A high-level Cabinet meeting led by President Donald Trump focused on the ongoing tensions between the United States and Venezuela. During the briefing, officials discussed recent security developments, U.S. policy responses, and military readiness in the region.
#USVenezuelaTensions #TrumpVenezuela #VenezuelaStrikes #USStrikesVenezuela #TrumpWarships #VenezuelaCrisis2025 #TrumpStrikes #VenezuelaLandStrikes #TrumpVenezuelaWar #VenezuelaBoatsStrike #DonaldTrumpVenezuela #TrumpVenezuelaNews #VenezuelaAirspace #USEscalation #VenezuelaAttack #TrumpDefensePolicy #USMilitaryVenezuela #VenezuelaUpdates #TrumpForeignPolicy
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#USVenezuelaTensions #TrumpVenezuela #VenezuelaStrikes #USStrikesVenezuela #TrumpWarships #VenezuelaCrisis2025 #TrumpStrikes #VenezuelaLandStrikes #TrumpVenezuelaWar #VenezuelaBoatsStrike #DonaldTrumpVenezuela #TrumpVenezuelaNews #VenezuelaAirspace #USEscalation #VenezuelaAttack #TrumpDefensePolicy #USMilitaryVenezuela #VenezuelaUpdates #TrumpForeignPolicy
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NewsTranscript
00:00We took pictures down from the vaults.
00:02We have vaults downstairs with lots of pictures
00:04that haven't been exposed to the world for,
00:08in many cases, over a hundred years.
00:10We brought them up, and we're using them
00:13as they should be used.
00:14But the Cabinet Room looks beautiful like it should now.
00:18The Oval Office looks beautiful like it should.
00:20It was not — it was like the rest of the country.
00:22It was in disrepair.
00:25One year ago, our country was dead,
00:27and said to me by many leaders,
00:29we had a dead country.
00:30Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.
00:33It's true.
00:33The hottest country anywhere in the world.
00:35Think of that.
00:37In four long years of the Biden administration,
00:40there were just $1 trillion of new investments
00:43in the United States in 10 months.
00:46We've secured commitments of over $18 trillion.
00:50So they had, in one year, less than —
00:52they had less than $1 trillion.
00:54That's in a period of four years.
00:58Think of it.
00:59Four years had less than a trillion.
01:01In 10 months, we have more than $18 trillion.
01:04Is that right, Scott?
01:04It's even going to be higher than that.
01:06It will be higher by the end of the year, sir.
01:07And going up.
01:08And we're waiting for the Supreme Court case.
01:10And it's so important and so vital for this country.
01:13Because we're not only respected again,
01:16we're putting out wars by our trade policies.
01:19And we're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars.
01:23And our country is wealthy again and secure again.
01:26And it's part of national security.
01:29And I hope that goes well.
01:30I think it's very important.
01:32But when you think of the number,
01:34we're going to be over $18 trillion in 10 months.
01:38And — which is a record times probably eight or ten times.
01:44I think more than that for any country.
01:46There's never been a country that's had that kind of an investment,
01:49ever in history.
01:51And there's never been a country that's had half of that.
01:55It's a tremendous thing that's taking place.
01:57We have companies moving in from all over the world —
02:03from Mexico, from Canada, from Europe, from China,
02:07from Japan a lot.
02:10We just had — Toyota is going to spend $10 billion,
02:13they just announced,
02:14on building new plants in this country.
02:16They are workers.
02:17They're going to be all workers.
02:18But they're spending a tremendous amount.
02:20So the stock market has set 46 all-time highs.
02:25And this last Friday, which is called Black Friday,
02:28was the biggest ever online sales that there's ever been,
02:32by a lot.
02:33More Americans are working today than at any time
02:36in the history of our country.
02:38I mean, these are the facts we have to get out.
02:40And, you know, there's this fake narrative
02:43that the Democrats talk about affordability.
02:45They just say the word.
02:46It doesn't mean anything to anybody.
02:48Let me just say it.
02:50Affordability — I inherited the worst inflation in history.
02:53There was no affordability.
02:54Nobody could afford anything.
02:56The prices were massively high.
02:58Do you remember when we took over eggs?
