Transcript: President Trump and VP JD Vance Participate in Signing Time 

So they aren’t paying for any of their own health care in this country.

This is one example. And we’ve seen this over and over and over again. So under President Trump’s leadership, and then, of course, with J.D. and the head of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, we are going to see the first-ever effort in American history to reclaim the ultimately trillions of dollars that were stolen from taxpayers.

I believe, and I know President Trump believes, that when this theft is exposed, we will see that if all of it were stopped, it would be enough to balance the budget. The extraction of wealth from American taxpayers to people who don’t belong here is the primary cause of the national debt, and this is the first-ever effort to shut that down. Thank you, Mr. President.

## President Trump Responds

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And everyone knows they’ve been cheating for years. It’s the first ever. And it’s got to be stopped. I mean, it’s got to be stopped. Think of it. Somalia is a third world, maybe a fourth world nation. One of the worst. One of the most dangerous. They don’t have anything. They don’t have councils. They don’t have government. They don’t have police. They shoot each other all over the place. They come here, and they steal $19 billion. That’s crazy.

And Ilhan Omar, I hope this is part of it, but she married her brother, supposedly. I mean, there’s a lot of documentation. I mean, she’s here illegally, and she’s a congresswoman. And I hope you’re going to be looking at that, or somebody is, all right? Because she’s one of the ringleaders here. She’s bad news. She’s really bad news. She’s so bad for our country. Anyway, J.D., please say a few words.

## Vice President Vance on the Whole-of-Government Approach

VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: Yes, sir. Well, thank you, Mr. President. This is a very important whole-of-government approach to tackle the fraud problem. Let me just tell one story, one of the things that even before this executive order was signed that we were able to stop under the president’s leadership is we saw evidence that in Minneapolis, there were Somalis, primarily illegal immigrants, who were defrauding a Medicaid program that was meant to go to autistic children.

So they were taking children who were supposed to get benefits, and they were claiming that their kids were actually autistic, even though they weren’t. And what did this mean? This meant two things. One, you had a lot of people getting rich off of the fraud while American citizens got poorer. And the second thing that it meant is that you had autistic kids in Minneapolis, in suburban Minneapolis, who weren’t getting benefits they needed because Somali fraudsters were literally stealing out of their pocket. It’s got to stop.

And unfortunately, that kind of fraud is one example of probably hundreds just within the state of Minneapolis, and then it’s repeated and replayed all over the United States of America. When we first started talking about this problem, the president made it very clear he wanted us to take the fraud problem seriously, because nobody had until he was president.

Tackling Fraud Across Federal Agencies

VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: We started to figure out one big hole that existed is that the agencies of the government weren’t actually talking to each other. So Treasury would have evidence of financial fraud, but wasn’t talking to the Department of Justice about it. Health and Human Services had evidence of Medicaid fraud, but wasn’t talking to the Department of Treasury about it.

So what this executive order does is force the entire apparatus of the federal government to do two things. Stop the fraud on the American taxpayer, and make sure that the benefits that ought by right go to American citizens, go to American citizens, and not to fraudsters.

Andrew Ferguson will be the vice chair, and is going to do a great job. If you’re curious what’s the difference between the vice chair and the chair, the vice chair is going to do all the work, and I’m going to take all the credit. Andrew.

Andrew Ferguson on Protecting Benefits for Americans

ANDREW FERGUSON: Yeah, look. Millions and millions of Americans pay into these programs every day, and they expect to get something out of it. And this fraud is just siphoning money that millions of Americans pay to fund their hospitals, to fund their daycare centers, into completely fake businesses.

It isn’t just unfair to all of us as taxpayers who pay for all this. It’s particularly unfair to the Americans who need this the most, and watch this money leave their hospital, leave their school system, and go out to fraud. And that is why this effort is so important.

And I think, we’ve just begun really looking at this, but I think that one of the things we’re going to find is that in a lot of these agencies, the previous administration was pretty lax about existing anti-fraud controls, and we’re going to expose that too.

President Trump on the Previous Administration’s Fraud

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would take the word “pretty,” I would change it with “unbelievably lax.” They weren’t — not even lax, lax is a good word. The previous administration was fraudulent, okay, and I think that’s what you’re going to find also.

Most Favored Nation Drug Prices

You know, we worked so hard — like most favored nation’s drug prices. For years, people have wanted it. We paid the highest drug prices anywhere in the world, by far. By five times, six times, ten times more than London would be paying than New York. More than any city in Europe was paying than our cities. We would have a pill that would sell for $10 in Munich, in Germany, would sell for $10, and in New York it would be $130 or whatever.

And we worked so hard, and we pulled it off. It’s called most favored nations. So now we went from by far the most expensive drugs anywhere in the world, prescription drugs, to the least expensive, and I had to get all of the nations to agree, and I don’t want to bore you with how I did it, but I did it. Everyone said it was impossible to do, including the drug companies. And we did it, and we worked so hard on it.

