Do you have them the way you like them? Huh? Nice to see you. OK, thank you very much, everybody, appreciate it. This is so big and so important, and there's never been anything like it. So, we have a thing that we're going to be doing. JD and the Untouchables behind me are -- they've done an incredible job.
They've sought out and found tremendous amounts of fraud in various states and it's nothing by comparison to what they're looking at. They have things happening that are seriously big numbers. But we're going to be offering incentives to people for reporting it, and we'll cover that in a second. I just want to say that from day one of my administration, we've waged an unprecedented war on corruption and fraud, and will not let our country be looted and plundered by thieves and pirates and foreign fraudsters and basically scum.
Today, I'm pleased to welcome to the White House somebody that I've been hearing about, met quickly, but I tell you, I'd give him a big hug today. He's done an amazing job -- Nick Shirley. So, thank you very much. What a job you've done as a young guy, a very young guy. He got it very early. And it's too bad that you had to ruin your youth to find that such bad people exist.
But welcome to the world. I also want to thank the head of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, Vice President JD Vance, who's been amazing. He's done a fantastic job along with FTC Chairman, Task Force Vice Chair Andrew Ferguson. Great job, Andrew, proud of you. Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz. Thank you, Oz. and Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller -- Stephen.
As many of you know, Nick has been at the forefront of the battle to stop the horrible plague that's happened within our country. And there's never been anything like it, what's happened, and look, it's been going on for a long time. But in the Biden administration, it was sick. Nick used his popular YouTube channel to reveal that the Somali community -- the lovely community from Somalia, lovely country -- in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was stealing billions and billions of dollars, taxpayer money, through fraudulent childcare centers and other scams, including the infamous Quality Learing Centers, the learing -- remember the learing?
They meant learning, but they weren't able to spell it right. They were teaching people, but they couldn't spell the name, the learing center. And did you notice that? I mean, is that -- did that get your attention when you saw learing?
Yeah, I couldn't believe it when I saw it.
It was the beginning.
It was the beginning.
That was not a good -- that was not good for them when they put that sign up. Partially as a result of Nick's work, since I took office, 115 Minnesota fraudsters have been arrested and charged. And by the way, the governor is 100 percent guilty. He's 100 percent guilty, he's a fraud, he's a thief, he's a crook, and he's getting away.
By just getting out of office he's getting away. But maybe they have -- he knew everything that was happening. And the attorney general, that guy is a total thief. And it's a shame that they can just go and retire because he knew what was happening. I'm sure he's very, very happy monetarily. But the governor, he's a crooked guy, because nobody can be that that lucky to -- I mean, when you look at all of that money, and he knew nothing about it, all of the billions and billions of dollars that everybody was scamming, they all knew.
That little, little Congresswoman, lovely little woman she is, she knew, they all knew. They're all scammers and thieves and so bad for our country. But 75 have been convicted and over 2,700 subpoenas have been issued. And by the way, your lieutenant governor knew all about it. I saw her the other night -- oh, I didn't know the governor knew.
She didn't know anything. She knew nothing. If she knew so little, she shouldn't be governor. They should elect a very talented Republican who happens to be running. But the lieutenant governor knew everything, and she's a liar. Similar scams have been uncovered in Maine, in California, and many other mostly Democrat run states.
And it's in Republican areas, too, but it seems to be tremendously less. But these -- I mean, California is a disaster, Minnesota, Maine -- it's hard to believe. It's so bad it's like nobody can believe the level. It's sort of like JD said it to me, it's shooting fish in a barrel. There's so much it's -- they had no idea.
And they had no idea it could be so thick. Nick's work to stop taxpayers from being ripped off is a direct threat to the radical left's effort to turn America into a third world country ruled by people who hate America. No, it's a scam, it's a giant scam. That's why California recently passed the Stop Nick Shirley Act, an outrageous attempt to crush free speech and to stop the corruption from being exposed.
So, today, I'm thrilled to announce the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program -- Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program. And mark those words; independent journalists and everybody and all Americans will now be able to go to the fraud.gov and report cases of corruption and theft of taxpayer dollars in their communities, all via a new website created by Joe Gebbia, who is fantastic, by the way, and the team at the National Design Studio.
Everything Joe's done has been a big success for us. So, here's what we're going to be doing. Anybody that can prove that he turned somebody in -- in other words, he or she -- if you turn somebody in and you, let's say, report and you find $1 billion, we are giving a commission to that person of 1 percent.
It's a lot of money. And if it's $10 billion, $200 billion, $400 billion, we're giving a 1 percent commission to that person. You have to prove that you were the one and prove that it was you. And I don't know if you can do this, but subject to the laws of our nation, which I feel very strongly about, if a reporter turns somebody in, you have to get approval, perhaps from your wonderful newspaper.
But if you turn somebody in, you get a 1 percent commission. You may turn it down, or you may say, I'm not going to be a reporter any longer, this is too easy. So, if the reporter turns somebody in we're going to continue the same 1 percent. So, if somebody turns somebody in for $1 million, but $1 million is very small potatoes, you get a 1 percent commission subject to the rules of the nation, subject to all of the things.
And we're going to let the reporters, for the first time in many cases in your lives, you've done a good job, some are very professional journalists, but it's not a very profitable thing to do, but it's a very important thing to do. Very few things are more important than good journalism. But we're going to, if they're allowed to do it, if you can get approval from your media outlet, whoever that may be, we're going to let the reporters partake because, you know a lot of things that are happening, maybe in many cases more than most others.
So, I'm going to add into that group of people, reporters. So, if anybody turns anybody in, $1 billion, $5 billion, $100 billion, you get a 1 percent commission. And I think that will be amazing because the kind of money that's been stolen is trillions from this country by crooked politicians that made things and set things up, crooked attorney generals like we have in New York, like we have in Minnesota, like we have -- I can name all of them.
I can name all of them pretty much. This new incentive program will help expand the anti-fraud and corruption efforts of JD and his people. And they really are, they are amazing people, smart. It's incredible, without any incentive, the kind of money that they've already found, billions and billions of dollars and save American taxpayers, it'll save trillions, I believe trillions.
So, since I came into office, we've already uncovered $260 billion of fraud and that's peanuts compared to what the real number is. And by the -- and when we talk, we're talking about -- Oz, we're talking about Medicare, Medicaid, all of the things that that you've uncovered so far. And he's discovered billions, but that's a tiny fraction of what the real number is. And I think with this incentive, people are going to say, wow, it's going to keep a lot of people honest, I can tell you that.