03:01You did a great job on that, Madam Secretary.
03:04Agriculture, Brooke.
03:07Eggs were four or five times higher than they had ever been.
03:10We — they said, don't order eggs for Easter at the White House.
03:13And we ended up doing it, and we got the egg prices way down,
03:16lower than what they were before.
03:18But the word affordability is a con job by the Democrats.
03:23They say affordability.
03:24I watched the other day where some very low-IQ congresswoman
03:29talked about affordability, affordability, affordability.
03:33She had no idea.
03:35Their prices were much higher.
03:37As an example, energy, gasoline —
03:41we're now at about $2.50 a gallon.
03:44We're going to be, I think, at $2 a gallon.
03:46We could even crack that at some point.
03:47I'd love to do it.
03:49But — and we could do it more easily
03:51if we weren't building up the Strategic National Reserves,
03:55which Biden emptied out before the election
03:57so that he could try and get elected.
03:59Meaning she — he started it, then he got thrown out of the race.
04:03And she took over, and she kept it going.
04:04And they emptied out the Strategic National Reserves,
04:08which are really meant for something else.
04:11They're not meant to keep people happy with their gasoline price.
04:14They're meant for war.
04:15They're meant for problems — big problems.
04:18He emptied it out, and then she continued it
04:21during the process of trying to get elected.
04:24Didn't work out too well for him.
04:26And they virtually brought it down to the lowest level,
04:28I believe, in history.
04:30And it didn't have much of an impact
04:33because the prices were very high.
04:35But our prices now for energy, but for gasoline,
04:39are really low. Electricity is coming down.
04:42And when that comes down, everything comes down.
04:45But the word affordability is a Democrat scam.
04:49They say it, and then they go on to the next subject.
04:52And everyone thinks, oh, they had lower prices.
04:54No. They had the worst inflation
04:57in the history of our country.
04:58Now, some people will correct me,
05:00because they always love to correct me,
05:02even though I'm right about everything.
05:05But some people like to correct me,
05:06and they say 48 years.
05:08I say it's not 48 years. It's much more.
05:10But they say it's the worst inflation
05:13that we've had in 48 years. I say ever.
05:17But whether it's 48 years or ever, it's pretty bad.
05:20We had the worst inflation that we've ever had.
05:22Since last January, we've stopped inflation in its tracks.
05:29And there is still more to do. There's always more to do.
05:32But we have it down to a very good level.
05:36It's going to go down a little bit further.
05:37You want to have a little tiny bit of inflation.
05:39Otherwise, that's not good either.
05:41Then you have a thing called deflation.
05:44And deflation can be worse than inflation.
05:46But we have it almost — we'll soon be at a perfect level.
05:50But we inherited the worst inflation.
05:54But we have 20 states that are now selling gasoline
05:59at less than the $2.75 —
06:04think of that — $2.75.
06:07And it was at $5 under Sleepy Joe.
06:11Grocery prices are down,
06:12with the cost of Thanksgiving turkey this year down 33 percent.
06:16It was lower than — 33 percent,
06:19lower than under the Biden administration.
06:21Egg prices are way down 86 percent — thank you.
06:26And mortgage rates, despite the fact
06:28that we have an incompetent chairman of the Fed,
06:30a real dope, who should reduce rates.
06:34I saw even Jamie Dimon said he should be reducing rates.
06:38I never saw Jamie Dimon say that.
06:40I wonder why he said that.
06:42But he really said it because he's right.
06:44But we have a guy that's just a stubborn ox
06:48who probably doesn't like your president —
06:50your favorite president.
06:52But they're going to be coming down.
06:55We'll be announcing somebody probably early next year
06:59for the new chairman of the Fed.
07:00I talked to Scott about taking the job,
07:02but he doesn't want it.
07:03You got the greatest job here.
07:06The President Trump's office.
07:07Yes, sir.
07:08He said, no, I want to stay, Chairman —
07:10I want to stay —
07:11I want to stay right where we are, Treasury.
07:15And I think we're doing really great, aren't we?
07:17The President Trump's office.
07:17We're doing great, sir.
07:18And it's a great team to be a part of.