And we’re going to save so much money for the people. Your drug prices are going to be dropping at levels never even — by 50, 60, 70, 80 percent, in some cases.

The Stakes of Signing This Executive Order

But you work so hard, and then you see them stealing $19 billion. It’s like in one pocket, out the other. And I think Andrew and J.D. — I think they have, maybe, one of the most important jobs. Maybe — it could be one of the most important things that we’re signing, because I really believe that they have an opportunity to do something so good for our country.

You know, people talk about balancing budgets. You can’t balance a budget when people are stealing $19 billion. And nobody has ever heard of anything like it. We had, I guess, in the same state, you went autism, where four or five years ago, they spent $1 million, and now it’s almost $400 million in just a few years. Well, autism didn’t go up like that. And even the $1 million was probably a fraud.

But it went from $1 million to almost $400 million in just a few years. These are crooked people. They basically said everybody in the state had autism. These are crooked, horrible people. And, you know, I was elected on, with J.D., Make America Great Again. That was a — and we can’t have this stuff happening.

MR. EARNEST: Right.

THE PRESIDENT: We have to be respected. And they left. So, I’m going to sign this. We’ll take some questions. But let me sign this first. Before I — I don’t forget. Let’s see. I — before I decide not to. Okay?

MR. EARNEST: Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t forget not to, but maybe I’ll decide not to. I would decide not to if the — if I didn’t think they could do the job, I would decide not to. But that’ll be a terrible thing.

President Trump Signs the Order

I think they’re going to find numbers — Andrew, I think you’re going to find numbers that are far higher than you even think. And you — you know, Andrew came to us. He said, “Sir,” he’s written the stories about Minnesota. We know California is many times worse. But Minnesota is terrible. They’re all terrible. Those cities are terrible. New York is terrible. What’s going on in Chicago, Illinois, with that slob of a governor is terrible.

And the kind of money we’re talking about is — is just country-changing. It’s country-changing money. It’s having a deficit to having a really profitable country where you can lower your taxes substantially for people. And I think that’s — I think you have an opportunity to do it. And I think you two guys are the right guys. If you guys can’t do it, we’ve got a problem. Because nobody else will be able to do it. All right?

Mr. Cooperman. Yes, sir. So, I’ll sign. And then we’ll take some nice questions from our wonderful media. Okay. Andrew, it’s a pleasure. It’s a pleasure to see you. Yes. Here you go. Very important. That’s a big deal. We’ve been working on this very long. Will? See? Right? Will?

Q&A: On Systemic Fraud and Corrupt Officials

Andrew, do you have a question?

REPORTER: Yes, Mr. President. You said during your State of the Union that this type of fraud, the corruption, is the type of thing that can shred the fabric of a nation. Why do you suppose, then, that leaders of recent memory haven’t looked at the systemic amount of fraud that’s been taking place? And how do you —

THE PRESIDENT: Because they’re crooked. They make money. They gain power. They use it for power. Like with the Somalians, they vote in a block, 100 percent. They make a deal with the Somalians. They all vote because they’re on a gravy trade. It’s a company — it’s money first, power second. A lot of people say power first. No, it’s money first, power second.

Did you ever see where, like, Mercedes — people come over from Somalia, they have no money, and now they’re buying Mercedes-Benz cars. Okay? It’s — more cash goes out of the Minnesota airport than any other place in the world or something. We’re going to find it. And Minnesota is really bad.

The governor is corrupt. The attorney general is totally corrupt. Just like the New York State Attorney General, Letitia James. She’s a highly corrupt person. Bragg, the DA, is a corrupt person. They’re all corrupt. These are corrupt people. And we got too many of them in our country. And we have to expose them, and we have to catch them.

And if these two guys can’t — these are high-IQ people. I like high — I’ve always liked high IQ. These are high-IQ people. If they don’t do it, we got — we’re going to go a long way, fellas, to find somebody else that’s going to do it. We have no choice. If, honestly — and they may not do a good job. If they don’t do a good job —

THE PRESS: Thank you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. It’s possible. If they don’t do a good job, the country is sort of in trouble. Yes, go ahead.

THE PRESS: Thank you, sir. Two questions for the President.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I think they’re going to do a great job. Go ahead.

THE PRESS: First, Mr. Vice President, Democrats are already calling you the fraud czar. What’s your reaction to that title? And then second —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good title? I like it.

THE PRESS: Second, given your past skepticism of foreign adventurism, are you completely on board with the current war on Iran?

Vance on the “Fraud Czar” Title and the War on Iran

VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: So, I like fraud czar. It’s certainly what we’re going to do. And, look, we have to do it. As the President said, this is a problem that has festered in this country for far too long, and far too few people have actually wanted to do anything about it. That’s what makes this administration different, is that we actually tackle the problems the American people have been confronting. So I’m very happy about it.

