President Trump Participates in a Cabinet Meeting, Jan. 29, 2026

[00:06:44] very much. Uh I think you probably [00:06:46] noticed the cabinet room is getting more [00:06:48] and more beautiful. You can see the [00:06:49] flags behind us of the different forces [00:06:52] and the American flag and uh various [00:06:55] others. It's I think quite spectacular. [00:06:58] It's never never looked this good and [00:07:01] hopefully we're going to do work that's [00:07:03] never been as good. So I think that's [00:07:06] basically what's happened in our first [00:07:07] year. We've had an amazing year and this [00:07:12] will be our first cabinet after the [00:07:15] year. So we're starting our second year. [00:07:17] Tremendous progress has been made. I [00:07:19] want to thank my entire cabinet for 12 [00:07:22] months of unprecedented achievements. We [00:07:24] really have. I mean it's unprecedented [00:07:27] the numbers we've had on the economy and [00:07:30] growth. Uh you see them and that's [00:07:32] despite a democrat shutdown. Without the [00:07:34] shutdown we would have picked up about a [00:07:36] point and a half more than already high [00:07:38] numbers record setting numbers. So this [00:07:41] has been I think and a lot of people say [00:07:43] it the most successful year of any [00:07:46] administration in American history. [00:07:48] first year. There's never been a first [00:07:50] year like this, including the fact that [00:07:52] we put out extinguished eight wars and [00:07:54] another one we think is coming. Uh Steve [00:07:57] Witco is working very hard and Jared and [00:08:00] everybody else and I think it's coming. [00:08:02] It was just announced that the murder [00:08:04] rate in our country is the biggest drop [00:08:07] ever recorded. It's at the lowest level [00:08:10] in 125 years. First in recorded history, [00:08:13] it's the lowest in at least 125 years. [00:08:16] It's a wonderful thing. And the crime is [00:08:19] way down. And one of the reasons was [00:08:20] we've taken a lot of bad people and [00:08:23] gotten them out of our country. In some [00:08:25] cases, they're so bad that we put them [00:08:27] in prison because we don't want them to [00:08:29] even take a chance of coming back in. [00:08:31] Even though our border is very secure, [00:08:33] record setting secure. Uh we had zero [00:08:38] illegal aliens being admitted into our [00:08:40] country for the last eight months. [00:08:42] That's hard. That's hard for even me to [00:08:44] believe, but the people that make up the [00:08:46] lists are supposedly nonpartisan, but I [00:08:49] would say they lean toward the Democrat [00:08:51] side. And if they say that, I'm all for [00:08:54] it. Uh, as you know, uh, we've had a [00:09:00] situation take place with respect to [00:09:02] Venezuela. [00:09:04] I want to just thank uh, General Kaine [00:09:06] and his staff. The job that they've done [00:09:09] is uh, incredible. Nobody's ever seen [00:09:11] anything like it. And once it did take [00:09:14] place, I want to thank the leadership of [00:09:17] Venezuela. We're getting along really [00:09:19] well with [snorts] them. The [00:09:21] relationships have been very strong, [00:09:23] very good. And they have uh [00:09:27] informed me that they feel this very [00:09:30] good security, very strong security. [00:09:32] We're working with uh the various people [00:09:35] involved, including Chris and Doug and [00:09:37] everybody on uh the oil. We have the [00:09:40] major oil companies going to Venezuela [00:09:43] now, scouting it out and picking their [00:09:45] locations, and they'll be bringing back [00:09:47] uh tremendous wealth for Venezuela and [00:09:50] for the United States. And the oil [00:09:52] companies will do fine, too. Venezuela [00:09:54] will actually make for themselves more [00:09:55] money than they've ever made before. And [00:09:58] that's a good thing. And the people of [00:10:00] Venezuela were were literally in the [00:10:03] streets waving American flags. They were [00:10:04] so happy. And the people in our country, [00:10:07] like in the Dural section of Miami, [00:10:09] which is considered little Venezuela, [00:10:12] they're they're thrilled. And I just [00:10:14] spoke to the president of Venezuela [00:10:16] informed informed her that we're going [00:10:19] to be opening up all commercial airspace [00:10:22] over Venezuela. American citizens will [00:10:25] be very shortly able to go to Venezuela [00:10:29] and they'll be safe there. They'll be [00:10:31] safe. It's under very [snorts] strong [00:10:33] control. and the people of uh formerly [00:10:37] of Venezuela. Some want to go back and [00:10:40] some want to go back to visit and [00:10:42] they're going to be able to do that. So [00:10:44] uh I've instructed Sean Duffy and [00:10:47] everybody else concerned including the [00:10:48] military that if you would by the end of [00:10:51] today I'd like you to have the airspace [00:10:54] over Venezuela, planes can go to [00:10:56] Venezuela opened up. Okay. [00:10:57] >> Yes. [00:10:58] >> Thank you very much. [00:11:00] And uh I want to thank all of the people [00:11:02] in Venezuela for what uh you know what [00:11:04] they went through. And I want to thank [00:11:06] the leadership for really they're doing [00:11:08] a good job. And just as I promised, [00:11:11] we've uh defeated the Biden inflation [00:11:14] nightmare and achieved explosive new [00:11:17] economic growth. The Atlanta Fed is [00:11:20] predicting an astounding 5.4% GDP growth [00:11:24] in the fourth quarter. And that's [00:11:26] despite the fact that we had a Democrat [00:11:28] shutdown. we would have had that number [00:11:30] would have been 7%. Which is a number [00:11:32] nobody's ever heard of. And we've had uh [00:11:35] we've been given great national security [00:11:37] because of tariffs. And we've also been [00:11:40] given uh unprecedented income because of [00:11:43] tariffs. [00:11:44] Uh part of the income that we gave $12 [00:11:47] billion we gave to the farmers of our [00:11:50] country. So [clears throat] that [00:11:51] yesterday was up in Iowa and they were [00:11:55] very happy. Madam Secretary. [00:11:57] >> Yes sir. They were very, very happy. [00:11:58] They were great. [00:12:00] >> So, the GDP growth in the fourth quarter [00:12:03] was great and it's going to be I think [00:12:05] we're gonna have an amazing and [00:12:06] incredible year. Hopefully, we won't [00:12:08] have a shutdown. We're working on that [00:12:10] right now. I think we're getting close. [00:12:12] The Democrats, I don't believe, want to [00:12:14] see it either. So, we'll work in a very [00:12:16] bipartisan way. I believe not to have a [00:12:18] shutdown. We don't want a shutdown. And [00:12:21] just yesterday, the S&P 500 hit 7,000 [00:12:25] for the first time ever. There's never [00:12:28] been any time at which it's done like [00:12:30] that. And the other stocks also, I think [00:12:32] it was 52 times for the Dow had hit a [00:12:35] record high. But the 7,000 was not a [00:12:38] number that was even thinkable if you go [00:12:40] back a year ago. Uh and uh so S&P hit [00:12:45] 7,000 for the first time ever. The stock [00:12:47] market has set uh it's actually 53 52 53 [00:12:53] uh all-time record highs since the [00:12:55] election adding $9 trillion in value to [00:12:58] savings retirement accounts and 401ks. [00:13:01] And I mean everybody benefits, but we [00:13:04] have record record stock markets. [00:13:06] Companies have never done well. And most [00:13:09] importantly, if you think about it, [00:13:10] after four years in which Biden got much [00:13:13] less than1 trillion dollars of [00:13:15] investment into our country, uh, in just [00:13:20] actually it was taken over 11 months, [00:13:22] even though we're 12 months, uh, in 11 [00:13:24] months, uh, we've taken in more than $18 [00:13:28] trillion. So they did less than $1 [00:13:31] trillion, Scott, in a period of four [00:13:34] years and we've done $18 trillion in [00:13:38] less than one year. So there's never [00:13:41] been anything like that. No other [00:13:42] country has done those numbers, by the [00:13:44] way, in history. 10 years ago, one [00:13:45] country did three million, three [00:13:47] trillion. No other. We did $18 trillion [00:13:50] is being invested now. Thousands of uh [00:13:54] businesses, plants, equipment all over [00:13:56] the country are being built right now. [00:13:58] and they're going to be opening pretty [00:14:00] soon. And when they open, you'll see [00:14:02] numbers like nobody's ever seen before. [00:14:04] The economy is doing amazingly well. I [00:14:06] wish the press would report it, but the [00:14:08] people are finding out. They're seeing [00:14:09] it. It's It's coming. Uh it's becoming [00:14:12] pretty evident. It's hard to hide. Uh [00:14:15] Biden inflation, which is really [00:14:17] stagflation, cost the typical family [00:14:20] $34,000. [00:14:23] Think of that. $34,000. [00:14:26] But after one year, growth in real [00:14:28] incomes is outpacing inflation by more [00:14:31] than 3,000 under Trump. So, one cost [00:14:35] 34,000 and one made 3,000. That's a big [00:14:37] swing. Gasoline has plunged to uh think [00:14:42] of this over $4 a gallon depending on [00:14:45] where you are. In California, it's 78 a [00:14:47] gallon. Uh, I was in Iowa and they had [00:14:52] $1.85 cuz I had it at $1.99 a gallon and [00:14:56] I was corrected by two farmers that [00:14:58] said, "I just bought my gasoline for [00:15:00] 185." [00:15:01] >> That's right. [00:15:01] >> So, Chris, you have to be doing [00:15:02] something right, you and Doug. Right. [00:15:04] [laughter] [00:15:05] >> But I don't want to give you too much [00:15:07] confidence. You got to keep it going. [00:15:09] We're drilling. I think I can say we're [00:15:11] drilling more than at any time ever in [00:15:13] the history. We're taking out more [00:15:14] energy out of our land. But [00:15:16] specifically, if you talk look at oil [00:15:18] and gas, we've never been anywhere even [00:15:21] close. Is that a correct statement? [00:15:22] >> That's correct. All time records. [00:15:24] >> Yeah. Great. It's great job. Well, it's [00:15:26] supply and demand. So, that's going down [00:15:29] rapidly and you know, when energy goes [00:15:31] down, everything else goes down. They [00:15:32] were they had very they tried to do [00:15:35] their thing. It was a disaster. Then [00:15:37] they ran back very late to the Trump [00:15:40] policy, but they didn't do the Trump [00:15:42] policy. They cut leases. They did [00:15:44] everything that they could do, but they [00:15:46] lost it and they were very high. And [00:15:48] we're we're now less than $2 in many [00:15:51] areas. $2.30 a gallon average. Grocery [00:15:55] prices, airfares, hotels, car payments, [00:15:58] and rent prices are coming down very [00:16:01] fast. And you don't hear the word [00:16:02] affordability issued by the Democrats [00:16:04] anymore. Now they're going into other [00:16:07] things because they're getting beaten [00:16:09] badly on affordability. remember that [00:16:11] when I was uh elected, I came into [00:16:14] office, I inherited a total mess, [00:16:16] starting with eggs, which were four [00:16:18] times higher than they were just a year [00:16:20] before. And uh Brooke got them down very [00:16:23] quickly before Easter. They said they [00:16:25] wanted me to buy plastic eggs for the [00:16:27] egg hunt at the very famous egg hunt at [00:16:30] the White House. Sir, would you buy [00:16:31] plastic eggs? And we buy a lot of like a [00:16:33] 100,000 eggs. I said, we're not going to [00:16:35] buy plastic eggs. And by the time we had [00:16:37] the egg hunt a few months later, we had [00:16:39] the prices down pretty good. And now [00:16:42] they're really low. Now they're at a [00:16:43] very low level. So we really have, you [00:16:46] don't hear the word affordability [00:16:47] because we inherited very high prices [00:16:50] and we inherited the highest inflation [00:16:53] in [clears throat] 48 years. I say the [00:16:54] history of our country. I think it [00:16:56] sounds almost the same. Actually, I [00:16:58] think 48 years sounds actually worse for [00:17:00] some reason. So I'll go with the 48 [00:17:01] because the press corrected me. I said [00:17:03] history and they said it's not history. [00:17:05] It's 48 years. I said, "I'll accept [00:17:07] that." [laughter] [00:17:10] And uh we had the highest inflation in [00:17:12] 48 years. We have uh now very, as you [00:17:16] saw yesterday with the Fed, I'm not a [00:17:19] fan of his. He said that inflation [00:17:21] essentially is not a