So, it's amazing. We've removed the names of 160,000 dead people from the list of food stamp recipients. These are people that died, some of them were quite old, actually, well over 100, many, many over 100. We kicked 275,000 illegal aliens off of Social Security. And Frank has been amazing in Social Security, JD, I think.
Yep.
He's been fantastic, whatever he does. And eliminated $125 billion in Obamacare subsidies, which is a totally corrupt form of health care. For foreign migrants, we uncovered 562,000 fraudulent small business loans. Think of it, not $562,000 -- 562,000 fraudulent loans. And we cut off funding to hundreds of fake hospice facilities that stole an estimated $1.4 billion, and that number you can probably multiply times 100. So, now I'm going to ask JD to speak, JD Vance to speak.
He's done a fantastic job as our vice president and now, he's -- he's really into this because he sees what -- and you know, he sees what's happened, how sick it is. But the American public is not going to stand for it. So, JD is going to be followed by Andrew Ferguson, Dr. Oz and Nick Shirley. I just want to say that it's such an honor to do this.
And all of those people that are willing to do the right thing and turn people in that they know -- where there's been something that happened that they know all about -- they're going to become rich. When you get 1 percent of $1 billion, 1 percent of $100 billion, it's going to be a tremendous amount of money.
It's the largest commission ever paid, probably for anything, anywhere, because the numbers you're talking about are in the trillions. So, JD, I'd like you to start and then the other group. I don't think I have to repeat the names, they're very well known, but they're going to go. And JD is -- we're very proud, very proud of the fact that they found a lot.
But that's peanuts compared to what we're going to find with this incentive or commission. Thank you very much. JD, go ahead.
Well, thank you, Mr. President. And just to give people some background to this, I actually came out of a conversation that I was having with the president. We were talking about the scale of fraud, and we were talking about ideas for how to enlist our fellow citizens to help us do the work of fighting the fraud.
And the president said, well, do a commission, do an incentive program. Actually reward people when they help save the country but also save the American taxpayer a lot of money, then they should get to share in the benefits that they've created. And I think it's an incredible testament to the president's direct involvement to that in this entire program.
Which brings me to my second point -- a lot of people have asked me, why is the president's directive -- why is the president's involvement in this so important? And I think Andrew Ferguson and I have learned day to day that, without actual coordination across the various arms of government, this work would not be possible.
The fact that the president has empowered us, but also told all of the cabinet secretaries to do the work they need to do in order to coordinate, because sometimes the fraud will touch seven different departments simultaneously, and you actually need presidential led directive in order to fight that fraud simultaneously.
So, Mr. President, thank you. I do enjoy this work, I do think it's fun, I think it's most of all important for the American people. But it would not be possible if the president hadn't empowered his senior team to make it possible. And the final thing that I'll say here is we're actually thrilled to be joined by Nick Shirley, who, as the president said, has done more than anybody that I've met recently as a citizen journalist to uncover the fraud.
Nick is going to get a financial reward for doing so. I know that's not why he did it. But to Americans across the country, your tax dollars are being stolen, and your tax dollars are being stolen from programs that help feed the needy, that help ensure that a young mom who can't afford a doctor can get access to a doctor for her kids.
It steals from the very social fabric of the United States of America. The president has said it must stop, it is stopping, and if you want to help us stop it, you get to share in the rewards now, thanks to what the president of the United States has done. So, thank you, sir, and thanks to our amazing team for making it possible.
Thank you very much, JD. And just before we go, I was just thinking, when you do these things, sometimes there's a dispute as to who turned them in and who didn't turn them in and who's supposed to get what and when and, you know, it was somebody else gave it. And so, I am going to do something which I think people will like.
I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions. In other words, I'll determine whether or not the person is deserving, and I'll determine -- and I will be very generous, believe me. We're not looking to save on that. But you know, you could have disputes where you have three people come in and they say I'm going to make it -- we're going to make it like a binding arbitration.
I'll make the determination, I will be -- I promise you, I'll be fair. And I'm not doing it for any other reasons other than to expedite, because I think it's very important. But it will be a binding arbitration. You'll get your money immediately, but I'll make the determination. So, if two people are fighting over it, maybe they'll split it or maybe whatever.
But I'll make that determination. It'll be done expeditiously and fairly, and we won't have long lines waiting or court cases or anything else. We'll have a binding arbitration. Does that sound good to you guys?
Yes, sir.
Does everybody trust me to do it? I promise there's nothing in this for me. That's only -- and I would like to have that handsome group of people come up here with us, is that all right? All you guys, come on up here.
This is the fraud task force, or -- they're doing an amazing job.
They've done so great. Come on up here, fellas. Look at them, young, handsome people. I've always hated young, handsome people. [Laughter] I've never liked them. Come on up. You got it? These people are outstanding. Please.
Thank you, Mr. President. A lot of journalists in the room today. Everyone knew about the Quality Learing Center. They were cited hundreds of times over the course of a couple years. No one reported it. None of your outlets reported it. It took one brave kid and a camera to make everyone aware of this, and it launched a revolution.
And President Trump did what only President Trump could have, which is turned the entire federal government, coming up with new ways to stop this fraud everywhere in the federal government. This whistleblower incentive program is one example, but it's not all. He created the task force. He put the vice president in charge to sit above the entire rest of the government and direct the government's actions on this.
We created the National Fraud Division at DOJ, led by Colin McDonald, who's done a wonderful job. They've already been getting huge results for the American people. Just yesterday they filed to seize half a city block in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with property that had been obtained with SNAP dollars that should have gone to hungry Minnesotans and was instead used to buy, illegally and fraudulently, property in Minneapolis.
DOJ, led by Todd Blanche, Colin McDonald, Trent McCotter have been going after these fraudsters night and day. Kash Patel has been chasing them to every corner of the globe. You can run, you can't hide. We're going to get you. And President Trump has proposed two super important pieces of legislation. The first one is mandatory minimums for everyone who commits benefits fraud.
Right now, judges are routinely giving slaps on the wrist to people who commit what they consider low level fraud. That can't continue. If you steal from the American people you should go to jail, and it shouldn't be up to a district judge to decide whether the fraud is bad enough. President Trump has proposed that Congress pass mandatory minimums today so that everyone who commits fraud that the DOJ finds goes to jail.
