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Video56 min read

Remarks: Donald Trump Holds a Cabinet Meeting at Camp David - July 31, 2026

12:00 PM
Donald Trump 00:00:00-00:00:22 (22 sec)

You all set? Thank you very much. This is something very unique. It's Camp David, and this room is a very, very special room. I don't believe the press has ever come anywhere near it, but we are the party of transparency and we believe in transparency. I think it's good for you to see certain aspects of Camp David.

Donald Trump 00:00:22-00:00:46 (25 sec)

It's a very special place. But it was not -- I guess the last visit was with Eisenhower, where they allowed you on to the actual campus, and it's a long time ago, but never into this room. I want to thank all of you for being here. And again, this is a cabinet meeting. It's open. We have done a lot of open cabinet meetings and I feel it works out very well.

Donald Trump 00:00:46-00:01:04 (18 sec)

Everybody can ask certain questions. We'll let you talk about certain things. Certain things we can't answer because they're ongoing and very important. But this is one of the most talented teams ever to serve the United States and in the United States government. This is a talented group of people. Let's see.

Donald Trump 00:01:04-00:01:29 (25 sec)

I'll go one after another. Yeah, there's a couple of stiffs, but that's OK. That's a -- it's an amazing group and America is safer and stronger and far more successful than it was two years ago. And I think, frankly, than it ever was. I don't think it's ever been anything like this. We're building more factories and plants in this country than we've ever built before.

Donald Trump 00:01:29-00:02:03 (34 sec)

And we're going to be, at some point, we'll be leaving this position, and we're going to leave this country in very, very good shape, better shape than it's ever been. When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe. The last administration created the worst inflation in 48 years, the most dangerous and insecure border in history, and exploding trade deficits like we have never seen before, rampant crime, men in women sports, transgender mutilization of your children and chaos and bedlam all over the world.

Donald Trump 00:02:03-00:02:22 (19 sec)

Other than that, they did quite a good job. In less than 18 months, we've turned around four years of disaster. We now have the strongest border in American history. We went from the worst border, I believe, of any country in history. 25 million people came through in four years and these are people that, in many cases, you don't want.

Donald Trump 00:02:22-00:02:42 (20 sec)

They were murderers, they were drug dealers, they were people that you do not want, but now we have the strongest border in American history. And for the last 15 months, the report just came out again, we've had no people coming in through our southern border, zero. And it's almost hard to say because you'd say, is that even possible?

Donald Trump 00:02:42-00:03:08 (26 sec)

They had 25 million people came in. We have no people coming in through illegally through our southern border, and that's in history, so think of that, zero, a big, beautiful zero. The murder rate saw its single largest drop ever recorded to the lowest in 125 years. That goes back to -- think of it, it goes back to 1900, the lowest murder rate in the history of our country, so that's something.

Donald Trump 00:03:08-00:03:28 (20 sec)

Today, I just want to mention that we heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I think -- I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. There was a cyberattack of 30 water plants, and I would blame it on Minnesota and the governor, the corrupt governor of Minnesota.

Donald Trump 00:03:28-00:03:48 (20 sec)

They like to say, oh, it's Iran. Iran should be so lucky. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota. This month it was announced that inflation is dropping at the fastest rate in more than six years. Walmart, Sam's Club, Giant Eagle and others are slashing prices by hundreds of grocery stores.

Donald Trump 00:03:48-00:04:08 (20 sec)

And all of the stores, I mean, throughout the country, they're slashing prices, something that you haven't seen for a long time, since my last administration. The stock market has set 73 all-time record highs since the election. That means all-time record highs 73 days out of a very short period of time.

Donald Trump 00:04:08-00:04:35 (28 sec)

And the typical 401(k) is up by more than $30,000. And when you think of that, if you add another $1,000 to it, it will be -- we set the record in the last administration, a record still standing. This administration is going to blow my last administration away. When the factories that we're building at record -- we're not building -- all over the world, they're building.

Donald Trump 00:04:35-00:04:53 (18 sec)

They're coming from all over the world. They're coming from Germany, with the cars. They're coming from Germany, they're coming from Japan, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico. From all over the world, they're building auto plants here because otherwise they have to pay tariffs. The tariffs have made our country rich and successful.

Donald Trump 00:04:53-00:05:12 (19 sec)

And all of this, I mean, I'd like to say it was the election. On November 5th, it was the election and that's fine, but without the election, you wouldn't have what I've done economically. So we have the most successful environment that we've ever had. There's never been anything like it from the standpoint of investment into our country.

Donald Trump 00:05:12-00:05:32 (20 sec)

It's five to six times higher than anybody has ever seen, than any other country, any other country, not just us, has ever had. On July 4th, we launched Trump accounts, a key provision of our Great Big, Beautiful Bill. And these tax free investment savings accounts have already been activated by over seven million children.

Donald Trump 00:05:32-00:05:56 (24 sec)

These are investments made in our future, which is our children. Our children are the most important aspect of our future, with more being added each day. So it's a tremendous hit, over seven million and really -- really just got going. I would say, Scott, about two weeks ago, when it was -- we got the final approvals, and we have over seven million -- actually, there's never been anything quite like that.

Donald Trump 00:05:56-00:06:08 (12 sec)

But millions of accounts are pre funded with $1,000 from the US Treasury or generous gifts from private donors like Michael and Susan Dell and others who have given billions of dollars, billions.

Donald Trump 00:06:08-00:06:27 (19 sec)

People are putting up hundreds of millions and billions of dollars into it and buying, really, a great future for children. When they turn 18 or when they turn 21, instead of having no hope, no future, they will end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars and maybe even more than that. So it's going to be something to see.

Donald Trump 00:06:27-00:06:49 (22 sec)

With modest additional contributions, they'll grow by numbers that should be -- it could be over $200,000. We're looking at the timeline. We're looking -- I wish we had an economy like we have now, with the stock markets going up, but they will benefit by our country being successful. And we're going to give every child a head start on the American Dream.

Donald Trump 00:06:49-00:07:12 (24 sec)

So go to Trumpaccounts.gov. They're really something. The whole world is talking about it, and it's far ahead of schedule. Nobody thought it would be as successful as it's been, but it should be it should be and we start them off with $1,000. And this was part of the Great Big, Beautiful Bill. With my most favored nation policy, you could say this is even a bigger thing, if that's possible, on drug prices.

Donald Trump 00:07:12-00:07:43 (31 sec)

We're achieving record discounts on prescription drugs. Prescription drugs were going through the roof for many years, and now we're getting record discounts with price differences of 300, 400, 500, 600 percent. Nobody's ever heard of a thing like that. And what this is all about is that we were the highest -- we had the highest prices anywhere in the world, by far, the most expensive drugs, prescription drugs, and others, the highest in the world.

Donald Trump 00:07:43-00:08:04 (21 sec)

The whole world was laughing at us. We paid for the rest of the world. We subsidized the whole world and I said, we're not going to do that. And I started it in the first administration. I took it up. Uh, obviously, Biden wasn't able to do anything about it, because you had to get the consent of the drug companies and you had to get the consent -- more difficult would be the consent of other nations.

