Transcript: President Trump Remarks on Healthcare, Sep. 18, 2026

And others project the savings are going to be actually much more than that. I think they’re going to be much higher than that. Could be $100 billion. Every state will now have the ability to use those extra billions of dollars to invest in other health care improvements or something else.

But states are going to save tens of billions of dollars. This will help save Medicaid and protect it for future generations. Your medical costs are going to be coming down. I will not get any credit for it, but when prescription drugs come down, your Medicaid and Medicare, everything becomes a lot less expensive. So perhaps you can think of me as you watch the prices come down to the floor.

With our Republican majorities in Congress, we also passed the largest ever investment in rural health care. I love rural. I want every rural area in the nation — $50 billion to get rural communities and hospitals the support they need. Every single Democrat in Congress voted against it.

I call them Democrats because how could you be so dumb. They voted against it. They voted against our rural communities, but we got it done regardless, so we got it done pretty easily. Very tough not to get it done, to be honest. It’s so compelling.

As I said, every single blue state voted in favor of saving the billions of dollars that the Republicans got them, and they made it very difficult. I would like to now ask Dr. Oz to say a few words, followed by Deputy Administrator Sutton, Governors Huckabee Sanders, Reeves, and Rhoden, and they’ll all speak for as short a period of time as possible so that I can get along with winning the war with Iran, which we are winning very handily. So, Dr. Oz, please take it away.

Dr. Oz Remarks

OZ: Mr. President, there are two main reasons that this generous program is being launched. The first is because you pushed everybody, the secretary, myself, and everybody else involved in the administration to ensure we had most favored nation drug pricing.

26 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, representing 90% of all the drugs, have been in this office pledging to support the most favored nation drug prices, which have addressed a problem that you identified — others have as well, but you’re willing to take on — which is that we were paying three times more for the exact same drugs that other countries were paying. Even when those drugs are made in this nation. As a result of that, all those drugs are now available on TrumpRx.gov. Thank you for lending your name to it. And that site is doing spectacularly well.

And if you’re about to buy a prescription in America, you need to check that site first. It’s your site. It’s a government site, and it’s designed to allow you to have transparency and an understanding of what the right price for those drugs are. So that’s the first part of it, getting the price right. The other reason this works, and Abe Sutton, who runs that agency, is going to describe this component, is that we got an all of government effort to work together.

That includes the governors who are around us today. And by getting all of government to work together, including Commerce Secretary — let me help with tariffs, and other folks that are involved in this process, James and Greer — we’ve been able to take these ideas and spread them through the nation. Just to put it in context, it’s 50 states. Every single state, as the president outlined, but also Puerto Rico, Washington D.C. It is such a good deal that every state realized they need to take it.

And the governors will describe this, but the $50 billion in pharmaceutical prices that they’re paying after rebates is crowding out schools and roads and long term care and rural care. No matter how much money we put into the program, it never quite is enough if we have to pay that much money for our pharmaceuticals. We are rescuing state budgets with this program, Mr. President. And by doing that, we are squeezing rebates out of pharmaceutical companies. And the deal that we’ve offered is great, but I know you want even better deals.

And so what’s better than most favored nation pricing? What’s better than most favored nation pricing is free. And there’s a drug called Eliquis, which is very commonly used. Many of you have relatives on it. I’m a heart surgeon.

We use it quite a bit. And this drug is going to be donated — 1 million doses of this drug to the American people through Medicaid programs, and you can’t beat free. So now we’ll be a one-two punch to make sure states have every opportunity possible because this administration, Secretary Kennedy, would not have been possible without you. Americans should no longer have to choose between groceries and paying their bills. And from now on, that’s not going to be as necessary.

TRUMP: Yeah. I mean, look, I’m going to thank again Mr. President — for your leadership on this, for getting these deals across the finish line. By the way, I love his tie. I want to get a nice — where do you get a tie like that? It’s the thinnest I’ve ever — it’s almost like a rope. Thinnest I’ve ever — well, he wants to show off his chest. See, I know. That’s a big difference. Okay. Go ahead, Bobby.

Secretary Kennedy Remarks

KENNEDY: But now we’re going to pass those savings that we achieved through these 26 MFN negotiations to the states and to the poor 70 million, the most vulnerable population in our country. They’re going to be getting these same prices, and it is going to, as Oz mentioned, save the state budgets. We were locked in a negative feedback loop, where the states had to choose between medicine and nutrition, lifestyle, prevention. Those areas were starved.

Because of that, people were getting sicker and sicker and requiring more medication. It was a negative feedback loop and we’ve ended that today. And this also is a very, very more important moral imperative. Every nation is judged. Every civilization is judged based upon how it cares for the poorest members of society.

