Editor’s Notes: In this update, Donald Trump delivers comprehensive remarks from the Oval Office regarding the launch of “Project Vault,” a new strategic critical minerals reserve aimed at bolstering American manufacturing and national security. Joined by top industry leaders and cabinet members, he discusses the revitalization of the domestic mining and automotive sectors while emphasizing a return to American industrial sovereignty. The session also addresses high-stakes geopolitical issues, including potential breakthroughs in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and ongoing negotiations with Iran. Additionally, Trump provides his characteristic take on domestic matters ranging from D.C. safety and border security to sharp critiques of the entertainment industry and federal renovations. (Feb 2, 2026)
TRANSCRIPT:
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Building on these achievements with this vital new reserve. And now I would like to ask Axiom Chairman John Jovanovic to say a few words, followed by our friends from business and Congress. We’ll go over that. But we have some great business leaders, the best, here today. And, John, if you would start it off, that would be great. Thank you.
John Jovanovic’s Remarks on Project Vault
JOHN JOVANOVIC: Thank you, Mr. President. The President gave us a very clear directive. My clear directive was much more of an order. For us to figure out how to, for the first time in American history, create a strategic critical minerals reserve in a way that would benefit the non-military manufacturing complex.
The challenge was enormous, not simply because it had never been done before, Mr. President, but we knew that you expected us to deliver in a big way, in a way that was scalable, in a way that was designed for long-term success, and in a way that would help revitalize our domestic mining industry. But most importantly, most crucially, that it not be subsidized by American taxpayers. That’s exactly what we’ve done.
Mr. President, what you’ve announced today is a truly uniquely American solution. It brings together our capital markets, which are the best and biggest in the world, with our manufacturers, our innovators, our miners, all pitching in to make this possible.
Now, these things don’t happen without the best and the brightest within industry being at the table. And, Mr. President, everyone wants to engage with this administration, with your administration. The key ingredient here was your call to action. Your call to action allowed us to bring together the best players in the market, sometimes the fiercest competitors, getting them to work together to come up with a creative solution.
Now, in addition to our great team at the Export-Import Bank, who worked around the clock, led by Brian Greeley, Jeff Wilson, Sarah Witt, and many others, we benefited from having the biggest manufacturing CEOs, the smartest market players at the table, all looking to solve this problem.
So, what we have with Project Vault is marrying the capital solution with what we need when we need it most. And the best part about it is that the American taxpayer will earn a return on financing the first-ever Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve in history. And we thank you, Mr. President, for allowing this to happen.
All of the people around us today helped make it possible. Our Cabinet Secretaries, our top CEOs, their teams, top market players, whether it be GM, GE Vernova, Boeing, Clarios, Google, Mercurio, especially Brian Fallick, Hartree, Traxxas, our friend Robert Friedland, all of us worked together, Mr. President, to deliver this for you and for the American people so that manufacturers and workers all across the country can rest assured they’ll have what they need when they need it most.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And you’re covering everything with this. We’re not just doing certain minerals and rare earths. We’re doing everything. What about magnets?
JOHN JOVANOVIC: We’re focused on the critical raw materials, and we anticipate that that, led by our great manufacturers, will help breed even more solutions.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Great job. Thank you very much. Doug Burgum, please.
Secretary Doug Burgum on Mining Achievements
DOUG BURGUM: Mr. President, again, I want to echo what John said, which is a great thank you to you. You’ve set the direction, and when you took office, you’ve done more in the last year for mining and minerals in our country, perhaps, than any president in history. Just like “drill, baby, drill,” you said “mine, baby, mine.”
And what’s happened in our country is you’ve led us through deals with equity deals for the first time in the United States of America is driving equity deals to help sustain and balance this market. You unlocked Alaska with the Amber Road Project. That opened up over 1,700 mining claims in Alaska.
And, of course, on beautiful, clean coal, we’ve got critical minerals that are co-located with that coal, and we’ve unlocked that. The Biden administration did zero coal leases during the last four years. You’ve done hundreds of millions of tons of coal leases. That’s going to help drive electric prices down in America.
