White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the nation on the ongoing government shutdown and the recent governors’ elections. Calling it 'a critical moment for America,' she assured that the administration is preparing an executive order on election integrity. The tense briefing hinted at political tremors ahead in Washington.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon everybody. Nice to see you on this beautiful fall afternoon. We are
00:07now on day 35 of the Democrat government shutdown. The Democrats
00:13obstructionism will break the record for the longest government shutdown in
00:17American history tonight. The Democrats are intentionally hurting American
00:22families, workers and businesses with this shutdown to fight for free health
00:27care for illegal aliens and to appease their radical left-wing base. And it's
00:33a total disgrace. This past weekend Americans traveling to weddings, funerals,
00:38vacations and meetings faced significant flight disruptions at airports across the
00:43country because of staffing shortages. On Sunday alone more than 5,000 flights
00:49traveling to and from US airports were delayed. Since the Democrat shutdown began
00:55four times as many staffing shortages have been reported at air traffic control
01:00facilities compared to last year. TSA checkpoint wait times ballooned past
01:05three hours at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport with some
01:10passengers and during up to five hours in line. At nearby William P Hobby Airport
01:15in Texas security wait times are routinely exceeding one hour. More than 13,000 air
01:22traffic controllers are continuing to work without pay because of the Democrats.
01:27These men and women who keep our airspace safe and moving will miss a second
01:32paycheck in a row this Friday if Democrats refuse to open the government. Let me be
01:37clear to our incredible air traffic controllers across the country. President
01:42Trump and Republicans want you to get your paychecks. They want you to be paid.
01:48Please call on your Democrat senators and tell them to side with President Trump
01:52and Republicans to vote to reopen the government. Our nation's four largest
01:58airlines United, Delta, American and Southwest have now all endorsed the
02:04Republican nonpartisan clean funding bill to end the government shutdown. Major
02:09unions collectively representing tens of thousands of pilots have also joined the
02:14airlines and calling on Democrats to pass the clean nonpartisan CR. The travel
02:19industry is also imploring Democrats to end the shutdown and reopen the
02:23government. Nearly 500 companies and groups in the travel business including
02:27casinos, hotels and convention bureaus signed a public letter warning that
02:33America's travel economy has already lost four billion dollars due to this a
02:37Democrat shutdown and they have called for the Republican CR to be passed saying
02:42Americans expect and deserve a fully functioning federal government during the
02:48peak holiday travel season. Never before have we seen private industry and union
02:54leadership so unified on the same issue rallying behind Republicans in such a
02:59vocal way. The Democrats have completely lost the plot. They are endangering the
03:04safety, prosperity and livelihoods of millions of Americans. It's well past time
03:09Democrats do what they did 13 times under Joe Biden and pass the clean funding bill extension. All we
03:18need are five Democrat senators to put country over party and vote to end this
03:23reckless shutdown. In other news tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary of
03:28President Trump's historic election victory where he won nearly 80 million votes. The
03:33popular vote in all seven swing states. This was the ultimate poll on November 5th. The
03:40president secured a mandate to make America great again and he has delivered in record
03:44time. Never before have we had a president who has kept their promises like
03:48President Trump has. I'd like to go over a few of those with you. In less than 10 short
03:53months President Trump signed the largest middle-class tax cut in history including
03:58no tax on tips, overtime and Social Security to put more money back into the pockets of
04:04the American people. The president ended the southern border invasion of the Biden administration,
04:10made our border the most secure in history and he is carrying out the largest mass deportation
04:16campaign of illegal aliens in our nation's history to protect our homeland just as promised.
04:23President Trump has aggressively taken on drug cartels by declaring them as foreign terrorist
04:27organizations and even blowing up narco terrorists who have tried to poison the American people
04:33with fentanyl and other illegal narcotics. President Trump defeated the Biden inflation
04:38crisis and he continues to implement a pro-growth America first economic agenda to make America
04:45affordable again and we are seeing the results of that every day. Inflation has remained low
04:51and steady, averaging just 2.5% compared to the painful average of 5% under Biden and we know
04:58it was historically higher than that for most of President Biden's term. Meanwhile, real private
05:04sector wages are on track to rise by almost $1,500 since President Trump took office, a significant
05:11change to the Biden years where private sector wages declined and were being wiped out by inflation.
