Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters Before Air Force One Departure - October 25, 2026

Oh, we're going to Michigan. And it'll be very interesting. We, we don't want to see a jihadist senator. We don't want to see a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in our Senate. And we want somebody very capable. And I think Mike, Mike Rogers would do a great job. He's going to be a great senator. Mike Rogers is apple pie.

He's a perfect guy for our country.

Mr. President, you've done so many of these events over the past few weeks.

Yeah.

What are you hearing is the top issue for most voters?

Well, first of all, I hear that we've turned the whole thing around. And, you know, for whatever reason, presidents don't win, almost never, the midterms. And I think we've really turned it around. And, you know, I think the rallies have turned it, frankly, just to be honest. And every senator feels the same way.

You look at Ohio, look at Texas, he's in pretty good shape now, I think. Uh, Ohio's amazing. You know, Jon is gonna do -- Jon Husted looks like he's, he's a great hero. He's a great, one of the best ever. I mean, what he did, he was a All-American football player. Nobody even knew that, except for football fans.

They knew it. And he's been, uh, turned. If you look at Nebraska, he's in great shape. I mean, you could go through so many of them that were down. I think, uh, other than the problem we have with respect to the Daniel Sullivan name being put on the ballot, this is Senator Dan Sullivan. They made it very unclear, and I think it's very unfair.

And then you have ranked-choice voting, which is crooked as can be. So we shouldn't have ranked-choice voting. But, uh, on his own, Dan Sullivan would win easily, but they, the Democrats have put another guy named Dan Sullivan, in this case Daniel Sullivan, on the ballot. And, uh, that's very unfair. That's just outright cheating.

So we're before the court to see what you can do, but people are totally confused. They shouldn't be confused when voting. At least let him use the name "Senator Dan Sullivan" as opposed to "incumbent" because a lot of people don't know what "incumbent" means.

[Crosstalk]

I know you say it's not fair with his name being on the ballot, but how is it illegal?

I think it's illegal because it's unfair. If it's unfair, you don't, you want, you want fairness in voting. You just said it. I mean, you need fairness. It's, they come up with a guy who's never par- -- he never partook in, uh, any election, was never involved. I think he wasn't even a voter. He didn't vote, didn't do anything.

He just happens to have that name. And they, and they, and they put him on, and I think it's very unfair. So I think Dan Sullivan's doing great if they don't make it unfair.

I asked you about the intelligence report that got declassified on Iran. Did that strike you as very different from what you've read on Iran before?

No, they're different. They're, uh, two very different sets of intelligence reports. I have them both, but they're very different. I have two very different sets, so I have the --

So there's one that's declassified. You saw that, that said that they are in the advanced stages of attacks on, do you have, what is the other, what, what is, what is your other --

Well, I have others, but I, I'm not gonna say right now, but we have, we have very advanced sets of intelligence on Iran, and we're doing very well with Iran, as you know. But we have very advanced sets of intelligence on Iran. Some has been declassified and some hasn't. And I can't tell you what the unclassified --

Mr. President, what message did Steve Witkoff send to President Putin when he went to Moscow earlier this week?

Well, he went really to see, uh, about a couple of things. The war with Ukraine, which I think is something's gonna happen there. And also we got a very fine person back who was a prisoner, as you know, for a long time during the Biden administration. And we got him back.

Mr. President, what do you think of the fact that Abdul El-Sayed, uh, portrays himself as a medical doctor? He's even appeared in a white coat, um, despite the fact that he never completed the qualifications after medical school to be a licensed doctor.

Well, he's, I think he's practicing illegally from what I've been told. If he actually saw a patient, it would be illegal. So it's just like everything else. He's a jihadist and he, he should not be allowed to serve in our Senate.

[Crosstalk]

And why do you think he dodged questions, uh, you know, about his letter of support for the Muslim Brotherhood?

Oh, I do. Yeah. I do think so.

Right.

He's, uh, he's at least very, very, uh, supportive of that group and we can't have that.

Back on Ukraine, you, uh, uh, said you thought something could be happening there. Your policy until a few months ago was no deal with Russia, no business deal- -- dealings with Russia, until there is a piece of --

Well, the only deal we made with Russia, frankly, they released oil into the world.

Right.

They didn't give us oil. They gave the oil to the world.

[Crosstalk]

And that was a very good thing. And, uh, the only thing we're talking about with Russia is we just got a man back that Biden was unable to get back. He should've never been detained. And I got him back by asking Vladimir Putin to have him back.

Right.

And I gave nothing in return because Putin thought it was a reasonable request.

But the Alaska, uh, gas deal, the, uh, Lukoil deal, those are all things --

Those are deals that'll happen at some point, but we're not gonna be hostage with the oil industry over something that, frankly, should have been settled. It should've never started. Look, that war should've never started, the Ukraine-Russia war. And it wouldn't have if the election weren't rigged. The election was rigged and stolen.

And because it was rigged and stolen, you had a war start that should've never started. And we gotta get that war ended. Thank you.

[Crosstalk]

Sir, Mr. President, Democrats have a 12-point advantage on --