Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Feb. 25, 2025

White House News
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Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media
#usa #whitehouse
Good afternoon, everybody.
How are we today?
Good.
During his inaugural address, President Trump
promised that America would be a manufacturing nation once
again, and liberal pundits mocked him for it.
But those critics were proven wrong once again.
On the heels of President Trump's Oval Office meeting
with Apple CEO Tim Cook last week,
Apple just announced its largest ever commitment
to American jobs and industry, with plans
to spend and invest more than $500 billion
in America over the next four years.
Over the course of the current Trump administration,
Apple plans to hire around 20,000 new workers,
creating high-paying jobs right here in America.
And the investment isn't limited to one specific region
of our country.
Apple teams and facilities will expand all over our country
in Arizona, California, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina,
Michigan, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
With President Trump in charge, America is open for business.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said it best in the company's announcement.
We are bullish on the future of American innovation.
On top of this incredible Apple announcement,
President Trump already announced
more than $1 trillion in pledged investments
into the United States.
And on another important note that the American people
entrusted President Trump to fulfill,
this administration's efforts to seal the border
continue to prove extraordinarily successful.
In President Trump's first month back in office alone,
illegal border crossings hit lows not seen in decades,
down 94% over the past year, while interior arrests
are up 134%.
And this past Saturday, this is a significant statistic
that I wanted to share with all of you,
there were only 220 illegal border crossings on Saturday.
This is a 15-year low.
Think about that in comparison to the amount
of illegal border crossings we saw
under the previous administration.
Fox recently reported that a San Diego migrant shelter
is closing its doors after saying
they have not received new asylum-seeking families
or individuals since January 20th.
We all know what happened on January 20th, don't we?
And yesterday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams
announced that the massive Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter
in Manhattan will shut down in the next few months.
We're also seeing a reverse migration effect.
There are now verified reports from the Associated Press
of migrants abandoning their journey to the United States
and heading back home.
This is the first time the Border Patrol
has received these reports since 2020,
during President Trump's first term.
The returning migrants claimed in interviews
that the new heavy security posture
adopted by the Trump administration
was a significant reason for their decision
to return to the countries of their origin.
Overall, the American people continue
to overwhelmingly give President Trump very positive remarks.
Nearly every one of President Trump's policy initiatives
are receiving strong majority support.
And I have noted that in every briefing
since Inauguration Day.
81% of Americans support deporting
illegal migrant criminals from our nation's interior.
76% of Americans support the DOJ-led efforts
of a full-scale investigation to find
and eliminate fraud and waste in government expenditures.
Again, this is from a Harvard-Harris poll,
a very legitimate pollster.
76% of Americans support closing the border.
69% of Americans support President Trump's
common-sense efforts to ban men from women's sports.
As you all know, we celebrated that executive order
at the White House a couple of weeks ago.
65% of Americans support the President's efforts
to eliminate all preferences by race
in the hiring and awarding of government contracts,
which is another pledge that DOJ is working hard to fulfill.
And 61% of Americans, vast majority,
support the President's plan for reciprocal tariffs
to ensure that other countries are treating us
the way we have always been treated.
Despite what many Democrats and media members
want you to believe, the Trump agenda is not only necessary,
but it is overwhelmingly popular.
Why?
Because it's driven by common sense.
And finally, as you all saw yesterday,
a federal judge denied the Associated Press's emergency
motion for a temporary restraining
order against myself, our Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor
Buttowich, and our Chief of Staff Susie Wiles
for our decision to remove the Associated
Press from the White House press pool
for certain and special events.
The judge's ruling, upholding our decision
to deny the Associated Press such privileged access,
reinforces the truth.
And it reiterates what I said from this podium last week
when that suit was filed.
Asking the President of the United States
questions in limited spaces, such as the Oval
Office in Air Force One, is a privilege
that unfortunately has only been granted to a few.
It is not a legal right for all.
The Trump administration has already
proven to be the most transparent ever,
and this president the most accessible in history.
