President Trump (00:02):
Hello, everybody.
Journalists (00:03):
How you doing, sir?
President Trump (00:05):
So I think most of you have seen they released my physical. I did a physical on Friday. And I understand it was a very good report. The numbers were perfect. And I took a cognitive exam and I would challenge anybody here to beat those marks because I have a perfect mark. Were you impressed by that?
Journalists (00:25):
I am impressed and I'm not going to take that test.
President Trump (00:28):
But you're not that surprised, right?
Journalists (00:29):
Not surprised at all.
President Trump (00:29):
But you are, that's good. 'Cause I've got a lot of respect for you as a reporter. Do you have any questions? Yes, sir? You always have.
Journalists (00:38):
Could you gives us a-
President Trump (00:38):
You always have a question.
Journalists (00:42):
I always have a question, sir. What is your message to markets tomorrow? There's some ambiguity or at least some questions about whether there were exceptions or [inaudible 00:00:50]-
President Trump (00:50):
Well, there shouldn't be. Yeah, there shouldn't be ambiguity. We have a tremendous country. We have a country that's much richer today than it was a few months ago. We have a financial system that's very respected, and we're going to do great. And we were taken advantage of and ripped off by every country all over the world, almost, just about. They laughed at us. We were run by foolish people and they took advantage of our country and we're just not going to let that happen anymore.
Journalists (01:22):
In terms of the big beautiful bill, when do you expect that to get done? When would you want that to get done?
President Trump (01:27):
Well, I hope soon. The big beautiful bill, it's the big beautiful tax cuts really, and regulation cuts, and many other things. It passed its first test as you know, the last couple of weeks, but particularly during last week where we had a vote. We won in the House, we won in the Senate and that was a big chunk of it. And now they're going to eventually take, pretty soon, a final vote. And the big beautiful tax cuts and regulation cuts, and all of the other things that are included in there, will go into effect.
(02:04)
And I think it'll be probably the largest tax cuts in the history of our country. The most comprehensive regulation cuts in the history of our country. And many, many other things, including border wall money. We built 571 miles of wall, but now we can add to it. As you know, we've just concluded a period of time where the border was the most secure it's been in the history of our country. I'm very proud of that.
(02:34)
The other week, a couple of weeks ago, last week actually, five people came in, five. And under Biden it was 500,000 people came in. What they've done to our country should never be forgotten. Never be forgotten what they've done, and that the news hasn't reported it correctly is a disgrace. But what they've done to our country, to allow these millions and millions of people in from prisons and mental institutions and state asylums should never be forgotten.
Journalists (03:07):
Mr. President-
President Trump (03:08):
We're going to be living with that for a long time. This is tremendous work, tremendous effort. It's one thing they caused massive inflation that caused a lot of problems. But what they've done to our border and to our country, you should never forget that, and you should never as journalists allow people to forget it. Yeah?
Journalists (03:25):
Mr. President, can you talk a little bit about the semiconductor tariff that you posted on Truth Social today? What is the timeline for that? And I believe it was Jamieson Greer, who said to today that those will not be negotiable. Once those tariffs are in place they're non-negotiable, is that right?
President Trump (03:39):
That's right. But the tariffs will be in place in the not-distant future. Because, as you know, like we did with steel, like we did with automobiles, like we did with aluminum, which are now fully on, we'll be doing that with semiconductors, with the chips and numerous other things. And that'll take place in the very near future.
Journalists (03:58):
And all the things that-
President Trump (03:59):
And what we did is we want to uncomplicate it from a lot of companies, because that's really where it should be ideally. And we wanted to uncomplicate it from a lot of other companies, because we want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country.
(04:12)
And I will tell you, another one is pharmaceuticals, drugs and pharmaceuticals. We want to make our drugs in this country. And by placing a tariff on the companies that are not in this country, they're going to move into our country, and we're going to have our drugs made in the United States. So that in case of war, in case of whatever, we're not relying on China and various other countries to supply us with drugs, which is not a good idea. And it'll happen very fast. It'll all happen very fast. Yeah.
Journalists (04:42):
Do you know what rate the semiconductor tariff will be?
President Trump (04:44):
I'm going to be announcing it over the next week.
Journalists (04:46):
Can you confirm reports that the Social Security Administration has classified thousands of immigrants as dead even though they're still living?
President Trump (04:54):
That's what I hear. I mean, that's what has been reported to me. Dead, and also very inaccurately. And from the standpoint of Social Security, it's a horrible thing. From the standpoint of the strength of Social Security, when you take dead people out and all of the people that they're talking about that should not be in there, it's going to make our system much stronger. We're making Social Security stronger. The Democrats are destroying Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid also. Yes.