And, look, I think that — I know what you’re trying to do, Phil. You’re trying to drive a wedge between members of the administration, between me and the President. What the President said consistently, going back to 2015, and I agreed with him, is that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. We have taken this military action under the President’s leadership. I think all of us, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, should pray for a success and pray for the safety of our troops. That’s the approach that I’ve taken. Make it as successful as possible.

THE PRESS: So there’s no hesitation, given your past statements, with the current operation?

VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: What do you mean there’s no hesitation with my past statements?

THE PRESS: Given your skepticism of foreign adventurism, you were a critic of the global war on terror previously.

VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: Well, I think one big difference, Phil, is that we have a smart President, whereas in the past we’ve had dumb Presidents. And I trust President Trump to get the job done, to do a good job for the American people, and to make sure that the mistakes of the past aren’t repeated. Absolutely.

THE PRESS: Thanks, sir.

Trump on Iran: “They Would Use It”

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So, J.D., it’s been great. But here’s the simple thing. And I have — you know, some people — I don’t want wars. I want wars less than almost anybody. Peace through strength. But you know what? I’ve watched Iran for a long time. I called them out 20 years ago when I was a civilian that liked watching the world. And they’re violent, vicious people. The leadership — violent, vicious people.

They killed 32,000 protesters over the last three weeks. They put out a memo two days ago saying, “If you protest, we will shoot you and kill you in the streets.” And somebody said, “Oh, there’s not that many protests.” Well, first of all, there are bombs going off all over the place. But even if there weren’t, who’s going to do that? You know, who’s going to do it? They don’t have any guns, and the other ones have latest-in-line machine guns, right? And every form of gun you can have. They shoot them right through the middle of the head. They’re violent people.

If they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. And sometimes I’ll have some of the people that, you know, feel very strongly, like I do, about wars. And I say, “Do you think Iran is violent? And do you think their people are violent?” Yes, leadership. “Do you think they should have a nuclear weapon, which is massive power?” I don’t even want to discuss how powerful because it’s depressing. And they said, “No, they shouldn’t have. Definitely, they shouldn’t have.” They said, “And you don’t want to fight war.” No, no, we don’t want to fight war.

So, these are naive people that, frankly, are stupid. If you believe that Iran should have a nuclear weapon, there’s something wrong with you because they would use it within — the only question is within one hour, if they get it, or one day. They will use it, and they will blow up the entire Middle East, not just Israel.

They’ll start with Israel, but they will blow up. And you got to see that when they unexpectedly started sending missiles to every country within a thousand miles of them. I mean, they’re blowing up countries that were neighbors, not necessarily — some friends. They actually are blowing up some friends. They were blowing up the people that handled their accounts. They’re sending thousands of missiles into countries that didn’t expect to be in the war because they wanted to take over the Middle East.

And if I didn’t terminate Barack Hussein Obama’s horrible Iran nuclear deal, which I did in my first term — one of the dumbest deals, perhaps the dumbest deal because of the danger involved — you would have had them have a nuclear weapon three years ago, maybe four years ago. They would have used it, blown up the Middle East, and they would have then come after us.

The B-2 Bombers and the Strike on Iran

And if these gorgeous B-2 bombers — give me that bomber, Andrews. Let me just hug that little sucker. Give me that bomber over there. Thank you. You knew immediately which one. This looks small, but in person, it’s very big. Because it’s the only plane capable of carrying a 200,000-pound bomb, so. I don’t know how they do it because it’s very sleek and nice, but it carries a lot of weapons and there’s a lot of bombs.

But had I not sent this incredible machine, times numerous others, to hit Iran at midnight with no moon, dead dark, every single bomb was dropped right down the chute that it was supposed to hit. How did they do it? Well, who knows? Nobody else can figure it. No other country can do it. No other country has our military or even close. And I think we’ve probably proven that with Venezuela and now with — because we have done a number on Iran.

But if I didn’t do that, if I didn’t decimate — I call it their nuclear dust — they would have had a nuclear weapon within one month after that bombing took place. And they would have used it on, first, Israel and then the Middle East. And you know that because all of those missiles that were launched against their neighbors were set long ago, long before they knew they would be using them this quickly.

Preventing Nuclear War and World War III

Had we not done this, you would have had a nuclear war that would have evolved into World War III. And more important, this is a war that — there would have been nothing left. So we’ve done a great thing. The people that say it’s okay for a very sick ideology, a very sick country in terms of its leadership — very good people, great people. But the people that say that — I think they’re actually — they’re either evil or they’re stupid.

So if you believe that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon — they should not have it — then you have to absolutely love what I’ve done. Because in two weeks, we have decimated them. They have no Navy. They have no Air Force. They have no anti-aircraft weapons. They have no leadership. The leadership is gone. But then they set up a new leadership to go and name a new leader, and that leadership is gone. And now they think maybe the sun is gone. They’re all gone.

