Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters Before Marine One Departure - October 1, 2026

Mr. President, you have a great relationship with Poland, what about the base in Poland?

Well, we're looking at that and we have great respect for the president of Poland. So we're looking at that and it could happen.

What about --

[Crosstalk]

-- Iran, you mentioned that they cannot have nuclear weapons. What about Hezbollah in Lebanon, that is still rebuilding his arm based on some intelligence?

They cannot have nuclear weapons and they won't have, and they're agreeing not to have.

On the Fed? On the Fed? On Warsh, can you talk about Kevin Warsh? You said to Time Magazine that he should have voted against the board. Have you talked to him since that vote, about that?

No. I want him to vote the way he wants. I personally would have voted against the race because we've got inflation totally under control. Inflation was caused by Biden. The worst inflation in history, I inherited. We have that under control. And the problem is interest rates will hurt our growth because we're growing and very fast and interest rates can slow down growth.

We want growth, and growth does not cause inflation.

[Crosstalk]

What about the support for Ukraine?

I think it's going to get solved.

Mr. President, are you going to be building a base in Venezuela or South America?

We're looking at doing a lot of things. We're getting along very well, as you know. And Venezuela, it's been a great situation. The people are happy, and I'm very happy, and we're taking a lot of oil and we have a great relationship. If Venezuela is making a lot of money and so are we, we're going to start filling up our national strategic reserves with the Venezuelan oil for very little money, and it's going to be great.

President Trump, please, how close are you following the elections in Brazil? Please.

Pardon me. [Inaudible] said today that the Iran war may threaten the midterms for you. You said that last night --

Well, it's possible. I don't -- it should help because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. So when you say, is it OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, I would say 100 percent of the people say no, including worldwide. So when you say it that way, it would help. If you don't say that, it could hurt, yeah.

[Crosstalk]

Who's the Republican nominee in 2028. Are you going to endorse someone in 2028?

I might. I mean, we have a great bench of people. We have tremendous people. We really -- the Democrats don't have a bench at all. We have a great bench.

Do you know why the prisoners in the UK were released? Do you know why the UK prisoners were released?

No. I was surprised at that. We are going to speak. I was surprised. They were released on bail. I have a lot of respect, however, for Scotland Yard. I think they know what they're doing, but I was a little bit surprised. I was surprised.

The US special envoy to Iraq said leaving Iraq does not mean abandoning their allies. Do you think they will be successful?

I will never abandon our allies.

Mr. President, please, how closely are you following the elections in Brazil? It's --

Very closely.

Very closely? How important that country is from your perception from that region in South America?

Brazil is a very important country. It's a very great country. The people of Brazil are fantastic people, very important election.

[Crosstalk]

Mr. President, are you planning to pardon your [Inaudible] before you leave office?

Well, it's a -- it's a long time from now, and they've been very honorable. We've done a great job. We're the hottest country anywhere in the world. I'm going to cut, as an example, a ribbon in Texas for Peterbilt. They're building a massive truck factory. They're moving from outside of the United States to inside.

So it's not something I'm thinking about now, but based on Biden, I can do whatever I want, because he certainly pardoned a lot of people. He pardoned everybody of note. Yeah.

You're going to Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Alabama and Nebraska.

Right.

Why such Republican states if you're so confident your party's going to do all right?

Well, I won all of them by a lot. I'm going there just to make sure. But in the case of Oklahoma, we pretty much, I hope, won that race because that was a race in the Republican Party for governor. And the person that I endorsed, who was not at all leading when I endorsed him, he was down by 22 points, and he ended up winning.

And I'm really going to Oklahoma to thank him, because for three terms, I -- think of it, three elections, I've won 87 out of 87 counties, and I'm going to thank Oklahoma. They've been just an unbelievable state. You know, you have to give back too. You can't like win a state every -- I was number one. You know who number two was?

I think it was Ronald Reagan in 56. So I had 77 out of 77 counties. Every county voted for Trump three times. Second was Ronald Reagan, 56 out of 77. And I'm sort of going there to thank them. But they also have a very important governor's race, but I think he's in good shape because he won, with my endorsement, he won the primary.

Yesterday, you expressed some frustration about the sales job that your party is doing.

Yeah.

Do you think everyone else in the Republican Party is doing enough?

Well, I think the press isn't covering us fairly. It was just announced we have the best economic numbers of any president in the history of our country, and yet people don't know about it because the press won't talk about it. You talk about it on occasion. But we have -- as an example, we have the best poverty numbers ever for individual.

We have the best individual numbers ever. We have the best 401(k) numbers ever. We have the number one stock market, 80 -- 81 days out of a short period of time, ever. We have the best numbers in history. We have the most money being invested in our country, ever, by many times. So we have all these numbers.

