Thank you very much. We're going to have a little session today on the ambassadors. It's a group of people that were selected. They're doing very well. They're very far along in the process. And they're going to each introduce themselves and talk about the country that they're going to. And they might say a little bit about themselves also because people are very interested in that.
We're also going to sign right now some executive orders. And Will, if you come -- would come forward.
Yes, sir.
I'll start thinking about signing them, right?
A few things for you today, sir. First, we have a pardon for Devon Archer. Uh, Devon Archer was a former business partner of the Biden family. Uh, he's, uh, was prosecuted relating to a fraud investigation. But notably, the tone and tenor of that prosecution changed dramatically after he began to cooperate with Congressional investigators and serve as a witness against Hunter Biden and the Biden family.
We believe that was an injustice and therefore, we're asking you to -- to pardon him.
And many people have asked me to do this. They think he was treated very unfairly. And I looked at the records, studied the records and he was. He was a victim of a crime as far as I'm concerned, so we're going to undo that. All right. That's nice. Devon Archer. Congratulations, Devon. [Laughter]
Next, sir, we have a Presidential Memorandum for your attention. This memorandum requires the immediate declassification of all FBI files relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. This was obviously one of the instances of the weaponization of law enforcement powers of prosecution against you and others.
We believe that it's long past time for the American people to have a full and complete understanding of what exactly is in those files.
Which gives the media the right to go in and -- go and check it. You probably won't bother because you're not going to like what you see. But this was total weaponization. It's a disgrace. Should never happen in this country. But now you'll be able to see for yourselves all declassified. Is that correct, would you say, all declassified?
Yes, sir.
Everything?
The, uh, the FBI file with a -- there's a classified annex, but other than that, this -- we'll put everything in the public eye.
[The president signs the document]
Is anybody going to look, huh? Are any of you going to look? And frankly, the FBI should be ashamed of themselves and so should the Department of Justice and so should Biden, OK.
Next, sir, we have an executive order for your attention. We've taken action against the number of law firms that have participated either in the weaponization of government, the weaponization of the legal system for political ends or have otherwise engaged in illegal or inappropriate activities. The law firm of Jenner and Block is one of these law firms.
This is a law firm that as you know employed Andrew Weissmann after he came off of the Mueller investigation. It's a law firm that's engaged in invidious, racially and sexually discriminatory practices. It's also a law firm that has participated in the weaponization of the legal system against American principles and values.
And we believe that the measures in this executive order will help -- help correct that.
And Andrew Weissmann is the main culprit?
He's certainly --
With respect to this firm.
He is one of a number of reasons that we believe this executive order is warranted.
He's a bad guy.
[The president signs the document]
OK.
Next, sir, we have an executive order for your attention relating actually to government payments. Historically, checks issued by the Treasury, I believe, are 14 times more likely to become the subject of fraud than electronic transfer payments. This is an executive order that's going to push the Treasury Department to modernize its payment system to ensure that where possible, they're using electronic methods of payment as opposed to paper checks in order to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the government.
Which is obviously an endeavor that we've -- we've been pursuing in numerous aspects of government under your leadership.
It's basically modernization of equipment and methods. And it's something that really, I think, is going to be a great. The secretary of the Treasury wanted it, Scott. And so we're doing this. And we have other modernization programs going on. We could let somebody else whoever's next, whoever that may be do it, but it's something that should have been done 25, 30 years ago.
[The president signs the document]
OK.
Along similar lines, sir, this is an executive order. We're calling it Protecting America's Bank Account. The basic idea here is that instead of having lots of different departments and agencies and offices issuing payment often without justification, often without any provided rationale, we're going to be centralizing payment processes where possible in the Department of the Treasury.
And ensuring that measures are taken in Treasury against waste, fraud and abuse to ensure that money that's leaving the public Treasury is as protected as it possibly can be.
All right, good.
[The president signs the document]
Many of these things should have taken place decades ago or longer. [Laughter]
Lastly, sir, we have an executive order for your attention on the very important subject of election integrity. We believe that this executive order is the -- the farthest reaching executive action taken in the history of the Republic to secure our elections. Among numerous other aspects of this executive order, this is going to cut down on illegal immigrants, on the voter rolls, ensure that the Department of Homeland Security and the data that they have available is being fully weaponized to ensure that illegal immigrants aren't voting.
