Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters After Air Force One Arrival - September 16, 2026

[Crosstalk]

We're gonna be, uh, doing a good job tonight in North Carolina. But Michael Whatley is a great candidate and he's gonna bring it back to sanity because Roy Cooper, the former governor, was a disaster on crime and a disaster on all sorts of hazards. We had the hurricane, the big hur- -- Helene, I believe it was the name.

And he was horrible. He was actually horrible. So I think Michael Whatley has a very good chance of winning. Hopefully he's gonna win and he's strong on crime and he loves the state. He was a great head of the Republican Party. And so we're gonna be here for him. Uh, we had some very good numbers come out today on certain things.

And, uh, what question would you like to ask?

[Inaudible] Mr. President, [Inaudible] Reserve actions today were the opposite of what you have been asking them to do. Do you still have confidence [Inaudible] ?

Yeah, I do. I mean, I'm relying on Kevin, but he's got, you know, a very tough board. He's got a board that was put there by a lot of other people and the, uh, interest rates are too high. They're not appropriate. And I told, I talked to Kevin, and I said, you might as well vote with the board 'cause it's not gonna matter.

Uh, the board is very hostile. They're very political. They're doing the wrong thing. And a bunch of politicians are people put on by politicians and, uh, it's a shame because it's too high an interest rate. Despite that, the country barrels through everything because we're doing so well. But the interest rates are too high.

We should be play- -- paying the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world 'cause we have the strongest credit. If we wanted to get rid of deficits, which we could do with a swipe of a pen with every country, we'd make a trillion and a half dollars a year. We'd pay off our debt, we'd do all sorts of things, but we haven't chosen to do that, but at some point we will.

In- -- interest rates are too high.

Mr. President -- Butler, in Butler, Pennsylvania. Can you provide us with more information of the evidence that you've heard?

No, Butler thing is strange. Uh, very strange situation. It was handled by the Biden administration and a very bad, very bad, uh, head of the FBI at the time, as you know. Christopher Wray was a terrible, he's a dirty cop, in my opinion. But, uh, you have to check with the law enforcement.

[Crosstalk]

I think the whole Butler thing was very badly handled.

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Kevin Warsh, when did you talk to him? Did you try to convince him not to [Inaudible]

No, I didn't convince him. No, I said, do what you want. They said do what you want. 'Cause it doesn't matter 'cause he doesn't have the vote. No matter how good a job, he's a good man, [Inaudible] But no matter how good a job, he's got a hostile board.

Do you think he makes decisions based on what you told him?

Well, I don't know what he was referring to, but I would tell you interest rates are too high. [Inaudible]

Do you think he made that decision based on what you told him?

No, I don't think so. I think -- I want him to be independent. But my opinion, I'm very good at this stuff. Interest rates are too high. We should have the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world because we're the best around.

Can you, can you [Inaudible] bring down prices that are [Inaudible]

No, they're raising the rates to -- they're raising the rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly do. The problem they have is that we have the greatest economy in history. We have o- -- over 21 trillion dollars being invested in this country, which is five times more than we've ever had before. Uh, so they're raising that only for political reasons and that's a race against Trump.

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[Inaudible] Iran war [Inaudible]

Well, hopefully we're toward the end of the war. They wanna make a deal and we'll see how that works out. They're very much wanting to make -- Iran is very much wanting to make a deal. We'll see how that works.

[Inaudible] Mr. President.

Yeah, still direct.

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[Inaudible]

[Inaudible] deficits. For instance, if we lose 50 billion dollars a year with a country and we say we're not gonna trade with you anymore, we don't lose 50 billion dollars a year. It's very simple.

[Inaudible] Canada becoming an associate member of the European Union?

No, I think it's laughable. Uh, the whole thing with Canada. Canada's been a terrible trade partner and, uh, no, I don't see that. If they do that, if I think it's at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things. So if they do that, if Europe does that with a bad intention, if it's a good intention, that's fine.

If it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.

[Inaudible]

Which is, which is a possibility.

Mr. President, why is it so important for you to have your name on the Kennedy Center Me- -- Memorial [Inaudible]

Well, it's a very easy question to answer because it's a mess. It's lost, the Kennedy Center for many years has lost tens of millions of dollars, even hundreds of millions of dollars. A loser financially. And many of the places like that, you know, like Carnegie Hall and the various places throughout the country, they lose a lot of money.

For me to go and fix it, I'm the one capable of fixing it and then have to subsidize it for years to come because you will lose with the Kennedy Center. They were losing hundreds of millions of dollars and sometimes hundreds of millions -- this is before I got involved. So for the Trump administration, for me to get involved and to take that on long term and to carry it or to raise money to carry it. I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition.

Because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down. It's in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape. You see steel falling down. You see plaster falling off ceilings. You see a lot of dangers. It's been very badly maintained for 25 years.

[Inaudible] go in the building?

I'd like to be able to save it, but it's gonna take a lot of subsidy into the future. And for us as an administration to want to do that, I think the admin- -- the Trump administration should be recognized.

Mr. President.

Mr. President, what do you think of --