And President Trump just mentioned that the poverty levels have dropped to the lowest level in history during his term. This is something my party was promising and prioritizing for decades. That was the signature imperative for our party. And President Trump has actually achieved that in two short years, and now he’s creating another giant benefit for the poorest members of our society, which is drugs at the lowest cost in the world. We were subsidizing every other nation.

They were getting a free ride on what we were paying, what our 70 million-plus citizens were paying through Medicaid for these drugs. That is over today. They’re going to get the benefits. The states are going to get the benefits, and our country is going to get healthy again. Mr. President, Abe Sutton’s team put all this together. They’re the innovation center, the nuclear reactor of the agency. Dave?

Deputy Administrator Sutton Remarks

SUTTON: Thank you, Mr. President. Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, our state partners. Thank you.

Today is truly a historic day for the Medicaid program. We are pleased to share that all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico came into the generous program for most favored nation Medicaid drug pricing. That’s extraordinary, but it’s also common sense. Lower drug prices help every American. It should not be a partisan issue.

Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are proud to share that these reductions result each year in $5.2 billion of savings, adding up, as estimated by the Council of Economic Advisers, to the $64 billion that President Trump said. That’s money back into states’ budgets to fund other needed priorities. Our state partners have shared with us that they expect this to help them expand access to drugs and preserve access to needed medications. That’s something that benefits the most vulnerable members of our society. The mother with a child who needs access to a treatment, the person with a disability who depends on Medicaid, and the taxpayer asking whether their government truly values every hard-earned dollar that they pay in taxes.

Today, we answer them that it does. Thank you. And, Mr. President, you brought together the finest group ever negotiating drug prices. Emma Hernandez is in the back there, Michelle Fitzgerald, Beth Kelly, Chris Klump, of course, who you know well, John Brooks, and many others contributed to allow us to accomplish our goals and dramatically change the terrain for Americans struggling to figure out if they should buy the medications prescribed by their doctor for them in the pharmacy.

TRUMP: They’re fantastic. Hey, why don’t you come over here? You shouldn’t be back there. You should be up here with us. Right? Don’t you think?

SUTTON: Yes.

TRUMP: Come on. Unless Oz wants to talk to you — no, I want her to come on up here. Come on. She was giving fashion advice to the Oval Office. Has a couple of thoughts about the gold. So the group is — come on up here. That group is Corey, deal. Your domestic policy — Calzone cannot do it all, despite me. He knows more about this stuff than any human being alive. That’s great. Look at her, she’s got a little red face. She’s like, don’t be embarrassed. You look fantastic. Sarah, would you say a few words, please?

Governor Huckabee Sanders Remarks

HUCKABEE SANDERS: Yes, sir. First of all, it’s an honor to be here. And everybody says they’re going to deliver affordability, especially when it comes to prescription drug prices, except nobody does it. You’re the only person who could have gotten this done.

Not only is it going to save states billions of dollars, at the same time, you’re investing in the Rural Health Transformation Fund. Those two things combined are going to bring about a generational change in our country’s health care. And with your leadership and the implementation of Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Oz, we are changing America for the better, and every single person in our country benefits. And nobody else could have done that except for you. So we’re incredibly grateful, and Arkansas celebrates and will be healthier because of your great work. So thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Very good. Thank you very much. And, Governor, would you like to say a couple of words?

Governor Rhoden Remarks

RHODEN: Yeah, well, I would just say this —

TRUMP: Great governor, by the way. Appreciate your help on this.

RHODEN: In South Dakota, the two things that I hear all the time is the rural health care in such a rural state and affordability of health care. And I think you hit the nail on the head with this. Your rural health care initiative has been a game changer, and South Dakota will continue to be. So we thank you for that. And I think this was just good common sense leadership on your part. So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership on this issue.

TRUMP: Well, I’m being very nice to him because maybe he’ll get my face on that beautiful wall. That beautiful wall that I’ve been looking at. Come on, Larry. We’re done. Let’s get going. You’ve got to get going, David. You want to go on — there you go. Nice to see you, governor. Tate, please.

Governor Reeves Remarks

REEVES: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President and Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, for giving us this opportunity.

I just want to put this in perspective. Our entirety of our state budget general fund is $7 billion. We spend almost $700 million a year in state and federal dollars on prescription drugs for our Medicaid program alone. This is a big deal. When we combine the ability of Mr. President to negotiate and give states the flexibility to operate, big things happen.

But look, you don’t have to believe me that this is a big deal. The three governors standing up here today agree on a lot of things. But if we put 50 governors in this room, I don’t think we could all agree that today was Friday. But all 50 states are participating in this opportunity to cut prescription drug costs at the state level in Medicaid programs, and that speaks to how big of a deal this is. So to Mr. President, to all of you involved, thank you very much for your work.