This will include a citizenship question on the federal voting form for the first time. This executive order instructs the EAC to cut federal funding to states that don't take reasonable steps to secure their election. This calls on the Department of Justice to vigorously prosecute election crimes, particularly in states that we don't believe are in compliance with federal law around election integrity.
I could go on and on for a while, sir, but compliance with National Election Day rules cracking down and investigating and prosecuting foreign interference in our elections, revoking President Biden's Executive Order 14019, which essentially weaponized government to corrupt and pollute our election process.
There's a lot in here, but we believe that these are very important steps that we need to be taking as an administration, at your direction, to ensure that our elections are as secure as they possibly can be.
OK, you all understand that, yes? Election fraud, you've heard the term. We'll end it, hopefully. At least this will go a long way toward ending it. There are other steps that we will be taking in the next -- in the coming weeks. And we think we'll be able to end up getting fair elections. Perhaps some people think I shouldn't be complaining because we won in a landslide.
But uh, we got to straighten out our election. This country is so sick because of the election, the fake elections and the bad elections. And we're going to straighten it out one way or the other.
[The president signs the document]
And it's an honor to sign this one. To sign all of them, but to sign this one is a great honor.
Excuse me.
Thank you very much.
Sorry, sir.
So we're going to go around the room a little bit quickly. And we're going to introduce these very outstanding people. They've had, uh, in all cases, outstanding careers. They're very incredible people that are going along as rapidly as the system can go along. We're ahead of, I guess anybody else thus far.
So I want to thank John Thune. He's done a very good job and the whole Senate. We're being delayed as much as possible by Democrats, but that's standard. It gets to be just standard.
But the process is moving along very quickly. So, Sergio, just say hello and then we'll introduce everybody.
Absolutely. Sergio Gor, Director of Presidential Personnel. It's been an absolute pleasure to get to know every one of you every step this way. As the president said, we're at a record pace. We have more nominees today from the Senate than at any previous point, over 70. And that's a record in two months and we're proud of that.
And we're determined to ensure the world has America first Patriots in all of our posts.
Charlie.
Charles Kushner, I'm going to France and Monaco and I'm proud to serve under the greatest president of our country. I'm very proud to serve.
Thank you. Thank you, Charlie.
James Blair. Honored to work here in the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff. And Mr. President, I think that all of these successful people who'd want to go serve the United States under your leadership is a testament to your vision and leadership.
Thank you, James.
I'm David Perdue. I'm going to the People's Republic of China and it's my honor to represent President Trump, the people of America, represent our interests and values in China.
I'm Leah Campos, I'm going to represent the president in the Dominican Republic. Mr. President, thank you for the honor to serve you and -- thank you.
Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor, look forward to working with every one of you on behalf of the president, his leadership and the American people.
Thank you.
John Arrigo. I am going to the Republic of Portugal. And I am very excited to do so and serve our -- what I consider one of my closest friends and one of the best presidents this country has ever had. Thank you.
Kevin Cabrera, nominated to be ambassador to Panama and it truly is an honor, president, to be part of your administration.
Thank you.
Tom Barrack, nominee to the Republic of Turkiye. Delighted and honored to be with you, Mr. President, and the host country, which is one of the most ancient and civilization, is in search for your peace, prosperity and security program. Thank you.
Good place. Good leader, too.
Mr. President, thank you, it's an honor. I'm Pete Hoekstra, you know that, but I am going to Canada. I look forward to serving you in Canada and your agenda.
And you'll do a great job. Thanks, Pete.
Thank you, Ron Johnson, sir. Thank you for the nomination to represent you and the United States to the United Mexican States. And I'm really encouraged by some of the conversations you've had with President Sheinbaum recently and to the increase in support that we've seen of her government along our border on the important issues.
So, thank you, sir.
They have stepped it up a lot, Mexico and Canada. So, let's see how it works. Right. Thanks.
Yes, sir.
Matt Whitaker from Des Moines, Iowa. I'm proud to, as soon as I'm confirmed, go represent you at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Thank you, Matt.
George Glass on my way to Japan. I -- previous administration, I served for you in Portugal. It is a great honor to be able to do this a second time and thank you very much for the opportunity.
Thank you very much. Thank you, George. President Trump.