Permitting, you mentioned this in your remarks, there were some permits that lingered for 29 years. They got done in four months last year under your administration. Under your emergency authorities, some of these permits got done in as short as 12 days.
You helped create a club of nations to help balance out the fact that we didn’t have markets that were functioning around critical minerals. You led off with Australia, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. This week, we’ll announce 11 more countries that are joining that club of nations as part of this global coalition. And behind that, the pipeline, there’s 20 more nations that want to join under your leadership to allow for trade of critical minerals.
And then here we stand today with the teamwork that was described. This would not have been possible without the incredible cabinet that you put together. Marco Rubio, Scott Besant, Howard Lutnick, Chris Wright, and many others were involved in bringing this together through the vision.
Standing with us today are some of our chairmen of our great congressional leadership who also have supported this and helped us find a way to do this without any appropriations.
This is happening without tax dollars. And of course, our team on the ground here at the White House, including David Copley and everybody else at the NSC, David leading the global supply chain work, folks working with the Ex-Im Bank team working around the clock to make all this happen.
So again, when you lead, when you put out a challenge, the teamwork happens. And then here we stand today. This is the largest Ex-Im Bank deal in the history of the Ex-Im Bank by more than double. And this is going to help drive national security. It’s great for American manufacturers. It’s great for American workers. Congratulations, President Trump.
The President Thanks Doug Burgum
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. You’re doing a fantastic job, Doug. Thank you.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra on Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing
Could I ask Mary Barra, the Chairman and CEO of General Motors, which is setting records every single day and she’s doing a fantastic job, to say a few words and also discuss how good the car business is now in the U.S., please.
MS. BARRA: Well, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your commitment to strengthening U.S. manufacturing and supporting the auto industry. I also want to thank your Cabinet and members of Congress and the whole team here that made this possible today.
Having a resilient supply chain is critical for our nation and it’s critical for all industry, especially the auto industry. We have been strengthened with many of the different policies that have been put in place over the last year. So I want to thank everybody for that. It not only supports U.S. manufacturing, it supports job creation. It also supports the consumer. So thank you.
And business is held very strong. We still see a strong consumer, so I’m excited about 2026.
THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s going to be a record with all of your new plants opening up and everything else in our country. And so, in our country.
Mining Industry Leader on National Security and Reindustrialization
Mr. Roberts, please.
MR. ROBERTS: Mr. President, thank you so much for what you’ve achieved. Everything we touch, we either grew it agriculturally and you’ve helped the farmers, or we mined it. All these cameras you see in front of you, they were mined. Every time you pick up a hand farm, it was mined. And so stimulating the ability for the miners in this country to help you industrialize the country. They’re the salt of the earth.
And we’re super excited that America is doing something for not only our national security, but for the reindustrialization of the country. Because you can’t reindustrialize Detroit with a lot of metal. And I’m telling you on behalf of every miner I know, they’re elated at the breakthroughs that have been achieved here.
I’ll make a lot more cameras in the future. And maybe you can help us teach everybody that everything you touch like that, somebody mined it. And we need your support, and we’re really happy to get it. And congratulations. You’re in the Hall of Fame.
Is that the Rare Earth Hall of Fame or Mineral Hall of Fame? It’s a bunch of pictures of dead guys that go back to Herbert Hoover, who was a miner. You know, mining is down to 1% of the S&P 500, but really everything you touch needs mining. And this is the first administration with your support where we’ve got hope. We can go out and really do it.
So, as you know, I last met you in Saudi Arabia with Mohammed bin Salman. We’re working in Chile. We want to bring these metals back to the United States and refine them and use them right here. And the vision of this administration, Howard Lutnick’s been helping a lot. A lot of people at Ex-Im Bank have been helping a lot. I’m just telling you the morale of the miners is sky high. You’re doing a great job. Thank you very much. Congratulations. That’s a big deal. Thank you. Thank you.
Congressman French Hill on Congressional Support
CONGRESSMAN FRENCH HILL: How about French Hill? Say a few words, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, on behalf of Congress, Chairman Westerman can talk about how he’s helped unleash the ability to mine through permanent reform. And Senator Marino and I serve on the House Financial Service Committee and Senate Banking Committee. And we’re best in this country when we take the private sector and we leverage it to unleash the directions that you’re made.
