- 1 year ago
Karoline Leavitt holds a White House press briefing.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon. How are you? Good to see all of you.
00:13What we've witnessed President Trump accomplish over the last few days has been nothing short
00:17of remarkable. We are now three and a half years into the war between Russia and Ukraine,
00:23a brutal conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian lives
00:29and cost trillions of dollars. The weakness and incompetence of Joe Biden foolishly allowed the
00:35killing to start in the first place. Until President Trump returned to office in January,
00:40the bloody and broken Biden status quo was to endlessly force American taxpayers to fund Ukraine
00:46no matter the cost, no matter how long it takes, and no matter how many lives were lost. There is
00:52no denying that Biden's America last foreign policy moved the world further away from peace.
00:59President Trump rejected that failed approach and instead over the last seven months has
01:03relentlessly pursued peace throughout his second term. And thanks to President Trump's efforts,
01:09we finally have movement after years of deadly gridlock. On Friday, as you all know, many of
01:15you were there, President Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska for
01:20a bilateral meeting. This was the first time President Putin has been to the United States
01:24since 2015 and the first time he has met with an American president in years. President Putin
01:31publicly confirmed what President Trump has said all along. The war between Russia and Ukraine never
01:37would have started in the first place if President Trump were in office. This was always obvious to any
01:43person with a shred of common sense. Just look at what took place during the last four administrations.
01:50Under George W. Bush, Russia invaded Georgia. Under Barack Obama, Russia took Crimea. Under Joe Biden,
01:57Russia invaded Ukraine. But under President Trump, Russia did not invade nor take anything. President
02:04Trump is the only president this century, Republican or Democrat, who has held Russia in check and ensured
02:10peace in Europe. That's because Russia has always greatly respected President Trump and his peace through
02:16strength foreign policy approach. But overall, the bilateral talks in Alaska were very productive,
02:22and multiple key points were agreed to between the two leaders that truly opened up the door for phase
02:27two discussions, which took place yesterday here at the White House, within 48 hours of that meeting
02:33in Anchorage, I may add. As you all know, there were many European leaders here, as well as Ukrainian
02:39President Zelensky. They all traveled here to meet with President Trump to maintain the momentum and work
02:45toward a lasting peace. Across the board, every leader credited President Trump for his decisive
02:51leadership that has reignited the dialogue in hopes of finally bringing this war to a peaceful
02:56conclusion. Two quotes in particular capture the progress that was made and the optimism moving
03:02forward. Finnish President Alexander Stubbs said, I think in the past two weeks, we've probably had more
03:08progress in ending this war than we have had in the past two and three and a half years. Again, that is the
03:14President of Finland, a country that shares a border with Russia. That's what we call the President Trump
03:20effect. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also summed it up well. Without President Trump, this deadlock with
03:27Putin would not have been broken. He is the only one who could do this. Following the encouraging
03:33conversations yesterday, President Trump spoke with President Putin by phone, and he agreed to begin the
03:38next phase of the peace process, a meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky, which would
03:43be followed, if necessary, by a trilateral meeting between President Putin, President Zelensky, and President
03:50Trump. As the President said, Vice President Vance, Secretary Rubio, and Special Envoy Witkoff will
03:56continue to coordinate with Russia and Ukraine to make this happen as soon as possible. It's very important to
04:02remember that before President Trump's landslide victory last November, there was no end in sight to
04:07this bloodshed. Now, there may finally be light at the end of the tunnel and an opportunity for lasting
04:13peace. That's because President Trump is the peace president and American leadership is back on the
04:18world stage. It should not be lost on anyone in this room that world leaders are coming right here to
04:25Washington, D.C. for help. While previous presidents have traveled halfway around the world to apologize for
04:31America, President Trump stands up for America, and he has firmly restored America's status as the
04:37undisputed leader of the free world. However, one thing that has absolutely not changed is the media's
04:44negative and downright false coverage of President Trump and his foreign policy accomplishments. From
04:50the beginning of this entire process, much of the left-wing media has been actively rooting against the
04:55President of the United States in the pursuit of peace. Initially, the media ridiculously
05:01claimed that President Trump was somehow beholden to Russia for even agreeing to have a face-to-face