05:16President Trump has ended the reckless war on American energy and unleashed energy dominance with gas prices now
05:23plummeting to their lowest average levels in more than four years. President Trump implemented powerful
05:29tariffs to rebalance America's trade deals, protect American workers, and returning our country to be a
05:35manufacturing superpower once again. As a result, the President has secured trillions and trillions of dollars in private and foreign
05:43investments into the United States, which are creating high paying jobs for the greatest workforce in the world.
05:51The President has restored America's place as the leader of the free world through his unwavering peace through strength foreign policy that has already ended eight wars and counting.
06:01And the President ended illegal DEI initiatives in our federal government and is returning our country to a merit-based society based on common sense.
06:11President Trump protected opportunities for women and girls to compete safely and fairly by continuing to keep men out of women's sports.
06:20Americans have a President who works tirelessly, literally 24-7 to improve their lives and make our country better than it has ever been before.
06:29So with that today, we will open it up to questions and we will start with our independent journalist in our new media seat, Julio Rozas. Julio, please start. Thank you.
06:38Thanks, Caroline. So over the weekend in Mexico, a mayor in Michoacán, Carlos Manso, he was assassinated while celebrating Dia de Muertos with his family.
06:47His assassination has sparked a lot of outrage. A lot of Mexicans are very upset. They're blaming President Gloria Scheinbaum for not taking the cartel threat seriously enough.
06:57Yesterday, she said that once again, she's not going to allow any foreign military intervention to take on the cartels on Mexican soil and that Mexico is not going to pursue a drug war similar to what they've done in the past.
07:09So my question is, is President Trump satisfied with Claudia Scheinbaum's approach to cartels?
07:15And if not, has Manso's assassination kind of opened up some new options for the United States to pursue regarding cartels?
07:24Well, first of all, with respect to this specific news item and this alleged assassination attempt that took place in Mexico, I know the Trump administration, we are aware of that.
07:33And of course, we condemn all political violence anywhere in all forms.
07:38As for Claudia Scheinbaum and the president's relationship with her, I think he has a lot of respect for her as president of Mexico.
07:46And he also really appreciates the coordination that she has provided to the Trump administration.
07:51I can't speak for her and what she's doing internally in her country.
07:54I can speak for the president in saying we are continually pushing Mexico to do more to tackle the drug trafficking and the drug cartels within their country.
08:02And we are working with them in any way that we can.
08:05And the president has obviously used the full range of executive options and his authorities to crack down on drug trafficking at our southern border and to designate these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and additional actions as well.
08:19And just one more question.
08:21So at the Antifa roundtable that we were at just last month, myself and the other panelists made the recommendation to the president for speaking of foreign terrorist organizations to have Antifa not just be a domestic terrorist organization, but be designated as a foreign terrorist organization since they have cells in other countries.
08:41He mentioned to Secretary Rubio because he was in the room at the time to look into that.
08:46So I just wanted to see if there's if there's an update on that recommendation.
08:50That process is most definitely taking place.
08:52I don't have any announcements for you on that today, but I can certainly assure you the administration is working on it.
08:57And I'll check in on it and get back to you, Julio.
09:00It's a good question. Thank you very much, Jackie.
09:02Thank you, Caroline.
09:04Zoran Mamdani blamed the president for bomb threats and intimidation at polling locations.
09:11He said, quote, part of the general approach of the Trump administration has taken to intimidate voters with baseless allegations of voter fraud as a means of trying to repress the voice of Americans across this country.
09:23I want to give you a chance to respond to that.
09:25Yeah, I saw those comments from Mdami.
09:27I think they are completely irresponsible and they are based on zero evidence.
09:31And I think this is just another example of how the Democrat Party unfortunately stands for nothing.
09:37All they stand against is President Donald Trump.
