President Trump Remarks on Beautiful, Clean Coal – June 4, 2026 (Transcript)

If you look at China, if you look at so many of the successful countries, they’re using coal. If you look at some of the real great failure countries, they’re using wind. This keeps blowing, blowing, blowing, and puts you right out of business. Very expensive. Most expensive energy there is. So wind is not working very well. But they keep it going because people get subsidies by countries that are stupid.

Doug, I would say we haven’t been long on wind. Do you agree with that? He understands numbers very well. You know, Doug was very, very successful. Believe it or not, I used to think it was in energy, but he was successful in technology. And he sold his company to, I think, Microsoft, right? And for a lot of money. And he ran for politics. He ran for office. Went to North Dakota. Won immediately. Won governor. Was very successful for eight years.

I watched him during one of the performances of some very talented people. And I said, we’re going to get him to work for us. And then I said I was going to put him in charge of energy. And he said, “Sir, there’s a better man than me for that one. Not in all ways, you feel that, but in one way. In energy, Doug.” And that was Chris, right? Where’s Chris? Right here. Right behind you. He’s a hard one to find. And Chris has done a fantastic job. And he’s one of the reasons we’re here today.

We have had — we’re right now double Saudi Arabia and Russia. If you double them up, that’s what we produce. More than anybody else times two. So think of that.

$700 Million Investment: Protecting Coal Plants and Mines

As a result of the $700 million investment that I’m announcing today, we will protect 14 coal plants and 42 coal mines. It’s a tremendous number. And build two new coal plants and one massive new export terminal because we’re exporting coal. Coal’s a great business, really a big business. And it’s real power. In terms of power, there’s really nothing like it. You have so many different alternatives. You talk about some, but there’s no real alternative.

China, by the way, last year built 52 coal plants. They built about two windmills. You know, the only time they build a windmill is when they’re trying to sell them to stupid people from the United States, the suckers. And, by the way, and all over Europe. They sell the windmills, but they don’t use them. I wonder why.

Defense Production Act and Coal Plant Savings

They use coal plants and other things. These actions will support over 14,000 jobs and save the American people $50 billion in electricity costs.

We’re pleased to be joined by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and he has been great. I don’t want to give him a big swollen ego because then all of a sudden he’ll leave me and I’ll be stuck with Interior. I don’t want to be stuck. But he’s really done a great job. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is fantastic. And maybe our MVP, what do you think, Doug? It’s close. What do you think, MVP? Lee Zeldin. And the job he’s done is great.

We had the auto industry in yesterday. They don’t want people to fix their car. I said, that’s strange. I’d never heard of that. They have a thing to – nobody’s allowed to fix their car. They gave a man seven years in jail, actually, because he fixed his own car. So I thought we’d do something about that. But we’ll get it all straightened out.

Can you believe it? They want a bill that prohibits people from fixing. So if you’re mechanically inclined – you know, I grew up – I went to school with some guys who were, in some cases, horrible students. But they could fix an engine, blindfolded. They could take a car apart, blindfolded. But they weren’t too good at arithmetic and other things. But they were great. And so there’s a move on to stop people from fixing their car. I didn’t understand it. But we had a great meeting yesterday with the head of General Motors and Roger Penske, head of Ford. It was a great meeting, I think.

Governors and Representatives

Thanks as well to a friend of mine also for a long time, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey. I won by 45 points, Patrick. It’s not enough. I love those people. And Wyoming, I think maybe even slightly more than West Virginia. I mean, just a little. We did pretty good. At least, I like this group of people. But Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, respected guy, great governor. Both of them really amazing. And Representatives Dan Meuser, Riley Moore, Derrick Van Orden, Juan Ciscomani, and Andy Bach. So you have a lot of representatives here that are fantastic.

Invoking the Defense Production Act

Today, we’re officially invoking the Defense Production Act to save 13 coal plants in West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. These were incredible plants, so productive, really producing a lot of the electricity, right? The electricity, it’s really the best of that. You know, when they find something better, Chris, I think we’ll be all set for it, right? But there are long ways from finding something better.

And so when you look at that, those states, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Wisconsin, what do they all have in common? Trump’s won them. I won every one of them by a lot, right? I’m not even mentioning Pennsylvania, which we won also, right? But we won them all. We won probably all 50. We had an honest count, if you want to know the truth.

Our action will allow these facilities to invest in upgrades that will extend their operational lives for decades into the future, reinforce the reliability of our electric grid. Which is really the biggest beneficiary. And most importantly, keep electricity prices very low for the American people.

Total Coal Plants Saved

This brings the total number of coal plants that we’ve saved during my administration, just like when we said we saved 25 water fountains. Think of this. These are fountains, beautiful fountains that were so horrible to look at with the graffiti. Over 40 years. Many of them closed over 40 to 50 years. The big one, the Reflective Lake, in fact, there’s some people go to pond, some people like a lake, but the Reflective Lake was built in 1922. It never really worked from the beginning from 1922. That’s a long ways. So it’s over 100 years old. And it never really worked because they had the wrong base. It was always leaking.

Supporting Coal Mines and Coal Miners Across America

They didn’t have what we have today. So it’s pretty amazing what’s happened. And, you know, I hate to say it won’t leak, but it won’t leak because we use the material that doesn’t allow leaks. You know, it’s like a swimming pool. It doesn’t leak. You use the right — this is called swimming pool on steroids. So it’s great stuff.

And today’s actions, we’re also supporting coal mines and coal miners in Wyoming and Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota and New Mexico. And they’re all going back to work.

The Famous West Virginia Scene

You know, it’s interesting with the mines and that famous scene of Hillary — we went to West Virginia. And she had just left another state and she was trying to convince everybody that they should go into technology, no longer be miners. And these guys in West Virginia, they didn’t want to hear about it. They wanted to be — remember that scene around the table — talk to this beautiful, big, strong miner. And they wanted him to make computer chips. She said, “We’ll teach him how to make computer chips.” His hands were so large, he couldn’t hold a computer chip. He’s looking at it. Your fingers are like three inches around — they’re talking about making a computer chip. And he didn’t like it.

And he ended up being one of our best — she wasn’t. And she did rather poorly. She lost. I think she lost by 77 points or something like that. Pretty tough to go knock — you knock coal and then you go two weeks later to West Virginia to try and win the state. It didn’t work out well for her.

But the miners love us. What do you think we got with the coal miners? Would you say we got 90 percent, 100 percent? What do you think we were on this? Pretty, pretty high. Yeah, pretty high. Probably higher than any group in the country. Pretty high. Yeah, it can’t be bad. Well, we did well with all the groups.

I’ll tell you, the group that now likes us are the auto workers because we’re building more auto plants now than at any time in the history of our country. So it’s very — it’s great to watch and see what’s going on with the U.S. We’re the most respected country anywhere in the world. And we were a dead country a year and a half ago. We were a dead country. We were laughed at. We were a mocked, laughed at country.

