Transcript: Trump Signs Proclamation Opening More Protected Ocean Areas To Commercial Fishing

That someday they were going to take away the right for you to go fishing in the Pacific Ocean? What a bunch of dubs.

Those decisions closed off vast resources. And really, the richest fishing grounds, they say, anywhere in the world, destroyed livelihoods and made the United States more dependent on foreign products.

Maine and the Atlantic Ocean Restrictions

And I did a similar thing for Maine. Maine is very much in the subject because they have a pig running for the Senate. He’s a pig, instead of senator. It’s a joke. He’s a con man. But — so it’s in the — and, you know, I won half of Maine. I won the — they have two. I won the one by a lot. Fishermen, actually. Come to think of it. Fishermen and the lumberjacks, people that go out there and work. I won them. You know, I love Maine.

But it’s amazing. They had a five — I think it was 500-mile by 500-mile — massive amount of the Atlantic Ocean. You weren’t allowed to fish, but Canada was. Japan was. They all came in and fished, but our people weren’t allowed to fish there. That was put in by Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? Barack Hussein Obama. And sleepy Joe Biden. And it’s a shame. I’m in shame.

But I did it a little while ago and opened it up to them. Twice I’ve done it now. Peter, right? Sir. Peter Navarro. The great Peter Navarro. And I did it twice. I did it. And then they had a rigged election, and I wasn’t here. Totally rigged election.

California Election Remarks

Just like what was happening in California. You see what — they got the kid out, and then they were doing the same thing to Steve Hilton. I started bringing it. They said, “Look,” they said, “it’s going to take two more weeks.” It was a week. And it was heading south. And I started saying it’s a rigged election. And then they said it was going to take two weeks. One week, two weeks. And all of a sudden, he was approved.

You know why? Because the heat was on. He couldn’t get away with it. If I didn’t do it, I guarantee he wouldn’t — he wouldn’t be the nominee. It’s a rigged election. Our country — and we have to get, by the way, the Save America Act has to get passed by the Senate. House has passed it three times.

Reopening Nearly Half a Million Square Miles of Ocean

But with today’s action, we’re officially reopening nearly half a million square miles — wow — of water around northwestern Hawaiian Islands, northern Mariana Islands, and America — American Samoa. I mean, we’ll ask you in a second, but why the hell didn’t they close it? I don’t know why. There’s not enough fish or what’s going on. They closed it. Peter, do you have any reasons why they closed it?

Obama’s Restrictions and Foreign Fishing

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Obama — Barack Hussein Obama, environmental activist, tried to shut it down. But you’re right, sir, it’s crazy. They let all the foreign boats — It ruined a big industry, by the way. — the foreign boats come in. It’s crazy. And they leave — they leave our captains out. It’s crazy. It’s bad — bad for fishing businesses, too. But we’ll make it up for it, right?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, sir. And this will support millions of dollars in annual harvests of big-eyed tuna, swordfish, reef fish, and many other types of fish. It will protect small local fisheries and coastal communities that depend on their livelihoods. I mean, they are very dependent on this. And it will increase domestic seafood production to help lower costs for American communities. And you’re talking about millions — tens of millions of dollars of income. And we have so much. These areas — I mean, they just, like, say, oh, let’s just close them. The amazing thing is, in other countries, there’s no restriction. You can go and do whatever you want. It’s just crazy.

America’s fishermen have never had a better ally in the White House than Donald Trump. That I will say. I shouldn’t say that because I don’t want to brag, but —

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It’s true. It’s true.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: — based on the vote, we’re getting almost every vote ever. So — but you have never had. And again, in Maine —

Maine Lobster and Foreign Fishing in U.S. Waters

I opened it up. You know who was fishing there? Canada. Canada. Japan. What’s fishing there? Maine lobster. You couldn’t get a Maine lobster. You had to go to Japan to get a Maine lobster. You believe it? You had to go to Canada to get a Maine lobster. They were fishing there. Not only that, you had to go a day and a half in a boat. And they had you at three knots. That means, like, essentially a little bit different than three miles an hour, but it means slow. Three knots, until you got outside of this 500-mile area, because they didn’t want you to disturb the fish that you weren’t allowed to fish for. But think of it. These people are crazy.

The Electric Boat Mandate

And the new thing they had was you had to have an electric boat, even though they didn’t work, and even though once you got out there, you had a problem, because you couldn’t get back, because they didn’t charge long enough. These are problems that were mentioned to them, and they said, “We don’t care. You have to have an electric boat.” And the other problem is the electric battery is much heavier, as you know. So the boat has a tendency to sink. And they were forced, you know, by 2030 or so, you were forced to have an electric boat. I don’t think you were too happy with that, right?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Not at all.

