Transcript: President Trump Remarks on Trump Accounts Launch

No, he makes an incredible product.

And right from the beginning, Brad Gerstner has been pushing this, so he’s a very successful man. Not quite as famous as the Dell family, right? Michael. But you are. He’s an amazingly successful guy. And he’s put up a tremendous amount of money.

And again, I want to thank Micron and all of the companies that have already called me, and they’re putting up a lot of money.

On the Name “Trump Accounts”

PRESIDENT TRUMP: This is nothing. This is not me. And putting the name on it was not my idea. That was a whole group of people that passed legislation, because this is all made possible only by the passage of the great big beautiful bill. And I knew that this was happening, but I didn’t know. All of a sudden, I see my name on it in the bill. But I’m very proud to have my name. They think it would sell. They said, it’ll sell better if your name is on. I said, look, leave it on. But I did not — I just want to know — I did not ask for it. Michael, is that a correct statement? Did I ever go to you and say, Michael, don’t put up the money unless they use my name?

No. But I have done that in other cases, I will tell you. In certain other cases, I’ve done that. Right, Scott? But not in this case.

The Vision: An Ownership Economy for Children

PRESIDENT TRUMP: This is a very special kind of a thing that took place. It’s a — in a way, it’s a miracle. Nobody thought it was possible. Think of it. Children that are born without money, without any money, great parents, they can have everything, can be great, but they have no money. They can become very wealthy children at 18, and they can flip it over, or their people can flip it over into other vehicles at a certain age so that they don’t take it out. I would recommend they probably don’t take it out. But they can have a lot of money, especially if the market continues.

Can you imagine if you did this during Trump a year ago, a year and a half ago, where the market has gone up at levels. As an example, everybody said when I got elected, there’s no way that during the four-year period we’ll ever hit 50,000 on the Dow. And we hit 50,000 on the Dow, I would say, in the first year. Records. We had records. What NASDAQ has done, what the New York Stock Exchange, all the stock exchanges. 7,000 on the S&P was impossible during the first year, but they really thought it was impossible in four years, and we hit it before the first year.

So, if you had — if the children had invested the money a year and a half ago — we should have actually — faster, actually. It’s too bad. But it’s going to go up. We have a hot country. It’s going to go up.

The Economic Boom and Factory Growth

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think the market is going to go through the roof. When all those factories open, they’re being built all over the country at record numbers. We have never built, in the history of our country, what we’re building now. We have $19.2 trillion, and much of that money is going toward building factories, plants, AI, automobile. We’ve never built as many automobile plants. They’re all over. And they’re coming from all over the world. You know why? Because they don’t want to pay tariffs. If they build their cars here, they pay no tariffs.

So Japan, instead of making them in Japan, or South Korea, instead of making them in Germany with Volkswagen and Mercedes and BMW — they’re all building plants here now. They’re coming out of Canada. They’re coming out of Mexico. Mexico took a lot of our business, so did Canada. They’re all coming back. I don’t know what the countries are going to do, but they’re all coming back.

The Opening Bell and Capital Investment

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So today, with the ringing of the opening bell for the stock market, those accounts will now begin to grow right along with our booming economy. And I really believe we’re going to have the biggest boom of all right now. You haven’t seen anything yet.

Between individual contributions and the seed funds, $800 million in new capital will be invested in the stock market for America’s children this week, and I also think that we’re going to be putting numbers in the budget, which will be really spectacular. Because it’s really not costing us anything. We’re giving this money to children so that they can have a good life. Very early on, they can have a good life.

Future Plans: The Australia Model

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And we’re going to be doing also something we’re working on later on, and it’ll be also, I think, very popular. And I guess the best definition is they have a plan in Australia, which people really like. It’s really worked out very well, incredibly well, and very respected. And we’re going to be talking about that with Congress and see if we can implement it. And that would be more for grownups, as opposed to children. But it’s something that’s going to be great, I think, if we can get it done. And we’re going to try very hard.

Acknowledgements

PRESIDENT TRUMP: But again, I want to thank Michael and Susan, Brad, and his son Lincoln, as well as Secretary of the Treasury, Scott — who is really Scott Bessent — who has really been incredible. If you’re casting a movie, you put him as the Secretary of the Treasury because he’s central casting. Do we agree? When you say he’s done a — more importantly, he’s done a great job.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, who has been phenomenal. Chairman of the SEC, Paul Atkins. Paul, thank you. What a job you do. You know, there’s always been a problem there. And with you, everything goes smoothly. Although, I have to say, Jay did a very good job also, right, during my first term. But Paul has been incredible. Everybody wanted Paul, and he’s exceeded expectations, I will say. And everybody knows it. Thank you, Paul. Great job you’re doing.

Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. I didn’t want to lose Kevin. I said, Kevin, you’re at a huge disadvantage because, selfishly, for a certain other position. And we have another — we had the two Kevins, and they’re both great.

On Senator Ted Cruz

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And a friend of mine, Ted Cruz, we fought each other for a while. And he’s a very tough competitor. And we became friends. We were actually great friends before the campaign. And everybody said, will this ever end? In fact, he was doing a rally. He said, could we do a joint rally? That’s like you people doing a joint bell ring. And it’s like crazy, right? But he said, remember we did the joint rally outside in Washington. We had a big crowd. And the media was saying, will it ever end? I said, it will, but not yet. But it ended. But then it came together better than I think, better than ever before.

He’s done a wonderful job as a senator, highly respected. In fact, somebody said, would you ever appoint him to the United States Supreme Court? Because he’s a brilliant lawyer, Ted. They said, well, he’s the only one I can think of that’s going to get 100 votes. All Republicans will vote for him. All Democrats will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out of the Senate. No, if I was having a hard time with getting the votes, I would appoint Ted Cruz. I get 100 percent, a guarantee.

International Companies and Closing Remarks

PRESIDENT TRUMP: But when you look at all of the different things that have taken place, and you look at the international nature of what we’re doing — because these are all international companies, so many I can’t mention because they’re too big to mention — the kind of money that’s being invested is really, really incredible.

So again, I want to just — because they’re friends of mine — but the exchange CEO, Jeffrey Sprecher, is here today. He’s an amazing man, amazing success. His wife has done a fantastic job at small business. They call it small business, but when you add it all up, it’s probably the biggest business in the world, right? But Kelly has been incredible and Jeff. Thank you very much.

