Transcript: President Trump Signs Executive Orders – Jun. 22, 2026

And we’re doing very well in terms of negotiating a fair and reasonable deal.

One of the things that we are doing also, and it came up last night, is money that’s being unfrozen is going to be used to buy food, and the food is going to be bought exclusively through the United States from our farmers. And corn, soybeans, all of the things they need are going to be bought from our farmers. So our farmers are very happy. I’ve had a lot of calls. They were very happy about that.

So now I’d like to ask Michael to say a few words, and we’ll follow up by the other two gentlemen, or three gentlemen, and then if anybody has anything to say, and we’ll take some questions at the end. So, Michael, go ahead.

Michael Kratsios on the Quantum Computing Executive Order

MICHAEL Kratsios: So, Mr. President, as you mentioned in your remarks, you were the first president in history to prioritize quantum as a scientific priority of the United States government in your first administration. And since then, there’s been a big leap in the investment the private sector has made in this particular domain. And we’re now at the moment where a lot of that research is starting to pay off into commercial applications. And what this executive order will do is turbocharge that.

First and foremost, it’s going to task the Department of Energy to create a scientifically relevant quantum computer, which is going to help pave the way for even larger computers for the private sector. Secondly, we’re going to be focusing on sensors and networking. So agencies like the Department of War, along with the Department of Energy, are going to be doing a wide variety of sensing and networking work. So this is a big step forward. And as one of our two top science technology priorities, we’re excited to kick things off today.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good. Thank you very much. Good job, Michael. Sean, please.

National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross on Quantum Security

SEAN Cairncross: Yeah. Thank you, sir. You continue to be the most forward leading president in innovation in American history.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Is that all?

SEAN Cairncross: But no. And while you recognize the tremendous potential quantum has to advance medical research and cryptography and improve the lives of American people, you also recognize the security implications. As quantum rolls forward, it will challenge public key cryptography, which is what secures everything. It secures our financial transactions, our civilian critical infrastructure, and it secures the digital systems that Americans rely on for their daily life.

And these two executive orders, which pair innovation and security, will address those issues. As we move forward, innovation and security have to be balanced. You recognize that. The actions that you take today will make sure that American systems are trusted and secure and safe moving forward.

And I just want to thank our tremendous American companies with whom we’ve been working so closely. I think it’s fair to say we have an unprecedented relationship in this. I want to thank our colleagues in the interagency who have been tremendous. It’s such a mission focused group of people.

Quantum Computing and America’s Future

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And obviously, none of this happens, sir, without your leadership. So you’re securing our systems for generations to come. Thank you. And you’ve done a great job. Both of you have actually.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Chris Wright, please.

CHRIS WRIGHT: Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. So 100, 120, 141 years ago, Albert Einstein — 121 years ago, Albert Einstein published a paper.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Nobody cares.

CHRIS WRIGHT: Good point. Good point. And usually they won’t catch you. He published a paper on the photoelectric effect, recognizing the quantum behavior of light, that it came in quanta. Forty years after that, President Trump’s uncle, John Trump, was a pioneer in applying light radiation and the reflections of it to develop radar at the MIT Radiation Lab, critical in D-Day, critical in the end in winning World War II. That’s the parallel of quantum innovation.

Forty years after that, John Martinez down there pioneered taking quantum effects and building them into a device to capture that behavior. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics just last year for that discovery, that breakthrough. But 40 years, quantum phenomena are tough to harvest and tough to work with.

But here we are, thanks to President Trump’s leadership in the first term with Director Kratsios, to launch a major national effort on quantum. This is taking it to the next level. The future of computing is going to be a three-legged stool. It’s high-performance computing, basically Moore’s Law in semiconductor manufacturing. It’s artificial intelligence that everyone’s seeing and hearing about that’s supercharging it. The third leg of that computing stool is going to be scientifically relevant quantum computing.

