00:00Hey, good afternoon everyone. Could you hear our amen in there? We just said a
00:06little loud prayer as a team. In this Holy Week, President Trump and the First
00:10Lady are joining in prayer with Christians celebrating the resurrection
00:14of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On Wednesday, the President will host an
00:18Easter lunch in the East Room with faith leaders across the country to celebrate
00:23Holy Week. With respect to the ongoing major combat operations in Iran, Operation
00:29Epic Fury is moving ahead successfully and according to plan. With each passing
00:34day, the United States military is increasing its advantage over the
00:38terrorist Iranian regime. More than 11,000 enemy targets have been struck to date,
00:44each strike further crippling the regime's offensive and defensive capabilities and
00:49creating more leverage for the United States and our allies. Compared to the
00:53start of the operation, Iran's ballistic missile and drone attacks are down by
00:58roughly 90%. The United States is also decimating the Iranian regime's Navy. We
01:04have destroyed more than 150 of their naval vessels so far, including 92% of their
01:11largest vessels. The Iranian Navy has no vessels operating in major regional water
01:16rays and no ability to project naval power, which is why they've been assessed as
01:21combat ineffective. Our military continues to obliterate Iran's defense industrial base with
01:28nearly 70% of their missile, drone and naval production facilities and shipyards damaged
01:34or destroyed thus far, significantly reducing their ability to pose future threats in the region.
01:41U.S. and Israeli joint forces control the skies and have asserted air dominance over Iran,
01:47completing more than 11,000 successful combat flights thus far. The trend remains clear. The United
01:55States is conducting more intense targeted strikes with devastating combat power with each passing day
02:01to destroy the threat posed by the Iranian terrorist regime, as President Trump sought out to do a month
02:08ago. It's no surprise that we are seeing the remaining elements of the regime become increasingly eager to end
02:14the destruction and come to the negotiating table while they still can. Despite all of the public posturing
02:20you hear from the regime and false reporting, talks are continuing and going well. What is said publicly
02:27is, of course, much different than what's being communicated to us privately. As a result, President Trump issued
02:33a 10-day pause to postpone planned strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure. This remains a truly
02:40once-in-a-generation opportunity for the regime to make a good deal with the United States, permanently
02:46abandon their nuclear ambitions, and stop acting as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.
02:52If the Iranians reject this golden opportunity, the greatest military in the history of the world
02:57continues to stand by to provide President Trump with every option available to ensure this regime
03:03continues to pay a grave price. One way or another, Iran will no longer have the credible ability
03:10to threaten the United States or our allies, which is, of course, the overall objective admission the
03:16President set out when he launched Operation Epic Fury. Unfortunately, even as President Trump is
03:22working hard every single day to protect the United States from foreign enemies, Democrats on Capitol Hill have
03:28failed to do the same here at home by keeping the Department of Homeland Security unfunded. Over the
03:34past six weeks, Democrats in Congress have pushed our air travel system to its breaking point and inflicted
03:40massive pain on Americans with their reckless political games. 500 TSA officers quit their jobs.
03:47Thousands more were calling out sick at record rates due to the lack of pay. This resulted in security wait
03:53times exceeding three hours at major airports across the country, creating nightmares for millions of
03:59Americans. Overall morale among TSA staff plummeted as well, all of this creating an unacceptable heightened
04:05security risk. Because of the Democrats' unwillingness to do their basic job of funding DHS, President
04:12Trump determined that these circumstances constituted an emergency compromising American security. That's why
04:19last week he accordingly signed a presidential memorandum directing the Secretary of Homeland Security
04:24to work with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget here at the White House to use those
04:29funds
04:30with a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation
04:37and benefits that would have accrued to them but for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown. This bold and necessary
04:44action by President Trump will ensure our TSA workers receive their hard-earned paychecks.
