President Trump Participates in a Ceremonial Swearing In of Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick

thank you very much today I'm honored to swear in our next secretary of Commerce Mr Howard letnik I've known him a long time he's great guy I want to just congratulate Howard and Allison and Kyle Brandon Casey Ryan and your entire family wonderful family beautiful family Howard's one of the most experienced and talented Business Leaders of our time done a amazing job on Wall Street and far beyond but more importantly he's a patriot who loves our country and has shown tremendous courage and strength throughout his career Howard began at the fame caner Fitzgerald in 1983 and by the age of 29 he rose to become the president and CEO and one of the hottest firms on Wall Street much like myself Howard uh should not be here today on September 11th 2001 Howard's company was at its absolute height doing unbelievable dominating Wall Street and stocks and bonds and trading from its headquarters on the 101st to the 105th floor he had the top three or four floors of the World Trade Center the North Tower of the World Trade Center and every day Howard got up and went to work early he'd always go in and he'd go to work early and uh he'd be there 6:00 in the morning and as you know the the hit was around 8:45 or something like that so he would have been there on almost any day other than what this because his wife was very angry at him because he wouldn't deliver his child to school she said you never take who is the child let me see where's the child the you saved your father child anymore you saved your father's life huh should hold that against you're going to leave him more than the other kids right well so he took he took what is your first name Kyle he took Kyle Kyle congratulations nice job but he took Kyle that one day to school after years he finally said okay I'll do it and that's the only time so he was actually riding down the wests side highway and he saw the plane hit and uh it's an amazing of the rest of history and your brother was in there too I think right and it was just a terrible it's a big story and every single caner Fitzgerald employee who was at work that day lost their lives which was almost 100% of the company and Howard lost more than 650 friends because they were all friends they had a a really well unified just highly respected company a lot of talent in that company but the employees loved ones including his brother and best friend most people would have been defeated they would have probably gone on to not too much but Howard rebuilt the company step by step and as he did it he gave a tremendous amount of the profits and other things to the families of his col colleagues who were killed in the World Trade Center on that horrible day and it showed something about Howard that's really uh incredible his resilience it's a very few people could have done even thought of doing it but his resilience and tenacity have earned him the respect and admiration of everyone in the financial world but more importantly Howard understands from personal experience why we put America first because we love our families we love our fellow citizens and we love our country so much and he really loves this country and I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think so and he's got so many friends on New York and Wall Street and elsewhere and he has just really he's a relationship person and they're always the best and he's he's the best at it as Secretary of Commerce Howard will work tirelessly to protect our workers and our wealth and grow our economy into the strongest in the history of the world you know when he rebuilt the company it actually became much bigger and much stronger than the original company which is uh almost impossible to do it became hotter than even the original caner Fitzgerald but he's going to be unmatched as an emissary working to get jobs and Investments and his favorite word and I'm going to move him down to Fourth favorite word first is family love God not necessarily that order by the way I think let's put God first all right we'll put God first you know why because we don't want to take any chances that's why but uh I did that once I said I put I put tariff is my favorite word well and the the fake news went out and they really got me I'll tell you they said what about God family relationship a couple of words and I said you're right and so I made it now my fourth favorite word and Howard I think is you'll go along with me number four maybe even number five or six but he's uh he really understands something about business and we have been called by so many companies yesterday we had Tim Cook of appal in who's going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the country because of what we're doing and we have many many companies too too many to even mention they're coming roaring back into this uh country and it'll take maybe a little time but not that much time you're going to see things that you've never seen before at a level that you've never seen before and Howard's going to lead that charge and it'll uh help oversee the Tariff and trade agenda along with many other things will soon impose reciprocal tariffs because that means they charge us we charge them it's very simple whatever a company or country such as let's say India or China or any of them whatever they charge we want to be fair so reciprocal reciprocal meaning they charge us we charge them we haven't done that we've never done that we were getting ready to do it until Co hit we had the greatest economy in the history of the world and uh we were just getting started but uh the tariffing and going to be very interesting Howard's going to be in charge of it and I think you're going to see jobs and money flowing into the country like never has been seen before as we reduce inflation unleash energy bring down costs bring back manufacturing and lead the world in Innovation families will flourish and opportunities will Skyrocket we will Skyrocket like people haven't seen it's going to be a really big thing and I wouldn't feel the same confidence if I didn't have this man on my left and even though he spent a little bit of his time in life as a Democrat from New York I'm okay with it because I knew him during his Democrat days and that's okay but I just want to say that he is uh going to help very strongly make America wealthy again make America great again and there's nobody that can do the job better so Mr Secretary of Commerce I just welcome you abroad there's nothing you can do so big as this there is no deal you can do that's bigger every deal that's why you can never go back into business because it seems like small potatoes no matter how big it is including even caner Fitzgerald it's all small potatoes compared to what we're doing now so it's a great honor to have you and your family aboard thank you very much and thank you very much in particular thank you very much so first i' I'd like to thank you president trump it um it is the greatest honor to work