My name is Ken Howery. I'm your nominee to be ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, a very close partner and ally. I served for you last time for the Kingdom of Sweden. I want to thank you for the faith you've placed in me as your nominee to Denmark.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
President Trump thank you for the honor of a lifetime. My name is Stacey Feinberg and hopefully I'll have the honor of serving in Luxembourg. And I think that this is the greatest presidency and the greatest time in history and it's all because of you.
Thank you very much.
Nicole McGraw, nominated to serve in Croatia. And it's such an honor to be here with you today and to serve you and the American people.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
President Trump, thank you very much for your nomination to the Republic of Chile and let me tell you, Border Patrol agents are so thankful for everything that you've done for them. But -- .
That man knows more about the border than anybody. I tell you. Thank you.
It's a great honor. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Brandon.
Mr. President, Brian Burch. If I'm confirmed I'll be representing you at the Holy See. Catholics are very proud of your work. Your team is doing an excellent job. So, thank you, very honored to serve.
Thank you very much.
Mr. President, thank you again for the honor, the greatest privilege. My name is Somers Farkas. I will serve this great man at the Republic of Malta. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Mr. President, Joe Popolo from Dallas, Texas. Very proud to serve you at the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the very first country to recognize the United States 250 years ago. Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. President. If I'm confirmed, I will be representing you in the State of Israel. It will be an extraordinary honor. And you've done more for Israel than any president in any time of its history. And we are grateful. And I'm hoping I'll get to be there by Passover.
Thank you, Mike. And Mike is an outstanding guy. We all -- they all are. And Mike, I think he's going to do wonders for Israel. He actually probably gets along with both sides and that'll be interesting to see. But the world is watching you, Mike. So good luck.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Good luck. You're going to do well. Thank you very much.
Mr. President, thank you for this great honor to serve the Republic of Italy and San Marino. I'm so looking forward to going over there and working with that great ally and for the pleasure to serve you. Your staff has been great working with us and have done a great job and we really appreciate them. Thank you, sir, for pushing this along.
And have a good time. A really good time [Laughter].
I'm Warren Stephens from Little Rock, Arkansas, and I have the honor to represent the president and the United States in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And to be chosen to go to such an important ally of ours -- I know sir and I'm looking forward to it, but thank you for the honor.
You're going to do fantastically. These are tremendously successful people and you two guys and then you add on Mike, I think they have a little more money than Mike [Laughter], but he's got some other advantages. He's got some other -- like upstairs. He's got some big advantages [Laughter]. It's very exciting.
It's really exciting to have all of you. Would you have any questions, media, for the people that you just saw -- so outstanding, and I thought it would be nice to bring them before you. And so, if you have any questions, please.
I wanted to ask you about the talks in Saudi Arabia. It sounds like you've made some progress on a Black Sea ceasefire. Could you update us on that? What happens now?
So, we've made a lot of progress on two fronts, on both sections that we call them, we call them sections, but they're much more than that -- Russia, Ukraine and also the Middle East. And we'll see what happens. We're in deep discussions with Russia and Ukraine. And I would say it's going well, but it's a very -- it's a situation we should have never had to even think about, should have never happened.
And on the Middle East, that's been going on for a lot of years, centuries and centuries, it just keeps going. And we are making a lot of progress. So, it's all I can report. But some very, very big talks are going -- and detailed talks are going on right now on both fronts.
Mr. President, you said that your national security adviser learned a lesson after a reporter -- .
Excuse me, I didn't pick you. Go ahead, please.
Mr. President, the ceasefire agreement that was brokered today allows for third-party countries to help implement the agreement. What does that look like and who's going to be involved?
The ceasefire agreement?
Yes, the maritime ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
Well, they're going to get together. Look, it's -- they agreed to something, and they got broken. There's tremendous animosity. There's a lot of hatred, as you can probably tell. And it allows for people to get together, mediate it, arbitrate it and see if we can get it stopped. And I think it will -- it'll get stopped.
What countries are you looking to work with, sir, to help implement and monitor that ceasefire?
We have other countries involved and they're involved very strongly in the process. And that'll be resolved. Actually, as bad as it is that's the least of the problems. So, that will -- we'll get that resolved. And we are being aided by other countries too. Yes, please, all right.
Tomorrow, the subcommittee on DOGE is going to review funding for NPR and PBS. Now every republican president has always promised to take away this money that's going to these two public news outlets. If they're successful, I know Senator Kennedy has backed it, Marjorie Taylor Greene in congress has backed it. Would you be interested in defunding and taking away taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS?