Journalists (05:23):
Do you have a reaction to Russia's Palm Sunday attack on Ukraine?
President Trump (05:27):
I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake. But I think it's a horrible thing. I think the whole war's a horrible thing. I think the war is… For that war to have started is an abuse of power. This country would've never allowed that war to have started if I were president. That war is a shame. Millions of people are dead that should be alive. Cities are being destroyed all over Ukraine. The whole culture is gone or certainly very severely hurt.
(06:00)
The chapels, the churches, the spirals, all of the things that they had in Ukraine were among the most beautiful anywhere in the world, and most of them are knocked down and blown up into a million pieces. But most importantly, you have millions of people dead that shouldn't be dead.
(06:20)
Think of it, think of what a rigged election means. We would've had, absolutely, we wouldn't have had the war in Ukraine, we wouldn't have had the Russian-Ukraine situation. We wouldn't have had October 7th, Israel, the Middle East. We wouldn't have had inflation. We wouldn't have had the most embarrassing day or a period in the history of our country, that's Afghanistan. One of the most embarrassing moments in the history of our country, Afghanistan. All of these things wouldn't have taken place. Think of it, we wouldn't have had inflation. But millions of people would be alive except for the fact that the election were rigged, because that war would've never started and Putin never would've started that war. Okay. Any other question?
Journalists (07:00):
Mr. President, you said they made a mistake in the attack? You said you were told they made a mistake. Do you mean it was unintentional?
President Trump (07:06):
They made a mistake. I believe it was… Look, you got to ask them. But this is Biden's war, this is not my war. I've been here for a very short period of time. This is a war that was under Biden. He gave them billions and billions of dollars, he should have never allowed it. If he had any brain, which he didn't have and doesn't have, and now it's being proven, he wouldn't have allowed that war to start. I would've absolutely not, that war would never have taken place. But remember this, this is Biden's war. I'm just trying to get it stopped so that we can save a lot of lives. They happened to be Ukrainian and Russian lives, but all I want to do is get it stopped.
Journalists (07:46):
Sir, did you meet with Mr. Witkoff today? How did… ?
President Trump (07:49):
I did. I met with him and he had some very good meetings on the Middle East and he also had good meetings having to do with Russia-Ukraine.
Journalists (07:56):
Can you give us an update on Iran?
President Trump (07:57):
Well, we're going to be doing it very shortly. Iran also. It was another way, I met with a different group of people on Iran, and we'll be making a decision on Iran very quickly. Yeah, please.
Journalists (08:08):
Back on Russia-Ukraine, resolving that war has taken a little longer than you predicted. Can you pinpoint the reasons why?
President Trump (08:15):
Well, it's a deeply-seated war, and again, it's a war that people didn't expect would start. And in my administration, there was no chance that it would start and it didn't, by the way. I went four years and it didn't start. People say, "Oh, well, how do you know?" Well, I know because I went four years and it didn't start. You would've never had that war. It would've never started. Putin never would've started it. I mean, I think frankly he had so little respect for Biden that he started it for that reason. And obviously he didn't get along very well with Zelensky or anybody else, and now you have millions of dead people. And those people, every one of them should be alive right now.
Journalists (08:55):
Mr. President-
(08:56)
Are you going to announce tariffs on things like iPhones, tablets?
President Trump (08:59):
Well, that's going to be announced very soon and we'll be discussing it, but we'll also talk to companies. You have to show a certain flexibility. Nobody should be so rigid, "We will…" You have to have a certain flexibility and we're doing really well and financially our country's going to be stronger than it's ever been.
Journalists (09:18):
So some products might… there's flexibility for some products?
President Trump (09:22):
For some products, yeah, maybe.
Journalists (09:23):
Can you say what kinds?
President Trump (09:24):
No, I'll be announcing it in the not-too-distant future, but it's going to be separately announced.
Journalists (09:29):
Mr. President-
(09:29)
Do you have any reaction to-
President Trump (09:31):
Very much like, if you look, automobiles. Again, automobiles we have a tariff. Nobody's complaining about it. It went through the process, we have a tariff. Steel, aluminum and some other things. And by the way, our country is taking in billions and billions of dollars on those tariffs, billions of dollars. And maybe almost as importantly, or maybe more importantly, automobile companies, steel companies, steel companies and factories, and aluminum companies and factories are opening up in our country, but we're taking in billions of dollars on just those three categories.
Journalists (10:11):
Speaking of steel, can you talk about your conversations with Nippon Steel and what… ?