Today’s a great day for rural America, for rural Mississippi, and we thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Thank you. Mississippi loves you.

REEVES: Thank you. I love Mississippi, actually.

Vaccine Dosing Announcement

TRUMP: I will say that, as they just said, every single state signed up. And not only signed up, we — I think we signed it in about a day. Everybody just — they believed it happened. It’s one of the biggest things ever to happen to health care because it’s cost. It’s a lowering, of course, like nobody ever thought possible. So it’s an honor. We’re also going to be recommending — not recommending, demanding — the drug companies, with respect to a certain situation, maybe you want to mention that, discuss it — that the autism, that they make their doses in 20% shots. So you have shot one, shot two, shot three, shot four, shot five.

So instead of having a massive dose of 82 or 88 different vaccines pumped into your own, we’ll take out certain vaccines that people are a little worried about — and that have not — I mean, we would never even think about the polio vaccine, it’s been amazing, and so many others that have been so good. But we’re going to break it into 20% doses so that instead of a child going in and having a tremendous amount of different vaccines pumped into so big a proportion of the body, and then they wake up the next day and they’ve got a 109 temperature, and then the worst thing happens that can happen to a parent. The worst, actually. And I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it happen.

So we’re going to recommend that they do five doses marked one, two, three, four, five, and that they’d be given in six month intervals so that a small amount of the vaccine gets pumped into the body. And we’re going to be splitting up some of the vaccines. You’ll get everything that they want, everything that is recommended. We’re going to go a little bit with some of the European system in terms of the vaccines, but the biggest thing is certain vaccines were taken out because they’re not needed until a child would be much older.

No reason to do it so early. But the vaccine size will be much, much less, and I think you’re going to see a massive reduction in autism, and that’s a big deal. That’s a very big deal. So we’re going to be recommending that and actually demanding it. You’re going to have one, two, three, four, five. It’ll be spread out over six months, every six months. They’ll be fully vaccinated in much smaller doses. So I think it’s going to have a huge impact, and you’ll see that in the years to come. You have to actually see it, but you’ll see it in the years to come.

Foreign Drug Pricing Negotiations

Again, I want to thank this group. They’ve worked with me so hard on favored nations. I want to thank other nations. I mean, they had to agree to it, and the drug companies had to agree. The drug companies agreed, and then I got other nations to agree. And the other nation prices had to go up very substantially — double, triple, in a couple of cases quadruple the cost that they were paying, because it all came down to the center.

We went way down, and they went a little bit up because the world is a bigger place than us. So they went way down and we went — I mean, we took it way down at numbers that nobody thought possible, and they went up a little bit. In some cases, it could be double, it could be triple, but it was relatively speaking a little bit. So I want to thank Germany, France, all of the countries that pretty easily agreed — wasn’t easy, it was contentious, but they ultimately had to agree, and they agreed.

We were using tariffs. If they didn’t agree, we were going to use tariffs to make sure they did it. And nobody else but this group could have done this. This is something that people have talked about for years, and they never even — I think — tried. Is that correct? They — I don’t think they ever even tried.

SUTTON: They’re intimidated, sir. There’s a lot of very influential folks who don’t want any changes to the health care system. And when folks don’t take on the entrenched interests, we run into problems that the American people pay for. I think that’s a good example of why things like this initiative have worked so well. There are others as well, as you know, we’re pursuing. You mentioned the rural health transformation program, but the governors know this. It’s the single largest investment ever in rural health care, $50 billion over five years. Every state got around $200 million every year for five years.

And, sir, you don’t put that kind of money into a program just to pay the bills. You put that money in because you want to reform the system, make it work better for the American people. And speaking about this, the life expectancy in rural America is almost three years shorter than urban America. Your ZIP code should not be your destiny. And these are the benefits that we accrue when we take out the middlemen and let the money go to the people.

TRUMP: With favored nations, the reason, I guess, most people thought they could never get the drug companies, so we did. And then we got the nations. You needed both. One without the other was no good. We needed both. So it’s a very big day in the world of medicine, and it’s an honor to be the one that got it done. They’ve been talking about it for 25 years, I guess, for more than that, but nobody ever moved on it. I’m not even sure that other presidents tried.

Press Q&A

REPORTER: Yes, please. Mr. President, two questions on health care, if that’s okay. You kept reiterating that this generous program has 50 states participation. Do you think this is an admission from many Democrat officials who agreed to participate that your most favored nation drug deals are actually effective at lowering prescription drugs?

TRUMP: Well, Democrats — they didn’t help, but they all signed up. I mean, they all signed up, and they signed up quickly, every one of them. I don’t think we had anybody even threatened a little bit that they were going to sign up. Every state came on board almost immediately. I mean, if we had the process perfected, literally in one day — but they signed up within a matter of weeks, every single state. Some asked questions. I had some governors call me saying, is this really true or is this some kind of April Fool’s Day? But they all signed up and they can’t believe it. Their health care costs are way down because of it.