Fishermen, Fisherwomen, and Political Correctness

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Anyway. But, Will, this is going to support millions and millions of people. America’s fishermen have just — they’re special people. And it’s fishermen and fisherwomen. So tell me, how do they define that? Because in most industries, like you have policemen, policemen, do you call them fishermen and fisherwomen? I haven’t heard of that one before. And I put it — are we — how are the women? Do they want to be designated as fisherwomen? Does anybody want to answer that question?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes. So fishermen, fisherwomen. If you want to be politically correct, sometimes they use the term fisher. I like fishermen or fisherwomen myself.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: How about fisher people? These people are crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So, President Trump, I Googled that because I was at the same dilemma you did, trying to figure out how to be politically correct. So the Google answer said that most women attribute to fishermen because they feel like they’re strong individuals and they can do the work of a man.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, be careful. That might be the end of your career.

Rolling Back Burdensome Regulations

My administration has already rolled back burdensome regulations to increase gear flexibility. You know what that means, right? Do you know what that means? I heard they made you buy gear that you didn’t want.

Expanding Fishing Access: Economic Impact and Maritime Heritage

And that didn’t work. Other than that, it was quite good. Expedite. I guarantee the guy made contributions to buy whoever owns the company that made the bad gear. Expedite fishing start dates and significantly raise catch limits based on the best available science. You know about that? That’s unbelievable.

We expanded access to key fishing grounds in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, including vast areas off the coast of New England. I mentioned 500 miles by 500 miles. That’s a lot. That’s a lot of fish. It’s a lot of lobster that was being sold by Japan. I will tell you, foreign countries are very happy because they ended up taking over the main lobster business, main lobster business, live from Japan. But we gave it back to him.

These actions have unlocked billions of dollars in economic value and protected thousands and thousands of jobs from great people that voted for Trump. They voted for me because of common sense. That’s all it is. Because anybody can see this stuff is crazy. This is one industry, but other industries likewise. And right now, we have $18 trillion being invested in our country. And under the last administration, it was less than one. And 18 is 18 trillion, by the way, less than a year. It was four years less than one. Right, Howard? That’s correct.

By restoring fishing access to these waters in the Western Pacific, we’re reclaiming our maritime heritage, empowering American fishermen, and putting American consumers first with lower prices. You’re going to have more fish, lower prices.

So now let’s hear from, first, Secretary Lutnick and then Secretary Burgum, followed by Governor Dunleavy and Frank Dulstich and Captain Sig Hansen. And then we’ll take some questions. And maybe you want to hear a little bit about some other subjects. But to me, it’s really important. I’m going to sign this now so that we get it done.

Signing the Proclamation

No auto pen? I don’t want an auto pen. Can you believe 94 percent signed by an auto pen? Can you believe that? I think it’s higher than 94 percent. The only one that was definitely signed by him that we know of. You know what it was? It was his son. It was his son. He signed. That was the only one. You could tell. You know why? Because his signature was horrible. This is the real beauty of that one. Okay.

500,000 Square Miles Reopened to American Fishermen

Do we want to do some questions? Do we like to speak? Yeah, go ahead.

Lutnick: So this action, 500,000 square miles were closed to American fishing. You couldn’t go and fish. 500,000 square miles. I mean, just think of how big that is. And if you had an American flag, you weren’t allowed there. But of course, everybody else went. So they went in our waters. These are our waters.

So what did that result in? That resulted in us, instead of having seafood exports, because we have great fishing opportunity, we were an importer. We became an importer of seafood. How crazy is that? So the president is finally changing that. This is a massive win for our fishermen, a massive win for our waterfront communities who process it, all these processors. And in the end, we are going to eat fish caught by us. What a shock, eating fish caught by us in our waters.

So this is just common sense, smart. We already have the best conservation rules in the world. And this was one on top of another, on top of another. So thank God, from the fishermen’s perspective, and I get these calls all the time, that President Donald Trump is in this office because he’s finally letting our great fishermen and fisherwomen get out there and catch fish and stop importing fish. Let’s eat fish caught by Americans. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Echoing that, with President Trump’s leadership, this is another promise made, promise kept by President Trump, that he was going to roll back these job-killing, community-killing, industry-killing jobs. He’s done that last year with executive orders, doing it today with his proclamation. So I want to say thank you to President Trump.

Lawmakers and Industry Leaders Express Gratitude

I want to say thank you to my great friend, Secretary Lutnick, in Congress. We have dual responsibilities across Congress and Interior related to fish, and of course with our partners in the Pacific, because American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands. We’ve got the Congresswoman here from Northern Marianas Islands. These are all American citizens. As Howard said, this is US territorial waters. They were closed to us and opened to others, and that makes no sense.

