Karoline Leavitt delivered sharp remarks on former President Donald Trump’s stance toward the ongoing Ukraine–Russia conflict, saying Trump is “extremely frustrated with BOTH sides of this war” and “sick of endless meetings.”
According to Leavitt, Trump believes the conflict has dragged on for far too long and wants a decisive path toward ending hostilities. She hinted that a possible meeting scheduled for this weekend is uncertain, telling reporters: “We’ll see about the meeting this weekend — stay tuned.”
00:00The president said he was going to be holding a call with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia.
00:05Have those calls taken place? Is there a readout you can share?
00:07The president has not yet engaged in those calls, and when he does, I'm sure you'll hear from him directly,
00:12as you always do, after foreign leader calls or from somebody here at the White House.
00:17I do know, with respect to the conflict and the peace deal in Thailand and Cambodia and some of the conflicts you've seen arise,
00:24reports of that in the press over the past couple of days, the president addressed it in Pennsylvania.
00:28The administration is obviously tracking this at the highest levels and is very much engaged.
00:33I spoke with Secretary Ruby about it this morning.
00:35And will senior U.S. officials be meeting Saturday with European and Ukrainian officials to discuss the peace plan?
00:44Look, we, the United States and the Trump administration continues to be very much engaged in trying to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end.
00:53The president had a call with the Europeans yesterday.
00:55His special envoy, Whitcoff, and his team continue to talk with both sides literally as we speak.
01:02If there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement, if we feel like those meetings are worthy of someone on the United States' time this weekend,
01:11then we will send a representative.
01:12It's still up in the air whether we believe real peace can be accomplished and we can truly move the ball forward.
01:18The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war.
01:21And he is sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting.
01:25He doesn't want any more talk.
01:26He wants action.
01:27He wants this war to come to an end.
01:29And the administration has spent more than 30 hours this, just in the past couple of weeks,
01:35meeting with the Russians and the Ukrainians and the Europeans and speaking with them as well.
01:39So we'll see about the meetings this weekend and stay tuned.
01:43Is the president aware of the President Zelensky's latest proposal that was sent over yesterday?
01:47He's aware of it, yes.
01:49Ed.
01:50Thanks, Caroline.
01:50So the Fed chairman, the president says that he's interviewing candidates.
01:54So I just want to be clear.
01:56So the pick has not been locked in.
01:58And could we get an announcement before Christmas?
02:00I know every business outlet in the world is just chomping at the bit for a scoop or something on this Fed chair announcement.
02:08I'm not going to get ahead of the president.
02:10I know there's been a lot of reports about potential meetings this week with potential candidates.
02:15Look, as always, this is a decision the president himself is going to make.
02:19And I know there's a lot of reporting out there from anonymous sources who claim to know something.
02:24I would wait and see what the president himself does and announces.
02:27And I certainly won't be the one to get ahead of him on that.
02:29On the economy.
02:30Can I ask you about a question?
02:31Michael.
02:31Go ahead.
02:32On the next Fed chair, does the president have an expectation that his pick will lower interest rates next year to his liking?
02:38I think the president has been quite clear about what he believes the Fed should be doing, which is lowering interest rates.
02:44I know there was a quarter point reduction this past week, and the president was pleased to see that.
02:49But he thinks more should be done.
02:51Philip.
02:52Thank you, Caroline.
02:53On these advanced NVIDIA H200 chips, why is the president willing to allow China to have access to one of America's chief technological advantages?
03:03Look, I will tell you just a couple of things.
03:05The president put out his own statement on this, which I do think highlights his exact thinking.
03:10What you see from the president on Truth Social is most of the time what you hear from the president behind closed doors privately.
03:17He told President Xi that we will – NVIDIA will only be shipping H200 products to approved customers in China to allow – under conditions that will allow for continued, strong national security.
03:29The administration continues to maintain a strict export control regime, and we are ensuring that the Blackwell chip and other advanced technologies stay right here in America.
03:39And these H200 chips will only be sent to China after undergoing a security inspection here in the United States.
03:46Thank you, Caroline.
03:47Thank you, Caroline.
03:48Thank you, Caroline.
03:49New York City mayor-alegendor Armandani put out a video recently telling immigrants in New York City they have the right to stand up to ICE.
03:55Are you concerned this will inspire New York City residents to resist ICE operations, and what will the Trump administration do if this happens?
04:02The Trump administration is definitely concerned about the rise in violence and attacks and physical threats that we have seen against our brave men and women who wear the ICE uniform.