This is evidenced by President Trump's daily press
conferences in the Oval Office, where
he takes many questions from the journalists who
have the honor and privilege of standing
before the beautiful Resolute Desk.
The president and this entire White House
are committed to ensuring the American people continue
to receive this same level of historic transparency, access,
and visibility.
In fact, we want to double down and give even greater access
to the American people.
We want more outlets and new outlets
to have a chance to take part in the press pool,
to cover this administration's unprecedented achievements
up close, front, and center.
As you all know, for decades, a group of DC-based journalists,
the White House Correspondents Association,
has long dictated which journalists
get to ask questions of the President of the United States
in these most intimate spaces.
Not anymore.
I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power
back to the people who read your papers,
who watch your television shows, and who
listen to your radio stations.
Moving forward, the White House press pool
will be determined by the White House press team.
Legacy outlets who have participated in the press
pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not.
But we will also be offering the privilege
to well-deserving outlets who have never
been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.
Just like we added a new media seat in this briefing room,
legacy media outlets who have been here for years
will still participate in the pool.
But new voices are going to be welcomed in as well.
As part of these changes, we will
continue the rotation amongst the five major television
networks to ensure the President's remarks are heard
far and wide around this world.
We will add additional streaming services,
which reach different audiences than traditional cable
and broadcast.
This is the ever-changing landscape
of the media in the United States today.
We will continue to rotate a print pooler who
has the great responsibility of quickly transcribing
the President's remarks and disseminating them
to the rest of the world.
And we will add outlets to the print pool rotation
who have long been denied the privilege
to partake in this experience, but are committed to covering
this White House beat.
We will continue to rotate a radio pooler
and add other radio hosts who have been denied access,
especially local radio hosts who serve
as the heartbeat of our country.
And we will add additional outlets and reporters
who are well-suited to cover the news of the day
and ask substantive questions of the President of the United
States, depending on the news he is making on that given day.
This administration is shaking up Washington
in more ways than one.
That's what we were elected to do.
As I have said since the first day behind this podium,
it's beyond time that the White House press operation
reflects the media habits of the American people in 2025,
not 1925.
A select group of DC-based journalists
should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press
access at the White House.
All journalists, outlets, and voices
deserve a seat at this highly coveted table.
So by deciding which outlets make up the limited press
pool on a day-to-day basis, the White House
will be restoring power back to the American people
who President Trump was elected to serve.
So in that note, in our new media seat today,
we have Shelby Talcott, who is a White House
reporter for Semaphore.
In 2022, Semaphore launched as a global digital news platform
with the aim of bringing meaningful innovations
to the news industry.
Today, they have nearly 1 million newsletter subscribers
spanning 11 separate editions.
With that, Shelby, I will take your questions.
Thanks, John.
I have two for you.
One on foreign policy.
Over the weekend, the president's special missions
envoy, Rick Grinnell, was talking about Venezuela.
And he said that the president isn't someone
who wants regime change.
Other administration officials have made clear
that they don't see Maduro as the rightful leader.
What is this administration's policy
on a new government in Venezuela?
I think the president has made his position on Venezuela
quite clear.
He stands in opposition to the Maduro regime.
And Secretary Rubio has spoken on this extensively as well.
And then on DOJ, last night, Elon Musk
said that a failure to respond a second time
will result in termination.
Will there be additional rounds of the What Did You
Do This Week email from DOJ to federal workers?
And what's the guidance on the federal workers
who have been instructed by their agencies not to reply?
So a couple of things on this.
First of all, let's just take a step back
and talk about this idea.
The president sent out a truth last weekend to Elon Musk,
saying he loves everything Elon is doing
and he wants him to be even more aggressive,
because DOJ thus far has proven incredibly
successful in making our government more efficient.
And so Elon and DOJ came up with this idea.
Elon has implemented this at his private companies.
It has proven successful.
And it's a very simple idea when you think about it.
All the Office of Personnel Management is asking,
all this administration is asking,
President Trump is asking, is for federal workers
who live off of the American taxpayer's dime
to send five bullet points of what they have
done in the previous week.