05:06discussion with President Putin inside of the United States. The media said President Trump was
05:11making a grave mistake by, quote, legitimizing Putin. They were aghast that President Trump would
05:16treat another world leader like a world leader. The media relentlessly attacked President Trump and
05:22claimed he suffered a, quote, major defeat for not immediately emerging with a final agreement,
05:28even though he said heading into that meeting, this was a meeting to listen and to understand how
05:33to move the ball forward. All weekend, following those historic U.S.-Russia bilateral talks, we listened
05:38to clueless pundits on television trying but failing to claim that the President had failed. The so-called
05:46experts in the foreign policy establishment, whose record is nothing but endless wars, trillions of wasted
05:51taxpayer dollars, and dead Americans have the nerve to try and lecture President Trump, who has solved seven
05:57global conflicts in seven months about peace. It was – this is the same President, by the way,
06:03who brokered the Abraham Accords in his first term, on top of more than half a dozen other peace deals
06:08this year alone, as I just said. We also saw yesterday the President of Ukraine and all of the other major
06:13leaders of Europe fly across the Atlantic Ocean to meet President Trump at the White House because of the
06:19progress that was made and that, if you ask the media, failed meeting. But it was not. It was highly
06:24productive and it was successful. This is why Americans' trust in the mass media is at a lowest
06:29point in more than five decades. Diplomacy is a delicate process, and instead of reporting the
06:35facts about what is happening here at this White House and what is happening between this President
06:40and other leaders around the world, many outlets in this room continue to try to actively undermine
06:44the President and sabotage the efforts towards peace. That is why I felt the need to set the record
06:50straight. In other news on the home front, President Trump's efforts to make D.C. safe
06:55again are working. There have been a total of 465 arrests since the start of this operation on
07:02Thursday, August 7th. Last night, there were a total of 52 arrests, including the arrest of an illegal
07:09alien MS-13 gang member with convictions for DWI and drug possession. Thanks to President Trump's leadership
07:16in the outstanding work of both federal and local law enforcement, dangerous gang members like the
07:21one picked up last night will not be allowed on the streets of our nation's capital. Other arrests last
07:27night included assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing, parole violation for robbery, murder,
07:33outstanding warrant for attempted murder, assault on federal law enforcement officer, and felony assault.
07:39Four more homeless encampments were also removed during yesterday's reporting period. To date,
07:44a total of 48 homeless encampments have been cleared in Washington, D.C. by multi-agency teams. MPD
07:51patrol units are actively working with city officials to locate and clear additional encampments
07:56and remove homeless residents off of Washington's streets. And despite fake narratives from the media,
08:02again, a significant number of the arrests have been in high crime areas of D.C. In fact, nearly half
08:09of all of the non-illegal alien related arrests have occurred in wards seven and eight, the two wards
08:16that have the highest number of violent crime, as well as homicides and assaults with dangerous weapons
08:21last year. So while Democrats continue to coddle violent criminals, President Trump and this
08:27administration are focused on putting them behind bars and unapologetically standing up for the safety
08:32of law-abiding American citizens. And the White House will continue to provide all of you with the results
08:38of this operation in the days ahead. So with that, I will take your questions today. Here in our new
08:42media seat today, we have Jack Posobiec, who joined us in Anchorage, Alaska last week. Jack,
08:46thanks for being here. Why don't you kick us off?
08:48Jack Posobiec, Thanks so much. So a couple questions regarding the status of these peace talks.
08:54Obviously, we saw the President and President Putin there in Anchorage. We saw the world leaders here
08:58yesterday with this summit. We've heard phrases like coalition of the willing. We've also heard
09:04Article 5-like guarantees. When it comes to the security guarantees, what is the current status
09:10of that? I know the President earlier today mentioned boots on the ground would be U.K., France,
09:15Germany, possibly, but unequivocally said no U.S. troops on the ground, but U.S. coordination. Can
09:21you elaborate on that? And what would the red lines be?
09:23Ms. Sure. Well, you got to the heart of what I was going to say to all of you today on security
09:28guarantees, which is the President has definitively stated U.S. boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine,
09:33but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees
09:38to our European allies. The President understands security guarantees are crucially important to
09:43ensure a lasting peace, and he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our
09:49friends in Europe and also to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia
09:54as well.