And the second thing is for state officials who knew about fraud in their states, like in Minnesota, and did nothing, they ought to face liability for this. It can't be that they can preside over the wanton theft from their citizens, the destruction of these important benefits programs going to fraudsters rather than to needy people.
So, President Trump has also proposed that Congress pass a law that imposes civil liability on state officials who fail to stop fraud that they could have stopped. This is revolutionary, just like the fraud task force. It would supercharge our fraud experts, and I think it is a brilliant move.
And by the way, Congressional Democrats have fought that every step of the way, and Congressional Republicans have supported it. So, remember that in a couple of weeks.
You would say how can you fight that?
Yes, sir.
What's to fight? Oz, please go ahead.
Mr. President and Vice President, thanks to the anti-fraud task force, we've broken down all the silos, which has helped CMS, Medicare and Medicaid a lot, because oftentimes the ability to pursue cases depends on our ability to get DOJ involved, but also our ability to get Treasury involved to follow where the money's hiding.
It's not just the criminal in front of you that Nick saw. It's also the people behind them who are making the big dollars. And what we have found is our biggest allies actually are people in those businesses who know that wrong is being done. They know where the red flags are. They can point them out to us. And that actually leads us directly on a trail to success with the many different fraudsters we've been able to take out.
Now, the devastating blow to fraud that is being levered right now into even bigger actions is not done yet. We have at least two more years of hard work to do on this. But Nick, thanks to you and other citizen journalists, advocates, folks who are willing to step out and make it -- make some news happen that allows us to understand what people on the ground are saying, we're tipped off to big problems.
Take Minnesota as an example. And I'll just pick one case because I think it's a good reflection of the real damage of fraud. Mr. President, fraud doesn't just steal our money. Fraud steals people's lives, and it also steals our trust as a nation. And that is devastating to any country. So, when Nick showed us that, for example, autism services, which was supposed to be $1 billion, had now gotten to be $400 billion, and the reason was that people were getting bribed.
Moms were getting bribed $1,500 a kid to lie that their child had autism. That has two problems. One, the kid now falsely has a diagnosis that's not right, which saddles them with an unfortunate future. And you also have moms who need the help for their kids who have autism to not be able to afford it. So, let's fast forward what this meant.
We -- after hearing Nick's work and pursuing it as well, starting at the end of last year we were able to identify that about a third of all the providers in the 14 high risk areas in Minnesota were not validatable. They weren't legitimately able to produce the results that you would want to give to a patient.
1 in 3 shouldn't have been doing that job. We are now pursuing dozens of cases against those folks, including criminal investigations. We also deferred a half a billion dollars so far from Minnesota in those 14 categories, because we don't think they can justify those expenses. And Mr. President, that teaches people that they actually have to send real bills and they can't make them up.
Right.
Now, fraud in Minnesota rhymes with fraud in California, where Nick went next. And in California, the new -- the Stopping Shirley Act has been passed, but we think it's going to fail. Because -- I'll make this announcement today on behalf of Secretary Kennedy, Health and Human Services, that we are going to defer $1.2 billion more from California today.
They just got the note, and we're doing that because the growth of personal care services in California, just that one little area, where you're paying someone to carry groceries upstairs for your mom -- which many of you would carry groceries upstairs for your mom for free, I would think. But in California, they'll pay you a lot of money for it, and it's actually run by the counties.
But California has been growing that program 24% in the last three years. That is twice the rate of every other state average in the country. Impossible for us to understand how that could be so, so we're taking major action in California. Again, $1.2 billion deferred in their Medicaid payments directed to personal care services.
And Nick, you and I went to Queens, New York, earlier this year. Nick has a unique ability, Mr. President, to walk into a room and ask piercing questions undaunted by people's inability to answer things like why are we paying you to play mahjong in a -- in a senior center? Isn't that something you, again, would do for free?
Where I was in New York this morning, same places that we went, it was the largest enforcement action of its kind. You'll hear much more about it later this week. But task force is going on all cylinders. And I'll speak as a representative of Secretary Kennedy and Health. We can't do it without the task force, Mr. President.
And JD, what you have been able to do, and the rest of the team, is unbelievable. It is remarkable when you get Andrew and Colin and others, Stephen, in the room and actually push for one single solution. All of a sudden, the -- the usual walls between the solid institutions and government break down and we make change happen.
We just need a little more time, sir, to get it done.
Great. Great job. Thank you, Oz, always. Nick, please.
Yeah. First off, it's such an honor to be here. And I want people to think about what is happening right now.
Very cool place.
Very cool place -- [Laughter] The Oval Office. Me as a 24 year old, I went out and exposed the fraud. I just was concerned about the well-being of our tax dollars. And right now, I'm standing next to the president of the United States as now people who expose fraud. There's never been incentive for anyone to ever expose fraud.
In fact, when I expose fraud, instead of the mainstream media investigating the fraud, they investigated me. And people actually, in fact, wanted to kill me after I exposed the fraud because there's actually -- there --
Were you surprised by that, Nick?
I was very surprised.
They went after you instead of the frauds.
They called the Learing Center --
I'm not surprised they called them.
And asked the Learing Center if they were committing fraud.
Yeah.
That was the extent of their reporting. And -- but now finally, people have an incentive to actually go out, expose fraud. And when you expose fraud, you help save America. People understand that. These fraudsters take from the poor and needy who actually need the services that we all work hard to pay for.
And we take that, and they then buy Mercedes. They then send that money overseas. But now, for the first time ever, there'll be an incentive for people to actually go out and make that change inside their own community. So, I hope by today, millions of people are empowered inside of the United States to go out and actually make a change inside of your own community.
And you'll actually be rewarded for saving America money. When you save -- when you expose fraud, you help save America.
Great.
So proud of you.
Thank you.
Thank you. How about you two guys say something? Two stars, two of our big stars.
I'll let you go first, Colin, on that.
Go ahead, Colin.
Well, Mr. President, there is upwards of $800 billion of taxpayer money that is stolen by fraudsters, many of whom are nameless fraudsters from even overseas locations who have targeted the American Taxpayer Benefit program as the softest target for fraud. This is a first order crisis. That amount of money could pay the entire budget of the $110,000 DOJ workforce 13 times over.