We’ve reversed that around, and so again, as you see around us, the jobs that are creating this industry are often second, third, fourth, and fifth generation family businesses. These folks not only risk their lives, they risk their own personal capital to help feed America. They’re the farmers of the sea. Just like President Trump’s behind our farmers and ranchers, he’s behind our fishermen. He’s making sure that America is great.

This brings back healthy food for our schools, our military, all the things that we’re working on with Secretary Kennedy and with Pete Hegseth. So this is a win-win-win across the board. Again, thank you, President Trump. Thank you, Howard. Great day for America.

Alaska’s Fishing Industry: America First

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr. President. This is another example of America first, to be honest with you. Alaska provides 60% of the country’s seafood. We’re the state with halibut, salmon, king crab. You name it, it comes from Alaska. Fishing in Alaska is one of the oldest industries in that entire state. It employs thousands of individuals. Everyone has had fish from Alaska. We know that.

But this is an example, again, putting America first, America first, workers first, and really this country first. And so on behalf of Alaska, on behalf of all fishermen and women, I want to thank you for what you’re doing for this country and for the state of Alaska as well.

Trump: Governor, is this shut down? I mean, it’s just so hard to believe. So this was trauma for your industry, which is a big industry.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, your deregulation is what really helps Alaska. It helps the fishermen. The country doesn’t need more regulation. We need less regulation. And that includes for this industry as well. So from that perspective, and it’s across the board. We could talk about oil and gas and so forth, but this is about fish. But your deregulation approach is really what we need. We don’t need more costs. And as you said, we probably don’t need electric boats either. We need to focus on getting seafood to Americans, putting people to work. And this is exactly what this does. So I just want to thank you.

TRUMP: Thanks, Governor. Thanks. Good job.

A Third-Generation Fishing Family’s American Dream

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mr. President, I’m here for a couple of fish. Mr. President, we’re third generation. These two are some of our kids as a rule of four. Pacific Sea, we immigrated. My grandfather immigrated into this country and started his first fish market in 1941. From there, we now are one of the largest family vertically integrated seafood companies in North America.

It was an American dream, and I’m honored to have been born in Portland, Oregon to now Arizona.

I’m not a liberal. There’s probably more people than you think, as Republicans consider. If we could count the votes, that’s another issue.

Yeah, if you could count the votes properly, yeah.

But where we are is this, the act, the proclamation today, and the executive order last year and prior to this is really going to help us. We have 3,000 families that work with us, and 715 fishing families, lower 48 in Oregon, Washington, California, and Alaska that depend on what we catch, what we process, and what we grow and sell is the healthiest protein on the planet.

And you’ve given us access to these family-wage jobs in these coastal communities where we’re usually the number one or number two employer in those cities and counties and coastal communities. And so I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of that 3,000 employees and 715 fishermen. Thank you, Mr. President. Secretaries, thank you, and everybody that supports this industry.

Fishermen Share Their Stories With President Trump

TRUMP: Did you ever see this happening when they destroyed your whole life and your family and your business and everything else? Did you ever think that somebody would come along and save it?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I’m going to just be really clear. There’s never been a president to do this.

TRUMP: Thank you. It’s very nice.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just want to say, Mr. President, that, you know, my father always said, always give credit where credit is due. And I’m here representing the working man, the fisherman. I am one myself, as you know. And, you know, I spent a couple of months with you on The Apprentice, and I saw your work ethic there.

And I got to tell you, you know, I understand that I can’t fathom how you can do all this and how you can get the time to do what you do and representing us and helping the fishermen the way you’ve done. It’s just mind boggling to me because I know you’ve got your hands full, but putting us on that pedestal and backing up our industry the way you have, it’s just phenomenal.

And I got to say, I’ve been fishing since I was 12 years old. I’ve never been fired in my life until I spent a couple of months with this man. And it was very humbling to say the least. He did a great job. I’ll tell you what, you know, when I think about it, I was a better captain after that because I was very nice to my crew. I was very humbled when I was fired. And anyway, I just want to say, as for you, this is a crew member’s cap. You can take that. And you’re one of us now. Thank you.

“Farmers of the Sea”

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. You’ve done more for this nation in the fishing space. We’re farmers of the sea. We produce this great, healthy protein. I’m from North Carolina, but we support you 100%. You’ve done more for this nation in the seafood space than any president before you in my lifetime. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. I’m Eric from Hawaii. The United States fisheries are the best managed in the world. And this action is really about balancing, you know, the interests in the U.S. exclusive economic zone. You can have both ocean protection under our laws as well as sustainable fishing. And that’s what this is about.