President Trump (10:15):
Yeah, we're talking about different things, but I think that the United States Steel, one of the great companies of the world, US Steel, should remain in our country. I feel that. I felt that for a long time. This was one of the greatest companies in the world. For a period of time, for a long period of time, it was the single greatest company in America, and I just don't think a foreign company should control it.
Journalists (10:42):
[inaudible 00:10:42].
(10:42)
Mr. President-
President Trump (10:43):
And you know what? They're not going to have to because the tariffs are going to make US Steel do so well.
Journalists (10:48):
I heard a report at your NRCC dinner I was at, a guy that was at my table. He said that Mexico has been dumping raw sewage in our treatment water, we can't keep up with it. Some of it's spilling in the ocean, forcing Navy SEALs to train north of Coronado Island.
President Trump (11:05):
Well, and it floats up-
Journalists (11:06):
And it floats up.
President Trump (11:07):
… past Los Angeles like everything else.
Journalists (11:09):
Any talks of trying to-
President Trump (11:11):
Mexico has a faulty sewage system that's dumping sewage into our part of the ocean. And the Pacific Ocean's not looking too good on many occasions. Sometimes it stops and sometimes it breaks, and when it breaks, very bad and disgusting things happen. And they shouldn't be doing that.
Journalists (11:33):
Sir, any reaction to the governor of Pennsylvania. His mansion was set on fire. Do you have any reaction?
President Trump (11:38):
I just heard about it. No, I'll have to look into it.
Journalists (11:41):
You got a perfect health report, all of our… everybody in the press wants to know this. How do you do it, Mr. President? I haven't sat up to 2:00 AM in the morning since I was 25, and now we're 2:16 in the morning having a press conference. How do you do it?
President Trump (11:55):
Well, we had a couple of them at two o'clock in the morning now. Biden, I guarantee-
Journalists (11:59):
You're wearing the press out.
President Trump (12:00):
Biden was sleeping for 10 hours already. No, I have a lot of respect for the press, really, I do. Some of it's fake news, but a lot of it's good like you. And really some of it's totally fake and sound like 60 Minutes tonight. I watched…
Journalists (12:15):
How do you stay so healthy? How do you stay so energized?
President Trump (12:17):
Because I enjoy what I'm doing and I like the results. I think we're making American great again and it makes me feel good and probably keeps me happy. Okay, thank you. That's a nice question. Give me that. I like this guy.
Journalists (12:30):
Everyone's wondering how in the world do you do it, Mr. President. Two o'clock in the morning. I'm 55 years old and I can't keep up with you.
President Trump (12:37):
55, what a nice age that is. Have a good time, everybody.
Journalists (12:41):
Did you catch the end of the Masters?
President Trump (12:43):
Oh, yeah. Well, I have to congratulate Rory. That showed tremendous courage. He was having a hard time, but it showed great guts and stamina and courage. People have no idea how tough that is. And came back. He could be proud. Actually, it's better for him than it happened that way. That showed real courage, to have come back from what could have been a tragedy was amazing. Did you watch it?
Journalists (13:13):
Yeah, we did. We were in the press van.
President Trump (13:14):
Pretty amazing.
Journalists (13:15):
We knew when you were pulling out when it's over.
President Trump (13:16):
Oh, no. I wanted to watch it.
Journalists (13:19):
We're going nowhere.
President Trump (13:19):
You knew that here was no way. Even for you people, there was no way. It's one of my favorite shows ever. The Masters is to me, maybe my favorite sporting show. And Justin Rose was great. Look, they're great athletes under tremendous pressure. But unless you're a golfer, you don't understand it. It's a hundredth of an inch, makes a difference between a great shot and a horrible shot. Think of it, just a little tiny, a little small percentage of an inch, and literally in some cases a hundredth of an inch is the difference between winning and losing.
Journalists (13:57):
Chuck is telling you to get out of here.
President Trump (13:59):
Who is that?
Journalists (13:59):
Chuck wants you to be safe. Let's go.
President Trump (14:01):
How's he doing?
Journalists (14:02):
He's doing a great job.
President Trump (14:02):
But he's getting tired being down there.
Journalists (14:04):
[inaudible 00:14:05] for you.
President Trump (14:05):
Anyway. Thank you very much, everybody. We're going to have some good… And I hope you enjoyed the fights last night.
Journalists (14:10):
Oh, it was awesome.
President Trump (14:11):
Now those are tough cookies. You think anybody in the field here could take him in a fight?
Journalists (14:16):
He can take a punch in the head, Mr. President. He can take it.
President Trump (14:17):
Oh, no. We don't want that, but they're amazing. Dana White's amazing. Have a good time, everybody. Thank you.
Journalists (14:21):
[inaudible 00:14:22]. Appreciate it.