This is tricky. We’re not there yet. We’re close. But with this executive order and this coordinated effort, we will have scientifically relevant, meaning error-corrected quantum computing during this administration. The impacts of it will be tremendous.

Oil Flow Through the Strait of Hormuz

Just if I might, so with respect to the Strait, Hormuz Strait, a lot of oil pouring out. A lot of oil pouring out. Despite Iran’s efforts or pushback, we are flowing oil through the Strait of Hormuz and natural gas at pre-crisis levels. We could get to above that. We will get to above that. But things today are going very well, thanks to the U.S. military and Pete Henseth down the line here.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And two days ago, we set a record, most ever taken out of the Strait. It’s pent up, but it’s a record. Did you know of my uncle at all?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No. No.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You didn’t?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No. Sorry. No. Mr. Goode did. He’s currently at MIT. But MIT is far away.

Commerce Department and NIST Leading the Quantum Charge

President Trump: Howard, do you want to say something?

HOWARD LUTNICK: So you’re accelerating quantum with this, pushing, continuing to push America forward. Now, I have the honor that John Martinez was a member of the Commerce Department at NIST and is a Nobel Prize winning alum. Which is, if you don’t think the people in the Commerce Department and in NIST are the best — I mean, here’s an example. Nobel Prize winner was part of our team.

You all know that the government invested $2 billion just a couple of weeks ago in quantum to drive it forward. And besides investing in the companies, we’ve also invested in fabs to build quantum for others, so we can manufacture these quantum in America. Now, you have Ruth Porat from Alphabet. They are doing amazing investing in building quantum. And you have Arvind right next from IBM. We invested in his fab. He’s got a leading fab, so he’s going to be building those chips. Right? So that’s that idea.

And then lastly, post-quantum cryptography. Right? Once you have quantum chips, we’ve got to protect everyone in this government. Post-quantum cryptography. So NIST and the Department of Commerce is going to lead the charge to make sure all of us are protected and defended, so we know how to deal with quantum when it comes. We’re going to lead in quantum, and we’re going to make sure we stay safe. And these are both the things we’re signing today. And that’s why you have such an amazing team behind you, because you are leading the charge in quantum for America.

Google’s Ruth on Quantum Supremacy and the Willow Chip

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And, Ruth, would you like to say something? Google?

RUTH: Well, thank you. First, thank you so much for convening us for this important meeting and these two executive orders. We completely agree. Quantum is a breakthrough critical technology. The U.S. is in the lead. We will stay in the lead.

At Google, we’re really proud of our innovations, and thank you, Secretary Lutnick. We’ve been investing for more than a decade in quantum. And back in 2019, we were the first company actually to achieve quantum supremacy. Didn’t stop there. About a year and a half ago, we unveiled a new chip, the Willow chip, which is a great example of American innovation, manufactured here in the United States.

And what the Willow chip does is it enables us to do a computation in less than five minutes that previously, on the best supercomputer, would have taken 10 septillion years. One is 25 years. That’s pretty good. And what’s exciting about it is what it means for our children and grandchildren. It’s about medical breakthroughs, nuclear fusion, material science. So we’re really excited about the opportunity.

And then also around post-quantum cryptography and the work that we’re doing there, absolutely critical that we also keep America safe, everyone safe. So we have been deploying that across our products and services, and it’s a critical opportunity. I think with these two EOs, it lays the foundation for, one, protecting America, as well as continuing to benefit on the upside. It’s great to be here. Thank you.

On Government’s Role in Accelerating Quantum Innovation

President Trump: Thank you. IBM?

Arvind Krishna: Thank you. Government is often underestimated, the role of the government in pushing innovation and technology forward is what both of these will achieve. Asking for the investment in quantum computing, asking that the departments all work together will actually accelerate what industry does because that gives us the confidence to invest even more and that is what we commit to do to get these systems out and to get what both the secretaries asked for, to get the systems out during your current term.

