Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters On Board Air Force One - July 27, 2026

Hello, everybody. Hi, Jennifer.

[Inaudible] sir?

Hello, everybody. Do you have a question, Jennifer?

Yes. On the Iran war, have you been frustrated with Secretary Hegseth --

No.

-- because of the advice he gave you early on in the war and how it's turned out?

No. I think he's done a great job. We've pretty much destroyed their military. They want to meet and we're meeting. We'll see what happens. There's a chance we could make a deal. Without what we did, they wouldn't even be talking to us. They requested a meeting through their surrogates and directly and we're meeting, and, you know, good things can happen, I guess.

Oil dropped very big today. Uh, stock markets, as of about an hour ago, was like through the roof. But no, they requested a meeting. They would not have requested the meeting if we were doing poorly. The only reason they want to meet is because we've been hitting them very hard. Yeah? How much patience do you have left with Iran, sir?

I have plenty of time, plenty of time. Their whole shoreline is wiped out. The strait is in very good shape now, and we're talking right now. You know, they wanted to talk. Their people said, please don't drop, don't shoot, last night, the night before, two nights, don't do it. You know, we're having good talks.

So we'll see what happens. I think there's a good chance that something could happen. And if it does, good. If it doesn't, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago.

Mr. President, what has communication been like with the Houthis and the Red Sea?

Who?

The Houthis. Are you concerned about the disruptions?

Well, we're dealing with Saudi Arabia, and it's a problem that we had a while ago, and we knocked the hell out of them, as you know. And we didn't have any problems with the Houthis after that. But we're not involved with that. But we may -- you know, if they're a problem, we'll probably have to get involved.

On Saudi Arabia, have you gotten any indications from Saudi Arabia when it comes to the Abraham Accords, that they will sign on?

We haven't talked about that. No.

You put out on Truth Social -- Are you concerned about depleted stockpiles if there is Iranian -- conflict in Iran?

No, we have plenty. We have a lot of ammunition, different types. You know, Biden gave a lot to Ukraine and so we're building that up, but we have a lot. We have a lot of the mid-level stuff, too; I mean, more than we could ever use, no matter what. But we have a lot. I'd like to have more, to be honest, but so much was given to Ukraine by Biden.

When I left, the cupboards were full. When I came here with Obama, he didn't buy ammunition, we had very little and I got it built. Uh, now, as soon as I left, they gave a lot of it to Ukraine. I mean -- I mean, numbers that nobody's ever seen before. So we're building it very rapidly. Uh, plants are being built and a lot of equipment is being built.

The Patriots in particular are being built. THAAD system is going up. We have a lot. Every one of our contractors is building four to five plants right now, and we're in very good shape. But for some of the more sophisticated stuff, we'd certainly like to have more. Biden gave a lot of it away.

Mr. President? You put out a Truth Social this morning about leader John Thune.

Yeah.

What's your relationship like with the Senate majority leader?

It's fine. It's fine. He's got to get his job done. It's fine. I have a good relationship with John Thune. He's just got to get his job done. You got to get the SAVE America Act passed. Or better than that, would be the filibuster. If you terminate the filibuster, everything happens. If you don't terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen.

If you don't terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen.

But you don't want to see him replaced as leader?

I haven't even thought of it.

You're meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

I will be. I'll meet him.

Why did you ask for that meeting? And are you guys on the same page on Iran? Are you on the same page on Iran, you and Prime Minister Netanyahu?

Yeah, pretty -- we have a little difference, but pretty close. Yeah. You know, Iran took a beating over the last 14 days and they asked us very nicely, please stop, let's meet, and that's where we are right now. We'll see what happens. If we don't make a deal, we go back to the same thing.

Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy says -- Zelenskyy says that Russia is giving Iran satellite imagery of US bases in the Gulf to help them target. What can you do about that?

Well, we'll find out if that's true. I'll ask Putin about it. We'll find out. It hasn't had much impact because we've knocked the hell out of them, wouldn't you think -- if that's the case. Look, you know, they gave Venezuela a lot of equipment. Venezuela had all Russian equipment. How did that work out?

Not too good. So they may be giving, but if they are, it hasn't worked out because they have no army. They have no air force. They have no navy. They have no nothing, so it hasn't worked out well. I don't think -- I don't think they've been doing it, certainly not at a high level. And if they have, it has been very un-impactful.

There's been reports that the United states has taken in $13 billion from Venezuela. Where is that money going?

$13 billion from Venezuela? I think even more than that. No, Venezuela, we paid for that war many times over, and that will happen with Iran also. We paid for the war many times over.

But where is that money going?

Which, by the way, no other president can say that for a long time. OK? When was the last president that could say that? So we had a cost of Venezuela; we paid for it many, many times over. And now, as you know, we have a very good relationship with Venezuela.

But where is that money going?

Toward running the country.

No. US -- the money that the US is taking in, where is that money going?

From Venezuela?

Yes.

Running the country. It can go to the military. You know, Congress has to approve it. Congress doesn't like approving money for the military. They like, uh, giving it to things that shouldn't be done. But we're taking in a lot of money, billions and billions of dollars from Venezuela. That'll happen with Iran too.

With the Iranian assets, you said -- you've said that Iranian assets will be used to pay for damages to ships that are hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

That's right.

Would the US pay shipping companies directly?