Donald Trump 00:08:04-00:08:25 (21 sec)

The other nations had to agree, but they were paying a fraction, sometimes 10 percent, 20 percent, 40 percent, 70 percent less. So I had to call them and I had to get them on. And I said, if you don't do it, we're going to have to charge you tariffs, and they all said no at first, very politely said, sir, we can't do that, we're not going to double our prices.

Donald Trump 00:08:25-00:08:52 (27 sec)

They had to double their prices and, in some cases, triple their price and we would come down. So a pill that sold for $10 in Germany would sell for $130 in New York, same pill from the same company, the same factory, the same plant, same laboratory, from $10 and we pay $130. I say, no, nope. Now the world is a bigger place, so it's not as bad as it sounds for them.

Donald Trump 00:08:52-00:09:18 (26 sec)

So they went up to 20 and we came down to $20. So we now have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world. We're tied with the lowest, but we're basically -- its favored nation, so we have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world, from the highest drug prices anywhere in the world. Now, what that does for your health care, I mean, I see these fake polls where the Democrats have wonderful numbers on this stuff, and they are horrible, what they've done.

Donald Trump 00:09:18-00:09:40 (22 sec)

Obamacare is a total disaster it's a costly wreck. It's unaffordable. We call it the Affordable Care Act. It's a disgrace. They never even thought of being able to do something like this. They didn't even try. They didn't even try. So I got the drug companies first, and then I got the countries. And the drug companies agreed because they knew the countries wouldn't agree.

Donald Trump 00:09:40-00:09:58 (17 sec)

And when I called Germany, France, when I called the UK, when I called all of these countries, I said, you got to do it. It's unfair. We're paying 10 times more than you're paying for the same drug you can't do this and they said, well, we're not going to do that because we're going to have to double our price in order to make you happy.

Donald Trump 00:09:58-00:10:17 (19 sec)

I said, no, maybe you're going to have to triple your price. They said, well, we can't do it. I said, that's all right. If you can't do it, then I can't do something also, and I'm going to charge you very substantial tariffs, which are far more than we're talking about. And they all said, we'd love to do it, we would love to do it. It would be our great honor to do it. So nobody else would do this.

Donald Trump 00:10:17-00:10:40 (24 sec)

This would have never happened. So your drug prices have gone down by numbers not even thinkable. In my first term, I had the privilege of having lower drug prices from the beginning of the year till the end, for the first time in 28 years. You remember? And I called the news conference to announce it. So the year it ended, and I was turned out one eighth of a percent, one eighth of a percent.

Donald Trump 00:10:40-00:11:04 (23 sec)

Little tiny, this much, it went down that much during one year. First time in 28 years it went down. It was always like this, just up, more expensive. And I called the news conference. I was so proud of myself. And I said, ladies and gentlemen, the first time in 28 years, drug prices have gone down from January till the end of December.

Donald Trump 00:11:04-00:11:33 (30 sec)

And I want to just congratulate everybody for being a part of this wonderful experiment and one eighth of a point. Now we're talking about 400, 500, 600 percent coming down. We pay the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world, from the highest. So, you know, and I'll say it again and again, because the press doesn't want to report it, the fake news doesn't want to report it, they don't want to talk about it. What that does for health care, Bobby, is unbelievable, because medicine is a big part of health care.

Donald Trump 00:11:33-00:11:52 (19 sec)

So I wish that people would understand that, and I hope they're going to vote for us in the midterms, because you'll see some stuff that will be horrible, because they can blow it very fast if they don't know what they're doing. So your drug prices are great. You know, I saw Spain, uh, yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place.

Donald Trump 00:11:52-00:12:14 (22 sec)

It was a -- it looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people, and that same thing is going to happen to us if the Republicans don't get elected, except worse, much bigger, much easier to get into, despite the fact that we have built thousands of miles of wall, which I said we were going to do, but we didn't have that.

Donald Trump 00:12:14-00:12:37 (23 sec)

Forget it. But we have the safest border in the world. If we're not in office, our country will be invaded at levels that made Spain look small time. And when I watched it, I said, boy, I said, I'm going to say it because I knew you were going to be at Camp David and I say, that's going to be a talking point for the midterms.

Donald Trump 00:12:37-00:13:02 (25 sec)

Because when you look at what happened to Spain, they don't know what to do and it's happening again today. They're coming in by the tens of thousands, just -- just invading the country. And what that is, is weak law, bad management, but very liberal law. They passed a couple of laws and people read, you know, people are smart.

Donald Trump 00:13:02-00:13:20 (18 sec)

They read from other countries, and they swam that three mile swim or however they got in, but nobody's seen anything like it. That will look good compared to what's going to happen to the United States. The biggest thing, the worst thing that Biden did is allowing 25 million people into our country, because many of those people are criminals.

Donald Trump 00:13:20-00:13:40 (20 sec)

They're murderers. A lot of them are -- 11,888. A lot of them are gone now, we got them out, but they allowed people to come into this country that you can't allow to come into a country. We're also making an unprecedented investment in the United States armed forces, where we're doing great, and we rebuilt the armed forces.

Donald Trump 00:13:40-00:14:09 (29 sec)

We rebuilt our military in my first term, but we are doing great with our military. They spent a lot of money in our military. They gave away $300 billion worth of ammo and everything else in the -- in Biden's term, but we're building it up fast and we have -- we're -- we just have a great military that's all there is to it. But we rebuilt it in the -- in my first term, and we're using it in my second term with Venezuela and other places and Iran now.

Donald Trump 00:14:09-00:14:31 (21 sec)

Iran is doing very poorly. Just in case you read incorrect stories, they're doing very, very poorly. They're having a hard time. They've been very dishonest. They've been very dishonorable to deal with, but that makes no difference. They're doing very, very poorly. We're also making that investment and looking forward to getting, Pete, $1.5 trillion next year.

Donald Trump 00:14:31-00:14:52 (21 sec)

And people see now how important it is. We want to keep a safe country, we have to keep a safe country, and the good news is, all of that equipment is made in the USA. So we're making it here. It's jobs. And each one of our defense groups are building literally at least four new massive plants as we speak, because we want them to do -- we want them to move faster.

Donald Trump 00:14:52-00:15:13 (21 sec)

We have the best equipment in the world, but we want them to move faster. We don't want to wait a year or a year and a half, we want to wait a week, maybe. So that's happening and I think the results are very good. They're all -- they're building at levels that nobody's ever seen before and we've had tremendous success.

Donald Trump 00:15:13-00:15:36 (22 sec)

Our military, we're just proud of it. Again, Venezuela was a one day war, and we have a great relationship with Venezuela. We're working with -- we're partners with Venezuela now, taking out tens of millions of barrels of oil and going to Houston, going to Alaska, going to Louisiana, going to different places for refinement, refineries.

Donald Trump 00:15:36-00:16:02 (27 sec)

And it's been very much amazing. The administration has done more in 18 months than most administrations have done in eight years, if you had a two terms -- we've done more in 18 months than anyone's ever seen before. Nobody's ever seen. This is the golden age of America and we have a war that's going on. I guess you call it a war, maybe -- I call it a military operation, because they have no navy; it's been obliterated.