The West Gateway Project and Clean Coal Shipments

Starting this summer, the West Gateway project will break ground. And by summer 2028, over 12 million tons of clean, beautiful coal per year will be shipped to countries all around the world. And this project’s been delayed over 10 years. And Biden ended it. And then Barack Hussein Obama — have you heard of him? Barack Hussein Obama is another one. He’s another beauty. But that delay is now over, and it’s going to be very productive. It’s going to fuel our electric plants in particular. It’s going to be amazing.

Repurposing Green New Scam Funds for New Coal Plants

Finally, we’re taking nearly $200 million that was set aside for the Green New Scam. But the Green New Scam is history. And repurposing that money so that we restart a coal plant in Maryland and help build two brand new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia. And these are all built with new technology. It’s very clean. It’s amazing what — how that’s come along. It’s all very clean. And the first new coal plants to open in our country since 2013. Couldn’t open. You couldn’t even think. They were only closing them. They were closing them, and you had brownouts all over the place. But you don’t have that anymore. Do you notice?

76 Permits Approved for Clean, Beautiful Coal

Under four years of sleepy Joe Biden and the radical left Democrats in Congress, not a single permit was approved for a new coal mining project. But in over one year of our administration, we’ve already approved 76 permits for clean, beautiful coal.

Secretary Burgum on Coal Leases and Energy Dominance

Last year, we prevented 17 gigawatts of coal-powered electricity from going offline. And that’s enough power to — for about 13 million homes. Think of that. Thirteen million homes at a very low price. It’s the lowest price. So now I’d like to ask Secretary Burgum to say a few words, followed by Secretary Wright, Administrator Lee Zeldin, and then Governor Mark Gordon, and whoever else wants to say a few words, including my new friend — my new governor friend. So, Doug, go ahead.

BURGUM: Well, thank you, President Trump. With these announcements today and everything that your administration has accomplished so far since you’ve taken office, this administration has done more to save, protect, and expand coal in our country than any administration perhaps ever.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Clean, beautiful coal.

BURGUM: Clean, beautiful coal. Absolutely. And I’m —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’m only kidding.

BURGUM: That’s okay. We — with the — when you took office, the first thing you did was declare an energy emergency. Some people questioned that. But the prior administration under Biden had gone so far down the path of pursuing the highly subsidized, intermittent, weather-dependent sources of electricity that our grid was at risk. You understood that. And you understood how key coal is. It’s the backbone of having affordable, reliable, and secure American energy to power our country, power our electric grid, power our competitiveness in AI, and power all the manufacturing that’s coming back.

Record Coal Leases and Public Land Use

As you mentioned, with those record coal leases, this is where we take federal public land, lease it to the private sector. They write a check. That comes into the Treasury. They create jobs, help support local communities. So there was zero coal leases held in four years under the Biden administration. You heard the President talk about 76 here. We’ve slashed red tape. Those took years to get some of these projects. For coal mining, we’ve approved in less than one month under the emergency procedures.

And we also have opened up for leasing another 13.1 million acres that people can bid on in our country on public land. And this is land that was set aside. This is not national parks. It’s not wilderness area. It’s not our wildlife refuges. This is public land that was set aside for the benefit and use of the American people, including energy development, making sure that we’ve got affordable, reliable energy. So using those public lands is what we’re doing.

Metallurgical Coal Designated as Critical Mineral

And then the last thing within Interior, I would say we did strategically designate to the U.S. Geological Survey, which is part of Interior, designate metallurgical coal as a critical mineral. So it’s on the list, and that opens up a number of opportunities. But without metallurgical coal, we don’t have coke. We don’t have the steel industry. The Biden administration was indiscriminate trying to shut down our metallurgical coal as well as our thermal coal.

And then the last thing you mentioned, the coal export facility, again, working through all the permitting to drive towards that so that we can be selling clean, reliable energy to our allies in the Pacific who want to do more trade with us.

The National Energy Dominance Council

And lastly, again, thank you for creating the National Energy Dominance Council. Our Executive Director, Jared Hagan, is here today. But Chris, Lee, and I all have details on that team, and that operates right out of the White House. And that’s why President Trump is able to get so much done so quickly. This is the first time ever we had a president with a White House council specifically focused on energy and what an impact it’s having.

Well, thank you. Perhaps slightly less importantly, but I think very important — the National Garden of American Heroes is going to be unbelievable. And I’d like to know how you’re doing on that. And how are you doing on the great triumphal arc? So every city, just about every major city has a triumphal arc. This is an arc that’s a real bow, a beautiful bow to your military and military victories. Nobody’s had more military victories, including recently, than we have.

The Arc, the National Garden, and the Lincoln Memorial Promenade

And they never got the arc built. It’s been the Civil War stopped it. That circle has been sitting there for a long time, for many, many years. I guess you could go back to in 1902, they tried it. And in 1860 and 1880, they just never got it. The Civil War stopped it the first time. That was a good reason. I think that’s probably not a bad. That was a good excuse. But after that, it just never happened. And we’re going to get it done.

And so we’re doing it with the Department of Interior. And we’re also doing the National Garden of American Heroes, which is phenomenal. And we’re doing something that just came up. We’ll have a little breaking news here because nobody’s heard of it. But at the Lincoln Memorial, the front was supposed to be the back. The back was supposed to be the front. It never got built because they built two roadways behind it after it was built. And it shut off the gateway to the water. That was really going to be the main entry.

And we’re going to be doing that. We’re going to call the promenade, the promenade. They want to call it the Trump Promenade, but I don’t know if I want to do that. But it’s going to be beautiful. It’s a beautiful project. And it’s going to take the Lincoln Memorial right down to the Potomac, which it was always scheduled to do. But when they built the roads, that was the end of that. But we have a way of beautifully going over those two roads, the highways. Very, very strong, very important roads, actually, as you know, from the bridge. But it’s going to be great.

The McMillan Plan and the Vision for Washington, D.C.

So can I ask that just for just a couple of seconds to talk about those three great projects that we’re just starting? Well, I’d say that it’s important for everyone to know that, as you described, these are plans and ideas that have existed almost since the end of the Civil War. But the McMillan Plan, which is the one that designed the National Mall as we see it today, that was in the early part of the 1900s, envisioned this connection that you would have the Memorial Bridge between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery.

At the halfway point, there’s a very large circle. It was designed to hold a monument. The arc that would go there is a fantastic complement and completion of this plan that’s over 120 years ago, President Trump’s vision of how to build that. And of course, President Trump has talked to President Macron from France. More people visit the Arc de Triomphe than even visit the Eiffel Tower. I mean, this would be a highlight for Americans to come.

The views back at the city from the top of the arch would be amazing. The views from this side, from West Potomac, where the National Garden of Heroes was looking across at the arch would be amazing. And of course, the promenade on the backside of the Lincoln is, as President Trump described, right now there’s no pedestrian access. You’re on the Mall. People come from around the world. They don’t know that 100 yards away is the beautiful Potomac River, which was part of the original plan.

And now they’d be able to walk around the Lincoln Memorial, walk on a pedestrian bridge over the first highway, walk over the next one, and right down to the water. It would complete the vision. These projects would complete the original vision, the MacMillan plan.