My biggest problem is I have no idea who we’re talking to because nobody ever heard of any of these people. They’re all dead. But we did a job for the world. Not a job for us. For the whole world. We took the worst country in 50 years, and maybe longer, from the ideological standpoint — a country that wanted to blow up the world, a country that is sick — sick.

And it has a religious fervor. When you add religion — you know, people don’t realize more people died in religious wars than every other war put together. And that’s what you would have had here. And it was a terrible thing. I’m very proud of what we did. And I think J.D.

understands better than most, if you give Iran a nuclear weapon, at least a very substantial part of the world would be blown up, and it’ll be used almost immediately. Yes. You don’t mind if I keep this here, do you? Isn’t that a beautiful thing? You know, I used to look at it, and I said, it’s a piece of art, but how can it be effective? It’s so stealth. Think of it. Peter. One in the morning, it flies in, and they say, “Sir, they’re in Iranian airspace.” And I say, ooh. And I’m watching it from the Situation Room with a couple of other very smart people, including some good generals, real generals, not television generals.

And all of a sudden, you see that dive. They start diving, and you see them, 30,000, 20,000, boy, I said, that was a lot. They went down fast to aim it. And they know they’re coming, and they’re smart, and they never saw them. And they’re firing a little bit, but they don’t know what they’re firing at because they can’t see a thing. And then you hear the biggest explosions that anybody has ever heard. Those are the biggest bombs. Outside of nuclear, those are the biggest bombs. And you say, what technology we have. What a great country.

I built it. Largely, I built it during my first term. I built it. I didn’t know I’d have to use it this much in my second term. But we had an incompetent president. We had an incompetent administration. And if that group of people, in any form, whether it’s Kamala, him, it doesn’t matter, would have had another four years, we would have had no country left.

Yeah, please.

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. You say you’re doing a job for the rest of the world. In your conversations with your counterparts, are they thanking you? What are their conversations like when you talk about this military conflict that’s taking place in Iran?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, they should be thanking me because many of them get 90 percent. China, as an example, should be thanking us. But I don’t expect to thank you, but they should be thanking us. Japan gets 95 percent, China 91 percent. Many of the countries, South Korea gets a tremendous percentage of their oil and therefore their energy from the Straits, or as they call it, the Strait. And they should be not only thanking us, they should be helping us.

What does surprise me is that they’re not eager to help. There are a couple. We’ll be announcing some names soon. There are some that really were right up front. I would announce their name now, other than I don’t, you know, maybe they’d prefer it not being announced for whatever reason.

## Military Progress Against Iran

I will say this, it’s a lot easier to get people today than it was two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, before we destroyed their, before we obliterated their country, before we took out, because they’re down to about 8 percent of their missiles, they’re down to a small portion of their drones, and we’ve demolished many of their factories where they make the missiles and the drones, and the rest are all following. Our military has been amazing.

We hit Karg Island, took out every single thing in Karg Island except one thing. We left the pipes. Because if we take out the pipes, it takes a long time to build them. And at some point, something is going to happen that’s positive with respect to those pipes.

## Disappointment With NATO Allies

But there are some countries that greatly disappointed me. And you know, I’m the one that got them to pay from 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP, NATO. And I get along great with those countries in NATO, but I always said, you know, the problem with NATO is we’ll always be there for them, but they’ll never be there for us. And when I hear the UK, which we sort of considered the Rolls-Royce of allies, right, wouldn’t you say? They’re the oldest, and they’re never going to be there.

On Allied Support and NATO Obligations

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I say it would be really helpful if you’d send over a couple of ships, and if you have some minesweepers, which they do, it would be very helpful. And the Prime Minister is a nice man. I think he’s a very nice guy. He says, “Well, I’d like to ask my team.” I said, “You don’t have to worry about a team. You don’t have a team. You’re the Prime Minister. You can make a decision.” “Well, I have to speak to my people.” I said, “You don’t have to speak to anybody.” So it was very disappointing.

And then after we obliterated them and destroyed their military, the whole thing, and it became a much safer zone, he said, “We’re going to send over two aircraft carriers.” I said, “I don’t want them anymore. I don’t want them after we win. I want them before we start. I don’t need your aircraft carriers after we’ve already won.”

So you know, those things are very disappointing. You have to remember, we have 45,000 troops in Japan. We have 45,000 troops in South Korea. We have 45,000, 50,000 troops in Germany. We defend all these countries. And then do you have any minesweepers? And they say, “Well, would it be possible for us not to get involved?”

I’ve been saying it for a long time. This is the greatest thing to come out of this. We spend trillions and trillions of dollars on NATO to defend other countries. And I always said, “But if it ever comes time to defend us, they’re not going to be there.” Many of them would not be there. And we’re going to have to start thinking more wisely in this country. Some have been very good. One or two have been great. I’ll tell you who the great ones are at the right time. But there have been some that were right up there, Peter. They were right up there. They wanted to do it so much.