And I think, Mr. President, you are the only president that has really stepped up in terms of supporting fishermen like you’re doing. No other president we’ve seen for the administration that’s helping us. And there’s a lot more work to do because there’s a tremendous seafood deficit in trade. Imports are undercutting us left and right.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: But seafood is healthy. They’re taking it right out of your water.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, seafood is a healthy food. They’re taking it from your water and selling it to the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That’s right. The whole thing is just crazy. So I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

The Sea Scallop Industry and New Bedford

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr. President, to you and your family for the sacrifice and the commitment to the country. Thank you. I’m in the sea scallop business. I don’t know who likes sea scallops. But New Bedford, Massachusetts, is a port that is recognized as the highest grossing revenue port in the United States. I don’t know who knows where New Bedford is.

But sea scallops, there’s roughly 300 vessels or 300 full-time vessels. They range from 85 feet to 100 feet. Six came from New Bedford. And you talked earlier about some examples of stupidity or whatever. We have vessels that can cost anywhere between $3 to $5 million. And those vessels only work for 35 days a year. They sit the rest of the time at the dock. So we need certain things that can help us. And I know that because of your executive order, it’s a game-changer. That order is a game-changer for us. And one more example.

George’s Bank: A 30-Year Closure

There’s an area that, like Frank mentioned on the Pacific side, but there’s an area off George’s Bank that’s 248 square miles. 248 square miles.

Restricted. Is it now restricted? It’s been closed since 1995. And here we are 29 years later. We can’t even get in. It’s the best scallop ground in the United States. Take a look at it. I spoke with the gentleman before him. You talked about stupidity. How crazy is that? We haven’t been able to get in there for 30 years. And it’s been environmentalist.

TRUMP: Do other people get in?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: There’s lots of guys in there. From other countries. Mostly the United States. But it’s the best scallop ground that we have in the United States.

TRUMP: How do they get in if it’s restricted?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, they can get in. We can’t. They won’t allow scallop fishing in there. For dollars? So it’s prohibited for us. Crazy. Just think of a boat that we have that sits. And we’ve asked. We’re working. And I just explained it to Secretary Lutnick. We’re right now pretty close to where we could easily take a permit and put another permit on it. Why should we let these boats sit at the dock for 330 days? It’s crazy.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll look at that.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you so much. And we appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Federal Advisor on the Sea Scallop Fishery

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So I’m a federal advisor on the sea scallops plan, President Trump. And I spend a lot of time helping advise the council how to manage that fishery. It’s the best managed fishery in the world. Bar none of any fishery we have. But it’s ludicrous to allow those scallops. They live about 8 to 10 years. And we’ve already gone through three different cycles of those scallops maturing and dying that we’re not harvesting. There’s a way for us to do that. And your director means it. It’s a positive as opposed to a negative. It needs to be. And they die. They just die. They die. They die.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So a scallop will die of old age.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It’ll die of old age. But it needs to be.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: How do they taste when they’re dead?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Not very good.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Not very good. Not good?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Not good. And you talked about the MAHA. Frank said his fish, the scallops are one of the best proteins. They are. It’s a wrestle. They could come to the UFC.

Tariffs and the Price of Crab

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Anybody else? Are you guys okay?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Another thing too. The price of crab has tripled for us. So we’re not getting that competition from other countries.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Explain that. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Russian product, for example. So tariffs. Our price just skyrocketed. And it sells. People are buying it. It sells. So in other words, at the dock, we’ve received triple the amount of what we’ve seen in the past. So the demand is there and people buy it.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We have a fish woman who’d like to.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, sure.

An Alaska Crab Fishing Family

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Hi, Mr. President. My husband, Sterling, is here.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I’m doing well. He’s in Alaska. He’s an Alaska Bering Sea crab fisherman. And I’m a farmer’s daughter from Iowa.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good. Good. Good combination.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It is. Harvesters. We’re both harvesters. I just wanted to say thank you for your leadership in representing not only fishing families, but the farmers too, to help make American agriculture and not only that, but Alaskan seafood.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Very good. Thank you very much. Great couple. Thank you. It’s a good combination. I like that. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Offshore Wind Turbines and the Fishing Industry

REPORTER: This is a question that will directly impact the fishing industry. Fishermen cheered and support you in your fight to stop offshore wind turbines because experts say that they destroy the commercial fishing industry, not to mention they’re a national security threat, as you’ve highlighted. Does your administration plan to continue to fight the judge’s ruling that’s allowing for the continuation of the turbines?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Always.

REPORTER: Right by Jamaica Bay, right where you live off of the Atlantic? Yeah. I know. 154 of them are going to litter the sea. Will you support that?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Offshore Wind Towers: Threats to Fisheries, Marine Life, and National Security

154 of them are going to litter the sea. Will you put a stop to that, Mr. President, now that Kathy Hochul broke her deal about the pipeline? And she did break her deal.

TRUMP: Doug, do you want to answer that question? Because I am for it. She broke her deal by stopping a pipeline. She wanted to stop a pipeline, which was so good for New England and so good for Connecticut. And she broke her deal. What do you want to do on that, Doug?

