Trump takes Iran, Saudi Arabia questions at nuclear innovation meeting

US News: Connecting World
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Jul 25, 2026
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AI GeneratedThe U.S. administration is spearheading a \"nuclear renaissance,\" marked by four privately-funded advanced reactors going critical. This push for energy dominance focuses on nuclear and coal over wind energy. Additionally, the President addressed geopolitical strategies regarding Iran and Saudi Arabia, defended tariff policies to drive domestic investment, and advocated for stricter election integrity laws.
Thank you very much.
And Jordan Bramble, CEO of Valar Atomics.
Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Deployable.
Not deplorable.
Remember Hillary?
Hopefully your company is going to work out a little bit.
Thank you, sir.
Good luck.
Deployable Energy.
Bobby Gallagher and CEO of Allo Atomics, Matt Lozak.
Thank you all for being with us.
Last year, I signed four historic executive orders
to reignite a wave of progress in America's nuclear power
production and promote this abundant, affordable,
unlimited supply of energy for the American people.
As part of this effort, I directed Secretary of Energy
Chris Wright to establish a pilot program
for advanced reactors and see at least
three cutting-edge reactors started up safely
by the 4th of July.
And what we've done has been pretty much of a miracle.
Most believe the goal was impossible,
but I'm delighted to say that four companies succeeded
in meeting that deadline for the greatest in the world
at this subject.
So these are the first new privately-funded
advanced reactors to turn on the United States
in over four decades.
Making sure that these groundbreaking designs
were safe to build and test so quickly was a challenge
that required a historic partnership
between these innovative companies
and our administration.
We have brilliant nuclear people.
We have a lot of brilliant people,
but we have brilliant nuclear people on our staff.
In the past, it often took six years or more
to approve a reactor design.
If they were ever approved at all,
most of them didn't get approved,
and maybe rightfully so.
But now America is building again.
America is dreaming again.
And we're leading the world in pioneering
the next generation of nuclear power.
There's nobody even close.
We've taken a lead over the last two years
that has been, I hope, insurmountable.
We'll see.
But let me ask Director of the Office of Science
and Technology Policy, Michael Kratos,
who's been absolutely fantastic in the administration,
to say a few words, followed by a few of the people.
Let's see, Chris Wright will go, and Jordan Bramble,
and Isaiah Taylor, then Bobby Gallagher,
and Matt Lunsdick.
And if you could, don't spend too much time.
That's a lot of people.
But go ahead.
And do you want to start it off, Chris, please?
Michael Kratos first.
Sure, go ahead, Michael.
Mr. President, you signed four executive orders
last year, and you set one of the most ambitious goals
in civil nuclear history,
to essentially have three reactors go critical
by the 4th of July.
This is an accomplishment that many thought
would not be possible.
The last time that a privately-funded new reactor design
went critical was in 1974, so it was over 50 years ago.
And we were able to achieve that and surpass it
by having four, and these are the great four
American companies that got it done.
Great.
Go ahead, please.
In the last 30 or 40 years, the American nuclear industry
has been quiescent.
Most of the reactors built around the world
have been built by Russia and China,
both in their countries and abroad.
President Trump said enough of that.
America is going to be back as the leader
in the nuclear space, in large reactors
and in next-generation small reactors.
He set a bold goal.
It's been exceeded, and I'm incredibly proud
to be standing here with these fabulous entrepreneurs
next to me.
And brilliant science people, too.
Brilliant. Please, go ahead.
Mr. President, thank you so much for your leadership.
It was really your executive orders
that catalyzed this nuclear renaissance.
You know, when they first came out, people scoffed at them.
They said it couldn't be done.
And now there's not only three companies
but four companies here that really met the moment.
Us at Antares, we look forward to being
a resilient energy source for Golden Dome
to power high-powered assets in space
and eventually undersea autonomy.
So this is a strategic technology for our nation,
and what we look forward to doing
is putting reactors on our military installations
before 2028.
Great job. Thank you, sir.
Okay, please, go ahead.
