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,
00:12but going to be just fine.
00:14So I pass our gratitude to the team.
00:16We'll talk to them later as well.
00:18Just, I said it to the audience, and I meant it.
00:19You see it.
00:20I get to see it, you know, firsthand every day on the military side,
00:24but on the law enforcement side, what these incredible Americans do
00:27to protect the convoy, to protect American citizens, whatever it is,
00:30they don't ask for any accolades.
00:32They take risks, put their own life on the line,
00:34their 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,
00:42he'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,
00:53coming down and, you know, working with our partners.
00:56They're taking risks in places that American people will never know
00:59to defend our country and keep our people safe and secure.
01:04That's what the president has charged me with.
01:06Peace through strength needs projecting power
01:08to ensure that Americans at home are safe
01:10and our sovereignty is protected.
01:12And I just hope we want to do everything we can to shine a light
01:15on the incredible work Americans do all the time.
01:18And then today here, thanks for coming to the speech.
01:20It was a long time coming.
01:22We've been working on senior service college reform
01:25for almost 18 months now, sending some of our best people
01:29to 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
01:41and it's about basic training, but at every single echelon,
01:44we 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
01:54even our military institutions that you heard me talk about.
01:57You can't just strip those away. That's not enough.
01:59It's rebuild 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
02:09of all of the changes that are to come, which 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 this 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, you got the counter-cartel coalition,
02:2890% of Latin America joined you.
02:31Recruiting goals are met five months early this year, right?
02:35How was 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
03:00and put the cartels 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
03:11and Southern Spear and Epic Fury are things 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,
03:40the bold nature of our 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,
03:53you'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.
04:06Yes.
04:06First of all, thank you for the update on the police officer.
04:09On the midterms, the Vice President put out a tweet saying you met with pollsters
04:13and they believe the top reason the GOP lost the midterms was because of the Iran war.
04:19What's your reaction to that tweet?
04:21And did you talk to the Vice President about it?
04:22Well, 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.
04:33We all give earnest feedback on everything.
04:35And ultimately, what the President says, he'd do it again.
04:38I agree.
04:39This was a, it 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 said, stood up and said, not on my watch.
05:00And it's going to be difficult because they're building a conventional missile shield,
05:04the world, the likes of which the world hasn't seen.
05:07They were pursuing the North Korea strategy, build up so many capabilities
05:11that you can't stop us from getting a nuclear weapon.
05:14And 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,
05:26which 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.
05:34Secretary, do you have enough Republican support to defeat impeachment articles this week?
05:39Oh, we'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.
05:52The 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
06:02and for the Department of War before Democrats take over?
06:06Well, Iran is devastated.
06:08Iran is in the weakest position it's been in a very, very long time.
06:11The 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.
06:22And 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.
06:35The 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
06:47with a historic generational investment that will ensure, you 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,
07:05and that is going to ensure that our department not just stays toe to toe but dominates into the future,
07:11which is what the 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
07:25in order to dominate the 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.
07:30Thank you very much.
