.

Oh. NPR.

In the late conversations you're having with Russia, does anything feel different this time? Is there anything you're doing?

They do want to settle then. Russia and Ukraine, for the first time, I think want to settle. We have meetings. I've had phone calls today. I'm having some tomorrow. They're having a meeting on Monday and Tuesdays, you know? But they, I think they want to settle.

[Inaudible] do you have --

I think it's going to be a very big settlement.

Is there anything you want?

I think it's going to involve all of Europe. It's going to be a very big settlement.

Is there anything that you've tried to encourage them, um, particularly you haven't done before?

Well, I do all the time. I'm friends with everybody and I do all the time. I'd like to see the killing stop. And, you know, they lost 25,000 mostly soldiers last month between the two of them, between Russia and Ukraine.

It's going to pass --

And it shouldn't happen. It's very sad. 25,000 souls. They're very sad.

You have a meeting coming up with Xi Jinping.

That, that's called the war. Not a war where you go six months and no- -- nobody's even wounded. All we are is, uh, maybe an occupier. Uh, could be an occupier.

You've been --

'Cause, you know, we do. We control the Hormuz Strait. We're taking out more oil now than we have at any time in the history of the Hormuz Strait.

You have a meeting coming up with Xi Jinping. Will you talk with him about detained Americans that are still being held --

Yeah, I do. And I do talk to him about that a lot, and we've done well. As you know, Russia just released one that we wanted very badly. And, uh, we're talking about detainees or people that they oftentimes say are spies and they put them in jail. Yeah, we talk to them about a lot. We've had the best record in history on that.

We get a lot of them back. We got one back, as you know, last week. It was a great thing.

We --

Uh, thank you very much, everybody. We'll see you during the weekend.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good night.

Thank you. Did anybody --