07:20The President Trump's office.
07:20Yeah? No, it's amazing.
07:21Under my executive order to lower prescription drug prices,
07:25which I think is the single biggest thing we've ever done
07:29that nobody writes about, because you're fake news.
07:32I've made unprecedented deals, along with Bobby and Oz
07:39and all of the people that work on it —
07:41a lot of people — a lot of people that you wouldn't even think work on it,
07:44but they do — to slash drug prices by 200 percent, 300 percent,
07:50400 percent, 500 percent, 600 percent, 700 percent, 800 percent.
07:56Nobody has ever heard of it before,
07:59because I instituted favored nations.
08:02And no nation agreed to do it.
08:04And then I said to the nations,
08:06if you're not going to do it,
08:07I'm going to charge you 100 percent tariff,
08:10which is more money than we're talking about.
08:13And they said, sir, we'd love to do it.
08:14Please, we would be honored to do it.
08:17And they agreed that they would go along with the whole thing.
08:22Nobody — nobody thought you could do it because they felt,
08:26number one, you couldn't get the drug companies to do it.
08:29So we're paying, as an example, for the —
08:32let's go with the fat drug.
08:33The fat drug — F-A-T for fat people.
08:37Anybody use it at the table, don't ask.
08:41But the fat drug was $135 — think of that —
08:47for certain people.
08:50$1,300 for certain countries.
08:52$1,300 in New York.
08:53So in New York, it was $1,300.
08:57And in London, it was $135.
09:00And a friend of mine called me, he said,
09:01what is this?
09:03Why is it?
09:03He got used to paying $1,300.
09:05Well, now what we have it down to is,
09:08Bobby, what's the number?
09:09Like 150 or something?
09:11We have it down to a low number, don't we?
09:13Yeah, it's around $125, $150.
09:16Think of that.
09:17So we got it down from $1,300 to $125 to $140,
09:23depending on various countries.
09:26In other words, we're paying the lowest price —
09:28tied for the lowest price in the world.
09:31As people said, you could never do that,
09:34because you couldn't get the countries to agree to it.
09:36I did.
09:38Every country agreed to it.
09:39Because I said, if you're not going to agree to it,
09:40that's okay, I'm going to charge your tariffs.
09:43And as soon as I said that, they said, we agreed.
09:46And then we had to be a little tough with the drug companies.
09:48But they came along.
09:49The bigger problem was the countries.
09:51The countries just wouldn't go along with it.
09:52But they did — every country.
09:55So we have reduced drug prices by 500, 600, 700,
10:01800, 900 percent, depending on the drug,
10:04depending on the company,
10:06depending on all of the different factors involved.
10:10Nobody has ever even thought of drug reductions like that —
10:13price reductions.
10:14And I told you the story that, in my first term,
10:17I was so proud of myself because I reduced drugs.
10:19It was the first time in 28 years
10:22that drug prices were reduced.
10:24It was one quarter of 1 percent.
10:26One quarter of 1 percent.
10:27And I was so proud of myself.
10:29I said, it was the first time in 28 years
10:32that drug prices went down over the course of a year,
10:36over the course of a presidency.
10:38One year.
10:39One quarter of 1 percent.
10:40I had a news conference.
10:41I was so proud.
10:43Now I got them down not one quarter of 1 percent.
10:47I got them down 400, 500, 600 percent and more.
10:51And the fake news won't write about it.
10:55And it's going to have a huge impact on healthcare
10:57because a big part of it is buying drugs,
11:00buying prescription drugs, drugs.
11:03It's going to have a huge positive impact
11:05because Obamacare is a disaster.
11:07I said it years ago and I say it now.
11:10And the money should be paid,
11:12taken away from the insurance company.
11:13Obamacare was made to make the insurance companies rich.
11:17Their stocks have gone up 1,000 percent
11:20in a short period of time
11:22because the money goes to the insurance company.
11:24I want the money to go to the people
11:26and let all the money go to the people
11:29and let the people go out and buy their own healthcare.
11:34And I see on television, people are advertising now,
11:36we will help you buy healthcare.
11:38We will go out and help you buy.
11:41That's becoming like an industry because of what I said.