And, Mr. President, thank you so much
for your leadership in this moment.
I think that the United States has been a leader
in nuclear energy since the very beginning.
We were the first ever to turn on an advanced reactor
in the world. We were also the first to turn on
any type of nuclear reactor in the world.
But over the last 30 years,
we became more interested in PowerPoint
than in power plants.
And it's your leadership that is changing that.
The executive orders that were signed last year,
I think if you look forward in 50 to 100 years
when we are — when we have nuclear power of every kind
that's allowing us to make steel again,
to make aluminum again,
to actually be able to go to outer space
and all the places that humanity wants to go,
you can trace it back to the executive orders
that started last year. So we're honored to serve our country
and be a part of this.
And thank you again for your leadership.
Thank you. Great job. Go ahead, please.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thanks for setting
such an audacious, bold goal.
As some of the other CEOs have said,
most people thought this was impossible.
But the American spirit was unlocked through your vision
and through the Department of Energy and the Secretary
and through the INL and John's team.
We couldn't be more proud to be part of this moment.
I do think this is going to be historic.
I do think people are going to look back
and believe this is when the tide turned on nuclear
and how we unlocked cheap and abundant energy.
Thank you.
Great job you're doing too, by the way.
Anybody else?
One more. We cut it close,
but we went critical at 1220 a.m. on the 4th of July.
So thank you again so much for setting these executive orders.
Like everyone else said, we would not be here
without those executive orders. So thank you so much.
And what it's unlocking for us is this year
we are going to be raising a billion dollars
moving into a million square foot facility.
And our target market is data centers.
So we're making the ideal nuclear product to power data centers
with bring your own power. That's our whole goal.
So thank you once again for unlocking this.
And we really, really cannot be here without you.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Do you have anything to say?
Sure.
No, I would just say, I mean, this is exactly
why you created the Energy Dominance Council,
that you wanted to unlock new forms of energy.
People ask us all the time about green energy.
And I say, if you want to invest in green energy,
invest in nuclear.
That's the kind of energy that's going to solve
the energy demand that's out there.
And that's that's baseload energy
that's going to solve our solutions.
And that's the energy of the future.
Sure. Thank you.
I would just add, we invented nuclear power in this country.
At Idaho National Laboratory,
we first demonstrated nuclear power in 1951.
After that, 52 different reactors were designed
and tested there.
But it's been prior to the last couple of months
with these gentlemen, it has been more than 50 years
since we had a new reactor go critical on our site.
And I have to say that in all my years,
and I've been around for a while,
I've never seen government, private industry,
and the laboratories working together this effectively.
And it's all driven by the bold goals in your executive orders.
So, thank you, sir.
Thank you very much. Congratulations.
So, first of all, maybe you have some questions
for the people behind me. Please, go ahead.
Hi, Mr. President.
I want to ask about the Saudi nuclear deal.
This man over your shoulder announces a big deal
after 18 months of negotiating with the Saudis.
Seems like it's all done. It's signed.
And then you come out, throw some new conditions on top of it.
The whole thing blows up. So, did he get out ahead of you?
Or what happened there?
No, nobody got out ahead.
I mean, I just say that in order to do it,
they have to be a member of the Abraham Accords,
which have been very successful.
But it's time now that they do it.
They and others didn't want to do it
because of the problem that they had with Iran.
You don't have that problem anymore.
You don't have a great power there anymore.
You have a problem,
but the problem is disappearing day by day.
They were the bully of the Middle East.
They were not going to be that much of a bully anymore.
Probably, I think, instinctively want to be.
But you don't have the same problem
that you would have had four or five months ago
before they had no Navy, no military,
no anti-aircraft, no leaders.
I mean, their leaders are gone.
A lot of things have changed with respect to that country.
So, no, we want them to — it's a two-way street,
and we think it's very important for the future of the Middle East.
The Abraham Accords have been incredibly successful
for the countries, as you know, for the countries in them.
And I think it's very important.
So, you know, at some point, they'll join.
They'll join, and they'll do their civil —
I call it civil nuclear, but that's what it is.