factor. It's really [00:17:26] been pretty amazing. I just put out a [00:17:27] statement about his statements. I won't [00:17:29] repeat them here because they're too too [00:17:31] angry. And uh thanks to our tax cuts, [00:17:34] millions of Americans will soon receive [00:17:37] record setting tax refunds. You're going [00:17:39] to get a lot of tax refunds with the [00:17:41] average refund expected to be over [00:17:43] $1,000 higher than it has been at any [00:17:47] time. So we're going to be getting some [00:17:49] pretty good refunds. A lot of people, [00:17:52] if congressional Democrats had their [00:17:54] way, Americans would right now be facing [00:17:57] the largest tax hike ever. You know, [00:18:00] their proposal was to raise taxes very [00:18:02] substantially. And our proposal, which [00:18:05] is in the great big beautiful New Deal. [00:18:08] It's a New Deal in its own way. It's a [00:18:10] Republican version of the New Deal. [00:18:11] Right behind you is a nice picture of [00:18:14] FDR. This is a much better deal than the [00:18:16] FDR deal. But we have the great big [00:18:19] beautiful bill and it's given tremendous [00:18:23] tax cuts and a lot of other things. [00:18:25] People are now finding out how good it [00:18:26] is. And it's just kicked in as of [00:18:28] January 1st, by the way. So, we really [00:18:30] we're really starting to see it. Even [00:18:33] though it's a month, we're really [00:18:34] starting to see it. The US economy would [00:18:37] be cratering if they uh if they had won [00:18:40] this election, our country would be in [00:18:42] very bad shape. Would be maybe not much [00:18:46] of a country anymore. I don't think it [00:18:47] would be a country anymore. They were [00:18:49] doing everything wrong. But they were [00:18:51] going to give you the largest tax hike [00:18:52] in history. We're giving you the largest [00:18:54] tax cut in history [clears throat] in [00:18:56] the great big beautiful bill. In [00:18:58] addition, I think it's very good. I [00:19:00] think it's very important. You have no [00:19:02] tax on overtime, no tax on tips, and no [00:19:04] tax on social security. But you also [00:19:06] have, you're getting an in, this is the [00:19:08] first time this ever happened. If you [00:19:09] buy a car, you go out and borrow money, [00:19:11] you get an interest [00:19:13] deduction. You take the interest rate, [00:19:15] the interest that you're paying on the [00:19:17] loan, you're able to deduct it for [00:19:18] income tax purposes. So, that's uh a [00:19:22] first ever. And I think it's going to be [00:19:24] great for everybody, including the car [00:19:27] companies. I was in Detroit three weeks [00:19:30] ago. I went to the Ford factory, spoke [00:19:33] to the General Motors people. It's all [00:19:35] the same. They're doing better than [00:19:37] they've ever done. Uh the factory I went [00:19:40] to was like a World War I, earlier than [00:19:43] World War I factory. Opened up. Uh one [00:19:45] of the oldest buildings, but one of the [00:19:47] biggest. and Ford was getting ready to [00:19:50] close it a couple of years ago and then [00:19:51] they saw that I was doing well and it [00:19:54] looked like I would have a good chance [00:19:55] of winning and they kept it going barely [00:19:58] going and uh last week they announced [00:20:01] during my visit they announced that [00:20:04] they're going to round the clock uh [00:20:07] round the clock production they never [00:20:09] thought it was I said did you ever think [00:20:10] I spoke with Bill Ford and uh and the [00:20:14] president of Ford they were both there [00:20:16] and they said uh we can't even believe [00:20:18] we were going to close this building two [00:20:19] years ago and now it's going round the [00:20:21] clock. He said we cannot I mean they [00:20:24] wish they said we wish it was twice as [00:20:26] size but they're now building additional [00:20:29] plants in the United States as is [00:20:31] everybody else. Uh you have AI building [00:20:34] but the the car companies I love the car [00:20:36] companies and you have them they're all [00:20:38] coming back. They're coming back from [00:20:40] Mexico. They're coming back from Canada. [00:20:42] They're coming back from uh Japan and [00:20:45] they're coming back from Germany all [00:20:47] over Europe. They're coming back. [00:20:48] They're building here because they want [00:20:49] to avoid the tariffs. They don't want to [00:20:51] pay the 15% in some cases 25% tariff. [00:20:55] Could be a lot higher than that if it [00:20:56] wasn't working. So, because of that, [00:20:59] they're all coming back. Uh, one [00:21:02] statistic yesterday that Scott told me [00:21:06] is that for the first time ever, tell [00:21:08] them about the steel and Japan [00:21:11] >> that we are now making more steel. Go [00:21:13] ahead, [snorts] please. So uh yesterday [00:21:16] they reported for the first time in 26 [00:21:18] years the United States of America [00:21:20] produced more steel than Japan and that [00:21:24] is entirely driven by your tariffs. [00:21:29] >> I think [applause] [00:21:34] [applause] [00:21:36] he obviously said that much better than [00:21:38] I did because I got no applause and I'm [00:21:40] giving you I'm giving you home run after [00:21:43] home run. He says one [laughter] time [00:21:44] everybody [00:21:46] I should have saved that one for myself. [00:21:48] No, but think of it first time in they [00:21:51] they read it read almost 30 years but I [00:21:53] guess it's what 26 27 year that we are [00:21:56] now producing more steel than Japan. [00:21:58] Japan being a big steel producer. Japan [00:22:00] and other c countries really took our [00:22:03] steel production away from us. Now if [00:22:05] you think of this uh three four years [00:22:09] ago the steel companies were all closing [00:22:11] up. We worked a fantastic deal with US [00:22:14] Steel. We saved US Steel and now it's [00:22:16] all coming about. But we're uh and [00:22:18] that's just the beginning. There are a [00:22:20] lot of steel plants right now being [00:22:21] built. So it's that's an amazing that's [00:22:24] it's an amazing number. Nobody would [00:22:26] have believed that. If you would have [00:22:27] said that uh three, four, five years [00:22:30] ago, people would have said you it's not [00:22:32] a it's not a true fact. But so it has to [00:22:35] be true because otherwise you you [00:22:36] question me. You question me on [00:22:38] everything. I have to be extremely [00:22:40] accurate. I don't exaggerate it. I don't [00:22:42] want to exaggerate because you will call [00:22:44] me, you don't call other people, but you [00:22:45] would call me under my most favored [00:22:47] nation's power, which I think is the [00:22:49] most important thing, Bobby, of all what [00:22:51] we've done because we're bringing drug [00:22:53] prices down by 80, 90% depending on the [00:22:56] way you could say five, six, seven, [00:22:57] 800%. Depends on the way you want to [00:23:00] calculate it, right? But let's go the [00:23:02] oldfashioned way. But drug prices for [00:23:04] prescription drugs will be down 80, 90%, [00:23:07] 75%, 68%. [00:23:11] They've only gone up for years and years [00:23:13] and years. They've only gone up. And now [00:23:15] we're going to have essentially the most [00:23:17] favored nation. We're going to have the [00:23:19] most favored price in the whole world. [00:23:21] Whatever the lowest price in the world [00:23:23] is, that that's what we're going to pay. [00:23:26] And I don't want to go into a big deal, [00:23:27] but nobody else could have gotten this [00:23:28] but this administration. And I'm being [00:23:31] very nice when I say that the cost of [00:23:34] prescription drugs is coming down by [00:23:36] tremendous by a number that never was [00:23:39] never even thought of. This will have a [00:23:40] huge impact on health care by the way [00:23:42] because obviously uh drugs are a big [00:23:45] part of healthcare and it will help [00:23:49] repair some of the unaffordable care [00:23:51] acts damage that they've done because [00:23:53] the unaffordable care act which is [00:23:54] Obamacare. It's unaffordable. It's not [00:23:57] affordable and it's a disaster. And [00:24:00] hopefully we will be paying money [00:24:02] directly to the people instead of giving [00:24:04] the insurance companies the money. [00:24:06] They'll go into a health care savings [00:24:08] account or whatever it is. But uh think [00:24:11] of it, we pay the money, billions and [00:24:13] billions, really trillions of dollars [00:24:15] going to insurance companies. We want [00:24:17] that money to go to the people. They buy [00:24:18] their own healthcare and it'll be and [00:24:21] it's so popular. The problem we have is [00:24:23] the Democrats are owned by the insurance [00:24:25] companies. They literally owned lock, [00:24:28] stock, and barrel by the insurance [00:24:30] companies and uh they hate it, but the [00:24:33] people love it, including all Democrats. [00:24:35] So, I think we'll perhaps be successful [00:24:38] with it. But it was an idea I had. You [00:24:40] know, I read the papers and I'm reading [00:24:43] one of the stories about uh the [00:24:45] insurance companies, how much money [00:24:46] they're making, where they received, you [00:24:49] know, billions and billions of dollars [00:24:50] for this stuff from the United States of [00:24:53] America and their stock has gone up by [00:24:55] 1,400%. Think of it. 1,400 one went up [00:24:59] 1,700%. [00:25:01] Numbers went up. If you if you go up a [00:25:03] thousand% you're doing bad in that [00:25:05] business, right? And it's all because of [00:25:07] the money. Not all, but mostly because [00:25:09] of the money the United States pays to [00:25:10] the insurance companies. They say, "This [00:25:12] is really this is big stuff." And I [00:25:16] asked somebody, "Why don't we just pay [00:25:18] the people directly?" And they said, [00:25:20] "That's a good idea." You know, it's [00:25:21] funny. It's a very complicated business, [00:25:23] but actually it's not so complicated. [00:25:26] And I went to Bobby and I went to Dr. [00:25:28] Oz. I said, "Can I talk to you guys [00:25:30] about this? Is this the kind of money [00:25:33] the insurance companies get?" Yes. Why [00:25:35] don't we pay the people directly? And [00:25:37] the primary answer was that the [00:25:41] Democrats will never go along with it, [00:25:43] but the people go along with it. Because [00:25:45] I put it out, it went viral. It went [00:25:47] viral. Asus went all over the place. It [00:25:50] became the biggest story. I just said [00:25:53] it. And uh so I think we have a great [00:25:57] situation if we could do it. But if you [00:25:59] think most favored [clears throat] [00:26:01] nation policy for drugs will bring your [00:26:03] drug prices down at levels. So now if [00:26:06] they're selling a pill for $10 in London [00:26:08] and $130 in New York, the London price [00:26:13] will go up to $20 and we'll go down to [00:26:15] $20. So we'll go from 130 down to 20. [00:26:20] And by the way, tariffs did it again [00:26:22] because the no country the drug company [00:26:25] said we'll do it begrudgingly. [00:26:28] But they were okay. But we'll do it, but [00:26:30] no nation's going to approve it. Because [00:26:32] even if you raise the price by like on a [00:26:34] pill $10 to $20, you're doubling the [00:26:37] price of their prescription drugs. They [00:26:39] said, "No, they'll do it." And when I [00:26:41] got them on the phone, I said, "If you [00:26:43] don't do it, we're going to charge you [00:26:45] very substantial tariffs, more money [00:26:47] than that's going to cost you." And they [00:26:48] said, "We'll do it." And before, I don't [00:26:51] know that any other president even tried [00:26:53] to do it. We can't find it. But if they [00:26:55] did try, they wouldn't have gotten [00:26:56] through the the companies. They wouldn't [00:26:58] have gotten through the company and then [00:26:59] they wouldn't have gotten through the [00:27:01] country. I spoke with Mcronone. He was [00:27:04] the first one. He was not at that time [00:27:06] wearing sunglasses. And he said, he [00:27:10] said, "No, no, Donald, I will not do [00:27:12] this. I will not. I won't even consider. [00:27:14] You're asking me to double the price." I [00:27:16] said, "You have no choice. You have to [00:27:17] do it because you guys have been ripping [00:27:19] us off." In other words, the whole [00:27:20] world, we've been subsidizing the whole [00:27:22] world on drug costs. That's why they [00:27:24] were $10 and we'd be at 130 as