And how fortunate are we to have the builder-in-chief, someone who both has the vision and the understanding of how to get projects done, that would, again, make our city safe and beautiful, just like the executive order President Trump put out last year is accomplished. And while we are ready for the celebration of our 250th anniversary, the city’s never been safer, it’s never been more beautiful, but President Trump’s not stopping there. Vision that he has for these projects would extend for generations forward. So, thank you, President Trump.

Secretary Chris Wright on Coal and America’s Energy Future

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Great job. And Secretary Chris Wright, please.

SECRETARY CHRIS WRIGHT: No coal, no modern world. Stated another way, without clean, beautiful coal, the modern world is impossible. And we saw, 17 years ago, President Obama’s election, an all-out attack on the American coal industry, the industry that built our nation. We wouldn’t have the buildings, the factories, the industry, the electricity grid we have today without the critical contribution of coal.

It’s been the largest source of global electricity for 125 years in a row, and will be for decades to come. In the United States, it remains a critical source of our electricity, also a critical source for our industry. Can’t produce steel and cement and other materials without coal.

Coal Plants Kept Open Under Trump Administration

And beyond the impact of coal in our electricity sector, just think of the direct impact on human lives. If President Trump had not been elected, and inaugurated in January of 2025, and through his authority at the DOE, we were able to force keeping open six coal plants, as of today, there’ll be a seventh one, and more than twice as many that voluntarily said, “Hey, we’re not going to have to close, we need to stay open.”

17 coal plants were not closed in 2025 because of President Trump sitting at his desk, and in this position right here. That’s 17 gigawatts of electric generating capacity, and the winter storm that hit our country in the last week of January this year — hundreds, conservatively, hundreds of Americans would have lost their lives if those 17 coal plants had closed.

Coal’s Role During the January Winter Storm

We pushed the East Coast electricity grid in the United States absolutely to the limit. A storm Uri hit five years ago in Texas, smaller in geographic extent, not the same magnitude, over 300 people died. But because we had those coal plants operating and running, and not only did they run, wind power disappeared when the storm hit, solar is irrelevant in the winter, so things we talk about didn’t even matter to our electricity grid except for cost burdens.

Coal stepped up and produced 25% more electricity during this storm than its normal, reliable chugging out of electricity. Without those plants, without that increase in electricity production, we lost a lot of Americans — untold economic damage.

Reversing the Damage to America’s Electricity Grid

President Trump is the president with the courage and the boldness to defend an industry that has been maligned for far too long, and to recognize its importance. Americans are upset about high electricity prices — blame closing existing reliable secure plants and replacing them with subsidized unreliable plants, a guaranteed way to drive electricity prices up. But this administration is committed to reversing all of that.

That money we’ve talked about from the Defense Production Act — thankfully, because of the one big beautiful bill, these fantastic congressmen sitting around me, and governors — without that legislation, we wouldn’t have the money and the Defense Production Act authority to keep open so many plants. It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this.

If you look at our efforts across the whole government so far, 45 coal plants are open today that would not be open. Where would we be to re-industrialize America? Where would electricity prices be if we had let all of those plants close? But we’re not doing it.

Government and Private Investment in Coal

All of those plants — that’s $700 million of government funding, but it’s matched with $1.7 billion of private investment from the owners and operators of those plants. All the people in those states that say, “Phew, we don’t have to kick our industry out and raise electricity prices again” — common sense is returning to Washington, D.C.

And for that, I’m incredibly thankful to be here in the United States government, to work for President Trump, who will stand up for what’s right, bring common sense back, and reinvigorate an industry without which we would not have the America we have today. And we’re going to re-industrialize America, win in the next generation of technologies, and we’re going to do it in critical part because of a growing and thriving coal industry.

Thank you, President Trump.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Burgum. Thank you, Lee Zeldin.

Lee Zeldin on Coal Communities and EPA Regulations

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And Lee Zeldin, how about saying a few words?

LEE ZELDIN: For so many Americans, clean, beautiful coal is their source of heat, of energy, of warmth, of a job, an economy, a community, a family. And for too long, you saw Democrats who were telling these coal miners that they should learn the code.

And what we saw during the Biden administration at the EPA, for example, was regulation after regulation after regulation trying to strangulate out of existence coal, to destroy it. Enter President Trump, declares a national energy emergency, creates a National Energy Dominance Council.

And he told us at the EPA, at Trump’s speed, to be getting rid of these regulations as quickly as possible on behalf of those Americans who want to just stay warm, who want to live the American dream, who want to have affordable access to energy. The Democrats were running for power to sit at this desk and to leverage that power to destroy these communities. Enter President Trump. He has saved clean, beautiful coal, and it’s been an honor to be part of it. Thank you.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon on Coal, Education, and Export Access

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Great job, too. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.

GOVERNOR MARK GORDON: Mr. President, it’s an honor to be here. Thank you to the secretaries who have breathed life into an economy in Wyoming that has been there for a long time. Wyoming produces the cleanest, most beautiful coal, low sulfur coal. You don’t mind if I push a little bit?

And it’s fun because we have a chance to educate our kids. Now, let me just talk a little bit about the other side of this. When a kid grows up in Wyoming, their education is paid for in large part by the coal severance taxes, by the royalties that come from mining that coal that was shut down by the Democrats.

When they have a chance to get a job, they can go look through the coal mine. And it’s not just digging coal the way we used to. It’s high-tech jobs. You know, at this point, we don’t mine coal the way we used to at all. It is very, very technologically proficient. And what’s more important, it’s environmentally sound.

I would invite you to come and look at the reclamation that’s happened in the Powder River Basin, and we can demonstrate that it’s environmentally sound, that actually wildlife populations thrive and do better.

Today, Mr. President, I really want to talk to you a little bit about our recent trip to Japan and to Taiwan, both countries that were going to forswear coal. And now they realize that they need that reliable, dispatchable, secure source of energy. But they can’t get it as clean as they can from the Powder River Basin. So to be able to open that Oakland port is absolutely essential for the lifeblood of our state and for our coal mines.

It is something that we tried to do in your first administration, and we almost got there. We actually were prepared to go through that, I guess, belt that we have on the West Coast with California, Oregon, and Washington, and finally enforce the Commerce Clause to allow states like New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah to have access to that Asian market.

So let me just tell you one last thing about that. It’s not just about clean, beautiful coal. We have companies like Peabody that are now saying, we believe we can get rare earth minerals and critical minerals from what we’re doing. So we are advancing technology, advancing the opportunities and the security of the state, all because of your vision, sir. Thank you.

West Virginia Representative on Coal Miners and Energy Jobs

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Would you like to say something on behalf of Western — ?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I would, I would like to say, Mr. President, all West Virginians are so deeply grateful to you for your focus on protecting their energy jobs. The coal miners know the incredible importance of why we’re here today, and to talk about the potential for new coal-fired power plants, that excites them. And I think West Virginians are really inspired because we’re America’s energy state.

West Virginia’s Role in America’s Energy Future

When you think about what’s happening on the global scene where that fight, that international fight with China for information technology supremacy, we believe that your policies are going to allow America to compete and win, and West Virginia is going to supply the coal, the gas, the nuclear, to help make that happen.