REPORTER: Yeah, please. Sir, Mr. President, earlier today, you posted that you intend to ban CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House. Every president takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the First Amendment. Is this —

TRUMP: I do too. Much more so.

REPORTER: Justify —

TRUMP: Much more so than you.

REPORTER: Is this —

TRUMP: Because they’re fake news. I get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN, it’s just fake. That’s why their ratings are no good. When you look at MS NOW, which used to be MSNBC, which some people called MSDNC — Democratic National Committee. It’s fake news. It’s fake news.

And when you look at — it’s political. I mean, they got government — the government under Biden gave him, like, $8 million to keep him afloat, and the stories they wrote affect — so there’s a lot of news, and there may be others to join him. And maybe they can get better and would like to have — but our country has to have honest news. You know, you don’t have a country unless you have, as I say, borders, good voting. We’re straightening them out. The borders are unbelievable. Nobody’s coming to our country in the last seventeen months illegally. But you need borders, and you need fair and free voting. And you know what you need? You need a free press. You need a fair press and an honest press. And CNN — and you know it, and everybody knows it. You’re intelligent. I’ve known you a long time. You know how fake their reporting is.

It’s one-sided. It’s never good. I’ve done many, many — look at this story today about favored nations on drugs. We lowered the drug costs by 50, 60, 70%. They won’t even put it — if they put it on, it’ll be a — they will find a reason why that’s a negative. Okay?

REPORTER: Yeah, but the president is doing his plan now. Is there a particular reason that particular story —

TRUMP: No, just because they do. No, no, it’s really just cumulative stories. Over the last few years, you get sick of it. And you call them, and you tell them — I have very good experts, like people behind me, Bobby — they call, and they try and explain things to them. They know that — they know it as well. They’re smart people, but they purposely write negative news. And they do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration. And honestly, we’ve done a fantastic job. Look at the numbers. Look at the economic numbers. We have more money coming into our country today than ever before. We have the highest employment that we’ve ever had in history. All of these things are the lowest — we have the best poverty rate, the lowest poverty rate in the history of our country, and people are making more money today than they ever had.

And we do have something that I’m very proud of. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. Now for that, people are going to have to pay some extra gas. I think most people, if they had a vote on lower gas prices or letting Iran have a nuclear weapon, I’d be willing to bet it would be a massive landslide. People don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. And you know what? They won’t. And the war’s going to end soon. And when it ends, your gas prices are going to drop to a level that they were before, maybe even lower.

When I left Iowa, just before I started this, I had no choice. I said to my people, I’m going to have to do an excursion down to Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, because they’re going to have a nuke if we don’t hit them with the B-2 bombers — they right now would have a nuclear weapon. And if they had it, it would be a matter of days. I equate it somewhat to the Democrats. If they ever got into power, they will terminate the filibuster, and they will immediately have DC as a state. They will immediately have many other things take place, but DC and Puerto Rico will become states immediately. That gives them four more senators. That gives them lots of other things, like 12 congressmen. They want to have, ideally, 21 Supreme Court justices. They will have everything they ever dreamed of. And frankly, Republicans should terminate the filibuster because if you don’t do it, they’re going to do it. And you can’t let that happen.

REPORTER: Mr. President, Willie Nelson with Salem Media. Mr. President, reports say the holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy case and his family were doxxed and threatened so badly, he left Massachusetts. What’s your take on that?

TRUMP: Well, I just don’t know. I think the case is very sad. It’s a horrible thing. She was on all sorts of drugs, and she was very messed up. She killed three children, her three children. It’s a very tough situation, and I know that the jury was certainly not a friendly one in terms of that one person, but it’s not for me. Look, you had a jury and the jury was hung, and we’ll see whether or not they have another trial.

REPORTER: Mr. President, many leading Democrats have condemned far left streamer Hasan Piker. What is your take on him? And do you think he’s a liability for Democrats heading into —

TRUMP: A terrible liability. I think he’s got a power over some of these Democrats, and he’ll be voting that way. Communist. There’s no question about it. And the Democrats have a lot of communists, and the communists can hold up the party because it only takes a few votes when you have a close election. You’ll have a fairly close — I hope the Republicans are going to do well, but it’s going to be pretty close. And a group of three, four, five, ten people can steer a party in a certain direction. That’s both parties.

Yeah, no, he’s a guy who’s very — I mean, his statements are so bad. How a Jewish person could vote for a Democrat is not even, if you think of it, not even believable. And yet they will. It’s amazing. But it is not possible in a world of rationality that somebody who’s Jewish, that somebody who’s Black could vote for a Democrat. The things that have been said about different groups of people by them are incredible. And the mainstream Democrats, I know many of them and I’m friendly with many of them, but they’ve gone way left because they’ve had no choice. Not because they don’t — they know communism’s never worked. They know socialism’s never worked. But these people are petrified of the radical left, and he’s one of them.