DOUG BURGUM: Well, I think I want to say, first of all, absolutely, positively, the construction of these wind towers have an effect on fisheries. We’ve had a lot of wind turbines. So, plenty of evidence that it destroys fisheries.

Number two is marine mammals, which Howard has in NOAA. It’s affected — we’ve had more whales wash up on shore during the construction of offshore things, so it’s not great for marine life, not great for fisheries.

We also have a report from Secretary Pete Hickson which conclusively shows this is a national security threat and we should understand this was thrown out by the Democrats and said no, it’s not, and it can’t be a national security — they’re just making it up. Other countries including Sweden have canceled offshore wind projects because of national security issues and all you have to do is pay attention to the way the wars are being fought today.

It’s autonomous on autonomous, a lot of it low altitude. These wind towers that President Trump has worked to try to stop — the towers themselves can be 600 feet, the blades 250 on top of that. You could launch an attack on the U.S. in the Northeast in our most populous area with a bunch of autonomous drones coming through a wind tower field which cover thousands if not tens of thousands of miles. That level of attack would be undetectable until it came through because of the radar interference.

And then we know that there’s autonomous undersea activity going on now that’s happening in the Gulf with advances in technology on all sides. The sonar, the vibration of running the wind towers affects the undersea sonar. So it’s a huge national security threat, bad for marine mammals, bad for fish. President Trump is going to keep fighting for what’s right for this country.

TRUMP: But you stopped the blades right now — they’re coming over from Asia right now, they’re sending the blades to start installing them. And on top of that, it’s the most expensive electricity, it’s weather dependent, it’s intermittent and it’s foreign sourced as you say. And they do affect fishing and it’s very bad and everybody’s against it.

Iran Nuclear Deal: Trump Says Agreement Is Close

REPORTER: Mr. President, on Iran, how confident are you that there will be a signing this weekend because you have come close to sealing a deal but at the last minute it has fallen apart?

TRUMP: It’ll be soon, maybe this weekend.

REPORTER: And has the Supreme Leader approved this deal, sir?

TRUMP: I understand the answer is yes.

REPORTER: And when this deal is signed, is the United States going to immediately lift the blockade?

TRUMP: Yes, that’s part of the deal. And you’ll have oil prices dropping like a rock.

REPORTER: And sir, have you actually secured an agreement on the discussions about the nuclear material and the nuclear negotiations?

TRUMP: Conceptually on that and nobody’s getting close to it because it’s buried under a mountain basically. There’s B-2 bombers today.

REPORTER: Mr. President, but has Iran committed to not pursuing a nuclear weapon or will there be more negotiations on that down the line?

TRUMP: They will not have a nuclear weapon, they’ve agreed to that. There will be no — which is the whole reason, which is a big part of the reason.

REPORTER: Is that going to be your agreement, sir?

TRUMP: They will not only not have, they will not purchase, develop in any way, any shape, in any way, shape or form a nuclear weapon. They will not have a nuclear weapon.

On Iran Nuclear Deal Progress

REPORTER: President, just to follow up on that, you have said before that Iran and the United States were close to a deal. It has not happened yet. Why are you so convinced that this time is different?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because they’ve taken a pounding. They’ve taken a pounding like very few people could take. And they want to make the deal a lot more than I do. And we could have had it done the other way, I guess, but it would have taken longer. They got hit very hard recently, as you know. And I don’t like to have to do things that way, but I felt it was necessary.

It’s a great deal for the United States and for the Middle East. And I think ultimately great for Iran because they’ll be able to build up their country and other countries. I really believe it’s a regime change because I find these people to be much more rational than the people that are no longer with us. We knocked out the first team of leadership. The second team of leadership is a different group, is a different level. And I think it’s, frankly, a smarter level, and it’s a level that has reason.

And they’ve all approved the deal. Everybody has approved the deal. And now we’ll get it finished up, and hopefully that’ll be done. We will not have Iran having a nuclear weapon, which is very important to these people behind me. We can talk about fishing. There won’t be anybody to fish. The fish will still be around, I guess. They’re probably going to be affected, too. We’re not going to let it happen.

So Iran will essentially – most important paragraph to me – Iran will in no way, shape, or form have a nuclear weapon or purchase a nuclear weapon.

On the Memorandum of Understanding

REPORTER: But this was a concept of that agreement when it comes to nuclear. You said this was just a concept of that agreement. So is this just essentially setting the stage for deeper talks on nuclear?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it’s a very strong memorandum of understanding. That is a little conceptual, but it’s something that’s going to get done. And if it doesn’t get done for any reason, which I can’t imagine that not happening – they want to sign it as much as I do or more. I would say they want to sign it more, maybe a lot more. But it’s a very detailed memorandum of understanding, also agreed to by many other countries that have great influence over them, and everybody wants it done. So it’s going to get done.