No enrichment of civil nuclear.
The Press. Good question about Iran.
You're talking about blowing up civilian power plants and bridges.
Much of the civilized world would consider that a war crime.
Do you?
I won't respond to that question. Who are you with?
The New York Times. I figured so.
Failing New York Times. God bless.
President, Mr. President,
Javier Negra from Cundinamarca, who is in Espanol.
I just came back from Venezuela,
and people there are very happy with you.
Right. With Secretary Marco Rubio,
with Secretary Wright.
I've got all lovers in Venezuela.
I just came back.
I know some news plans for there, and they are amazing.
I want to give you — thank you.
I want to ask you one question
because some people there, they are asking me that.
When will there be elections?
Do you have a date in mind?
Senator Bernie Moreno said that July 24,
2027 could be a good day in honor of Simon Bolivar.
And my second question is the football player
who scored Spain's goal in the final at World Cup,
Ferran Torres, celebrate the victory
wearing a Make Spain Great Again cap.
The communists are attacking him
because they say that it's a friend of you.
And also, they are attacking Argentinian players
because of Millet. What do you think about that?
Well, he's a great player, and he was wearing,
essentially, a Make America Great Again cap.
You know, so it was a nice tribute.
And I think he meant that very nicely, and we appreciate it.
We have. We've made America great.
We have the greatest country in the world now.
I will say this. We were, a year and a half ago,
two years ago, this country was in deep trouble.
We had borders that were a disaster.
We had everything you could possibly have,
including men playing in women's sports.
Even the Supreme Court has taken care of most of that problem.
But we had a country that was in big trouble.
It was being laughed at all over the world.
We have the hottest country. This is the hottest country
I know anywhere in the world.
So, I saw him wearing the,
essentially, Make America Great Again hat.
And I know that he meant it as a very great compliment,
and we appreciate it.
As far as the elections in Venezuela,
they're not really ready for them yet.
But, boy, a lot of progress has been made.
Delcey has been doing a fantastic job, as you know.
The amount of oil coming out of Venezuela right now,
even before the big companies — you know, Exxon,
all the big companies are looking at it.
They're going there. It's a very fertile territory.
But the amount of money being made by Venezuela
now is more than they've ever made before.
And we're taking a lot also for our — you know, for our efforts.
And the money is being sent,
and the oil is being sent to Houston and Louisiana
to be refined.
And we paid for the war many times over.
It's been an amazing fact.
And as you say, you know, I'm very popular in Venezuela
because we're bringing tremendous economics
back to the country.
And they were absolutely dying. They were in such trouble.
And now Venezuela is becoming extremely successful.
They're taking in billions of dollars,
selling millions and millions of barrels of oil.
And we're getting some, and they're getting some.
And everybody is making a lot.
And it was dead before we got there.
So it's been — it's been an incredible relationship.
They're not ready yet for the elections,
but at some point, they will be.
And we're going to be standing right on top of them.
And say hello. Say hello.
I've known them — for a long time, I've known that country.
And, you know, I own the Miss Universe pageant.
And Miss Venezuela always did very well in that pageant.
So I know something about the country.
But I've known it for a long time.
They're great people. Say hello. Okay?
The Press.
Mr. President, about Iran, what is the exit strategy?
The President Well, I think there's a lot of them.
There's a military exit where we just keep going
just the way we are, and we can even make it a heavier dose.
And it's knocking out everything they have.
Or there's a smarter strategy, and that's you make a deal.
And they want to make a deal. I just don't think they're ready yet.
But they do want to make a deal.
Sometimes they don't want to say they want to make a deal.
They want to be the tough guys. But they do want to make a deal.
There's two ways. I mean, it's —
you can just keep doing exactly what we're doing
and take them apart piece by piece.
We can do it in a more rapid fashion, which we might do.
Or we can negotiate with them, which we're also doing right now.
I mean, as we speak, we're talking to them.
The Press And you said today that Russia and China
are not helping.