So we will go and invest in doing that and I’d also like to thank Commerce for the investment they made in accelerating the ability to build fabs so that we can actually make these in America.

Russell on Budget Progress and Investing in the Future

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Great, thank you very much. Would you like to say something, Russell, about how well we’re doing on the budget?

RUSSELL: Well, we’re making tons of progress. I think last year you had the most fiscally consequential year in history. A story that’s largely been unwritten, but today this is about more savings than ever before in history. Today’s about the investments that we’re going to prioritize, so we’ll save in places, but we’re going to do what’s necessary to invest in the future and industries of the future. So that’s what today’s about. Quantum is one of those areas in the first term and now in the second term.

Questions on Iran Sanctions and the Risk of War

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Great, thank you. Thank you everybody. Any questions?

REPORTER: Mr. President, Treasury lifted sanctions on Iranian oil today, sir.

REPORTER: Treasury lifted sanctions on Iranian oil today, sir.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’m going to have to find out exactly the status, but if the sanctions go out, money’s going to be put into this country. All that money’s coming back in the form of purchases of food, which they desperately need. They have 91 million people, they can’t feed them. So the money that we lift is going to go to our farmers, largely to our farmers.

REPORTER: Can you ensure that the Iranians won’t use profits from oil sales to rebuild their military?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, they’re not supposed to be doing that. We’ll see, but they’re supposed to use money to buy food for their people, because right now the people are very hungry and they’re buying it exclusively from us. Corn, soybeans, there should be a lot of money. I hope it’s a lot of money.

REPORTER: If a war with Iran could cause a worldwide depression, as you noted, Mr. President, are you willing to risk economic catastrophe and strike Iran again?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, not the way I’m doing it. It’s not going to cause depression.

On Iran’s Military Capabilities and the Agreement

REPORTER: Yes, but if they don’t abide by the memorandum of understanding?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, a nuclear weapon supersedes depression. Depression’s real bad. A nuclear weapon will cause depression much more quickly. The way we’re doing it, we have the opposite of a depression. We’re doing really well. The numbers are incredible. The oil is at a level that nobody’s ever seen before. Oil prices are way down. I think they’re very comparable to what they were. Chris, I don’t know, pretty comparable to what they were before we started.

Chris: They’ve returned most of the way back down.

REPORTER: So if Iran does not abide by the MOU, are you still willing to strike?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: When I didn’t say it would cause a depression, I said it could cause a depression. And they said that I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. That’s a president I don’t want to be because he was in charge during the Great Depression. And certainly a lot of bad things could happen. That would be one of the things. I don’t think it would, but if it did. If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do.

REPORTER: Does that give them leverage over you, Mr. President? Say it. Does that give them leverage, the Iranians’ leverage over you?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, you suck. Leverage? Yeah. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their leaders are all dead. Their whole country is a mess. Their economy is shot. You know, the Times, the fake New York Times said, oh, it’s about the same as it was four months ago. No, four months ago they had a navy, 159 ships to be exact. It’s gone. The whole navy is gone. Their 250 airplanes, all gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. Their radar is gone. These guys love radar. Their radar is gone. Everything is gone. Their leaders are gone. Their whole country is gone. And the Times said, oh, they’re about the same as they were four months ago.

The reason the news is doing so badly, or let’s put it another way, the reason that I won in a landslide, even though I got 92 percent negative press, all fake press, is because nobody believes the press anymore and they have to start believing. When the Times and a couple of others, they’re grasping for strength. When they say that Iran is about the same as it was four months ago, they had a powerful navy. They had a powerful air force. You know, most of their missiles are gone. Most of their launching pads are gone. Most of their manufacturing capacity for drones and missiles is gone, about 87 percent gone. And then I hear, oh, they’re in such great shape. No, they’re gone.

And their first level of leaders, gone. Their second level of leaders, gone. Their third level of leaders, you have to hear the conversations. Who wants to be President? I don’t want it. Nobody wants to be President. And then we have to read that they’re doing well. They’re doing so badly.