That is all we are asking for.
And so the Office of Personnel and Management
sent out additional guidance last night.
Those responses should be directed to agency leadership.
And the president defers to his cabinet secretaries,
who he's obviously entrusted, to pursue the guidance
relative to their specific workforce.
And for some of the agencies that you've seen
who have said, please don't send these emails,
it's in their best interest for that specific agency,
and the president supports that.
And let me be very clear, the president and Elon
is his entire cabinet are working as one unified team,
and they are implementing these very common sense solutions.
You're welcome.
Jackie.
Thank you.
One follow up question.
So about the deadline, Alina Haba said
that you have until tonight.
Elon Musk said a failure to respond a second time
would result in termination.
So is that a real deadline?
Should federal workers be looking to that guidance,
or should they be looking to the agency heads?
What is the actual deadline?
So again, the agency heads will determine
the best practices for their employees
at their specific agencies.
Again, this was an idea that Elon come up with.
DOGE worked with OPM to actually implement the idea,
and the secretaries are responsible
for their specific workforce.
And this is true of the hirings and the firings
that have taken place.
And we advise federal workers,
unless your agency has dictated you not to,
to respond to this email.
In fact, I can announce that we've had
more than 1 million workers who have chosen to participate
in this very simple task of, again,
sending five bullet points to your direct supervisor
or manager CCing OPM.
I actually participated in myself.
It took me about a minute and a half
to think of five things I did last week.
I do five things in about 10 minutes,
and all federal workers should be working
at the same pace that President Trump is working and moving.
We have a country to save,
and we want this federal government to be responsive
to the needs of the American people
who reelected this president
to have historic, massive reform.
And that's what the intention of this idea is.
Can you clarify one thing, though?
Because Elon Musk also said that a reason
that they wanted this five things email
was just to see if people are actually alive,
citing that there are some federal workers
who might not even be alive.
So meantime, NBC is reporting that these responses
are gonna go into an AI generator
to evaluate whether these jobs are necessary.
So is it just to see if people are actually working,
or is it an effort to maybe cut some of those jobs?
I have not seen that NBC News report,
and I haven't heard that from Doge or from Elon himself.
Again, this is to ensure that federal workers
are not ripping off American taxpayers,
that they are showing up to the office,
and that they are doing their job.
That's what the American people expect,
and it's a very simple task to complete.
I did it myself, and I was more than happy to do it,
because I'm very grateful that I am serving
the American people on the American taxpayers' dime.
Jim, should I hire a spokesperson
just so that Elon Musk doesn't put out tweets
that then confuse federal workers?
Are my press briefings not good enough for you, Jackie?
John.
Carol, thank you.
In the ruling by Judge McFadden yesterday,
who dismissed the lawsuit that AP brought against yourself,
and your team members here, President Trump.
In there, he said, why not just do away
with the entire White House Correspondents Association,
along with it, because essentially they have no authority.
They just usurped it.
What is your reaction to that?
Well, first of all, John, it's great to see you,
and you are one of those individuals
who has a, you're on a streaming platform
that hundreds of thousands of people tune into every day.
So it's great to see you in the briefing room.
I did address that, actually, in my opening remarks,
by announcing that the White House press team
in this administration will determine
who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access
in spaces such as Air Force One in the Oval Office.
There are, as you know, look at this room,
hundreds of journalists who show up
to this building every single day,
and are not granted that luxury of flying on Air Force One
and asking the President of the United States questions.
And so we want to ensure, again,
everyone has a seat at that highly coveted table.
But alas, the legacy media outlets
who have been doing this for quite some time
and have invested resources into covering the White House,
their spots will remain,
just like they have in this briefing room as well.
Sure.
Steve.
Can you give us an update on the negotiations
around the Ukraine minerals deal,
and when is President Zelensky gonna come visit?
So the President talked at length about this yesterday,
the critical minerals deal with President Macron.
And in the more than hour-long press conference
he gave all of you in the Oval Office himself,
there hasn't been significant updates
since the President's remarks last night.