Earlier this week, the War Secretary,
Hegseth, said that they are enabling.
So what is the difference?
The President Well, I don't know that they're enabling.
I mean, I will tell you that President Xi said
he will not partake.
And President Putin said the same thing.
I think — you know, I trust them.
Do they — they've had a long-term relationship.
There could be some things to do.
But thus far, at least, it has not been major.
I don't think they'd want to have me disappointed.
The Press And just a different story, not Iran.
There's this nasty parasite
that is giving people in nine states explosive diarrhea.
When is it going to be safe to eat lettuce again?
The President I don't know. I haven't thought about it.
It's the first time I've been asked that question.
Are you eating lettuce recently?
The Press I should always have more lettuce.
The President You ought to get that out of here, Peter.
No, it's a very interesting question from you.
I didn't think you'd ask that kind of a question.
Nobody wants to ask that question, but —
The President Well, it's —
The President — well, it's exciting.
The President — there's this food coming in,
I guess, from Mexico. It's tainted.
It's making a lot of people sick.
That is the CDC's terminology that I was —
The President I think what we're going to do
is we're going to put a major tariff on Mexico
because of the lettuce.
And we're going to put a big tariff on Canada
because of the smoke. All right?
We'll get a comp — which would you have, then?
The lettuce or the smoke?
I think I'll take the smoke.
The Press Yeah, the smoke wrecked my daughter's swim meet.
The President Well, it's closed up a lot of countries.
I've told Canada they have to do something about it.
You know, we've never had this problem.
All of a sudden, we have this problem with Canada.
So, we'll have to talk to them about that later.
The Press Thank you, sir.
A follow-up on Iran.
Have you made a decision about the major strikes
that you're referring to?
Okay. Should we expect to see major strikes?
The President Look, we're talking to them right now.
I think they're getting more and more serious
as the days go by, for maybe the obvious reason.
But we are talking to them right now.
Look, there are two ways. I consider that the smarter way.
But the other is probably the easier way,
doing what we're doing.
And we can take that to a much higher level if you want to.
You know, we're prepared to do that, as you know.
We're locked and loaded.
We're locked and loaded and ready to go.
But we're talking to them.
So, I think while we're talking, we'll see what comes of it.
The Press And, Mr. President, just a quick follow-up.
The President I believe, Jeff, they're very serious.
They should be.
The Press And when you say that you're talking,
is it Mr. Kushner or Mr. Whitkoff,
or who's involved in those talks?
The President Sort of everybody.
J.D. and Marco, and a lot of people are talking.
You know, a lot of people to talk to.
It's a big deal.
But really, when you get right down to it,
it's not very complex.
They cannot have a nuclear weapon.
You know, very simple, actually.
But it's a big deal.
They cannot have a nuclear weapon.
If they have even a thought of a nuclear weapon,
we will just continue to go at much higher levels.
But we are talking right now, and we'll see what comes of it.
I'm not — you know, despite what everyone says
about the election, I'm not in a hurry.
I'm not in a hurry. We have to do it right.
Elections take care of themselves.
When you — you know, when I went into Venezuela,
everybody was against it.
Oh, what are you doing going into Venezuela?
And then two days later, they said,
well, that's fantastic.
A lot of people are saying that with Iran already
because it would take them 25 years
to rebuild already from what they have.
And again, as you know, no Navy, no Air Force,
no anti-aircraft, no radar, no nothing.
And we — as you know, we just put up —
reinstituted the — I guess you could —
I call it the iron wall on the water.
Nothing gets through.
Nothing blockade. Nothing gets through.
And they sort of have to make a deal.
But we are talking to them. I think they're being serious.
I think — I think they are being, by far,
the most serious that we've seen them.
But that doesn't mean we get there.
We'll see what happens.
But I always prefer that alternative.
The Press.
I have an energy question.
So, Burgum, you might be able to help with this.
So, you have criticized windmills for quite a long time.
They're very ugly. They're not —
they tend to use more energy than they actually produce.
That's true.
A lot of people in —
You've done your homework.