And so, together with our reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank, we leverage that resource with private sector dollars to make this a success. And it’s going to be a huge strategic change in America’s industrial capacity.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Big difference, right? Big difference. There’s never been really anything like what we’re doing. Bernie, please.
Bernie on the Auto Industry Revival
BERNIE: You know, not to be hyperbolic, but if you hadn’t been elected, the auto industry in America would be over.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: The country would be over.
BERNIE: It would be completely over. The country would be over. Well, but the auto industry would have been gone first. What the Democrats had done with electric vehicles, the mandates, what you were able to accomplish last year, Secretary Lutnick, what Secretary Bassett was able to do with your leadership has transformed the auto industry. And I’ll tell you, it’s never been better for people in the auto industry. I hear it from all my friends. They are elated.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And the worst part is that the people that you really saved were the car dealers in California, in New York, in New Jersey, right? And they fought me all the way, Mary, right? They fought me all the way, and now they’re saying, thank you very much. But you’re doing a great job. Thank you, Bernie.
Scott?
Scott on Economic Security and Sovereignty
SCOTT: Sir, as you always say, economic security is national security, and a country does not have sovereignty if we don’t have control of our critical minerals, don’t have control of our steel production and our industrial base. And thanks to the work of everyone here, through your leadership, this was a public-private partnership that only you could have assembled.
And we are taking back our sovereignty, and we are going to have this Vault project, a strategic mineral reserve. And I can’t tell you how innovative and exciting this is, and the level of security it is going to give us going forward is phenomenal.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And how is your new, and I think new and improved, Fed Chairman doing? How is that all going?
SCOTT: He’s off to a great start.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think so.
SCOTT: He had so much built-in credibility. And as the American people, smart people, like Representative Hill, Senator Marino, they already knew him. And as the American people get to know him, the important thing is that they will be able to trust the Federal Reserve to steer the economy for them. He’s going to do great.
Howard Lutnick on Prior Administrations’ Failures
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Howard, please.
SECRETARY HOWARD LUTNICK: So, prior presidents took America for granted. They let our critical minerals only be controlled by China. They let our mining business go to hell by closing all the mines, closing our coal plants while China opened them. They let our auto industry, right?
We used to produce 75% of our cars in America, and when Biden left, it was below 50%. We were just letting all of these industries just be shredded from America. And thank goodness you are in this chair, changing it and taking it back. We are taking back critical minerals. We are taking back mining. We’re taking back the auto industry. You’re going to watch us take back pharmaceuticals. We’re going to take back semiconductors. None of this could possibly happen without your leadership. And it is the most fun to stand back here with your leadership because we are changing America back and making it great again.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s very true. Anybody would like to say anything else?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Amen to that.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You guys okay? Everything all right? Chairman Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s a good man. Go ahead.
CHAIRMAN BUSH: We had a great day, and it couldn’t have happened without your leadership. And I think people will be talking about this for a long time because we’re bringing back American mining and American manufacturing. You know, God blessed our country with abundant resources. Secretary Burgum talked about the Ambler Road. 49 critical minerals that can be mined in sufficient quantities just in that one area, but from northern Minnesota, Arizona, my home state of Arkansas, we are blessed with all these minerals. They’re just in the ground.
But when we get them out of the ground and not only mine them, but refine them and process and manufacture with them, it’ll unleash great wealth for our country, and that’ll just build on all the other successes. So, thank you for what you’ve done. It’s a great day.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And how does it feel to be in the Oval Office? Is that great?
CHAIRMAN BUSH: Are we ever here? No, I’ve never been here, sir, but it’s fantastic.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: All the golds.
CHAIRMAN BUSH: I’ve been here a little bit, but it’s a special place. Never been so beautifully.
Questions on Federal Reserve Building Renovation
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, questions.
REPORTER: Mr. President, speaking of the Fed, would you like to see Jeanine Pirro drop the investigation into Chairman Powell to help? Senator Tillis has basically said that, you know, he’s not going to really be working with the administration to offer rewards. So, would you like to see the investigation?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I just got to take it to the end and see. Like, you’re doing a small renovation, and they’ve spent almost $4 billion doing a small renovation. I’m doing buildings. I built a hotel. The Waldorf, it’s called. And I did it for around $200 million. It’s a much bigger job. They’re spending almost — it could be $4 billion. I’ll tell you what, I don’t even see an end in sight.