On Iran’s Retaliation Against Regional Allies

REPORTER: Thank you. You talked about Iran a couple times today and what they did after Epic Fury began. You said they’d hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked. Are you surprised that nobody briefed you ahead of time that that might be their retaliation?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Nobody. Nobody. No, no, no. The greatest experts. Nobody thought they were going to hit. They were — I wouldn’t say friendly countries. They were like neutral. They were. They lived with them for years.

Peter, they were going to take over the Middle East. They were going to knock out Israel with a nuclear weapon. But after we knocked out their nuclear potential, their nuclear potential weapon, they started building missiles, thousands and thousands of missiles. And they were going to do it with missiles while they developed. These are sick people. While they developed nuclear, somehow they were going to start on a different site because that site was — you saw the site, the mountain. They were going to go into a certain area, which we know exactly where it is. And they were going to do that.

And it’s incredible what we’ve done. I tell you, the job we’ve done. Do you know, if I didn’t terminate Barack Hussein Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, you would right now — well, Israel would be gone. It would be incinerated. And probably, probably the Middle East likewise. And remember, they got all of those missiles.

And I heard they were sending missiles to UAE. I said, that’s strange. You know, UAE is like the banker for Iran. They’re like the banker. Qatar, their neighbors, they got along okay. Saudi Arabia. All of a sudden, Kuwait. Kuwait is getting hit. Bahrain is getting hit. All these countries are getting hit.

There was no expert that would say that was going to happen. It’s not a question of like, gee, should you have known? And if we did know, big deal. I mean, we have to do what we have to do. But we hit them so hard, like nobody has ever been hit. We hit them very hard. And we’ve extinguished most of their missiles.

We’ve extinguished most of their drones. We’ve extinguished most of the places where the missiles and the drones are built. We’ve fully extinguished two layers of leadership and probably a third, if you believe some stories. So we only have one thing to have a little choke point. And they’ve used it very well for years, but it doesn’t work.

But I think this. If some of these countries that we’ve been good to for years, and maybe more important than that, some of these countries that get 90 percent and 95 percent of their energy from Hormuz, the Strait. Hormuz, a famous, wonderful, beautiful place. But you wouldn’t want to be necessarily sailing a boat there right now. Okay? You know why? Not because of them, because of us.

Because we’ve taken out their entire Navy. We’ve taken out every one of their drones. They call it a drone layer, a mine layer. There’s specific boats that are meant to put mines on. I’d really like to have a nation that has 22 boats where their sole function — they’re very different looking boats. You wouldn’t want one for your family. They’re not pretty. Their sole function is to lift a mine into the water and drop it a certain number of feet down. But they had 22 of them. We’ve taken out all of them.

But you can probably drop them off other boats. So we don’t even know. By the way, we don’t know that any mines have even been dropped. But the thought that they would scares people that have billion-dollar ships.

Q&A With Reporters

TRUMP: Yeah. Please.

REPORTER: Thank you, President Trump. I’d like to ask Vice President Vance to go after possible fraud in California and New York. We know, of course, about Minnesota. And President Trump, first, could I ask you — you said earlier today that the new Supreme Leader — maybe you don’t know if he’s dead or alive. There were a couple of interesting reports about him today. There was one report that he just narrowly escaped death in the first airstrikes by stepping out into his garden. There’s another report that he may actually be gay, despite leading a theocracy that hates gay people. How do you determine what’s true? And do you have an assessment of who’s —

TRUMP: Well, so far, nobody knows. If you look at his father, he used to give talks a lot. You know, talking about “death to America.” He’d say, “death to America” all the time. When they say “death to America,” you should believe them, because that’s what they would have — if they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it. But they never had the chance. I never gave them the chance to use it. And other Presidents should have done —

I spoke to one of the former Presidents, who I actually like — I actually speak to some. I do like some people. It’d be shocking. And he said, “I wish I did what you did.” Could have done it. Other Presidents, somebody should have done it. Forty-seven years this went on.

Iran: From Bully to the Bullied

They call Iran the bully of the Middle East. And you could have never had the Abraham Accords. You could never have had peace in the Middle East. Now, you’re going to have peace. You could never do it with a dark cloud of a nuclear Iran. But Iran is a shell of itself. It’s no longer a bully. It’s the one that gets bullied. It’s a bully that got beat up. We beat the crap out of them. And they deserve that.

You know, when you see a soldier walking down the street without his arms, or being helped down the street because he’s got no legs, or his face is blown to smithereens with no legs and no arms. Those two, no legs, no arms. And a face that got racked. That was done by roadside bombs. That’s the favorite weapon of Soleimani, who I killed in my first administration. General Soleimani, had I not killed him, that was the beginning of their downfall.

Because had he not gone, it’s possible that we would not be this far advanced in destroying Iran, because he was a really good general. He was a vicious, horrible man, but he was a brilliant general. And he was looking to knock out five of our military bases at one time. And the man that killed — that died with him was the same — his counterpart in Iraq. And they were working together. And they got hit real hard.