Donald Trump 00:16:02-00:16:03 (1 sec)

Their air force has been obliterated.

Donald Trump 00:16:03-00:16:28 (25 sec)

They have no planes. Their missiles have been largely -- they have some left. They have some, but they have far fewer than they had four or five months ago. Uh, they, uh, their manufacturing capacity is almost gone. The drone capacity is almost gone. They have very few, but they have some. If they have one, that's too many, as far as I'm concerned.

Donald Trump 00:16:28-00:16:48 (20 sec)

But we've done an amazing job with Venezuela, we've done an amazing job here. We're in there for five months and I know that people like to say, because we did a much bigger job, much more important job than we originally anticipated. So we're in there for five months and if you look at Vietnam, they were in there for 20 years.

Donald Trump 00:16:48-00:17:06 (18 sec)

You look at Afghanistan, they were in there for many years. You look at any one of the wars, Korea, any one of them, they're in there for many years. We're in for five months, and we have obliterated their military capacity. Again, they've got some left, but soon, they won't have some left. So I just want to thank everybody around this table.

Donald Trump 00:17:06-00:17:22 (16 sec)

You've been very special. I want to thank a lot of the media people, because many of you have been very, very fair and very -- that's one of the reasons you're here, frankly. But you've been very fair you've covered me this time. I mean, much more fairly, I think, than the first term. The first term was a great success.

Donald Trump 00:17:22-00:17:41 (19 sec)

We had the greatest economy in history in the first term, and this term is going to blow it away. I think this term is going to actually blow it away. So it's an honor to have you, and I'd like to ask our great Vice President, JD Vance, to say a few words, followed by Marco and Pete and Scott and Bobby Kennedy.

Donald Trump 00:17:41-00:17:44 (3 sec)

OK? Thank you very much, everybody. Please, JD.

JD Vance 00:17:44-00:18:06 (22 sec)

Well, great. Thanks, Mr. President. First of all, thanks for having us at this historical and beautiful place, and it's an honor to be on the team, an honor to be able to work on fraud, which is what I want to talk about today, though I know we have a lot of things going on. This has been an amazing team, from Kelly Loeffler at SBA to Doug at the VA to Todd and Bobby Kennedy.

JD Vance 00:18:06-00:18:29 (23 sec)

This really has required a whole of administration approach to try to tackle fraud. There are a few things that I want to talk about and celebrate. The first is that just since the beginning of the fraud task force that I started under the president's leadership and direction, we have identified $230 billion of fraud that's being perpetrated against the American people, and we have halted already $56 billion of that.

JD Vance 00:18:29-00:18:52 (23 sec)

It's sometimes hard -- once the money has already gone out the door, it's hard to get it back, but stopping it from going out the door is how we saved the American people $56 billion and, of course, we're going to keep on working on that. Just today, Mr. President, we will announce 17 new anti-fraud actions that will total about a third of $1 billion, and that that's added to the $230 billion that we've already uncovered.

JD Vance 00:18:52-00:19:14 (22 sec)

And I want to just talk for the benefit of the American people about why do we care so much about this? Because what I always try to remind people is that fraud has two victims. So to give one concrete example, there is a program that is administered by Medicaid and that program ensures that low income moms and low income babies have access to neonatal care.

JD Vance 00:19:14-00:19:34 (20 sec)

Now, I think most Americans probably share my view that this is one of the great things about the United States of America, that if we see a baby and we see a young mother that requires help, we help our fellow Americans. That's a good thing; it's something that we should be proud of. And yet, there is a program that is defrauded, the moms and the babies who benefit from these.

JD Vance 00:19:34-00:19:55 (21 sec)

You've gotten people who've gotten rich by setting up false companies that are providing false services. So who loses in that equation? Number one, of course, is the American taxpayer that is $230 billion poorer because of the fraud that this country has let go on, but I actually think most importantly is that we've seen that program run out of money.

JD Vance 00:19:55-00:20:19 (24 sec)

So we've seen moms and babies unable to access the health care that they need because the fraudsters have gotten rich. That is a disgrace. And until the president ordered us to stop it, no one was doing anything about it. So we've made a lot of progress, Mr. President, in just under a year but we're going to keep on working at it, because we believe the American people deserve to have their money spent as you and the Congress have directed it.

Donald Trump 00:20:19-00:20:29 (10 sec)

Yeah, those are big numbers you're finding, tremendous numbers. They look like Eliot Ness. Does anybody know who Eliot Ness -- they look like that group of people, you have lined up behind you. They're doing a great job.

JD Vance 00:20:29-00:20:30 (1 sec)

Yes, sir.

Donald Trump 00:20:30-00:20:51 (21 sec)

Billions -- think of that, not millions, billions of dollars is being recovered, billions, and you haven't seen anything yet. We have things happening that people aren't going to believe. The level of corruption and fraud that took place under the Biden administration was unprecedented. And Minnesota, California, Maine, Maine believe it or not.

Donald Trump 00:20:51-00:20:54 (3 sec)

You know, you think of Maine as this wonderful place.

JD Vance 00:20:54-00:20:55 ( sec)

Yep.

Donald Trump 00:20:55-00:21:01 (7 sec)

It's -- the level of corruption is incredible, all over, all over the place. So great job. Thank you very much.

JD Vance 00:21:01-00:21:03 (1 sec)

Thank you, sir.

Donald Trump 00:21:03-00:21:03 (1 sec)

OK.

Marco Rubio 00:21:03-00:21:17 (13 sec)

Oh, my turn. Well, first of all, thank you for bringing us out here. Um, I got the chance to drive for the first time in a year and a half. It was just a golf cart, but it was fun. It was great.

Donald Trump 00:21:17-00:21:17 ( sec)

It's true.

Marco Rubio 00:21:17-00:21:31 (14 sec)

So just a couple points that we all know. We follow in the news, obviously the events in the Middle East and others, you can talk about that, not that they're not important, but there's some other issues happening around the world, Mr. President, that you've shown great leadership in that have not gotten nearly as much attention.

Marco Rubio 00:21:31-00:21:53 (22 sec)

I think they deserve a mention today. The first is the International Criminal Court is an illegitimate international organization that, frankly -- illegitimate. They've made themselves illegitimate because they claim that even if you're not a member of that court, they can come after you. And what that literally means in the future is that American servicemen, political leaders and others could find themselves under the -- under indictment by this International Criminal Court.

Marco Rubio 00:21:53-00:22:07 (15 sec)

If you want to know a little bit about it, Jack Smith used to work there. These are the people that think they can go out and basically indict any world leader in Harlem into The Hague. So we've begun -- we tried to get them to reform and listen to us. They wouldn't do it, they're very arrogant. We've now begun an effort to really try to bring that court to heel.

Donald Trump 00:22:07-00:22:30 (22 sec)

By the way, there's no information that they're after me. It could happen. But just so you know. He's talking about it. I'm saying that means that -- he's not trying to defend me. He is trying to defend Bibi and various other people, but there are many people that shouldn't be looked at that way, but there is no indication that I'm one of them at this moment.

Donald Trump 00:22:30-00:22:30 (1 sec)

Go ahead.