for you uh to be with you to carry uh your name your leadership and your flag throughout the world um the Press has no idea who the gentleman to my left is they portray him in all sorts of ways uh but I know him as the smartest most thoughtful and most intuitive person I've ever met and uh it is really it's amazing uh to be in this room and and to work for him I have to my right my my friend jie Vance who was kind enough even to introduce me uh to the Senate and uh he gave me the greatest compliment he called me a good dude so um I have really the most wonderful family I have my wife Allison we've been married for 30 years and I always uh when I come home because I come home late at night I walk in the door and I yell hello greatest wife she's just an amazing girl uh my four children Kyle who you know has saved my life so now this is going to cost me dearly um my son Brandon my daughter Casey my son Ryan and my sister Edie my two brothers-in-law uh Gary and Rick uh my sister-in-law Abby I mean this is as beautiful a day as you could have the opportunity that the Trump Administration is going to bring to America is so extraordinary you know people think the golden age is a statement it's like saying Maga make America great again this is the greatest country on Earth it is such a great country that we can take care of our citizens and give them their social security we can take care of everyone and give them their Medicaid but we are going to get rid of so much waste Fraud and Abuse we're not going to hurt anybody but we're going to get rid of it and then we are going to grow this economy in a way that people have never seen and under the Trump Administration my goal and I'm happy to wear it on my shoulders is we are going to back balance the budget of the United States of America because Donald Trump understands Global business it's the first time you put in that chair the greatest businessman in the United States of America and I I just for one I have to tell you I cannot be more proud to serve my great friend and the greatest president in America Donald J Trump [Applause] so now we get to swear Howard in now where we need the actual we need to sign the commission first sign the commission first okay Mr President we sign the commission [Laughter] first I can't swear am men I guess until you sign the commission yes sir you ready you sure the last time change I get to work for you right here I mean what's better than this room never looks so beautiful how do you like the do look unbeliev the desk is a different desk it's one of seven but uh the Resolute desk is being renovated and refurbished after many many years of service it'll be back in 4 weeks in case anybody get St people okay you're [Applause] in all right now Howard come come next to your beautiful wife and your beautiful family here put your hand on the Bible raise your right hand and repeat after me I Howard lutnick I Howard letnik do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States that will I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same that I take this obligation freely I will take this obligation freely without any mental reservation without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion and that I will well and Faithfully discharge and I will well and Faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I'm about to enter the duties of the office of which I am about to enter so help you God so help me God congratulations Mr secretary thank you very much Mr Mr President there are reports that um you were considering merging the United States Postal Service with the Commerce Department can you elaborate on if this is something you're considering we want to have a post office that works well and doesn't lose massive amounts of money and we're thinking about doing that and uh it'll be a form of a merger but it'll Remain the postal service and I think it'll operate a lot better than it has been over the years it's been a just a tremendous loser for this country tremendous amounts of money are being lost and we think we can do something that will be very good and keep it a very similar way but whether it's a merger or just using some of the very talented people that we have elsewhere so it doesn't lose so much it's losing a tremendous amount of money Mr President some members of Congress some members of Congress in red districts are facing push back from voters in town halls we know that Americans Americans voted for you on the immigration and the economy but these voters say they're angry and frustrated by these firings they don't like the work of Elon Musk and and these other actions what do you say to them who do you work for I work for ABC News sir who ABC News no wonder let me just tell you let me just tell you that I have today the highest B numbers I've ever had I have today the highest poll numbers of any Republican president ever we have even reject the Democrats but that's what I was just told and uh they like the job that we're doing they like the job that elon's doing he's doing something that a lot of people wouldn't have the courage to do we want to streamline our country we want to streamline because you know why because we want our country to Survive and Thrive and we're finding uh billions and billions of dollars of waste Fraud and Abuse billions and I mean numbers like you wouldn't believe and we haven't even started yet so uh it's actually just the opposite we've pulled it and people are thrilled they can't even believe it's happening and it won't affect many people it only affect the people that get caught stealing uh the waste Fraud and Abuse is at a level like nobody's ever seen it's been going on for years and all you have to do is look at the Social Security roles look at some of the things look at the way the money is going the Attorney General is looking into something environmental protection2 billion uh and it's it's out and out fraud so uh I think the people are very happy yes Mr President I want to ask you about the um this week uh the secretary spent 4 hours with the European Union trade representative um the European Union has signal that they would lower tariffs and do a trade deal with the United States yeah the European Union wants to come back they've treated us very badly and the European Union wants to uh lower their tariffs because of the fact we were paying Fortune of tariffs we couldn't sell a car there we couldn't sell our farm products there they wouldn't take anything now all of a sudden they're being very nice and that's going to happen with a lot of others too the European Union is uh wanting to lower its barriers at very low levels they want to now bring their car number which was extremely high down to 2 and a half% which is the same thing that we charge that's reciprocal see that's what is happening reciprocal and I think it's a big start in the right direction with the European Union you called president zalinski of Ukraine a dictator do you think that President Putin of Russia is also a dictator I think that uh President Putin and