But I will just reiterate his position.
It's critical that this deal is signed.
He expects President Zelensky to sign a deal.
This is to recoup American tax dollars
that have been funding Ukraine's national defense.
And it's also great for the Ukrainian people
who have been put through hell because of this war.
And it will create a lasting economic partnership
as Ukraine will need to rebuild their country
because of this brutal war.
Mr. Fowler, has Mr. Witkoff delayed his trip
to the Middle East so he can concentrate
on this minerals deal?
I don't wanna comment on Mr. Witkoff's travel plans
or read anything out just for obvious reasons,
but he remains very much working.
That man is working around the clock
to secure this deal with Russia and Ukraine
alongside Secretary Rubio and Secretary Besant,
General Keith Kellogg.
He's also working very hard to secure a peace deal
in the Middle East as well.
So God bless him, and he's working alongside
the President every single day.
Sure.
Thank you.
The President's executive order creating DOJ
called for the naming of a DOJ administrator.
Who is the DOJ administrator?
So the President tasked Elon Musk
to oversee the DOJ effort.
There are career officials,
and there are political appointees
who are helping run DOJ on a day-to-day basis.
There are also individuals who have onboarded
as political appointees at every agency across the board
to work alongside President Trump's cabinet
to find and identify waste, fraud, and abuse,
and they are working on that effort every day.
Reagan.
Oh, is Elon Musk the administrator?
Reagan.
Thanks, Caroline.
I have two questions today, one on the border wall
and one on the DHS investigation.
Sure.
First on the border wall,
border wall construction has restarted
in Texas and California under contracts
awarded under Trump's first term.
Is the President looking to secure new contracts,
and how is he defining success
in terms of border wall construction this administration?
The border wall is a signature promise
of President Trump's campaign.
He talked about it way back in 2015 and 2016,
and people laughed at him for bringing up this idea.
It's proven to be not only an idea
that he delivered on in his first term
and continues to deliver on in his second term,
but it's also proven to be highly effective.
In fact, we know where there were parts
of President Trump's border wall built
and standing under the previous administration,
illegal border crossings dropped 87%
where there was a border wall.
So the wall is an incredible deterrent factor
for illegal migrant caravans.
The President is committed to the continuation
of the construction of the wall,
and the previous administration actually sold off
the resources that the Trump administration
secured to build the wall,
and that's an egregious misuse
of the American taxpayers' money.
They just let those resources rot on the southern border.
They actually sold them for pennies on the dollar.
So this administration, DHS, and ICE,
and Customs and Border Patrol, and Tom Homan,
and all of the great people you know
who are working on this effort are committed
to continuing the construction
of President Trump's border wall.
...investigation into people
who might be leaking within the administration.
Will the White House release the names of the individuals
that DHS Secretary Nome said
were caught leaking details of the ICE raid?
And can you share how many leakers have been caught so far
and what agency they were a part of?
I would defer you to DHS on the leakers
that they have identified,
but I know the President and this White House
commend Secretary Nome for launching
an internal investigation to identify those leakers
because it's unacceptable for career bureaucrats
who are standing in the way of the will
of the American people
and enacting President Trump's agenda.
If they don't want to adhere to the will
of the 77 million Americans who reelected President Trump,
then they should go find another job.
And if they continue to leak information,
especially information that is critical
to protecting Border Patrol agents
and ICE agents who are out there doing jobs
that not many people are willing to do,
putting their lives on the line
to protect our national security,
then those individuals absolutely should be fired.
And this administration is committed to finding them.
Two questions for you, one related to Guantanamo Bay,
the other to the White House Correspondence Center.
I wanted to get your response to some Washington Post
reporting of the migrants who have stayed over
at Guantanamo Bay for the last two weeks.
They told the Post they were rarely let outside.
They were shackled and placed
in what they described as cages
and alleged that they were not treated as human beings.
Does the White House have any response to those conditions?
At Guantanamo Bay?