Well, I would love to do that. I think it's very unfair. It's been very biased. The whole group, I mean the whole group of them. And frankly, there's plenty of -- look at all the media you have right now. There's plenty of coverage. I was from a different age, and they spent more money than any other network of its type ever conceived.
So, the kind of money that's being wasted and it's a very biased view, you know that better than anybody. And I'd be honored to see it end. We're well covered, look at all the people that we have here today. We're well covered, and we don't need it. And it's a waste of money, especially -- I don't even know what DOGEs recommendation is. I assume their recommendation is to close them up.
Well, after they hear all the testimony, I think they're going to make a decision relatively sooner than later. But we'll see what that turns out.
I can't imagine that they wouldn't because they have found so much waste, fraud and abuse, hundreds of billions of dollars and just waste, fraud, abuse. You heard yesterday some of the new things that were found, $22 billion just in -- billion.
You know, if you had $22 million, it would be nice, but $22 billion, put into environmental accounts. One was $2 billion, into one account. Stacey Abrams, where they had $100 in the account. And just before I came in, they put $2 billion, and you guys are looking. And say you mean $2 million or maybe $200,000. No $2 billion were put in the account.
What do you think of that, Mike? Do you think that's a straight deal? $2 billion?
Just write me the check, Mr. President. [Inaudible; Laughter]
It's just -- it's a horrible thing. And we had -- we have so many of those things. So they've done an incredible job. And the country wants to hear it. I think DOGE is actually very popular because of what's happening. They're hearing about all of these scams and for big, big money, tremendous amount. And when you add it up, uh, just hundreds of billions of dollars being wasted.
And much of its fraud. You know, we talk about waste, and it is waste and abuse, but a lot of its fraud to.
Can I follow up on something? Mr. President? I have a question on DOGE?
Yeah, go ahead, Brian.
I am, I just want to follow up on that. If Planned Parenthood is defunded, would you look into the harvesting of baby organs that they've done throughout the years and maybe go after some criminal prosecution on that?
Well, I think you're talking about a subject that is a heated subject. And we'll look into it. We're going to look into everything. But that's certainly a subject that's been debated for a long time. And we will look into it, yeah.
Mr. President? Mr. President? Mr. President, a lot -- some senators have expressed hope that the White House will support a rescission package to codify some of the DOGE cuts into law. Where does the White House stand on that? And are you making progress on --
On which package?
A rescission package to codify some of the DOGE cuts into law.
Yeah, well, it would be great. I think we're going to do that. I think they're going to do it. I think we're also going to be codifying a lot of the executive orders that we've done, which have been very popular. And we're looking at one, I will tell you right now that I think perhaps will be controversial but not with the people and that sanctuary cities.
We're going to end sanctuary cities for some of these jurisdictions that aren't cooperating with law enforcement. They're guarding criminals. They're taking the rights away from the citizens of this state and their city. And we're going to be ending sanctuary cities if we find it necessary to do in certain major areas.
And we may just end the entire thing all together. Because it's just a way of protecting criminals. And nobody else is benefited by that. And for some reason, Democrats want to keep it and they want to shield criminals from being sent back to their countries or being sent to prison. And in the meantime, the crime rate has gone through the roof.
Under Biden, it was through the roof. It's starting to come down, but we're taking a lot of people out of here. So we may be presenting you very shortly with an executive order ending sanctuary cities.
Mr. President, are you going to change any of the practices that your national security officials used after a reporter was inadvertently added to a group chat about attacks on Yemen?
Well, I think it's a question I've been asked now, and I've given a few answers and they've all been the same. We have an amazing group. Our national security now is stronger than it's ever been. We have had a very, very successful numerous attacks on that area. These are people that shoot down ships, not only our ships, ships all over the world, they're shooting down right out of the water and damaging them badly or they're going down.
They're also shooting anything that happens to be flying in the area. We hit them very, very hard. There was no classified information as I understand it. They used an app, if you want to call it an app, that a lot of people use. A lot of people in government use. A lot of people in the media use. And I think I'll ask Mike.
Mike is here. Do you want to respond to that please?
Yes, Mr. President. You asked about lessons. I think there's a lot of the lessons. There's a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves, making up lies about this president, whether it's the Russia hoax or making up lies about Gold Star families. And this one in particular I've never met, don't know, never communicated with.