04:13Again, these are agents who are just simply doing their jobs. They are enforcing our nation's immigration laws.
04:18And we've seen more than a 1,000 percent increase in violent attacks on them and their families. They've been doxxed. They've been harassed.
04:25Many of them have been physically assaulted and attacked. So we condemn that wholeheartedly. I know the administration has done a lot to protect our ICE agents.
04:34And the president stands firmly behind them in conducting these enforcement operations. And there's a lot of talk from Democrat politicians in New York.
04:43But the Trump administration will continue to do our jobs in every state, and that's to remove illegal aliens and public safety threats from American communities.
04:52I'll go to the gentleman who's very eager and then to you.
04:58The Press designing messageforia lesnarly unple shirtless practice minutes after footage of aplics of Aunque wurden.
05:00Obviously Jasmine Crockett who the president has openly criticized, just entered Texas, a Senate race.
05:03I asked Mike Johnson, who said that Texas largely supports the President.
05:06Crockett, on the other hand, says that Trump is an example of extremism.
05:11She says that her support is a referendum on Trump.
05:14I'm curious to get your thoughts on this. Has Trump made any statement since she's been announced?
05:20since she's been, since she's announced her candidacy?
05:23Ms. Not to my knowledge, as you know from the White House podium.
05:26As a government employee, I'm not privy to comment on future
05:29elections, but I do think the President has made his thoughts
05:32on Ms. Crockett quite clear, and I do believe he thinks
05:35she is wholly unqualified for the office that she is seeking.
05:39Joey.
05:40The Press. Yeah, thanks, Caroline.
05:41A federal judge today ordered the immediate release
05:43of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE detention.
05:46Does the White House have a response to that,
05:48and does the administration plan to appeal that decision?
05:52Ms. Absolutely.
05:53The White House, the administration opposed this activism
05:56from a judge who is really acting as a judicial activist,
06:00which we've unfortunately seen in many cases across the country.
06:03Abrego Garcia is present in our country illegally.
06:06He is a proven human trafficker.
06:09He is a proven gang member.
06:11The administration has evidence of that,
06:13and as you saw from the Department of Homeland Security,
06:16they issued a statement saying they'll continue to fight
06:18this legal battle in court.
06:19Caitlin.
06:20There are two questions.
06:21I have one on Venezuela to follow up, but first on affordability,
06:24since we were talking about the economy at the beginning.
06:26If the economy is as strong as the President has said it is,
06:29then why is he telling parents two weeks before Christmas
06:32that they should only buy two or three dolls for their children?
06:34Ms. Look, what the President is saying is that if we want products made right here in America,
06:39if we want them to be made from American small businesses,
06:42which is a large part of the reason the President has effectively implemented tariffs,
06:47then we're going to have better quality products right here in the United States.
06:51Maybe you'll pay a dollar or two more, but you will get better quality,
06:54and you'll be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American.
06:58And that's what the President was saying.
06:59Again, with respect to affordability, every economic metric, Caitlin,
07:03and I wish you would report more on it, does in fact show that the economy is getting better
07:08and brighter than where it was under the previous administration.
07:11I will repeat, inflation as measured by the overall CPI has slowed to an average 2.5 percent pace.
07:18Real wages are increasing, roughly $1,200 for the average worker.
07:23Gas prices are down in almost every single state across the country.
07:26Again, in 22 states, it's below 275.
07:30You look at the tax cuts. Those are going to go into effect next year.
07:33So the best is yet to come.
07:35The President is digging our country out of the economic hole
07:38that the previous administration put us in, and that's what he's talking about.
07:41The Pressure is down from where it was a year ago, as you know,
07:44and grocery prices have been up. So we've covered the economy,
07:46but there's mixed signals in terms of what that looks like.
07:49But on Wednesday...
07:50Ms. Inflation is down from where it was.
07:52As measured by the overall CPI, it has slowed to an average 2.5 percent pace.
07:55The Pressure is down from where it was a year ago, as you know,
07:57and grocery prices have been up. So we've covered the economy,
07:59the President inherited 2.9 percent in January.
08:01Today, it's at about 2.5 percent.
08:03So we're trending in the right direction with more to come.
08:05And I would remind you, when President Trump left office in his first term,
08:09inflation was 1.7 percent.
08:11And the previous administration jacked it up to a record high 9 percent.
08:15So again, in 10 months, the President has clawed us out of this hole.
08:18He's kept it low at 2.5 percent.
08:21And we believe that number is going to continue to decline,
08:24especially as energy and oil prices continue to decline as well.
Be the first to comment