Marco Rubio 00:22:30-00:22:48 (18 sec)

Well, and I actually think the people who are in biggest danger in our system are servicemen, people in uniform, that they'll try to go out for the rest of their lives, will not be able to travel anywhere in the world with their families because they can be arrested on one of these -- imagine you're a soldier, you fought in a war, 20 years later, they try to come grab you, so this is a big problem.

Marco Rubio 00:22:48-00:23:06 (18 sec)

So we've had dozens of countries already join us in this effort since we started two weeks ago. Five countries have already quit the ICC and notified them that they're leaving and we think there'll be more. The second thing is we had an unprecedented ministerial. 60 countries came to Washington and were a part of an effort where we were shedding light on far left terrorism and violence.

Marco Rubio 00:23:06-00:23:35 (28 sec)

You know, the bomb goes off somewhere and it's tied to some right wing group or what I -- you know, I don't consider neo-Nazis right wing. I consider them Nazis, right? But you're going to get a lot of attention on that. But if it's a leftist group, an Antifa group, that gets no coverage, or they ignore the ideological spin and the ideological reason behind it. So we've got 60 countries came up here and hopefully creating a strong coalition to go after far left violent terrorism, go after it and call it by name, and I think we're building a very strong coalition there.

Marco Rubio 00:23:35-00:23:53 (19 sec)

Uh, we've had some successes in the Middle East, Mr. President, as you know, in the diplomatic front, the deal with Lebanon and Israel is unprecedented. President Aoun was here a week ago. I think that was the first visit by a Lebanese president in over 30 some odd years. In fact, this is the first time the Israelis and the Lebanese government have spoken at the official level, close to 30 years.

Marco Rubio 00:23:53-00:24:10 (16 sec)

And that was thanks to your leadership. A lot of work to be done to keep that peace and build on it but it's a real achievable. And of course, as you announced last night, Mr. President, this disarmament deal that you brought about with Steve and Jared's work on Hamas is another big step as well. It's something a lot of people thought would never happen.

Marco Rubio 00:24:10-00:24:26 (16 sec)

It needs to happen but the fact they've even agreed to it is a real achievable. Last point is on the Western Hemisphere. For the first time in, I don't know, 15, 20 years, the overwhelming majority of the countries in the Western Hemisphere are now led by pro-American leaders and pro-American governments.

Marco Rubio 00:24:26-00:24:45 (19 sec)

It's an extraordinary achievement, all of it happening through a -- virtually every election that's happened in the Western Hemisphere since you were elected president, has elected someone who is pro-American. And I think this is an incredible situation. And last but not least, and I have to thank a number of agencies here, particularly the Department of War, after that terrible earthquake in Venezuela.

Marco Rubio 00:24:45-00:25:10 (25 sec)

Within 36 hours, the full force of the American government was on the ground providing humanitarian assistance. It was a sight to behold. The USS Ford, I think, was in the port. Our Marines and armed service personnel were helping run their airport and their tower. It is one of the fastest, most dramatic and most effective humanitarian responses, certainly in recent history, if not ever, and they came at the direction of the president.

Marco Rubio 00:25:10-00:25:29 (20 sec)

And in fact, within an hour of that earthquake hitting, I remember because I was overseas, the president called and said, make sure we go in there and help these people recover from this, and -- and we did, and thanks to your leadership, Mr. President. It's a great story. Enough needs to be told about it because the credit goes to so many agencies represented here today, but really, the Department of War effort was phenomenal.

Marco Rubio 00:25:29-00:25:30 (1 sec)

So thank you.

Donald Trump 00:25:30-00:25:46 (16 sec)

Yes, sir. Thank you very much, Marco. And just before we continue, I want to just congratulate Jay Clayton. He's with us today, as you know, just had a big victory. He's going to be -- he's going to do a fantastic job. He's only done -- his whole life has been about doing a fantastic job. Congratulations.

Pete Hegseth 00:25:46-00:26:15 (29 sec)

Well, thank you, Mr. President, for the for the invitation, the opportunity to be here. Uh, it's an honor for the War Department to help run this facility also, from the -- from the food to the fence line. Uh, it's -- it's an honor to have you and it's great Americans here and all around the country and all around the world who are the core of what, uh, keep us safe.

Pete Hegseth 00:26:15-00:26:33 (18 sec)

But in order to do that, you have to have a leader that's willing to put them in a position to do it and that's my takeaway, Mr. President, is, um, sort of three points. One, it takes courage; two, it takes restoring a spirit, which you have done; and third, it takes investment, and not just an investment, but a generational investment.

Pete Hegseth 00:26:33-00:27:10 (37 sec)

And I think people miss that. The courage it takes to seal the border, to say, we're going to do it and we're going to do it every single day, and we're going to do it on behalf of the American people; the courage to bomb the Houthis and say, we will we will maintain freedom of navigation. You wonder why they're not involved in this conflict, the Houthis, even though they're a proxy of Iran, because they've felt the weight of American power for 45 days, and you had the courage to do that; the courage to do Midnight Hammer and conclude the 12 day war by obliterating their nuclear sites, something no one -- other presidents had the option on their table to do, but they never pulled the trigger because of the complications, because of the challenges, because of the risk, courage.

Pete Hegseth 00:27:10-00:27:40 (31 sec)

The courage to take on the cartels and drugs, drug boats and now forming the ACCC, the America's Counter Cartel Coalition, with all those friendly governments that Marco talked about who want to be shoulder to shoulder, not just with America, but with a bold, strong America, with clear leadership. The courage to go get Maduro in the most dangerous -- most heavily guarded house, inside the most heavily guarded fort, inside the most heavily guarded town in their capital city, in the middle of the night, and change the entire dynamic of that country and that region.

Pete Hegseth 00:27:40-00:28:00 (20 sec)

And the world saw what the American military was capable to do, but that doesn't happen unless the -- a commander in chief says you're authorized to do it, and will take the handcuffs off when you do it, to ensure that Americans come home. The courage to undertake Epic Fury and this Iranian regime and ensure they never have a nuclear weapon, which remains your commitment.

Pete Hegseth 00:28:00-00:28:18 (17 sec)

And frankly, the courage to negotiate with people that have shown no willingness to do so honestly, with incredible negotiators who are the best in the world and give them every opportunity to do it, give those things up peacefully. All of that takes guts. But that comes on the backs of a change in the spirit of our department.

Pete Hegseth 00:28:18-00:28:37 (20 sec)

You talk about spirit all the time, and you're right to do so. When you rip out DEI, when you rip out social engineering and social justice and you put in merit, and then you untie the hands of commanders to be commanders, to enforce discipline and accountability, to get back to basics, then you get historic re-enlistment inside our ranks.

Pete Hegseth 00:28:37-00:28:56 (18 sec)

Our best people, Mr. President, are staying because they want to be in that kind of department. And then historic recruitment record amongst young Americans, every month our department breaks records. And when did that trend line start? On Election Day 2024, when the American people said, I want to serve under this president.

Pete Hegseth 00:28:56-00:29:18 (22 sec)

And that that new name, the Department of War, has become the ethos, the warrior ethos of our department. Again, spirit. And I will note, the flyovers will indeed continue until morale [Inaudible] but that's also spirit, parades, 250, flyovers. The American people seeing and feeling their military in ways they have not in the past, that spirit.

