Read the full transcript of President Donald Trump remarks to reporters Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2025.
TRANSCRIPT:
Kennedy Center Board Meeting
REPORTER: Mr. President, what do you think of this tomorrow? What’s the kind of response you’re going to get?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. We’re here to have our first board meeting, Kennedy Center, and it’s in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of the rest of our country, most of it because of bad management. This is a shame. What I’ve watched and witnessed, they spent a fortune, $250 million, and they built these rooms that nobody’s going to use, rooms underground. And I’ve often wondered, what are the big cubes that they have outside that block the view? The cubes with the door in them, so that people can get down to rooms that nobody’s going to use. And it’s a shame. It’s a shame.
The other thing is, we’re going to have a little problem with some people that work here. We had Lee Greenwood wanted to sing a little song today, and because of the cost and the union structure, for him to sing a song just for the board, just a board meeting, it was going to cost $30,000. That doesn’t sound too good. They wanted $30,000 to move a piano. So you can’t have that. So we’re going to fix it up.
But it’s really emblematic of our country. At the Kennedy Center, you look at the columns outside, you look at, they’re supposed to be covered by something, whether it’s marble or whatever, granite. They were never covered. They were painted. But bring it into more modern times, a lot of money’s been given to it, and the money has not been properly spent. They built rooms underground with no windows, no nothing, that will not be used ever.
You’re not going to have people use them. It’s such a waste of money, such a terrible waste.
But we’ll make it, we’ll bring it back, we’ll make it great again. But it is so much like what I’m witnessing in other places. We have open borders. We have men playing in women’s sports. It’s all the same thing. It’s all the same mentality and thinking.
So I’m very disappointed when I look around. At the bottom line, it has tremendous potential. And we’ll work with Congress. As you know, it’s a very public facility. And we’ll do what has to be done. We’ll be having a meeting with the Speaker in the not-too-distant future. I think it’s important to save this structure and this building. I think maybe we close up some of the work that’s been done and built, because it was done terribly. It was done terribly. The concept was very bad.
REPORTER: Mr. President, why was it so important for you to come here today to the Kennedy Center? You have so much on your plate. Why come stay here?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: This represents a very important part of DC and actually our country. And I think it’s important to make sure that our country is in good shape and is represented well. When people look at this, I’ve been hearing for a long time that they come here and they’re very disappointed. When they come here, I want them to be excited.
We’re bringing a big move on to Washington, DC. We’re going to stop the crime. We actually worked with the mayor. We took down a lot of tents that were all over the place in front of the State Department. And they did a good job of that. I was very happy with what the mayor did. She was able to get them out quickly at my direction and at the direction of the administration. But we’re cleaning up Washington, DC. This is a big part of Washington, DC.
REPORTER: For Americans visiting Washington and thinking about seeing a show at the Kennedy Center, what would you tell them? Is there a band before and they want to come check it out?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’d say come here and see a show. I was never a big fan. I never liked Hamilton very much. And I never liked it. But we are going to have some really good shows. I would say this. Come here and watch it and you’ll see over a period of time it will improve very greatly physically. And we’re going to get some very good shows.
The thing that does well are Broadway hits. And we have some beauty. I guess we have Les Mis coming and we have some others. But the Broadway hits have done very well. So I’m going to spend some time. We have a good board.
Foreign Policy and Current Events
PRESIDENT TRUMP: In the meantime, we’re running the country and we’re running it well. We have tremendous things to report. Tomorrow I’m speaking with President Putin of Russia to save some soldiers who are in deep trouble. They’re captured. Essentially they’re surrounded by Russian soldiers. So I give you a lot of different things in one news conference. But it’s a big deal. They’re surrounded by Russian soldiers. And I believe if it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t be here any longer. I was able to get them not to do anything at this moment.
But it’s a bad situation in Russia. And it’s a bad situation in Ukraine. What’s happening in Ukraine is not good. But we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace. And I think we’ll be able to do it. I’m speaking to President Putin tomorrow morning. Yes.
REPORTER: [Question Inaudible]
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, not at all. No. Really the opposite. I think it was appreciated. And we have to understand and you have to understand that if I see somebody doing something bad, that’s going to cause a lot of death. The only reason I’m involved, and this is Russia and Ukraine, but a lot of people, it’s humanity. I’m involved for humanity. A lot of people are being killed over there. And we had to get Ukraine to do the right thing. It was not an easy situation. You got to see a little glimpse at the Oval Office. But I think they’re doing the right thing right now. And we’re trying to get a peace agreement done. We want to get a ceasefire and then a peace agreement.
REPORTER: [Question Inaudible]REPORTER:
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Who are you with?
REPORTER: [Question Inaudible]
PRESIDENT TRUMP: So we’re going to see how it all works out. This was Joe Biden’s deal. This isn’t Trump’s deal. This is Joe Biden’s deal. He gave $350 billion to Ukraine and he shouldn’t have done it. It wasn’t secured. Europe gave $100 billion and it was in the form of a loan. They get their money back. And they should have. They should actually have much more in it than us. But Joe Biden was grossly incompetent. And it’s a shame what they did. What they did. $350 billion. We could have rebuilt our entire Navy for that kind of money.
REPORTER: [Question Inaudible]
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we have done that with many. I would say if there are 18 with Hunter Biden, that will be something I look at this afternoon.
Okay? I just heard about it for the first time. So you have 18 Secret Service going. Where is he? In South Africa. In South Africa. And South Africa, you know, is on a watch list. You know that. Because what they’re doing to people is brutal. And I’ve stopped having money go to South Africa. You know that. Billions of dollars. So he’s in South Africa. That’s very interesting. All right. I’m going to take a look at that. Thank you very much. Thank you.
REPORTER: [Question Inaudible]
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we’re going to take a look. I love Wichita. You know, I got big votes there. We won that state by a lot. We’ll take a look at that. When did this happen?
REPORTER: [Question Inaudible]
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Terrible. I think it’s a terrible thing. And this was a Catholic church. I’m going to take a look at it. Thank you very much, everybody.
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