I feel badly for the new Fed Chairman because he may not have an office for four years. I don’t know what these people are doing. So, it’s either gross incompetence or it’s theft of some kind or kickbacks. I don’t know what it is. But Jeanine Pirro is incredible, and she’ll figure it out.
But, no, you want to take it and just find out what happened. Because we can’t go around doing a renovation of a small, little complex — very small, couple of little buildings — and spend billions and billions of dollars on it. Something went wrong. We have to find out what it was.
Yeah, please.
Kennedy Center Entertainment Complex Plans
REPORTER: Thank you. Speaking of renovations, you announced you wanted to build a new and spectacular entertainment complex at the Kennedy Center. Do you plan on tearing it down? And how much will all of the renovations cost?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Probably around $200 million. And, you know, it’s funny. In real estate and building, I’ve done so much of it. I’ve done so well with it. You want to sit with something for a little while before you decide on what you want to do. And, you know, we sat with it. We ran it. It’s in very bad shape. It’s run down. It’s dilapidated. It’s sort of dangerous. People — things fall out — fall out of ceilings. You’ve seen it. And we had some big events there.
We had a lot of great events there over the last year. But you can’t do any work because people are coming in and out, and you have to work from — we have a marble man over there. The other day, he said, you know, every time I put down a piece of marble, people are stepping on the marble. They don’t even have time to dry. And you can’t do the same quality job.
If you close it — and, you know, we’re fully financed. And so we’re going to close it, and we’re going to make it unbelievable — far better than it ever was. And we’ll be able to do it properly. I was thinking maybe there’s a way of doing it simultaneously, but there really isn’t. And we’re going to have something that, when it opens, it’s going to be brand-new, beautiful.
I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down. But when it’s open, it’ll be brand-new and really beautiful. It’ll be at the highest level.
We can do a much better job — probably, in a way, a faster job — you know, because when you do it piecemeal — for instance, they have a play tonight, and you can’t do anything. You have to pull out everything. And you can’t have stanchions all over the place, and people are walking in to see a play.
So we’ll be closing it sometime around July 4th. It’s like — we’ll close it on July 4th in order to do something great for America. And then we’re going to build it. We have great contractors. We’re going to build it, and we’ll do it right.
We’re using the highest-grade marbles, the highest-grade everything. It’ll be brand-new. Tremendous carriers putting in the air conditioning. I guess they’re a bidder, but they’re probably going to get it. Carrier. We’re going to have all brand-new air conditioning, heating.
The steel will all be checked out because it’ll be fully exposed. You know, it’s been up for a long time. But as anybody knows, it was in very bad shape. It wasn’t kept well before I got there. So we’re going to make it — I think there won’t be anything like it in the country.
Yeah.
Meeting With Colombian President Petro
REPORTER: About your meeting with President Petro later this week, he’s been quite critical of you since you spoke back in January after the Maduro raid. What would you like to hear from him tomorrow in terms of drug trafficking in Venezuela? What are your expectations for him?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, as you can see, I mean, he’s been very nice over the last month or two. He was certainly critical before that. But somehow, after the Venezuelan raid, he became very nice. He changed his attitude very much. So, no, I look forward to seeing him. He’s coming in. We’re going to be talking about drugs, because tremendous amounts of drugs come out of his country. And I look forward to — we’re going to have a good meeting.
Yeah.
Iran Negotiations and Ukraine-Russia Developments
REPORTER: Mr. President, Steve Witkoff is going to be with the Iranian Foreign Minister on Friday. What are you hoping he’ll get out of it?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, you’re going to have — a lot of things are happening. You have Iran, and you have Russia, Ukraine, and you have the Middle East. We have a lot of things going. A lot of problems were here for a long time before I got here. We settled eight wars.
And I think we’re going to — I think we’re doing very well with Ukraine and Russia. For the first time, I’m saying that. You know, we’re doing — I think we’re going to maybe have some good news.