New York Stock Exchange president Lynn Martin, we want to thank. And NASDAQ chair and CEO Adena Friedman, and NASDAQ president Nelson Griggs. We have all of them. This is a fantastic group of people. Thank you very much. We’ve got them all.

Did you ever think you’d be in this thing? Well, this is a great room. I always, when people walk in — the biggest people in the world, people that are, in many cases, on your exchanges, right? They walk in and they look around. They go, oh, my God. I can’t believe it. I must — I don’t want to use the names. Larry Ellison walked in. And he said, what? Where am I? This is so… It takes a while.

Actually, if you’re negotiating, you have people at a great disadvantage because they’re all screwed up, you know? It’s a great place. I think it’s the most important room anywhere in the world. So I thought it would be good to do this here, right? We seldom do that.

Joint Bell Ringing and Trump Accounts Celebration

PRESIDENT TRUMP: But this was the first ever joint bell ringing between the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, and hopefully it won’t be the last. I think there are a lot of things you could do together that would be good. It’s amazing the way you came together, and it was really easy. And they’re competitors. But it’s a great tribute, I think, to all of you that you’re able to do this.

It’s people are talking about it. The SEC chair, let me ask you, are you shocked that they can? This makes your job. Doesn’t this, Paul, doesn’t this make your job a little bit easier? Isn’t it nice?

Why can’t we do that with Democrats and Republicans? Maybe that’s a tougher one. I think that might be tougher. We like borders. We like things that they don’t like.

Signing Up for Trump Accounts

PRESIDENT TRUMP: But if parents have not done so already, and they are doing so in record numbers, they should go right away to trumpaccounts.gov and sign their child up for a free investment savings account. And again, a lot of people are people that are uninvolved in terms of they don’t have the children, or their children are older, but they’re putting millions and millions of dollars into the accounts of poor children, financially poor children. And the parents can’t even believe what’s happening, so it’s an amazing thing. But parents, loved ones, churches, and generous companies and individuals will be able to contribute funds to these accounts to grow throughout the child’s life. And again, if we have a good market like we do now, they’re going to become actually very rich.

They’ll have hundreds of thousands of dollars. Think of that. Think of it, a child that has no money can have hundreds of thousands of dollars at a very, very young age. Accounts could grow to be worth numbers that nobody ever thought even possible, just six months ago, before we did this. And again, I have to thank Michael and Susan, because they were so proactive.

It was actually really amazing. I just think they’re amazing people. So, Trump accounts are about giving every American child a stake in America’s future and getting some of the upside. And nobody’s seen anything like it. And senators like Ted Cruz were at the forefront, and they should be really commended.

People have to remember it in the future. It’s like so many things I did were so good, and that’s only got a two-year life. Like as an example, Kevin, I closed the border. We have nobody coming into our country illegal anymore. And I want to make it in my speeches.

And they say, “Sir, nobody cares about that. You’ve solved the problem.” I said, “I’d like to talk about it.” They said, “Nobody cares about the border. You’ve solved that problem.”

I said, “What kind of a business? You solve a problem, you’re not even allowed to talk about it. Nobody even wants to hear about it.” It’s pretty tough. But this is something that you’re going to be talking about for a long time, because this is going to grow to levels that I think people have no idea.

I already see the numbers. So there could be no better way to begin our 250th year. It is so appropriate. Think of that. We’re doing it just at this time, this special time.

It’s pretty amazing. So I’d like to maybe ask Michael Dell to come up and say a few words, followed by Lynn Martin, Adena Friedman and Jeff and some of the people that had so much to do. I’d like to have our great senator, Ted Cruz, say a few words, and anybody else that wants to. This is a big celebration. This is a much bigger situation than anybody can imagine.

And then we’ll take a few questions. Okay? Thank you very much. Go ahead. Michael, please, why don’t you start it off.

Michael Dell’s Remarks

MICHAEL DELL: Thank you, Mr. President. Susan and I are very honored to be here as we celebrate the 250th. You know, 42 years ago, I started a company in my dorm room with $1,000. And today, every newborn American child will start their life with $1,000 invested in America’s greatest companies compounding for the future.

But Susan and I didn’t want the children that were born just before to be completely left out. So we are contributing $6.25 billion, $250 to 25 million eligible American children born between the ages of 2016 and 2024, invested in America’s greatest companies for their future, for their tuition, for down payments, for startup capital, for a business. And to every business leader out there who hasn’t already joined us, please join us.

You know, 250 years ago, our founders in the Declaration of Independence, which is right there, pledged their fortunes to an idea. Today, we’re pledging our fortune to the next generation of children. So to tens of millions of American children, your American story starts now. Thank you.

Susan Dell’s Remarks

SUSAN DELL: Thank you, Mr. President. I am so grateful to you for making the Invest America Act happen. You have made investing in America’s children such an important initiative for our country. These accounts are a statement of belief in our nation’s young people, and believing in our country’s children matters enormously. The incredible leaders of our — future leaders of our country, are the young children that we are raising today.

Investing in America’s children essentially means investing in our future. It’s an investment in America’s ability to grow, to lead, and to compete for generations. Michael and I have believed in this idea for a long time, and seeing this become real is fantastic. A child that has a financial account in their own name is a child who has so many more opportunities and hope. And as a mother, I know that every child deserves that.

So parents, claim your child’s Trump account today. Years from now, your child will thank you for it.

Lynn Martin’s Remarks

LYNN MARTIN: Mr. President, thank you so much for having us today. It is truly an honor to be here for this occasion. For the last couple of days, we have celebrated the thing that makes this country unstoppable, and that is our freedom. And out of freedom is born the American dream. And today, under your leadership, it is the purest manifestation of that American dream.

You are offering the American dream to the youngest generation to allow them to participate in the great wealth of America. And as the president of the New York Stock Exchange, we couldn’t be more proud to be here, more grateful to you and your leadership, and more optimistic about the future of this country, which is going to be led by this next great generation. We were born on the corner of Wall and Broad Street, where our first president was inaugurated. And we could not be more optimistic about this nation’s future. Thank you so much.

Adena Friedman’s Remarks 

ADENA FRIEDMAN: Mr. President, thank you very much for inviting us into the Oval Office today to celebrate something very special. As Americans over many, many generations, we have come together in unity. And today, the NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange have come together in unity for a great common cause, the Trump accounts.