It's a promise the President campaigned on,
that if you invade our nation's borders,
if you break our country's laws,
and if then you further commit heinous, brutal crimes
in the interior of our country,
like raping and murdering innocent,
law-abiding women and girls,
and committing heinous acts of violence,
then you are going to be deported from this country
and you may be held at Guantanamo Bay.
These are criminals we are talking about.
Don't forget that.
Sure.
So you have the Consumer Confidence Bell
this month for the votes since August of 2021.
What is your message for Americans
who are concerned about the impact of things
such as terrorists on prices?
Yeah, sure.
Well, thank you for that question.
It's obviously an important one.
The President campaigned on reigniting the Trump economy
and fixing the mess that was created
by the previous administration.
We know they created an economic and an inflation nightmare
for the American people,
and I'm not gonna stand up here and lie to you
like my predecessor did about the state of our economy.
We understand there are people that are hurting,
and this administration is wholeheartedly committed
to ensuring that those individuals see relief
in price reductions, in tax cuts,
and in less regulations that are burdensome
on their household and their businesses.
And the President and this entire administration
are focused on that every day.
I can go through the very long list of economic actions
this President has taken.
I know you work for Bloomberg,
so I'm sure you're well aware of them,
but I can assure the American people
that the President is very much focused
on bringing down the cost-of-living crisis
in this country that was created
by the previous administration.
I'm just gonna ask a quick follow-up.
Sure.
Is the President planning on whipping any votes
for support for the House budget vote?
And if so, to whom is he making calls?
I'm not aware of any calls that he has made.
I did talk to the President about his position on this
just before coming down here,
and he said that he's made it very clear to the Hill
what his priorities for a budget are.
He's said it to the Speaker of the House.
He's said it to Leader Thune.
The Senate and the House know what President Trump want
and know what the American people want.
And so he expects Congress to get it done.
He's looking at the proposal from the House.
He will also be looking at the proposal
that I believe the Senate is drafting up as well.
Sure.
Thank you.
Thank you, Carolina.
I have two questions.
President of the United States, I'm sorry.
Well, why don't you identify your question
and I'll come back to you.
Carolina, can I follow up on the back?
Sure, go ahead.
So what guarantee that Israel will withdraw
from Lebanon soil after two weeks
as the ceasefire terms indicates?
I'm not sure about the guarantee that you're referring to.
I can tell you that this administration
remains very much engaged.
We know the deadline for the phase one ceasefire is imminent.
So Steve Woodcock, whom I mentioned earlier,
and the President's administration and his team
and the President himself remain very much engaged.
We want to see the ceasefire continue
and the President has made it very clear
he wants to see all of the hostages
who have been held in captivity in Gaza returned home.
Jeff.
I was wondering if Elon Musk is going to attend
the President's first cabinet meeting tomorrow?
He is, as a matter of fact.
I spoke to the President about that
before coming down here as well.
And Elon, considering he is working alongside the President
and our cabinet secretaries,
this entire administration will be in attendance tomorrow
just to talk about DOJ's efforts
and how all of the cabinet secretaries
are identifying waste, fraud, and abuse
at their respective agencies.
We look forward to the meeting tomorrow
and I think you'll be hearing from the President
and his cabinet there on campus tomorrow.
I hope you guys are excited.
So some of those cabinet members
were caught off guard by the email from Saturday.
A few departments said they were caught off guard.
The FBI was, the DOJ was.
Did anonymous sources say that
or did the cabinet secretary say that?
The cabinet secretaries and others have said
that they were not aware that this was happening.
So I'm wondering, will there be a give-and-take tomorrow
at the cabinet meeting?
Is Elon Musk or the President open to any type of dialogue
about who is actually in charge
of the chain of command of these workers?
I would reject the premise of your question, Jeff.
The cabinet secretaries have not said that.
I know anonymous sources, probably career bureaucrats,
have leaked that to many of you in this room.
But as I said at the beginning of this press conference,
everybody is working as one team
and the President respects the decisions
of his cabinet secretaries to tell his staff,
their staff, not to respond to that email
because they did so out of interest of national security
and they don't want to obviously risk confidential information.