11:44So something is going to happen.
11:45It's probably not going to be easy
11:48because the Democrats, frankly,
11:51they don't want to make a good deal for the people.
11:53They just want to make a bad deal for the country.
11:55They want to make a bad deal for the Republican Party.
11:58But the Republican Party is united.
12:01And I will say that what I would like to do
12:04is the money doesn't go.
12:07Trillions of dollars get paid to drug companies.
12:11And you still have lousy healthcare.
12:13Obamacare is horrible healthcare.
12:16We want it to go to the people
12:17and then let the people go out and buy their own healthcare.
12:21And they'll do great. They'll do great.
12:22They'll do great.
12:23So we're negotiating that now with the Democrats.
12:25While congressional Democrats
12:29want the largest tax hike in history,
12:30I proudly signed the largest tax cuts
12:33in American history with the Great Big Beautiful Bill.
12:36The Great Big Beautiful Bill.
12:39The biggest piece of legislation ever signed.
12:42And that includes the extension
12:44of the original Trump tax cuts.
12:46But it's the biggest tax cut ever signed.
12:49And it includes no tax on tips,
12:51no tax on overtime,
12:53and no tax on Social Security.
12:55Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
12:57So think of that.
12:59And in addition, you get, if you buy a car,
13:02this is great for our car industry
13:04because we have a lot of car plants.
13:06We're bringing back the automobile business.
13:08Sixty percent of it was stolen
13:11because we had incompetent presidents
13:13or incompetent trade people.
13:16But 60 percent of it was stolen over the years.
13:18And now we're bringing it.
13:19I think we're bringing it all back.
13:20I think we'll be bigger than ever
13:22than we've ever been in the auto business.
13:25That's not even to mention AI,
13:26where we're leading China.
13:28You know, we're leading China by a lot.
13:30They're not going to catch us.
13:31We have to be smart.
13:33But if we're smart, they're not going to be able to catch us.
13:35They know that. They told me that.
13:38Next year is projected to be
13:40the largest tax refund season ever.
13:42And we're going to be giving back refunds out of the tariffs
13:45because we've taken in literally trillions of dollars.
13:49And we're going to be giving a nice dividend to the people.
13:54In addition to reducing debt, we, as you know,
13:57I inherited a lot of debt.
13:59But it's peanuts compared to the kind of numbers
14:02we're talking about.
14:03So we're going to be making a dividend to the people.
14:06And additionally, we're going to be able to reduce debt.
14:11And as time goes by, over the next two, three, four years,
14:14those numbers are going to go up.
14:15And I believe that at some point in the not-too-distant future,
14:19you won't even have income tax to pay
14:22because the money we're taking in is so great,
14:24it's so enormous,
14:25that you're not going to have income tax to pay.
14:28Whether you get rid of it or just keep it around for fun
14:31or have it really low, much lower than it is now,
14:34but you won't be paying income tax.
14:37We've slashed $1 trillion in costly job-killing regulations,
14:41saving Americans an estimated $2,100 for a family of four.
14:47The Biden administration was the exact opposite, but times four.
14:52They went up $6,000.
14:54We went down $2,100.
14:56Think of that.
14:57To bring down energy, electricity, and utility prices,
15:00I ended the Green News scam.
15:02They call it the Green News scam,
15:04one of the greatest scams in the history of our country.
15:07They talked about global warming and all the crap
15:09and what they've done to this country.
15:13What they've done by allowing 25 million people into our country,
15:17many of whom are criminals,
15:18many of whom 11,888 are murderers,
15:23and we have to get them out.
15:24And we're doing it. We're doing it.
15:26I think what the job that our law enforcement groups are doing,
15:30Christy, you, and Tom, and everybody. Amazing.
15:34What you're doing is amazing.
15:36I terminated the insane electrical, electric vehicle mandate.
15:42And, look, some people that make electric cars
15:47weren't happy with that.
15:49But we have to do that because you have to have a choice,
15:51whether it's a gasoline-powered car.
15:54And we have so much gasoline.
15:56You know, China doesn't have gasoline. We do.
15:59And whether it's a hybrid,
16:01which really are working really well,
16:04the combination of electric and gasoline-driven.