In the meantime, we’re setting records. We have the strongest economy we’ve ever had. We have $18 to $19 trillion being poured into our country. We’re building factories all over the place. We have more people working today than at any time in the history of our country at higher salaries. So, when you ask a question like that, it’s so stupid. It’s so stupid. It’s so stupid.

On Israel, Lebanon, and Netanyahu

REPORTER: Mr. President, there’s another beauty. What’s this one?

REPORTER: Well, earlier today, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his forces are not leaving Lebanon. That is a sticking point in this conversation. He said it publicly in Israel. But what would you do to make sure that he doesn’t sabotage the deal?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’m not going to tell you what I’m going to do, but it’s solved. I’m a problem solver. I get problems solved real fast, including with Bibi. Go ahead.

On the Vice President’s Negotiations

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. What’s the latest you’ve heard from the Vice President? Are you happy with his negotiations?

On J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and the Democrats

REPORTER: And can you share a little bit about what Secretary Rubio will be doing in the Middle East this week?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think that they’re doing a fantastic job. Our Secretary is fantastic. I think he’s maybe going to go down as the best ever. And I thought J.D. Vance this morning was fantastic. I watched his news conference. And from Switzerland, he’s a very smart guy. He did a great job.

You know, when I look at the Democrats — I call them the Democrats — the Democrats — when I watched that, where one of them thought it was World War 11. She said, “World War 11.” She meant World War II. You know about that, right? This is one of their potential leaders, Ilhan Omar, who married her brother to get into the country, by the way, illegally.

But when I watch AOC, I have no idea — what a simple question — what happened when she was over in Switzerland, which she probably never went there before. And then I watch somebody like J.D. or Marco. What a — I said, what a difference. What a difference. What a difference a brain makes. I mean, the kind of state that you endorse is going to hold me up for decades.

On UK Prime Minister Starmer’s Resignation

REPORTER: Sir, you’ve been quite critical of Prime Minister Starmer, and he’s now resigned. Your thoughts? And who would you like to see as the next Prime Minister of the U.K.?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I was critical only from the — because I think he’s a lovely man. But I said, you’re really messing up energy. You have windmills all over the place. In the meantime, you have the North Sea oil, and they won’t let anybody drill. It’s one of the great fields in the world.

And they haven’t even found one. You know that the U.K. buys much of its energy. You know where? Norway. You know where they get their oil? The North Sea. The U.K. has a much better portion of the North Sea. They don’t want to do it for environmental purposes, okay?

And I told him, he’s a very nice man. I mean, he’s sort of a friend of mine. I mean, he was not good to us with NATO, Pete, right? He said, “We can’t use the island to land.” That was the first, for a couple of weeks. He said, “Well, but ultimately, I gave it, you know.” That was a bad move. That hurt him badly.

But I mean, I wish him well. But he’s got two problems — energy and immigration. And crime. But energy and immigration. I mean, have you ever heard that before? And he’s really hurt himself very, very badly.

On Defense Contractors and Weapons Manufacturing

REPORTER: Mr. President, can you tell us about your meeting with the defense contractors on Wednesday and what you plan to tell them?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I had a meeting coming up, because I’ve met with them before. We’re building plants all over the country. They are not allowed to take any more stock buybacks. Do you do stock buybacks, by any chance? Not too much, right? No? Because you want to invest in — it’s just an artificial way of raising a price if you’re running a bad company. So, they spent $51 billion on stock buybacks instead of spending them on plants.

Now they can’t do that anymore. Now they are spending a lot of money. We’re building many plants throughout the country. They’re dealing with General Motors. They’re dealing with Ford. But I know General Motors is all excited about building weapons now. They have some plants, which they’re going to switch over, and we’re going to build weapons, including the Patriot, including the Tomahawk, and lots of other things.