09:55The Press Press, Helen. Now, have the Russians responded at all? I know we spoke with President Putin last
09:59night. What has been their response? Because we've heard some reports from
10:03the Kremlin and others saying they're unequivocally against NATO troops on the ground.
10:06Ms. Well, look, the President continues to have these conversations with
10:09both leaders. Those conversations took place in Anchorage, Alaska again yesterday with the Europeans
10:15and President Zelenskyy, and he has directed his team to come up with a framework for these
10:19security guarantees that can be acceptable to help ensure a lasting peace and end this war.
10:24And then just last question real quick on this. Regarding some of the funding, we're hearing
10:28questions about another round of weapons sales or possibly a round of U.S. purchases of Ukrainian
10:35drones. Will that money be funded by the U.S. taxpayers? Or are we finally going to see an end
10:41to the U.S. taxpayer-funded seemingly endless mandate for these foreign wars?
10:45Ms. Well, the President is very sensitive to the needs of the American taxpayer. And immediately
10:50upon entering office back in January, he made it very clear that we're not going to continue writing
10:55blank checks to fund a war very far away, which is why he came up with a very creative solution
11:00to have NATO purchase American weaponry, because it is the best in the world, and then to backfill
11:06the needs of the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian people and their military. So that's the solution
11:11the President has came up with. We'll continue to see that forward. As for any additional sales,
11:16I'll have to defer you to the Department of Defense. Thanks, Jack. Kelly.
11:19What has President Trump learned that tells him that Vladimir Putin would be willing to make a deal
11:24for him, for President Trump? Well, the President has learned a lot,
11:28which is part of the reason he opened up this dialogue. The previous administration, who oversaw
11:34the beginning of this war, refused to talk. And President Trump has always said, in order to learn,
11:39in order to move the ball forward with diplomacy and towards peace, you have to have open dialogue. And
11:44so that's why the President has had several conversations by phone and, of course, an in-person
11:49meeting last Friday with President Putin. He also has talked to President Zelensky dozens of times,
11:55had him here at the White House yesterday. And he's understanding what both sides want,
12:00what both sides are going to have to give up. And he has always said, in order to get a good deal,
12:05both sides are going to have to walk away a little bit unhappy. So he continues to learn a lot
12:09throughout these conversations, which is why we've seen progress from both sides. And I would also
12:14just add, when it comes to learning and moving the ball forward, look at how both Russia and Ukraine
12:20have actually talked directly for the first time in many years, thanks to the efforts of this President
12:26and this administration. Specifically for President Trump, though, what do you think
12:30Putin's motivation is to try to do something for President Trump, as opposed to just resolving the
12:36conflict? MS. I think, as I just spoke to in my opening remarks, Kelly, Russia and all countries
12:41around this world actually respect the United States again. And the President is using the
12:46might of American strength to demand that respect from our allies, our friends, our adversaries,
12:54all around the world. And we've seen that not just lead to progress with Russia and Ukraine,
12:58but also we've seen it in the closing of seven global conflicts around the world as well.
13:03We've seen it with the release of hostages in Gaza. You've seen it with the end of the
13:07conflict between India and Pakistan, which could have resulted in a nuclear war if we had not had
13:12a President who believed in the strength and the leverage that comes with the job of being the President
13:18of the United States of America. Rachel.
13:20Thanks, Caroline. Heading into Alaska, a lot of the focus in the talk was on this trilateral meeting
13:25between these three leaders. Can you explain how this went from a trilateral meeting involving President
13:30Trump to now the focus being on this bilateral meeting without the President first?
13:34Well, look, the President has spoken to both leaders about this and both leaders have expressed
13:39a willingness to sit down with each other. And so our national security team will help both
13:44countries do that. Ultimately, the President has always said that there are areas of disagreement
13:49in this war that will have to be discussed and decided upon by these two countries. And so he wants
13:55these two countries to engage in direct diplomacy. He said that from the very beginning, which is why
14:00he's agreeable to the idea of having President Zelensky and President Putin get together. And I
14:05understand accommodations for that meeting are underway. As soon as we hear more details,
14:09we'll be sure to let all of you know. Just a quick follow up. We know as of right now,
14:12there is no ceasefire in place. We've seen Russia continue its attacks on Ukraine. What indications
14:19is the President getting from Putin that he wants to have this meeting with Zelensky soon?
14:23Because he spoke to him directly yesterday. And he expressed that to you rather than later.
