Transcript: President Trump and the First Lady’s Remarks at Military Mother’s Day Event

And so we’re dealing with people that want to make a deal very much, and we’ll see whether or not they can make a deal that’s satisfactory to us. We have it very much under control.

The blockade is unbelievable. The Navy has been incredible. The job they did, it’s like a wall of steel. Nobody goes through. In particular, the Iranians, they’re not getting anything through one way or the other. So they’re out of business. And we’ll see whether or not they are agreeing. And if they don’t agree, they’ll end up agreeing shortly thereafter. So that’s the way it is.

The Team Behind the Mission

And I thought you might want to have a little rundown now. The fake news is all happy because they can hear what we had to say. And I have to say, J.D.’s doing a fantastic job. He’s working with us, with him and all of the team, Marco. We have Steve Witkoff, Jared. We have a whole group. The generals, and General Caine has been fantastic, Pete Hegseth, incredible. We have just a great group of people. CIA, John Ratcliffe, he’s great. I think Mrs. Ratcliffe’s even here someplace. And are you here, Mrs. Ratcliffe, I think somebody said. Yes.

But we have amazing people. We have an amazing military. And I think it’s on display. Sometimes you’d rather not have it be on display, but they’re there for a purpose. And the greatest military anywhere in the world. And the world is watching us as we do our thing. We have the respect of the world, which we didn’t have two years ago. We were a laughingstock all over the world. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world in every way. So I just want to congratulate you all because you’re a big part of it.

A Word of Thanks to Melania

And I want to thank you, Melania. Amazing, the job you’ve done. She did a little movie. It became the number one movie. And I can’t exaggerate because if I did, they would be all over. It wasn’t number one, it was number two, it was number five. So I can’t, I have to be very, very careful with it. And then it went streaming. This is a different world. I didn’t even know what they were talking about. They said, oh, and it became number one streaming too. So congratulations, that’s an amazing achievement.

And most importantly, and most importantly to her, she’s done an incredible job as First Lady and she’s an incredible mom. She has a little boy who’s quite tall. He’s a little boy to us, but he’s quite tall, right? And he’s great, Barron, and she takes great care of him. And thank you. Great mom.

Welcoming the Military Mothers

Today, we’re honored to welcome to the White House a group of strong and resilient women who represent the best of our country, the amazing military mothers. So important. And we want to thank you all for being here.

So many of you I know are recognized, and I want to thank you very much because there’s nothing like the White House, right? Is it? The coolest.

The New White House Ballroom

And by the way, right behind me, see that? You call it a window or a drape, I call it a knockout panel. Because behind that, in fact, if you want to see it, I think we could work it out. But behind that window is an end drape. In fact, the drapes are so nice, I think I’m going to leave them. How am I going to get a nicer something than that? But that’s the entrance to the new ballroom that’s being built, which everybody likes, especially since last Saturday evening. They like it because it’ll have a thing called security. It’ll be nice.

But right back there is where we’re building. So if you hear any pounding noises, the pile drivers are out. It’s already up to the first floor, but we’re a little bit ahead of schedule, right on budget. But it’s going to be something great. It’ll be one of the most beautiful buildings of its kind anywhere in the world.

And you know, for 150 years, presidents have wanted a room. This is the ballroom right here. This is — and it’s too small. We had the king and queen of a lovely country, United Kingdom. And I had — we would have had at least 1,000. Everybody wanted to be here. And we had 112 people. Because this is a lovely room, but it’s not big enough. It’s got one — and it’s been that way for many, many years. So every president has been calling.

But I was in a position, being a builder and having built many ballrooms and many other things. I’m good at ballrooms. And we’re giving you the — I believe it’s the best — it’ll be the best ever built. It will have windows that are thicker than any ballroom I’ve ever built. I used to — I usually have glass that’s about a quarter of an inch thick. This is about six inches thick. This can repel a lot of different — a lot of different weapons.

But it’s going to be incredible. It’s going to be — aside from being secure, it’s going to be the — I think it’s going to be the most beautiful ballroom I’ve ever built. And it’s something that the White House has needed, that presidents have needed. And it’s an honor to be involved. And it’s — it really has become very popular. When people see the design, they really — they really like it. And it’s been great. We’ve gotten some great reviews.

Recognizing Distinguished Guests

Also with us is Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, my friend, who’s done such a fantastic job wherever you are, Linda. Hi, Linda. She’s great. What a job.