And we’re really in a big, strong economic push to do the weapons. And some of the car companies, if they have any excess capacity, they’re making a deal to build missiles, and the Patriot, in particular.

On the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. Vice President Vance said that there are mechanisms in place to make sure that there’s not escalations with the Strait of Hormuz and with Israel and Lebanon. Can you talk about what those mechanisms are? And are you in direct talks with the Strait of Hormuz?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, yeah. Look, look, here’s the thing. As long as they respect us — I don’t want to use the word fear because that’s an inappropriate word — but as long as they respect us, we’re not going to have any trouble. We have total control of the Strait. You know, we have a Navy that had a blockade. I think the blockade was more impactful than dropping bombs, if you want to know the truth.

It was like a — they call it the steel wall. Nobody got through. Not one ship got through able to go to Iran. They got through. We wanted them to go through. And we could set that up again in about 15 minutes. I would say, Pete, one phone call would — how long would it take? Maybe a half hour? They’re ready to go. We’ll go right now if we need to. That’s it. It’ll be before we finish the meeting.

Now, we have — as long as they respect us, we’re going to be fine. If they don’t respect us, things wouldn’t be good. But they have a lot of respect. Don’t forget, we had Presidents that should have done this for 47 years. Nobody did it. Obama — Obama gave them a road to a nuclear weapon. I gave them a wall against a nuclear — they’ll — they can never — under this agreement, they’ll never even think about building a nuclear weapon.

On Colombia’s Election and “El Tigre”

REPORTER: Mr. President, on Colombia, the candidate —

REPORTER: And we know that you had a phone call. We know that you had a phone conversation with Abelardo de la Espina last week. I did. What can you tell us about that phone conversation? And what did you see? What did you anticipate?

REPORTER: Yes, sir. I’m from Colombia.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So he called me last night, and he thanked me for the endorsement. He won. He won the election. It wasn’t — he wasn’t anticipated to win. But he won, and he won handily. It’s just an honor. He was just a good man. I’d watch him a little bit speak, and he always speak — you know, when people like me, I like them. It’s very simple. It’s a very simple formula.

And I like them. He said really nice things about me and the job we’ve done in the United States. And — very, very powerful. And he won an election in Colombia that — I don’t know, some people were surprised because he was a little bit further down the pack. But he won easily last night. He won by — called me at 8:30 in the evening just to thank me very much. And I said, you ran a great campaign. He said, El Tigre, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

REPORTER: And what do you anticipate for the relation with Colombia?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Much better. It’ll be better. He’s going to be a great president.

On the Reflecting Pool Damage

REPORTER: Mr. President, are the contractors who did the initial work for the Reflecting Pool, are they to blame for the current condition? Or is it the vandals that you mentioned?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, no, no. Vandals — you know, we have a — I think a 290, 300-foot slit right through it, probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind.

Vandalism at the National Mall: Arrests and Investigation

We had people lifting up the basic — some of the — it’s not a lot of damage, but it’s — we’ll probably have to let the water out and refix it. They went in there with a knife. I was just told by the — by the people over at Parks, they have — five people are arrested and five people are under investigation right now. And it’s a sad thing.

In addition to that, they — you know, we put brand-new, beautiful grass all around. They put these massive letters on the grass. You probably know about that, right? And they said, 86, 47. They probably got that from the dirty cop. You know he’s a dirty cop, don’t you? Dirty cop. He’s a crooked guy. They destroyed the grass. So, that’s a big thing. But we’re going to get it back very soon.

REPORTER: The National Guard and police have been all over the mall. How would these vandals have gotten so close to do something like that? I mean, we didn’t have — we didn’t have a lot of them then. I would think that somebody would go into a pool and take a knife and start cutting it.

Press Exchange: Evidence of the Damage

REPORTER: But do you have proof of that, that they used a knife? Do you have photos or videos?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, let’s put it this way. When you have a 350 — I think it’s 350, not 250 — a 350-foot slit from one end to the other, you think that’s proof? You think that’s proof?