The Trump accounts are underpinned by the U.S. capital markets, which are really the engine of the greatest economy in the world. But part of that promise of the markets is to make it so every American can share in that great economy. And today, with the Trump accounts, the next generation of Americans, every American will have the opportunity to be a part and share in the prosperity of this nation.

So I want to thank you for your vision, Mr. President, on behalf of NASDAQ and on behalf of the millions of families who will benefit from what you’ve created. So thank you.

Jeff Sprecher’s Remarks

JEFF SPRECHER: Jeff Sprecher, Chairman and CEO of the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. One of the things that we celebrate on Wall Street, and we all in this room, we talk about Wall Street as the capital markets. And I don’t think people realize that partly why Wall Street has its prominence is that our first president was sworn in on Wall Street, and the New York Stock Exchange was started to finance a brand new government and a brand new vision for our country.

So it’s amazing that 250 years later this president is making that available to all Americans directly. And so it’s incredibly fitting in my mind that we’re here in this capital, which obviously is no longer New York, to widen the markets for everybody in the country. So thank you, Mr. President.

Remarks from NASDAQ

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. Mr. President, thank you for having us here. This is truly a remarkable day, a remarkable setting for what has been a historic event. And at NASDAQ, every day we get to see brilliance come through the doors. Companies have created jobs, they’ve created an economy, and now the fact that it’s able to be shared for all these children is just a remarkable feeling to be here. So congratulations. Thank you.

Brad’s Remarks

BRAD: It’s great to be here, Mr. President. We wouldn’t be here without you. It was just over a year ago that Michael and I shared with you the idea for the Invest America Act. We’ve been working on it for four years. We had tried to get it done under a prior administration. Kevin and I met in the speaker’s office some three and a half years ago on the idea.

It took this president and his entrepreneurial courage less than a minute to say, “This must happen. This is the whole purpose of my presidency.” The Main Street agenda, the 70 percent of people who have been left out and left behind who feel they’re no longer connected to the American dream, and he called the speaker and told him to put it in the reconciliation bill. That, my friends, is leadership. It doesn’t just happen. In fact, it rarely happens in a place like Washington.

And his courage and his leadership of this administration, and then the great partnership of my friends Michael and Susan Dell and so many others to bring this to fruition. But let me be clear. Today is day one, Mr. President. We’re committed to the next 250.

And what that means is not a million kids in America, not two million kids in America, every child in America. All 70 million kids under the age of 18 deserve to have one of these accounts. We’re going to get the accounts open for them. We’re going to get them fully funded. The outpouring of support from America’s corporate leaders, small business leaders, moms and dads, great philanthropists, we believe will raise over $100 billion for America’s kids over the course of the next 12 months.

This isn’t a program. This is a transformative platform. Think of 1935 Social Security scale platform. Over the next 15 years, over $2 trillion will go into the pockets of kids and families that would have otherwise had zero, that would have been left out of America’s capital markets. That is a legacy worthy of the great mission of this administration, and it would not have happened without you and the leadership of your administration. So thank you.

Ted Cruz’s Remarks

TED CRUZ: Thank you. Mr. President, I want to congratulate you on your historic leadership. The document hanging on that wall just turned 250 years old, as did the nation that it created. And the bell that you just rang on the resolute desk, I believe heralds in that the next 250 years will be even greater than the first 250.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You mean the bell that I’m not giving back? I am not giving back.

TED CRUZ: I think everyone knew you were going to keep the bell.

And on behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card.

It was spectacular. There was a reason the FIFA Trophy sat here for as long as it did.

Mr. President, this program, a second ago, Brad made reference to 1935 and Social Security. Trump accounts are in many ways Donald Trump’s New Deal. But instead of having government taking care of everyone, Trump accounts are about making every child and every American a capitalist. Every one of our kids is now going to be an owner of the biggest producers in our country.

Kids, you guys there, each of you are getting an account. These folks here gave you $250. That’s a lot of money that you have right now. And you know what? With that $250, you’ve purchased a little bit of a bunch of big companies.

You know McDonald’s? You now own a little bit of McDonald’s. When you go to McDonald’s, you can look around and say, “I own this place.” If you get on an airplane and fly, you look at a Boeing airplane, you now own a little bit of Boeing. Can you believe it? You’re an owner of Boeing? That is transformational. That changes the way every child looks at the world and the ability to accumulate life-transforming savings, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars for the kids of single moms, that is powerful.

Mr. President, in particular, I want to thank you for your unequivocal commitment that this administration, your administration, is going to auto enroll every child in America. All 70 million children will have accounts open for them, accounts that can then receive gifts from people like Michael and Susan and Brad.

Accounts that, let me say to every parent at home, please right now go to TrumpAccounts.gov. Go to TrumpAccounts.gov, sign your kids up. To every employer, if you’re not contributing to the accounts of the employees’ kids, do so now. Match their contribution, double their contribution. And to philanthropists, go adopt a state. Go adopt your city. Go adopt a school. Go say, “The kids in my community, the kindergarten class here, we’re going to help them get started.”

This is a moment, I believe, transformational to make sure the next 250 is even better than the first. Thank you, Mr. President.

Philanthropists Adopting States and Cities

BRAD: The president is ready to step forward. Go ahead. Rich man. He adopted an entire state.

Yeah, so I’m from Indiana, and we’re going to add $250, following Michael and Susan, to all kids in the state of Indiana under the age of five.

Ray Dalio in Connecticut. We have lots of philanthropists, they’re adopting states, cities now. We have the city of San Francisco been adopted, the city of Oakland.

Closing Remarks and Q&A Session

And recently with Katie, we’ve adopted a school in the city of Durham. We’ve adopted a boys and girls club in Philly. We’ve adopted, you know, a big brothers big sisters in Newark, New Jersey last Wednesday. And it’s all to show the country the art of the possible. When you create an open source platform, anybody can give to anybody. These accounts have a QR code in them, and somebody sends you the QR code and you just double click on your phone and money goes into the account. Thank you to Joe Gebbia and the National Design Studio for their incredible work on the account. Thank you.

PAUL ATKINS: Thank you, Mr. President. Paul Atkins, Chairman of SEC. So this is an amazing day, and really I salute you and Senator and Secretary Besant for all that you’ve done to help these accounts go, and then the philanthropists who have also put money into it. But the senator has it exactly right.

