Yes, sir, good morning. Well, I had a great, um, dinner with President Aliyev last night, talked about a lot of issues of shared importance and just a couple of notes of gratitude as I -- as I wrap this trip up. First of all, thanks to the president of United States for brokering this historic agreement.
There's going to be a lot of commerce instead of war in this region of the world because of the president's leadership. That's going to be good for American job creators and good for American workers. It's just going to be good for everybody as people engage in transactions and commerce with one another instead of fighting one another.
I certainly want to thank President Aliyev who put together an amazing visit and we spent a lot of time talking about terrorism. We talked about, you know, a number of issues specific to this region of the world and because he's such a respected world leader, we talked about a lot of issues that affect other parts of the world as well.
And then of course, the prime minister in Armenia and the Armenian people for making it possible for us to be at this point where Azerbaijan and Armenia are at peace. So it was a great visit. I'm very glad to come, but I'm also looking forward to getting back to Washington and going back home.
Thank you. Mr. Vice President. Can I ask you about how you started your trip in Milan for the Olympics? I'm curious, what did you make of your reception there? And the president, while you were there, criticized an American Olympian who said he had mixed feelings about what it means to represent the US at these Winter games and said it was hard to root for someone like that.
After meeting some members of team USA, do you agree? Do you feel the same way?
Well, look, I had a great time at the Olympics and I think the media made much ado about nothing with the -- the fact that, yes, a crowd of 30,000 people, there were certainly some people who disagreed with my policies or the policies of the administration. But I felt like the people of Milan were great.
Certainly Prime Minister Meloni and I had a great meeting, but the Olympic athletes were unbelievable. And I know the entire country is rooting for them. Yes, you're going to have some Olympic athletes who pop off about politics. I feel like that happens every Olympics. My advice to them would be to try to bring the country together.
And when you're representing the country, you're representing Democrats and Republicans, you're there to play a sport and you're there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal. You're not there to pop off about politics. So when Olympic athletes enter the political arena, they should expect some pushback.
But most Olympic athletes, whatever their politics are doing a great job, are certainly enjoy the support of the entire country. And I think recognize that the way to bring the country together is not to show up in a foreign country and attack the president of United States. But it's to play your sport and represent the country well.
Sir, Howard Lutnick is facing some calls to resign over his appearance in the Epstein files. There are some contradictions about his previous claims, the new files. What's your reaction to that?
Well, I mean, I obviously I've been pretty occupied the last couple of days. I haven't seen Howard getting calls to resign. We'll follow the story a little bit closely more closely as I get on the plane. But, you know, fundamentally I think the Epstein files what they reveal is certainly you had a lot of very wealthy and powerful people who were involved in some very disgusting behavior.
But I do find it interesting that the -- the Congressional Democrats are so focused on attacking the president of United States. Who's the president who actually authorized the release of these files? It was Donald Trump and they, you know, what really bothers me about this is that they take completely unsubstantiated attacks against the president, some of which are completely facially absurd.
I mean the most absurd claim that I saw, uh, is -- is that Donald Trump was engaged in sex trafficking when he was a teenage boy, meaning when the president was himself a teenager. Some of this stuff you just have to say obviously that's ridiculous. But I think the verified stuff, the fact that you have people like the former President Clinton, a lot of very wealthy financiers who were involved with this guy even after he went down for sex trafficking is, you know, it reveals a certain corruption at the heart of a certain part of American elite culture.
I think what they also reveal is that the president of the United States did not participate in that corruption and that's good on his character. And it's fascinating to me that Democrats are so focused on tying the president of the United States up in this. When it's clear, if you look at the files, Jeffrey Epstein hated the president of the United States and the president of the United States didn't care for Jeffrey Epstein.
Doesn't that actually mean something good about the president when one of the worst people in the world thinks that he was a bad guy? I certainly think it does.
Sir, some Republicans are still calling for the president to apologize for posting that video of the Obamas depicting them as monkeys. I'm wondering, do you think he should apologize? And what was your reaction to that video?
Yeah, I mean it was -- it was one of those things where either because of the time zone change or because we were so busy, the controversy had started and then died out by the time I even paid attention to it. You know, the president said a staffer posted a video. He hadn't even watched the whole thing. When he watched the whole thing, he took it down, it's not a real controversy.
We have much, much more real problems to focus on.
Should he apologize for that, sir?
Should he apologize for posting a video and then taking it down? No, I don't think so. I think people post things on social media and if you post something you don't like it, you can just take it down and that's what he did.
Yeah, on New Start. The president said that he was reluctant to extend the New Start treaty, but that then there would be nuclear talks to see if there could be a new one. What's the status of those negotiations? Have you been briefed on the latest and what the US position is?
Yeah, I talked to Marco about it a couple of days. I mean, this is like an ongoing negotiation. Obviously one of the hallmarks of the president's foreign policy is that he hates nuclear proliferation. And I think for the American people, this is the worst thing that can happen is more and more regimes across the world getting nuclear weapons.
The Start treaty is an important part of that. It's going to change compared to where it was and that's part of the negotiation that we're going -- that we're engaging in with the Russians. So you know, we're going to keep on talking to people, we're going to keep on trying to limit nuclear proliferation and I'm sure that we're going to eventually get a good outcome for the American people that limits the spread of nuclear weapons.
That's fundamentally the goal.
Sir, on Iran, the latest talks, you know the president is now talking about potentially sending a second carrier strike group to -- to the Middle East to the region. At this point, how confident are you in going the diplomatic route? Do you think that is still going to be successful or are we leaning more towards a military strike?
Well, look, the president has told his entire senior team that we should be trying to cut a deal that ensures the Iranians don't have a nuclear weapon. But if we can't cut that deal, then there's another option on the table. So I think the president is going to continue to preserve his options. He's going to have a lot of options because we have the most powerful military in the world.
But until the president tells us to stop, we're to engage in these conversations and try to reach a good outcome through negotiation.
Would you like to -- sorry, would you like to see regime change in Iran? And what would -- if the regime falls, what comes next?
Well, look, I mean, if the Iranian people want to overthrow the regime that's up to the Iranian people. What we're focused on right now is the fact that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon that's been the focus of the president's policy even going back to the first administration. I'll take one more question.
Sir, there was some reporting that you were privately opposed to the operation in Venezuela, that you were privately unsupportive of it. [Laughter] Can you clarify just where you were? You know, any comments or advice you had to the president before that happened?
Yeah, it's interesting. On any major foreign policy decision we've taken, I've seen reports in the media that either supported it or opposed it. I think the takeaway from it is that the press should be a little bit more mistrustful of anonymous sources that clearly have an agenda. My attitude towards the president's foreign policy is number one.
My job is to provide honest counsel which I always do; and number two, when the president makes a decision, I support it and support it fully. That will continue to be my approach to all the president's foreign policy, which I think has been a great success for the American people. Have fun. Have a safe trip, guys.
Take care.
[Crosstalk]
-- the Nancy Guthrie investigation, sir?