We’re losing — 25,000 people a month are being killed in that war. What a ridiculous war. Twenty-five thousand. It was 31,000 last month. Think of it. Young, beautiful kids. You know, the kids have parents. They have parents.
It doesn’t affect us in one way, but in another way, it’s 25,000 souls that, if I can solve it. You know, we’re not spending money like Biden did. He gave $350 billion away. I make everyone pay. And the United Nations are a little bit involved. But if you look, take a look at what’s happening. The countries of Europe are paying us for the weapons. So we have NATO paying — we send missiles over there. They pay us in full. It doesn’t cost us 10 cents. And we make money, I guess, but I don’t even want to talk about that because what I really want to do is save those people from dying.
They lose — Mary, can you imagine? Twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand people a month. That’s like a stadium full of people every single month. And, you know, I mean, I was blessed with something where I can get these things done. I got eight of them done. I thought all eight were going to be more difficult than this one. I thought my relationship with President Putin would give us a much easier road. But there’s tremendous hatred between Zelensky and Putin. Tremendous hatred. I mean, it’s a shame, but it’s taken longer than we thought.
One-Week Ceasefire Agreement with Putin
I did call up President Putin, and he’s agreed. He’s put it out to — they have the same cold wave that we do. It may be different because it’s pretty far away, but it’s the equivalent. And Ukraine is a very cold country. It’s much colder than us. It’s colder than — they say, on average, it’s Canada or colder. And on top of that, they have a tremendous cold wave. And I asked him if he wouldn’t shoot for a period of one week. No missiles going into Kiev or any other towns. And he’s agreed to do it. So it’s something.
Questions on Iran and Putin
REPORTER: What about Iran’s nuclear program? Do you think Mr. Whitkoff will get a deal on that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re talking about that. We have ships heading to Iran right now. Big ones. Biggest and the best. And we have talks going on with Iran. We’ll see how it all works out.
REPORTER: Mr. President, when did you speak with Putin?
REPORTER: Mr. President, the Pentagon released national defense strategy last weekend.
THE PRESIDENT: Where are you from with that? Nice hat.
REPORTER: I’m from Europe. I’m from Lithuania, Baltic States.
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
Limited Support for European Defense
REPORTER: National defense strategy says that U.S. will provide critical but only limited support for European defense. What does that mean, limited support? Can — will the U.S. still provide —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we get along very well with Europe. I do. Because, you know, don’t forget, I got the GDP lifted from 2 percent to 5 percent. Nobody thought that could be possible. And they’re giving us a lot of that money. We have the best military equipment. We’re selling it to NATO. But I get along very well.
But Europe has to be careful because, you know, there are those that say it’s no longer recognizable between immigration and energy. You know, there’s so much potential. In the UK, you know, you have the North Sea oil, and they basically close it down. And then they buy energy from Norway, which is the North Sea oil. So you figure that one. And Norway has got trillions of dollars.
They have to be careful. You need energy, and you can’t do the windmills because the windmills — you’re supposed to make money with energy, not lose money. So I’m very disappointed. I look, I love Europe. I love the people of Europe. And they have to be very careful. They’re at a tipping point. You have tremendous immigration problems, and you have tremendous energy problems. It’s a bad combination. So —
Body Cameras in Minneapolis
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. Kristi Noem just announced that you’re deploying body cameras to Minneapolis. What’s your thinking behind this decision? And do you want to see this —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it wasn’t my decision.
I would have — you know, I leave it to her. They generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can’t lie about what’s happening. So it’s, generally speaking, I think 80 percent good for law enforcement. But if she wants to do that, I’m okay with it.
Remember one thing. We closed the border. We had a — I got elected on a disastrous border. And we have nobody coming in through our border anymore. We had 25 million people come in, in four years, through our border. Many of them were murderers and drug dealers and mentally — those mentally insane from mental institutions and insane asylums. And now we don’t have anybody coming in.
For nine months now — I mean, they actually report zero. We have zero people coming in, which I find hard to believe. But the Democrats do that report. They tend to be left-leaning. They do that report. So I assume it’s true. If it’s not, it’s a very tiny amount of people. But we basically have a tremendously perfect, strong border.