On Iran’s Sincerity in Pursuing Diplomacy

REPORTER: The President suggested yesterday that Iran may be tapping along the U.S. Those were the words that you used. What makes you believe that they are sincere this time in wanting to pursue diplomacy?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: A level of enthusiasm they’re getting at that. We were hitting them very hard for the last three days. We’re going to hit them even harder tonight. They knew that. We told them exactly what we were going to do. We explained it exactly because they had no Navy. They had no Air Force. They had no – any weapons of detection. They had nothing. And so we could tell them exactly what they – there wasn’t a thing they could have done about it. And we won this war militarily very early on.

The only thing we didn’t win was the fake news was – no matter – they could have raised the white flag of surrender, and the fake news would say, “Oh, they did wonderfully.” They didn’t do wonderfully. But you know what? They’ve got a chance to build a country. Their country is largely demolished. Again, their Navy is gone. Their Air Force is gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. Everything is gone. Their leadership is gone many times over. Even many people from this leadership is gone.

But we found them to be rational, and they’re going to make a deal. And I’ll tell you what, it’s a great deal. You know why it’s a great deal? Because they will never have a nuclear weapon.

Timeline for a Final Deal

REPORTER: President, is there a specific amount of time that has to pass between this memorandum of understanding and the final deal being done?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we hope it’s going to go relatively quickly, but it’s not. I mean, the streets are going to open immediately. This is fun signing. Maybe it’ll be Saturday or Monday.

REPORTER: How long do you think it’s going to take, though, to get from this to a final deal?

THE PRESIDENT: We think it’s going to go pretty quickly. I don’t want to say a deadline, because if I say a deadline, you’ll say, “Oh, you didn’t meet the deadline.” You know, this is like — it’s not going to matter much because it’s going to get signed. And the street is open. But the streets have been open for a number of months already, and you just didn’t know about it. You know, U.S. reporters weren’t able to get it. There were reports yesterday that we brought a lot of ships. Nobody knew about it. I guess we did a pretty good job, Peter, right? But we brought many, many ships across, and millions — hundreds of millions of barrels of oil were brought across. And there wasn’t a thing that anybody could have done about that.

REPORTER: In the current operation off the table, are you ruling out —

THE PRESIDENT: Well, now it would be. If we signed this agreement, it would be. They weren’t so thrilled when they heard that that’s what I would have done.

On Venezuela and the Cost of War

THE PRESIDENT: I just don’t think — I like it. Great. Look at Venezuela, how well that’s worked out. We paid for that war many times over. And — many, many times over. We have millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela going to Houston, and we’re working great with the Venezuelan government. Couldn’t be better. It’s a real — it’s a real good relationship. Really good relationship. Venezuela has been amazing. This is a larger situation. Actually, less oil. Venezuela has a lot of oil. But we — think of it. We spent X dollars. We paid for it many, many times. When was the last time you heard that? Many times over, we paid for it. You ever think you’d see that in this country? We go to wars, we end up with always — we end up with just blasting the hell out of people, and we come home, nothing happens. Venezuela was amazing, and this is amazing.

On FISA and Section 142

REPORTER: Mr. President, are you considering using or drafting an executive order to extend by FISA or to continue using Section 142?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, the Congress wants me to do it, and let’s see what happens. They’re right now — Republican leadership wants you to do it. Well, they’re going to put out a statement soon. It’s very important. It’s very important for our military.

On the Safe America Act and Election Integrity

REPORTER: Mr. President, on the Safe America Act, you are now urging Republicans to add that to the third reconciliation bill.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

REPORTER: What’s your perspective on why election integrity matters so much for national security, from your perspective?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we need it for our elections. We need to have voter identification, which we don’t have right now, on a national basis. We need it for — and the voter ID is very important. We need it for proof of citizenship. Do you believe it? The Democrats are fighting. They don’t want you to prove your citizenship when you vote. You know why they want that? Because they cheat. And we also want it for mail-in voting, where you have people that are sent seven, eight ballots, two ballots, four ballots. And a lot of them sign those ballots. Mail-in voting — and we want to be very judicious if you’re in the military and you’re far away, or if you’re handicapped, or if you’re sick, or if you’re on vacation, that you have a — but you’re not going to — millions and millions. Look at California. They send out millions of ballots. Tens of millions. They have no idea what’s going on. Those elections are so corrupt. So we have a mail-in ballot.

No Men in Women’s Sports and Protecting Children

TRUMP: Then we have no men in women’s sports because of our Saving America. No men in women’s sports, another one. Very popular. I think it’s 99-to-1. They say it’s 80-to-20. I think it’s 99-to-1. And we have no mutilation of your children for transgender purposes, obviously. Transgender mutilation of your children. Does that sound good with you guys, General, because you’re not into transgender mutilation of your children?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Not at all. Not at all, sir.