REPORTER: Yes, Mr. President, Polish leaders have expressed concerns that Russia may attack Ukrainian allies. Do you agree with that assessment?

TRUMP: I think they already have attacked Ukrainian allies. They’ve been attacking Ukrainian allies for approximately five years.

REPORTER: So I do agree with that. I think everyone agrees with it. Mr. President, we have the press —

TRUMP: I’m sorry, go ahead.

REPORTER: Congresswoman — did you mean Ukraine, or Poland is concerned they’re going to attack Poland?

TRUMP: Yeah, they might attack. Well, you have a great president. He was a big Trump fan. He was in twelfth place. I endorsed him, and now he’s president. And he’s doing a fantastic job, and he’s got it under control.

REPORTER: Congresswoman Maria Salazar filmed a video outside the White House the other day disagreeing with your immigration policies. You endorsed her primary campaign. Do you still back her run, and have you seen that video?

TRUMP: Well, I do, and I have. I disagree with her. Look, I have a very strong — it’s a movement, my movement. It probably, at least partially, won the election. When I got elected at the beginning, and previous to my coming in, we had the most unsafe border maybe anywhere in — maybe in history. 25 million people poured in from prisons, from mental institutions, drug dealers, murderers — 11,888 murderers came in, all documented. They allowed them into our country. She obviously doesn’t have a very strong feeling for the border, but I do. And I understand what she’s saying, but I have a very strong — I won because of my border. Now nobody thinks about it anymore.

Look, they just announced the numbers. Over the last sixteen months, nobody — zero. I even find that hard to believe. But it’s done by a group of people that seem to sort of lean Democrat. They’re not going to give me anything for nothing. And they say over the last sixteen months, not one person came in through the Southern border illegally, which is pretty hard to believe. But even if you said a few did, 25 million came in through Biden, and a lot of them should never be here.

No, I’m very strong on the borders, and she isn’t. And she’s a nice person. I got her elected. Without me, she wouldn’t have gotten elected. She ran against a person a number of years ago — was not even thought possible to lose. And then when I endorsed Maria, she ended up winning in the biggest surprise of all of Congress for that session, for that term. And Maria won only because of me. So she got a little bit soft on the border. I understand that. But I just don’t happen to be there.

REPORTER: Mr. President, the freedom of the press is enshrined in the First Amendment. Are you trying to intimidate the press from doing this?

TRUMP: No, no. I dislike dishonest press like you. I think you’re terrible, but I like to see honest press.

REPORTER: Yeah, but what do you mean by — in your first administration, you tried a similar ban against CNN and it didn’t survive a court challenge. What makes you think that this move —

TRUMP: Well, we’ll see. I mean, we didn’t have to take it too far because the reporter that you’re talking about discredited himself. He became a joke, so he no longer was very effective. So it didn’t matter. But I think it’s good. I think it’s good to point it out whether it survives or doesn’t. I mean, I don’t think a court should allow —

REPORTER: Depends on the judge you get, to be honest with you.

TRUMP: I don’t think that a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day. I think that somebody has a right to keep them away if they’re going to write false stories all the time. I don’t think — look, I won the presidency. I won all seven swing states. I won the popular vote. I won 87% of the counties. That’s why the maps are all red when you look, except for two little blue lines on each coast. I won a landslide, and I get no — I don’t get fair press. I get it from Breitbart. I get it a little bit from Fox. Fox is the worst. I think Fox has, frankly, the worst polls in the whole business. I think they should’ve gotten rid of their pollsters years ago. They’ve been calling me wrong for ten years. But my polls have been very good. I mean, I get good polls. I get good everything. But what I do ask is just a semblance of truth. CNN is fake news. MS NOW is fake news. They’re fake news. They know it. They’re put there for a reason. Politico was bailed out by our government from going out of business. I don’t know, it was $8 million or something, but they were given this massive subsidy prior to my coming into office because they write only negative, you know, only negative. Now we’ve done something that nobody’s ever done politically. I’ve had a political career like nobody else in history. On occasion, it would be nice if we had some fairness. It’s all fake news.

REPORTER: Yeah, please. Mr. President, to put a finer point on it though, how is this action legal and constitutional considering the First Amendment? And Governor Sanders, you were White House Press Secretary. Do you agree with this plan to ban news outlets?