So I’m very excited by everything you’re doing, even some of the relatively small things, when you come in and you sign agreements with your administration, putting hundreds of people back to work, it’s all making a big difference for West Virginia. So thank you, Mr. President.

The Gulf of America

As an example, the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America, it bothered me for many years. We have 92% of the frontage, and we made that little change. And Mexico was thrilled. They were thrilled about it. But that was a good one, right? You were telling me before that was a good one. It’s about the United States now for a little while, if it’s okay.

Q&A: Zelensky’s Letter to Putin

Would you have any questions?

REPORTER QUESTION: Yes, Mr. President. I’m going to ask President Trump. This was just crossing as we were heading in here. President Zelensky wrote a letter to President Putin. He wants the two of them to meet to hash out the end of the war in Ukraine because he thinks you are too busy with the war in Iran. Is he right?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I don’t know. I’m glad that they’re maybe talking about meeting. I think we had a lot to do with it. I know exactly what you’re doing. But I think it would be great if they met. They should get it done.

Q&A: The Trump $250 Bill

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President. There’s been a lot of talk lately about the Treasury putting your face on a $250 bill. Have you seen a mock-up of the Trump $250 bill? And if that winds up being currency, would you ever be able to tip anyone, anything with that?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think I’d probably leave it there. I haven’t actually seen something just about two days ago. I know it’s been pushed by a lot of our supporters, and I’m honored that they’re doing it, but we’ll see how that all works out. But I have heard about it, and there is a group of people. They really like the job we’re doing. That’s a great honor.

Q&A: Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence

REPORTER QUESTION: Yeah, please. You announced just a few days ago that you’re naming Bill Pulte as the acting Director of National Intelligence. There’s been a little bit of a pushback from some Senate Republicans. Why do you think, Mr. President, he’s the best person for the job?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, he’s very smart. He’s a person who’s got high integrity. He’s done a phenomenal job at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. You know, you probably have a trillion dollars in value there. When he took over, it was much less. And I guess I’m responsible for that, too, because everybody wanted me to sell it in my first term for 10 percent of what it’s worth right now. If I would have sold it, we would have lost $900 billion. We would have lost — I mean, think of it. It’s probably worth a trillion dollars. And I was offered — people want me to sell it at $100 billion, a very small percentage of what it’s worth now. So — and he built it up a lot. Did a great job.

And it’s an acting position. It’s not a permanent — he’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent. But he’s a very smart guy, and he may find out some things about the rigged elections, et cetera, et cetera. I think he’d like to do it. I’d like to — I think he wants to do it very much. Got a lot of energy. But he’ll be very good. Again, it’s not a permanent position. We’re looking at — we’re interviewing people right now. But it’s somebody just to take it over for a little while.

REPORTER QUESTION: Does he have the necessary — in your view, Mr. President, the necessary national security experience to take on that position?

On National Security and Bill’s Appointment

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I do, and I think he does, actually, because he’s smart, because a lot of national security — look, I wasn’t greatly experienced in national security, and I think I’ve done a really great job with it. A lot of people would say that. I’ve ended eight wars, and there’s soon to be a ninth. I hope that works out, too. You know, frankly, it’s — but probably — and there’s another one also. It could be 10. No president — I don’t think a president’s ended one war having to do with outside of this country. So, you know, we’ve done a good job. I would say that Bill is a guy that we’ll be able to figure it out very quickly. Again, it’s short-term, but he may be very effective for a short period of time.

On Electricity Production and Nuclear Energy

REPORTER: Mr. President. Mr. President, so what — will there be a proportional share increase of electricity production as a percentage of our nation’s electricity output? And my follow-up is, I took that historic trip with Secretary Wright of the small modular nuclear reactor on the West Coast early this year. Are we making more progress? Because I know how critical gas and coal is for the secure grid.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, the answer is we are, but Chris, do you want to answer that?

CHRIS WRIGHT: Yes. I mean, our electricity grid essentially runs on gas, coal, and nuclear. Those are the three key sources. They’re the backbone of the American electricity grid. We’re in favor of seeing all three of them grow. You will see all three of them grow during this administration. And, in fact, later today, before the sun goes down, you’ll see a big announcement in the nuclear space related to the trip you came on.

On the Ukraine-Russia War and Compromises

REPORTER: President Putin said today that he was willing to make compromises that you requested to end the war with Ukraine if Ukraine was willing to make similar compromises. What were the compromises that you asked Putin to make?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’d rather not say because Peter asked me. I think it was meant as a little wise-guy question, but I’m not sure. I’m very responsible when that happens. It’s going to happen. They’re going to both make compromises. I suggested those compromises. And, you know, we’ve had a lot to do with it. We’d love to see their two very good people. They’re two very, I mean, incredible countries. Beautiful countries.

They’ve got us up. Last month, they had 25,000 people killed. Soldiers, mostly soldiers. Some people, but mostly soldiers. And it’s been averaging probably almost 25,000 people every month of soldiers killed. And I’ve been very strong on the fact that they’ve got to get that over with. So, but they do. I want them each to make certain compromises. I think they’re going to do that.

On Coal Plants, Energy Grid Reliability, and State Economies

REPORTER: Mr. President, thank you. Do you, through your actions, have saved and supported more than 100 coal plants in your second term? When you hear something like that and you try to create an environment where they’re not just surviving, they’re thriving, what does that do to the reliability of our energy grid, but to the economies as well of states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wyoming? How does it bolster those economies?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we were destroying our grid because we were relying on wind and other things that don’t have the power. They don’t have the strength. They’re very expensive. Wind is the most expensive form of energy. It sounds good. Wind. Beautiful wind. But, you know, it’s very intermittent. But those windmills cost a fortune. They break. They kill the birds. They’re bad for the environment. Nobody wants to be near the houses. I don’t know how they got popular. They got — they’re not popular with the people. They’re popular with investors because they get subsidy. But we pretty much cut that subsidy out, I think, Doug. Right?

Secretary Vilsack. Absolutely. In the Working Families Tax Cut Bill, it all expires.

Wind Energy: Subsidies, Birds, and the Push for Real Power

And since the subsidies have gone away, there’s virtually no one — particularly offshore — no one is trying to build one of those projects in America. It turns out they weren’t trying to generate electricity. They were just trying to generate tax credits.

That’s right. You’re supposed to be making money with — you know, with that — with energy. And here, wind, it needs subsidy. Energy shouldn’t need subsidy. We have so much — so many different forms of energy. But, you know, I’ve talked about it for years. Wind is the most expensive. It’s the worst. It causes tremendous problems.

And it does. It kills millions and millions of birds a year. Nobody mentions that. You’d think, if that were the — anything else, it’d be — everybody would be sued. You know, if you kill a bald eagle, they put you in jail for, like, four years or something. And yet, windmills knock them out of the air all the time. Nothing happens. It’s disgraceful.

So we’re into energy that really works and works powerfully.