TRUMP: I mean, if you go to a house and they take your child from you, in some cases, think of it, in six states, they take the child and do what they want to do. What they do is, I don’t even want to talk about it. We have had no transgender mutilation of your children.

Questions on Acting Director of National Intelligence

REPORTER: On DNI, Mr. President, do you intend to have Bill Pulte continue to serve as the acting director of national intelligence? And do you think it’s unreasonable that some Republicans have concerns that he has no intelligence experience, even if he’s serving in the acting role?

TRUMP: No, he’s intelligent, unlike a lot of other people.

REPORTER: But do you think that’s a part of your job, no intelligence experience?

TRUMP: He’s only there for a little while. He’s running it for a short while. We get a very talented person, Jay Clayton, and Jay Clayton’s an incredible talent, head of Sullivan and Cromwell. He was head of the SEC, who’s now Southern District. I mean, nobody has better credentials. But Bill will run it for a short while. He’s done a fantastic job at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, created tremendous — it’s probably worth a trillion dollars now, trillion. He’s done a great job. He’s a smart guy.

Listening to Everyday Americans

REPORTER: Mr. President, can I ask you, today’s another example of you bringing these everyday Americans into the White House and listening to them. How important is it for you to listen to everyday Americans when it comes to policymaking?

TRUMP: These people built the country, not the complainers. The complainers didn’t build the country. These people built the country, whether it’s fishermen or farmers or anything else. Guys like me, they built the country. You know, I watch all these ingrates. They’re always complaining, complaining. They didn’t build anything. They couldn’t build anything.

Remarks on Ilhan Omar and Minnesota

TRUMP: Look at what’s happened in Minnesota. Somalia. All these people came in from Somalia. They ripped off our system. You have the woman who married her brother. She came in and married her brother. Isn’t that wonderful? And she talks about the Constitution of the United States. She comes from Somalia. They don’t have constitutions in Somalia. They don’t have police. All they have is people that run around shooting each other. And then she comes and tells us how to run our country. I don’t like it. These people don’t like it. I can tell you. I think I can speak for you.

TRUMP: She comes in, Ilhan Omar. She comes in. She tells us how to run the United States of America. And she comes from a place without anything, without anything. Probably among the worst countries in the world. And she says, “The Constitution of the United States protects me.” She shouldn’t be protected. She honestly, she should be thrown out of the country. She’s corrupt. And most of the people that came in are corrupt. And the whole voting system is corrupt in Minnesota.

TRUMP: I won Minnesota three times. Easily. I won almost every county. But they didn’t give it to me. It’s a corrupt system. Very corrupt state. The governor is terrible. The attorney general is terrible. Very corrupt people.

Republican Support in Congress

REPORTER: Sir, getting you back to Sacramento. Do you think there’s enough support from Republicans in Congress to pass this?

TRUMP: I hope so. I mean, any Republican that voted against it would be — McConnell and Collins say they don’t think there’s enough.

REPORTER: Well, McConnell and Collins say they don’t think there’s enough.

TRUMP: Well, McConnell’s an angry man. He got thrown out of his position. He’s an angry guy. You know, he should be very thankful to me. Because if I didn’t win, he wouldn’t have gotten to appoint.

Trump on Judge Appointments and Mitch McConnell

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I appointed the judges. He didn’t. He gets credit for appointing judges. He didn’t appoint anybody. I did. You know how I did? I won the election. And then I picked judges. And the judges ended up getting approved. And they said, oh, didn’t he do a good job? He didn’t do a good job. What the hell did he do? I won the election.

He’s an angry man who’s very disloyal to John Thune. John Thune’s a good man. He was a loyal worker for Mitch McConnell. He worked for Mitch McConnell. He worked very hard. He was very loyal to him. I disagreed with him a lot because Mitch McConnell gave so much money to Democrats. He gave them money. I had to go get the wall money from the military. I just took it out of the military because that guy wouldn’t do anything. He gave it.

Now, Mitch McConnell’s a bad guy. And I thought he was lousy at his job. Lousy at his job. But when they gave him — the only thing they gave him — a lot of credit for judges. But I’m the one that got the judges. You know why? I won the election. If I didn’t win the election, he wouldn’t have had any judges.

On Senator Murkowski and Alaska

So, yeah. Say it again? When did he send the supplemental to you? He didn’t send the supplemental. But you have him. You have Murkowski. I’ve done so much for Murkowski. You have the governor, right? Your governor. Have I done a lot for Alaska? Has there anybody done more for Alaska than me?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You’ve been the best president for Alaska in our history, Mr. President. I’ve said that many times.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And Murkowski is terrible. Terrible to us. Terrible to the country. And, you know, I almost feel guilty. I’ve probably done more for Alaska than any other state. Not because of her. Because it’s the right thing to do. She’s just an impediment. But she’s there. She probably will be a negative vote.