A lot of people in Middle America,
they are just so tired of seeing them
continue to go up on farmland and stuff like that.
Is there any way to —
is our federal government still funding
in any way putting these up?
We have — I can speak for Doug,
and then I'm going to let Doug speak
because he knows a bit of the subject.
I do know that subject.
Well, we have not approved anything
having to do with windmills.
They are horrible.
They are unsightly.
They ruin housing values of people.
If you're looking at a windmill or hearing a windmill
because they're noisy, they kill all the birds.
They kill all the eagles.
You know, you shoot an eagle,
you go to jail for two years.
If you kill an eagle with it, you don't go to jail.
And they have hundreds of them laying on the ground.
You know, it's terrible.
And they're very expensive energy.
And they're all made in China,
but China has very few windmills.
You know, they have — they're made in China,
but China doesn't use them for the most part.
China actually uses coal, oil, and gas.
They use nuclear, by the way.
They're getting very big in nuclear,
I want to tell you, in this little group.
But they don't use wind.
Wind is inconsistent. It's unattractive.
It's very expensive.
It's probably the most expensive form of energy.
So I've been talking about it.
We essentially, unless there's a trick reason,
we will have hopefully no wind farms approved.
We're doing more than anybody ever in history
having to do with energy.
But I've restricted wind farms, windmills.
Take a look at Palm Springs, California,
where they have a wind farm.
As you enter beautiful Palm Springs, California,
it looks like a junkyard.
You have old ones, rotted ones.
They're falling down all over the place.
They don't want to bury it because they say the fiber
that the blades are made out of should not go in the ground
because it's going to poison the ground.
Now, I don't know if that's true or not,
but if it's not going to go in the ground, what do you do with it?
Put it up in the air.
So, good, I see you're not a fan of windmills.
You do have a fan of windmills, Mr. President.
I'm very passionate about this.
Do you want to speak about that first?
No, but I would say, yes, President Trump
has wisely understood that wind was unreliable,
intermittent, dependent on the weather,
only existed particularly offshore
because of massive subsidies.
So not only was it expensive to generate electricity
on the grid, it was also expensive for taxpayers
because of the subsidies.
And so, again, President Trump shifting the policy
towards energy dominance, which is reliable, affordable,
7 by 24 energy that's not dependent on the weather.
That includes nuclear, includes hydro, includes geothermal,
includes oil and gas, includes beautiful coal.
And again, China, 60 percent of their electricity
is coming from coal.
Coal was the number one electric producer
in the world 125 years ago,
and it was for the last 125 years in a row,
and it will be again this year, 126, quite a streak
if you're an athletic team that they've won
126 years in a row.
But President Trump-
But we were restricted from using it.
Every coal mine was going to be closed down
within the next year if we didn't win the election.
And it's, I call it clean, beautiful coal,
because it is.
What they do today with coal is amazing.
But it is the most powerful, and with that, go ahead.
Well, as I say, under President Trump's leadership
and then working together as a team across government
with the great Lee Zeldin Energy Dominance Council,
we've kept open 35 gigawatts of coal this last year,
and if that 35 gigawatts was not up this past winter
during the cold streak and storm Fern,
we would have seen brownouts, blackouts,
and literally people dying in America
during that cold weather.
So again, President Trump's, the elections matter.
When he came in, he turned the direction back
towards reliable, affordable energy.
Nuclear is a key part of that
with these amazing entrepreneurs,
and I just want to add to this up here.
People need to understand,
the four guys that are standing up here
did not get a government grant.
This is private sector.
President Trump unleashed capital
going back in, billions of dollars of capital
going back into the nuclear industry.
President Trump understands innovation
is the source of American greatness.
You get rid of the regulation,
you support entrepreneurs,
the capital flows, America wins.
And Mr. Secretary, the starting for this nuclear dominance,
what does that look like for the American people out there?
What are those first steps that we can see
in these coming months and years?
Well, I should say, I'll go on,
you can see it right now,
because when you take a look across the whole world,
President Trump's policies,
whether it's Venezuela, whether it's Alaska,
whether it's reinstating export,
18 months ago, we had a ban on LNG exports from our country.