The UFC Claw Structure and the Eiffel Tower Story

REPORTER QUESTION: And we’re way downside to coming to the Oval Office. Everyone is looking at the UFC structure, the claw. Are you happy with how that’s coming along? And what are you expecting?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We put it up in five days. It’s incredible. And I told yesterday the story of the Eiffel Tower, and it was 1889 it was put up. It was going to be brought down right after the World’s Fair ended. It was up for a short while. And they said, well, let’s leave it a little bit longer. Then they said, let’s leave it a little longer. It never came down. It was 18 — I think 1889, the World’s Fair in Paris.

So I jokingly said, you know, let me tell you something about the Eiffel Tower. No, no, it’ll come down. There were actually some people said he wants to leave it up.

The Columbus Statue at Union Station

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President, about the Columbus statue, Columbus Fountain at Union Station, it looks amazing. Thank you. And what does that mean for the relations between Italy and the United States?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it means Italian people love Trump. Because, you know, that was controversial. People want to rip it down. You see how beautiful it is. And we don’t — didn’t only not rip it down, but Doug and his group and all of us together, we beautified it. I didn’t know that marble was going to be so beautiful when we — once we cleaned it up. You wouldn’t believe it.

When you saw that, that thing was loaded for 50 years with film and graffiti and everything else. It’s amazing. It’s amazing how good — they did a really great job.

European Allies and Energy: NATO and the Cost of Saying No

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President, do you still want European allies’ help? We’re discussing energy today. And what kind of help would you want? Do you have a definite plan?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re the most powerful military in the world. We gave them a chance to help, but they chose not to — NATO. We went to the NATO countries. We went to others, too, in all fairness to NATO. And I wouldn’t say I gave them a hard sell. I said, hey, if you’d like to help, it would be wonderful. And they all turned us down.

And, you know, it’s going to be an expensive proposition for them because they shouldn’t have done that. They should have helped. You know, we don’t need it. We have our own. We have much more than we need in terms of oil and energy generally. But — but European countries and other countries, they needed tremendous — some of the European countries needed really big. And they should have said, we’d love to help.

REPORTER QUESTION: But if you could choose — but, Mr. President, if you could choose, what would you ask them to do, sir, if you wanted to?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I would have asked them.

On the War and the “Fake News” Coverage

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I mean, there’s not much — look, we want them — they had — there’s no Navy, there’s no Air Force. We’ve wiped them out. We’ve wiped out their leadership and almost all of it. We’ve wiped out all their military leaders. They’re down on a third. Now, maybe they’re very good. I don’t know. I can’t tell you that. But certainly, the first ones didn’t do very good because they were literally, after three days, almost the entire military was wiped out. They had to get new generals. And then after that, they had to get more new generals.

And we knocked out their anti-aircraft, their Air Force. That’s about everything you can knock out. So — and then you read in the fake news that they’re doing really well in the war. I mean, it’s unbelievable. We knocked out everything there is to knock out. And you’d pick up the fake news and they’d say how well they’ve done. They’re doing brilliantly. They have no Air Force.

You know, they have — exactly — we knew that — 159 ships. Andy, out of 159 ships, all 159 lie beautifully at the bottom of the ocean. We actually took pictures of them down there. And then you read the fake news. They say, well, their Navy is really great. You know what they have now? Little runabouts with a machine gun on the front. Their ships don’t even really deal with them. They’re like a gnat, you know. That’s all they have. It’s crazy.

On Media Corruption and the California Election

You know, this country needs a fair press. And one thing I think that’s done is expose how corrupt our media is. And I really do — while we’re here, I hope the media looks at this election that’s taking place in California, where they think it’ll take seven or eight days to count the votes. Can you believe this? I mean, we’re — they spend all that money on the — on the machines, the big voting machines. They think it’s going to be seven or eight days before we know who won the election.

But the numbers are looking strange because, without any vote counting, the numbers dropped very precipitously for two Republicans that are doing well, that had been doing well. And I hope you’re all watching it because I’m watching it very closely.

On China and Data Centers

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President, are you worried that China is funding an anti-data center movement here in the U.S.?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I’m not worried about it. We had a great meeting with China. And, you know, they do things to us and we do things to them. I say it all the time. They say, oh — are you worried about China tapping your phones? I said, well, you know, they’re worried about the same thing. You know, we’re very highly sophisticated. We’ve become very highly sophisticated.

On Ukraine and U.S. Military Equipment

We had four years. I rebuilt the military. We had a military that was not good, and we rebuilt it. And I didn’t know I’d use it quite as much, but we used it. Ukraine has been given a tremendous amount of our — without our military and our equipment, Ukraine wouldn’t be alive to fight today. You know, I mean, just in terms of the question. We gave them hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of equipment and the best equipment. We make the best equipment anywhere in the world, but they wouldn’t have — they wouldn’t have lasted one or two days. They wouldn’t have been able to do it.

Remember the anti-tank missiles? Remember that? Right? When the tanks got stuck in the mud? And then they went around and boom, boom, boom, boom. And those were given by years earlier. They said Obama gave sheets and Trump gave the anti-tank — one of the most devastating weapons. But you check that out.

But we have the greatest military — we have the greatest military equipment anybody has ever seen before. Look at Venezuela. We went in there. It was over after about 48 minutes.

On Iran, Hezbollah, and the Ceasefire

And, you know, they have a strong military — a different kind of a military, but a lot of soldiers. And you look at Iran, where we essentially wiped out their military. Now, there’s some missiles left, but very few compared to what they had.

REPORTER QUESTION: So, just speaking of our military and Iran, I wanted to ask you about this report that you would only restart the conflict with Iran if they killed U.S. troops. Is that your red line for ending the ceasefire? If they killed U.S. troops. What does that mean? That you would restart the war with Iran if they killed U.S. troops.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it would be a good reason, I’ll be honest with you. If they killed U.S. troops, I think I would do that very quickly.

REPORTER QUESTION: Yeah, that’s a very interesting question. Mr. Trump, you responded to the vote in the House yesterday on the war power resolution. Also, we’ve seen Hezbollah reject the U.S. brokered peace in Lebanon. You said that negotiations are in the final stages. What is —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: The Iran thing, they’re solved.

REPORTER QUESTION: Yeah, what does reject mean? They didn’t reject that.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: They’re looking — I think Hezbollah — I will tell you, they called us, and they said, “How about stopping?” And I think you’re going to see things happen over there. That’s been like a little bit of a different world, but it’s interconnected with Iran. And it would be really nice if Lebanon could have some peace. Lebanon has been under attack for so many years and always like an underdog. And it would be really nice if it could end.

And I spoke to Bibi Netanyahu about that, and I speak to them about it, and I actually spoke to Hezbollah about it. And I think progress is made. That’s been going on for a long time. You know, when you look at that for years and years — 48 years — I say, “Well, let’s get this settled.” How long has it been going on? Forty-eight years. They said, “That’s a long time. Not that easy.” But go ahead.

On Domestic Politics and the Midterms

REPORTER QUESTION: As we get closer to the midterms, are you starting to factor in domestic reaction to this in your handling of this, or more in —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I just do what’s right.