TRUMP: Well, I’ll just answer it again. I’ll say it the same way. I don’t think somebody should be allowed to come in and write fake stories. They’re fake news, and that’s why they have no credibility. That’s why — I had 96% negative coverage during the election, and I won because they have no credibility. I get 96 — I guess NBC was 93% negative. So, with all of the victories I’ve had, everything’s been a victory. It’s all been a victory. And I won the election like nobody’s ever seen anything like it. I get no — they never write a good story. They won’t write a story, but I just reduced drug prices by 40, 50, 60, 70, 80%. I will get a good story out of these people. From some of them, I will. I’ll get one from him. I’ll get one from him. I’ll get a few of them, but it’s sick. I mean, there’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative — now if they want to write them, that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into the people’s house.

REPORTER: Yeah, please. Governor Sanders, do you —

HUCKABEE SANDERS: Sure. I think it’s hard for you to argue against your free press when you’re literally standing in the Oval Office asking questions. He’s been more accessible and easier to talk to than any president in history. Think about the previous administration where he could barely get through a press conference, and yet you have the opportunity to stand here in the Oval Office and ask questions to the leader of the free world. I mean, that’s because of the First Amendment. And you’re standing here asking those questions. I think the president is right to support the First Amendment, but he’s also right to ask that you be honest and fair. Look at the way he treated Biden. He went a year and a half without having a press conference. A year and a half. And what was the question you asked him most? What is your favorite flavored ice cream? I mean, I heard that question so many times, and he always say vanilla. That’s a good thing. He was very consistent. I’m surprised he got that right, but he’d always say vanilla.

REPORTER: Yeah, please. On another note, are you disappointed that Senator John Thune isn’t bringing the Rate Payer Protection Act to the floor?

TRUMP: He’s not what?

REPORTER: He’s not bringing the Rate Payer Protection Act that the House passed.

TRUMP: He’s not — well, I’m talking to him about it. We’ll see what happens.

REPORTER: Mr. President, President Xi coming here next week. China is one of the most repressive countries of journalists in the world. What signal is it sending you about China?

TRUMP: I think we’re repressive also. We get fake news. We don’t repress, but they write fake news. No, I think he’s going to come. We get along very well. It’s nice that we get along very well. We’ve had a good relationship. He’ll be here next week. I can tell you this, it’s too bad we don’t have the ballroom open, because if we did, we could have — we’d have thousands. We could have 2,000 people having dinner. They would love — we have a very tiny little room that’s — going to be squeezed out at about 125 or so people. But I literally could tell you that thousands of people would love to be at that dinner. This is a very tough ticket for me. I’ve told a lot of very good friends of mine, you just can’t come. Just can’t come. We’re going to have a very good meeting. We get along well. We’re doing very well with China. I would say others maybe not so well, but we’re doing very well with China. And President Xi and I have a good relationship.

REPORTER: Do you expect an AI safety deal or any talks on that with the president?

TRUMP: A lot of different deals. Yeah, we’re not just doing it for our health. We’re going to have some pretty important meetings. You know, China’s paying us a lot of tariffs. And, you remember, I had it up to 145% at one point, but it was too much. It was really hurting them badly, and I didn’t want to do that. Now we get along very well. We have a good relationship. Now, somebody said, oh, they spy on us. And I said, maybe they do, but we spy on them too. I don’t want to give any classified information, but we spy on them too.

REPORTER: They said they spy on you, sir.

TRUMP: I said we spy on them too.

REPORTER: Sir, you described how you put in vision your bans —

TRUMP: Not you, thank you, sir.

REPORTER: Charlotte Scott with Spectrum News. Pennsylvania has reported four measles related deaths. What’s your message to other states who might worry about a spread or outbreak coming to their —

TRUMP: I think we’re going to be in good shape. We have nothing against vaccinations for measles. Do you want to discuss that for a second, either Bobby or Oz?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We encourage people to vaccinate. It’s on all the CDC’s websites. CDC has not yet received information about the measles death, the alleged measles death. We’re waiting for that and we will put it up on our website when we hear about it. We encourage people to vaccinate. One of the problems with Pennsylvania is that the governor has very recently refused to cooperate with CDC. We were able to go in and end the outbreaks in all the other states, in South Dakota and Texas and all the other states. We sent our epidemiology aid team into those states. When I offered that to Governor Shapiro, he said, no, we don’t need your help. They’ve got a bad governor in Pennsylvania. People just don’t know it. He’s very — close to incompetent.

REPORTER: Sir, Mr. President, Daniel. Mr. President, you announced last week that you’d be delivering $500 rebate checks to nearly a million Americans who were overcharged via Obamacare. Can you talk about what this would look like?