And we are -- and we are looking into and reviewing how the heck he got into this room. But I'll tell you what, the world owes President Trump a favor. Under Biden, global shipping was shut down. Pinprick attacks months between them, our destroyers being fired upon dozens of times. President Trump took decisive action with his national security team, took out the head missileer knocked out missiles, knocked out headquarters, knocked out communication sites.
And for once, as we hear, as you all hear from every one of our allies, thank God for American leadership. Again, thank God for American strength. You're welcome world [Inaudible]. And -- and look, we have a national security team that was coordinating these efforts. As Director Ratcliffe testified today.
His first day on the job he was introduced to this app on his government systems at the CIA and at the State Department and otherwise. So look, this journalist, Mr. President wants the world talking about more hoaxes and this kind of nonsense rather than the freedom that you're enabling. And a key part of our sovereignty is open sea lanes and knocking the crap out of terrorists.
Which is exactly what your team and Pete Hegseth, a good friend and fellow veteran is leading the charge on. And it's an honor to be a part of it.
[Inaudible]
We had a very, very successful -- excuse me. We had a very, very successful evening. And we've had numerous successful evenings and days in that area. The Houthis are absolutely on the run. The worst of them have been killed. This should have been done a long time ago by Biden, but Biden was an incompetent president.
He couldn't do anything. He wouldn't -- he didn't know where -- where he was going. He had no clue. This guy had no clue. This should have been done a long time ago as they shoot missiles at ships, randomly shoot missiles at ships. And -- and they make their own missiles. You know, this is not an incompetent group of people.
They make their own missiles. They get the missiles also from Iran. It's an offshoot of Iran. Another offshoot. You have Hamas. You have Hezbollah. You have the Houthis. You've got a lot of stuff going on with Iran. And we sent a letter to Iran. You're going to have to be speaking to us one way or the other pretty soon because we can't let this happen.
But that's an app that a lot of people use. And somebody got on it. I happen to know the guy's a total sleazebag --
How did the --
From the Atlantic. The Atlantic is a failed magazine. It does very, very poorly. Nobody gives a damn about it. It gives -- this gives it a little bit of a shot. And I will tell you this that they've made up more stories and -- and they're just a failing magazine. The public understands that. He's a very good man.
That man is a very good man right there, that you criticize so strongly.
Sir, did you make a mistake? To ban the use of --
He's a very good man. And he will, uh, continue to do a good job. In addition to him. We had very good people in that meeting. And those people have done a very, very effective job. And you're going to see it. And it goes on, by the way. It's going to go on. And I think the Houthis wish that it didn't happen.
But that's what it's all about. We have to create a safe country, a safe world, and that's what we're doing.
Mr. President, where -- Do you feel our national security was put at risk, Mr. President? Do you plan to ban the use of senior officials using Signal --
Do I plan to ban who?
The use of Signal to communicate from senior officials --
Well, I don't know what is -- I don't know anything about Signal. I wasn't involved in this. But I just heard about it. And I hear it's used by a lot of groups. It's used by the media a lot. It's used by a lot of the military. And I think successfully. But sometimes somebody can get onto those things. That's one of the prices you pay when you're not sitting in the situation room with no phones on, which is always the best frankly.
But you know, you -- the best is to be there. In fact, oftentimes I've been in the -- in fact, just last week, I was in the situation room with something very important. And we had a couple of people hooked up by line. And I said cancel the line. Sorry, fellas. What you do is we'll tell you all about the meeting.
Because I know people do get on those lines, whether it's Signal or anything else. Yeah?
Are you going to change any procedures as a result of this?
Well, I mean, look, we look at everything. And you know, they've made a big deal out of this because we've had two perfect months we're bringing -- we are bringing in business. We have another one announced tomorrow, a big one very big. Like, in the history of our country, nobody's ever seen anything like it. And I think probably a lot of people are saying it's -- they started by saying it was the greatest first month that a president has ever had.
And I think that's true. And now they say it's the best second month. And they had to find something. And this -- certainly, we'll look at this. But the main thing was nothing happened. The attack was totally successful. It was I guess from what I understand, it took place during. And it wasn't classified information, so this was not classified.
Now if it's classified information, it's probably a little bit different. But I always say you get -- you have to learn from every experience. I think it was very unfair the way they attacked Michael. Uh, he's a good person. The person that was on just happens to be a sleazebag, so maybe that's just coincidence.
I don't know.