And if that didn’t happen, we would have had a problem. But maybe more importantly than that, they were — he was really the mastermind behind it. And they never found somebody to replace him, in terms of the genius. I knocked him out. And that was a big step, knocking him out.

On Terminating the Iran Nuclear Deal

But if we didn’t get rid of the Obama deal, I terminated it, against the wishes of my then Secretary of State — he was no Marco — against the wishes of a lot of people at the time. You remember that, Peter? A lot of people. Had I not terminated — remember that, Stephen? You remember? They were all in awe. This is not — that deal was a disaster. That was a road to a nuclear weapon. They would have had it three years ago, and it would have been — it would have been used, I would say, two to three years ago, and it would have been used in the Middle East. And, by the way, after they were finished that, they were coming over here. They never got a chance to do it.

A Mystery Former President

REPORTER: I just want to ask you about something very interesting that you said twice today, that you talked to another former President about the Iran strikes. Was it George W. Bush?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No.

REPORTER: Was it Bill Clinton?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t want to say. I don’t want to say. Because —

REPORTER: Barack Obama.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: — a member of a party — a member of a party —

REPORTER: That’s right.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: — they have Trump derangement syndrome all. But it’s somebody that happens to like me, and I like that person, who’s a smart person. But that person said, “I wish I did it.” Okay? I don’t want to get into — I don’t want to get him into trouble. Maybe — hey, you know what? I think you probably know. You know, it’s interesting. And maybe he’d be proud. And I could even ask him, though, would you like me to reveal your name to Peter at Fox? High — well, at least you have high ratings. Your ratings are through the roof, Peter. Congratulations.

REPORTER: Thank you for noticing. Congratulations. Can I ask you another question about the war? If Iran, as you said, totally obliterated, got the missiles, got the first two rounds of leadership, Air Force gone, Navy gone, can we wrap this war up this week?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, sure.

REPORTER: Can we? Will we?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t think so, but it’ll be soon. Won’t be long. And we’re going to have a much safer world when it’s wrapped up. It’ll be wrapped up soon. We’re going to have a much safer world.

On the Decision to Strike Iran

I had an obligation to do this. I didn’t want to — I call it an excursion. I didn’t want to make this journey. We had the highest stock market in history. We had low gas prices. Everything was good. And I know exactly — I know what — you know, you’re going to do it, and people are going to raise the price of oil, and that’s going to — but I know that. But that’s a very small thing compared to allowing them to have — you want to see the stock market go down? Start letting them hit you with nukes, okay? I think — I said it this morning. I think it’s a very small price to pay. And, frankly, I thought it was going to go down much more, if you wanted us to.

I assumed that it was going to go down much more, only because people don’t understand to a large — it’s a great — it’s a big chess game at a very high level. It’s very high-level chess, the highest. And I’m dealing with very smart players. These are smart people. They don’t get there. You know, when you deal with some of these people, you’re dealing with high-level intellect, high — very high-IQ people. These are not Jasmine Crockett and her group. These are smart people. These are really smart people, and violent people, and vicious people, and some very nice people. And some are very nice, but violent. They turn violent.

But you know what? If I didn’t do — if I didn’t do what I did, we would have been hit. Number one, very important, was the termination of Obama’s horrible deal. And number two, this beautiful plane hitting them eight months ago, whenever it was, and taking out their nuclear company. That totally threw them for a loop. If they had that bomb — at either time, five years ago or seven months ago — if they had that bomb, that bomb would have been used almost immediately.

The Save America Act and Senate Vote

REPORTER: Two questions on domestic policy, bringing it close to home. First of all, the Save America Act. What are you expecting this week when this vote takes place in the U.S. Senate? Will the Vice President’s vote be necessary?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it’s imperative that it gets done. I’m not sure it is. You know, the Democrats have horrible policy. It’s just incredible. But they stick together. It’s the one thing they do. Their Supreme Court members stick together. Those appointed by a Democrat stick together. If Barack Hussein Obama appoints a member of the Supreme Court, that member never goes against him, and they’re proud about it. They say, “I don’t give a damn if it’s good or bad. That man appointed me, and I’m never going to let him down.”

I don’t say that’s right. I just say they stick together. Republicans go the opposite way. “If Donald Trump appointed me, I’m going to show the world that I can be totally just and I can be independent of Donald Trump.” He’s not controlling me, and I don’t want to control them. I just want to have smart decisions.

On the Tariff Decision

They gave us a decision on tariffs the other day that won’t change tariffs. I can do it a different way. I always knew I could do it a different way. This was a little quicker, a little easier, a little better. But they gave us a decision that could cost this country $500 billion to pay people back because now I have to start the tariffs all over again. Very simple. And what happens with the money I’ve already collected? Why didn’t they say, starting from now, go the other way? $500 billion, perhaps. It’s so sad.