We have to remember that all the folks who signed that document 250 years ago, they understood well that America was actually an investment before it was a nation. So joint stock companies were stood up in England and France and the Netherlands to establish new Amsterdam, for example, now New York, and to support, you know, the people there. So that is in our blood as a nation. And everywhere I go around the world to talk to my counterparts, finance and other regulators around the world, they always ask me, how do we replicate America’s whole ethos of investment and risk-taking? Well, this is exactly how to do it.

As the Senator said so well, for the next generation to have a feeling that they have a real stake in our economy, in the products that are made for their benefit and for the benefit of the world, frankly. So I think it’s an exciting day. Thank you very much for your leadership, and I’m really proud to be a part of it. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just like to add a couple things. So much wonderful things have been said, Mr. President, about what you’re doing. This is absolutely transformational. I’d like to tip my cap to Secretary Besant. His staff originally told him when this idea was floated that it would take a year or two. And Scott said, no, it’s got to be the 4th of July. And they delivered.

I’d like to thank the designers of the app because every kid, as Scott arranged and as you were key to discuss, every kid can look at what firms they own. So it’s not just going to say, S&P 500. It’s going to be, you have a little bit of this, you have a little bit of that. And so we believe what it’s going to do, sir, is connect America’s youth to our vibrant economy in a way that’s never been done before. So thank you very much.

President Trump’s Remarks on Trump Accounts

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. So everybody, we thank you. And the press has been very kind about this. This is one — they have a hard time attacking. You know, we’re all in this together. You have children. A lot of those children already, they have their accounts. We’re going to see tremendous money come in from wealthy people and pretty wealthy people and very wealthy companies.

And I’m getting calls from everybody to put money in. And they’re going to put tremendous numbers of dollars in. And these children are going to have actually accounts. They’re going to learn about finance a little bit. They can watch it. We’re going to all watch it grow together. And we’re going to have a whole different planet when they turn 18.

It’s going to be a lot different when you turn 18 and you have no idea what’s going on and you have no money and no hope. Yeah, they’re going to have great hope. It’s the American dream. It’s a big part of the American Dream.

So, again, Michael and Susan and Brad and everybody that has worked so hard, it’s an honor to be. This is truly an honor to be involved in something that’s pioneering, but really not because for so many years, I said for many, many years, decades, they’ve tried to do it. They’ve never been able to pull it off. So I just want to thank all of you guys.

And I think it’s such a great tribute to come together. People said, no, no, there must be a mistake. You mean you’re having separate meetings? No, no, there. Just watch at 9:30, right? So it’s a great honor. And thank you for being so fair about it. So we’ll take a few questions, please.

Q&A: Russia-Ukraine War

PRESS: Mr. President, a letter he wrote shortly after speaking to you on July 4th struck, he even killed innocent civilians. Why doesn’t he keep feeling any pressure after speaking with you?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think he does feel pressure. He wants to end it, and Ukraine wants to end it. And we’re in talks, and we’ll see if we can get it ended. It’s a terrible thing. I ended eight wars and this was, in my opinion, going to be an easier one because I know both heads. I didn’t know most of the heads. I did India, I did Pakistan, I did others.

That could have been a real bad one. Nuclear. That was going to be nuclear. It could have been, as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, could have been 40 million. Forty million people would have been killed. Maybe 50 million. They had shot down 11 planes. It was raging for four days, and I got it stopped. And I did that.

But this is one that I think we’re getting much closer than people realize. And President Putin wants it to end, I will tell you that very strongly. A good call. And President Zelensky actually wants it to end now. And we’re going to be going to NATO, and we’re going to be talking about it. And I think we’re going to get it. I think we’re going to get it ended.

It’s been a terrible situation. Think of this. Twenty-five thousand people, two months ago, 25,000 people were killed, one month soldiers. Last month, set the record, 36,000 people were killed in one month. Young soldiers. They go off to war and they’re dead before the first weekends. It’s drone technology. Michael, who would have thought that drones would have become such a factor? And they’re killing machines. It’s amazing.

It’s amazing. You hide behind a tree and it goes and gets you. And I’ve seen scenes that I don’t want to see. I don’t want you to see on that battlefield. You know, you hear about the Civil War, you hear about all of these different terrible wars, but this is really horrible. So I had a very good call and I think we’ll — I think we’re getting close to getting it done.

Q&A: The Economy

PRESS: Mr. President, on the economy, there’s been a refocus, it seems, in June to talk about your economic policies. When do you think that message will change the perception of Americans related to the economy?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think people know. Look, oil is now at a level that it was, I think it’s even lower on a barrel basis than it was before we started. We’ve gotten concessions. Now, they have to hold those concessions, but there’ll be no nuclear weapon. We’re going to be getting the, as I call it, dust, the enriched material, nuclear dust, I call it. It seems to have taken off, but it’s enriched material. We’re getting it. We’re getting it.

I went in for one reason very strongly, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I’m not looking for regime change, although this is regime change. The first regime is gone. The second regime is gone. And I think the third regime is more reasonable, but we’ll find out. But we’ve destroyed there, as you know, completely destroyed. They had 159 ships. Every single ship is at the bottom of the sea. We’ve completely destroyed. They don’t have one airplane. They don’t have radar.

You know, one of the reasons we kept the oil down, because a lot of people said, Kevin, and a lot of people were saying that oil could go to $300, $350 a barrel, but one of the reasons that prediction wasn’t right is we were taking out, on average, of 10, but sometimes less sometimes more. Three weeks ago, we had a night, 22 ships came out of the strait and the famous Strait of Hormuz that nobody ever heard of, but it is some — that is some big money machine, I’ll tell you what. When you look at the numbers, Michael, that makes everything look small.

No, wait, wait, wait. And we took out so much oil that people didn’t know, and it was only — took a month and a half, they finally found out. They had no radar because their radar was destroyed. So we took them out late at night with no lights, with no nothing. And our great Navy, which did the greatest blockade anyone’s ever seen. Not one ship got through in two months.

And we then freed up the blockade because we’re close to maybe making a deal. I don’t know. We’ll make either — look, we’re going to win one way or the other. We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job. Okay? And it won’t be tough to finish the job.