If fraud were its own department, it would be one of the most expensive departments in the entire federal government. This is something that we have to stop. And the team that you've assembled --
Well, it -- it could also balance the budget. These are the numbers you're talking. A little bit more than that, you balance the budget.
Correct, Mr. President. So, we -- your -- the team that you have assembled is laser focused on saving the money of the American taxpayer, including using innovative tools like the one that you've announced today. And as Mr. Ferguson -- Ferguson said, today we have filed a complaint in Minnesota seeking to seize half a block of property that was funded by fraud proceeds meant to serve our hungry children in Minnesota.
It instead went to the fraudsters to buy property. We are on the ground in Minnesota. We have filed a civil forfeiture complaint to take back that property for the American people.
Thank you. Great job you're doing appreciate it. Really great. Steve?
Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you to the esteemed and distinguished members of the task force. Mainly, I just want to say thank you, Mr. President, because this only happens because of you. You're the only reason we're here today. You're the only reason that we've already recovered $0.25 trillion on our way to $1 trillion.
And who knows from $1 trillion where we get to. As the president says, it's enough to balance the budget. The main thing I want the American people to know is that, if you're a middle-class taxpayer in this country, before President Trump came along, you spent half your working life paying for fraudsters and scammers, many of whom are refugees, illegal aliens, and foreigners who came to this country to loot and plunder us. So, think about that.
Before President Trump came along, you went to work every day, you worked in an office or a construction site, or as an electrician or as an accountant, whatever your career was, and you worked every single day to provide for yourself, your family, your loved ones, to send your tax dollars to the state of California, to the federal government to do what?
To pay for people that are robbing us blind, that are looting us, pillaging us, plundering us. People like Nick exposed, they came here from Somalia, been living here for a year or two, they say, I'm going to open up a fake daycare. I'll tell Keith Ellison, I'll tell Governor Walz, I'm taking care of 200 kids.
Send me a check for $30 million. What do they do? They buy a Mercedes, they buy BMWs, they buy a mansion, they buy a nice house, all their kids fly first class all over the world. They are living the high life while you, the American citizen who's worked your entire life and done it the right way, you paid every parking ticket you ever had, are funding that lifestyle.
That's what the Democrat Party did to you. And their plan is they want to bring in another 10, 20, 30 million more people to loot you and rob you and take everything you have. President Trump is the one leader in American history who stood up and said this isn't going to happen anymore, we're going to protect our taxpayers, we're going to protect our citizens.
The looting will stop, the pillaging will stop, the robbing will stop and it's actually happening. And I, as a citizen -- not just as a staffer, but as a citizen -- am endlessly grateful to this president for having the courage to do what no American president has ever done before. Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much, Steve. Are you guys all set over here? Anybody want to say -- young, brilliant people? Anybody want to say anything? You don't have to. All right. I think you're doing the right thing. Tour boss would be very angry -- [Laughter] All right, any questions?
Yeah, on fraud, could the amount of fraud that you have saved or are saving the American people, as well as the government waste you're cutting, could that make a difference with the deficit next year?
Absolutely, a tremendous difference. Yeah, we're looking at it very closely, the deficit. And you know, I'm cutting back the deficit with these countries where we do business and we have deficits with almost everybody -- Canada, $90 billion; Mexico, $175 billion; European Union, $225 billion. We're cutting them way back to the old days.
But you know what the old days were, about like 30 years ago, OK, a long time ago. No, we're getting back to basics. This country is doing so well now it's amazing. But this is a big impact. And I think it's a big psychological -- not only money, it's a big psychological -- it's a corrupt -- many countries are corrupt.
But this is just such a big part of the country is corrupt. We need borders, we need good elections, we need great journalists and we have to stop the tremendous fraud that's been going on. A lot of what we want to do, and JD is working on this with pretty much the group behind me and then some. We have Russ Vought.
We're going to be very, very strong on the budget this year and what we're doing with respect to the budget. I think you're going to see some things that are going to be very impressive, because we're taking in more money. The growth of the country is enormous, which other countries don't have. We have great growth because of the $22.2 trillion coming in. We have tremendous growth; we have factories and plants going up at a level that we've never seen before.
But we're going to have -- we're going to be doing some very good things.
[Crosstalk]
On France a little bit, with France, you've seen the economic conditions in France at the moment. You've seen what -- the pictures coming from France at the moment. How concerned are you that the socialist agenda will bring some of those same financial difficulties to the United States?
Well, we've done a couple of things different. Number one, I mentioned the word growth. We have more growth -- we will have at the end of this year within the next little while, it's already happening very substantially -- we have more growth than this country has ever had, and we have more growth than any country in the world is having right now.
France has no growth; France is growing the other way, and that's because its social programs are brutal. And no matter what you do, I mean, it's not enough. But I still say, and I say it, and some people think it's a little controversial, I don't care -- it's an immigration problem. You had people that poured into France and they were also unchecked, unvetted like with Biden, what he was doing.
We don't do that. We got many of them out and we're getting many more out. We got the bad one, the worst of the worst. We got, I would say, a large percentage of them out. We have some that we're hunting down. But we have tremendous growth and we have closed borders. So, for 17 months, not one person has come into our country illegally.
Think of it, not one. And the people that do that list are, you know, they call them leaning left. You know what leaning left means? If they had somebody, they'd love to be able to say it. We haven't had one person in the last 17 months come into our country illegally. In the case of France and all of Europe, you saw what happened in Spain where they bum rushed Spain.
They came in by the tens of thousands; all just poured right into Spain and Spain's not doing anything about it. They just said they got in. They came from all parts of the world and from very, very troubled countries. Europe has to change its ways. Yeah. You know, when I -- when I go to North, when I go to North Carolina -- wait, wait, wait -- when I go to North Carolina today, I'm going to be speaking about it. But Europe has to change its ways or you're not going to have Europe left.
Yeah, go ahead.
[Crosstalk]
Are you going to endorse the French --
Can you hold it, please? You'll come? Just relax.
I'm not sure you're -- [Inaudible]
Go ahead, please.
Given the riots in France, are you planning to endorse Marine Le Pen for the presidential election next year.
Well, I don't know her, I haven't met her, but I thought she was badly treated and it looked like a weaponization to me when they did what they did. It would look to me like, you know, she was leading, but after this, she's definitely -- she's the conservative voice. I can tell you this, in South America, who is all leaning big left, it's all right now.