16:08But we — you know, everybody was supposed to —
16:12by 2030, everybody had to own an electric car,
16:14under the Biden stupidity.
16:17And not everybody wants to do that.
16:19I like electric cars. I like all cars.
16:21They're all good. They all have reasons.
16:23But you want to be able to go and buy what you want.
16:26I have post-historic tariffs
16:28that are now bringing in so much money that we've never —
16:32nobody has ever seen anything like it.
16:34And countries that were ripping us off,
16:37including allies,
16:38but they were ripping us off for years.
16:41I won't use the names. I won't mention Japan.
16:44I refuse to mention South Korea. I will not mention names.
16:49But they were ripping us off
16:50like nobody has ever been ripped off before.
16:52And they're taking horrible advantage of your country.
16:56But now we're making a lot of money.
16:59We're making a lot of money because of the tariffs
17:01that are pouring in.
17:03And it's really national security.
17:05Among everything else, it's national security.
17:07We've also rapidly turned
17:09the worst border crisis in world history.
17:12I believe we had the worst border ever in history.
17:14I don't care if you had a fourth-world country.
17:17You know, we allow third-world country in.
17:19We would allow fourth-world war countries in also.
17:24It doesn't matter.
17:25There was never a border that was as bad as our border.
17:27We allowed anybody in with no checks, no vetting.
17:32So we've rapidly turned the worst border crisis
17:35in world history into the strongest border
17:37in the history of our country,
17:39and probably one of the strongest borders
17:41in the history of the world.
17:42Because we have nobody coming through.
17:46And I want to thank our people.
17:48The Border Patrol is so amazing.
17:50ICE.
17:51And I want to thank the military for the backup.
17:53Because they're standing right behind them.
17:55And that was really nasty for a period of months.
17:58And now it's no longer nasty.
18:00Now they don't even come up.
18:02Nobody comes up.
18:02It's an easy job.
18:03It made your job a lot easier.
18:06Because they know they're not going to get through.
18:08And we take people in, but they have to come in legally.
18:12For six months in a row, zero illegal aliens
18:14have been admitted into the United States.
18:16You believe that? Zero.
18:18We had millions of people coming in a year.
18:20Millions.
18:22Now we have zero for six months.
18:24And these are given by radical-left people
18:27that do the numbers.
18:28I mean, they're not doing them any favors.
18:30That's — they're being — we don't have —
18:33we don't have — our net numbers are unbelievable.
18:36But we had zero people in the last six months.
18:42Illegal border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border
18:45have plummeted to the lowest level ever recorded.
18:48Ever recorded.
18:50And nobody talks about that anymore.
18:51You know, it's crazy.
18:52They don't talk about it.
18:53They — you'd think they'd say,
18:55well, Trump's done a great job on the border.
18:57This country is being destroyed by the border.
19:00But you always find something new.
19:02Like, is he in good health?
19:04Biden was great.
19:06But is Trump in good health?
19:08I sit here —
19:09I sit here, I do news —
19:11four news conferences a day.
19:12I ask questions from very intelligent lunatics, you people.
19:16And I always get —
19:19I give the right answers.
19:20There's never a scandal.
19:21There's never a problem.
19:22I give you answers that solve your little problems.
19:26You go back, and you can't find anything.
19:29But you do — you do stories about Biden was in wonderful health.
19:33The guy didn't do a news conference for eight months.
19:36If I go one day —
19:37I had one day where I didn't do a news conference.
19:40There's something wrong with the President.
19:43You people are crazy.
19:44I'll let you know when there's something wrong.
19:46There will be someday.
19:48That's going to happen to all of us.
19:49But right now, I think I'm sharper than I was 25 years ago.
19:52But who the hell does?
19:53I took — by the way, I took my physical.
19:57I got all A's, everything.
20:00But they said to me,
20:01would you like to take a cognitive test?
20:03I said, is it hard?
20:06They said, yes.
20:08I said, well, I'm a very smart person.
20:12Who was the last President to take one?
20:14No President has ever agreed to take one.