an [00:27:28] example. There were many examples. I [00:27:29] could give you examples even worse. He [00:27:32] said, "No, no, no. I will not do that." [00:27:34] And I said, "Yes, you will. 100% you'll [00:27:36] do it." He said, he said, "No, I won't [00:27:38] do that, Donald. You're asking me to [00:27:39] double the cost of prescription. We will [00:27:41] not do that." I mean, look, you've been [00:27:43] ripping us off now for decades. We're [00:27:46] not going to do it anymore. You can do [00:27:47] it under Biden and Obama and other [00:27:49] people. You're not going to do it under [00:27:51] us. We won't do it. I said, "Well, if [00:27:53] you don't do it, I'm going to charge you [00:27:55] a 25% tariff on all of your wine, [00:27:58] champagne, and everything else you sell [00:27:59] into the United States." He said, "Like [00:28:02] I said, I will do it." And that was the [00:28:04] end [laughter] of the conversation, [00:28:05] right? That was the end of the [00:28:07] conversation. So now we have favorite [00:28:09] nations that everybody said would be [00:28:11] impossible to get. And I then had the [00:28:14] same conversation with 15 other [00:28:16] countries. Every one of them agreed [00:28:18] after a short conf they all said no. And [00:28:21] then within a matter of seconds they [00:28:24] said we would be very happy to do that. [00:28:29] Thank you for asking in such a nice way [00:28:31] and it's you know it's a great [00:28:33] achievement. I think it's going to be [00:28:34] one of the best achievements we've had [00:28:36] in this country in a long time. So we're [00:28:38] going to be knocking drug prices down at [00:28:40] levels never seen before. I want to [00:28:41] thank the drug companies because once [00:28:44] they agreed they really did they felt it [00:28:46] was very unfair. One of them told me, [00:28:49] "It's actually a relief to agree because [00:28:52] this [clears throat] has been just a [00:28:54] rough thing for me, you know, to justify [00:28:56] it because they couldn't justify it." I [00:28:58] said, "How come in London I can buy [00:29:01] something for $10 and in New York I have [00:29:04] to pay $130?" And they go, "Well, you [00:29:07] know, it's research and development. [00:29:08] It's" I said, "Yeah, but you have [00:29:10] research and development from them made [00:29:12] in the same factory, made in everything. [00:29:16] This is where [00:29:18] my friend who's very successful. I told [00:29:20] you seriously overweight person. He [00:29:22] takes the fat the fat pill or the fat [00:29:25] shot and he was in London and he said [00:29:29] cost $87 there cost $1300 in New York. [00:29:32] What's going on? He called me up and I [00:29:35] mean I knew that but he put it in a very [00:29:38] blunt way. I've known him a long time. [00:29:40] He's a crude individual but smart as [00:29:42] hell. Made a lot of money but he just [00:29:45] thought it was sort of ridiculous. He [00:29:46] happened to be in London and he got the [00:29:48] shot, you know, OMPic, I think, or one [00:29:51] of them. And I told him it wasn't [00:29:54] working. It was for him. It didn't work. [00:29:56] [laughter] And he brought up a good [00:29:58] voice. It didn't work. I told him I He [00:30:01] knows who I'm talking about. He's going [00:30:03] crazy. [laughter] He begs me not to [00:30:05] mention about me later. [00:30:06] >> No, it's not. It's not our great vice [00:30:09] president. No, [laughter] but uh he begs [00:30:12] me not to mention his name because he's [00:30:14] become very famous without mentioning [00:30:17] his name. And he is actually a very [00:30:18] well-known business person, but uh he [00:30:22] did make a point, but I knew the point [00:30:24] very well. We were always paying far [00:30:26] more than any other nation. We were [00:30:27] subsidizing the world. Right now there's [00:30:29] no more of that. So we're going to be [00:30:31] bringing the drug prices down at numbers [00:30:33] never never seen before. It's going to [00:30:35] have a huge impact, positive impact on [00:30:37] healthcare. So with that, uh, we are [00:30:40] going to ask a couple of people to say a [00:30:42] few words. We're not going to go through [00:30:43] the whole table because the last time we [00:30:45] had a press conference, it lasted for [00:30:48] three hours. And some people said he [00:30:51] closed his eyes. [00:30:53] Look, it got pretty boring. [00:30:57] [laughter] [00:30:58] I love these people. I love these [00:31:00] people, but there's a lot of people. It [00:31:04] It was a little bit at the boring side, [00:31:06] but I didn't sleep. I just closed them [00:31:08] because I wanted to get the hell out of [00:31:10] here. Some of them I I didn't sleep, by [00:31:13] the way. I don't I don't sleep much, let [00:31:14] me tell you. But, you know, it's funny. [00:31:16] Some of them got me in a blink. You [00:31:18] know, when you go like [00:31:20] [laughter] [00:31:21] and they took me as at the close segment [00:31:23] of my cycle [laughter] and they said, [00:31:27] they said he's sleeping. And besides [00:31:29] that, Marco, between these two guys, if [00:31:31] I was sleeping, they'd be waking me up [00:31:33] very [laughter] fast. They'd be knocking [00:31:35] me. Come on, you got to wake up, boss. [00:31:37] But no, we have uh we've had we've had [00:31:40] great meet. Look, we're the most [00:31:41] transparent uh presidency by far. And I [00:31:44] love going around the room, but we're [00:31:45] going to pick a few people. I think I [00:31:47] would like to ask Steve if he could just [00:31:49] give us a a brief description of how [00:31:52] well we're doing in the Middle East [00:31:53] because we have peace in the Middle East [00:31:55] now. There's a couple of little minor [00:31:57] flames that we put out very easily. And [00:31:59] very importantly, we got our last [00:32:00] hostage back, which is incredible. [00:32:02] Unfortunately, [00:32:04] >> [applause] [00:32:08] >> This is something that nobody said could [00:32:10] be done. And [clears throat] I will tell [00:32:11] you, Hamas was a big factor in getting [00:32:14] all of the the hostages back. They they [00:32:17] had a we we were not happy with them. [00:32:19] And they had to bring them back. And [00:32:20] they they found the dead hostages, the [00:32:23] the bodies of hostages were and those [00:32:26] parents wanted their sons back. I think [00:32:28] in all cases sons, but they wanted their [00:32:31] sons and their they wanted their sons [00:32:33] back as much as the people that had [00:32:36] living hostages that we got them back [00:32:38] too. So we got the 20, but remember we [00:32:40] got hundreds back pre previous to that. [00:32:43] But I always said getting those last 20 [00:32:45] back is going to be very tough. And uh [00:32:47] we got them back and we got all of the [00:32:49] bodies back also, which to those parents [00:32:51] was just as important as uh getting back [00:32:55] the son that was living. Steve, could [00:32:56] you give us a little uh description, [00:32:58] please? [00:32:59] >> Well, your your policy of peace through [00:33:02] strength, that's what that's what [00:33:03] delivered them home. Without that, [00:33:05] without that pressure, it never happens. [00:33:08] We we are in the second phase now. Uh [00:33:11] we've we've stood up for the first time, [00:33:13] Mr. President, on your behalf a uh [00:33:15] technocratic uh all all Arab government. [00:33:19] We've got the terrorists out of there, [00:33:20] and they're going to demilitarize. They [00:33:22] will because they have no choice. So, [00:33:25] um, we expect that. [00:33:27] >> Pardon me. [00:33:27] >> And now we want to get Hamas no guns, [00:33:30] right? [00:33:30] >> Right. They're going to give it up. [00:33:32] They're going to give up the AK-47s. [00:33:34] >> A lot of people said they'll never [00:33:35] disarm. [00:33:36] >> Looks like they're going to disarm. [00:33:39] >> And they did help us with those bodies, [00:33:41] getting them back. [00:33:42] >> And that family is so grateful to you. [00:33:44] They called. I spoke to them. Jared [00:33:46] spoke to them. [00:33:47] >> You know, it's an amazing story. He [00:33:48] broke his shoulder, but he went out [00:33:51] there to to because he didn't want his [00:33:52] friends to fight alone. He He would be [00:33:55] alive today, but for that he had no [00:33:56] reason to go out with a broken shoulder [00:33:58] and he went out and fought them [00:34:01] courageously [00:34:02] >> and died. [00:34:02] >> And died. [00:34:04] >> That's right. It's a great story. And [00:34:05] the parents are great. They were the [00:34:07] only ones who didn't, [clears throat] [00:34:08] you know, they came back pretty rapidly [00:34:11] actually considering and we had uh got [00:34:14] some back initially with the initial [00:34:15] group. After that, we had to get a lot. [00:34:18] That's a tough job. That's a nasty job, [00:34:20] too. Who Who would want that one? That's [00:34:22] a nasty job. And between Israel and [00:34:24] Hamas working together, if you can [00:34:26] believe it, they got him back. And we [00:34:28] got the last one back yesterday. And the [00:34:29] parents are so happy. It's amazing [00:34:34] actually how [00:34:34] >> we we we sent a message to the parents [00:34:37] on your behalf uh as you suggested and [00:34:39] they are they were so grateful. [00:34:42] I haven't [00:34:42] >> grateful to me is a much better word [00:34:44] because it's hard to be happy but they [00:34:46] were actually. I mean they couldn't [00:34:47] believe that they had their [00:34:48] >> their baby boy. They the mother said the [00:34:51] baby my baby boy back. It's a very uh [00:34:54] terrible thing. Steve, uh Russia, [00:34:58] Ukraine, we've making a lot of progress. [00:34:59] Could you explain that? The Ukrainians [00:35:02] actually said that we've made more [00:35:03] progress in the last since Geneva than [00:35:06] they've seen in the last four years of [00:35:08] that conflict. [00:35:10] So um we had five Russian generals last [00:35:13] Sunday in Abu Dhabi with Jared Eye and [00:35:15] Dan Driscoll and we think we made a lot [00:35:19] of progress. The talks will continue in [00:35:22] in about a week but lots of good things [00:35:26] happening between the counterparties [00:35:29] discussing uh the land deal. [00:35:33] >> We have a security protocol agreement [00:35:35] that's largely finished. a prosperity [00:35:37] agreement that's larg largely finished. [00:35:40] And I think the people of Ukraine are [00:35:42] now hopeful and expectant that we're [00:35:44] going to deliver a peace deal sometime [00:35:45] soon. [00:35:46] >> And because of the cold, extreme cold, [00:35:49] they have the same that we do. Uh I [00:35:52] personally asked President Putin not to [00:35:55] fire on Kiev and the cities and towns [00:36:00] for a week during this. It's extraordin [00:36:02] It's not just like cold. It's [00:36:04] extraordinary cold. record setting cold [00:36:06] over there too. They're having the same. [00:36:08] [clears throat] It's it's a big it's a [00:36:11] big pile of bad weather, the worst. But [00:36:15] it was really they they said they've [00:36:17] never experienced cold like that. And I [00:36:20] personally asked President Putin not to [00:36:23] fire into Kiev and the various towns for [00:36:26] a week and he agreed to do that. And I [00:36:29] have to tell you, it was very nice. A [00:36:30] lot of people said, "Don't waste the [00:36:32] call. You're not going to get that." and [00:36:33] he did it and we're very happy that they [00:36:35] did it. [00:36:36] >> That's correct. [00:36:36] >> Because [clears throat] on top of [00:36:37] everything else, that's not what they [00:36:39] need is uh missiles coming into their [00:36:41] towns and cities. So, I just thought I [00:36:44] should say I thought it was a very uh [00:36:47] very good thing and and Ukraine was uh [00:36:51] almost they didn't believe it, but they [00:36:52] were very happy about it because they're [00:36:54] they are struggling badly. [00:36:57] >> Shows Mr. president. Um [00:36:59] how you uh you provide an overarching uh [00:37:03] sort of presence in these negotiations. [00:37:05] The Ukrainians never thought it could [00:37:07] happen. The Russians are doing things [00:37:10] maybe that people wouldn't give them the [00:37:12] credit for doing. And I think it's it's [00:37:14] it always comes down to your indomitable [00:37:16] spirit. [00:37:18] >> Well, it was a good thing. You know, if [00:37:19] you think it's cold over here, they say [00:37:21] in Ukraine you can add another 20% to [00:37:24] it. It's it was very cold place anyway, [00:37:27] but this was they they see numbers that [00:37:30] were so they've never seen numbers like [00:37:32] that. Cold numbers like that. So it was [00:37:35] I thought I should mention it. Could I [00:37:37] ask Scott Besset, we have so many things [00:37:39] happening. Could I ask you to maybe say [00:37:41] a few words, please? [00:37:43] >> Yes, sir. So the one big beautiful bill [00:37:45] that was passed on July 4th last year, [00:37:48] we're starting to see the effects kick [00:37:50] in. You you mentioned the great economy. [00:37:53] One of the things in the one big [00:37:54] beautiful bill, uh, Mr. President, it [00:37:56] was an honor to host you and as you [00:37:58] said, the best rapper in the world, [00:37:59] Nicki Minaj, at yesterday's Trump [00:38:01] Accounts Summit. [00:38:03] >> We've now had a million people sign up [00:38:05] for Trump accounts just just this week. [00:38:08] The [00:38:09] >> the [applause] [00:38:15] we think there'll be 25 million families [00:38:17] who are eligible. Uh the segment that [00:38:21] you and she did has a billion hits a [00:38:24] billion hits on the internet. So we're [00:38:26] telling everyone go fill out form 4547 [00:38:30] trumpaccount.gov. [00:38:32] So uh thanks to you the Trump accounts [00:38:34] the next generations of America will [00:38:36] benefit from today's record-breaking [00:38:38] economy, record-breaking uh markets. Uh [00:38:42] sir, when we came in, the Biden [00:38:44] administration had destroyed the [00:38:46] American people with the three eyes. [00:38:47] immigration, inflation, and interest [00:38:50] rates. Immigration check, you close the [00:38:52] border. The inflation, [00:38:55] as we've heard, back down to target. [00:38:58] Prices are coming down, and interest [00:39:00] rates, we hope there's more uh on on the [00:39:03] way. We've got gains in wages, low [00:39:07] prices, and I think 2026 is going to be [00:39:09] the year for the Trump boom. It's going [00:39:12] to be a supply side boom. I enjoyed the [00:39:15] trip out to Iowa in the diner. The staff [00:39:18] there was thanking you for the no tax on [00:39:21] tips and they're [clears throat] [00:39:23] expecting big refunds. The from that we [00:39:26] saw the CEO of John Deere who said [00:39:29] thanks thanks to your tariffs, new new [00:39:31] plants in Indiana and North Carolina. [00:39:34] >> Massive two massive plants being built [00:39:37] >> by John Deere. And I spec he's the [00:39:39] chairman and CEO. Wonderful guy. And I [00:39:42] said to he was at the event we had in [00:39:44] Iowa, which is appropriate, John Deere, [00:39:46] Iowa. But I said to him, "So what are [00:39:49] you doing?" He said, "We just announced [00:39:50] two massive plants. In fact, they're [00:39:53] going to have one plant for excavators." [00:39:54] And he said, "There hasn't been an [00:39:56] excavator built in this country in 50 [00:39:59] years or something." And he said, "It's [00:40:01] they're taking it out of Japan and [00:40:03] they're moving it into the United [00:40:04] States." A very two very big plans. And [00:40:07] I said, "So why are you doing it?" He [00:40:09] said, "Because of you and because of [00:40:11] tariffs." [00:40:12] >> I said, "If we didn't have tariffs, [00:40:14] would you be doing it?" He said, [00:40:15] "Absolutely not." So, it's very [00:40:18] important. And I hope we're going to be [00:40:20] successful with the Supreme Court case [00:40:22] because we're waiting. And we're taking [00:40:24] in hundreds of billions of dollars. And [00:40:27] we don't want to give it back, number [00:40:29] one. And number two, and you know, the [00:40:31] people that are fighting us on that [00:40:32] case, by the way, are China centric. [00:40:34] These are people that are for China, but [00:40:38] they're also outside of the United [00:40:40] States. These are countries that have [00:40:41] ripped us off for years, for years and [00:40:44] years, charging us tariffs, and now [00:40:47] we're doing an amazing job. And we're [00:40:50] getting it back. We're getting it all [00:40:51] back and then some. And they're the ones [00:40:54] that are leading that lawsuit that we [00:40:56] have in front of the United States [00:40:58] Supreme Court. So, it's a very important [00:40:59] lawsuit for our country. uh and uh [00:41:03] hopefully it's going to work out. We're [00:41:05] waiting a long time, but hopefully it's [00:41:07] going to work out. We've taken in [00:41:08] hundreds of billions, even trillions of [00:41:10] dollars, and certainly we've taken in [00:41:13] trillions of dollars of, you know, a big [00:41:15] part of that 18 uh trillion dollars [00:41:17] that's coming in is because of tariffs [00:41:19] that coming in. They're building because [00:41:21] they don't want to pay the tariff. And [00:41:22] the tariffs are very, you know, steep. [00:41:24] They could be much deeper. You probably [00:41:26] saw I put out a truth today and the [00:41:28] tariffs could be much steeper. We're [00:41:31] we've been actually very nice about it. [00:41:34] But even being nice about it, we've [00:41:35] taken in hundreds of billions of [00:41:37] dollars. And honestly, they've given us [00:41:39] tremendous national security. The power [00:41:42] that we have because of that, they have [00:41:44] given us tremendous strength and [00:41:46] national security. Go ahead. [00:41:48] >> Yes, sir. And the the the AIPA power you [00:41:51] used on the tariffs, as you said, we've [00:41:54] got we're bringing in tens of trillions [00:41:56] of investments. the tens of trillions of [00:41:58] investments turns into factories [00:42:00] construction which turns into factory [00:42:02] jobs which turns into consumer spending. [00:42:05] Uh you've rightsized the the government [00:42:07] so government employment is down. Uh [00:42:10] private sector is up. Growth was a [00:42:13] stunning 4.7 4.8% in the past two [00:42:16] quarters. Biggest backto-back gains [00:42:18] [clears throat] in a decade. And we are [00:42:20] doing that with government finances [00:42:23] improving. So that will bring down the [00:42:25] borrowing cost, the calendar year budget [00:42:28] for 2024. [00:42:29] 7% deficit to GDP, highest when we [00:42:32] weren't at war, not in a recession, all [00:42:35] the way down to 5.4% and getting better. [00:42:39] Biggest decline since 2014. [00:42:42] Uh generational gains in productivity, [00:42:45] soaring productivity. We're going to let [00:42:47] workers pay record high prices, record [00:42:50] high profits, and stock prices are are [00:42:53] soaring. You got a manufacturing [00:42:55] renaissance and all the key inflation [00:42:57] metrics are trending lower. Over the [00:43:00] past 3 months, the consumer price index [00:43:02] is just 2.1 and core prices are even [00:43:05] lower at 1.6. And I think that that [00:43:08] could trend below one given energy as [00:43:11] you talked about the pharmaceutical [00:43:14] discounts and uh rents. So we're [00:43:18] expecting a great year in 2026, Mr. [00:43:21] President. [00:43:21] >> And we're going to be announcing next [00:43:23] week, I think sometimes, Scott and [00:43:25] Howard and everybody. We're going to be [00:43:26] announcing the head of the Fed, who that [00:43:29] will be. And it'll be a person that will [00:43:32] uh I think do a good job. We're paying [00:43:35] far too much interest in the Fed. The [00:43:38] Fed rates too high. Uh unacceptably [00:43:41] high. We should have the lowest and I [00:43:43] think you read my statement today. I put [00:43:45] out a statement before the meeting. But [00:43:47] we should have the lowest interest rate [00:43:48] in anywhere in the world because a lot [00:43:50] of these countries are successful only [00:43:52] because of us because we allow them to [00:43:54] have surpluses. And without surpluses, [00:43:57] some of the countries that you most [00:43:58] respect financially that you say, "Oh, [00:44:00] this one, that one, this one, that one," [00:44:02] they're successful because we allow them [00:44:04] to have surpluses [00:44:06] >> and we could easily stop that with the [00:44:07] powers that we have, but we don't. We [00:44:10] took some of it. Uh, but we took really [00:44:12] just a small portion of it compared to [00:44:14] what we could take if we wanted to. We [00:44:16] should have the lowest interest rate [00:44:18] anywhere in the world. They should be [00:44:19] two points and even three points lower. [00:44:23] And if it was each point is the [00:44:26] equivalent of I would say uh $500 [00:44:29] billion. So if you got two points law [00:44:31] you have a trillion dollars in saving. [00:44:33] And it's almost if you call it call it [00:44:34] just a paper expense. You could do it [00:44:37] with a pencil. It's not cutting. It's [00:44:39] not saying we have to get rid of jobs or [00:44:41] it's just like literally so easy to do. [00:44:44] But we have a guy that doesn't want to [00:44:45] do it because he's uh I think he's [00:44:48] politically biased. I really do. I [00:44:49] believe he's politically biased because [00:44:52] most smart people say it's not even a [00:44:54] question. But despite that, uh, we were [00:44:58] able to bust through, it's like busting [00:44:59] through a wall. We're able to bust [00:45:01] through a wall and we have the kind of [00:45:02] numbers that Scott and Howard with the [00:45:04] seal and other things. Uh, talk about [00:45:06] what would you say, Howard, in terms of [00:45:08] how we're doing generally speaking. [00:45:10] Great businessman, [00:45:11] very successful guy. He's doing a really [00:45:14] good job. What would you say? Well, no [00:45:17] one uh before you walked in the door, no [00:45:20] one thought our economy could grow 2%. [00:45:22] Fourth quarter with the shutdown, 5.5%. [00:45:26] And that means the first quarter you [00:45:28] could see the United States of America [00:45:30] with its $30 trillion economy grow in [00:45:33] the 6% range. And no one thought that [00:45:36] was possible. That's how you get jobs. [00:45:38] That's how you get money down. That's [00:45:40] how you fix the deficit. You are fixing [00:45:42] everything with your policies. You have [00:45:44] changed America and created the golden [00:45:47] age. Thank you. [00:45:48] >> And with the uh help of the Fed, because [00:45:51] we really, you know, we want want help, [00:45:53] not hindrance. Why would the Fed hinder? [00:45:56] But with the help of the Fed, with the [00:45:57] right choice, if we make the right [00:45:59] choice, you know, a lot of times you [00:46:00] make a choice, you think it's good, and [00:46:01] it turns out to be not good. But with [00:46:04] the help of the Fed, we could hit [00:46:06] numbers that have never been hit before. [00:46:08] We could hit eight, nine, 10. There's no [00:46:10] reason why not. And uh you know it's I [00:46:13] talk about if you go back 20 years, 25 [00:46:16] years, I'm old enough to remember when [00:46:18] we had good news, when you announced [00:46:20] good news, the stock market went up. You [00:46:23] announce anything good, the stock market [00:46:25] went up. You announce bad, the stock [00:46:26] market went. And that's the way it [00:46:27] should be. But now it's over the last 15 [00:46:30] or so years, if you announce good news, [00:46:33] that means they're going to raise [00:46:34] interest rates because they want to kill [00:46:36] it. So you can never really be that [00:46:39] successful because you [clears throat] [00:46:41] announced all record numbers great great [00:46:43] great because they're a afraid of [00:46:44] inflation but growth doesn't have to [00:46:47] have any impact on inflation. It can [00:46:49] make inflation go down in many cases. So [00:46:53] and you've seen that with us. I mean [00:46:54] we're growing at a much faster rate than [00:46:57] anybody thought was possible. We have [00:47:00] very controllable inflation. with Biden, [00:47:02] we were getting killed and we had the [00:47:04] worst inflation in 48 years in history [00:47:07] in the history of our country and that's [00:47:09] with going down. So growth is a great [00:47:12] thing. It doesn't mean inflation. And I [00:47:15] want to go back to a system where when [00:47:16] we announce good news, they say that's [00:47:19] great. We can lower interest rates [00:47:20] instead of raise interest rates. And by [00:47:22] the way, if inflation comes, we'll take [00:47:24] care of it when it comes. But you know, [00:47:26] they're trying to guess it and they're [00:47:28] trying to get it 10 years before in [00:47:30] advance. And you know, we