04:50It should not have come to this point but President Trump will always do what's right by the American
04:55people and he found a way to do that to get TSA paid. Ensuring that these federal workers who perform
05:01critical public safety responsibilities can feed their families, pay their rent and show up to work is
05:06something the President was honored to do. But this moment should be an eye-opening one for the American
05:11people. Let's be clear about what is happening. Democrat members of Congress are more than happy to put your
05:18safety at risk because they oppose the President's administration and his administration's efforts to enforce
05:24our nation's immigration law. Democrats refuse to fund ICE because they want millions and millions of illegal
05:30aliens to pour into the country just like they were under the Biden administration. They want murderers and rapists and
05:37thugs to remain in your communities rather than be removed by ICE and border patrol agents. The
05:43Democrats created this mess. They are the reason for long lines at airports and tens of thousands of
05:48employees going without pay. Once again, President Trump is cleaning up their mess because he cares more
05:54about the American people than destructive, petty, partisan politics. With that, I will take your questions
05:59today. Here in our new media seat, we have Wid Lyman. Thank you for being here and why don't you
06:03kick us off?
06:04Thank you. Happy Easter. Thank you. You as well. Two questions for you. Thank you. There are some
06:08concerns the administration is starting to change its position on deportations, border enforcement,
06:13possibly asylum policies. What would you say to Americans that are somewhat concerned that the
06:18shift has happened? Sure. Well, while there has, of course, been a change in leadership at the
06:23Department of Homeland Security with former Senator, now Secretary Mullen, joining the President's
06:28Cabinet, I can assure the American people there has not been a change in policy. It has always been the
06:33policy of this President and this administration to deport the worst of the worst illegal alien
06:39criminals from our communities. That's something I know Secretary Mullen remains wholeheartedly
06:43committed to doing. And it's something that is overwhelmingly popular with the American people.
06:48And it's something that is necessary to protect our homeland and to prevent deaths of Americans in
06:53our country. Just last week, Sheridan Gorman, a young woman in Chicago, was shot and killed on the street,
06:59walking with her friends outside of her university by a illegal alien from Venezuela who had no right
07:05to be here in the first place. And it's despicable that Democrats are currently defunding the department
07:11that's responsible for removing illegal aliens like that. And I would also add it's despicable that the
07:16lack of coverage of this young woman's case of her life and the way that it was tragically cut short.
07:22I saw a survey over the weekend that I'd like to bring to all of your attention. This is the
07:27media coverage
07:27of the case of Sheridan Gorman. You have ABC News has spent one minute and 19 seconds
07:35between two days when this case was first alerted. You have CBS two minutes in one second. You have NBC
07:4223 seconds spent on the life of a young, beautiful American woman whose life was taken short by an illegal
07:50alien
07:50who should have never been here in the first place when we are in the middle of a battle on
07:54Capitol Hill with a major political
07:55party, the Democrat Party, who wants to defund the agency that is responsible for protecting Americans.
08:00I think her life was worth more than 23 seconds on cable television. And I think the people in this
08:05room
08:06have a responsibility to report on cases like this because it just exemplifies why the president
08:11believes so strongly in deporting illegal aliens from our communities. And thank you for the question.
08:15Secretary, go ahead. I have two questions, one on Iran and one on DHS funding. On Iran,
08:22the president has said that the administration is talking to a new and more reasonable regime.
08:28How confident are you that they are legitimate and have enough grip on power? Marco Rubio said
08:34earlier that he's not sure and it's not clear whether they will be in power. So are you also talking
08:39to
08:40other factions? As the president is trying to make a deal, how do you ensure that you're making a deal
08:44with
08:44people who can accidentally implement it? Well, that's part of the ongoing process that's taking
08:48place and the ongoing negotiations. Of course, anything that they say to us privately will be
08:53tested and we will ensure that they are being held accountable to their word. And if they are not,
08:58the president has laid out the military consequences that the Iranian regime will see if they don't hold
09:04true to the words that we are hearing privately behind the scenes. When the president says more
09:08reasonable, again, these folks are appearing more reasonable behind the scenes privately in these
09:12conversations than perhaps some of the previous leaders who are now no longer on planet Earth
09:17because they lied to the United States and they strung us along in negotiations. And that was
09:23unacceptable to the president, which is why many of the previous leaders were killed. So again,
09:28this is another historic opportunity for Iran to do the right thing, to rid themselves of their
09:33nuclear ambitions and to come to a deal with this president and the administration. Or again,
09:38they will see the grave consequences of the United States Armed Forces, which they are continuing to
09:43see every day throughout this operation.
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