20:17Because when you get into the mid-questions,
20:20meaning, you know, 10 —
20:21question number 10, 11, 12, 28, 30 —
20:25they get harder and harder.
20:28And they said, would you like to do it?
20:30I said, well, no reason to do it.
20:33Nobody has ever done it.
20:35I'll do it, maybe.
20:35But there's really no reason.
20:37They said, sir, the problem is,
20:38this is Walter Reed Hospital.
20:41And that's a military hospital.
20:43And that means that things are, you know, sort of open.
20:46It's not like private, where you have —
20:48if you do poorly, we'll have to —
20:53probably you'll find out.
20:56They said, I won't do poorly.
20:57I'm a smart person, not a stupid person.
21:00And as the doctor will tell you, I aced it.
21:04Right, Susie?
21:04I aced.
21:05I got every question right.
21:07And these are tough questions.
21:08These are questions that, I would say,
21:1199 percent of the people that I'm talking to right now,
21:14meaning the people from the fake news would not do well in those exams.
21:20But I'm the only one that took it.
21:21I got every single question right.
21:23And then I read in the New York Times,
21:25is Trump sharp?
21:27Trump is sharp.
21:29But they're not sharp.
21:30That's why they're going out of business, the New York Times.
21:32I hear that they're losing so much money, it's ridiculous.
21:36They're a bunch of fakers.
21:38But we have — we can never let another thing happen
21:41like what happened to us with a fake election,
21:44with a rigged election,
21:45where a guy like Joe Biden assumes the presidency.
21:48Because the man was grossly incompetent.
21:50And he was incompetent 30 years ago.
21:53But he was really incompetent for those last few years.
21:57And our country was put in great danger because of it.
22:01So for six months in a row, we had zero people,
22:04the legal border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border
22:08have plummeted to the lowest level ever, ever, ever.
22:11Think of that.
22:13And the net benefit to our country is enormous, incalculable.
22:18America is strong and respected again.
22:21On the world stage, we're really respected.
22:24In fact, I went to a NATO,
22:25and they were calling me the President of Europe.
22:29We're doing very well.
22:30We have a lot of respect.
22:32As you know, we have a problem with a war
22:35that our people are trying to settle now
22:37with Russia and Ukraine.
22:40We are not involved in the war monetarily anymore.
22:43Biden gave away $350 billion, like it was candy.
22:46That's a massive amount of money.
22:49And much of it in cash, a lot of it in equipment.
22:54I don't give away anything.
22:55We sell the equipment to NATO.
22:57The European nations pay us for the equipment,
22:59a hundred percent price.
23:01And then they bring it to Ukraine,
23:03or whatever they do with it.
23:05But we're trying to get that settled.
23:06I've settled eight wars.
23:09This would be the ninth.
23:10And our people are over in Russia right now
23:12to see if we can get it settled.
23:13Not an easy situation.
23:15Let me tell you, what a mess.
23:17It's a war that never would have happened
23:19if I were President.
23:20Not even a chance.
23:21And it didn't happen for four years.
23:23We've renamed the Department of Defense
23:27the Department of War.
23:28And I thought that would be controversial.
23:30And frankly, I tell you what, I haven't met one person.
23:34There's not one person I've met that doesn't like it.
23:37You know, think of it.
23:38We won World War I, World War II,
23:41everything in between, everything before it.
23:45And then we said, let's change the name.
23:48So we changed it back to what it was,
23:49Department of War.
23:50And Pete's doing a great job.
23:53We ended eight wars.
23:54Think of that.
23:55Eight wars.
23:56But we're going to do one more, I think.
23:58I hope.
23:59I hope.
24:01Every time I end a war, they say,
24:02if President Trump ends that war,
24:05he's going to get the Nobel Prize if I end that war.
24:09Well, he won't get it for that war.
24:12But if he ever gets it for the next war,
24:14now they're saying, if he ever ends the war
24:17with Russia and Ukraine,
24:18he's going to get the Nobel Prize.
24:20What about the other eight wars?
24:22India, Pakistan.
24:24Think of all the wars I ended.
24:26I should get the Nobel Prize for every war,
24:28but I don't want to be greedy.
24:31Actually, the woman who got the Nobel Prize said,
24:34you've got to be kidding.