14:28He spoke to that directly yesterday, and the President put that in his statement
14:31that he gave to all of you, the news media, knowing you'd be asking following that conversation
14:36in the effort of transparency. Haley. Hey, thanks, Caroline. You made clear
14:40no U.S. boots on the ground. Is the President considering U.S. boots in the air as a form of a security guarantee?
14:45Look, that was something the President mentioned on his interview this morning. It is an option
14:50and a possibility. I won't certainly rule out anything as far as military options that the
14:55President has at his disposal. I'll let him do that. I can tell you he's definitively ruled out
15:00boots on the ground. Sure. Thanks, Caroline. Just about the possible venue for the talks,
15:07can you confirm that Putin suggested Moscow as a venue for the bilateral talks? And if so,
15:14doesn't that indicate that Putin is perhaps not serious about this, that he's suggesting a venue
15:18that there's no way that Zelenskyy is going to go to? Look, I'm not going to litigate the
15:22private conversations between the President and President Putin, aside from what the President
15:27himself has already spoken on. But I can tell you there are many options that are being discussed
15:31by our national security team right now with both parties. Can you give us an indication of where?
15:35I just told you we'll provide you details as soon as we can. Thank you for trying, though. Libby.
15:40Thank you, Caroline. I wanted to ask about the National Guard troops. How is the White House
15:44coordinating with how they're being placed in D.C.? What areas? And then also, how long should people
15:49here in the district anticipate the National Guard to be on the ground patrolling the streets?
15:54I don't have a timeline for you, Libby, but we will keep you posted on that. I think the President,
15:59as you know, and this administration, he came to this briefing room with members of his Cabinet to lay
16:05out the rationale and the reasoning for federalizing the National Guard here in Washington, D.C.,
16:11and for our work with the Metropolitan Police Department to make our district safer. We've seen
16:18violent crime has taken the lives of far too many residents here in our nation's capital,
16:22and the President wants to make it safe again. And as for the coordination efforts,
16:26this interagency team is meeting and talking daily. In fact, there's a meeting taking place right
16:32now in the West Wing with members of the Interagency Task Force to continue to discuss not just the
16:38National Guard deployment, but also how we can continue to remove public safety threats off of the
16:43streets of Washington, which, as the numbers I just showed you prove, they are doing every single
16:47night. I will just reiterate, 465 total arrests and counting since the start of this operation,
16:54I believe 11 or 12 days ago. I'll have to check the calendar, but those are pretty remarkable results.
16:59If not for this task force and their high level of coordination and the leadership of this President,
17:04there would have been 465 more violent criminals on the streets of this Capitol that you all live in
17:09every day. So I think we should all be very grateful for that. Stephen.
17:12Speaker 1 Thank you, Caroline. Three questions about the D.C. crackdown.
17:15Ms. Sure.
17:16First, I was wondering if you could clarify something President Trump said. He mentioned getting rid of the
17:21slums where criminals live. Was he talking about tents or permanent residential buildings?
17:26And then the mayor has expressed an interest in clarifying how much of a focus illegal immigration
17:33enforcement is as part of this crackdown. Can you say anything about that?
17:36Ms. Sure.
17:36Third, any preview on the beautification?
17:38Ms. Three questions. I'll try to answer all three of them pointedly for you.
17:42Okay.
17:42Ms. First, when it comes to what you said and the President said the slums of Washington, D.C.,
17:47he's referring to the most dangerous communities, neighborhoods, and streets in this city where,
17:52unfortunately, violence has ravaged these communities and taken the lives of, again,
17:57far too many law-abiding D.C. residents. We know on July 5th of this year, just more than a month ago,
18:04a three-year-old beautiful young girl was shot and killed in her car with her family in one of these
18:10communities, which is why there has been a surge, despite what many of you have been falsely reporting.
18:15And I believe it was the Washington Post who put out a map claiming it to be fact-based when it was just
18:20based on, I don't know, accounts that they've heard on the street, not actual statistics and data.
18:25So we went and reconfigured the numbers. And as I said, half, nearly half of all the non-illegal
18:31alien-related arrests have occurred in words seven and eight in the District of Columbia,
18:36where we know, excuse me, there's the highest rate of crime. So we'll continue to do that.
18:41And what was your second question, Stephen?