It's pretty common sense.
Dasha.
Musk has obviously been doing a lot of work.
He's been working every day and a lot of the time weekends.
He is designated as a special government employee,
which means that he can only work 130 days per year.
Is the White House expecting him to limit his work to 130 days
or are you going to work around those rules?
Do you want to see him extend beyond the 100 days?
So, today is February 25th,
so I think we've been here about 35 days, roughly.
So, ask me in another 100 days.
Daniel.
Caroline, thank you.
You opened up with a major announcement from Apple,
$500 billion, 20,000 jobs,
doubling its advanced manufacturing fund.
Yeah.
What does that signal that such a global brand
could make what it calls its largest ever spend commitment
just a month into President Trump's second term?
What does that signal about his economic vision for the country?
President Trump is a dealmaker
and he has restored confidence in business leaders
around this entire world.
Apple is one of the largest companies
on the face of the planet.
They employ hundreds of thousands of Americans,
but the president wants to see more Americans employed,
more investments here in the United States of America.
And this is another fulfillment
of the president's campaign promises.
I recall President Trump at his rallies on the campaign
telling the world that if and when I am elected,
America is going to be back
and we want your investments to be driven onshore.
We want you to hire American workers
and you will have the lowest regulatory burden,
the lowest tax cuts.
And the president has already proven
he's committed to slashing regulation.
He's counting on Congress to implement those tax cuts.
And so people are encouraged by the president's,
again, as Tim Cook called it,
they're bullish about American innovation
because of the leadership of this president.
And it's a stark contrast to the leadership
of the previous administration, Joe Biden,
who I don't think spent any time
trying to recruit any investments or jobs here at home.
Mary.
We're hearing from some Republicans
who are voicing concerns
about how these cuts are being carried out.
Congressman McCormick, a Republican from Georgia,
tells us he's worried it's too rapid
for real people to adapt to.
And he says he's concerned that it could come off
as discompassionate, in his words,
that it could risk undercutting the strong message
that he feels you're trying to send
about the need to cut government waste.
Well, I think that that was one comment from one senator.
And I think as I cited in my opening remarks in the poll,
the most important people are the American people.
And 77% of Americans at home support a full investigation
into the waste, fraud, and abuse
that the federal government
has been spending their tax dollars on.
So that's the people the president cares about most.
And that's why we're fulfilling this pledge.
And again, it should come as no secret to anybody,
the president campaigned on doing this.
And so the president yesterday said,
if you don't respond to this email,
you will be fired or semi-fired.
What does he mean by that?
Again, I've been asked to answer this question
three times now, but it's in the memo.
The president, again, has entrusted his cabinet secretaries
to oversee their workforce.
That's why he nominated them to be cabinet secretaries.
And so federal workers can be directed
to their agency leadership.
Sure.
Great, thanks, Caroline.
I wanted to ask about a federal judge yesterday
was saying that they didn't know
who the Doge administrator was
and was asking the lawyer for the administration
who it was and the lawyer responded.
I don't know the answer to that.
Can you tell us who the administrator of Doge is?
Again, I've been asked to answer this question.
Elon Musk is overseeing Doge.
There are career, there are, no,
Elon Musk is a special government employee,
which I've also been asked
and have answered that question as well.
There are career officials at Doge.
There are political appointees at Doge.
I'm not going to reveal the name of that individual
from this podium.
I'm happy to follow up and provide that to you,
but we've been incredibly transparent
about the way that Doge is working.
John.
Caroline.
John.
Thanks a lot, Caroline.
Since your last briefing,
there have been some personnel moves
that have been announced by the president
and I wanted to ask you about them.
One was the president replacing the chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown, Jr.
What was the reason for the president
naming a replacement for General Brown?
And then I'll follow up with another personnel announcement
that's been made over the last few days.
He thinks he's doing a bad job
and it's time for a shakeup at the Pentagon.
They failed seven audits in a row.
The trust in our United States military
amongst the war fighters is low.
