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Four weeks into the US-Israeli war with Iran that has sparked an energy crisis due to the blockade of ships by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump addressed his Cabinet and the news media on March 26, digressing into his preference for Sharpie pens, admiring his treasury secretary's glasses and joking about running for president of Venezuela.

Trump weaved through the meeting explaining how he told Sharpie to change the US$1,000 pens to just US$5 pens so that he could save government money to give away the pens to people at the signing ceremonies at the White House.

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Transcript
00:00Militarily and economically.
00:03I just want to ask you a question.
00:05Is this guy central casting?
00:08I'm looking at him.
00:09I'm in Treasury.
00:11And I signed and there's no ink.
00:13And I got all you people looking and you're saying
00:15there must be something wrong with Trump.
00:18And I'm signing and there's no ink in the pen
00:20and it costs a thousand dollars.
00:25See this pen right here, this pen is an interesting example.
00:28It's the same thing. So this pen
00:30is very inexpensive.
00:32But it writes well.
00:34I like it. But I can't have the pen
00:36the way it was. You know what it is. I don't want to give
00:38too much publicity but they do treat me well.
00:40Sharpie.
00:44So I came here.
00:45They have thousand dollar pens.
00:46And you know, you hand pens out. You're signing
00:48and you're handing them out. You're handing them to all these people.
00:51Sometimes you have 30, 40 people.
00:53And they were a thousand dollars a piece.
00:55Beautiful pen.
00:56A thousand ballpoint.
00:57A thousand. It was gold, silver, gorgeous.
01:00But I'm handing it out to kids that don't even know what they are.
01:02What is this, mommy?
01:03It's kids. They're getting a pen for a thousand dollars.
01:06They have no idea what it is.
01:08And I feel guilty because I'm like,
01:10you know, by nature I don't...
01:12You know, it's the government. I love the government.
01:14Like I love myself economically.
01:17I want to save money.
01:18So I'm saying this is crazy.
01:20And it had another problem. They didn't write well.
01:23So I take it out.
01:24And I signed and there's no ink.
01:26And I got all you people looking.
01:28And you're saying, there must be something wrong with Trump.
01:31And I'm signing.
01:32And there's no ink in the pen.
01:34And it costs a thousand dollars.
01:36And that's when I called the guy.
01:38I said, I'd like to use your pen,
01:40but I can't have a gray thing with a big S on it.
01:43St. Sharpie.
01:44As I'm signing a trillion dollar airplane contract
01:48to buy brand new fighter jets,
01:50brand new B-2 bombers of which we just ordered plenty.
01:54I can't do that with the press.
01:56He said, well, I can make it nicer.
01:58I said, what can you do?
01:59He said, I'll paint it black.
02:00I said, that's nice.
02:01And I can even paint the White House on it, sir, if you like.
02:06In gold.
02:08Almost real gold.
02:09Not bad. And I can even do your signature, sir.
02:13And by the way, this was not staged.
02:15I just saw the pen sit there.
02:16I thought of this as an example
02:18of how $25 million
02:21spent by me
02:22at the Federal Reserve Building would be a better job
02:24than $4 billion
02:28that they spent.
02:29So I told that story to somebody
02:30and said, yeah, but I mean, but it's not the same thing.
02:32I said, you're right.
02:34This one is better.
02:36It writes.
02:38So the guy said to me,
02:40you don't have to pay me, sir.
02:42I'll give him to you for nothing.
02:43I said, no, I don't want that.
02:45Let me pay you.
02:46I want to pay you.
02:47No, sir, you don't have to.
02:48You're the President of the United States.
02:49He was shocked.
02:50The head of Sharpie gets a call.
02:52I don't even know who the hell he is.
02:54He said, is this really the President?
02:57He said, no, you don't have to pay me, sir.
02:59This is such an honor.
03:00I said, no, I want to pay you.
03:02He said, what would you like to pay?
03:04I said, how about $5 a pen?
03:05He said, that's all right.
03:07Whatever the hell we agreed to.
03:09Peanuts.
03:10As opposed to $1,000.
03:12And these were $1,000 pens.
03:14And we were giving them out.
03:16Sometimes, you know, you were there for something.
03:17He said, have 30, 40 people standing behind me.
03:19Give out 40 pens to people.
03:21Then somebody would say, could I have a couple extra?
03:24This way, I go like this.
03:25Here, you want five?
03:26Here, I take five.
03:27But the bottom line is, they're better pens.
03:30It's a business story.
03:31So for $5, it could be zero, but for $5, I get a much better pen than for $1,000.
03:39And I can hand them out.
03:40And actually, they become hot as a pistol.
03:42So what can I tell you?
03:44With that, could I give it to please a man who's done a great job at treasuring Scott?
03:50Good luck, Scott.
03:53Well, sir, as always, your tough act to follow.
03:56That is very illustrative.
03:58Your economic .
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