REPORTER QUESTION: — in depth in the years?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I mean, look, it was like Venezuela was very unpopular. Then we won. And my numbers went through the roof. I have very high poll numbers. They went through the roof. It was very unpopular when I went to Venezuela. They said, “Oh, we don’t want —” well, first of all, that one is relatively close. It’s sort of a semi-neighbor, right? And the relationship with Venezuela is incredible. We’ve taken out millions and millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela. It’s very oil-prone. I guess, Chris, one of the most, right? And we’ve taken that. You’re sort of leading it. But do you want to just tell them real fast about the relationship we have with Venezuela, Chris?

Venezuela Oil Exports and Energy Prices

CHRIS WRIGHT: Yeah, things with Venezuela have gone very well. Venezuelan oil exports today are three times higher than they were right before we went in. So it has been a meaningful, incremental supply of oil to the world. And one of the reasons we’re solving a 47-year-old problem of Iran’s race for nuclear weapons and oil prices in the U.S. We wish they were lower, but gasoline prices in the U.S. are, you know, a little over $4. They’re $10 in Europe. They’re higher in Asia. They’re very high in California.

The bigger threat to energy prices in the United States is Democratic green energy policies. They have driven up energy prices far more than a conflict in Iran. And the conflict in Iran will come to an end. We hope that crazy green energy drive-up energy prices policy, the Democrats at federal and state levels, we hope that comes to an end, too.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And remember this. With — if you want to call it a war or if you want to call it a military operation, you cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

On Iran’s Nuclear Program and the B-2 Bomber Strike

And everybody agrees to that, no matter — almost everybody. But wait a minute. Our gasoline prices are lower than they were with Biden without that. And he would have let them have — in fact, he inspired them to have, frankly, a nuclear weapon. Him and Obama. Obama picked the wrong country. You know that.

And the Obama deal, I terminated that, or they would have had a nuclear — that was a road to a nuclear weapon. Our deal, if we make that deal — and it’s going well, but who knows — if we make that deal, it’s the exact opposite. They will not have — they will never have a nuclear weapon.

It sounds like you’re in for a lot of the pain. I’m not going to let them have a nuclear weapon, no. With Obama, it was a road — you know that. It was a road to a nuclear weapon. That was a short-term agreement. And at the end of which, they would have a nuclear weapon. So they would have had it four years ago.

Then we attacked with this beautiful plane right here, the B-2 bomber. We attacked 10 months ago. We attacked their nuclear sites, and they were obliterated. It turned out that, you know, CNN was wrong. They said, well, maybe they weren’t hit that hard. They were hit so hard, nobody knows if you could even get it out.

But the only ones that have the capability of getting out is us and China. We’re the only ones with that kind of equipment that’s powerful enough to go down that deep into a mountain. But that mountain crushed it. That mountain literally collapsed on top of it. Those pilots did one hell of a job. That’s right.

And now the atomic energy, as you know, has backed us up on that. They think it’s a very, very hard thing to get it. But we’ll get it anyway. But we’re the only one — and China. I believe China, too. But we’re the only two that have the capability.

On Joe Biden’s Cognitive State

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President, Joe Biden is out promoting a new book this week. When you met with Joe Biden — President Joe Biden — right here in the Oval Office on November the 13th of 2024, could you detect any cognitive decline in President Biden at that time?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, not really. He was the same guy I’ve been watching for a long time. I mean, you could go back 40 years. I watched him 40 years ago, 30 years ago. He was never the sharpest guy. You do know that, right? It wasn’t like he was sharp as a tack. But, no, it was the same guy.

They actually invited me here before the election, which was strange. You know, we weren’t here before. But then I met also, as you know. We did the ritual. And, I mean, he was fine, as far as I was concerned.

And I don’t know. Something happened to him during the debate. It could have been me. You know, I thought I had a very good debate. Nobody ever says that. They say that Biden did badly. What about me? Did I do well? You know, there’s a reason he did badly. So the question is, did he do badly because he choked or because he didn’t have it? But he didn’t have a good — I would say this. He did not have a good night.

REPORTER QUESTION: But during that time period, you met with him for about two hours. You didn’t feel he was slowing down?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: He spoke softly, very softly. And as we started to speak, I mentioned this to people, he spoke very, very softly, very low. And as we talked, we got along really well. And I thought he was fine. I thought he was fine.

When I say fine, I mean, was he like talking to Doug Burgum? Was he like talking to Chris? Was he like talking to any of these monsters up here, all these tremendous politicians and environmental geniuses? Was he like talking to Andy Bar? No. He was fine.

Hunter Biden’s Potential 2028 Presidential Run

REPORTER QUESTION: I have a question about Hunter Biden. He’s on social media now, and he has suggested — maybe joking, I don’t know — that he could run for president in 2028. How would he do, Hunter Biden, in a 2028 Democratic primary?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, you would think that, you know, past has something to do with winning an election. And I would say his past is not the greatest. Where’s Hunter? Remember my “Where’s Hunter?” It became the number one shirt anywhere in the world for about three weeks.

I’m not going to say bad. I’m sure — you know, hey, if the guy from Maine can do well, I guess Hunter could do well too, because the guy from Maine is a basket case. And I would say worse than him is the one from Texas. That looks like Alfred E. Newman. I would say that if he can do well, maybe Hunter can do well. I’m not sure. It would be pretty close, as far as I’m concerned.

The Nuclear Dust and Iran’s Enriched Uranium

REPORTER QUESTION: And I’ve got a question about the nuclear dust. So the bombers go in. They entomb a lot of this enriched uranium. At this point, do you need a deal with Iran to go get it?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No.

REPORTER QUESTION: Or have you thought about just a covert, daring, send in the SEALs, send in the Rangers?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: But I didn’t want to be Jimmy Carter. You know, I didn’t feel like being Jimmy Carter.

REPORTER QUESTION: So that’s off.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We did. Well, we thought about it right at the very beginning, before you saw — before we did what we did, before we destroyed their entire military. We thought about it, and I didn’t want to be in a position where you had to — you know, to get there, it’s not like Venezuela. Like, you go in, you’re there for a matter of minutes, and you’re out. And everybody is waving goodbye as you, you know, take off. And you brought the cargo back.

This is different. You’d have to be there for two weeks. You’d need massive equipment. You’d have to airlift the equipment in. You know, you’re in a war zone. And there was a time at the very beginning when we thought about doing that, because they would have not been watching. But they would have found out.

I mean, during a period of a week to two weeks, you know, you would have had a major construction operation, because that plane — and more importantly, those people that operate those planes, including the mechanics, you know, they flew for 37 hours round trip. Think of that. And the tankers that refilled them four times. And what an operation it was. Amazing.

And — but we would have been — Peter, we would have been there for a period from a week to two weeks. We would have gotten it. But I said, I don’t like the idea of that. All of a sudden, they, you know, pinpoint — they still had missiles left. That means they would pinpoint you and just keep lobbing them in until one gets through, and people would have gotten killed. So I didn’t like it.

We could get it right now. I don’t think they could stop us if we wanted. But there’s no reason to. It’s entombed, you use a good word. It’s entombed. We also have cameras on it through Space Force. We have very powerful cameras. Every door — there’s a door — you know where the doors go? They go to bad places.