And also, crime levels are at the lowest point they’ve been in 125 years. Since 1900, we have the best numbers. And that’s despite the fact that we had a lot of criminals and murderers — 11,888 murderers came in. And we have the lowest numbers that we’ve had in 125 years. So, you know — so we’re doing a good job. If she wants to do the camera thing, that’s okay with me.
D.C. Crime and Safety
REPORTER: Mr. President, there was one homicide in D.C. during January. Do you think this is due to your efforts? And do you think the United States should see this as a time that they should cooperate with you?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, if there was one — I mean, we haven’t had one in a long time. D.C. has become a very safe — it was an in-house homicide. It was in-house. It was a dispute within a family. We have had virtually no crime in D.C. D.C. is now considered a very safe place, and it should be. It’s a nation’s capital.
And we sent in the soldiers. I read the Washington Post this week, and it was incredible. They were trying to determine how come — how did we get so low numbers? The low numbers in D.C. because we have very little crime, if any. And they talked about everything except for the fact that we put our National Guard and great soldiers inside our city. They didn’t want to mention that. It’s how dishonest.
Because if we didn’t do that, you’d have tremendous crime in D.C. And I get thanked every single day by people that work in the White House. People, young ladies, men, they come up, “Thank you, sir, for making D.C. so safe.” They walk to work now. A year and a half ago, they wouldn’t have walked to work. They would have been killed or mugged or something would have happened to them.
So it’s — you know, it’s a great honor. But you got to read the story in the Washington Post. They do it — crime is way down in D.C. Now, what’s the reason for it? The reason for it is we have very big, strong, good-looking soldiers standing around. And I think they make the place look better. But this is our capital, and we have a very safe capital. We had a very dangerous capital before.
Yeah, please.
Cuba Negotiations
REPORTER: Yesterday, you said you were speaking to people about Cuba to reach an agreement. What sort of agreement are you hoping to reach? Is that with the Cuban government?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, it’s a failed nation now, and they’re not getting any money from Venezuela, and they’re not getting any money from anywhere. It’s a failed nation. Mexico is going to cease sending them oil. So I’d like to take care of the people that are here from Cuba. You know, we have many people that came from Cuba that were thrown out of Cuba or that fled Cuba. They came over on rafts. They went through shark-infested waters.
I don’t know how they did it. And that was many years ago. Many of them would like to go back. Men would like to at least visit their relatives. And I think we’re at a pretty close point. We are dealing with the Cuban leaders right now.
Abu Dhabi Investment in World Liberty Financial
REPORTER: Mr. President, the President of the Wall Street Journal reported that the royal family of Abu Dhabi invested hundreds of millions of dollars in World Liberty Financial. Can you explain why you decided to take that investment? Was that a transaction?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I don’t know about it. I know that crypto is a big thing, and they like it. A lot of people like it. The people behind me like it. My sons are handling that. My family is handling it. And I guess they get investments from different people, but I’m not. I have all I can handle right now with Iran and with Russia and Ukraine and with all the things we’re doing. So I don’t know. I don’t know exactly, other than, you know, I’m a big crypto person. I’m the one that probably helped crypto more than anybody because I believe in it. And the reason I believe in it is because if we don’t do it, Scott, I think we can say then China is going to do it. If we don’t do crypto, then China is going to do it. And it’s just like AI. We’re leading AI by a lot. And if we weren’t leading, China would have led. You know, they’re very capable. They’re very good. What do you have to say about that?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You’ve made America the digital asset capital of the world. We did the Genius Act for stable coins. Many of the people standing up here are working on the Clarity Bill to get a market structure. And we’re bringing U.S. best practices to an exciting new industry digital assets innovation, and it spreads everywhere. So if the U.S. is doing it.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I believe that if we didn’t do it, China and others would. But China would.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh, China would have had the lead. And then others around the world in terrible jurisdictions would have been doing it.