Pete Hegseth 00:29:18-00:29:35 (17 sec)

And then finally, Mr. President, a generational investment. You rebuilt the military in your first term and you've spent in your first year, $1 trillion. And now we are committed in working with Congress to get $1.5 trillion. But this is not the same way we funded our department in the past. This is a businessman in charge.

Pete Hegseth 00:29:35-00:29:57 (23 sec)

This is a deputy secretary of our department who's a turnaround guy, uh, just like the president is, saying, we will not fund money -- we will not fund the department they way we have in the past. In fact, so far, $75 billion in private investment from defense companies who are now investing in new plants, new equipment, new assembly lines to build the munitions of the future faster than ever possible.

Pete Hegseth 00:29:57-00:30:20 (23 sec)

That's saving taxpayer dollars because the companies themselves are investing. That would never -- the arsenal of freedom would never happen without you. Uh, so just like, you know, we use a lot of the things Ronald Reagan's buildup was a part of, uh, in this administration and in future administrations, they will look back at Donald Trump and the buildup that he has done, and that will be -- the deterrence of the future will be established because of your investment.

Pete Hegseth 00:30:20-00:30:23 (3 sec)

So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership.

Donald Trump 00:30:23-00:30:24 (2 sec)

Thank you very much. Thank you, Pete. Scott, please.

Scott Bessent 00:30:24-00:30:47 (22 sec)

Mr. President, it's an honor to be here in this historic place as we celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary and I think if we look back, whether our founders with President Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton could not have imagined the economy that we would have created. It is the envy of the world.

Scott Bessent 00:30:47-00:31:09 (22 sec)

And as you said, we have record investment coming in. We've never seen anything like it, and we're pulling away from the rest of the world because of your leadership, the policies that you did from day one in terms of digital assets, in terms of technology and bringing back American manufacturing. You've done it again.

Scott Bessent 00:31:09-00:31:39 (31 sec)

You had the incredible economy during your first term, and we are seeing that carry over here and it is in stark contrast to the Biden economy, which was government jobs, government spending and high inflation, the worst inflation in 50 years. And with the Working Families tax cut, which I will add, every Democrat voted against, every Democrat voted against, it is the perfect barbell for this economy.

Scott Bessent 00:31:39-00:32:09 (30 sec)

On one side you have full expensing for factories, for equipment, for farm structures. On the other side, your forest signature policies, promises made, promises kept, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility of auto loans if you buy an American-made car and the Americans are starting to feel that core inflation is low, consumer confidence is strong.

Scott Bessent 00:32:09-00:32:33 (24 sec)

We have the highest consumer confidence, came out today, in five months. And Main Street is back. Small -- small banks are -- thanks to your policies small banks, community banks are lending again and the Americans are starting to feel it. As you said, these Trump accounts are the most successful program launch in government history.

Scott Bessent 00:32:33-00:32:53 (21 sec)

We've had seven million families sign up for them. We're going to get to open enrollment, and we will have 70 million families who have signed up for this. 38 percent of American families, households, have no exposure to our great equity market, and thanks to you, we're going to have an ownership society, an ownership society.

Scott Bessent 00:32:53-00:33:18 (25 sec)

You were one of the first presidents to create assets for the American people, not more debt. We had the biggest tax refund season ever. Uh, trade deals, tax cuts, energy dominance, and deregulatory efforts. America is ushering in the greatest reshoring wave in our history. In June, our manufacturing sector expanded for the sixth straight month.

Scott Bessent 00:33:18-00:33:52 (34 sec)

We've got construction jobs, and those are going to lead into manufacturing jobs. We've got Main Street prosperity. Real wages are up $1,000. And, sir, what you've done again, too, is the bottom 25 percent of wage earners, just like in your first term, are outperforming the top 25 percent. This is a working families administration that last -- in the past year, that group had -- had real -- or had wage increases, 5.5 percent.

Scott Bessent 00:33:52-00:34:14 (22 sec)

They had three times what the top end has done. So you've done it again and these are private sector jobs we are creating. As you often say in these meetings, we could have created $1 million, $2 million government jobs, but we didn't. The private sector is creating. We've got incentives, we've got money coming in and we are rebuilding.

Scott Bessent 00:34:14-00:34:44 (29 sec)

So -- and then our energy dominance, thanks to you and these policies, you can come to the US, you can have regulatory certainty, tax certainty and energy certainty. So it is the best place in the world to build your factory. And finally, I want to add, it has been a pleasure to be a part -- or a privilege to be a part of as we've gone from Epic Fury to economic fury to constrict on your orders, constrict the Iranian regime's, the financial tentacles all around the world.

Scott Bessent 00:34:44-00:35:04 (20 sec)

We started it and -- on your orders, we started in March 2025. In December of 2025, the largest bank in Iran collapsed the central bank had to print money. It caused inflation. Now they got 180 percent inflation. They aren't able to pay their troops. And on your orders, we are searching for their assets all around the world.

Scott Bessent 00:35:04-00:35:26 (22 sec)

And that money will go to the Iranian people, Americans who have been harmed by the Iranians, whether the USS Cole, the or the barracks in Lebanon, they -- or it will go back to when the Iranians attacked the ships coming out so it's been a privilege to be part of that, and I look forward to the rest of it.

Donald Trump 00:35:26-00:35:44 (18 sec)

Thank you very much. And I want to just add that today, there are more people working in the United States than at any time in the history of our country. We have more people working today than -- think of that number, I mean, more people working today, by far, than at any time in the history of our country.

Donald Trump 00:35:44-00:35:48 (4 sec)

So it's been something very, very special. Uh, Bobby, please.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:35:48-00:36:08 (20 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President. Let me just take a moment to take note of the historical significance of this occasion. Before the press came in, you asked all the cabinet members, who had been to Camp David before. I think about three quarters of them had. I raised my hand but I haven't been here for 62 years.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:36:08-00:36:45 (37 sec)

I came here -- I came here on weekends, as many weekends, as we could between 1961 and 1963. My father loved this place, my uncle loved this place. He was -- nobody knows about this because -- on the history books, but he was resentful at Dwight Eisenhower for renaming it Camp David. And he said if he had got -- made it to his second term, he was going to rename it Shangri-La, which was the original name that Roosevelt had named it. My uncle prided himself on being the most open, transparent administration in history.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:36:45-00:37:07 (22 sec)

He was the first president to have televised press conferences. During his thousand days in office, he had about 30 press conferences. You, Mr. President, have press conferences every day. Nobody's done it. And here, you've opened the inner sanctum of the presidency for the first time in history, and I think that's a beautiful thing.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:37:07-00:37:17 (9 sec)

Because you also face, although you gave these guys a lot of compliments, the most hostile press corps that any president in United States history --

Donald Trump 00:37:17-00:37:20 (3 sec)

I was trying to be friendly.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:37:20-00:37:46 (26 sec)

So anyway, um, and I'm going to talk just briefly about a subject you alluded to, which is the MFN. And just so everybody has a background, you were -- every president promised to fix that disparity between what we pay and what the other developed countries pay. When you came into office, the list price for Ozempic was $1,350 for Americans.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:37:46-00:38:25 (39 sec)