09:39And I think it's quite sad to see that we have someone at the top of the ticket on an election day today saying such things about the president when he obviously had absolutely nothing to do with those threats.
09:49And on the shutdown, Democrats have been pretty quiet about the president's push for the nuclear option terminating the filibuster.
09:57Is there any concern around here that Democrats might actually want Republicans to get rid of the filibuster so that one day when they're in power again,
10:05the door's already open for them to pack the Supreme Court, give statehood to D.C. and Puerto Rico, make mail-in balloting permanent, those kinds of things?
10:14I think the president has been very realistic and strong in his position on the filibuster.
10:19He's been very vocal about it.
10:20I just spoke to him about it.
10:21He feels really strongly about this.
10:23Republicans need to play tough and they need to play smart.
10:26That's how the president feels.
10:27And we know that Democrats, when they, if they are ever given a chance at power again in this city,
10:33they will absolutely take away the filibuster from the United States Senate.
10:37In fact, you had 49 Democrats who already voted to do this before.
10:41The only reason it did not move forward was because you had two Democrats who are no longer in office because they were run out of town by the far left radical base of their party.
10:51And so President Trump is very quite clear on this.
10:54He wants to see Republicans move as many good pieces of legislation for our country forward in the next three years of his administration as they possibly can.
11:04And the filibuster is one means to doing that.
11:07Talk to Justin and Thune about it.
11:08I know that they have both voiced some opposition.
11:10Have they run any conversations with them?
11:12He's had, he has.
11:13He's made his position to them very clear, both publicly and privately.
11:16Ouija.
11:17Thanks so much for the light.
11:18Can you help clear up some confusion about SNAP benefits?
11:21Sure.
11:22You know, the president just posted that they will only be given out when the radical left Democrats opened the government and not before.
11:29Mm hmm.
11:30But just yesterday, the administration said it would comply with the court order to expend the full amount of SNAP contingency funds by end of business day yesterday.
11:39So did the administration distribute that money or defy that court order?
11:44No, the administration is fully complying with the court order.
11:47I just spoke to the president about it.
11:49The recipients of these SNAP benefits need to understand it's going to take some time to receive this money because the Democrats have forced the administration into a very untenable position.
11:58We are digging into a contingency fund that is supposed to be for emergencies, catastrophes for war.
12:05And the president does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future.
12:08And that's what he was referring to in his true social post.
12:11So the Department of Agriculture, as for the latest SNAP payment in the judge's order, put out guidance to states today on how to get that money to the recipients of SNAP.
12:22But it's going to take some time.
12:25The best way to get the full amount of SNAP benefits to those beneficiaries is for Democrats to reopen the government.
12:32So to anyone who is a SNAP beneficiary at home who needs that assistance, and the president was just saying this is for people who are truly needy, who need food, who need this assistance from the United States government.
12:44Democrats are holding it up and making it difficult for the administration to get those payments out the door.
12:50So if you are at home and you want your SNAP benefits, call the Democrats and tell them to reopen the government.
12:55Is he blocking that contingency fund for the future if this shutdown lingers on?
13:00Look, the president does not want to have to continue to dip into a contingency fund that doesn't even have enough money, by the way, to fund the full program.
13:07It takes nine billion to get the full scale of the benefits out the door.
13:11This contingency fund only has about five billion dollars in it.
13:14So, again, Democrats need to reopen the government so we can get these benefits out the door for people who truly need them.
13:19Kate.
13:20Thanks.
13:21The president suggested that if Mondani wins that he would cut federal funding to New York.
13:25How much funding would be impacted? What would be impacted there?
13:28Well, look, we won't get ahead of the election results, nor will I speak to what the president may do in the future.
13:34We'll see how tonight goes, and then I'll let him speak on it further.
13:37And why did the administration exclude Democratic lawmakers? Last week there was a briefing about U.S. strikes on alleged drug trafficking votes.
13:44Why were those Democrats excluded?
13:46The administration has briefed Congress on these matters eight separate times, and Democrats have been included in those briefings.