Democrats Stick Together Despite Bad Policy

One thing about the Democrats, they stick together like glue. They impeached me twice for absolutely no reason, unanimously. Fortunately, the Republicans stuck together, and it was something. It was pretty wild. But the Democrats have horrible policy — transgender for everybody, open borders, men playing in women’s sports. But the one thing they do have is they stick together, no matter how bad the policy. It’s embarrassing to watch them try to defend it. And in a way, I say, as a Republican — in a way, I say, thank goodness they have bad policy because you’d never beat them.

Voter ID and the Save America Act

We have something in there now, the Save America Act. Voter ID with a picture. Right? That’s a 99 percent issue. Even among Democrats. You know, Democrats poll at 89 percent on that. And then they have proof of citizenship. And then they have no mail-in ballots. No mail-in ballots. We have no mail-in — you go to California, they send out, like, 38 million ballots. Some Democrats get seven, eight ballots. Republicans are, a lot of times, calling in, “Where’s my ballot? Where’s my ballot?” They’re lucky to get one. Jimmy Carter, probably the greatest thing he ever did.

I thought he was a nice man, not a great President, to put it mildly. How did his attack work out in Iran? Not too good. I think ours is slightly better, wouldn’t you say?

But Jimmy Carter, the one thing he did after he left with Scoop Jackson and some others, they formed a very elite council — a committee that came out and said very strongly, no mail-in ballots. Because if you have — we’re the only country in the world that has mail-in ballots like we do. The only country in the whole world. People have tried it. France tried it, and they went away. They’re now doing paper ballots, watermark paper, which is very hard to cheat. So when you look at what happens with this country, we really have to fix it. That’ll be very popular.

The Best of Trump: Key Issues

The other thing we put in there, just as best of — I call it the best of Trump. We have the three things I just said, right? But then I added on no men playing in women’s sports, and I added in no transgender surgery, the mutilation of our children. We have no mutilation of our children, no transgender.

I think they’re — they say that’s an 80 percent issue. I think they’re 99 percent issues, but whether they’re 80 percent or 99 — the problem is we have a couple of Republicans. They shouldn’t be allowed — they’re horrible people. And they’re willing to vote against anything. And we have all the Democrats who will vote against it.

So I think it hurts the Democrats to vote against it because I’m going to instruct all the Republicans to say that so-and-so that they’re running against voted against the saving of our children from transgender mutilation, right? That’s pretty unpopular. They want men in women’s sports. That’s pretty unpopular. They want voter ID, but the Democrats don’t. Everybody wants voter ID. Everybody wants proof of citizenship. And most people don’t want mail-in voting because they know it’s a fraud. Touches too many hands. I mean, the postman gets it, this one gets it, that one.

So these are all issues that are in the 90s to 100. I would say some are virtually 100 percent. And the interesting thing is they’re that way not only with the — I’m not talking about leadership. I’m talking about they’re that way also, most importantly, with the people. The people of our country want voter ID. The people of our country want proof of citizenship. And that includes 88 percent, 89 percent of Democrats.

Republican Support and the Push for Election Integrity

And I think the Republicans, Eric Schmidt, Rick Scott, Tim Scott — I speak to so many of them — they all want it. I hope John Thune can get it, of course, to let — he’s trying. I mean, he told me this morning. I spoke to him. He’s trying. I think it’ll be a very, very bad thing for our country if they don’t. We’re just asking for basic things.

Think of it. You can’t have voter ID. Do you know, in California, if you ask a person to show their identification, they have the right to put you in jail. If you’re an official and you say, “May I please see your identification,” you’re subject to going to jail. That’s how crazy it’s gotten. With a low-IQ person.

Remarks on Gavin Newsom

You know, because Gavin Newsom has admitted that he is a — that he has learning disabilities. Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my President. I don’t want — I think a President should not have learning disabilities, okay? And I know it’s highly controversial to say such a horrible thing. The President of the United States, Gavin Newsom, admitted that he has learning disabilities, dyslexia. Everything about him is dumb. But then he looked at the audience and said, “But I’m smarter than you,” or something like that that was pretty stupid. So now, on top of everything else, I call him a racist because it happened to be a black audience. I will tell you this.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it was the worst interview I’ve ever seen of any human being in my life, okay? Anybody else have any questions?

On Iran, China, and Military Questions

REPORTER: Mr. President, on Iran, will it be necessary to use even a limited ground force to secure whatever nuclear material remains in Iran as part of that threat? And secondly, have you made a decision —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You mean to go in and get it?

REPORTER: Yes, sir.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Why would I tell you that?

REPORTER: And secondly —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You know, I can’t stand reporters. Sir, will you attack Karg Island? Will you occupy Karg? They ask me these questions. And I don’t want to be mean, but they’re stupid questions. If any President answered those questions, they shouldn’t be President.