But you are the -- Mr. President, would it be a -- Investigation -- Mr. President? Problem if the Atlantic released all the text messages if they're not classified?
Well, I don't know. I'd have to ask the military about that. Because you know, maybe you wouldn't want that. I don't know. I will say this. That from what I heard, the -- the man that we're talking about, who's not somebody that I don't think most people have ever heard of, he left -- he -- sounded very boring and he left early, he got off the line very early.
So, I can't speak to it other than that. So, he's made up a lot of stories and I think he's basically bad for the country. But it's a failing venture, a very failing venture. They're very upset and a thing like this is publicity for them. But I don't think we should allow people that are very good like that man sitting right at the end of the table who's done a great job -- we shouldn't allow them to be hurt by it.
Mr. President, can I follow up on that? Can I follow up on that? Are you -- so, are you saying you're OK with the continued use of Signal by administration officials for sensitive --
No, that's not what I said. I said we'll look into it, but everybody else seems to be using it. It seems to be the number one used device or app -- whatever you want to call it. And we will certainly -- look, if it was up to me, everybody would be sitting in a room together, the room would have solid lead walls and a lead ceiling and a lead floor.
But you know, life doesn't always let you do that. In the meantime, the attack itself that we were talking about and discussing has been an unbelievable success.
But you will conduct an investigation, is what you're saying, into this. We'll look into it, sure.
[Crosstalk]
-- that investigation.
Yeah, I want to look into --
Is that the FBI --
[Crosstalk]
Anything like that, I would ask them, it's not really an FBI thing. It's really something having to do with security -- security like will somebody be able to break in? Are people able to break into conversations. And if that's true, we're going to have to find some other form of device. And I think that's something that we may have to do. Some people like Signal very much, other people probably don't. But we'll look into it. I think, Michael, I've asked you to immediately study that and find out.
If people are able to break into a system -- now in this case, it wasn't that the -- this attack was going on and nobody found out anything. And again, the person that was on, as I understand it, he left very early because he didn't find it very exciting, but I think it's something you should look into.
Yes, sir, we are -- we have our technical experts looking at it. We have our legal teams looking at it. And of course, we're going to keep everything as secure as possible. No one in your national security team would ever put anyone in danger. And as you said, and we've repeatedly said, the attack was phenomenal and it's ongoing.
But the media wants to talk about everything else except for the hostages you're getting out of the Middle East, Iran on its back foot, sea lanes getting reopened, peace in Europe. As we just saw today with the Black Sea ceasefire we were just on with Steve Witkoff, myself, our team in Saudi Arabia. They want to talk about all this other stuff except for your amazing successes and the successes of your team.
[Crosstalk]
One of the other things, and sometimes you have to move very quickly and there are other devices that are very good, but they are very, very cumbersome and you're not able to use them from a practical standpoint. So, all we can do is find out the best we have with modern technology. They'll probably get better over the years.
Yeah, go ahead.
Sir, on the Black Sea -- so, the Kremlin has said that there are several conditions that would need to be met for this agreement to happen. This includes sanctions relief for banks and some companies. Did the US agree to all of those conditions that they laid out?
They will be looking at them and we're thinking about all of them right now. There are about five or six conditions, we're looking at all of them.
Mr. President --
[Crosstalk]
-- said that it's looking into how journalists got added to that Signal chat. Is it possible that there could be a firing of even a lower mid-level official once that person is identified?
About what?
About the Signal chat that we've been discussing.
We've pretty much looked into it. It's pretty simple, to be honest. It's not -- it's just something that can happen. It can happen, you can even prepare for it and it can happen. Sometimes people are hooked in and you don't know they're hooked in. They're hooked into your line and they don't even mean bad by it, but it's not a perfect technology.
There is no perfect technology. The really good ones are very cumbersome, very hard to access. And I think we're going to look at -- we always want to use the best technology. This was the best technology for the moment, but again it wasn't classified. So, they probably viewed it as being something that wasn't that important.
And it obviously -- with the attack being -- I mean, I don't know if it's been read out to you yet, but that attack was a tremendous success for the US, a tremendous success.
Who said the information -- who said the information was not classified? Do you think that Mike Waltz made a mistake, and does he need to apologize?
No, I don't think he should apologize. I think he's doing his best. It's equipment and technology that's not perfect and probably he won't be using it again, at least not in the very near future. What are your --
Sir, I agree with you. Let's get everybody in the room whenever possible.