TRUMP: Hundreds of millions of dollars for the overcharging that the Democrats did for Obamacare and other things. And we found it. We gave it back to the people. We handed them back a lot of money, and thank you for bringing that up. The other thing is, as you know, because we’re doing so well, taking in so much money on tariffs and other things because we have more factories being built than at any time in the history of our country, including car plants and every other kind of plant, including AI, but including everything. We are giving — and when I say Republicans, because I think everybody’s going to be a Republican, actually — but we’re giving the people of our country who are adults $5,000 if the Republicans win. Because if the Republicans win, we’re going to have a lot of money. If the Democrats win, we’re going to go into a depression. And all these tax cuts and all the things that have made this economy so strong, and the hottest nation in the world, all of the things that we got will be taken away by the Democrats. Every one of them are going to be taken away. The tax cuts, no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security for our seniors, no tax on overtime. All of that is going to be taken away. They all voted against it. They voted in favor of men playing in women’s sports. They voted in favor of the transgender mutilization of your children. You’re going to be back to that stuff. Right now, it doesn’t exist, but you’re going to be back to it. So if we win, because we have so much, because we are taking in so much money, we’re going to give all people, not just everybody, everybody that’s an adult, $5,000. The only proviso is that they have to spend it in this country. And when they spend it in the country, it’s very inexpensive.

REPORTER: Mr. President, we’re here — what do you mean by others to come, and how is this ban going to work?

TRUMP: Others to come in terms of fake news?

REPORTER: Yes.

TRUMP: Well, you know, look, the New York Times is fake news. Washington Post is fake news. The crummy papers, both doing very poorly, by the way. But we’ll see — we’re probably not going to display the paper anymore in the White House, those papers, but we haven’t taken the step of throwing them out. But they’re fake news. Totally. New York Times is so fake. Washington Post is disgusting. I mean, they’re disgusting. I don’t get it. Why would they be? You know, we’re doing so well, and they’ll take the most positive story and make it as negative as possible.

REPORTER: Go ahead, please. Can you tell me — free when you agree with this?

TRUMP: No, no, please.

REPORTER: You’re speaking to the UN next week. What is your message? Because last year, you sort of said that the United Nations wasn’t helping end wars —

TRUMP: Last year, they wouldn’t let my person in the teleprompter room. Remember that? My teleprompter operator was banned from the room. He went out, came back, and they wouldn’t let him in. So he’s standing there without a teleprompter. Isn’t it nice to have a president — and actually, they said it was one of my best speeches. I don’t know how that happened. But I’m — they’re introducing, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the United States, and I’m looking at the teleprompter screen, it is totally blank. It was for more than half the speech. Somehow they let him in about half the speech. Probably they did that on purpose, and he shouldn’t have been leaving the room for a minute. He had to leave the room, come back.

REPORTER: But what was your message? You remember that?

TRUMP: They turned off the escalator. Fortunately, my first lady was very strong, and I was able to grab her back — or another part of her body. It was actually a little lower than the back, and it kept me standing tall. I was standing very tall. But do you remember, I was going up and it came to a dead stop. And this was — I built a lot of escalators. I put in a lot of escalators. You can have some beauties right over here, but they don’t do that unless somebody wants. And then I got up to make my speech, and I said, I don’t have a teleprompter. Can you imagine? And I think I spoke very well. Nice to have a president that doesn’t need a teleprompter.

REPORTER: Mr. President, have you looked at any plans to demolish the Kennedy Center? There was an image of you from Air Force One.

TRUMP: Well, look, here’s the problem with the Kennedy Center. I should be very careful because Bobby’s standing right behind me, and I cherish that too. I actually like the name of Kennedy and Trump, Trump and Kennedy, because it showed bipartisanship. It showed a Republican party and a Democrat party working together. The problem with the Kennedy Center, it loses — for years, it’s lost between $60 and $100 million a year. It loses that every year. It’s not an economically sound thing. Now with all of that, Carnegie Hall loses money. All of those places lose money. They need massive subsidy in order to sustain. They get very little from Congress. I’m ready to fix it, make it good. We have a hostile judge. We have a conflicted judge. His wife represents, I think, Barack Hussein Obama, Biden represents Kamala, represents Democrats. She has a different name, so most people don’t know that, but we’re able to figure it out. But we have a very hostile judge. As I understand it, he gave us the right to go and do the job finally after a week. I could have started this job seven months ago. As you noticed, a big portion of ceiling fell down two days ago, almost killed the security guard. Missed him by — the place is a dump. It’s been a dump for years. It’s lost money for years. I can turn it around, fix it. But the question is, somebody’s going to have to subsidize that for years to come because palaces of the arts lose tremendous amounts of money. The Kennedy Center, for 25 years has lost a tremendous amount of money. And all I’m saying, I don’t mind doing the job, but if I do the job, I think the Trump administration, including Bobby, but the Trump administration should be recognized. Why should I raise and put up and do all of this work? Not only building it, which I’ll do a better job building it than anybody else in America, but why should I do everything and then for the rest of my life have to go out and raise money? Because by nature, by the nature of that type of an operation, you lose anywhere from 50 to 100, maybe even $150 million a year.