I’d rather make a deal because I don’t want to affect 91 million people. We can knock down their bridges in one hour. We can knock out their energy supply, all of those big plants that they built, big, beautiful, modern plants. They had a lot of money. They don’t have any money now. We haven’t given them any money. But we can knock out their electricity and power generating plants. And I would say a small part of an afternoon, every plant will be gone. And they know that. They know that.

Q&A: Legacy of Trump Accounts

PRESS: I wanted to thank you first and foremost for the Trump accounts.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You see? That’s what I call a rookie. He’s actually a great reporter. So he’ll directly benefit from the accounts. Good.

PRESS: Thank you. Fast forward 18 years from now, and a lot of these kids are 18, and they look at the Trump accounts, and they see hundreds of thousands of dollars. What lesson do you hope they’ll walk away from and think about you regarding this program? And do you think this will go down as one of, if not the, signature policy achievements?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I hope so. I think it will. I really believe it’s going to be one. I think we’ve done a lot of great things, but I think this will be one of the top. It’s going to teach children to be entrepreneurial, as opposed to the threat of communism that you’re seeing a lot. This is not social democrats, by the way. That’s a beautiful way. We’re social democrats, they say. They’re not social. They’re communists. They want to destroy our country. We’re not going to let that happen. But this helps.

Even from the parent standpoint, you know, they see their child getting richer and richer as the market goes up. If it goes down, they don’t lose anything. They make money. They have money. But if it goes up, they could become actually rich. And the parents are going to be watching, and we’re all going to be watching, and we’re part of a very big and very beautiful game. It’s going to bring them into the mainstream.

It’s going to bring them into recognizing, like Michael Dell. I said, how the hell did you start this thing? What he built is incredible. Now his product is great. But as he said, he made them, I guess, laptops. He made a better laptop on his bed in a dorm than they sold in the stores. So he started selling them, I guess, probably during college. I don’t know whether you started selling them, but you sold a lot of them. And it just cascaded. And then his greatest deal was he met Susan, and she probably guided him beautifully. That was probably his most important thing. And they have great children, great everything.

But you know, it’s a beautiful story. Think of it. They gave $6 billion, $250 million. And there’s a rumor he’s giving more. I don’t know if it’s true. I’m not holding him. I mean, it’s hard to say. How about doubling up, right? But, no, but think of that. And started with no money. He had a great brain, which is, you know, that’s better than money, I think. But, you know, it’s like an amazing story. And that can happen with other people. Maybe not to that extent. Maybe there could be a few to that extent, but not to that extent. But that can happen with some of the people here. Some children living in poverty, it can happen. And now they have a real chance. It’s a big thing.

Q&A: FIFA World Cup

PRESS: [QUESTION INAUDIBLE]

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You’re asking me about the whole soccer thing? So, yeah, I did. I spoke to Johnny, who’s highly respected, who’s produced the most successful World Cup in history by, they say, four times. This isn’t just a success. I actually said, Gianni, we’ve got all these games. Each one is turning out to be a Super Bowl. And we have all these games. You know, when you think of it, every game is like a Super Bowl.

Yes, I watched last night. What a game that was with Mexico and England. I mean, two countries. I don’t know the players. Although I think Kane is a great player. See, I played golf with him and I like him a lot. He’s a good golfer. But he’s really great. But I watched, and no reason for me to watch, and you couldn’t take your eyes off the game. Because I said, Gianni, you know, you have all these games because they edit games. In a country where really we don’t, it’s not our main sport, to put it mildly.

Trump on the FIFA World Cup and the Red Card Controversy

And this has been four times more successful. You told me last night the numbers are four times greater. They think 50 or 60 million people are going to be watching the game tonight. And you know, this is getting to be Super Bowl numbers. But you have a game tonight and they think they’re projecting a minimum of 50 million people watching a game.

We call it soccer. It’s called football, I guess, but we can’t really call it football because it gets a little confusing. So, yeah, you call it soccer. We’re the only ones that do that. But we are football. And football is great. But I’ve never seen anything like it. So I saw the play, and I’m a person that loves sports and was a good athlete. And I understand sports really well.

Really well. And that wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. You can’t take your foot and properly place it on somebody else’s foot when you’re going.

No, these were two great athletes that got tangled up. And this referee who is a little bit suspect, if you check his past. I don’t want to say that because I don’t like to create controversy. But very suspect. If you’d like, I’ll provide you with the past. He made a call that nobody could believe. You know, even people on the other side, they say, “Oh, we got lucky. Wow.” That’s very interesting. They say they don’t show them in slow motion.

And I never realized that. I never heard of that before. That they’re not allowed to review in slow motion because it’s so different. Because you’ll take one little quarter of a second and you’ll see that a hand is touching a neck or you’ll see something. Whereas when you see it in fast motion, it will look like two guys collided, which is really what happened.

They got sort of entangled. He didn’t do anything wrong. And he’s our best player or one of our best players. A very vital player. And he gave him a red card. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t think it meant much. Then I started hearing that that means he can’t play in the next game, at least in the next game. I said, “Boy, that’s a big —” you know, if it happened to another player, it would have been unfair. But when they take your best player, or just about — they have some great players — but they say, “You can’t play.” That’s very unfair.

It’s one thing to penalize somebody for the game, but how do you penalize them for a game that hasn’t been played yet? It’s very unfair. You can’t do that.

Trump on Securing the World Cup and Olympics for the U.S.

So, yes, I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who’s highly respected. And by the way, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold. And it was good before this started. But, you know, he really pushed it in this country. I’m the one that got them to do it. It was not Biden. Biden was asleep.

I got him to do it. In fact, it was very sad because I got them to do it. And if the progression was normal, I would have been retired. Now, the Democrats are saying, “Man, we shouldn’t just let him have his way. We would have had him gone.”

But I said, you know, the saddest thing is I got the Olympics and I got the World Cup. I tried to claim 250 years, too, but that didn’t work. They said, “That one is what it is.” No, I tried, but it didn’t work.

So I got them. I was so proud of it. And then I realized, you know, I wouldn’t be President during that because I would have been out of office by that time. I felt badly. The beautiful thing about what I did is I ran. I never thought of it. And then all of a sudden, I realized, you know, I just got the Olympics. And I totally got that myself. And I just got FIFA. I got that myself.

We gave a little piece to Canada, gave a little piece to Mexico. I got that myself. And a lot of people helped, like that man right there, Kevin. A lot of people. You know that. We worked hard on that. And we got it.