Military Action Against Iran
REPORTER: And on Iran, sir, can you say what your congressional military action is? What’s the situation?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I can’t tell you what I’m going to do, because right now, you know, we have a tremendous force going there, just like we did in Venezuela. Even bigger. And they’ll be there soon. And I’d like to see a deal negotiated. I don’t know that that’s going to happen. But I mean, if I knew I wouldn’t be able to, I wouldn’t tell you. I’d be very foolish if I were to tell you. But right now, we’re talking to them. We’re talking to Iran. And if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen. Yeah, please.
Government Shutdown Resolution
REPORTER: On the government shutdown, do you think there could be a resolution to this issue? And have you gotten a short list from House Republicans?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I spoke with Speaker Johnson. I spoke with Leader Thune. And I think they’re pretty close to a resolution. You know, we were at 5.6 percent GDP, and we lost a point and a half because of the 42-day shutdown. Think of that. We would have been at seven. Nobody ever saw a number like seven. And I think Howard probably a point and a half was the number, right?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Point and a half for the shutdown. Exactly right.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And it’s very bad for our country. But despite that, we have the highest numbers we’ve ever had. You know, we’re doing well. We’re going right through it. But I will say that I spoke with Senator Schumer numerous times, and I don’t think they want to see a shutdown either.
REPORTER: Mr. President, are you going to sue Trevor Noah last night in a post you alluded that something could be coming up right in the new administration?
Response to Grammy Awards Criticism
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, well, he said that I spent time on Jeffrey Epstein’s island. I didn’t. I mean, he’s a lightweight, this guy. He’s a terrible — I thought he — I think he’s terrible. I thought he did a terrible job at the Grammys. I thought the whole Grammys was terrible. I watched part of it. It’s not watchable. But he was a lousy host. I’d say not as bad as Jimmy Kimmel, but pretty close.
And, no, he made a statement about me and Jeffrey Epstein. I said, I have nothing to do with that. I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. And, in fact, if you look at the DOJ, they announced — you know, they released 3 million pages. It’s like this is all they’re supposed to be doing. And, frankly, the DOJ, I think, should just say, “we have other things to do,” because that whole thing has turned out — I mean, other than Bill Clinton and, you know, Bill Gates and lots of people that have — there are a lot of questions about it, but nothing on me.
But it was even sort of better than that because they found that Jeffrey Epstein and this sleazebag writer named Michael Wolff were conspiring against Donald Trump to lose the election. So Epstein was conspiring with a writer for me to lose the election. So, right there, you know that I had nothing to do with this guy.
But, yeah, it’s a terrible thing. The amount of time that’s being wasted — you know, when Epstein was alive, like 10 years ago, nobody cared about him. But they’re only doing it. But now it’s really hitting back on them because Bill Clinton is such a big part of it. The Democrats are pushing it. And the problem is that it’s turning out to be the Democrats that were with and conspired with Epstein. So I think you’re probably going to see a little pullback from them. But think of it, they were working together to try and help me lose the election. But this is the Oval Office, so I guess that didn’t work out too well. Okay, one more question.
Military Recruitment and National Pride
THE PRESIDENT: Now, we have a great relationship with Europe. We have a great relationship with our troops. You know, the greatest one of the best things that I can say is that when I — if you go back a year and a half ago, so I’m running election, they had the worst recruitment numbers in the history of our country. Nobody wanted to join the military or nobody wanted to join the police. Nobody wanted to join the fire departments. We couldn’t get anybody to be a proud member of our country.
And now, Doug, as I told you before, now we have the best recruiting numbers that we’ve ever had in our military. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force. We love in Coast Guard. I love the Space Force. It’s great. But now we have waiting lists on every — everybody wants to join. You know why? Because people are proud of our country because our country is doing great.
I think Mary can say the same thing. You had lots of people not working so well, and now you — I mean, you just wish you could get them in faster. I know that it’s hard to get them. We continue to bring people in and have training programs. So we’re investing in the U.S. workforce. But two years ago, you didn’t see anything like this. It’s amazing what’s happened.
So we have the number one in the history of our country. We’ve never had more people that want to join our armed forces than we do right now. And a year and a half ago, nobody wanted to join. They were embarrassed by our country. They were embarrassed by our leadership. And now they’re proud of our country and they’re very proud of our leadership. And a lot of the leadership is right behind me.
Thank you very much. Everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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