REPORTER: But the reports have been down there today looking for that slit that you mentioned, and there’s no evidence of it.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, you’d have to go see the Parks Department. They’ll show it to you. Or see — see the Secretary. But I saw it. They cut it. They cut it very violently. The same thing with the floor. They cut it. And then they lifted it. They pulled it. And that’s what it is.

Beautification Efforts: Fountains, Statues, and the Reflecting Pool

And, you know, we’ve done over 50 monuments. Number one, we start with, this is now a safe city. It’s the safest — as safe a city as you’re going to get in the country. And when I came here, it was a very dangerous city. And number two, what we did is the beautification with the parks and the grass and the removal of all the tents. And this is like a different place.

One of the things we did is over 50 fountains and statues, most of which were in horrible shape. All of them were bad, but some were just absolutely horrible. Graffiti, you couldn’t even see the stone. They’ve all been fixed. We also fixed the reflecting pool. In fact, if you go over there right now, it looks very good. It’s up.

They put, somebody said, fertilizer in the water. If you put fertilizer in the water, you get algae. But somebody said they might have put fertilizer. They did something to create the algae. But that doesn’t matter because that’s been purified. It’s dead. Laying at the bottom, they’re taking it out. They vacuum it out. They vacuum it very carefully out. And it’ll be back to health pretty soon.

We’re going to have to let the water out to fix the one little — there’s two little areas, very little areas where they were cut. And we’ll fix that. But it’s not leaking or anything. It’s got a base underneath.

Questions About Cost and Timeline

REPORTER: Part of what’s curious about this situation is we stood here with you in April when you first revealed the plans.

DONALD TRUMP: I said what?

REPORTER: In April, when you showed us pictures of what you were going to do at the pool, and you said you had a guy who was going to do it in a week for about a million dollars. Well, it’s been two months and 16 and a half million dollars.

DONALD TRUMP: Okay, ready? Barack Hussein Obama. Have you ever heard of him?

REPORTER: Yes.

DONALD TRUMP: He spent two years and over 100 million dollars on trying to fix it. You know what happened to it? Never even opened.

On the LA Fire Recovery and Spending

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We took the water for the river. You know about that, right? It turned out to be putrid and it destroyed the whole thing. Spent over 100 million. Him and Biden together spent 147 million dollars. You know what happened? Never opened. You don’t mention that, right?

We spent about 10. Many of the, much of the money we spent are park workers. They’re there whether they do this or not, as you know. They work in the park and they’re very good workers. They did a great job. So they were going to spend three to four hundred million dollars. You know that. And it was going to take four years.

I spent about six, seven weeks. And I spent probably in terms of outside, probably 10 million dollars. Around 10 million. But a lot of them are workers that work for the same thing. So they were going to spend 400 million. I spent 10. They were going to spend four years. I spent two months, maybe less. And I have a better product.

Now I can’t help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up. And we also have pictures of it, you know. We have pictures.

REPORTER: Can you release the photos? Because we’ve been asking for them.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You’ll see it. You’ll see it in court. You’ll see it in court. I just called the Parks Department. I called the Department of Interior. And I don’t know if their lawyers will allow you to speak to them because, you know, you write fake, you write fake news. But I called the Interior Department. And I understand they’ve arrested five people and they have another five people that are under investigation.

On Crime Reduction Across American Cities

Here’s the bottom line. We made so much progress in this city. People don’t even recognize it. By the way, Memphis, Tennessee, crime is down 78 percent in a matter of months. It was a hellhole. New Orleans, crime is down 79 percent. And they had Mardi Gras. It was the safest Mardi Gras they’ve had in 50 years.

The governor called me. Governor Landry called me. Safest Mardi Gras they’ve had in — and by the way, Chicago, which is a shooting field right now, if the governor would call me, Governor Pritzker would call me, I would solve the Chicago problem. In three, four months, you’d have virtually a crime-free city.