13:53In fact, I know that Secretary Rubio will be on Capitol Hill tomorrow to brief the Gang of Twelve, which includes Democrats as well.
14:00So the president's made it very clear if senators want to understand the administration's operations against narco drug traffickers.
14:07We are very happy to speak with them about that, and we will continue to do so.
14:12But we've been incredibly transparent. As I said, there's been eight briefings on this topic with the ninth coming tomorrow.
14:17Rachel.
14:18Thanks, Caroline.
14:19There's been some reporting out there about the possibility of furloughed workers not getting back pay.
14:25We know that the president signed that bill into law in his first term.
14:28Does the administration guarantee that all furloughed workers will get back pay?
14:32This is something we are very much open to discussing with Democrats as part of the discussions about the continuing resolution to keep the government open.
14:41And it's something that Republicans are talking with Democrats about right now.
14:44I won't get ahead of those negotiations or discussions.
14:46That's a possibility that that may not happen, even though it's law.
14:50I just said Republicans in the White House are very much open to discussing this with Democrats.
14:54Just one last question. As this government shutdown now drives on, about to make history as the longest government shutdown in American history.
15:00Can you talk about what the president is personally doing to try to see an end to this?
15:04He's pushing Republicans to keep voting and to keep opening up the Senate floor to vote for the clean, continuing resolution.
15:11He had the Senate majority leader and the House caucus leader, Hakeem Jeffries, here at the White House to talk about this in the very early stages,
15:19to give them a chance to come to their senses and avoid this entire government shutdown at the very beginning.
15:25And they chose not to. And I think it's been very clear to everyone in this room and to everyone across the country that the Democrats are playing partisan politics with our United States federal government.
15:36And all Republicans have wanted to do for the last 35 days is reopen the government.
15:41That has been the president's position since day one. It is his position today on day 35.
15:46And all we need are five common sense Democrats with have a little bit of courage and come to the table and vote with Republicans.
15:53I saw Senator John Fetterman on television last night saying that he hopes more folks in his party will step up.
15:59And we certainly agree with him on that point. Sure.
16:02Caroline, the president posted on True Social as the voting underway in California is, quote, rigged.
16:08What evidence does he have of that? And what does it mean that mail-in ballots in that state are under legal and criminal review?
16:14By whom and why? And also in this vein, does the White House still plan to issue an executive order banning mail-in voting?
16:21And what legal authority do you have to do that? The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we've seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system.
16:36It's absolutely true that there are fraud and there's fraud in California's elections. It's just a fact.
16:42It is just a fact. They have a universal mail-in voting system, which we know is ripe for fraud.
16:48And if you want to deny that, I'm happy to provide you all of the evidence for it. I'd be glad to send that to you after this briefing rigged.
16:54Fraudulent ballots that are being mailed in in the names of other people and the names of illegal aliens who shouldn't be voting in American elections.
17:02There's countless examples and we'd be happy to provide them. As for executive action the White House is taking.
17:07Yes, we are looking into that. And like any executive order, of course, any executive order the president signs is within his full executive authority and within the confines of the law.
17:16Stephen. Thank you, Caroline. I've got two questions I'd like to ask you about New York, but first I'd like to ask you about breaking news from the Attorney General.
17:24She revealed just about an hour ago that the Justice, the Biden Justice Department, sees President Trump's official first term phone and subpoenaed his private phone records.
17:36Do you have a reaction to that? And also, do we know if they actually got those private call records?
17:41I saw the Attorney General's post on that. For additional questions, I would refer you to the Department of Justice.
17:46But I think this is just further evidence of the egregious overreach and weaponization of government that took place under the previous White House against then former president and now president Donald J. Trump.
17:58It was a clear effort by the Biden White House and the Biden DOJ to go after the president. And this is just further evidence of that.
18:06On New York, we've seen the president's messages that he's put out. But can you describe how he's feeling as a New Yorker watching this election?
18:14Well, the president is a New Yorker and he loves New York. It is his home. He talks about that all of the time. And he's made his thoughts on this election quite clear, I think, himself.