And honestly, the press doesn't talk about it. And I would say this, I give us an A+ on the government, on economics, on everything. Look at inflation. I inherited the worst inflation in history under Biden, worst in history, and now it's great. It's really good. We've got it down. And oil is going to come down very, very soon.

Oil is coming down as soon as Iran is finished and they're finished pretty much right now. We're getting more oil out of the Hormuz Strait now than we did before the war.

[Crosstalk]

What?

Iran has a proxy in the Middle East. What about the proxy of Hezbollah?

They go as goes Iran, so go the proxies.

[Crosstalk]

Why haven't you made the final decision on US Army base in Poland? Why haven't you decided --

Well, you don't know if I made it or not. I might have made it. I like Poland.

What are you looking for in a new press secretary?

Well, we have a lot of people that want that job. I would say many of them are right here. Would you like that job? Uh, maybe a guy like Peter, but he's making too much money. He's gone. I lost him as soon as he negotiated his last contract, didn't I?

What do you say to Democrats who are concerned with rising costs? What do you say to Democrats --

No, costs are coming way down. The Democrats gave us the highest cost in history. They gave us the highest inflation in history. As you know, costs are coming way down. Oil is lower now than it was in the Biden administration and the difference is, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. They would have had a nuclear weapon in the Biden administration.

Uh, costs are way down and they're coming down further. We have inflation totally in control, and we've done a great job. And the thing I haven't done a good job with is explaining it to people. We have the most successful period of time for a president in terms of building our country, in the history of our country.

There has never been a time like this. We were a dead country two years ago. Now we're the hottest country in the world. And economically, we have $21 trillion, with a T, trillion dollars being invested in the US. The record was a different country, a very big country and it was 10 years ago and the number was $3 trillion.

We're at $21 trillion for a period of 15 months. As an example -- as an example, we're at $21 trillion for 15 months. It ended at the 15. Biden was a $0.5 trillion for four years, and he was going negative. If they got in, you would have had a depression. If they got in, if the Democrats get in, but if they got in, instead of having the hottest country in the world, you would have had a depression.

I'm talking about a 1929-style depression.

First of all -- first of all, has anybody briefed you about whether or not the guy, the pilot of the Fly Dubai plane is linked to Iran?

We're working on it right now. They're being very open with us. Uh, I would say the answer based on what I'm hearing is yes, but we're working on it right now.

So this guy might have been either put in there by the IRGC or radicalized some other way, and then he tries to take down this plane?

It could have been, yeah.

And my other question for you is, if Ken Paxton is telling people behind closed doors that he thinks the convention hurt his poll numbers, why go to Texas?

Well, I'll tell you what, we have to win this election. That convention -- you were there. That convention was a tremendous success. It went up against the NFL. And as you know, they had 24 -- I guess it was -- I said 25 yesterday. It was actually, they had 24 million views and we had 107 million views. In other words, we beat the NFL by four times and maybe that was so for Ken, but I can tell you, we were there for a lot of reasons.

First of all, I won Texas all three times. I won the Hispanic vote all three times. Texas has been great to me. I'm going to Oklahoma now, uh, for the most part, but we have the governor's race but he should win. He wasn't favored to win, but I endorsed him and he beat somebody that was unbeatable, Drummond.

And he's going to be great. So I'm going to Oklahoma now because I won all -- think of it, I want all three -- every county. They have 77 counties. I won every single county all three times. Number two was Ronald Reagan at 56. I was 77. So they have 77 counties. I won them. So they say, why are you going?

I'm going there because, like Alabama, same thing. I'm going because you have to thank these states that are with you 1,000 percent. And I haven't been there in a while, and I want to just thank them. But we also have a governor's race that I don't -- I think it's over, but we have to make sure people get out and vote even in Oklahoma.

So I love Oklahoma, I love Alabama, I love a lot of -- Texas as an example. But I go there because they want to see me there.

[Crosstalk]

No, I haven't. Mr. President, do you think that Cornell University has done enough to investigate the alleged rape on campus?

Well, I don't know that much about it, but Cornell is a fine school, and I'm sure they'll do what's right.

Mr. President, will the US retaliate against Iran if they are behind that attack on the plane? Will the US retaliate?

Oh, they'll be hit very hard. Don't worry. You just ask them. They know what happened. They'll be hit very hard. Look, Iran now -- Iran now has got 301 percent inflation. Their money is valueless. Their economy is gone. They have no military. They have no anti-aircraft computers. They have very little going, and we control the strait.

We took out more oil in the last two days than at any time in the history of the Strait, and that includes before the war.

[Crosstalk]

I tell you what, you know what it is, our Navy is incredible. Our military is incredible, the job they've done. Now I have to make a decision. They'll either sign a very fair deal or they won't exist any longer.

Thank you very much.