You can get it at any pharmacy in London, Hamburg, Frankfurt for $88. And this -- every president, President Bush, President Biden, President Clinton, President Obama have all promised to fix this. None of them did anything. You fixed it. Today -- by the time you leave office, assuming that's in 2028, um, 95 percent of the drugs that are available to Americans, they will be paying the lowest prices in the world.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:38:25-00:38:51 (26 sec)

Trumprx, just in the short time that we -- since we put it up, has saved Americans $700 million. We now have 800 drugs on there. We have deals with Amazon and with GoodRx. We're adding more and more drugs every day and I'll just give you one example. Praluent is a very popular cholesterol drug. Its list price is $522. That's what everybody is paying.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:38:51-00:39:18 (27 sec)

We now have it on Trumprx for $237. That means that the 300,000 Americans who take that drug will be saving $3,700 a year on pharmaceuticals every year. And you can apply that across the board. This is going to change -- it's making pharmaceuticals affordable, the most affordable in this country of any country in the world.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:39:18-00:39:20 (2 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President.

Donald Trump 00:39:20-00:39:24 (4 sec)

How are you doing on the autism research?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:39:24-00:39:26 (2 sec)

We will have an answer for you. We just got it.

Donald Trump 00:39:26-00:39:41 (15 sec)

It's so important. OK. We'll be talking about that. We'll be having something of interest. Such an important thing. There's a picture of your uncle right there on the wall, I noticed. Look at that handsome guy. And that's quite a picture. Did you see it?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 00:39:41-00:39:42 (1 sec)

Yeah.

Donald Trump 00:39:42-00:39:46 (4 sec)

So maybe that gave you the idea to start out that way, but it's quite a picture. Uh, any questions?

Note 00:39:46-00:39:46 ( sec)

[Crosstalk]

Question 00:39:46-00:39:48 (2 sec)

Mr. President? Mr. President?

Donald Trump 00:39:48-00:39:50 (1 sec)

Go ahead.

Question 00:39:50-00:39:57 (8 sec)

We've seen these strikes between Iran and the United States for the past two days. How do you go about reviving the cease fire and getting diplomacy back on track?

Donald Trump 00:39:57-00:40:17 (20 sec)

Well, I think we just want to win. You know, we just want to win. We're doing very well. Uh, we're trying to be nice, as nice as you can be in a situation like that. But, you know, they're being decimated. They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft. Doesn't mean they don't have any capability.

Donald Trump 00:40:17-00:40:42 (25 sec)

They have some, but very little. Uh, and we just want to win. We don't want to have them -- it's very simple, uh, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and they can't have a nuclear weapon. If they did, the Middle East would have been wiped out by now. If I didn't stop the JCPOA, the Obama deal, if I didn't terminate that, they would have had a nuclear weapon.

Donald Trump 00:40:42-00:40:55 (13 sec)

I believe Israel would no longer be with us and big parts of the Middle East and perhaps other countries in different continents, frankly, because these people are crazy. So they cannot have a nuclear weapon and they won't.

Note 00:40:55-00:40:55 ( sec)

[Crosstalk]

Question 00:40:55-00:40:58 (4 sec)

[Inaudible] expect over the next four weeks, eight weeks?

Donald Trump 00:40:58-00:41:05 (7 sec)

Well, we'll be hitting -- we'll be hitting them very hard and, you know, at some point they're going to say, we just can't take it anymore.

Question 00:41:05-00:41:18 (13 sec)

Mr. President, on the disarmament deal that you announced, do you have assurances from Israel that they are on board with this deal? And what comes first? Does Israel pull back and then Hamas disarms, or does Hamas need to disarm and then Israel [Inaudible]

Donald Trump 00:41:18-00:41:42 (24 sec)

So we do have an understanding with Israel. Israel is very happy about it. Israel helped us, and they've been very good. They've been very good about it. Most people said that would be a deal that would be undoable. Now, will it go through its ups and downs? It's a very complex situation over there. The people are very complex and difficult, in many cases wonderful, in many cases not so wonderful.

Donald Trump 00:41:42-00:42:05 (23 sec)

But that will be a -- it's a great breakthrough. Nobody's ever thought that would -- nobody thought that would be possible, to disarm Hamas. Uh, that shows you how much, uh, success we're having with Iran. Because if you go four months ago, five months ago, a deal like that would have been impossible. So it's a big step for the Middle East, and people are really impressed by it and they're surprised by it.

Question 00:42:05-00:42:12 (7 sec)

And what comes first, Mr. President? What comes first? [Inaudible] Mr. Infantino speak to you about their proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup? And is that something you support, having just had it?

Donald Trump 00:42:12-00:42:12 ( sec)

Who?

Question 00:42:12-00:42:18 (6 sec)

Uh, did FIFA or Mr. Infantino speak to you about their proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup?

Donald Trump 00:42:18-00:42:18 ( sec)

No, I [Inaudible]

Question 00:42:18-00:42:24 (6 sec)

Mr. President, on the -- you said this morning on Truth Social that victims of government abuse should be paid back.

Donald Trump 00:42:24-00:42:25 ( sec)

Yeah.

Question 00:42:25-00:42:30 (5 sec)

Even if it's not the anti-weaponization fund, would you still want the acting attorney general --

Donald Trump 00:42:30-00:42:49 (19 sec)

Well, I'm talking about the weaponization against large numbers of people in our country by the Biden administration and by Obama, but by the Biden administration in particular, in this case. But large numbers of people, their lives have been ruined. They've been destroyed. Their families have been decimated.

Donald Trump 00:42:49-00:43:10 (21 sec)

They've gone to prison for no reason whatsoever. There's never been a group of people, most like -- I mean, I can think of a couple that were treated pretty badly, groups, but there's essentially never been a group of people treated so badly as these people. And this fund -- this fund was not for me, this fund was for those people that have been weaponized, that have been abused.

Donald Trump 00:43:10-00:43:34 (24 sec)

I was abused, they attacked my house, Mar a Lago, where I live, and I was, you know, big damages should have been given to me. I don't want anything. I'm not talking about myself. I think that there's a group of people in this country, uh, history will show, that were treated like nobody else has ever been treated, so badly, so horribly.

Donald Trump 00:43:34-00:44:03 (29 sec)

Their families have been ruined. Many, many suicides, they've committed suicide. People that were very successful, that wanted to go to a rally or an event and ended up spending the rest of their lives in horror. No. So, I mean, you can say what you want about the fund and they they've agreed to not have a fund, but there are a lot of people that are very upset about it, a lot of Republican people, a lot of Democrat people are very upset about it. A lot of people were covered.

Donald Trump 00:44:03-00:44:19 (16 sec)

I wasn't covered by that fund. I don't want to be covered by the fund. I probably was abused more than anybody in the history of our country, but I wasn't looking for it. But there were a lot of people -- and I'll tell you something, Todd -- Todd Blanche is a very, very good man, and he shouldn't be in the middle of this.