Now we're the world's largest exporter of LNG.
President Trump's policy was,
let's sell energy to our friends and allies,
keep it affordable at home,
so our friends and allies
can stop buying from our adversaries.
Russia was selling virtually all of the natural gas
into Western Europe.
Two thirds of that gas has been displaced by America.
America has turned those into our customers,
supporting our allies.
And with Venezuela, as President Trump said,
that flowing to our refineries on the South Coast,
that's lowering gas prices for America,
unleashing Alaska, which the previous administration
sanctioned more than Iran.
That's gonna, again, help provide
low-cost energy for America.
So today, we have the lowest-priced,
most secure energy of any country in the world.
That's gonna change the course of this country
for decades to come.
Mr. President, Mr. President.
What?
The Justice Department last night
withdrew those subpoenas to the New York Times journalists
who reported on Air Force One.
Do you support these type of subpoenas to journalists,
or are you going to encourage the administration?
We're not after journalists, we're after leakers.
We're after people that are cowards,
people that are unpatriotic,
people that are treasonous in many cases.
And the way you find them is through the journalists,
when the journalists probably know they shouldn't write,
they shouldn't be giving information out
like that particular information or others.
We had a lot of, look at the Supreme Court
where they leaked the opinion of Roe v. Wade early.
That person should be found.
And the way you find them is to tell the journalists.
If it's something having to do with national security,
you tell the journalists, who is it?
And we have a long way to go with that case.
So you think it's appropriate to subpoena
family members of journalists to vital information?
Are you, what, say it again?
There was subpoenas to family members of the journalists.
I don't know what's appropriate, what's not.
We do it legally.
Barack Hussein Obama did it all the time.
He went after journalists and nobody said anything about it.
He went after journalists.
They said, who is the leaker?
Who is the leaker?
And if you don't give us the leaker, you go into jail.
You know that.
But when Obama does it, it's okay.
When I do it, it's not.
In many cases, that's the only way you're gonna find out
who a leaker is and it has to do with national security.
It's amazing.
He did it many times and nobody said anything about it.
But when a Republican does it,
when, in particular, Trump does it,
everybody makes a big deal.
Now, the way you find out is you say to the journalists,
if it's national security.
I would say, I really put it down to national security,
not all, in all cases.
But when you have somebody doing a national security leak
or a leak of great importance
and you have somebody inside the walls of,
let's say, the White House leaking,
I think that's a national security concern.
I think it's absolutely fine.
And again, I'm not knocking Obama for doing it.
I'm knocking the press for not even wanting to cover it.
But Obama did that often.
Other presidents have done it also.
They go to the journalist or the reporter.
They say, national security, who gave you this information?
I'm okay with that.
Mr. President, did you authorize for Secretary Wright
to sign the Saudi nuclear deal?
If not, why did he sign it?
Well, we didn't talk about it, but it was always understood,
and Chris knew, and Saudi Arabia knew,
that if they didn't join the Abraham Accords,
the deal's not — I'm not going to do the deal.
So then why did he sign it?
Senator — Senator John —
Because they understood that in order —
you know, subject to Congress and everything else —
in order for that deal to go through,
they had to sign into the Abraham Accords.
And they've had great success.
The Abraham Accords have been very successful.
But in order to do that, we wanted them — we want them in.
We think it's very good.
We think the Abraham Accords bring peace in the Middle East.
And now there's no longer an Iran factor.
There's no longer Iran to worry about
because they've been reduced in terms of their capability
and power by manyfold.
Thank you. Senator John Thune has suggested
that if the White House thinks that there are threats
to pass the Save America Act,
you should be picking up the phone.
Who are you with?
I'm with the Washington Examiner, sir.
Could you be doing more to help that legislation pass?
Well, I do — I do more.
I got three congressmen, maybe four, to settle —
you know, to send it to the Senate.
We got the vote, as you know, in Congress.
I got a call from Mike Johnson, who's fantastic.