want to make [00:47:32] this country greater than ever before. [00:47:34] And I think we're doing that. But uh we [00:47:37] want to make it that when we announce [00:47:39] great news, everything goes up. If we [00:47:42] announce bad news, that happens, too. We [00:47:44] bring it down and we control and we do [00:47:46] what we have to do. But we can have [00:47:48] numbers in the upside like nobody's ever [00:47:52] seen before. I want to ask Bobby to say [00:47:54] a few words if he would about uh some of [00:47:56] the incredible things that we've been [00:47:58] doing in your department with Oz and [00:48:00] everybody else. [00:48:01] >> Uh Mr. President, we're in the process [00:48:03] of implementing your great America your [00:48:06] great uh healthc care bill which is [00:48:09] going to increase affordability uh drive [00:48:12] down cost and increase the quality of [00:48:15] health care for every American. You [00:48:17] mentioned [00:48:19] MFN, most favorite nation. We now have [00:48:22] de agreements with 16 of the 17 drug [00:48:25] companies and you asked us to do [00:48:28] something. You know, [00:48:30] Clinton had promised to do this. Biden [00:48:32] had promised to do this. Obama, Bush had [00:48:34] all promised to do it. None of them [00:48:36] succeeded. It was regarded as [00:48:38] impossible. And you made it 10 times [00:48:40] harder. As you said, not only do I want [00:48:42] MFN, but I want them to all reshore [00:48:44] their production to this country. And [00:48:46] they don't have any money to do it [00:48:48] because we've taken it all from them. [00:48:50] And I want to make sure we continue to [00:48:52] lead the world world in innovation. We [00:48:55] succeeded in all of those goals. And the [00:48:58] the proof that we did that is after we [00:49:00] signed those agreements, the stock [00:49:03] prices for those companies went up $1.3 [00:49:05] trillion. [00:49:06] >> Amazing. [00:49:07] >> And [clears throat] they are reshoring. [00:49:09] Eli Liy is building six new plants [00:49:12] including an API plant. So the next time [00:49:14] that we have a pandemic in this country, [00:49:17] we're not going to be stuck buying API [00:49:19] from China who cuts us off. We're going [00:49:21] to be able to make it right here. Nova [00:49:23] Nordis is building four new plants. And [00:49:26] we are going to be releasing Trump RX so [00:49:30] that every American can get the lowest [00:49:32] prices in the developed world. In some [00:49:34] cases, they're going to be lower than [00:49:36] the lowest prices in the developed [00:49:38] world. And that's going to be happening [00:49:40] sometime probably in the next 10 days. [00:49:43] So, um, we're doing rural health care. [00:49:46] We sent out $10 billion last week. The [00:49:49] states have that money. You're going to [00:49:51] be giving it to rural hospitals [00:49:52] sometimes in the next two weeks. And [00:49:55] we're going to revolutionize rural [00:49:56] healthcare in this country. We you are [00:49:59] putting you are raising the influx of [00:50:02] federal dollars to rural health care by [00:50:04] 30% [00:50:06] over the next five years. So 30% every [00:50:09] or more dollars, federal dollars are [00:50:12] going to be flowing to them. It's going [00:50:13] to allow them to rebuild their decaying [00:50:15] infrastructure to retain providers and [00:50:19] also to revolutionize the use of AI and [00:50:23] other technologies [00:50:25] which is going to dramatically lower the [00:50:27] prices for rural Americans and raise the [00:50:30] quality of their healthcare. We did. [00:50:32] Brooke and I released the dietary [00:50:34] guidelines which have been received [00:50:37] incredible acclamation from both sides [00:50:40] of the aisle. We are going to change the [00:50:43] food culture in this country. Brooke [00:50:45] gives away $45 million a day to buy food [00:50:49] for Americans and the Wick program, the [00:50:51] Head Start program, SNAP school lunches, [00:50:55] the VA [00:50:57] and the military. They're now going to [00:50:59] be getting real food for the first time. [00:51:02] America and it's going to and Brooke [00:51:04] came up with the ingenious idea of of [00:51:08] acquiring every store in this country [00:51:11] that accepts food stamps to double the [00:51:14] amount of real food that they're [00:51:16] selling. And this is going to drive [00:51:18] change in the market. And it's going to [00:51:20] lower the cost of meats, of proteins, of [00:51:23] whole grains, of fruits and vegetables, [00:51:26] so that every American will have in [00:51:27] their reach an affordable meal that [00:51:30] actually is real food. 70% of American [00:51:33] kids now are 70% of the diet of American [00:51:36] kids is now ultrarocessed foods. That's [00:51:39] why we're spending5 trillion dollars in [00:51:43] in treating chronic disease in this [00:51:45] country every year. We are attacking [00:51:48] fraud. We have Oz fighting hundreds of [00:51:51] billions of dollars of Medicaid, [00:51:53] Medicare fraud in states like Minnesota [00:51:55] and California and we are clawing back [00:51:58] that money. Um we also accomplish [00:52:01] something that every American has [00:52:02] promised which is prior authorization. [00:52:04] [clears throat] [00:52:06] Now we have 80% of the insurance [00:52:08] industry that has agreed to eliminate [00:52:11] prior authorization in almost all of [00:52:13] their their procedures. So that every [00:52:16] amidst this is going to dramatically [00:52:18] change the experience of every American [00:52:20] with the health care system. When you go [00:52:23] to your doctor, your point of care [00:52:25] before you leave that office, you will [00:52:27] know whether the insurance company is [00:52:28] going to pay for the procedure or not. [00:52:31] And that is going to, as I said, change [00:52:33] the experience. We're also doing price [00:52:36] transparency, which you asked during [00:52:38] your first term. It never got [00:52:40] implemented because the Biden [00:52:41] administration never enforced it. We [00:52:44] brought more enforcement [clears throat] [00:52:45] actions against hospitals than in this [00:52:48] one year and the Biden administration [00:52:51] bought in four years and we're doing it [00:52:53] crackdown so that every American when [00:52:55] you go to a restaurant you look at the [00:52:58] prices before you buy the meal. You [00:53:00] ought to be able to do that when you go [00:53:01] to a hospital and by the time that we [00:53:03] leave office every American is going to [00:53:06] have that guarantee. We're doing a lot [00:53:09] of other stuff but we were told to keep [00:53:11] it short. you are [laughter] [00:53:16] >> and the autism that's uh moving along [00:53:18] really is now trying to figure out doing [00:53:20] we've commissioned now dozens of studies [00:53:24] maybe over a hundred and we are going to [00:53:26] get those done for you [00:53:28] >> good that's so important u also uh Eli [00:53:32] Liy Mercer [00:53:35] every drug company they're spending [00:53:38] trillions of dollars right now as we [00:53:40] speak building plants in the United [00:53:42] States because they want to be able to [00:53:45] uh save a lot of money on tariffs. It'll [00:53:49] be hundreds of percent [00:53:52] 100% 200% 300% [00:53:55] in two or three years from now. So I [00:53:57] said, "You better have your plant built [00:53:58] because in two years from now before I [00:54:02] leave office, it's be a sad day. Very [00:54:05] sad day for me. [laughter] [00:54:07] But before I leave, uh, every one of [00:54:10] these plans better be built because [00:54:11] you're going to be paying 300% tariffs [00:54:13] and they're all building their little [00:54:15] hearts out. Uh, I spoke with the head of [00:54:17] Eli Liy, who's a fantastic guy, a star [00:54:20] actually. He's a star, very smart, and [00:54:22] he told me he's building six plants in [00:54:24] the United States, big ones in [00:54:28] locations that I know very well, but all [00:54:30] over the country there. Merc is building [00:54:33] and Fiser is building and every one of [00:54:35] them's building and foreign uh companies [00:54:38] are building. So, it's an amazing thing [00:54:41] that's happening and you're doing a [00:54:43] fantastic job. I read an article today [00:54:45] where they think Bobby is going to be [00:54:48] really great for the Republican party in [00:54:50] the midterms. [laughter] So, I have to [00:54:52] be very careful that Bobby likes us, but [00:54:55] we're letting you do your job, right? [00:54:56] >> Thank you, Mr. President. [00:54:58] >> Thank you. You're doing a great job. You [00:54:59] and Oz and the whole group, they're [00:55:00] doing it. I'll add this and Marty McCary [00:55:04] has done an incredible job at FDA. [00:55:07] >> Last month we approved more gene and [00:55:09] cell therapies at any time in history [00:55:12] >> and we're making this a safe and [00:55:15] productive and encouraging ecosystem for [00:55:17] biotech so that China does not steal [00:55:20] that industry from us. [00:55:22] >> Fantastic. [00:55:23] I'm going to ask Scott Turner to speak [00:55:25] really quickly about housing because in [00:55:27] my opinion I have very strong strong [00:55:29] opinions on housing. That's what I did [00:55:31] for a long time. I did good with it. [00:55:33] But, you know, uh we got to get interest [00:55:36] rates down even lower. They are now [00:55:37] pretty low, but we got to get them [00:55:39] lower. And I'm a big factor. Uh to me, a [00:55:42] biggest factor is interest rates for [00:55:43] housing only in that uh you know, you [00:55:46] have a lot of people that have become [00:55:47] wealthy in the last year because the [00:55:49] house value has gone up. And you know, [00:55:52] when you get the housing, when you make [00:55:54] it too easy or too cheap to buy houses, [00:55:56] those values come down. I don't want [00:55:58] those values to come down. We have [00:55:59] millions of people that own houses and [00:56:01] for the first time in their life they're [00:56:02] wealthy because a house is worth [00:56:05] $500,000 or $600,000 or more or less but [00:56:08] more money than it's ever been worth [00:56:10] before. I don't want to do anything to [00:56:12] knock that down. And so I want to be [00:56:14] very careful with this. You know, you [00:56:15] make housy I can turn on housing [00:56:18] immediately but you make it too easy and [00:56:20] you're going to knock the value down of [00:56:21] people that own houses. I want to for [00:56:23] those people there's millions of people [00:56:25] that own houses. We're going to drive [00:56:27] those values up, but we're also going to [00:56:29] try making it easier for people to buy. [00:56:31] The best thing that can happen for both [00:56:33] groups of people is lower interest [00:56:36] rates. And those interest rates are [00:56:38] coming down. And with a proper [00:56:40] intelligent person at the Fed, uh that [00:56:43] person will be able to work with us to [00:56:45] get interest rates down. That covers all [00:56:47] of the sins. It covers everything. Lower [00:56:49] interest rates, keeps the values up for [00:56:52] the people that have housing, and lets [00:56:54] other people buy housing. And Scott, if [00:56:56] you could just expand quickly on that. [00:56:58] >> Yes, sir. Uh you did allude to when we [00:57:00] first came in, sir. You know, our fiscal [00:57:02] house in or uh in America was a mess. Uh [00:57:05] but because of your economic policies, [00:57:07] the economy is thriving. Uh and I do [00:57:10] have some good news to share. As you [00:57:12] said, you know, good news. I hope this [00:57:13] will make the interest rates continue to [00:57:14] go down. Uh but because of your [00:57:17] policies, sir, home sales in December, [00:57:19] they rose sharply to their strongest [00:57:21] pace in three years. A lot of people [00:57:23] when we first came in, and particularly [00:57:25] young people, were concerned and asking [00:57:27] the question whether they would ever be [00:57:28] able to afford to buy a house in [00:57:30] America, which is the American dream. [00:57:32] The uh 30-year fixed mortgage rate [00:57:34] dipped to a multi-year lows, driving [00:57:36] monthly payments down uh for the two [00:57:40] years at the lowest levels. So, more [00:57:42] people can get a mortgage now, more [00:57:44] families uh can be able to afford to get [00:57:47] a home and achieve the American dream. [00:57:49] At HUD last year, we helped and [00:57:51] supported over 1 million people uh [00:57:53] through FHA and Genie May to be able to [00:57:56] buy a home. 500,000 of those were [00:57:58] firsttime home buyers and hundreds of [00:58:00] thousands of our veterans uh we [00:58:02] supported. And so that's good news that [00:58:04] millions of people in our country are [00:58:06] now beginning to buy homes. We also sir [00:58:09] uh saw that you are and we're working [00:58:10] with you making bold action uh to ban [00:58:13] institutional investors uh from buying [00:58:15] single family homes. Those homes are for [00:58:18] the American people. So sir, thank you [00:58:19] for your leadership on that. Also [00:58:21] working with director PY uh over at FHFA [00:58:25] uh to buy $200 billion worth of mortgage [00:58:28] back securities, driving down even more [00:58:30] the cost to uh get a home. And so uh [00:58:33] we're grateful for those actions. Also, [00:58:35] the one big beautiful bill uh has been [00:58:38] tremendous uh making the low-inccome tax [00:58:40] credit increase, working with Secretary [00:58:42] Bessant at Treasury to produce more [00:58:45] projects and more homes in America. And [00:58:47] the one big beautiful bill also made our [00:58:49] beloved opportunity zones permanent. And [00:58:52] the media doesn't talk about opportunity [00:58:53] zones very much, but I'll do it today uh [00:58:56] because I know that they have been [00:58:57] transformative in our country. Over 1 [00:59:00] million people lifted out of poverty, [00:59:01] sir, in opportunity zones. 