You have a couple of others. I think Rand Paul’s come a long way. Let’s see what happens. I think Rand Paul likes Save America. Because Rand Paul’s usually a negative vote. But I think he likes Save America. So that’s good. I like Rand Paul. But, you know, I hope he votes for us.

On Fertilizer Prices and Federal Aid for Farmers

REPORTER: Mr. President, the president of the Kentucky Farm Bureau testified before the Senate about a month ago, middle of May. At that point, he said that the pricing and availability of fertilizer was a crisis for farmers. And he said the war was not helping that. And he said we need the government to step in and provide economic help. Even if you do make a deal in the next couple of days, that was a month ago that farmers were saying they were in crisis. Do you think there needs to be federal aid specifically for farmers because of the war?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I might add to that. Yeah. No, it’s fair. You know, I gave the farmers $28 billion in my first term because they were taken advantage of by China. And I charged China for it. I put tariffs on. And China paid us hundreds of billions of dollars. And I took $28 billion out of the tariffs from China and other countries that treated our farmers very badly. I gave them $28 billion. And I’m looking at that, actually.

The war is the primary impediment, which is now going to come down from Ukraine. You know, a lot of it comes out of Ukraine and other things, but other places. But, no, the farmers have a problem with fertilizer. But that’s all coming down now. And your fuel is going to be — I think it’s going to be lower than it was four or five months ago. Four or five months ago, we were doing unbelievable.

But remember this. If you look at Biden, his low price is without saving our country, saving the world, by going out and saying to Iran, you cannot have a nuclear weapon.

On Iran and Nuclear Weapons

TRUMP: If I ask these people about Iran having a nuclear weapon and they’re going to have to go through some pain, I mean, I don’t think — you know, I hate to really do it because it’s a little dangerous. Every one of these people are going to say, you cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon because they’d use it. You want to see turmoil? You want to see death and destruction? Let Iran have a nuclear weapon. So — but I am looking at doing a form of help because of fertilizer. But fertilizer is going to come way down as soon as this is over.

On the Georgia U.S. Senate Runoff

REPORTER: And then a political question, if I can. Next week, there’s a big runoff race in Georgia for U.S. Senate. You notably endorsed a candidate for governor there. You haven’t endorsed for U.S. Senate between the two Republicans. Why not?

TRUMP: I may do that. But, you know, every time I endorse, they win. It’s been a pretty amazing track record. I was 18 to know this last week. And a lot of them are in the Senate.

REPORTER: Do you regret endorsing Randy Feenstra, sir?

TRUMP: What?

REPORTER: Do you regret endorsing Randy Feenstra in Iowa?

TRUMP: The man running against him was old Trump. And the only one out of hundreds of races — hundreds — I’m glad she brought it up. She’s got to bring it up. There’s a gentleman in Georgia that I endorsed who was much less Trump than the other man that won, as you know. And had I been given the proper information, which I don’t think I was, I probably would have endorsed the other person. But — or not endorsed at all, but I would have endorsed the other person. The other person was much more Trump, as you know, than Randy.

On Washington, D.C.’s Democratic Primary and Federal Oversight

REPORTER: Mr. President, here in Washington, D.C., there’s a Democratic primary for mayor. One of the two leading candidates, Janice Lewis George, is running a Zoran Mondani campaign. It’s focused on socialist policies. How would you feel if she emerges victorious in next Tuesday’s —

TRUMP: Well, I wouldn’t like it, and maybe we’d take back Washington and run it on the federal basis. We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.

By the way, Washington now is a safe, beautiful place. We had 22 fountains dug that are all working. Not one of them worked for years — 25 years, 40 years, 58 years. The — actually, the pool didn’t work from 19 — it was 1928 it was built. It always leaked because it was done in stone. Now it’s done properly. It’s not going to leak at all.

But this is a beautiful place now. People are coming. Restaurants are thriving. The restaurants are all closed and closed. Nobody wanted — Now you can’t get restaurant space. You can’t get into it. We have a thriving community. We got rid of the crime. We’re 92 percent down on crime. Think of it. And we’re going to be close to 100 percent pretty soon. You always have some whack job someplace, but we’re going to be close to 100 percent. So, Washington is thriving.

On Crime Reduction Across American Cities

Memphis is — the people came in from Memphis. Seventy-four percent reduction in crime. New Orleans, think of that. Seventy-eight percent reduction in crime. They had the safest Mardi Gras that they’ve ever had. You know why? Because we sent in people that take care of crime. Chicago should do it. New York should do it. Los Angeles should do it. We’ll make them safe places to go.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you, press. Thank you, press. Thank you, press. Thank you, press. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. Thank you.

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