But what we didn’t know is how successful it was going to be. I thought — I didn’t know. I said, “Gianni, is anyone going to show up?” Because, you know, we’re not — again, we’re not really — I think SAC is doing much better. But I couldn’t imagine.

If you would have said to any very smart — like people like this — that the numbers they’re doing now would be happening, they’ve never seen anything like it. Think of it. Take the most successful Olympics or the most successful FIFA. And you look at what’s happened. You look at the numbers for this in the United States, just compared to FIFA. And it’s numerous times more. It’s not like 10 percent more, 2 percent more, 5 percent more, which is more expected. It’s like four times more successful than anything they’ve ever done.

In fact, I said to Gianni, “Let’s do it again next time.” And he said that would be hard. I said, “No, no, you do it again. But at the same time, you give it to somebody else for the next one.” I don’t know. It’s a little crazy idea.

Trump Defends His Request for a FIFA Review

But all I did — all I did — I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul. And, you know, again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that, you know, would be different.

And I think it’s a terrible — if they wouldn’t allow, you know, a top player, maybe the best — maybe among the best players on the team to play, I think it would have had a big stain. And I related just that. I didn’t tell him what to do. I can’t tell him what to do.

But I don’t believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision. And they made the right decision because, number one, it wasn’t a foul. And you want to see a game with your best players.

You don’t want to say — how would you feel if I took — you know, we take Messi out. “Look, you know, he ran into somebody.” Or we took Ronaldo. “Ronaldo, you bumped into somebody. We’re going to take you out of the game.” He’s great. Well, Harry Kane. “Harry Kane, we’re going to take you out of the game, Harry, because you happened to hit somebody a little bit harder than you can.” You can’t do that.

If you would have taken him out, I think it would have really stained this incredible championship. We got to have our best players. And they’ve got — Belgium’s got a great team, by the way. We have our best players and they have to have their best. And if we win or we lose, it’s fair. Otherwise, let’s say we lost him and we lose the game. It would be a terrible thing.

So I think they made a really brilliant decision. I think the referee’s call was horrible. And nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it’s fine. Nobody talks about it. The referee’s decision to red card — I didn’t know what the hell a red card was. When I found out, I said, “You got to be kidding. This guy just hands up, okay, your best player is not going to play next week or in the next game.” I said, “Wow, that’s a lot of power.” That’s terrible.

But then I looked at his past and it wasn’t so great.

Press Q&A on the Belgium Game

REPORTER: Mr. President, are you going to talk to the Belgian Prime Minister before the game?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I didn’t think of it, but I would. He’s a good man. I will tell you this. The people in Belgium, if they win the game, they can be very proud. If they would win the game with a player missing, it would have been a different feeling. You can’t do that. And I’m very glad. All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say, “You have to do this.” This man is a smart, tough man. Gianni Infantino. He’s a smart, tough man. And his stock has gone through the roof because the job he’s done has been great.

And I feel we have to have all the best players in the field. You can’t take the best players.

Trump on Crypto and AI

REPORTER: [QUESTION INAUDIBLE]

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’m a big crypto — I’ve become a big crypto guy, only for one reason. If we don’t have it, China is going to have it. And they would like to have it. But now they’re not even trying that hard because we’ve taken over crypto.

But I’m a fan. I wasn’t initially. I didn’t know much about it. But for some of my first term, I wasn’t really much involved, but I’d watch. And I watched it grow, and it’s a huge industry. And I got involved in it a little bit for politics, you know, because I realized there are a lot of people who love crypto. And even me, as a businessman, I’d see a lot of money starting to come in with Bitcoin and, you know, the different forms. And I said, “This thing’s got a lot of life.”

And then I hear China was going to make a heavy move on it, just like they do for AI. By the way, we’re leading China substantially in AI, by substantial. And one of the reasons is I allow, when they build these big plants, I allow them to build their electric generating units, whether they use nuclear or oil and gas, whatever they want to use, they can use. Except wind — we don’t allow wind. Wind is terrible. It just doesn’t work. It’s too expensive, no good. Bad for the environment.

And they’re building their own plants with some of the greatest electric producing plants that you’ve ever seen. I mean, they’re teaching the companies that produce electricity — they’re teaching them how to do a plant. So that was my decision. That was my idea. Because we have an old grid. It’s tired. It’s old. You can’t — it would take years to fix it.

And now we’re actually taking the excess energy that they make. You know, we need more than double the energy. If you take all of the electric that we have now, you need more than double it to power that industry, which is so shocking. When I first heard that, I said, “No, you mean like a little —” I couldn’t believe that, Jeff. I heard more than double. So all the electric we make for everything to power that one industry.

Now, with that being said, it’s a massive industry. And it’s going to be for good. I mean, look, we’re going to have guardrails. And we have guardrails. You know, you saw that a couple of weeks ago. We were able to stop something that we didn’t like. And, by the way, the company was very good. They were very good. You know that.

But it can be used for tremendous good. And mostly good, and some bad, and the bad we have to stop. But it’s a massive industry.

AI’s Potential Contribution to Medicine and the American People

And I think things are going to happen. You know what you’re seeing here with the kids? I think something could happen in that regard, too, with a contribution to the people of our country. I’ll give you a little inside information. Am I allowed to do that, Mr. — well, we have — Paul, am I allowed to do that? That’s a little inside information. You want to sit? Scott, you know what I’m talking about.

No, I think you’re going to see a contribution made by those, because they’re making tremendous amounts of money. They’re also creating tremendous — the medical — the things that are happening in the world of medicine because of AI is not even believed.

I’m friends with many doctors because of what I’m doing as president, and I’ve become very friendly with a lot of them. They’re great. They’re great as long as they tell me I’m healthy. Okay, when they tell me I’m healthy, so far so good. Where’s a piece of wood?

But a couple of them got together last week and they said, “We can’t believe the progress that’s been made in diseases. Things that they didn’t think would happen for 10 years happened in a matter of minutes, a matter of seconds.” So this is going to be used for good. But we’re leading China by a lot. We’re leading everybody.

Trump on Biden’s Anti-Crypto Stance

Crypto is the same thing. If we didn’t do it, China would do it. It’s a massive industry. And frankly, when I went very pro-crypto — as you know, Biden was totally against it, but he has no idea what crypto is. He didn’t know it. He didn’t have a clue. But they were very violently against it. They were putting people in jail. What they were doing to the crypto was horrible. It’s amazing it survived that onslaught. It was a weaponization of government.