18:25In the back. Yes, go ahead. Thank you. Over the weekend, there were reports. I was going to you in the green, but go ahead and then you can have your questions.
18:32Thank you. Over the weekend, there were reports that President Trump was due to host President of Syria on Monday.
18:39Do you have any preview for that meeting? Is he expected to invite him to join the US led anti ISIS coalition?
18:46I can confirm that that meeting will be taking place here at the White House on Monday.
18:51And this is part of the president's efforts in diplomacy to meet with anyone around the world in the pursuit of peace.
18:57And as you know, when the president was in the Middle East, he made the historic decision to lift sanctions on Syria to give them a real chance at peace.
19:05And I think the administration, we've seen good progress on that front under their new leadership.
19:11And so he will be here at the White House on Monday and I'll let the president speak further on it on Monday. Yes, go ahead.
19:16Thank you, Caroline. I was just curious. You had mentioned there that President Trump, as we know, has been speaking with Republican leaders in Congress about reopening the government.
19:25Is he involved in any other negotiations? Is he prepared to sign something if a deal does come out by the end of this week?
19:32On top of that, with SNAP benefits, does he have any authorities or considering any authority there to release more funds to help people who are desperately needing these benefits?
19:42So, look, I think I've already answered the question on SNAP.
19:44We're complying with the court's order and we're getting that partial payment out the door as much as we can and as quickly as we can.
19:51But it's going to take some time because, again, we're this is a prorated payment that we're tapping into a contingency fund for the best way to get those payments out the doors for Democrats to reopen the government.
20:02But, yes, the president is in constant communication with his friends on Capitol Hill.
20:07They know they call. He answers. He picks up the phone. That's he's a very transparent president in that way.
20:13And as soon as the Democrats pass the clean continuing resolution, President Trump will be here to sign it. Michael.
20:19Thank you, Caroline. President Trump has threatened to go into Nigeria.
20:23Guns a blazing if Nigeria's government does not stop the killing of Christians in that country.
20:29Has the White House heard back from Nigeria's government on this threat?
20:33As the president stated, Michael, if the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the United States will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria and may take action to wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities, especially against innocent women and children.
20:53I don't have any further announcements on that for you today, but I can assure you the president of the United States is watching this situation unfold very closely, as is our secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
21:04One question, Caroline. President Trump has endorsed Andrew Cuomo in New York City's mayoral race.
21:09He has not by name endorsed Winsome Sears in Virginia's gubernatorial race. Why is that?
21:15Look, as you know from this podium, I'm quite limited in what I can say with regards to ongoing political elections.
21:22I think the president has spoken for himself and what he wants to see take place in these elections today.
21:29Lalit.
21:30Thank you. I would like to ask you about India and U.S. leadership. What is his thoughts on the future of India and U.S. leadership?
21:37I'm sorry, Lalit, can you repeat that?
21:39What is his thoughts on the future of India and U.S. leadership?
21:43I think he feels very positive and strongly about it. As you know, he recently, a few weeks back, spoke to prime minister directly when he celebrated in the Oval Office Diwali with many high ranking Indian American officials here at the White House.
21:58We have a great U.S. ambassador to India and Mr. Sergio Gore, who will represent our country very well.
22:05And the president and his trade team continue to be in very serious discussions with India with respect to that topic.
22:12So I know the president has great respect for Prime Minister Modi and they speak pretty frequently. Thank you.
22:19Hi, yes. On the air traffic controller crisis ongoing, Secretary Duffy said he will now start to cancel on ground flights next week to maintain safety.
22:29Should people fly next week, given this new information? And is the administration encouraging people to stop flying altogether and look at alternative transportation modes?
22:38The administration is encouraging Democrats to reopen the federal government. So this chaos and disruption to our air traffic control system in the United States of America stops.
22:48It is ridiculous that we have even gotten to this place and that the Democrats have continued to shut down the government with 35 days.
22:55Our air traffic controllers continuing to work on paid every single major airline in our country coming out and begging the Democrats to please reopen the government.