A lot of times you find out defects by exactly things like that, but I don't think it's something we're looking forward to using again. We may be forced to use it. You may be in a situation where you need speed as opposed to gross safety and you may be forced to use it. But generally speaking, I think we probably won't be using it very much.
[Crosstalk]
-- the secretary of defense on that chain, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth and JD Vance, the vice president, said that the Europeans were freeloading. Do you agree with that assessment?
Do you really want me to answer that? Yeah, I think they've been freeloading. The European Union has been absolutely terrible to us on trade, terrible. And as you know, NATO, I got them to pay hundreds of billions of dollars. They were way behind. And if you look, even if you look at Ukraine, so we're in for $350 billion because of Biden -- should have never happened -- this war should've -- . All these dead people should not be dead.
All these broken cities that are demolished down to the ground, those gorgeous towers, the most beautiful in the world, the most beautiful spires in the world. The spires in Ukraine were said to be the most beautiful of all. Just about every one of them is lying on its side in a million pieces. It's so sad to see what's happened to a heritage.
No, I think that -- I think when they say the European Union and the -- and you could say NATO also. Look, NATO -- and I don't blame NATO for this. I don't blame Europe for this. I blame Biden for the fact that he didn't make them equalize. And to this day I said to him you got to catch up, you got to equalize.
But why are they in for $100 billion and we're in for possibly $350 billion? It shouldn't be -- it shouldn't be. And you could say more important for them because we have an ocean in between. So, it's one of those things. You'll be seeing a Liberation Day. I call it Liberation Day in America. You're going to be seeing an April 2nd -- didn't want to do it on April 1st for the obvious reason, April 2nd. But you'll be seeing tariffs.
And I think I've been very fair, I have them set, but I think I've been very fair to countries that have really abused us economically for many, many decades.
But on the same --
[Crosstalk]
-- that information was not classified. Which of your National Security advisers told you -- ? Just following up on your comment on the economy. There is reporting that consumer confidence fell for the fourth straight month. What is your message to Americans who are concerned about --
[Crosstalk]
Well, I know this, that for the first time in like 50 years, right track, wrong track -- we're on the right track and I think people see that. And if you look at prices, prices are way down. You know, when I first came here, the first time I met with you people officially, they were screaming at me about eggs.
I said I've been here for a week, and I'm being yelled at about eggs. Egg prices have come down 45-50 percent in the last week and a half. And our secretary of agriculture has done a great job. As you know, Brooke, she's done a fantastic job. And others working with her have done a great job. But we brought eggs down at a level that nobody thought we could get at. I inherited that situation, and I inherited a grocery situation.
The groceries went way up -- an old-fashioned word, but it's a very descriptive word. Groceries have gone through the roof, and I used to campaign on it. I used to say we're going to get groceries down and we have got it down. I watched a certain newscast over the weekend and a congressman, democrat congressman said, well, Trump's done a lot, I agree.
He's been great on the border. He's been great on the military, but you know he hasn't brought prices down. That's false. Gasoline is way down, eggs are way down, groceries are down very substantially, but down, almost everything's down. Now I'd like to see interest rates come down a little bit. And you're going to see billions of dollars, even trillions of dollars coming into our country very soon in the form of tariffs because we were abused by presidents that, frankly, in all fairness, it wasn't their expertise, but they had no idea what they were doing.
Mr. President, you say tariffs will create more jobs here in America. So, which states?
I agree, it will be -- it'll create a lot of money and more jobs. But if you look, so in the last -- these gentlemen would know about it, and ladies, because some of the ladies are great businessmen in this room that are becoming ambassadors, great, really great, top of the line. When you look at the number of companies that have said, look, we're close to, I would say close to $4 trillion.
We never had numbers like that. The number one chip maker in the world from Taiwan coming in with $200 billion.
We have Apple -- look at Apple, $500 billion, $500 billion, and they're going to build plants all over the United States. They were all being built in China. You have many, many companies. And maybe above all, you have the car companies coming in at levels that nobody's ever seen before. We have -- Honda is opening up one of the biggest plants in the world in Indiana.
And many car companies are coming in. We have AI. We're leading China by a lot in AI. And we're going to keep it that way. Because we've made it very good for them. And we're going to protect them. Once you're here, we'll protect them through taxes, through incentives and also through tariffs. Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you very much. Thank you.