South America is becoming a whole different place and it's thriving, it's thriving. And as you know, I endorsed many of those people. Every single one that I endorsed won, including the new president of Colombia, who's great, El Tigre. You know, they call him El Tigre for a reason, right? Because he's tough, he's a tough guy.
But he was always big for Trump and I didn't know him, but I liked him. When people like me, I like them just typically, so that makes me different. But if you look at what's going on in South America, people wouldn't believe it. In a short period of time, they are becoming extremely conservative in a very positive way -- in many ways.
Yeah, please.
[Crosstalk]
You said the US could leave Europe if this type of violence continues, what would that look like?
Say it again.
You said the US could leave Europe if the violence persisted.
Leave it, yeah, leave it. Well, I mean, Europe has to straighten out their act. So, I called the various countries in Europe and, as you know, we're doing very well with Iran. We just have to make a final decision of which way do we want to win? Do we want to win the nice way or the not nice way? But we're doing very well, we don't need any help.
But I was testing them. I just called individual presidents and prime ministers to ask would they like to help us? And they said no. I said, well, that's not nice. You know, we spend hundreds of billions a year on NATO and they said, no. But they were nice enough to give us Greenland, despite all the bad talk.
Oh, he's not going to get it. We got it; we got Greenland. And it's a great relationship we have with, frankly, Europe but they have to straighten out their act, otherwise there won't be a Europe left. There'll be nothing to be friendly with. If you look at what's going on in France -- I've been doing this stuff for a long time and I've been watching other countries for a long time.
I have never seen anything like that. That wasn't a little bit of a riot; that wasn't a little bit of a protest. That was a full-on revolution and it continues, and it continues. So, you know, we want to be helpful, we want to be with them and all, but you're not going to have a Europe pretty soon if they keep going.
And it's mostly immigrants, there are other. You know, JD wrote a great post on it recently, but he would say the same thing. I would have said it whether I looked or not. I mean, it's very much of an immigration problem. You have people coming into countries that don't like the countries. Somebody said it very well.
I said it very well. They don't like the buildings. They don't like the art. They don't like anything about the country, and they don't like the people. They have no reason not to do what they did in France. And I told President Macron, who's a friend of mine -- I have known him right from the beginning.
Right after I got elected the first time, I got to meet him. I liked him. I still like him. But I said if you don't stop the immigration problem, you're not going to have a country left. And I said that to Germany and I said it to the UK. I mean, you take a look at the UK. They have a mayor in London who's horrible.
I mean, he's just absolutely horrible. And so bad what's happened to London, what's happened to Paris, if they don't stop it and remove people. Now, I'm not just talking about some -- you gotta remove people, get them the hell out, or they're not going to have a -- they're not going to have a European Union.
They're not going to have anything. And I like the people. They're friends of mine. I guess indirectly or directly, that's where I came from, right? Some of us come from that part, that neck of the woods. But they better get moving because they don't have much time. When you look at France -- and it happened in Italy too, smaller scale, but it's right there.
It's simmering. If you don't get that out and the -- you're going to have to remove the people. You're going to have to remove those people that are insurrectionists. You're going to have to get them out of the country. You can't just say, oh, we won't take any more. And they continue to take -- I mean, again, take a look at Spain.
Just a couple of weeks ago, 100 and some odd thousand people in -- in just a matter of minutes rushed into the country. They don't do anything about it. I don't know where they're living. I don't know. It's a crazy situation going on. So, we have now a border that's as strong as we've ever had by far. It's been that way since the very beginning of my second term, or third term depending on the way you want to define it. And I just don't want the results of this.
I'd like a third term, but I don't want the results of the second term. But this is a -- this has been -- an amazing thing has happened to it. We have -- we have the strongest border we've ever had. We have the single greatest moment in the history of our country in terms of the economy, meaning the big economy, meaning the trillions and trillions of dollars that's building plants and factories all over our country.
We're just -- Toyota just announced they're coming in with a massive car plant. You know, we had a period of 49 years where we lost many car plants but not one was built. And now we're building more car plants than we've ever built before. We're leading China in SI, super intelligence. We're leading them.
We're leading everybody. We're leading the world in just about everything. And, you know, I call it the golden age. It's the golden age of America. It's a pretty amazing time. Yeah.
Sir? Mr. President?
[Crosstalk]
You're offering 10 percent to whistleblowers for turning in what you're describing as fraud.
One percent.
One percent? Ok, that's actually worse. The False Claims Act, which has been on the books since 1863, whistleblowers can get between 10 and 25 percent.
Well, this is all --
Through --
Yeah.
10 lawsuits. Why would someone who has evidence of genuine fraud go to your task force?
Because it's a lot of money. And because when they did that, that's a certain type of crime. But nobody ever thought that you could have stolen $2 trillion or whatever the ultimate number is going to be. And at 1 percent, people will make millions and millions of dollars for turning in what actually is a somewhat routine crime of -- you know, of -- of millions, of millions.
But you --
But we're talking about -- we're talking about billions, and actually probably trillions of dollars.
But this is about --
Mr. President?
Sir -- ok. Ok. First of all, I think that's a fundamentally dishonest question, because over 99 percent of the fraud that we're finding in the federal government isn't covered by the False Claims Act. What the president is saying is he wants all fraud to be the sort of thing where, if you find it, if you uncover it, you find evidence and allow us to undo the money, you should be able to benefit, not just the very narrow slice that's covered by the False Claims Act.
Who are you with?
[Inaudible] timeline, and can you --
Who are you with?
The Independent.
Who?
The Independent, sir.
Oh.
Mr. President? Mr. President?
[Crosstalk]
Sir, sir, on Ukraine, do you believe --
We're -- no, no. --
That this process --
Wait. Wait.
Do you believe that --
Wait. Go ahead.
Yeah. Can I just ask you about Trump accounts? Could Trump accounts expand to adults? We've heard some --
Well, we haven't thought of it. We're looking at something as an alternative. But Trump accounts has been one of the greatest things, one of the most successful things people have seen ever in government. And I want to thank Elon Musk. You saw what he was doing. He's -- one share to each child, and it's also going through, as you know, Trump accounts.
And we have close to 80 million recipients, and that's going up rapidly. A lot of big companies are coming in. They're coming in with people. Some people are taking -- one person's going to take an entire state. A very rich person is going to take a very good and very large actual state. It's been amazing.