REPORTER: And secondly, sir, do you still plan to travel to Beijing at the end of this week?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know. We’re working on that right now. We’re speaking to China. I’d love to, but because of the war — I want to be here. I have to be here, I feel. And so, we’ve requested that we delay it a month or so. And I’m looking forward to being with them. We have a very good relationship, but — because of the war. There’s no tricks to it, either. It’s just — it’s very simple. We’ve got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here. So it could be that we delay it a little bit. Not much.

On Cuba

REPORTER: Peter. When you say Cuba is next — Cuba — and that’s the territory there. It seems like something. Will that look more like Iran or Venezuela?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I can’t tell you that. I can tell you that they’re talking to us. It’s a failed nation. They have no money. They have no oil. They have no nothing. They have nice land. They have a nice landscape, you know. It’s a beautiful island. I think they have great people. You know, I know so many people from Cuba that were treated terribly. And they’re over here, and they became rich. They’re very entrepreneurial people. Very smart. I know a lot from Florida, especially. So many people.

A friend of mine started out with nothing. He’s now the largest owner of gas stations in the country — Cuban. I also know — I was just with a fantastic person who’s Cuban and made a fortune in sugar — you know, the Fan Hu family, right? And this family wants to go back to Cuba to visit it. They haven’t been back in, like, 50 years or something. They largely come from Cuba. And we’ll see what happens. They were asking me about that. They want to go back. Not only the Fan Hu family. A lot of Cubans have said, oh, boy, would they love to go back.

I think Cuba — I don’t know, in its own way, if you’re — you know, tourism and everything else. It’s a beautiful island. Great weather. They’re not in a hurricane zone, which is nice for a change, you know. They won’t be asking us for money for hurricanes every week.

But I think Cuba is the end. You know, all my life, I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it? I do believe I’ll have the honor of taking Cuba. That’d be a good honor. That’s a big honor.

REPORTER: Taking Cuba.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Taking Cuba. In some form, yeah. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation right now. They were for a long time. Very violent. Very violent leaders. Castro was a very violent leader. His brothers were very violent leaders. Extremely violent. That’s how they governed. They governed with violence. But a lot of people would like to go back. Okay, one more question.

Question on Medicaid Payments to Minnesota

REPORTER: A quick question on Fraulein for Vice President Vance. Mr. Vice President, you announced a couple weeks ago in the EEOB that the administration would be halting Medicaid payments to Minnesota until the state decided to take pervasive steps to root out fraud. Do you have an update to that specific situation? Do you think that that could be a model moving forward for the task force for states that won’t cooperate?

VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: So I don’t have an update there. Dr. Ross is looking to and trying to work with the authorities in Minnesota to try to figure that situation out.

But, yeah, I mean, I think there are two obvious tools that we have to stop the fraud that’s happening against the American people. One is that when we see evidence of fraud, we stop the payments. It’s pretty simple, right? We know that the American people are being defrauded. Let’s try to stop the payments and ensure that whoever is making these payments is actually complying with some basic due diligence and making sure the payments are going to the right place.

I think the second tool, of course, is we have, as the President mentioned, law enforcement options. We know that some of this fraud is just bad. Some of it’s criminal. We know that people are intentionally trying to defraud the American people. It’s not just in Minnesota. It’s all across the country.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Ninety-nine percent is criminal.

VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: Yes, sir. So, this is one of the reasons why DOJ is such an important part of this, is because we have to make sure that where we see criminal conduct, we actually prosecute it. And the President’s talked about this a lot in the past. I don’t need to repeat it, but it’s worth noting that so many times when we find people engaged in really, really bad conduct, the local judge or the local grand jury tries to stop it. One of the cool things about what we’re doing is we’re trying to take some innovative steps to ensure that when we find criminal fraud, we can actually prosecute it all the way to the end.

Question on DHS Funding and Terrorism Task Force

REPORTER: Mr. President. Mr. President. She wanted one question. She’s over here, and you guys are over there. Where’s your main camera? Is it this one? Which one is the main camera? Okay, good. Nice center. Good. I thought it was that one. Go ahead.

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. Mary Murray with Daily Wire, not CNN. We just wanted to ask about DHS. Still not funded, but we reported earlier today that 80 percent of the primary task force that focuses on investigating terrorism is working without pay. So, should that impact Democrats’ decision to fund DHS?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: The Democrats aren’t paying. The Democrats. We have a deal. They just said, “We’re not going to pay. We’re not going to do anything.” And it’s terrible. The Democrats are terrible. You know, it’d be nice to get along, but for years this has been going on, not just with me. For years, it’s been going on. Different ideology, but also different tactics. Here we are. We’re fighting big battles with a very tough enemy and winning nicely. And we’re not allowed to have security in our country. It’s crazy. The Democrats don’t want to pay. These are bad people. These are not people that love our country, I can tell you that. They’re very sick people.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Thanks for all the work you’re doing.

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