No. No. We're going to use Iran's money to pay for the damage they did. In other words, Iran money that we control will be used to pay for damages. Sound good? Not bad, right? You should be rewarded. OK. Any other questions?

The FOMC is meeting this week on Wednesday.

We're going to Michigan. The car companies are doing better than they've ever done. Many, many plants are being built all over the United States. They'll be opening them over the next year. Toyota just agreed to come and move its entire operation out of Mexico and into the United States. They'll be opening, I guess, the largest plant in the world, somebody said, but because -- all because of tariffs and because of me, all because of Trump.

So, uh, it's been pretty amazing, actually.

Mr. Presdient, the Federal Reserve is meeting this week. Uh, they've not hit the inflation target set. They've not hit the two percent. There are some bets --

They did a very good inflation report the other day.

Are you worried that they might --

Costs are going down rapidly. Don't forget, I inherited the -- I haven't been here very long. I inherited the worst inflation in history from Biden, but costs are going down rapidly. And as soon as the war is over, you're going to have -- you're going to see a big drop.

Are you worried that the fed's going to hike rates to counter inflation?

Well, I have a board. And Kevin's fantastic, but he's got a board and the board members are very political, I would say. So, you know, we fight our way through the race because we're doing so well. But uh, no, he's got a board. He wants to do the right thing. I know what he wants to do, but you need the consent of some people that have perhaps bad intentions.

Rates should be lowered. This country could be at eight percent, nine percent, 10 percent, 12 percent GDP. That's what it should be. We have other countries that are paying less interest rates, and if it wasn't for us, they wouldn't even exist. It's ridiculous -- and they call them elite. We have other countries -- I don't want to mention names of countries, but I could give you plenty, that they take money out of the US. And because of that, they make -- and they get a lower interest rate than we do, and it shouldn't be that way.

We should have the lowest interest rate in the world. I could take the money that these countries are making, put it into our portfolio, and we would be -- we should have the lowest interest rate in the world, like it used to be 30 years ago. We always made the lowest rate. Uh, if you take a look at, like Switzerland, where we have a $30 billion deficit, I could wipe out that deficit overnight, overnight.

That would be money that would actually indirectly come to us. So we've got a lot of interesting things going but our country is the strongest we've ever been. It's the hottest country anywhere in the world and, frankly, we're being very nice to a lot of countries that would not survive without us. And you know who wouldn't survive without us, Israel.

Bibi's coming. He'll tell you, if I didn't get involved and if I didn't blow up those nuclear -- essentially soon to be nuclear weapons, the dust, as I call it, Israel, would have been terminated months ago, and years ago if I didn't terminate the Obama horrible agreement.

Prime Minister Netanyahu does disagree with you on the F-35s to Turkey. Are you going to tell --

[Inaudible] what?

Prime Minister Netanyahu opposes sending F-35s to Turkey. Are you going to tell --

Look, Turkey's been a great ally for me. You know, I think he's -- uh, he's done a very good job, did a good job with Syria. He's a friend of mine. And nobody tells me what we should be selling or not. Turkey has been a tremendous ally for me. Uh, if it's up to Turkey, Turkey -- Turkey's not a big fan of Israel.

You know that, right? And not a big fan of Bibi. But he is -- uh, they've been great for me. Turkey has been great, very powerful country, by the way, tremendous military, very big military, very powerful military, has a lot of great equipment.

But does Netanyahu want you to strike a deal on Iran, or does he want you to keep attacking?

He's been fighting -- Bibi has been great. I'm not going to say -- he was a wartime prime minister. He did very well together and if you look at Iran now, they're -- they are eight percent of what they were four months ago. They're eight percent of what they were four months ago. So we'll see how this all comes out.

OK.

On the Senate, on the SAVE Act, why do you want the US Senate to stay in town? Shouldn't they be out across the country campaigning?

What a stupid question for you to ask.

Shouldn't they be out campaigning, though?

What a stupid question. For Jennifer to ask such a stupid -- she's a smart person. I knew her all the way back in the Iowa days when she said Trump's going to win, and boy, was she right. So listen, why do I want -- the SAVE Act has to be done. They shouldn't leave town. I'm not going to stop them from doing it but they should get the SAVE Act done.

If they don't get it done, it's going to be a very bad thing for the party. And frankly, you know, if you look at it, the SAVE Act is going to be voted against by all Democrats, just so we know. We have some Republicans that I will not comment on, a few of them, probably four, that we probably won't get the vote.

I'd like to comment on them, but I have too much sense to do it. The Democrats are going to vote 100 percent against voter identification and proof of citizenship, 100 percent. They want your taxes to go up, they want men playing in women's sports, they want open borders for the world's criminals to pour into our country.

And yet, despite all of that, we have the lowest crime rate in the history of our country, since 1900 with murders, with all of that, with all of the 25 million people, many of them criminals that the Democrats let in. Well, they just announced this morning, they want an open border policy where the world's criminals can pour into our country.

I think they're crazy. There's something wrong with them. Any other questions?

On China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bassett said last week the administration is going to look into whether Chinese AI models are distilling from US models. Do you think China is stealing American IP?

Well, you know, they're looking at us and we're looking at them, but we're leading now, China, substantially in AI, and we're going to keep it that way. We're leading everybody and everything. We have a country that's doing well. Thank you very much, everybody. See you in Michigan.

Thank you, Mr. President.