18:42Legal immigration, how much of a focus that is?
18:44Ms. Yeah, look, I mean, the focus is to make D.C. safe and beautiful and to remove public safety threats and
18:50violent criminals from our streets. If federal law enforcement, with the help of the Metropolitan
18:54Police Department, come across illegal aliens, of course, we are going to abide by this
18:59administration's policy of law and order. And we are going to remove illegal criminals from our
19:04nation's capital. They will be detained and deported, just like they are in every other community across
19:09the country. Kristen.
19:11First question. Whose idea was it to change the next steps from a trilateral to a bilateral meeting?
19:19It was an idea that evolved in the course of the President's conversations with both President
19:24Putin, President Zelenskyy, and the European leaders yesterday. And as you saw, Kristen,
19:29with all of those European leaders leaving the White House, including the NATO Secretary General,
19:34they all agreed that this is a great first step. And it's a good thing that these two leaders are
19:38going to be sitting down together, and the President expects that to happen.
19:41And how long is Trump willing to wait and operate in good faith for Putin to actually
19:45arrange a meeting before he intervenes?
19:48Look, the President has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He's taken
19:53actions, as you've seen, sanctions on India and other actions as well. He's made himself very clear
20:00that he wants to see this war end. And he has scoffed at the ideas of others that have been raised that
20:05we should wait another month before any meeting takes place. The President wants to move,
20:09and he wants to bring this war to an end as quickly as possible.
20:12Just a clarification on something you said earlier about Putin agreeing to the meeting.
20:17The Kremlin seemed to indicate that Putin did not firmly agree to a bilateral.
20:22Did he agree to have a sit-down with just Zelenskyy on the phone yesterday?
20:26I can assure you that the United States government and the Trump administration
20:29is working with both Russia and Ukraine to make that bilateral happen as we speak. Sean.
20:34Hey, if the point is to get everybody on the same page,
20:37why wouldn't Trump just take the call from Putin while the other leaders were in the room? He said
20:41it would be disrespectful to do that. But why is it disrespectful?
20:44With all due respect, only a reporter from the New York Times would ask a question like that, Sean.
20:49The President met with all of these European leaders at the White House 48 hours after sitting
20:54down with President Putin on American soil. In fact, there was so much progress in the readout that
21:00was given to these European leaders immediately following his meeting with President Putin,
21:05that every single one of them got on a plane 48 hours later and flew to the United States of America.
21:11And if I could just read for all of you some of the statements from those European leaders yesterday,
21:15you had President Zelenskyy himself saying it was a very good conversation. It was really good.
21:20We spoke about very sensitive points. The Secretary General, Mark Ruda, it was the President only
21:27because of the President that this deadlock was broken, but with President Putin by starting a
21:32dialogue. So these leaders who this war is in their backyard are very grateful that the President
21:38took that call and that he was there to provide them with a readout of Russia's thinking on this,
21:43something that was not done by the previous administration at all. Catherine.
21:47Thank you. Is the White House looking at Budapest as a possible location?
21:51I'm not going to confirm or deny locations. We'll provide you with details as soon as we can.
21:55And just sign up on Kristen's question. I understand that the White House is working
21:59and allies are working to make this meeting happen, but did Putin promise to do a meeting
22:04with Zelenskyy, a direct meeting in the coming weeks?
22:06He has, and I just answered that question for you. Franco.
22:09Thanks. I just want to clarify. So you are saying that President Trump is considering
22:15U.S. pilots and U.S. aircraft potentially supporting European or Ukrainian forces?
22:22The President spoke to that himself this morning when he called into Fox and Friends,
22:27and I would defer you to his answer. You can read it directly yourself.
22:30In addition, can I ask, no boots on the ground, Steve Witkoff is talking about Article 5-like
22:38security guarantees. Can you talk about what other Article 5-like security guarantees
22:44that are being considered if it's not boots on the ground?
22:47MS. These are very sensitive diplomatic discussions that are currently taking place
22:51literally as we speak. So I will leave it to the national security team, and I'll leave it to the
22:55President to have those private discussions with these leaders as we try to bring this war to an end.
23:00And can I ask one more?
23:00MS. Mary, Margaret. Go ahead.
23:01Thanks, Caroline. Two questions, if that's okay.
23:04So on these meetings, I know you said that the trilateral will take place if necessary.