Donald Trump 00:44:19-00:44:46 (27 sec)

He should get approved, because you will never get anybody like him. You're never going to get anybody. And to make him a pawn in this whole thing, this is being done by a Senator, and I don't really blame him, to be honest with you. I endorsed his opponent, and as soon as I endorse his opponent, his opponent went through the roof and he won the primary election in Texas [Inaudible] And the man that lost, the man that I didn't endorse, has become very angry and that's OK. I mean, I understand that.

Donald Trump 00:44:46-00:44:51 (5 sec)

I probably would do the same thing. Want to know the truth, I think I'd do the same thing.

Question 00:44:51-00:44:59 (8 sec)

Mr. President, on that, though, do you agree -- just to be clear, do you agree with the acting attorney general that the Anti Weaponization Fund is dead? And why not just put that in writing?

Donald Trump 00:44:59-00:45:20 (20 sec)

Well, it is dead, but, you know, I wish it weren't, to be honest with you. I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused. This has nothing to do with Todd. This was me. Uh, horribly abused, and I'd like to see them compensated for the pain. They lost their families. They committed suicide. Many people committed suicide.

Donald Trump 00:45:20-00:45:35 (15 sec)

They went down for an innocent journey. and I'm not only talking there, I'm talking about not even having to do with that, the way they were treated. The Biden administration and the Obama administration weaponized government and destroyed lives.

Note 00:45:35-00:45:35 ( sec)

[Crosstalk]

Question 00:45:35-00:45:43 (8 sec)

Are you willing to accept limits on the scope of the audit immunity deal in order to get Attorney General Blanche confirmed?

Donald Trump 00:45:43-00:45:57 (15 sec)

Well, no, he should be approved.I mean, you're not going to get a person like that. Everybody agrees to it. Don't forget, uh, Senator Cornyn thought he was phenomenal until he lost. You know, when he lost, is that a correct statement? You come from Texas?

Question 00:45:57-00:45:57 ( sec)

Yes.

Donald Trump 00:45:57-00:46:18 (21 sec)

I mean, he thought this was the most incredible person and then when he lost, he lost because of me. I endorsed somebody else. And as soon as I endorsed the other person, the other person became a rocket ship upward and he lost. And, you know, I think I'd be the same. I mean, I shouldn't say that, but I'd be upset also.

Donald Trump 00:46:18-00:46:32 (14 sec)

And I -- so I fully understand it. He shouldn't be that way' I shouldn't be that way, but he is that way. He's become a very angry person and I understand. You have a couple of others that have caused their defeat too and, you know, you'll probably hear from them too. Yeah.

Question 00:46:32-00:46:40 (8 sec)

Mr. President, back on Iran, there's a report that you got a proposal from the military to go big and hit them hard over 10 or 14 days.

Donald Trump 00:46:40-00:46:40 (1 sec)

Well, we're going big.

Question 00:46:40-00:46:41 ( sec)

Are you going to consider --

Donald Trump 00:46:41-00:47:03 (22 sec)

We've already gone big. Look, I mean, what's big? They had 159 ships. That was their entire Navy, 159. Their entire Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea. I'd say that's going big. They had 200 airplanes, they're all gone, every one of them, don't have one airplane. They had anti-aircraft weaponry, very good, but it didn't work and it's all gone.

Donald Trump 00:47:03-00:47:08 (6 sec)

Their radar is all gone. Their leaders are all gone. Everything's all gone. But they'll fight onward.

Question 00:47:08-00:47:21 (12 sec)

Mr. President, on Ukraine, you said the other day that you're not sure about whether to grant Ukraine the patriot missile license that have been discussed. Do you want to see more from Zelenskyy before you take that action?

Donald Trump 00:47:21-00:47:39 (19 sec)

Well, it's a big step. Look, we have the greatest weapons in the world. We have the greatest drones in the world. People don't know that. We have the greatest weaponry in the world. We have, in the case of President Zelenskyy, he'd like to have some patriots. They'd like to have some tomahawks, which are, you know, lethal one offensive, one defensive.

Donald Trump 00:47:39-00:48:06 (26 sec)

But when you give somebody the right -- very complex weapons, by the way, I mean, the patriot as an example, the other day you read that five missiles were shot. They were going 8,600 miles an hour. Think of it, 8,600. Now a car, if you go 60, it gets to be a little faster, if you go 100. 8,600 miles an hour and they were big missiles, and they were shot at Jordan.

Donald Trump 00:48:06-00:48:24 (19 sec)

And our guys were there, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, five. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Right, I don't want to be Biden. [Inaudible] six. I had to be very careful. That would have been -- that would have been a great sound bite. There were five missiles and we shot all five down before they got close.

Donald Trump 00:48:24-00:48:46 (22 sec)

Nobody else has that capacity. These weapons are incredible. And we have to be very careful about letting somebody build them. You know, it's very important now. We are building many plants now to make those and other -- the tomahawk missile is the most incredible thing. It can go into a doorway, you can put it through a window of a house.

Donald Trump 00:48:46-00:49:09 (23 sec)

Nobody's ever seen anything like it. You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful. Uh, now, we have not agreed to that. We're talking about it, but it's a hard thing to give away that kind of technology. Uh, and I don't think this would ever happen, but, you know, those people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you, you know, that is possible.

Donald Trump 00:49:09-00:49:35 (26 sec)

You look at war, it's happened a couple of times over the years, right? So we have to be very careful. I mean, we -- we guard that -- we have the greatest military in the world, but we have the greatest weapons in the world. Now we have to make them a little bit faster because we've given a lot away. You know, uh, President Biden, unfortunately, gave a lot away to Ukraine and he gave -- so did I. I mean, I gave them the javelins, the tank busters.

Donald Trump 00:49:35-00:49:52 (17 sec)

Without javelins, that that war would have been a one day war. It would have been over. They wiped out the tanks going up to Kyiv when they got stuck in the mud. They had a general that decided to go through the mud instead of going up the highway where they were going very nicely. It would have been over, but no, I gave them the javelins.

Donald Trump 00:49:52-00:50:12 (20 sec)

The javelins are unbelievable. We have the greatest weapons in the world. We have to be very careful about giving out the secrets to those weapons and they're not -- you can't copy them. It's a little like, uh, Nvidia. They have a chip, they say you cannot copy it. The complexity is so great, you cannot.

Donald Trump 00:50:12-00:50:32 (20 sec)

You know, most things, you copy. China is known for it, other countries [Inaudible] we do something. And I guess we copy also, but most things you can copy pretty easily. There's a chip that they made, their ultimate chip and they always have the ultimate chip. And I say, well, why doesn't somebody copy it? Because they can't, the complexity.

Donald Trump 00:50:32-00:50:43 (11 sec)

They can't copy our weapons. We have the greatest weapons in the world, many of them. Those are just two or three that I mentioned, but you cannot copy them. So we have to be very careful.

Question 00:50:43-00:50:50 (7 sec)

Sir, as Hamas disarms as part of this plan, who do you see as taking possession of those weapons that they had? Does that go to the new government or does it --

Donald Trump 00:50:50-00:50:58 (8 sec)

It would be the Board of Peace, mostly. It's going to be run by the board -- this Board of Peace has been an amazing -- it's led by some amazing people, Board of Peace.

Question 00:50:58-00:51:01 (4 sec)

On Iran, Mr. President, you said they do have some capabilities left.