23:05And you had a Democrat staffer who was quoted, I believe, in Politico a few weeks back saying, short of planes falling out of the sky, we are not going to reopen the government.
23:15That is a reckless and dangerous statement from someone who didn't want to put their name on that statement.
23:21But we know it came from the Democrat Party. And I think we're very clear.
23:25We want to reopen the government so we can resume travel in the safest and most efficient way possible, especially as we head into the busiest travel season of the month.
23:33We have Thanksgiving in a few weeks. And so Americans across the country need to make it very clear to their Democrat representatives that we want this government to be reopened so we can resume safe and efficient travel. Fran.
23:47Thanks, Caroline. As of last I checked, the President still had not commented on the death of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
23:54Is the White House involved in funeral arrangements in any way? Does the President plan to speak at the funeral? Has he spoken to anyone in the Cheney family today?
24:02And does the White House have an opinion on whether or not the former Vice President should lie and honor or stay in the Capitol?
24:08I don't believe the White House is involved in that planning or at least hasn't gotten to it yet.
24:13I know the President is aware of the former Vice President's passing.
24:16And as you saw, flags have been lowered to half staff in accordance with statuatory law. Jasmine.
24:21Thank you. Back on the question of the filibuster.
24:24How much political capital is President Trump willing to expend to get Republicans to do what he's asking?
24:31I mean, will we see him at the Hill? Will he be calling folks over here?
24:35What exactly is President Trump planning to do outside of these true socials and maybe some of these private conversations to get Republicans to fall in line?
24:43Look, I think you'll see. I think you'll see the President continue to engage very strongly and consistently with his friends on Capitol Hill.
24:50I don't have any meetings to read out for you at this time, but I think you should stay tuned and keep your eyes on true social on this matter.
24:57The President's making his position on it quite clear. And again, he is right.
25:01Republicans need to play tough. We know that this is what the Democrats will do if they are ever given the keys to power again.
25:07And he wants to pass as many good pieces of legislation as we possibly can for our country and for our people.
25:14It includes election integrity reforms. It includes additional tax policy. It includes, you know, fixing our immigration system further in ways that only Congress can.
25:25And the President fears with a Democrat Party that is so radical and opposes everything he does and everything he says.
25:32This is the only option for Republicans to move forward.
25:35The second question, President Trump said to CBS in the 60 Minutes interview that he did not know the Binance founder, which he pardoned. What exactly did he mean for that?
25:45He means he does not know him personally. He means he does not have a personal relationship with this individual.
25:50And when it comes to pardons, the White House takes them with the utmost seriousness.
25:54And the president understands the responsibility that he has as president to issue clemency and issue pardons to individuals who are seeking that.
26:02That's why we have a very thorough review process here that moves with the Department of Justice and the White House counsel's office.
26:08There's a whole team of qualified lawyers who look at every single part in request that ultimately make their way up to the president of the United States.
26:16He's the ultimate final decision maker. And he was very clear when he came into office that he was most interested in looking at pardoning individuals who were abused and used by the Biden Department of Justice and were over prosecuted by a weaponized DOJ.
26:31And the individual you're referring to, that was certainly the case.
26:34Even the judge in his case said that the sentencing that the Biden administration was asking for was egregious and went too far.
26:42And so the president is correcting that wrong and he has officially ended the Biden administration's war on the cryptocurrency industry.
26:49And I think that's the message he sent with this pardon.
26:51Karen, yes.
26:52Back on the issue of back pay for furloughed workers.
26:55You said that the White House is open to discussing that with Democrats.
26:58But what would that discussion even be?
27:00There was a law the president signed in 2019.
27:03What could a discussion look like?
27:05Why is that even open for discussion?
27:07Look, Karen, as I said, Republicans are talking about that with Democrats right now, and I don't want to get in the middle of those sensitive conversations.
27:14But as we've complied with the snap order, the White House, the administration is always going to comply with the laws.
27:20We're always going to comply with the ruling of judges across the country.