300,000 new [00:59:05] units of housing in opportunity zones [00:59:07] and a 3.4 increase in the value of [00:59:10] houses. And [00:59:11] >> by the way, we have to give him credit. [00:59:13] Senator, he's a great guy. Tim Scott [00:59:15] came to see me first administration, [00:59:18] first term, and he had this idea for [00:59:20] opportunity zones and he gave me the [00:59:24] idea. We did it. We implemented it. It's [00:59:26] one of the most successful programs in [00:59:28] the history of our country. And nobody [00:59:30] talks about it. The press doesn't talk [00:59:32] about it. But I want to just tell you [00:59:34] Tim Scott, Senator, South Carolina, did [00:59:37] a great job. Right. [00:59:38] >> Did a wonderful job. Yes, sir. [00:59:39] >> Did a good job. He's a good man. [00:59:40] >> Yes, sir. And so those have been made [00:59:42] permanent now. uh will help millions of [00:59:44] Americans to be able to afford to buy [00:59:46] homes. Also, the one big beautiful bill [00:59:49] uh has been allowing HUD to make sure [00:59:52] working with Department of Homeland [00:59:53] Security that every person that lives in [00:59:56] HUDfunded housing is an American [00:59:58] citizen. Uh a blind eye has been turned [01:00:01] prior to us being here to people living [01:00:04] in HUDfunded housing, but no more. We're [01:00:06] going to take account and transparency [01:00:08] to make sure. And sir, there's a lot of [01:00:10] crime that goes on in public housing. Uh [01:00:12] but we're we're coming after the [01:00:14] criminals and making sure that everybody [01:00:15] in there is an American citizen. Uh so [01:00:17] thank you for your support. Uh we are [01:00:20] now have taken possession of our new [01:00:21] building uh in Alexandria and we're [01:00:24] going to save the American taxpayers [01:00:25] hundreds of millions of dollars. So sir, [01:00:27] thank you for your support and your [01:00:29] leadership. [01:00:30] >> Thank you, Scott. Great job. Appreciate [01:00:31] it. [01:00:33] Uh, one of the things Scott said though [01:00:34] is, uh, again, existing housing, people [01:00:38] that own their homes, we're going to [01:00:40] keep them wealthy. We're going to keep [01:00:42] those prices up. We're not going to [01:00:45] destroy the value of their homes so that [01:00:47] somebody that didn't work very hard can [01:00:49] buy a home. We're going to get we're [01:00:51] going to make it easier to buy. We're [01:00:52] going to get interest rates down, but I [01:00:54] want to protect the people that for the [01:00:56] first time in their lives feel good [01:00:57] about themselves. They feel like [01:00:59] they've, you know, that they're wealthy [01:01:01] people. And I want them to understand [01:01:03] it. You know, there's so much talk [01:01:04] about, oh, we're going to drive housing [01:01:06] prices down. I don't want to drive [01:01:08] housing prices down. I want to drive [01:01:09] housing prices up for people that own [01:01:12] their homes. And they can be assured [01:01:14] that's what's going to happen. Uh Chris, [01:01:16] could you say a few words about energy, [01:01:18] please? [01:01:18] >> You bet, Mr. President. I can say with [01:01:21] confidence [clears throat] that your [01:01:22] energy dominance agenda is firing on all [01:01:25] cylinders. United States oil production [01:01:28] today is greater than Saudi Arabia and [01:01:31] Russia combined. The number two and [01:01:33] number three producers. Our natural gas [01:01:36] production today is greater than Russia, [01:01:38] China, and Iran combined. The second, [01:01:42] third, and fourth largest natural gas [01:01:43] producers. Huge production in the United [01:01:46] States. Secretary Bergam at the Interior [01:01:49] Department has taken in more money on [01:01:51] oil and gas lease sales in the first [01:01:53] year of this administration than the [01:01:55] entire four years of the Biden [01:01:57] administration. And beyond oil and gas, [01:02:00] six new coal leases under this first [01:02:02] year of this administration from the [01:02:04] Interior Department. And coal production [01:02:06] is growing again in the United States [01:02:08] after years of cl of decline. And this [01:02:11] beautiful clean coal was the MVP of the [01:02:15] huge cold snap we're in right now. I can [01:02:18] say with some confidence hundreds of [01:02:20] American lives have been saved because [01:02:23] of your leaning in and stopping the [01:02:25] killing of coal and revitalizing coal. [01:02:28] Coal over the last few days where we at [01:02:31] peak demand and electricity has [01:02:33] delivered 20 times more electricity than [01:02:36] solar and batteries. Think about that. [01:02:38] 20 times more in [01:02:41] >> coal doesn't mind [clears throat] very [01:02:43] cold weather. [01:02:45] Clean we you're not allowed to say the [01:02:47] word coal without proceeding by saying [01:02:50] clean beautiful coal. Clean beautiful [01:02:52] cold. It's not affected by bad weather. [01:02:55] [clears throat] Rain, snow, sleep, [01:02:58] freezing, freezing cold. How does it [01:03:00] react under freezing freezing cold [01:03:02] weather? [01:03:03] >> It steps up and delivers big time. In [01:03:05] fact, what coal did during this this [01:03:08] storm was deliver massively more [01:03:10] electricity than it was delivering a [01:03:12] month ago because we needed far more [01:03:14] electricity. Who can step up? [01:03:16] >> The windmills, by the way, are all [01:03:17] frozen. You know that they don't turn. [01:03:20] The windmills aren't turning. the [01:03:21] windmills that these fools paid for. [01:03:24] That the fool is this country because [01:03:26] the people that have the windmills get [01:03:28] massive subsidy and they make a fortune [01:03:31] on windmills that don't even work and [01:03:33] they don't produce anywhere near what [01:03:35] they should be. And it's the worst most [01:03:37] expensive form of energy there is. And [01:03:40] by the way, Europe is destroying itself [01:03:41] with the stupid windmills they're [01:03:43] putting all over their beautiful uh [01:03:46] areas of most magnificent landscapes in [01:03:48] the world. And they're just a Europe [01:03:51] better get smart. Between immigration [01:03:54] and energy, they're destroying. It's not [01:03:56] recognizable. They've got to smarten up [01:03:59] before it's too late. Please go ahead. [01:04:01] >> Yeah. In New England with with somewhat [01:04:03] European energy policies at peak demand [01:04:06] time, very cold in New England, wind, [01:04:09] solar, and batteries that you were just [01:04:11] speaking of, delivered less than 3% of [01:04:14] the electricity needed at peak demand [01:04:16] time. And that's when it matters because [01:04:18] if electricity goes out when it's very [01:04:20] cold, people die. Over 200 people died [01:04:23] in a smaller cold st snap during the [01:04:26] Biden administration. This was massively [01:04:28] larger geographically. We've had no [01:04:31] failure of the electricity grid. No [01:04:33] failure of long-distance transmission [01:04:34] lines. Local distribution lines have [01:04:37] iced up and come down and we have people [01:04:39] from all over the country working to get [01:04:40] those back up because people need their [01:04:42] lights back on. But your energy policies [01:04:45] deliver just a dramatically dramatically [01:04:47] different outcome for the American [01:04:49] people. We'd continued the Biden area [01:04:51] policies for one more year, continued to [01:04:54] shut down coal plants, continued these [01:04:56] crazy climate restrictions that wouldn't [01:04:58] even let power plants run at maximum at [01:05:00] maximum demand time. We hadn't liberated [01:05:03] all the backup generators that are [01:05:05] sitting there. We gave up an emergency [01:05:06] approval. [01:05:07] >> Plants that were going to close, coal [01:05:09] plants that are were modern and good and [01:05:12] threw off very little problem. Uh, and [01:05:15] that were really powerful. You know, by [01:05:17] the way, China does most of everything [01:05:19] they're doing with coal. Not that we [01:05:21] want to copy anybody, but you know, they [01:05:23] make the windmills, but they don't have [01:05:24] a lot of wind farms. That's somebody [01:05:26] ought to look at that. How many wind [01:05:27] farms do they have? Very, very few. They [01:05:29] make them, they sell them, they make a [01:05:31] fortune, but they don't use them. Uh, so [01:05:34] the coal I'm I understand they're using [01:05:37] it also as a great backup. So you build [01:05:39] a plant but they have it as a backup in [01:05:41] case of tragedy, in case of really bad [01:05:44] weather, etc., etc. They actually store [01:05:46] coal on the site of other plants so that [01:05:50] if they need emergency energy, the coal [01:05:53] is always going to be there whereas [01:05:55] other things aren't. Is that correct? [01:05:57] >> Exactly. Coal just stepped up here to [01:05:59] 25% of our electricity during this this [01:06:02] high demand time. Natural gas, coal, and [01:06:04] nuclear. They are what run the American [01:06:06] electricity grid. The others are [01:06:08] ornaments and often expensive ornaments. [01:06:10] >> Stopped plants from being demolished, [01:06:12] right? [01:06:12] >> 17 gawatt of coal generation plants were [01:06:15] slated to close last year that were [01:06:18] stopped from being closure by this [01:06:20] administration. [01:06:20] >> If they were closed, we would be really [01:06:22] tight on energy. we would have had [01:06:24] significant blackouts at these peak cold [01:06:27] times and extrapolating from the last [01:06:28] storm during the Biden administration I [01:06:30] think at least hundreds of deaths [01:06:32] because in the south a lot of heating is [01:06:34] done with electricity generation. If [01:06:36] those grids go down people die. So these [01:06:39] and and when going back to the working [01:06:41] families tax cut act or the one big [01:06:43] beautiful bill that got rid of $500 [01:06:46] billion dollar of subsidies, energy [01:06:48] subsidies that do nothing but make [01:06:50] energy more expensive and less reliable [01:06:53] under this administration. We've spent [01:06:55] massively less on energy and we've [01:06:58] delivered massively more on energy and [01:07:00] when you have more energy of lower [01:07:01] prices. [01:07:02] >> It's a fantastic job. You and Doug Doug [01:07:04] said you got to get this guy Doug. you [01:07:06] gotta get this guy Chris Wright and get [01:07:08] him as soon as you can. I said, "But I [01:07:10] want you to run energy." He said, "Well, [01:07:12] I'm good at it, but he's better, right? [01:07:14] Didn't [laughter] you tell me that?" So, [01:07:15] I gave him I gave him the land. I gave [01:07:17] you the energy, right? And it's a great [01:07:20] combination. I mean, they literally have [01:07:22] I said, "Maybe we'll merge it in some [01:07:24] way." They said, "We don't have to. We [01:07:25] get along. They work. They work [01:07:27] together, right, with the land." He's [01:07:29] got the land and the