But every single place on that — on those mountains, there’s three — basically three. Because we also hit it with Tomahawks after. You know, after that, we hit it with Tomahawks. Every inch of that land has cameras on it. We have about nine of them, and they’re on, and we cover it. So if anybody even got near it, we would know what we had to do.

REPORTER: And do you ever want to meet with the new Ayatollah, the new supreme leader?

On Talks With Iran and a Possible Meeting

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t want to meet, but if I did meet, I’d be honored to meet him. I’d like to see if we make a deal. But if we make a deal, it’s possible that I would meet him. I’d be okay with it.

REPORTER: Would that happen here in the U.S.?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t really heard too much about it. I didn’t suggest it, but some people have suggested it. If it happened, it would be happened. I’d be respectful.

REPORTER: Do you think it’s because EPIC FURY killed his dad and his wife and his kid that he’s got hard feelings and wouldn’t want to meet?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I would say I’m not his favorite person. But with that being said, he’s probably a — I don’t know. He’s probably a professional. In some circles, he has a very good reputation, actually. You know, sometimes some people say bad, but a lot of people say bad about me. It’s totally false, of course.

On Black Unemployment and the Jobs Report

REPORTER: Mr. President, on jobs, tomorrow the jobs report will be released. While the unemployment rate has been steady at 4.3 percent, the black unemployment rate has been at 7.3 percent. When you ran for president, you courted black voters and talked about what you described as black jobs. How do you describe why this disparity is happening? What can you do to close it?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’re doing very well with the black jobs, African American jobs. I saw some numbers that we’re doing really well. But what we’re really going to do well is when all these plants are open. You know, we’re building many car plants. We’re bringing cars back from Germany. We’re bringing — you know, we lost the car industry years ago. Fifty-four percent of the industry went to Germany, Japan, Canada, Mexico. It’s all coming back. It’s amazing.

And where your black worker is really going to do well is when those factories open. So I think they’re going to be great. We’ve been doing very well. It’s been a big focus for me.

On Cost Savings for Consumers and Progress on Iran Talks

REPORTER: Mr. President, on today’s announcement, how do you ensure the estimated cost savings are passed on to the consumers and not held by the company? And then, on Iran, what specific progress has been made today in talks with them, and where are the sticking points still?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So we’re really lowering costs. You know, when I came into this job, we had the highest inflation in the history of our country. Forty-eight years, they say, but I think the history of our country, whether it’s 48 years or more. But we had tremendous inflation with Biden, during the Biden. They had the highest — they had one of the highest ever. And I inherited that. The costs were very, very high.

And at my first news conference, Peter and others were screaming at me about eggs. Do you remember, Peter? Eggs. What about eggs? Maybe it wasn’t you. But I wanted to inject Peter into it. But he was screaming to me about eggs. And I said, what? Tell me about eggs. This is two days in. They said eggs had quadrupled. I said, well, they didn’t quadruple under me.

And they didn’t want me to order eggs for the Easter egg hunt that was going to take place in a few months, right? And I said, nope, we’re not going to — they wanted me to order plastic eggs. And I said, nope. And we got eggs down to lower than what it was long prior to when I took over. And eggs today are about 15 percent lower.

What we had is a bunch of con artists — they’re Democrats. And what they did is they said — they left. They gave the highest prices that we’ve ever had for all products — groceries, everything. And they started saying, “affordability.” They’d say, “This is about affordability.” It’s a con job. And they inherited their high prices. We brought those prices way down.

And when the — and if you go back three months ago, if you go back before the war started — think of it, three months.

On Iran, Venezuela, and Military Strategy

So, with Vietnam, we were there for 19 years. With Iraq, it was about nine years. With another one, it was about 12 years. And with another one, we had all these wars that lasted for nine, 10, 12, 19 years for Vietnam. Think of it. And they said, you were there for three months? This is a terrible thing. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been killed in these other wars. We lost not one soldier in Venezuela. We didn’t lose one soldier. And we lost a total of 13, which is 13 too many. But when you look at hundreds of thousands of soldiers who were killed in these various wars, they lasted many, many years. We’re in there for a few months, and what we’ve done is amazing. They won’t have a nuclear weapon.

Stock Market Records and 401ks

And we did — it was tough because we just got dug, and everybody came in to see me. We just got the best numbers. Well, today, again, the New York Stock Exchange and every other exchange just hit a new all-time high. That’s 73 days out of my short term. We’ve hit brand-new highs. Every 401k is setting records. A 401k — a lot of people have — you probably all have 401ks. Every — look at your 401k. You’re happy about your 401k? You know, the nice reporters are smiling at me, and the stupid reporters are like that. But their 401ks are setting records. They should be happy. They shouldn’t be angry. They should be very happy. But 401ks are setting records. They’ve never had anything like it. So, you know, we’ve done a good job.

The Iran Deal: Nuclear Weapons and the Strait

As far as Iran is concerned, you’re going to find out what the deal is. But the main parts of the deal is they can’t have a nuclear weapon. The strait will open immediately. You know, it’s going to open immediately. And we’ve largely swept for mines. We have the most sophisticated minesweepers. They’re underwater minesweepers. I actually said to somebody, one of the generals, why underwater? He said, because usually it’s hostile. You know, when you’re looking for mines, typically it’s not in a good neighborhood. Right? So, underwater made a lot of sense. But it didn’t take long to figure that one out.

So, I think we’re doing very well. But we’re going to see if — we’re going to win one way or the other. We’re going to win on paper, or we’re going to win military. One way or the other, it’s going to be militarily or on paper.

Energy Dominance and National Security

REPORTER QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. How critical is energy dominance, whether it be coal, whether it be LNG, whether it be oil, to national security?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Without it, you can’t win. As an example, AI is a big deal. Whether we like it, not like it. It’s going to be amazing in many ways. It’s going to be — I think, for medical, it will be amazing. But without massive amounts of energy, you can’t even play the game. And we’re leading China by a lot in AI. I was talking to President Xi about it.

But if we didn’t do — Lee Zeldin’s done so great because, number one, fast approvals from professionals. You know, they have the best firms in the world, so many papers still. And we didn’t keep them waiting for 10 years and then vote against them after 10 years. That would — guys would file with the environmental for a plan of some kind. After 15 years, they would be rejected. It was terrible. Now we have great professionals there, and we accept — we only accept plans from great professionals, but we give them fast turnaround. And it’s been really amazing.

I think the biggest thing we’ve done, Lee, is we let these geniuses, with all this money, build their own electric plant. We don’t take it from our grid. We let them build their own plant. They become a utility. So they’re building a plant, and at the same time, they’re building electricity. Because if we didn’t do that, you couldn’t have anything.

Trade Deal with India

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President, Secretary Rubio was in Delhi last week. He delivered a letter from you to Prime Minister Modi. And, sir, you also addressed people of India through your favorite Ambassador, Sergio Gor. Both of them have said that trade deal is around the corner. Where do you stand on trade deal with him?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we have it. And, you know, look, India, for years, has — and I don’t blame them, I blame us, because we have stupid people here. India, for years, really took advantage of the United States. You know that. Are you from India, by any chance? I thought you were from Germany.