Along with Jennifer Hegseth. Jennifer. Hi, Jennifer. He’s doing some job, I’ll tell you. He’s doing a job. You know, he stood up. He was the only one. He was standing up in the ballroom the other day in the event, the White House — we got — they called it the White House dinner. You know, they were saying, can you use — well, when you use that term, I guess you probably can use it. But we had a little dinner the other night, and your husband was standing on the top of a table. Everyone else was under the table. So that’s what we want of our Secretary of War, right? We want somebody — but he was standing on top of the table. Everyone else was under the damn table.

Anyway, he’s been — he’s doing a fantastic job. He and the General, those are great news conferences. We like them. They work very well together, I can tell you.

The wife of Pete Hegseth, and say hello to Pete. Michelle Ratcliffe. Michelle? Where is Michelle? Where is Michelle? I think she’s here someplace. Michelle. And the wife of CIA Director John Ratcliffe. And Jackie Emmer. Jackie, you are so great. Jackie.

Remarks to Military Mothers at the White House

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I know Jackie well because her husband and I, we didn’t know each other. We fought. You know, in politics, you can fight. And then when we got to know each other, we love each other, right? But she always liked Trump. And she convinced her husband — who’s a big power in the House — she convinced her husband that Trump was much better than he thought. And I remember you. I like you. Now, I really like him. He’s an incredible — but I like you more than I’m always — because you were there long before him, right? But, Jackie, you’re great. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

And, as you know, Tom Emmer is the House Majority Whip, and he’s a fantastic person. Real leader. Comes from an interesting place, a place that’s under investigation by our great Vice President. They’re finding a lot. And Tom Emmer was one of the biggest complainers about what was going on in Minnesota and lots of other places.

I also want to say a special thank you to the many moms among our fantastic military aides and social aides who support us here at the White House. They’ve been incredible. All of you have been so incredible. And I want to thank you very much for being with us today. It’s beautiful.

Honoring the Sacrifices of Military Mothers

The women in this room have sacrificed for our country in countless ways. Among you are veterans and active-duty service members, proud spouses, and the parents of those who serve in uniform. Amazing people. The most amazing people.

Many of you have missed cherished moments, and you really have. You’ve spent so much time taking care of the ones you love. You’ve missed holidays, birthday parties, graduations, or even a child’s first words. Others have moved more times than anybody can even count. And I don’t know if you love doing it or not, but you get very good at it. You have the way. You know the way. You know the way to do it.

But you do it all because you love America. You love our country. And this week, as we prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day, we take this opportunity on behalf of all of us to say thank you very much for the incredible job. You do it with love, so it’s not — I don’t think — there’s no such thing as a job if you love it. But we’ll call it a job nevertheless. The job you do is incredible. And everybody respects you so much. You have no idea. So, I just want to thank you all, and thank you all for being here.

Introducing Brittany Stevenson from Camp Lejeune

Joining us is someone who knows the incredible sacrifice of service, Brittany Stevenson from Camp Lejeune. That’s a hell of a camp. That’s beyond a camp. The word camp, I don’t know — doesn’t look like a camp to me. Her parents were both Marines, and in 1983, her dad survived the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut. We talk about that even to this day. That was something.

Brittany loved the Marines so much that she married a Marine herself. And the love of her life. Tell her, over 15 years, her family has moved 10 homes — 10 different homes — and been assigned to six duty stations from all over the world. And now her daughter, Ava, is part of the Marine Corps Junior ROTC program and wants to become a Marine as well.

So, Brittany, your family is a definition of semper fi and always faithful. And I want to thank you. Where are you? Where are you? Please, stand up. Would you like to come up and say, come here, Brittany? Come here. Come on. Come on. Yeah. There you are. Please.

BRITTANY STEVENSON: Ms. Stevenson. Thank you. I’m not really sure what to say, but this is such an honor and a privilege to be here. I’m truly touched to represent my family, the Marine Corps, Camp Lejeune, and military moms and spouses like you all. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good job.

Introducing Melody Wolf: A Mother’s Unshakeable Faith

PRESIDENT TRUMP: She had no idea she was going to be doing that, but I looked at her. I said, she looks so great, I’m going to get her up here, right? That was beautiful. Thank you very much.

As Melania mentioned, we’re also honored to be joined by a military mother who sacrificed far more than most. That’s Melody Wolf. And, you know, I love the name Melody because for a long time, you know they have spell correct and word correct and these crazy machines that we use to put out truths or they used to be called tweets. And every time I wrote Melania, it would correct to Melody.