27:24But the Republicans are discussing this matter with Democrats right now.
27:28Why would there even be a consideration of not paying those workers?
27:31Big day in the Supreme Court tomorrow with President Trump's tariff policy facing a legal challenge.
27:36What's at stake with that case?
27:38And if the Supreme Court were against the Trump administration, what is Plan B for trade policy?
27:44I'll tell you, the White House is always preparing for Plan B.
27:47It would be imprudent of the president's advisers not to prepare for such a situation.
27:52With that said, we are 100 percent confident in the president and his team's legal arguments and the merits of the law in this case.
28:01And we remain optimistic that the Supreme Court is going to do the right thing.
28:05The importance of this case cannot be overstated.
28:07The president must have the emergency authority to utilize tariffs.
28:12Look at what President Trump has been able to do with the leverage and the power of tariffs.
28:17He's been able to sign peace deals all over the world and end global conflicts and literally save lives.
28:23He's been able to bring in trillions of dollars of investments into our country.
28:28In fact, this year alone, we are going to cut the deficit by 600 billion dollars,
28:35namely because of the president's effective use of tariffs.
28:39And the president strongly believes that economic security is a matter of national security.
28:44And tariffs have a lot to do with that.
28:46And this this case is not just about President Trump.
28:49It's about the the use of this emergency authorization for tariffs for future presidents and administrations to come.
28:55And we're confident and hopeful that the Supreme Court will do the right thing.
28:59Kristen.
29:01Look, as President Trump said, he would inquire with the physicians.
29:09I'll check back on that.
29:10But as the physical itself stated, Kristen, and as you all know, because you are all witness to it every single day,
29:16the president is an optimal physical health.
29:18This was a follow up appointment and we provided a detailed readout of that physical.
29:22I'm happy to give it to you again and I can inquire further.
29:25With all due respect, an MRI is a very specific procedure.
29:28It's done on a part of the body looking for something specific.
29:31So it's not generally part of any kind of routine checkup.
29:35And in addition, President Trump has said that he wants to be transparent.
29:38He has told us to ask the doctors, which we have and have not heard back.
29:41Why don't we have more information on this?
29:43As I said, I'll check back for you.
29:45Go ahead.
29:46John, can you update us on the mediation efforts this administration is leading in Sudan trying to achieve a ceasefire there?
29:55Sure.
29:56Yes.
29:57The United States is actively engaged in efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution to the terrible conflict in Sudan.
30:04We remain committed to working with our international partners, including Quad members, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE,
30:11as well as others to lead a negotiated peace process that addresses both the immediate humanitarian crisis and the longer term political challenges.
30:19I actually spoke with Secretary Ruby about this this morning, as of course, there's been, you know, kind of an uptick in recent reporting on the matter.
30:26And he assured me that the administration is very much engaged.
30:29We're in pretty frequent communication with those Arab partners that I just mentioned.
30:33And we want to see this conflict come to a peaceful end, just as we have with so many others.
30:38But it's the reality is it's a very complicated situation on the ground right now.
30:42Hi, Caroline.
30:43Yes.
30:44Hi. Yes.
30:45Just trying to go back into the subject of Mexico.
30:47Is the Trump administration planning to send U.S. troops to Mexico to combat drug portals, as reported by other outlets?
30:54That's not something I would confirm from this podium if it were happening.
30:57So I will not comment on that.
30:59Amen.
31:00Thank you, Caroline.
31:01Why did the president decide not to go to the Supreme Court tomorrow?
31:04He'd indicated earlier that he might want to go and attend in person.
31:07Yeah.
31:08And now he's saying he's not going to know why.
31:09The president did have an interest in attending the Supreme Court hearing tomorrow, as I just expressed how important it is to him, the administration and the country, this case.
31:18But he is traveling to Miami tomorrow, as you all know, to give an economic address with the mayor of Miami and many global business leaders to talk about his historic success with the economy over the past 10 months and talk about sort of where we are headed as a country in terms of our economy.
31:36So he'll be traveling tomorrow on the road in Miami.