So when I went very much for it — and I must have gotten, I think I got 100% of the vote. But what happened is, I think it was 100 million people. That’s a big industry, and that means some pretty good things.

But what happened is, Biden then, after he was getting killed — he was down so much — all of a sudden they became pro-crypto. And their head of the SEC was horrible, unlike Paul, who’s really good. I mean, he’s the best man for the job. Everybody wanted him. But he was horrible. What he was doing to the crypto — they were putting people in jail. Oh, you know that better than anybody. Good people, great, prestigious people. They were putting them in jail. And I said, “You got to be kidding.” And they were trying to destroy the industry.

Okay, ready? So now I’m killing Biden. I’m winning by so much. And all of a sudden, he becomes totally pro-crypto. They dropped all investigations of everybody.

Crypto, AI, and Nuclear Energy

PRESIDENT TRUMP: They allowed people to come out of jail. And every time I see a crypto guy that, where they dropped an investigation, I said, you’re lucky I’m president, because they, you know, I don’t know if you know, the Biden administration became totally pro-Crypto that last couple of months, because they were getting killed, because crypto has a tremendous audience. So, yeah, I’m very much for crypto because it’s not a question of a personal thing. Because I let my kids do whatever the hell they do, they can do. I don’t talk to them, ever talk to them about it.

I’m allowed to, I think. I’m allowed to, but I don’t bother. Because this is a much higher — this office is a much higher calling. So I make, as president — the president of the United States get essentially $2.5 million for four years, right? Wait a minute.

It’s spread out over a period of four years. It’s about 2 and a half million dollars. I waived my salary. Now, I figured because we’ve had other wealthy presidents. We’ve had Kennedy and we’ve had FDR was very wealthy.

Teddy Roosevelt was wealthy. And one of the wealthiest, believe it or not, was George Washington, who wasn’t in the White House, but there are pictures of him surveying this ground. He’s the one that sort of picked the location. He picked a — I think he made a good choice. He picked a good location.

But George Washington had two desks in his pre-White House. One was — and they were right next to each other. One was for business and one was for the presidency. Had two desks in the same room. And so you’re allowed to.

But I choose not to. I don’t talk to my kids about, you know, this stuff. But I will say this. To me, cryptos are very powerful. A lot of people are using it.

Bitcoin. They’re using it at levels that nobody — I don’t think anybody understands really how powerful — and if we didn’t do it, China would do it in a minute. And if we let our guard down on AI, if I didn’t come up with the idea for electric plants producing plants, they become a utility. Basically, these guys producing, you might as well put them down. Paul, I think you should mark them down as utilities, because frankly, in many ways, I’m more impressed by their electric plants.

And they’re building them on top of the buildings, alongside of the buildings, stand-alones right next door. But you have to see some of the electric-producing, degenerating plants that they’re making. Nobody’s ever seen it because they’re brilliant people. And it’s a fantastic thing. But if I didn’t come up with that idea, maybe somebody else would have. I doubted because it’s too simple.

I mean, it’s such a simple idea. Do you know that your friends, Michael, when I came up with that and I told Mark Zuckerberg, I told Bezos, I told all of the people, AI, Sam, Elon, I told them all. I said, no, no, I’m going to let you build your own plant and I’m going to get you fast approvals. They thought I was kidding. You know, they said and they would submit plans without an electric plant.

And I’d get calls from Lee Zeldin, who’s a star, environmental, fast approvals, good approvals, but fast. And they’d call up and say, sir, these plants are not taking advantage. And I’d call them and say, why aren’t you producing? They said, we thought you were, every one of them, they thought I was kidding because they can’t believe it. Number one, they can’t believe that they’re approved in a period of a matter of weeks because if this was somebody else, it would be 20 years before.

They’re all under construction. We get, we do rapid approvals. And some are nuclear plants, because nuclear is now really hot and safe. You know, I was not a huge proponent until two or three years ago. And then I saw what the — My uncle was a big nuclear guy at MIT.

He knew nuclear better than anybody, I think. Anybody in the world, probably. He was the smartest guy. He was at MIT, the head, for 41 years. And he said to me one day, he said, you know, nuclear is going to be the most important thing but it’s also got to be watched.

It’s got to be watched very carefully because it can build the world but it can also destroy the world. He said that. I said, Uncle John, that was a long time ago. But he was exactly right. He called it exactly right.

But what they’ve done with nuclear in terms of generating energy is absolutely — you know, a submarine can run at full speed for 30 years without having to refuel. The only thing it has to do is come up every 90 days for food. They can’t solve the food problem. But think of it. A submarine, without having to gas up, can run for 30 years at full speed without stopping.

I mean, who would believe a thing like that? But fortunately, we have the best technology and we have the best submarines. It’s something we lead the world in by 15 years.

Questions from the Press

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Any other questions? Go ahead, please.

PRESS: Thank you so much, Mr. President. I said thank you so much, Mr. President. Jennifer Schoenberger of the autofi.net. On the Trump accounts, SpaceX President has said that she’s going to donate shares to the Trump accounts. Have you spoken at all with Elon Musk about further share donations, as well as other former leaders.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I speak to everybody. I’m like a cheerleader for geniuses. I love geniuses. I love high IQ people. He’s a high IQ person. I love high IQ people. And I speak to Elon, I speak to Mark, I speak to Jeff, I speak to everybody.

By the way, in the first term, less so. In fact, at my first inauguration, none of them were standing behind me. They were just the opposite. And now at this last inauguration, every one of them were standing behind me. It was sort of amazing.

No, I speak to all of them. And I encourage them. I want them to be tremendously successful.

TikTok and Trump’s Number One Ranking

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Now, there’s a thing called TikTok. Have you heard of it? I was watching a show this morning, Maria Bartiromo, she’s fantastic. And on her show they were talking about the dangers of TikTok, and Chinese, you know, a whole thing with spying and what they’re doing with that. Well, except it was announced about two days ago, the new numbers just came out. You know who the number one person in TikTok is by far? Trump.

Me. I just got the — they — I’m number one. Like Taylor Swift was number 11. I’m number one in TikTok, by far. And the numbers just came out, and I said, well, you know, I’m hearing about how they influence. They’re talking about their tremendous danger because they influence, but if they influence so badly, I mean, I’m saying all things like I love our country, we’ve got to stop communism, we’ve got to this and that, we’re going to do a lot, we’re doing a lot of things, but I’m by far number one.