REPORTER QUESTION: I’m from India.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’m only kidding. You’re central casting, okay? And that’s a very good thing. India, for years, took advantage of this country. They charged us tremendous tariffs, and they paid nothing. They wouldn’t let Harley — as an example, in the past, they wouldn’t let Harley-Davidson sell its load. They would charge 200 percent tariff. So Harley-Davidson was precluded. They ended up going to India and building their own plants, which is unfortunate that that happened. But it happens. It was before me.

But they charged tremendous amounts of tariffs to our country. And we didn’t charge them anything. You know, they sold motorbikes here, too. You know what we charged them? Nothing. And now it’s the exact reverse. And we’re making a lot of money with India. But we’ll get to a deal. Because I like — you know, I like your Prime Minister a lot. He’s a good friend of mine. Get along great. And we’re going to make a deal. We have a very good relationship.

On Cuba and Venezuela

REPORTER QUESTION: And speaking of deals, Mr. President, on Cuba, are your sanctions on Cuba meant to accelerate its collapse?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No. It’s just — we just want them to be a nicely-run country that can feed its people. Look, it’s a failed nation. Without Venezuela — you know, Venezuela, because it has such wealth in the ground — mostly in the ground. But Venezuela took care of them for years, and they took care of Venezuela. They were like the bodyguards. When we went in and burst into their country, the Venezuelans were guarding Maduro and everybody else. It was mostly — I mean, the soldiers were — in that case, we were a lot — we had a lot of Cubans were guarding. The Cubans were the guards. And they’re good soldiers.

But the country is starving, and it’s got no energy. It’s got no oil. It’s got no money. It’s got nothing. It’s got a beautiful piece of land. You could have beautiful resorts. It doesn’t have oil. But Venezuela was giving them the money to survive. And now, you know, the money is — I guess you could say it’s coming to us and it’s going to Venezuela. Venezuela has been an amazing thing because we’ve paid for the cost of the attack many, many times over. And it’s been a long time since you’ve heard of it.

I’m going to take good care of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And as soon as that’s done on our way back, we’ll just make a little brief stop by — We’ll take care of it. We want to help them out. Look, we have a lot of people that voted for Trump whether they did or not, it didn’t matter. But I had 95 percent of the Cubans voted for me. They’re unbelievable people. They’re energetic. They’re entrepreneurial. You know, some of the richest people in Miami are Cuban. They’re unbelievable.

On Cuba: Plans for the Future

And I’m going to take good care of them. I’m going to let them go back to their land. They want to be back with family. You know, they have a lot of family over there. They’ve been treated very badly by Cuba. But we’re going to treat Cuba well, and we’re going to let our people go back and let them invest in Cuba if they’d like. So, we have some — we have some very good plans for Cuba.

I think, you know, we have to get rid of the — the regime was very tough, very nasty. The difference is now they don’t have money coming in. They had a lot of money coming in from Venezuela. They don’t have any money coming — they had oil coming in. They had money coming in. But we’re going to take care of Cuba. And then, you know what? They want us to. The people want us there so bad.

On the Knicks and the NBA Finals

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President, sir, last night, huge night for the City of New York. The Knicks won Game 1 of the NBA Finals. There’s been a lot of speculation. Have you decided whether or not you want to attend a game at Madison Square Garden?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’ve been a Knick fan for a long time, and I’m also a Jim Dolan fan. He’s a nice guy, okay? He’s been a long time wanting to win, and he’s a competitive guy. And he’s got a team that’s amazing. You know, they — I don’t think they’ve lost a playoff game.

REPORTER QUESTION: Well, straight wins.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Can you imagine? I mean, they’ve lost a playoff game. I mean, they’ve lost a playoff game. I can’t imagine that. And it was not looking good. I saw the beginning of the game, and it wasn’t looking good. I missed the middle because I talked to generals all night long there. But I watched that end of the game, and they were dominant. Really amazing.

And Wembley is a great player. He’s going to be a great player, and he is already a great player. I say, how do you guard this guy? He’s 7’5″, and he’s got a great shot, right? But they find a way to do it. They’re really great. They’re a great team. And I’m happy for Jim because Jim has really been fighting hard to, you know, produce such a team. So you never know. The answer is yes. He’s invited me. I’m going.

REPORTER QUESTION: Which game have you decided, sir?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it.

REPORTER QUESTION: Game three, game four. Are you excited?

REPORTER QUESTION: Monday?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: It could be Monday. Yeah, Monday.

REPORTER QUESTION: Mr. President, who’s speaking in New York?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Maybe I’ll do both.

On the Meeting with Automakers

REPORTER QUESTION: You mentioned your meeting with the automakers yesterday. Can you tell us a little bit about that, more about that in particular? Did you discuss trade, tariffs?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I did. We had a great meeting with the automakers. I mean, most of them were in New York. I mean, most of them were in New York. They were really talking about the fix-your-own-car kind of a thing, right? But they’re doing very well since I’m in office because I got rid of a lot of environmental restrictions. In fact, you might just tell them a little bit about that, Lee. We made it so much easier for them to build a car. They can build a less expensive car that’s much better. And they were so choked up with environmental nonsense that in order to save four ounces of gasoline, you had to spend thousands and thousands of dollars. Lee, do you want to go into that?

REPORTER QUESTION: President Trump, we sent to Congress congressional — three Biden EPA waivers to California that Congress passed. President Trump signed last year getting rid of the electric vehicle mandate that a whole bunch of other states had signed on to. Just a couple months ago, President Trump announced here at the White House the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States, the repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding.

Consumer Wins, Investment, and Tax Relief

All the greenhouse gas emission standards in light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles were following the law. And what that means for cost of living, just on that act alone, $2,400 more affordable per vehicle for Americans.

The victories come out every single day. President Trump gave us very clear guidance. He wanted us to act at Trump speed to get this done as fast as possible. And what you see now, all across America, is billions upon billions of investment, all across this country, with new factories being built. They believe in America. They’re investing in America with the American jobs to come up with it.

And by the way, consumer choice — we got rid of that climate participation trophy for that annoying start-stop feature in cars to make your car die at every stop sign and red light. So, yeah, the gifts — the gifts, the receipts, the wins, they keep coming, and we’re just getting started.

Reporter Questions on Tariffs and Tax Benefits

REPORTER QUESTION: Do they ask you for any tariff changes on auto parts?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No. And just — they didn’t know that. Look, they’re making so much money now because — you know, I did something else that — I don’t know, does it — because we have no tax on tips and no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime, right? So that’s really been big. That’s turned out to be much bigger than anyone knew. If you look at the people, they’re saving from $5,000 to $7,000, $8,000 even, on average, because of that. So it’s pretty good.

But I did something else that nobody talks about. If you buy a car and you borrow money, you’re allowed to deduct the interest for income tax purposes. It never happened before. And deductions were always meant for rich people. They weren’t meant for middle-class people or other people wanting to buy a car. So now you’re allowed to get a deduction of your interest payment. That’s a tremendous thing. I mean, it’s a — but what’s the key? Only if the car is made in America. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

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