24:36Trump deserves the Nobel Prize.
24:38And that was very nice of her.
24:39I appreciate it.
24:40Which is true, actually.
24:42But I don't care about that.
24:43You know what I care about?
24:44I care about death.
24:45I care about all the people that are dying.
24:47And last month, 27,000 young people died.
24:52Mostly young people, mostly soldiers,
24:54despite some missiles being shot into Kyiv and other places.
24:59But think of it.
25:00Mostly young people.
25:0227,000 people died between Russia and Ukraine last month.
25:08What a shame.
25:09So we're resowing law and order to our cities and towns.
25:12If you look at what's happened,
25:14and I want to pay my deepest respects
25:16to those two incredible people from the National Guard.
25:19In West Virginia, they came from.
25:21I spoke to their parents.
25:25Sarah is gone.
25:27She passed away.
25:28She's looking down on us now.
25:30And she loves her parents.
25:31And they loved her.
25:32They were — somebody said, how are they doing?
25:35I said, the word is devastated.
25:38Doing.
25:38How are they going to do?
25:40They're devastated.
25:41The rest of their lives, they're going to be devastated.
25:43She was an incredible person.
25:45Highly respected.
25:46Top of her class.
25:47Everything.
25:48She was like a perfect human being.
25:51Twenty years old.
25:51Just started.
25:52She was like a baby.
25:54She was so proud.
25:56They were giving her a promotion.
25:58And she told the parents that she was getting a promotion.
26:02And they were so proud of her.
26:04And then they get a call that this happened.
26:05And we have one young man who's fighting for his life.
26:10He's fighting very hard.
26:11I think he's probably doing better than anybody.
26:15And they said he — he didn't have a chance.
26:18I'll tell you, the one who said he's going to live is his mother.
26:21I spoke to his mother.
26:22Sir, he's going to live.
26:24I spoke to her very soon after this horrible event took place
26:27with this scum that is able to come into our country.
26:30And I spoke to his mother.
26:33Sir, he's — he's going to be okay, I'm telling you.
26:36No doctor thought that.
26:37Nobody thought that.
26:39He was hitting bad places.
26:40And she was, like, so positive.
26:43It was incredible.
26:44And it's possibly right, Pam, right?
26:47Possibly right.
26:48Boy, it would be amazing.
26:50If he lives, it would be amazing.
26:52A miracle, actually.
26:54But we're very proud of those two people.
26:59We're very proud of the National Guard.
27:00We're very proud of our military and our police
27:02and our firemen and women.
27:06If you go back and take a look a year ago,
27:11a year and a half ago —
27:13it all changed, I think, on November 5th,
27:15the day of the election.
27:16But you go back before that,
27:18you couldn't get people to join the military, Pete, right?
27:21They didn't want anything to do with military.
27:23They wanted nothing to do with joining the police or the fire.
27:26They wanted nothing to do with anything.
27:29They had no spirit.
27:30The country was — it had no spirit, nothing.
27:34And now we just had the highest recruitment in history.
27:37And we're getting great people.
27:40We're getting great people.
27:42And I will say, despite what just happened,
27:46Washington, D.C. has become a really safe place.
27:49And I guess this lunatic probably was upset
27:52that the National Guard is so effective,
27:55because we were really, really effective.
27:57And we are.
27:59And Washington, D.C. is now considered
28:01a very, very safe city.
28:03We had crime numbers a year ago that was so bad.
28:08Embarrassment that the city —
28:10the capital of this country could be —
28:12have numbers like that.
28:14And Washington now is —
28:17I mean, no murders, no this.
28:18It's been a miracle, also, what happened here.
28:22And now we're in Memphis,
28:24and we're going to New Orleans pretty soon.
28:27Over the end of the governor called me.
28:29He'd like to have us go there.
28:30Governor Landry — great guy, great governor.
28:33He's asked for help in New Orleans,
28:35and we're going to go there in a couple of weeks.
28:37And we're doing a real job.
28:39Even Chicago is down a little bit,
28:41because of — we have a minor force there.
28:45We could knock it down within four or five weeks.
28:48We could bring it down to almost nothing.