31:38That's why he won't be here.
31:39But Secretary Scott Besant will be in attendance at the hearing tomorrow at the request of the president.
31:44He has said that he doesn't want to export the high end NVIDIA chips to China.
31:50But the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that there was some question about whether the president would raise this as a possible concession with the Chinese side during his meeting with Xi Jinping.
31:59So does the White House consider NVIDIA chip exports to China to be a closed issue right now or is this an ongoing negotiation between the United States, China and NVIDIA at this point?
32:09The president has made his position on this very clear, both to the Chinese and also to all of you.
32:14He's answered this question directly.
32:15As for the most advanced chips, the Blackwell chip, that's not something we're interested in selling to China at this time.
32:20Annie.
32:21Does the president think of the results of the Virginia or New Jersey criminal races tomorrow or statewide races tomorrow will in any way reflect a voter sentiment towards his administration?
32:35Look, Annie, I'm not at liberty to talk about the election results and I certainly won't get ahead of them.
32:40I'm not going to engage in hypotheticals that may or may not happen tonight.
32:43We'll have to watch and see.
32:44And I'm sure you'll hear directly from the president tomorrow on that point.
32:48Quickly on SNAP specifically, is there anything that prompted the president's tweet this morning?
32:53Because it did seem quite different from some of his other communications about SNAP.
32:58It seemed a little bit out of the left field.
33:00I'm just wondering if he had a conversation or if there's anything you're aware of that caused him to decide around 11 o'clock to send out that message.
33:07Look, the president is constantly well read on the news, as you know, and he is very much aware.
33:13We are in day 35 of a government shutdown in which these SNAP benefits were pushing them out the door.
33:19USDA put out that guidance to the states this morning.
33:21The president was aware of that and he wants to make it very clear that these benefits are in jeopardy because of the Democrats.
33:27And they should just open the government so that we can continue getting these funds out the door in an easier and more efficient way.
33:33There's some new reporting that just dropped a few minutes ago that the Trump administration is negotiating with the makers of Ozempic to sell some weight loss trucks for $149 a month, according to the Wall Street Journal.
33:47Do you have any more information on that? Can you confirm that?
33:49I think the president has said himself in previous Most Favored Nations announcements that this is something that the administration has been engaged in and looking into.
33:58I won't get ahead of the president on any future announcements, but I will echo his strong commitment to bringing down drug prices in this country.
34:06And you've heard it directly from Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Marty McCary and his entire Health and Human Services team, how committed the president is to bringing down the cost of drugs.
34:17And we're working with pharmaceutical companies to do that every day.
34:20Very quickly, Caroline, on SNAP. I know it's been asked and I know we just asked, but I want to put a fine point on it.
34:25You talked about the president's post here, and he wrote that SNAP benefits will only be given to the government.
34:33I understand your previous answers, but as written, how would that not violate the court order as it's written?
34:40I've now answered this question several times, Gabe.
34:42We are complying with the court's order. We are getting the payments out the door as quickly as we can.
34:46USDA sent the guidance to the state. The president is referring to future SNAP payments.
34:50He does not want to have to keep tapping in to an emergency fund and depleting it.
34:55In the case of a catastrophe in this country, he wants to have those funds preserved as they should be.
35:01And he's made it very clear Democrats should reopen the government.
35:04I have one final positive note for all of you.
35:07I told you I would keep you posted when the White House would resume public tours.
35:11Well, I'm pleased to announce the Office of the First Lady has reopened the doors for public tours on Tuesday, December 2nd.
35:18There will be an outdated route, of course, for guests in light of the ballroom construction that's taking place.
35:24But we very much look forward to celebrating the holiday season in the public and members of Congress.
35:29And anyone who wants to come visit the First Lady's beautiful decorations is welcome to go to whitehouse.gov slash visit to sign up for a tour.
35:37Thanks, guys. We'll see you.
35:38You.
35:39You.
35:40You.
35:41You.
35:42You.
35:43You.
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35:45You.
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35:47You.
35:48You.
35:49You.
35:50You.
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