We are looking at something different because it really is somewhat of a different thing having to do with adults yes.
Mr. President?
[Crosstalk]
[Inaudible] on Ukraine, sir, after today's talks in Oslo, do you believe the peace process is back on track? And what are your expectations when your special envoy, Steve Witkoff, heads to Russia tomorrow?
Well, I think what's happening is that Russia would like to get it done. I think that -- and, you know, Russia's a big machine. They just keep grinding forward, and that's what they've done. They've taken a very large piece of land. And, you know, you can say that Ukraine is doing well or poorly, but the land gets bigger and bigger all the time, week by week.
It's just a march forward. They just keep marching forward. They have an unlimited supply of people, whereas Ukraine, as you know, is -- there's a woman who's I guess not exactly a very beautiful woman, nice woman, and she was on television recently talking about the fact that our men are gone. She's a Ukrainian woman.
Our men are gone. They're lost. They're dead. They're in mental institutions. They're walking around, they have no arms. They have no legs in many cases. They've been hurt so badly. They've been just decimated. And it was very poignant. When I heard this, I said, boy, that's some statement. And she said Russia's a very big country.
They can lose a lot of people in a war, and they have lost a lot of people. They lost 50 million people in the Second World War. They lose a lot of people, but they're very big. And she said they have to settle this war. Look, Ukraine has lost a lot of people. Russia has lost a lot of people. Russia, though, is a giant nation.
Ukraine is not. I can tell you this. We've been helping, through Joe Biden originally -- and he made a mistake because he should have done it through the European Union and he should have been paid. European Union has quite a bit of money, although I have to tell you they're getting tired of spending it. But we gave $350 billion to Ukraine.
And, you know, I insisted on getting something for that money, and we got a very big chunk of land and rare earth and other things, if anybody remembers. Let's see what that amounts to. But Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war. And if he doesn't, I think it's going to be a very bad thing.
Look, we have given tremendous amounts to Ukraine. We've gotten nothing back, other than high diesel. We have -- we have given probably -- possibly more money to Ukraine than almost anybody over the years, hundreds of billions of dollars. We've gotten nothing back, and the American taxpayers are tired of it. We want Zelenskyy to make a deal.
He can make a deal. He could have made a deal two years ago when we had our little chat in the Oval Office. We had a now quite well-remembered chat with JD, myself, some others, Zelenskyy. Could have made a good deal then. Could have made a much better deal then probably, possibly, that he can make now. But he's going to have to want to make a deal, because I don't think his people are going to stand for it any longer.
They've been fighting a war -- so, last month they lost 32,000 people between the both of them. They're mostly soldiers, mostly young soldiers. Some people in a town that got hit or whatever, but mostly young soldiers. It doesn't affect us much. It doesn't affect us in theory at all. We're not involved. What affects me is to see that many souls lost so needlessly.
So, what I'd like to see is I'd like to make a deal. I'd like to see if they can make a deal. I thought -- you know, I settled eight wars. I thought that would be the easiest one. The hatred between President Putin and President Zelenskyy is tremendous. I think that's most of the reason they haven't been able to make a deal, actually.
But Ukraine has to want to make a deal because the United States has spent a fortune. Europe has spent a fortune. Europe's tired of it right now. They're tired of it right now. And if they don't make a deal, ultimately it's just going to get -- in my opinion, it's just -- really just going to get worse. You have a very big country in Russia.
They have a lot of people. They have a lot of people to draw from. Ukraine does not have a lot of people to draw from and it's time to make a deal. And I say that -- remember this though, we've given a lot to Ukraine, we've gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss. We've given incredible amounts of equipment and military -- primarily military equipment, but equipment of all kinds, and it's time.
I gave them Javelins. When the stupid general for Russia, very stupid gentleman, they had 1,000 tanks riding up a concrete highway, they would have been in Ukraine in four hours, going maximum tank speed, which is 48 miles an hour to be exact. Nothing to stop them, the war would have been over in one day.
And this very stupid general, I have no idea who he is. I doubt he's still with us, I doubt he's still living. He decided to hang a right onto the farmland and then take a left and go up to Kyiv. And rather than staying on the highway, the concrete highway, perfectly good highway where they were doing very nicely, would have been there in three and a half or four hours and the whole war would have ended.
He ended up getting stuck in the mud. It was like quicksand. They had -- the night before they had the heaviest rainfall they've had in 10 years, and the land was soaking wet; it was like quicksand. most people don't remember, but I do, because it's called war, you never know what happens. But he made a terrible decision, legendarily bad decision and the tanks got stuck.
They couldn't go forward, they couldn't go back, they were dead stuck. And they used the Javelins -- that's the anti-tank weapon that I gave them. So, you know, the statement is Obama gave them sheets, I gave them Javelins. So, I've helped Ukraine a lot. It's now time for them to end this war and stop all those young people from being killed.
[Crosstalk]
No, no, listen to you. Hey, I'm not playing. You'd better, you'd better -- I don't know who the hell you are, but you'd better be careful. Go ahead.
Can you confirm that the US is on the verge of a deal to free the American teacher, Stephen Hubbard, from Russia.
Just stick with me. Nobody else was able to do it. Just stick with me. I don't want to talk about it, but everybody's been after Hubbard for a long time, long before I got here. And just you remember that question for a couple of days from now, OK. You know why? Because I do things --
[Crosstalk]
Because I do things that nobody else can do. I hate to say it. So, watch what happens.
We have been focused on Hubbard, and we don't give $6 billion like Biden -- we don't give the number one in history, the number one arms dealer ever in history, and get a basketball player back and give $6 billion on top of it. The deals we made were done by stupid people. I've been talking to President Putin about Mr. Hubbard.
I've been talking to him at length. I've asked him to release him, let's see what happens, OK, let's see what happens. I'd love to get him back. It's time to have Mr. Hubbard back. Yeah.
Mr. President, I have a question --
Are you guys OK with this or are you bored? If you get bored --
Not bored, sir, not bored. It's good.
OK.
[Crosstalk]
Well, let him go, and then you go. Go ahead.
Thank you, sir. For a deal to happen, a peace deal, to happen in Ukraine, does that mean Zelenskyy and Putin will have to be in the same room at the same time to sign that agreement?