So, I do think and I work very fast, very fast. And I talk about it and I say, and Melania is fantastic. And happy Mother’s Day, Melania. Our great First Lady, Melania. But it would spell correct and word correct to Melody. And sometimes I wouldn’t proofread it and I’d say, hmm. And I would get just absolute decimated. These people would decimate me. He said he didn’t know the name of his wife. He keeps calling her. And I said, what the hell is wrong with this machine? I didn’t know about that little feature, but I got that corrected eventually.

You know who corrected? The military. I said, come here, you got to correct this. You’re killing me. I took more abuse. She’s been called Melody a lot. I had to explain it to you this way. I stood up here to explain it to you. I apologize.

Andrew Wolfe: Shot in the Head, Given No Chance

Last year, Melody’s 24-year-old son, Andrew Wolfe, of West Virginia National Guard, was on patrol in Washington, D.C., helping to restore law and order to our capital city. And I spoke to her. This woman is amazing. Along with her comrade specialist, Sarah Backstrom, who is just a fantastic person. He was ambushed by a terrorist and shot in the head. A violent, horrible person did this.

Nobody thought Andrew was going to make it, but Melody told me, and I called her that evening in the hospital. Sarah, I have no doubt, the doctor said he won’t be making it. And as you know, Sarah passed away also from a shot to the head by these people, these horrible, horrible people.

A Mother’s Unwavering Certainty

But Melody was the one person. In fact, Melody’s husband, who’s great, he didn’t feel the same way. But she said, I have no doubt, sir. I’m telling you, he’s going to be fine. Don’t worry about it. He’s going to be fine. I never saw anything. It was really pretty amazing. And she was right.

A week went by. Another week went by. I’d call and say, how’s he doing? Sir, he’s doing really well. And the doctors would say, I think he maybe will make it. And she turned out to be right. It was sort of a miracle, actually. And I’ve never seen, you know, they talk about the power of positive thinking. I’ve never seen anything like this one. J.D., you wouldn’t believe it. He had no chance, I’m telling you. And she willed it.

And now it’s really something very special that I think I hear he’s just doing fantastic. It was a Bible verse from the book of Isaiah. “Do not fear, for I am with you.” With God’s help, Andrew has made a really incredible recovery. It’s hard to believe. And during my State of the Union address, we were privileged to award him the Purple Heart. This was a real Purple Heart. This was a terrible thing that happened.

Welcoming Melody to the Stage

And Melody, where are you, Melody? There you are. Hi. Haven’t seen you in a little while. But it’s true, the story, right? You were the only one. You know that you were the only one. She was so positive. I don’t think she hurt anybody else. And your husband’s doing okay. And he feels much better about it. He was not feeling too good. I think he should. Do you want to say something about your boy and how — come on up here, Melody. No, it’s an amazing — it’s such an amazing story.

A Mother’s Faith and Her Son’s Recovery

Such an amazing story. We went through a couple of bad nights together, right? Yes. I first want to say that we had the nation behind us at a time when nobody thought our boy would make it. He was 24 years old. He was a young man on the streets of D.C. A shot to the left part of his brain. We have a strong faith in God. And God is what brought our son through this. He gave us an amazing backing. He gave us amazing doctors. He gave us amazing nurses. And our community, our nation, our community, are just all of the support and the support of the White House medical staff. Anything that our son needed was met. We are just truly thankful.

And he — we’re a little over five months. He came home from the hospital April 2nd. And he is now enjoying being home. He’s getting back into playing golf. He loves cornhole, as you know. Yes. He loves doing so many activities. And so we’re truly blessed that we’re able to get him into some outpatient care closer to home. We do have another surgery coming up in September. And just recovery is my understanding that will happen for quite some time. But I have no doubt that he will be 100% back to Andrew within a few years, independent, driving, being a young bachelor again. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

That’s incredible. Thank you. Thank you. That’s incredible. Nobody really can understand it, but I was with the General, who was fantastic, right? And he said, not much of a chance, maybe no chance. I mean, I hate to say it even, but no chance. They all said the same thing. And she said, “No, God is with him. I’m telling you, President, God is with him. He’s going to be okay.” And I get reports that he’s amazing. So, congratulations. Thank you very much. You taught us all something. Appreciate it.