energy. He's got [01:07:30] the knowledge to take it out. It's been [01:07:32] a good combination. This administration, [01:07:34] the whole administration and your [01:07:36] leadership has been very focused on [01:07:37] energy because we can push down energy [01:07:39] prices, we can lower costs on Americans, [01:07:41] and we can raise wages by bringing jobs [01:07:43] and opportunities here. Um, it is a [01:07:46] transform transformation of American [01:07:47] energy. Thanks for your leadership. [01:07:49] >> He's one of the most respected men [01:07:52] people in the energy world. And Doug [01:07:54] told me about Chris Wright. They said if [01:07:56] you could get him what he gave up to do [01:07:58] this job, you're making a little less [01:08:00] money, but that's all right. You don't [01:08:01] care. what you're doing is fantastic. [01:08:03] But he said he's the best in the world. [01:08:05] Other people have told me that. The [01:08:06] heads of the biggest companies have told [01:08:08] me that and it's really panning out to [01:08:10] be. So, we appreciate it very much. It's [01:08:12] great. Uh, one of the things we're doing [01:08:14] with energy, I think that's so [01:08:15] important. We have an old grid, been [01:08:16] around a long time, not really uh can't [01:08:19] be much expanded. It can be fixed up a [01:08:21] little bit, but can't be much expanded. [01:08:23] And we have some plants that are so big [01:08:25] that the grid would never be able to [01:08:26] hold it. We're allowing them to build a [01:08:30] uh electric producing plant, mostly [01:08:33] electric, but electric to they can use [01:08:35] nuclear to do it. They can use oil and [01:08:37] gas. They can use coal. They can use [01:08:39] whatever they want. I think many are [01:08:40] choosing oil and gas because it's there, [01:08:42] it's tried, it's true, it's plentiful, [01:08:45] it's inexpensive. Some are going [01:08:47] nuclear, some are going both. Many are [01:08:50] going all three. But, uh, the plants, [01:08:53] you know, you read, well, how do we ever [01:08:54] fire those plants because we need to do [01:08:56] this? We need two times the electricity [01:08:59] we produce in one year for the entire [01:09:02] country, which is almost hard to [01:09:03] believe. These buildings are so big. [01:09:05] They're going up now. So, I did [01:09:06] something that nobody thought was [01:09:08] possible. Also, when they build their [01:09:10] building, they build their own electric [01:09:13] generating plants. And we are seeing [01:09:16] some of the most incredible designs [01:09:17] you've ever seen. So, we don't need the [01:09:19] grid. I read an article in the Wall [01:09:21] Street Journal saying, "Oh, we're [01:09:22] falling behind China." We're not [01:09:24] actually. We're leading everybody [01:09:25] because I'm letting them build. The [01:09:27] government would never be able to do [01:09:28] that. Now, China is a different kind. [01:09:30] They build they they do things that you [01:09:32] got to hand it to them. President Xi, [01:09:34] they build vast amounts of energy. They [01:09:37] don't have certain constraints that we [01:09:40] have in this country. But we're more [01:09:42] than topping them. We're leading China [01:09:43] by a lot on AI. And it's primarily [01:09:46] because I'm allowing them to build with [01:09:48] their plant their own electricity. If [01:09:50] they had to rely on the grid, they [01:09:52] wouldn't have any power. you wouldn't [01:09:53] have any power for anything. And they're [01:09:55] building the electricity. And one of the [01:09:56] reasons I'm able to do that is we have a [01:09:59] very capable man in the room named Lee [01:10:03] Zelden. He may be in the room someplace. [01:10:06] Is it his normal place? He's there. He's [01:10:08] always there. Most reliable, solid guy. [01:10:11] And he's done an amazing job. Could you [01:10:13] just explain that? And also uh because [01:10:16] of the fact he's so good. California has [01:10:18] a problem. the hardest permit to get [01:10:21] when they lost 25,000 or so houses, [01:10:23] which shouldn't have been lost. They [01:10:24] should have allowed the water to come [01:10:25] down from the Pac Pacific Northwest, [01:10:28] which was very plentiful, but they [01:10:30] didn't do that. They lost 25,000 house. [01:10:32] Uh Lee and his team gave them the most [01:10:36] complicated permit within 20 days. [01:10:39] Everybody, every single house that [01:10:42] burned down was got the federal [01:10:44] approval. Unfortunately, it's well over [01:10:47] a year and the state and the city, [01:10:50] that's Gavin Nuskum and the city, the [01:10:52] mayor, who's grossly incompetent by the [01:10:54] way, they have been unable to give [01:10:57] permits. They're like three houses being [01:10:59] built out of thousands and thousands. [01:11:02] They have no they have no permits. So, I [01:11:05] read about a week ago that it's possible [01:11:08] because of what's happened, whether you [01:11:10] declare national emergency or something, [01:11:12] these people are wanting, they're dying [01:11:14] to build their house. They want to do [01:11:16] something that I could put somebody in [01:11:19] charge from the federal government. [01:11:22] Congratulations, Lee. And I'm putting [01:11:25] Lee Zelden in charge of getting them [01:11:27] their permits. City federal, you can you [01:11:30] have the federal, you need the city and [01:11:32] state. Uh, and I hear you have great [01:11:35] powers over them if we want and we're [01:11:37] going to give you that power. We've [01:11:38] already given you that power. So, Lee [01:11:40] Zelden is going to work with the [01:11:42] thousands of people that are dying to [01:11:44] build their house. And I also recommend [01:11:47] one other thing. Give them the house [01:11:49] plus a 10% bonus. In other words, you [01:11:51] get a bonus. You can build your house [01:11:53] 10% larger. They've suffered so greatly. [01:11:57] They've waited so long and they should [01:11:59] be given a bonus. So, I think, and you [01:12:01] know, I've heard this has been done [01:12:03] before, they get a 10% bonus. They can [01:12:06] build a house that's a little bit larger [01:12:07] than what they had before. And I'd like [01:12:09] to have you take it over. [01:12:11] >> Mr. President, uh, your great Secretary [01:12:13] of State was looking for another job. [01:12:15] So, [laughter] [01:12:17] >> I was thinking about him, but he's [01:12:19] pretty well booked. I watch [laughter] [01:12:21] He did a great job yesterday, but he's a [01:12:24] little booked up. Let's go Lake talk. [01:12:26] >> No more ideas like that. [laughter] [01:12:29] When President Trump came into office, [01:12:31] he immediately signed an executive order [01:12:33] giving EPA 30 days to complete our phase [01:12:36] one hazardous material removal so that [01:12:39] the Army Corps could come in and [01:12:40] complete their phase 2 debris removal. [01:12:43] So, uh, at first the response was that [01:12:45] that was going to be impossible. Good [01:12:47] luck trying to get it done maybe by the [01:12:49] summer, but we figured it out. Uh, [01:12:51] because operating at Trump speed, the [01:12:53] president was just sworn in. Uh, we had [01:12:55] to get it done and we got it done in [01:12:56] less than 30 days. The Army Corps then [01:12:58] came in and completed the debris [01:13:00] removal. So, the federal government uh [01:13:03] while the governor has tried to accuse [01:13:04] this president of not focusing uh with a [01:13:08] a laser on putting all the weight of the [01:13:10] federal government to getting this done, [01:13:13] uh it happened from the moment he was [01:13:14] sworn into office. SBA came in uh I [01:13:17] think it was about half of the disaster [01:13:19] loan money, billions of dollars from [01:13:21] last year went uh towards these [01:13:23] residents and businesses. So, the full [01:13:25] weight of this government But right [01:13:27] after uh I was sworn in, which was [01:13:30] actually a week a year ago today. Um my [01:13:33] first trip was to East Palestine because [01:13:34] the vice president never forgets his uh [01:13:36] home state. The second trip was uh going [01:13:39] to Los Angeles. There were people with [01:13:42] contractors all over Palisades and Eaton [01:13:46] ready to rebuild right then and there. [01:13:49] You're talking about a year ago. And now [01:13:52] the frustration, the passion that we all [01:13:54] hear from all these Los Angeles [01:13:56] residents, uh, and President Trump, uh, [01:13:58] he's made it clear to us that he's heard [01:14:00] enough and the message should be heard [01:14:02] loud and clear to, uh, that local [01:14:04] leadership. They should be motivated [01:14:06] listening to this right now. and when [01:14:09] this cabinet meeting is over, if it [01:14:10] hasn't been done already, is that they [01:14:12] need to go into the office where these [01:14:14] permits are just laying around, flip [01:14:16] over tables if you have to, fire people [01:14:18] if you have to, and get all of these [01:14:20] approvals done so that people can [01:14:21] rebuild their lives. It's been a year [01:14:23] and this president has had enough. [01:14:25] >> So, whatever you can do, you know, [01:14:27] that's uh going to be very important. [01:14:29] And uh it's it's so sad those people, we [01:14:32] were there a few days after the fire. [01:14:33] You were there with me. We're walking [01:14:35] down the streets. The people are [01:14:37] devastated. The love that they had for [01:14:38] that property was everybody was going to [01:14:41] rebuild and they thought they could do [01:14:43] it immediately. They should have. [01:14:44] [clears throat] We gave it to them so [01:14:45] quickly, but they can't get their [01:14:47] permits. They still can't build and uh [01:14:50] and they're losing spirit too. I mean, a [01:14:52] lot of people are losing spirit. And the [01:14:54] other thing I'd like to uh talk to you [01:14:56] about and uh other people about that [01:14:58] right happen to be sitting around the [01:15:00] table uh they want to build a low-income [01:15:03] housing project right in the middle of [01:15:05] everything in Palisades. And I'm not [01:15:07] going to allow it to happen. Okay? I [01:15:09] mean maybe it's politically correct, [01:15:11] maybe it's not. I'm not going to let [01:15:12] these people destroy the value of their [01:15:15] houses. It's I I built a lot of [01:15:17] low-income housing. I made a lot of [01:15:18] money building low-income housing. I [01:15:20] know more about it than anybody. We're [01:15:22] not going to build, we're not going to [01:15:23] allow this guy to build a low-income [01:15:27] housing project on top of everything [01:15:29] else in the middle of that mess that was [01:15:32] created by the fact that they didn't [01:15:34] allow water to come down from the [01:15:35] Pacific Northwest. Okay? And uh I'd like [01:15:39] you to have that stopped and stopped [01:15:41] immediately. No financing. That might be [01:15:43] you, Scott, because they'll come to you [01:15:45] for financing. It's never going to be [01:15:47] approved. You you would never approve. [01:15:48] Scott thought it was a horrible thing. [01:15:51] So, there's going to be no financing for [01:15:53] low-income housing. Let the people build [01:15:55] their houses and as fast as you can help [01:15:58] them help the mayor and help the [01:16:00] governor get their permitting done. [01:16:02] Okay. [01:16:02] >> Yes, sir. [01:16:02] >> Okay. Thank you very much, Kelly. Uh [01:16:04] just, you know, I think you were just [01:16:07] alluded to, are you helping some of the [01:16:09] people out there with loans? [01:16:10] >> Yes, Mr. President. Thanks to your [01:16:12] leadership, you also helped put the [01:16:13] fires out. Your executive order got [01:16:15] water to the scene in your earliest days [01:16:18] of your presidency. So, you've been [01:16:19] there from day one. We've been out there [01:16:21] twice now. Uh there had been no changes [01:16:23] until your executive order this week [01:16:25] that is allowing that permitting to [01:16:27] happen quickly. We have 16,000 [01:16:29] structures burned. We have put loans out [01:16:32] on 12,000 of them for $3.2 billion. More [01:16:35] than half of all the disaster money [01:16:37] delivered in America went to that area. [01:16:40] Now, because of the abject leadership, [01:16:42] the failures of Gavin Newsome, they have [01:16:44] not been able to rebuild. because of [01:16:46] your leadership, they're going to be [01:16:47] able to rebuild. But that's