uh president zalinski are gonna have to get together because you know what we want to stop killing millions of people you have young soldiers being killed if you saw the pictures that I saw of the battlefield from satellite you've never seen any pictures like that soldiers are being killed by the thousands a week thousands of soldiers a week as we speak they're they're being killed that's why I want to see a ceasefire and I want to get the deal done I think we have a a chance to get the deal done I had to make sure that Russia wanted to do it uh it's a war that would have never happened if I was president but it did happen so I got stuck with with it and I want to stop people from being killed you know it doesn't affect the United States very much it's on the other side of the ocean it does affect Europe and we put in three times more money we're in for 300 billion they're in for 100 billion and you know Europe is also doing it in the form of a loan Biden just gave him money there was no loan there was no security there was no anything so we're going to either sign a deal or there's going to be uh a lot of problems with them so we're going to sign a deal to get security because we have to do that we're spending our treasure they're spending their blood they are and they're very brave and you know in every way you could imagine but we are spending our treasure on some in a country that's very very far away and it's okay but we have to be treated the same as Europe is being treated Europe gets their money back Europe is basically giving nothing because they get it back in the form of a loan and it's a guaranteed loan we don't get our money back and we're losing I mean we don't want to do that anymore so we're signing an agreement hopefully in the next fairly short period of time that will assure us that we'll get four or500 billion dollar back we're in there for 300 billion now one other thing Europe is at 100 we're at 300 we think it has to equalize in other words they have to come up with more money because it has a big effect in Europe it doesn't have much of an effect in us because we have a big beautiful ocean in between but it does affect and Biden should have never gotten us into this mess we had an incompetent president who got us into a mess but we're going to get you out of it the same thing in the Middle East we're going to have some good news in the Middle East uh what happened yesterday the sight of those babies was not acceptable to anybody I nobody's seen anything like it Mr President are you going to Moscow there's a report out of France that you're going to Moscow on May 9th no no to join President Putin and then if I could sir just ask you about Cas Patel who's going to be sworn as soon as your FBI director um talk to us about your reaction to him getting sworn in and and the fact that many agents across the country are concerned that they will be fired in Mass for simply just doing their jobs no I think the agents are very happy about cash in fact the agents led the charge for cash one of the reasons I loved cash and wanted to put him in is because of the respect the agents had for him I think he's going to be I think he'll go down as the best ever at that position and uh it turned out he was very easy to get approved you know I was not sure he's tough guy strong guy he has his opinions and I wasn't sure he turned out to be very he went very smoothly I don't know if he's in the room now he's going to be in the room very short where is he El that I'm saying the right [Applause] thing I I can't speak too badly about him I better be careful I will say this about cash and Howard understands this the one of the reasons that I wanted him is because the agents love this guy and they respect this guy and this is what they wanted and even somebody like Trey gouty who's a very good guy but known as somewhat of a moderate person he came out and he came out with a statement that was so incredible he said cash is an incredible person people don't realize it when he said that there was no doubt left it was really a big statement made by somebody that's respected and on the moderate side and I will tell you I think cash is going to go down as maybe the best ever when it's all set done so I'm glad he's willing to do it thank you a little bit more you can you speak a little bit more about your meeting with Tim Cook you said that uh he was going to invest hundreds billions of dollars specific projects that he spoke to about all over the country all over the country going to start building he doesn't want to pay tariffs and he's going to start building but very big numbers you have to speak to him I assume they're going to announce it at some point but very big numbers he was here yesterday I met with him at length and uh Apple is coming here with tremendous dollars they're going to be spending a lot of money in the United States more than they've ever spent by a factor of probably 10 did you were reporting that um you were signing a member waiter to counter digital service taxes but we you speak I mean what are you doing reading it can't you just say it without having to read it my question yeah oh sure Bloomberg we're reporting that you're expected to sign tariffs or a memo later on tariffs on digital taxes is there any idea how high you might might go with we are going to be doing that digital what they're doing to us in other countries is terrible with digital so we'll be announcing that are we signing it maybe today today and we'll be so we'll talk about that in a little while put secretary in charge of the Postal Service he's going to look at it he's got a great business instinct which is what we need and he'll be looking at it and we think we can turn it around but it's it is the Postal Service I we're leaving the postal service but we're losing so much money money with the postal service and we don't want to lose that kind of money so the secretary and some others that have talent that kind of talent we'll be looking at close are you to a minerals agreement with Ukraine Mr President what how close are you to striking a minerals deal with pretty close I think they want it they feel good about it and uh it's a significant it's a big deal but they want it and it keeps us in that country and uh they're very happy about it but it's we get our money back this should have been signed long before we went in it should have been signed by Biden but Biden didn't know too much about what he was doing the war should have never happened number one when it did happen it could have been settled the first week or two weeks after that it got bad it got really bad but it should have been it should have never happened and it should have been settled and it could have been settled very easily at the beginning now it's tougher but we'll get it settled has elections Germany has elections on Sunday uh what are your thoughts what do you expect to happen the elections on Sunday who has elections Germany oh Germany I wish them luck we got our own thank you price thank you price thank you price