I don't know, it depends. They don't have to be in the same room; I guess I can do it another way. It's hard for them to be in the same room. I don't care how it's done; I don't want to see 32,000, 25,000. Every month I get a report -- 25,000, 28,000 27,000, 32,000, 34,000 four months ago, soldiers killed a month.
It's the craziest thing I've ever heard of over what? Yeah, please.
Mr. President, I have a question for you and for Nick. I'll ask the one for Nick first. Nick, good to meet you. Willie Nelson with Salem Media. Nick, in my home state of California, Gavin Newsom signed a law that's been dubbed the Stop Nick Shirley Act after your videos exposing billions in immigration fraud.
Why is he so intent on silencing you and your work?
California, they actually need the fraud. That's why when I exposed the fraud in Minnesota, California, instead of going after the fraudsters, they came after me. And so, with this law dubbed the Stop Nick Shirley Act, it will give somebody who's enrolled in this program who works inside of immigration support service providers.
They can then give me a piece of paper and say, I cannot publish that video. So, it's a direct violation of the First Amendment. And the reason why they're attacking me is because I'm going after what funnels and funds all these crazy, delusional ideas inside their states.
It's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. In other words, you cannot in California basically stop fraud. You know why? Because they want fraud because they're crooked; they're all crooked politicians, one of the most crooked states anywhere in the world, not here, anywhere in the world -- California, Minnesota, a lot of them.
But we're changing that and we're going to be fighting by your side. Steve, we're going to be fighting by your side. You shouldn't be fighting that whole thing alone.
What Nick is describing, and what the president is describing is a criminal conspiracy where a state knowingly aids and abets fraud that's funneled into these communities, again, oftentimes migrant communities. They then use those funds to fund the Democrat Party. So, it's a self-enrichment scheme that's being exposed that is fundamentally a criminal conspiracy.
It reminds me of California that, if you ask a person for identification during a voting process, they put you in jail. In other words, if you say, do you have voter ID? Do you have proof of citizenship? If you ask those words, they put you in jail. I would say they're equal.
Yes.
No, you're dealing with very corrupt people. These are corrupt politicians. Weak? Well, Gavin Newsom admits that he's a stupid person. He admits that he was a man who had poor results on virtually every test he ever took. He cannot read a speech, he's incapable of -- and it's interesting, I didn't know what he meant by that, he couldn't read a speech.
I saw him make a speech and he doesn't read it, he can't. He cannot read; he cannot read. There's something wrong with him. And when you have, you know what they did with Nick or, you know, I think probably pretty much equal. But maybe that's even worse if you want to know the truth, Nick, because it has to do with voting.
If a man who works in the election bureau asks may I see your papers, please? Do you have voter ID? Do you have anything having to do with proof of citizenship? You've created an illegal act and you go to jail. That's pretty much -- that's the same thing.
[Crosstalk]
Thank you, sir. So, along the same lines of that last question, are you concerned about if after your presidency a Democrat is in office, that they would try and target someone like Nick or anyone, a reporter that had written a story about fraud that was in a blue state?
Sure, we have the power of pardon. If I see somebody that's unfairly treated, I have the power of pardon. And there are those that say it's the strongest power a president has, and if I have to use it to protect people like Nick, I'd use it very openly, very gladly. But they've already said they're going to weaponize.
Look, the governor of a couple of states have made statements. But the Senator from Michigan made a statement yesterday that was amazing, where they want to frighten people, young people from ever working in the Trump administration or a Republican administration, that they want to go and they want to frighten people.
And I heard it without commentary, and I said, wow, that's pretty bad. That's pretty bad and then I heard commentary. And even the most liberal commentators couldn't believe that she made that statement. She's a lightweight, by the way, total lightweight, stupid person. She's a person that should be tried for what she did where she said, no, no, we control government, you don't have to listen to the president.
And we'll see what happens; that's still, you know, that's still up in the air. But she made a statement that was very, very dangerous, a very dangerous statement to make.
[Crosstalk]
Mr. President, France has free healthcare, free childcare, a 35-hour work week and five weeks paid vacation. Despite all that, people are looting and burning down parts of their cities. Do you think spending a little more on education is going to stop this?
No, it's not about education, it's about immigration. It's about illegal people coming in who basically hate France, they hate the people, they hate everything, they hate the architecture. You saw the building from the mid-1800s that fell down yesterday that burned down to the ground. Boy, it was a tragic, tragic sight.
No, these are people that hate France, but they've been let in. They hate France, but they've been let in and you have to get them out. If you don't get them out, you're not going to have a France.
[Crosstalk]
For the vice president or for Andrew Ferguson back on the incentives, the rewards. Is it 1 percent up to a $30,000 limit, or is it --
No.
Unlimited?
No, you go ahead. It's 1 percent. There's no limit.
And must there be criminal charges before someone's going to be able to get this incentive money?
No.
No, our --
I don't think so.
That's the answer. I'd quit -- I'd quit while I'm ahead, Jen.
No, I just wanted to -- you know, I didn't want to have you say, oh, we disagree on something, because we disagree on almost nothing, believe it or not. It is rather hard to believe.
Yes, sir.
But I figured if I answered it quickly, I'll make sure that we don't -- [Laughter] We don't have a problem.
No, our --
No, no, it's not a criminal thing. It's -- it's -- we hope that they go to jail. No, if we recover the money, that's what it is. You get 1 percent. And that includes you. Go ahead, JD.
That's it, sir. No, our -- our plan is not to limit this just to criminal prosecutions. It's as the president said. If you find the money and you help us recover it, then you benefit from the program.
We're going to make it very easy and very quick. And people can make a lot of money. But the -- the only thing is we want to make sure they're the people that turn in.
[Crosstalk]
On Israel/Iran, can you fill us in on what Secretary Hegseth spoke about with Prime Minister Netanyahu?
I can't do that now, no.
Sir?
[Crosstalk]
Mr. President, Nick Shirley over there --
You've had -- I love Salem, though. I'd let him go. I do like Salem. Salem is good. Go ahead.
It sounds like a trade deal with India is close. Can you go into that?
They want to make a deal. We're going to make a deal. And pretty close, yeah.
Now, that's where we --
It's gonna be a much different kind of deal than we've made.
[Crosstalk]
And that fraud program, sir, if I may ask, do you expect the phone to ring off the hook, as it were, with tipsters?
About what?