not all [01:16:49] you've done. [01:16:50] >> They'll take the credit for it. Watch. [01:16:51] It'll start and they'll take the credit. [01:16:53] Look at the great job we did. They would [01:16:55] never It won't It wouldn't get built in [01:16:57] 20 years. And And it'll be destroyed by [01:17:00] building low-income housing next to [01:17:02] luxury housing. Uh history says that [01:17:04] doesn't work too well. Go ahead. [01:17:06] >> We're going to make sure that doesn't [01:17:07] happen, Mr. President. But under your [01:17:09] leadership, you've ended at least eight [01:17:11] wars. Okay. But the probably the most [01:17:13] important and under reportported war [01:17:15] that this president ended was Joe Biden [01:17:18] and the Democrats war on Main Street and [01:17:20] hardworking families. Uh we've seen it [01:17:22] as I've gone across the country this [01:17:24] month, 10 different states and we saw it [01:17:26] when we were together in Iowa. [01:17:28] Hardworking families, farmers, small [01:17:30] businesses expressing gratitude lined up [01:17:33] to thank you. I was out with our great [01:17:35] vice president last week in Toledo, [01:17:36] Ohio. They are thanking this [01:17:38] administration for getting Main Street [01:17:40] back. the Trump tax cuts, the tariffs, [01:17:43] deregulation, it's all rocket fuel for [01:17:46] hardworking families in main streets. [01:17:48] And I see it whether it's talking about [01:17:50] small business expensing 100% [01:17:52] accelerated for made in America [01:17:53] factories, the 20% pass through, but [01:17:55] it's also working families where they [01:17:57] have expanded child tax credits, [01:18:00] increased standard deductions, permanent [01:18:02] lowincome tax rates, health savings [01:18:05] accounts, Trump accounts. This president [01:18:08] is delivering for Main Street. It's the [01:18:10] most underreported story in this country [01:18:12] and I see it in Main Street businesses. [01:18:14] Alltime small business confidence hit a [01:18:17] record under this president last year [01:18:19] after the Trump tax cuts. All-time small [01:18:21] business formation now at 36 million [01:18:24] small businesses and a record hundred [01:18:26] billion dollars out from SBA because a [01:18:28] record number of people want to invest [01:18:30] in this country and hire. And whether [01:18:32] I've talked to manufacturers about [01:18:34] tariffs, they know that this president [01:18:36] is bringing manufacturing back just like [01:18:38] Prince Manufacturing in Mon Georgia, 500 [01:18:42] employees machining parts for our [01:18:43] defense, our agriculture, our [01:18:45] automotive, our aerospace industry. [01:18:47] They're going to hire 500 more people [01:18:50] this year because of tariffs, because of [01:18:52] the Trump tax cuts, and because of SBA [01:18:55] lending. And I see this state after [01:18:57] state as I've gone across the country, [01:18:59] talked to hundreds of business owners, [01:19:01] walked dozens of factory floors. This is [01:19:03] not being covered, but it's going on in [01:19:05] America. The number one problem is they [01:19:06] need skilled workers. This is something [01:19:08] I'm working on with Secretary Chavez. [01:19:11] I'm working across the administration to [01:19:14] ensure that we empower our small [01:19:17] businesses. 98% of our manufacturers [01:19:20] meet the small business definition. So [01:19:22] Ford has 5,000 small manufacturing [01:19:24] suppliers. The $18 trillion you brought [01:19:27] in is creating an economic boom like [01:19:29] none we've ever seen before. We are [01:19:31] going to have 7% GDP growth. Uh GDP now [01:19:35] is probably underestimating where it is [01:19:37] in 4Q. But with interest rates going [01:19:39] down, with regulation going down these [01:19:41] are all taxes on small businesses and [01:19:44] those are going away. And thanks to [01:19:45] President Trump, your leadership, we are [01:19:47] seeing Main Street boom. hardworking [01:19:49] families have $1,000 already in their [01:19:51] pockets. And when they get their [01:19:53] thousand refund tax, I hope they all [01:19:55] remember that every Democrat voted [01:19:57] against them getting their tax refunds [01:20:00] because this is what our administration [01:20:02] is doing is powering your incredible [01:20:05] economic agenda forward on Main Street. [01:20:07] >> Thank you very much. Great job. I I do [01:20:09] want to say that uh on my left I have a [01:20:12] man who's doing a fantastic job and on [01:20:14] my right also by the way uh but we're [01:20:17] spending a tremendous amount of time and [01:20:19] effort on building our military. We [01:20:22] largely rebuilt the military during my [01:20:24] first term fortunately and [01:20:26] [clears throat] we're greatly greatly [01:20:28] enhancing really enhancing it now. Uh [01:20:31] we're going to be doing something new. [01:20:33] were bringing back the battleship. And I [01:20:35] thought like you remember the [01:20:37] battleships for the great Iowa and [01:20:39] Alabama, Missouri, those unbelievable [01:20:42] scenes that you'd see victory at sea. [01:20:44] You'd see these incredible ships. And I [01:20:47] thought they were powerful. But the [01:20:48] battleships that were building are going [01:20:50] to be 100 times more powerful than those [01:20:55] beautiful works of art. I mean, they [01:20:56] were magnificent. Uh all steel. We have [01:20:59] the steel now and we're going to be [01:21:01] doing that as an enhancement. But we uh [01:21:03] our military is very very strong. You [01:21:05] may want to say something about the [01:21:08] large leadership that's heading [01:21:10] [clears throat] over to the Middle East. [01:21:12] >> Well, Mr. President, uh you you had to [01:21:15] like so many other cabinet members have [01:21:17] referenced rebuild the perception of [01:21:19] America and at the Department of War [01:21:21] that meant reestablishing deterrence. Uh [01:21:24] what happened in Afghanistan, what [01:21:26] happened in Ukraine, a war that never [01:21:27] would have occurred, what happened on [01:21:28] October 7th in Israel, never would have [01:21:30] happened under President Trump. So, as a [01:21:32] result, we're having to rebuild how our [01:21:34] enemies perceive us. And when President [01:21:36] Trump said, "We're not getting a nuclear [01:21:38] Iran. You won't have a nuclear bomb," he [01:21:40] meant it. And we sent those B2s halfway [01:21:42] around the world. And they they never [01:21:44] noticed. When he said, "We're not going [01:21:46] to tolerate trafficking drugs anymore in [01:21:48] our hemisphere. Uh we treat them like [01:21:50] the al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere," [01:21:52] he meant it. And we're executing that. [01:21:53] When you said, "Mr. President, we're [01:21:54] securing the border." The military was [01:21:56] proud to do their part alongside [01:21:57] Homeland Security to do that. Same thing [01:22:00] with uh with Iran right now, ensuring [01:22:02] that uh they have all the options to [01:22:04] make a deal. They should not pursue uh [01:22:06] nuclear capabilities. We will be [01:22:08] prepared to deliver whatever this [01:22:09] president expects of the war department [01:22:12] just like we did this month. No other [01:22:15] military in the world could have could [01:22:16] have executed the most sophisticated [01:22:19] powerful raid not just in American [01:22:21] history. I would say in world history [01:22:23] what those men did going downtown [01:22:27] another country the most secure place in [01:22:29] the most secure base in the middle of [01:22:31] the night without anybody knowing until [01:22:34] those simultaneous bombs dropped three [01:22:36] minutes before the helicopters dropped. [01:22:38] No other country could coordinate that. [01:22:40] No other president would have been [01:22:42] willing to empower those warriors that [01:22:44] way to be that effective. And that sends [01:22:47] a message to every capital around the [01:22:48] world that when President Trump speaks, [01:22:50] he means business. And we are [01:22:52] reestablishing deterrence at the War [01:22:53] Department. Mr. President, [01:22:54] >> thank you. Great job you're doing. Uh [01:22:56] just uh to finish up on that, the [01:22:59] Somalian pirates over the years have [01:23:02] pirated, stolen many ships. Uh they [01:23:06] would get large amounts of money for the [01:23:08] ship. You know, you have a [01:23:09] billion-dollar ship and the insurance [01:23:11] companies didn't want to fight because, [01:23:14] you know, some of those ships are very [01:23:15] flammable. They're carrying millions of [01:23:18] barrels of oil. Very flammable, very [01:23:21] dangerous situation if they're shot at. [01:23:23] So, they wouldn't fight. We notified [01:23:25] them a number of months ago. Anybody [01:23:27] that does that gets the same treatment [01:23:28] as a drug dealer sending their drugs in [01:23:31] from Venezuela or anybody else. Uh we as [01:23:35] you know it's 97% down by water. So the [01:23:39] drugs coming in by sea or by water uh [01:23:42] will uh is down 97 97%. Now we're also [01:23:48] starting that was the more difficult [01:23:50] route. Now we're starting to do that by [01:23:52] land also. It will be uh you'll see that [01:23:55] happen as they come in and kill our [01:23:57] people with drugs. I think the real [01:23:59] number is 300,000 people a year, not [01:24:02] 100. But whatever it is, it's a lot of [01:24:04] people, hundreds of thousands of people. [01:24:06] Uh they're going to get hit. But also, [01:24:08] we added to the list the Somalian [01:24:12] pirates that uh go out on a boat, [01:24:15] similar type boat, actually not quite as [01:24:17] fast, not quite as nice as you can [01:24:20] imagine, but they get the same missile [01:24:22] that uh we give to the people that are [01:24:26] bringing drugs. And so far we haven't [01:24:28] seen anybody going out. So the the uh [01:24:31] traffic uh is not being interfered with [01:24:34] by people pirating our ships. Not our [01:24:37] ships, ships all over the world. I said [01:24:39] make it for any country. We're doing the [01:24:41] rest of the world a favor. It's a very [01:24:44] effective favor. But we see very little [01:24:47] pirating nowadays. You used to have [01:24:49] ships being taken every single like two [01:24:52] or three a week. these massive ships [01:24:54] that be brought in to some place in [01:24:56] Somalia which I don't even know is isn't [01:24:58] a country. We have Elhan Omar left and [01:25:02] then she gives us lectures on the [01:25:04] constitution of the United States. Uh [01:25:06] these people are what they've done to [01:25:08] rip off our country is terrible. But uh [01:25:11] the pirating has essentially stopped. [01:25:13] They know that if anybody even makes a [01:25:15] move toward a ship, they get uh the [01:25:18] ultimate treatment. They will go to [01:25:19] wherever they want to go, but it's [01:25:21] probably not going to be to heaven. I [01:25:23] can't imagine. But they get they get uh [01:25:26] hit very hard just like a drug dealer. [01:25:28] Just like the boats, the ships that are [01:25:30] coming in. Every boat that comes in with [01:25:34] drugs on it that we take out, we just [01:25:36] save 25,000 American lives. Each boat is [01:25:40] the uh equivalent of saving 25,000 [01:25:44] American, mostly American, but American [01:25:47] lives. So, uh, I just wanted to let you [01:25:49] know that and Pete's been totally [01:25:51] authorized to do that and they know it's [01:25:53] going to happen and, uh, it seems that [01:25:56] all of that brisk business that they had [01:25:58] has been stopped in its, uh, right in [01:26:01] its foot. So, uh, I just want to thank [01:26:04] everybody for being here. My cabinet has [01:26:06] been amazing. Uh, I like this much [01:26:09] better than going around for three [01:26:10] hours. We'll pick on other ones. Pam, [01:26:13] you're doing great. We're all doing [01:26:14] great. JD, if you'd like to say [01:26:16] something, you can. Would you like to [01:26:18] really quickly? [laughter] He is, after [01:26:19] all, the vice president of the United [01:26:21] States. [01:26:22] >> It's okay, sir. I'm here for the free [01:26:23] coffee. I just say it's an honor to [01:26:25] serve with this group and uh we're doing [01:26:27] a lot of good for the American people. [01:26:28] We're very proud of it. [01:26:29] >> Yeah, we're very proud of the country. [01:26:31] We're very proud of you. Thank you very [01:26:33] much, everybody. Thank [01:26:35] you.