28:50But we have a governor that's grossly incompetent,
28:53and we have a mayor that's even more incompetent
28:55than the governor.
28:55A very — he's a very low IQ person.
28:59And typically, low IQ people don't make good mayors.
29:03So I want to thank all of our Cabinet members.
29:05They're high IQ.
29:06Let me say one.
29:07Yeah, generally speaking,
29:11a couple of them a little concerned about that.
29:14No, but I want to thank —
29:17we have a great Cabinet, an amazing Cabinet,
29:19amazing people.
29:20All of them, you know, sort of have become stars.
29:24We're getting credit for the good Cabinet, actually.
29:26And I just want to wish everybody a great holiday.
29:29We've, I think, done a great job with the White House,
29:33bringing the White House back.
29:34You see the palm court that was redone.
29:38The Lincoln bedroom was redone.
29:40The Lincoln bathroom is now gorgeous,
29:43just like it should have been.
29:44It was terrible green tile
29:47that was never the way it was supposed to be.
29:48It was done in the 1940s, actually.
29:52But it was not proper.
29:55And it's — we're restoring the White House,
29:57just like we're restoring the country.
29:58And people are thrilled.
30:00But we — the First Lady has done a beautiful job
30:03with the Christmas trees and all the decorations.
30:05I see the wreaths on the windows.
30:07I've never seen that before,
30:09on the windows of the White House.
30:10And, you know, it's four stories high.
30:12I said, how did they get in that wreath?
30:13They had people going up in a little dangerous —
30:17I wouldn't want to do it.
30:19But they put them up,
30:20and we have wonderful people working in the White House.
30:23And they're really proud to bring the building back.
30:25Because this building was a little bit like the country.
30:27It was mishandled. It was mistreated.
30:30And now it's being given love.
30:33And we're building one of the great —
30:34I think maybe the greatest ballroom.
30:37We needed it for 150 years, they've been asking.
30:39And you see the trucks and cranes
30:41and excavators in the background.
30:44And you hear them.
30:45And every time I hear them, I love the sound.
30:47To me, I love the sound.
30:48I wouldn't say my wife is thrilled.
30:51She hears piledrivers in the background
30:53all day, all night.
30:55They go until 12 o'clock in the evening.
30:56Day, night, piledrivers.
30:59Darling, could you turn off the piledrivers?
31:01I'm sorry.
31:02Darling, that's progress.
31:03But, no, we're doing — we're doing great.
31:08It's going to be the — I think it's going to be
31:09the finest ballroom ever built.
31:11And we're going to have it here.
31:12They've wanted it for 150 years.
31:15Think of that.
31:16So, I will just end by saying I want to thank the Cabinet.
31:20It's been a great Cabinet.
31:22Our last — think of it.
31:23Time flies.
31:24But this is our last of the year, as I said.
31:26And I just think you've done a fantastic job.
31:29And we're going to go around the room.
31:30We'll go quickly.
31:31But we're going to go around the room.
31:33And we'll start with Pete.
31:35And you'll tell us about some of the achievements.
31:37And some of you have achievements that are so big,
31:39I don't want you to go through the whole thing,
31:41because we're not done.
31:42But we'll start with Pete.
31:44And then, if you want, we'll take some questions at the end.
31:46Please, Pete.
31:47The President, as you said,
31:49it has been a historic year at the Department of War.
31:53Recruiting and retention over this year
31:55are at the most historic levels our country has ever seen.
31:59I had a chance to be on an aircraft carrier destroyer
32:02over Thanksgiving, the spirit in our ranks
32:04since the election under President Trump is unprecedented.
32:07I've never seen anything like it as a soldier myself in uniform.
32:10And I know a lot of you feel the same way.
32:12We've ripped out the DEI and the political correctness.
32:15It's all merit-based at the Department.
32:18We're getting back to basics — accountability,
32:20training, readiness, lethality.
32:22And that's reviving that spirit.
32:25And, Mr. President, we're rebuilding the military,
32:27historic investments.
32:28I just took briefings on the Golden Dome and F-47,
32:31the next-generation capabilities that are going to make sure
32:33that for generations to come, America has the most power.
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