Honoring Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Collazo, Active-Duty Air Force Mom

Also joining us is an outstanding active-duty Air Force mom, Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Collazo. She’s an MQ-9 Reaper drone pilot. Whoa, that’s pretty good. An evaluator, a weapons officer, and desk officer at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. She has traveled to 20 countries, flown over 7,000 hours, and eliminated many high-value targets. She’s a great, great talent, they say. Our military is strong again. And as Amanda says to herself, we are, as a nation, we are really respected again. She said that, and it’s true. So, Amanda, thank you very much. Where are you, Amanda? Where are you? Come on up here, Amanda. I got to do this. You know, they’re not expected to, but they’re doing very well. Come on up.

That’s great. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Melania, for hosting this event. Thank you, Cindy, for inviting me out here. I just want to say I’m proud to be an American. I am proud to serve our nation in the world’s greatest Air Force. Thank you for all of the moms out here and for your spouses, your kids, yourselves. So, thank you all, and Happy Mother’s Day.

Thank you. She’s very sharp, isn’t she? She’ll be running for office someday. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Record Defense Investment and American Manufacturing

As Commander-in-Chief, I will always support our great servicemembers and their families. We’ve invested a record-setting trillion, and now it’s up to $1.5 trillion. And all built in the USA, by the way, all right? So, it’s a lot of jobs, too, you know? Some people said I did it for that. Actually, I didn’t. I did it for the military, but it’s a byproduct. We have tremendous numbers of very talented people building all of the things that we do. And we make the best equipment anywhere in the world, by far. They’re all ordering it for us.

In fact, I’ve given a special edict that the defense companies who have the best equipment, they’re not making it fast enough, and now they’re all building plants all over the place. I said, you’re not allowed to buy back stock anymore.

Defending America: Missiles, Patriots, and Military Strength

I told some of these people that are making millions and millions of dollars, you got to reduce your salary. I’m going to reduce your salary. You’re going to put it into weapons. And it’s been incredible, the spirit we have. And they’re building, some of them are building six, seven plants right now to make the Patriots and the Tomahawks. Tomahawks are unbelievable. Patriots, unbelievable.

We had, recently, we had 111 missiles shot at one of our very valuable objects, something called an aircraft carrier. Think of this, 111 missiles. High range, high quality, speed missiles. Very high, very fast, very top of the line. Out of 111 missiles shot at a, you know, well, it used to be, you’d like to say, a billion-dollar boat. Now they’re about $18 billion, if they’re expensive. But 111 coming at them at 3,500 miles an hour, all 111 were shot down and didn’t even get close to the ship. And they’re all laying at the bottom of the ocean, along with the Iranian Navy. They’re all laying very nicely under the water.

But think of that, five years ago, a thing like that would have been impossible. Ten years ago, it’s not even thinkable. Ronald Reagan actually thought of the concept. They called it Star Wars, but it wasn’t a concept that anybody thought would ever work. But, you know, you have these things coming at you. And we have the Patriots. The Patriots are the best of them. We have other things also.

But it’s when you think you hit 100 percent of the missiles coming at, it’s not like, oh, let’s let a couple get through. It’s not that bad. One gets through, it’s problems. So we can do things today, and no other country has anything like that. They don’t have anything with the power, with the strength, and with the, you know, it’s accuracy, really. It’s accuracy. It’s like hitting a needle in a haystack, they were saying. And yet they do it every time. It’s pretty amazing.

The Talent Behind the Technology

And we have the most talented people operating that equipment. For that, you have to be high IQ. And you have to have no choke, because you have about 12 seconds to make a decision and take the aim. And you have to be very good mathematically. You have to know what you’re doing. You have to be very smart. You have to see the education, the schools that go to the best schools in the world. Some of them come out of — I know I called up a couple. I said, “Where did you go to school?” “I went to MIT.” Oh, good. That’s good.

So it’s — you know, we have a — it’s a very different — frankly, it’s a very different military in many ways. But we have invested a record-setting amount of dollars, and the U.S. Armed Forces is now stronger than it’s ever been. And we’re getting stronger and getting stronger, and it’s so important. Every branch is setting records in recruitment.

The Rise of the Space Force

And I’m very proud of the Space Force, because that was a branch that — a new one that came up. And we were losing to Russia and to China in space. And we had it as part of the Air Force, but it wasn’t really thought of, you know, once it’s part of something. And we put a great general in charge, and the Space Force is now leading the other countries — China, Russia — and there is no fourth, really — and leading them by — we saw numbers the other day — leading — we’re leading in space by so much, it’s — we’re never going to be caught.