Donald Trump 00:51:01-00:51:02 ( sec)

Yeah.

Question 00:51:02-00:51:06 (4 sec)

Should Americans be prepared for these back and forth attacks to continue until Iran simply isn't able to strike back?

Donald Trump 00:51:06-00:51:19 (14 sec)

A little bit. They'll get weaker. They'll get a little stronger maybe now, but they'll get weaker and then they Peter out. Uh, yeah, sure, I think so. I mean, it'd be foolish to say no. You know, you always have to keep your guard up.

Question 00:51:19-00:51:22 (3 sec)

What is the status of talks? Who from the administration is talking to Iran?

Donald Trump 00:51:22-00:51:33 (11 sec)

Well, they always want to talk, but they break their word so often. Steve is talking, Jared. We have very good people. Uh, JD is involved, very strongly involved. Uh, we have great people talking. Marco is involved.

Question 00:51:33-00:51:35 (2 sec)

Because they say talks aren't happening.

Donald Trump 00:51:35-00:51:57 (22 sec)

Very good people. We have the best people, but they'll make a deal -- as an example, we'll talk about nuclear, and we'll be in there talking about nuclear for seven hours. I say, what is it -- why do you need seven? You can take 10 minutes. You have five minutes, you should solve it, but seven hours. And then they'll go out, and I'll say -- they discuss nuclear and they'll go out and they'll say, we never discussed nuclear.

Donald Trump 00:51:57-00:52:05 (7 sec)

And I say, why -- why do they say that? All they do is make me angry. You know, they just make me angry. Any other questions?

Question 00:52:05-00:52:10 (6 sec)

Do you still believe that you can reach a deal with Iran, given that you talked about --

Donald Trump 00:52:10-00:52:35 (25 sec)

I guess you can. I mean, I'm losing faith in them because they do lie and do they do misrepresent. Well, the other day, the five missiles we shot, we knocked them down, but we were in the midst of a negotiation. I mean, I'm waiting for Steve to call me, how is the negotiation going? And instead, I got a call from Pete that they just shot five missiles at one of our bases in Jordan, and we have bases in Jordan.

Donald Trump 00:52:35-00:52:53 (18 sec)

Fortunately, our people operated the equipment. It's also very complex to operate. You know, you talk about the equipment, it's a very -- you have to be -- oftentimes you see, where did you go to school, MIT, Caltech. I mean, you know, they go to schools that are not as normal for the military, to be honest with you.

Donald Trump 00:52:53-00:53:21 (28 sec)

We have unbelievably brilliant people operating that equipment. And when you don't, you know, the equipment, uh, the shots miss. The safety misses or the accuracy misses. We have unbelievable people. Think of it, we had 111 at one point a couple of months ago, 111 over a short period of time, missiles were shot at the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, great beautiful ship, one of the most beautiful ships to me design wise.

Donald Trump 00:53:21-00:53:55 (34 sec)

111 missiles going out. Out of the 111 missiles, 111 missiles were shot down, quite a bit earlier than they got -- I mean, long before they got there, they were shot down. It was almost, in a couple of cases, it was shot down almost as they were taking off. Uh, it's incredible technology. So you have a ship that costs billions of dollars and you have missiles heading to it. 111 missiles were shot down, routinely shot down.

Donald Trump 00:53:55-00:54:03 (9 sec)

And I spoke to the people. I like to reward people. I call them up. I'm the president. And they were cool as a cucumber.

Note 00:54:03-00:54:03 ( sec)

[Crosstalk]

Question 00:54:03-00:54:14 (10 sec)

The last two weeks of strikes by CENTCOM, CENTCOM has said that those were meant to degrade Iran's ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz. How many more strikes will it take to significantly degrade?

Donald Trump 00:54:14-00:54:25 (11 sec)

Well, you never know. Look, I mean, most people would have given up by now. You know, they've got no Navy, they've got no air force. Most people would have given up, they haven't. So I give them credit for that. I mean, they're known as being tough, they're tough. Steve?

Question 00:54:25-00:54:30 (6 sec)

Back on Ukraine, what did you tell President Zelenskyy about the patriots? Did you explain all of that to him, your concern about --

Donald Trump 00:54:30-00:54:50 (19 sec)

I did. I spoke about patriots, I spoke to him about tomahawks, spoke to him about everything. I also spoke to him about let's get this war over with. So last month they had 25,000 people -- it's averaging about 25,000 people a month die, mostly soldiers, almost entirely. But, you know, missiles are hitting areas also, but mostly soldiers.

Donald Trump 00:54:50-00:55:04 (14 sec)

They had 25,000 soldiers. The month before that, it was 32,000 soldiers. I said, you got to get this war over with. I think he wants to make a deal and I think Putin wants to make a deal but there's a lot of dislike, as you probably noticed.

Question 00:55:04-00:55:07 (3 sec)

He seems very reluctant to make concessions, President Putin, I mean.

Donald Trump 00:55:07-00:55:29 (22 sec)

Well, nobody wants to make concessions, but they're both going to have to make some concessions. I mean, they got to make a deal. 25,000 young, beautiful people, soldiers, mostly soldiers, are dying a month. It's -- uh, I ended eight wars. That was the war I thought would maybe go first and it really hasn't. It's gone last.

Donald Trump 00:55:29-00:55:51 (22 sec)

I mean, I ended wars that were, in theory, much more difficult to end. We had a couple that were into the 30 year category. Well, the Congo, look at the Congo and Rwanda. That was our nasty war and they have peace. I don't know how long that one's going to stay, but we ended India, Pakistan. 11 planes were shot down.

Donald Trump 00:55:51-00:56:07 (16 sec)

That was raging. That was good. I used tariffs. I said, if you're going to go to war, 250 percent tariff, to each of them. And they screamed and yelled and were very angry. They were both angry about it and a day later, they called and they said, we will not go to war.

Donald Trump 00:56:07-00:56:22 (15 sec)

But I ended that. And the prime minister of Pakistan said I saved 50 million lives, because that's two nuclear powers, serious nuclear powers. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Enjoy Camp David.

Question 00:56:22-00:56:25 (3 sec)

[Inaudible] Iran is behind those cyberattacks?

Aide 00:56:25-00:56:26 (1 sec)

Thank you, guys.

Donald Trump 00:56:26-00:56:44 (18 sec)

I don't think -- no, I think that Minnesota is behind it. You know who's behind it, Minnesota, because they're grossly incompetent. I think the governor's behind it. I don't think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together. It's one of the worst run states. JD will tell you.

Donald Trump 00:56:44-00:56:46 (2 sec)

He found tremendous corruption in Minnesota.

JD Vance 00:56:46-00:56:46 ( sec)

Yes, sir.

Donald Trump 00:56:46-00:56:55 (9 sec)

And by the way, just gave me a report, massive, massive future things having to do with corruption in Minnesota are happening right now. Thank you very much.

Question 00:56:55-00:56:59 (4 sec)

Have you talked to Senator Fetterman about leaving the Democratic Party?

Donald Trump 00:56:59-00:57:00 (1 sec)

Thank you.

Aide 00:57:00-00:57:01 (1 sec)

Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys.

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