23:09Do you think that we might not need the trilateral and that Zelensky and Putin might come to this
23:14conclusion on their own? And then as a follow-up, I know the President said on Fox News this morning
23:19that he's partially seeking peace in order to get to heaven. Was he joking, or is there spiritual
23:24motivation behind his peace deals here?
23:26MS. I think the President was serious. I think the President wants to get to heaven,
23:31as I hope we all do in this room as well. Annie.
23:34Thanks, Caroline. I'm just shifting gears to the Department of Justice for a minute.
23:39Can you walk us through why another deputy FBI director was named? Does Trump have any
23:45displeasure with how the FBI has been being run to date? I don't have a question about the antitrust.
23:50MS. No, Andrew Bailey is extremely qualified. As you know, he's been serving
23:54with honor as the attorney general of Missouri, and he's been brought on as another set of very
24:00credible and experienced hands to work alongside the current deputy director, Dan Bongino,
24:05under the leadership of the director, Kash Patel, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi. And the FBI
24:11has been doing a tremendous job. We've seen their agents out on the streets as part of this interagency
24:16task force here in Washington. But the crime that they've been stopping here in Washington,
24:20they've been doing this for seven months all across the country. In fact, there's been 19,000
24:26arrests by the FBI nationwide. That's more than double last year in the same time period.
24:31Of those 1,600 arrests were for violent crimes against children. 4,000 child victims have been
24:37rescued by this FBI under this current leadership. 1,000 arrests from investigations of foreign terrorist
24:43organizations. There's been 1,500 kilos of fentanyl seized, 6,300 kilos of meth have been seized,
24:50and three of the top 10 most wanted have been arrested so far. Not a single one of the
24:55individuals on the top 10 most wanted list were arrested under the previous administration. We've
25:00arrested three in seven months. So when you're actually working and enforcing law and order,
25:05you need all hands on deck. And so we look forward to welcoming Andrew Bailey to this new post.
25:09Jackie. I had a quick question about Roger Alfred, who's a former DOJ official. He gave a speech in
25:15Aspen yesterday where he said that senior DOJ aides are cutting deals with favored lobbyists.
25:22I'm wondering if the President has any concerns at all with the way the antitrust division is working.
25:26MS. I have no idea who that individual is. I don't know why he made those comments. I don't
25:30know what basis he's making those comments on. My instinct tells me it's not true, but we will
25:35definitely look into them and I'll get you a response.
25:37Thank you, Caroline.
25:38Thanks, Caroline. Since the President often says that this war would not have started if he
25:42were in office and Putin confirmed that, how do you accept that as true?
25:48MS. Probably.
25:49The European leaders do.
25:50MS. And President Putin himself said that, by the way.
25:52He did say that. The question I have, though, is what is the President going to do
25:57to ensure that these security guarantees last beyond him into the time when he is no longer
26:04President? And does that have to involve Congress at all?
26:06MS. Well, he understands the need for that, which he spoke to yesterday.
26:10And what's he going to do? It's why he's engaging in so many talks and so many conversations with
26:16both sides of this war with our European allies. It's why, on the way home from Anchorage, Alaska,
26:22very late at night, when I know many of you on the press plane were sleeping and many staff were
26:27sleeping, the President himself was still awake at 2 o'clock in the morning talking to European leaders
26:33and NATO about how we can ensure a lasting peace and bring this conflict to an end. He has
26:38expended an incredible amount of time, energy, and effort into bringing this war to an end,
26:44and he remains determined to do that.
26:45Go ahead.
26:45MS. Also, can I ask you about the D.C. crime?
26:46MS. Go ahead.
26:47Thank you, Carolyn.
26:48MS. Sure. Jake, and then to your right.
26:50All right. Thank you, Carolyn.
26:51Which of the half-dozen peace deals that the President has pulled off would you say he's
26:57the most proud of? And then I have another question.
26:59MS. That's a good question, Jake. I'll leave that to the President to answer. I think he's
27:03proud of all of the peace deals that he's been able to achieve. You saw the President of Armenia
27:09and the head of Azerbaijan both at the White House just a couple of weeks ago. The President,
27:14I know, very much enjoyed spending time with them and helping to bring that conflict to an end.