So I’m very proud of Space Force. First time that that’s taken place, a new force. The last one was the Air Force, and this is — that was 78 years ago. So this is brand new, and we’re very proud of it. It’s turned out to be — I think it’s going to be one of our most important, as time goes by.

Record Military Recruitment and Public Safety Wins

A lot of the things that you see, a lot of the accuracy of the weapons is caused because of what we created with Space Force. So we’re very proud of that. But every branch is setting records in recruitment.

When — last year, if you remember, before I came into office — actually, after the election, it started picking up rapidly, to be honest with you. November 5th, we had a little election. We did quite well. We won every swing state. We won the popular vote. We won everything. We won 87 percent of the counties. We won it all.

But I will tell you, right after that election, it started. But before that, we had the worst recruiting in the history of our country. People didn’t want to be in the armed services. They also — they didn’t want to be police, they didn’t want to be firemen, they didn’t want to be anything with a uniform representing our country. And it was the lowest number we’ve ever had.

And I can say very confidently that, at this moment, we have the highest recruitment, the most successful recruitment for the military — Army, Navy — the Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force — all of it. We have the highest recruitment, the best recruitment that we’ve ever had. We have lines of people wanting to get in. We’re taking people based on their fitness and their quality. We’re taking — you wouldn’t believe what — the difference it is.

And Washington, D.C., is an example. And that’s why it’s so sad when Melody comes up and talks about that one event, because, you know, the numbers in Washington, D.C., are so incredible. The numbers have gone down from — we had a place that was so unsafe — our great capital — and now it’s considered one of the safest cities anywhere in the United States.

Tackling Crime Across American Cities

We went to Memphis, and Memphis was a killing field, practically. And now it’s down — the numbers are down — crime, 80 percent.

In New Orleans, Louisiana, the governor called up. Jeff Landry said, “Sir, we have the Mardi Gras coming up, and we have a lot of crime in the city. Can you do something?” And we put our people there, mostly National Guard, but whatever is necessary. And we have — crime was down 79 percent after two and a half, three months.

And by the way, if they had the brains in Chicago, they’d ask us to go there. We’ll solve the problem for them very quickly. We’d go to San Francisco very quickly. San Francisco would be so easy for us. We’d go to New York and help them out. We’d love to help them out. And we’d get crime numbers down 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent in a matter of months.

We took it in — D.C. was really bad. I don’t want to go into the numbers in terms of using the word murder, but it was really bad. And it’s gone from that to being — we’re down 92 percent. And actually, I’m trying to figure out, you know, the 8 percent, who they are.

Drug Trafficking Down 97 Percent

One of the things we did — and some people like it, but the numbers are — the numbers speak for themselves. If you really get down, you see drug traffic coming into our country is way down. And by sea — by sea, by ocean, by the water, you know, a lot of people say, “What do you mean by sea? Is it sea, like vision?” No, it’s sea, S-E-A. But it’s down 97 percent.

Think of it, 97 percent. For years, they’d grab a boat, and they’d bring them in, and they’d see a judge, and they’d let them out. And the next day, he’s back in his country, bringing more drugs in. Nothing worked. We’re down nothing. Get worse, worse, worse. Down 97 percent. And we’re trying to figure who the 3 percent are, because we consider them to be maybe the bravest people anywhere in the world. You look at those boats — pew, pew.

Drugs Coming In By Sea Down 97 Percent

And you feel terribly, except for one thing. Those boats — 25,000 people die from just a couple of those boats. Think of it, from drugs. Ruin families. Ruin everything. And when you see that, you say, thank you very much. But drugs coming in by sea are down 97 percent.

And now we’ve started the land force, which is much easier. And you’ll hear some complaints from some people in — like representatives from Mexico and other places. But if they’re not going to do the job, we’re going to do the job. And they understand that. So that’s sort of the easy one by comparison to the sea.

We had to do the sea first. You had no idea how much came in by water. And very little — almost nothing is coming in right now. They don’t want to do that anymore.

A Tribute to America’s Military Moms

But no one should ever doubt the resolve of America’s military moms. They’re incredible. From the start of our republic down to today, our nation has been strengthened by the love and devotion and the commitment of incredible women. These are really incredible — you’re really incredible women who’ve served our country, supported our troops, and poured out their care and compassion for this nation that we all love.

So I just want to thank everybody. And Happy Mother’s Day. And God bless you all. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

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