On the fraud program, the new -- I think it's going to ring off the hook, yeah. Well -- and is there enough money, $25 million there to -- you know, for reward money? Is that enough?
I think it's -- I think it's tremendous. I mean, if you look at it -- I was thinking about a -- do we do 5 percent, 4 percent? Then when you start looking at the kind of numbers you're talking about, people will make millions of dollars by turning others in.
[Crosstalk]
Mr. President, one last question.
It could be we're going to protect the people if they want to be protected.
[Crosstalk]
There is a problem with Ilhan Omar's age. Could she be deported?
Well, she could be. She could also go to jail. I mean, she could also go to jail. You know, they keep talking about deportation. No, she could go to jail. This is just my opinion. I think she's a sick, a very dishonest person, but who hates our country. And she comes from a country that is essentially not even a country, Somalia.
It's a real shithouse, ok? It's got no government. It's got no police protect -- all they do is have people running around shooting each other. Then she comes over here, as you say, and she wants to tell us how to run America. She wants to tell us how to run the United States of America. And she'll say I have constitutional rights.
And she never heard the word concept -- she never saw that before, seen that. She never saw that before. But she says she has rights. She's a disgrace to our country. And it's amazing that she can get elected, but Somalians vote for her. You know, Somalians vote for her. And most of them shouldn't be here.
You know, they have, like, a 98 percent unemployment rate. They don't work, 98 percent. It's a disgrace. It's a disgrace. And they've ruined a great state. You know, you have a -- a great state. I remember Minnesota in the old days. What a beautiful -- what a beautiful -- with lakes all over the place. They have more lakes than any place I've ever seen.
It was so beautiful, and they've -- they're destroying it, probably. Maybe they've destroyed it. And I only hope a Republican woman, who happens to be very respected by everybody, gets in, because you will see a difference. But I -- I will say this. I hope they treat her fairly, but I think she's a very dishonest person.
[Crosstalk]
In the new -- in the new --
Say it.
In the new Fox News power rankings, it shows that less than a quarter of rural voters are happy with the state of the economy. Are you concerned about these people turning out --
No, because as soon as the war is over -- it's going to end very soon, the Iran war. I had no choice. You have -- you can't let them have -- it's the number one state sponsor of terror. As soon as that war is over, oil is going to drop like a rock. And that's the only thing holding it back. No, we have tremendous support.
You know, when people are unhappy with the gasoline -- I hate to sound trivial, but they say it themselves. It's a -- it's a big price, but actually it's a small price to pay for not letting Iran have a nuclear weapon. And they will never have a nuclear weapon. That's already -- we could leave right now, and we would have done a good job, a great job.
That -- that beautiful plane right there took them out. But it's under hundreds of tons of rock, but it's not good enough for me. We have to make sure it doesn't happen in five years, six years, ten years. And that's what's going to happen. So, it really is, it's a very small price to pay for not letting the most dangerous country in the world have a nuclear weapon.
[Crosstalk]
President Trump, you own a lot of golf courses.
Wait, wait. Quiet. Quiet. What's wrong with you? Are you a sick person?
Not that I know of, sir. Mr. President, on the -- Mr. President --
No, I think it's -- I actually think there's something wrong with you. Go ahead.
Mr. President, since we have the vice president here, the vice president said in an interview yesterday that he thought that you would endorse him if he does decide to run in 2028. Since we're here, could you tell us if --
I tell you this. He's a very talented person and he's a very good person, but we've -- literally, I don't think we've ever talked about it.
No, sir. I said that too.
You know, who would believe that? I don't talk about it with him. He doesn't talk about it. It's early. We are very early right now. We have to get through the midterms. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to a rally in North Carolina. We had an amazing rally last night, Kansas, for a tremendous -- a tremendous person, a number of great people, but in particular a senator who's done a fantastic job, as you know, Roger.
And I think Roger Marshall was helped a lot last night when we had that. I think it was -- it really took him to a very high level, which where is -- where he should be. But I've done a lot of rallies in the last week, and I guess we're up to 10 or 11. And it's not easy to stand up there for two hours ranting, raving.
You have the crowds, but there's a lot of love in those rooms. And I think it's made a big difference. It's made a -- the Republican Party has got tremendous spirit, tremendous spirit, tremendous love. And I'm going to be going for another one. I'll be going also to Ohio, where our candidate, who turned out to be a great football player, that a lot of people -- I mean, a great player, not a good player, a great player.
But he's a humble man and he didn't brag about it. I would have been bragging like hell about it. I would have said I'm an All American. I rip the heads off people. You know, Jon Gruden, who's a fantastic guy, great coach, and he was a very good college player. He said that he was up to be with his friend.
I said what are you doing here? And he was saying how -- and this is our candidate, who nobody -- I guess actually people from Ohio, a small group of sports -- big sports fans knew. But we -- we found out about the real man. And -- and you probably saw the polls. He's now leading, and he was down by quite a bit.
But I looked at the jersey, Husted. And Husted was a real -- he was a real -- he was a top of the line player. Jon Gruden said they had the championship team. He said he was the best player on the team. He had 17 interceptions. He was an All American. Nobody knew this. And in Ohio, when you have those credentials, it helps.
And that was an unbelievable rally, but we've gotten others up also. We've gotten them way up. So, let's see what happens. I think you're going to have a good -- you know, I watched our speaker of the House, and he talks about the fact that there's a lot of things going on that the media is not seeing. I really believe it, too.
I just feel there's a great -- I don't know. The president always loses, for whatever reason, the midterms, whoever it is, Republican, Democrat, great president, lousy president for some reason. I guess they've won two out of 25. I don't -- I don't know. Oz, is there a reason you can think of medically, why do people vote -- [Laughter] But there should be no reason.
In fact, you'd think it would be an asset, not a liability. But presidents, they go in, going good ones, bad ones, Republicans, Democrats, they tend to lose the midterms. We'll see what happens. I do say this. When I was on the ticket, when I ran, we won everything. We won everything. When I don't run, people don't show up to vote by 49 percent.
Exact -- it's very -- you know, no great science. It's 49 percent less. If I can get my voters -- MAGA, Republicans, whatever you want to call them, if they get out to vote, we'll win in a landslide. But they have to want to get out to vote. And if you're not on the ballot, it's a little harder. So, I'm asking them to pretend I'm on the ballot.
Thank you very much, everybody.
[Crosstalk]
I better -- I better not get involved.