REPORTER: Sir, I think if I do that —

TRUMP: President, excuse me.

REPORTER: I think if I do that, want your name on the memorial —

TRUMP: Because we should be recognized. The Trump administration, if I’m willing, and the administration is willing — we have a lot of people working very hard on it to save it. I can save it easily. But why should we be doing that and then raise money for the rest of our lives to keep it afloat, because that’s what you have to do if we get no recognition? I think the Trump administration should be recognized as having saved the Kennedy Center.

REPORTER: Can’t you recognize — nobody else can do it on its own.

TRUMP: Wait a minute, I already raised $258 million from Congress. They gave it to me because it’s me, in order to rebuild it and fix it. The problem is once it’s built, it’s going to lose $100 million a year. And it was losing a lot of money before I got there. You know, people say, oh, Trump got there — no, no, I came there to save it. The problem is we had a very hostile judge. We have a very outstanding board. The board is among the most successful people in the country, and they vote. We have a congresswoman who’s, you know, a person that never did a thing in her life, frankly. Never did anything constructive. All she does is complain. But saving the Kennedy Center is very, very tough. A tremendous amount of effort’s going — once it’s built, and I’ll build it great, get it done on time, like that building on time, under budget. It’s going to be great. Like your heliport outside, it’s already two months ahead of schedule. It’s going to open. They’re going to have an official opening on the 21st with the first helicopter landing, etcetera. And it’s beautiful. In fact, they were going to sue me on the heliport, and then they saw how beautiful it was, and they decided not to sue. The same group that goes around suing everybody to stop progress. But if we’re going to save the Kennedy Center, I think the Trump administration should be given recognition for doing so.

REPORTER: Mr. President, was it fair for your son to accept the gift of the payment of some of his wedding festivities?

TRUMP: Well, it’s totally allowed, and a lot of people have parties and all, but it’s totally allowed. But as I understand it, he paid them back. He didn’t want to have that. So I hear he paid them back. A person that he knows, pretty — I guess a friend of his, gave him a wedding party. That’s very common. I’ve heard of many people given wedding parties. I’ve given — wait a minute, I’ve given — well, I don’t know, maybe you didn’t do a background check. But I’ve given wedding parties to numerous people. They get married, I give them a party. I give them parties at beautiful places like Mar-a-Lago and others, but I’ve given many. With all of that being said, I understand that Don’s paid them back.

REPORTER: That’s the first time you’ve heard that?

TRUMP: Yes, sir.

REPORTER: Mr. President —

TRUMP: I heard about that.

REPORTER: Mr. President, I actually heard that when I heard the story, I asked about it. He said, “Don, I’m paying him back, dad.” So and that was a while ago.

TRUMP: So I heard he’s paying him — mister president, right now —

REPORTER: I have to say, though, you know, giving a wedding party is pretty common.

TRUMP: Yeah.

REPORTER: Mr. President, on the ban, what does that mean in practice? Are you taking away their badges? Are you banning them from the pool? What does this actually mean?

TRUMP: When you say the ban — you know how many bans I’m involved? I got more bans going. I’ve got more bans going than any human being.

REPORTER: On the three news outlets, sir, what does that mean in practice? Are you taking away their badges? Are you banning them from the pool? Are you banning them from the Oval Office? What does that mean? What do you envision the ban looks like from media outlets?

TRUMP: Oh, the ban on the free press, right? A very simple ban. I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here. I would say the ban would go as far as you can. And if they could straighten themselves out, I’d love it. Look, they’re very dishonest people. They write in a very dishonest way. ABC Fake News gave me $16 million that was agreed to — $16 million that I won from ABC News because George Stephanopoulos wrote incorrect stuff. CBS gave me $38 million because they broadcast Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes, and the question bore no relationship to what she said. You saw that. I’m right now suing BBC because they have — the granddaddy of them all. They have where I said, “walk freely and patriotically,” having to do with January 6th. And they put horrible fighting words into my mouth, with me actually — I said I never said that. And when we checked, it was BBC actually changed my language, and they put words in my mouth. That’s the furthest I’ve seen. So we have numerous lawsuits. We’ll be suing these people too. But the ban is because they are fake news. They cannot write the truth. And Politico is very bad. And Politico, frankly, I think what they did was illegal. They accepted the world’s largest subscription. They got $8 million or something like that for a subscription to their stupid, lightweight paper. But I will say, Politico and MS NOW, which nobody ever heard of, and CNN, which is doing very poorly — the reason they do so poorly is because they have no credibility. And if they had credibility, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. So we are banning them. Yes, we are. And then maybe others to follow.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

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