27:19He very much enjoyed his time with leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
27:24in the Oval Office, talking to them about bringing that decades-long war to an end,
27:28India and Pakistan. He used trade in a very powerful way as leverage to bring that conflict
27:33to an end. So I know he's very proud of all of these achievements, and I know he's very honored
27:38to serve as the President of the United States and to restore peace around this world. Go ahead.
27:43So you mentioned Armenia and Azerbaijan. That's a conflict that, you know,
27:46I spent time in the Southern Caucuses covering that. And, you know, a conflict of over 30 years,
27:52and he resolved it in just a couple of months. Are there other conflicts that the President's
27:58working on right now that are off the radar screen that we should be tracking?
28:02MS. In fact, there are. There are many. The State Department is always working around the
28:06clock under the leadership of Secretary Rubio in keeping the President apprised of conflicts that
28:11are bubbling up all over the world. But of course, as you all know, as we've talked a lot about in this
28:15briefing, he's spending a lot of time right now on ending this war in Russia-Ukraine and, of course,
28:20the conflict in Israel and Gaza, which he wants to see come to a close as well.
28:23On that?
28:24MS. Sure, go ahead.
28:24So the President says that he's starting a movement to eliminate mail-in voting,
28:30but states administer elections, not federal authorities. So can you provide any more details
28:35about how the White House plans to eliminate that?
28:37MS. The White House continues to work on this, and when Congress comes back to Washington,
28:42I'm sure there will be many discussions with our friends on Capitol Hill and also our friends in
28:46state legislatures across the country to ensure that we're protecting the integrity
28:50of the vote for the American people. And I think Republicans generally and the President
28:55generally wants to make it easier for Americans to vote and harder for people to cheat in our
29:00elections. And it's quite mind-boggling that the Democrat Party could stand in opposition to
29:05common sense. He wants to ensure election integrity. There were great efforts that were made in
29:092024. I won't get ahead of myself for Hatch Act reasons to get ahead for the next election,
29:16but I can assure you this is a priority for the President. Go ahead.
29:19If I could just follow up on your comments about Gaza.
29:21MS. Sure.
29:22The – there was a ceasefire proposal put forward by both Qatar and Egypt.
29:28Hamas accepted it on Monday. Israel has yet to officially weigh in. I'm wondering if the U.S.
29:33was at all involved in it, if it's supportive of it, and whether or not the President believes
29:38Israel should accept it.
29:39MS. I don't think it's a coincidence that Hamas accepted this proposal after
29:44the President of the United States posted a very strong statement about this conflict
29:49on Truth Social yesterday. I would refer you back to that statement. As for this proposal that Hamas
29:55has now accepted, the United States continues to discuss it, and I'll let the President weigh in on
30:00it definitively. You're welcome.
30:02MS. Sure.
30:02The Press on the question from Caroline.
30:03Can you describe the President's perspective on taking a stake in intel in exchange for federal
30:07grants? And is this a – are we expecting to see the White House make similar arrangements
30:12with other semiconductor companies and manufacturing companies?
30:14MS. Well, the President – he's been very clear about the need to reshore manufacturing
30:18that's critical to our national and economic security. That is especially in regards to chips and
30:23semiconductors, which is why the President has initiated the Commerce Department to conduct a
30:29study on semiconductors, a Section 232 investigation, so we can ultimately implement tariffs. And it's
30:36why our export license requirements remain in place as well. As for this 10 percent government
30:41stake deal, the Department of Commerce continues to work on it. I know Secretary Lutnik is working
30:46on it and ironing out the details, but the President wants to put America's needs first,
30:51both from a national security and economic perspective. And it's a creative idea that
30:56has never been done before to ensure that we're both reshoring these critical supply chains while
31:02also gaining something of it for the American taxpayer. You're welcome. Emily.
31:06Thanks, Caroline. I wanted to ask about the 3DS warships that are being sent to Venezuela,
31:11and there's 4,000 Marines on board. Are you looking at possibility of boots on the ground there?
31:15MS. What I will say with respect to Venezuela, President Trump has been very clear and consistent.
31:21He's prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country
31:26and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of
31:32Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel. And Maduro, it is the view of this administration,
31:37is not a legitimate president. He is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the
31:42United States for trafficking drugs into the country. And with that, I will leave you all and we will see you
31:47later, if not tomorrow. And I look forward to taking more of your questions. Thank you.
Comments