We’ll remove all of the bad ones. You have criminals. You have career criminals that came in through the border because of Sleepy Joe Biden. You ever hear of Sleepy Joe Biden? Do you ever hear of him? He let people come into this country, and we can never forget that that happened. Guys like you should never forget that that happened.

They were murderers, drug dealers, mental patients. They took them out of prisons. They took them out of mental institutions. You should never forget that that happened.

On NATO and U.S. Troop Presence

REPORTER: Mr. President, you’re meeting — Mr. President, you’re meeting — Let’s leave on a nicer note. You’re meeting with NATO’s Mark Rutte on Wednesday. You’ve had Secretary Hegseth review U.S. presence in NATO countries. Talk to us about that conversation. Are you planning on drawing down U.S. troops?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, look, look, look. NATO. It’s NATO, basically, the question. So we have been a great member of NATO, the — in many ways, certainly the predominant member. We paid trillions of dollars over the years — not billions, trillions over the years — to protect Europe.

When we wanted to know, I didn’t need — we didn’t need any help at all. I was more curious than anything else. So I said to Pete, let’s see if they’d actually come. So we asked them to come, and they weren’t there for us. So we spent as stupid that they weren’t.

By the way, Starmer wasn’t there. And you know what? The people of the UK did not like it that he wasn’t there. Starmer said no. Starmer said, worse than no. He said, “We’ll be there as soon as you win.” I said, “We don’t need you as soon as we win.”

On NATO Allies Refusing to Help

Before I went in, we called him. He said, “Oh, wow, we’ll be there.” This was not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with, that I can tell you. But Starmer said, “We’ll be there, right, Pete, as soon as we win. As soon as we win, they’re going to come and help us.” Okay, thanks.

But you know what? Italy was very bad. Italy was very bad. And other countries — Germany was very bad. So we spent all of this money, probably 600 — I think we spent 600 million a year, right? I would say that. I think the real number — think of that. The numbers that we spend are so crazy, on NATO, and they weren’t there for us.

So I say to Pete and I say to everybody else, if we’re spending all of this money, hundreds — just hundreds of millions of dollars to protect them from Russia, mostly. Okay, so we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year. You know, the case could be made that we spent all of the money over the years before me. I cut it — I cut it back. But listen, we spent all of this money. And then when we want to maybe have help on a — on small stuff, this is a small time. This is not the big one. This is small potatoes. They say no and would rather not help. Stupid thing to say. Because we can say that to them if we want, and we might.

One-Year Anniversary of Operation Midnight Hammer

REPORTER: It’s the one-year anniversary of Operation Midnight Hammer. If you could go back in time, is there anything you would do differently?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No.

REPORTER: Nothing at all?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: It was the most successful attack that anyone’s ever seen with a bomber that totally wiped out their nuclear potential. If we didn’t do that, you’d have no Israel right now. Israel would not exist, and most of the Middle East would not exist. They were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon. If we wouldn’t have done that, Pete, they would have had a nuclear weapon. You want to say something about that?

PETE HEGSETH: Yes, sir. I wasn’t aware it was one year. But you don’t have the situation we have now, a position of strength where Iran’s going to give up their nuclear program without Midnight Hammer, which no other country on planet Earth could remotely, conceivably pull off — that from start to finish, 37 hours back and forth. Iran never saw it. And every munition, precision munition that only we make, hit exactly where we wanted it to.

And they knew we were coming, and they could do nothing. They could do nothing about it with their air defenses, which are even further now degraded. And that’s what everyone misses in the press, and the President’s right to call it fake news, because the overwhelming military victory that has been had over Iran is what has set the conditions for them to be at the table with our negotiators. And we will ensure, whether it’s through a deal or through the War Department, that they never get a nuclear weapon because of this President right here.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay? Thank you very much, everybody.

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