00:01How we doing?
00:02Hey, thank you for coming.
00:04First of all, just you were in the convoy with us.
00:06A quick update on that on that Rhode Island State Trooper.
00:09Thankfully, no broken bones, stable, scrapes, banged up, but going to be just fine.
00:14So I pass our gratitude to the team.
00:16We'll talk to them later as well.
00:17Just I said it to the audience and I meant it. You see it.
00:20I get to see it firsthand every day on the military side, but on the law enforcement side,
00:25what these incredible Americans do to protect the convoy,
00:28to protect American citizens, whatever it is, they don't ask for any accolades.
00:32They take risks, put their own life on the line, their own health on the line.
00:36So this guy was just doing his job, hit a tough spot.
00:40We got support to him right away, but he's going to be well taken care of, thankfully.
00:45And it just makes me think of, which I think of every day in this job,
00:49are the guys out there in the Strait of Hormuz or down in the WEM,
00:53down in working with our partners.
00:55They're taking risks in places that American people will never know to defend our country
01:01and keep our people safe and secure.
01:04That's what the president has charged me with.
01:06Peace through strength.
01:07He's projecting power to ensure that Americans at home are safe and our sovereignty is protected.
01:12And I just hope we want to do everything we can to shine a light on incredible work Americans do
01:17all the time.
01:18And then today here, thanks for coming to the speech.
01:21It was a long time coming.
01:22We've been working on senior service college reform for almost 18 months now,
01:27sending some of our best people to all these institutions to understand what works and what doesn't,
01:32and to drive the warrior ethos into our service colleges.
01:37Because, yes, it's about, you know, military academies and it's about basic training.
01:42But at every single echelon, we want to be driving a relentless focus on warfighting,
01:47deterring conflict and winning it if you have to fight it.
01:50It's just a new, there were a lot of bad ideas that made their way into even our military institutions,
01:56as you heard me talk about.
01:57You can't just strip those away. That's not enough.
01:59It's rebuilt the foundation on a warfighting focus.
02:03And so I'm proud of our team for what they put into this.
02:05This speech is actually more of a starting gun after doing the evaluation of all the changes that are to
02:10come,
02:11which are substantial.
02:13So at every level, we're putting the War Department back on sound footing.
02:17And thank you for coming to see the speech.
02:19I'll take a couple of quick questions.
02:20Mr. Secretary, you said your goal was to win wars today.
02:25You realigned NATO.
02:26You got the counter cartel coalition, 90% of Latin America joined you.
02:31Recruiting goals met five months early this year, right?
02:35How is that going to stack up against the people who are under efforts to remove you from office?
02:41Well, there's a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial policy disagreements,
02:47but their disagreements are with success.
02:51I mean, what you just described is getting our European partners to step up is historic.
02:56Getting these countries in Central and South America to come together and do a counter cartel coalition and put the
03:01cartels on the run is historic.
03:03The alliances we're building out in the Pacific, completely historic.
03:07The way the things that we've accomplished through Midnight Hammer and Absolute Resolve and Southern Spear and Epic Fury are
03:14things that will change the face of the globe for a generation.
03:18We are very proud of the President's America first agenda of our peace through strength posture.
03:25We know the world is a better and safer place as a result.
03:28And so if we want to litigate that, the success of those things, I'm happy to do it all day
03:33long.
03:33I couldn't be more proud of what our President has done, the decisions that he's made, the courageous calls that
03:40he's made, the bold nature of our leadership, military leadership, the skill and courage of the troops on the ground.
03:46So if you want to take issue with what we did in Epic Fury or Rough Rider or nabbing Nicolas
03:52Maduro, you're taking issue with the troops and what they accomplished, which is historic.
03:57Everybody in the military knows that.
03:59Anybody paying attention knows that.
04:00These are the kind of partisan political games Democrats have been playing for a very long time against the President.
04:05Yes.
04:06First of all, thank you for the update on the police officer.
04:09On the midterms, the Vice President wrote a tweet saying he met with pollsters and they believe the top reason
04:15the GOP lost the midterms was because of the Iran war.
04:19What's your reaction to that tweet?
04:20And did you talk to the Vice President about it?
04:23Well, I appreciate the Vice President very much.
04:26And I'm not going to get in the middle of a finger pointing exercise.
04:28He's been an incredibly substantive member of the team from the very beginning.
04:32We all give earnest feedback on everything.
04:35And ultimately, what the President says, he'd do it again.
04:38I agree.
04:40It doesn't have to be necessarily popular, but it can be necessary.
04:45And that's, I think, where I land on that.
04:48Someone had to confront the Iranian regime's pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
04:52And for 47 years, no President was willing to do it.
04:56And then President Trump stood up and said, not on my watch.
05:00And it's going to be difficult because they're building a conventional missile shield, the likes of which the world hasn't
05:06seen.
05:07They were pursuing the North Korea strategy.
05:09Build up so many capabilities that you can't stop us from getting a nuclear weapon.
05:13And as the President points out so clearly, you can't let crazy Islamists have a nuclear bomb.
05:19And so the choice was don't act and wish it away or take a bold move, which the President did
05:25with Midnight Hammer, which we've done with Epic Fury.
05:28And I think it was the right step.
05:30History will judge him very kindly.
05:32And the military delivered indeed.
05:34Real quick.
05:34Do you have enough Republican support to defeat impeachment articles this year?
05:39No.
05:39We're not worried about that.
05:41I'll tell you this.
05:42Actually, I hope all of you will join us.
05:44We're going to do a press conference tomorrow morning at the Pentagon on that very topic.
05:47So I'll save my remarks there.
05:48I hope you'll all come loaded for bear with your questions.
05:51Can I ask on your defense Monday?
05:52The President said that it's unlikely that we'll strike Iran again.
05:55What needs to happen for the war to officially be over?
05:59And then just really quickly, is there anything Republicans need to accomplish for you and for the Department of War
06:04before Democrats take over?
06:06Well, Iran is devastated.
06:08Iran is in the weakest position it's been in a very, very long time.
06:10The President has the upper hand on any path that he chooses to take.
06:14To include saying, hey, we're done and we're going to watch your nuclear material and you better not move it.
06:19Whatever he wants to do is his prerogative.
06:21And the War Department is prepared to give him the tools to execute on that.
06:25What was your second question?
06:26What do Republicans need to do for you and for the War Department before Democrats come up and take over?
06:32Well, I think that's maybe your question on funding as well.
06:34First of all, the funding our department needs is the most important component of the next two months.
06:40And my call to Republicans is let's come together through a reconciliation bill to fund President Trump's War Department with
06:47a historic generational investment.
06:49You heard me talk today about subsea to space.
06:53We need to have dominance at every echelon.
06:56And that reconciliation bill from super intelligence to space to Iron Dome to munitions to shipbuilding, you name it, is
07:06going to ensure that our department not just stays toe to toe, but dominates into the future, which is what
07:12the President expects.
07:13So my team, we're not worried about the noise, which is what I told the troops, too.
07:17Don't worry about the noise.
07:18There's partisan noise all over our town.
07:20We're focused on delivering the President's agenda, which is the kind of funding our department needs in order to dominate
07:26the future, which we'll deliver.
07:27So we'll see you tomorrow morning at the Pentagon.
07:29How about that?
07:29Thank you very much.
07:31Bye.
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