It was sent to me by, you know, the list comes out, number one, number two. I was number one by a lot. So I guess maybe, I don’t know, maybe they’re bad, maybe they’re not. I know one thing, great American people, tremendous business people and companies bought it.

I called President Xi and everyone said he was a hard no. He was a hard no, but I said, you know, it’s a good thing for TikTok, but it’s good for us too. American companies, great ones, own our TikTok, and it’s very influential. But I’m number one by a lot. So, you know, I hear this thing was on today.

Gordon Chang. I like Gordon Chang. But he’s always so negative. You know, nobody has been tougher in China than me. But Gordon Chang, and he’s a nice guy, it’s like the world is falling down. It’s not true. It’s not true. We have to be careful because China is a great competitor. But, you know, he was talking about, we must stop TikTok. I’m number one on TikTok. I think it helped me win the election in a landslide, if you want to know the truth.

The White House Helipad

PRESS: Yeah, that’s a hell of a yeah. So, for 50 years we’ve been landing helicopters on grass. The grass is wet, soggy. The helicopters sometimes miss their little mark. You know, they send people out, Marines. I watch them do it. They march out so beautiful. Great guys. They have a piece of metal that he put down. And except for the fact that these pilots are so good, they almost hit the mark all the time. But sometimes they miss their half the size of this desk. Think of it, you’re landing a big chopper.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: But, you know, years ago, and they just got produced, but during my administration, they ordered brand new helicopters, the big ones, the ones for President. It’s called Marine One. And our other Marine Ones are about 40 years old. They’re all like Air Force One. You know, it’s time to make a change.

And other presidents wouldn’t do that because they think it’s not good to make a change to luxury, but you got to do it. You know, other countries have them. So Sikorsky gave — we ordered a number of Sikorsky’s as the helicopters back and forth. Well, they’re about two and a half times more powerful than the old ones. And when you land on the grass, it’s not that the grass gets discolored, it gets ripped out.

Ripped out. And it was all over it. They landed it once, and nobody planned for this. This was a little bit of a planning mistake. So they landed the helicopter, and half of the grass was sitting in front of the Oval Office front door. The rest of it was scattered all over the yard. I mean, literally, it didn’t singe it. It also singed it, by the way. But it literally lifted, because of the power. It’s tremendous.

And everybody said, well, we’ll keep using the old helicopters when we have to land at the White House. And for everything else, we use the new helicopters. They said, that’s a pretty expensive deal. You wouldn’t do that for your company and figure out an answer. So I said — because I have helicopters, and three of them. And I said — because they’ve been great for my business. I think they’re incredible. So Sikorsky’s — Sikorsky 76. And I always was lucky. I always got helipads.

Other people don’t. Very hard to get. The hardest thing to get is a helipad. Okay? There’s no harder zoning thing to get is a helipad. And I had, like, seven of them at different places so I could go around by helicopter.

And I said to the people, have you ever thought these are generals, Air Force generals, that are brilliant? And, you know, you get used to a certain thing. They bring out the metal. But this was now the metal didn’t work because the power of these helicopters is so great it ripped up the grass, right?

So I said, has anyone ever thought of a helipad? Because I build them and they go quickly and it solves all of the problems. Look, he’s laughing. It’s true, right? It’s crazy.

So it was funny. I said, has anyone ever thought of a helipad? I had, like, six generals in front of me. And they’re going like, wow, that’s a good idea. You know, it’s like the paperclip. It was such a simple adventure. Probably he says that about a laptop. To him, it’s a simple thing. To other people, wow. But the paperclip.

Two hundred years ago, a gentleman came up with the idea for a paperclip. And he made a lot of money. He became very rich. Not as rich as Michael Dell, but rich in those money. And what happened is everybody was jealous. They said, why didn’t we think of this? Same thing with the helipad.

So now we’re building a helipad, beautiful helipad, and it’s got the seal of the White House on it, in granite, in carved granite. It’s really a beautiful thing. And I’ll tell you, Sikorsky is paying for it. You know why? Because they didn’t tell us how powerful these helicopters were, and they felt a little bit guilty. They sold us helicopters. I like power, by the way. I think it’s great for a helicopter. But they probably, I don’t know, they felt a little guilty. And they are paying for the cost of it. It’s about $5 or $6 million. They’re paying the full cost.

And when I heard they were paying the cost, I went out and said, let’s do a beauty. Let’s not just do a piece of concrete and paint it white, which is why I just put beautiful concrete, nice, and we paint it white. This one is a beauty. It’s got the seal of the White House. It’s beautiful. The eagle. And it’s carved out of granite. It’s done by some of the most talented people you’ll ever meet.

And you’re landing on granite, which is the strongest stone that we can. Like the outside walk is black granite. It’s got 35,000 pounds per square inch. It’s got a 1 million-plus lifetime. It’s the strongest stone there is. And that’s being used out there, and it’s going to be, I think, really beautiful. And you can see the size. It’s going to be beautiful.

And it can be used for other things. When helicopters aren’t landing, you can have other things out there, like events. You could have news conferences literally on it because it’s the right size. So by doing this, we solve the problem, and we’ll be able to finally retire our 45-year-old helicopters. Okay, how about one or two more, and we’ll get out. Go ahead, please.

The FIFA Decision

PRESS: Mr. President, about the FIFA decision, millions of American soccer fans are obviously very happy. But what do you say to the critics who say this starts a precedent which other powerful leaders are going to chime in?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I don’t know. I mean, I can only say this. I had nothing to do with the decision.

So I think it starts with the fact that it shouldn’t have been a foul. And then you have to look at the person that raised the card, and that’s up to you people. You look at it. But I didn’t think it was very good, because it was not good. And I think that Johnny is brilliant at what he does.

And I think they made — I don’t think it was his decision, it’s a big committee. And after reviewing it, I think they said, look, this game would have a big mark on it. If we lost, if we won, no matter what happened, you have to let them use their best players.

Closing Remarks

And the game tonight is going to be amazing, and we’re going to have a full team, and Belgium is going to have a full team. And you know what? If they beat us, then they can be really proud. The other way, if they beat us, we’ll say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020. But I won’t get into that.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. The Trump accounts are great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So you think it’s easy.

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