The president is shaking up the Pentagon
and the Department of Defense,
of course, with Secretary Hegseth leading
and he has the right to do that.
It's actually quite common from administration
to administration to do such a thing.
The president, when he swore him in
as the chief of staff for the Air Force,
called him a great man and a great gentleman.
Does he distance himself from the remarks
that he made back in August of 2020?
I think replacing him speaks for itself.
James.
One other one. I'm sorry. Thank you.
On the FBI, the president also announced
a new deputy director of the FBI, Dan Bongino.
From what has been reported,
and maybe this is not accurate reporting,
you can tell me, the FBI director,
Kash Patel, informed Republican senators
that it would be an individual named as the deputy
who was a special agent currently at the FBI.
And, of course, Mr. Bongino is not.
What was the reason for naming Mr. Bongino to this position?
And was Mr. Patel not correct
in making that assurance to those senators?
I'm not sure if anybody in this room
has listened to Mr. Bongino
when he talks about the past corruption at the FBI,
when he talks about his experience
serving for the United States Secret Service.
This is a man who loves his country
and who has honorably served our country
in ways that many people have not.
He understands the depth of the corruption
at these institutions, which the American people
reelected President Trump to shake up.
And I think it's quite despicable
to see many networks in this room
who have had chyrons on their television screens
labeling Mr. Bongino as a far-right podcaster.
He is not. He is a former law enforcement agent.
He is a former Secret Service agent
who put his life on the line to protect this country,
and that is why the President of the United States
has entrusted him for this important role.
He's also an outsider to this Washington swamp.
And we often see that when outsiders are appointed
to such coveted positions, a lot of people in this city
get very, very nervous, and they should be,
because Dan Bongino and Kash Patel
and Attorney General Bondi are focused
on rooting out the corruption at these agencies
and ending the weaponization of government once and for all.
I'd like to end with something.
As you all know...
I want to thank James.
You know what, James?
I'm feeling generous.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
I will take it.
Thank you, Caroline.
Sure.
I wanted to ask...
Don't make me regret this.
I wanted to ask about the Macron visit
and the Russia-Ukraine talks in general.
It's pretty clear to my eye that President Macron
was performing a kind of delicate dance,
lavishing praise on the President
while seeking, in his own remarks,
to try to bind President Trump to positions
and even specific language
that the President has not committed to heretofore.
One of the most bracing comments from President Macron
was when he said that the deal that President Trump
is negotiating with the Russians
must not be, quote, a surrender for Ukraine.
All of the public points that we have heard
from President Trump, from Secretary Hekseth,
and from other administration officials
talking about these negotiations
have averred to, quite openly,
to concessions from the Ukrainians
that will have to be made.
The minerals deal, the abandonment of their NATO ambitions,
and other elements.
So far, we have not heard any administration official
suggest a single concession that the Russians
should be prepared to make.
And so I wonder if you could assure us, at a minimum,
that this negotiation process will not be as one-sided
as the Europeans seem to think it is.
That, in fact, President Putin will also be made
to engage in some concessions to reach this deal.
Well, I think the President knows how to make a deal
better than anyone who has ever assumed
the office of the American presidency.
And in order to make a deal,
you have to bring both sides to the table.
And typically, when you make a good deal,
both sides leave that table a little bit unhappy.
I'm not going to outline the concessions
that the President and his team are engaged in discussing.
These are obviously ongoing negotiations,
and it would be unwise of me to impede them from this podium.
But the President has made significant improvements
in ending this conflict.
He is committed to seeing an end to the war.
He wants to see the bloodshed and the killing stopped.
He wants to stop seeing young men
being killed and slaughtered.
This has been going on for far too long.
The President inherited this mess
because of the incompetence of the previous administration,
and he's committed to fixing it.
And he's made some of those concessions clear,
but I'm not going to get ahead of him on additional ones.
But he is wholeheartedly committed
to striking a peace deal in Russia and Ukraine,
also in the Middle East.
Thank you very much, guys. Good to see you.
We'll see you later.