He's a fantastic speaker, one of the best I've ever seen.
And I think he's going to go down as one of the best.
He called. He said, we have problems
with three or four people. Could you call them?
I called them. Every one of them, after I called them,
voted, and we got it passed up to the Senate.
And I'd certainly be willing.
I mean, he's got four or five people that are very difficult.
A couple of them I put out of office,
so I understand how it feels.
I mean, they're doing the wrong thing.
Look, who cannot approve voter ID?
Who cannot approve proof of citizenship?
Who cannot approve funding military
when you're winning a war?
And what are you supposed to do, stop fighting?
We're winning a war by a lot. We're talking to them right now.
They're willing to do things that they would have never done.
Other presidents should have done this a long time ago.
They say 47, but now it's actually 50 years.
We've been saying 47 for three years.
So it's 50 years. For 50 years, they should have done it.
But who wouldn't approve voter ID? And it's photo ID.
Who wouldn't approve proof of citizenship?
And the Democrats don't want it because they cheat.
But no Republican should put us in a position
where they don't approve something like that.
Yeah, please.
The Press And then, earlier today,
you reposted Laura Loomer's interview
with President Zelensky.
What do you make of growing MAGA support
for the war in Iran — or war in the Ukraine? Sorry.
The President Well, I think they support what I support.
You know, we just had a complete win in Arizona.
The young gentleman was Harry Hinton.
Believe his name is.
The pollster said Trump's 100 percent favorable.
He gets everybody who endorses wins,
which is pretty much true.
Everyone I endorse just about wins.
So there seems to be a natural bond between me and MAGA.
But I'm the one that created MAGA.
And I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.
You know, MAGA knows what MAGA wants.
And MAGA is very happy. They want to see this done.
And they're not going to be happy if it's not done.
Make America Great Again — it's all about making —
you know, we started that a long time ago.
But the concept of not approving voter ID
or not approving proof of citizenship —
and I won't even get into the ballot thing
because, you know, we'll hold that maybe for another time.
I think the two are 97, 98 percent issues.
I think the ballots are 75 percent issue.
But even at 75, they should do the ballots.
The ballots are, in many ways,
more important than even the first two.
But they're a little more controversial
because some people don't want to go and vote.
But most great Americans want to go and vote.
The corrupt ballot stuff that — you saw that
with the recent election in Los Angeles,
the mayor's election, where the young guy —
I don't know him. I came to the office recently after he lost.
And they find all these ballots all of a sudden out of the —
they came down from heaven.
Hundreds of thousands of ballots.
Isn't it wonderful?
He had no chance of losing.
You know, Spencer Pratt. He had no chance.
He was going to be in second place or first place.
But — and I know — I saw it happen.
I said, oh, he's not going to win.
He had to beat somebody who was way up on a person
that nobody ever heard of, a young woman,
who nobody ever heard of. She cried that night that she lost.
But all of a sudden, time went by — time.
And the election's long over.
And I heard a report that Spencer Pratt's not doing that well.
I said, watch, he's going to lose.
And he lost. It's crooked.
We have crooked elections in some places.
Yeah.
Today, it was announced LeBron James has decided
that he wants his next team to be the 76ers.
Where do you stand on LeBron versus Michael Jordan
as the best ever?
Well, Michael Jordan's a guy that's a friend of mine,
playing golf with him. He's a really good guy.
And I think LeBron is — maybe he's a racist,
but maybe he doesn't like Trump. I don't know.
But I only like people that like me.
So I would say Michael Jordan all the way.
Mr. President —
Another sports question.
When Tiger Woods was about to get arrested, he called you.
Now we know that when Bryson DeChambeau
was having a dispute with a rules official this week,
he wanted to call you.
You got involved with a red card for the U.S. men's soccer team.
Is there a precedent for somebody with your job
becoming a fixer for the world's best athlete?
Well, it's not a fixer. You mean being a judge?
Like, you know, I thought the Bryson call was a tough call.
You know, I saw him walking around.
I see a lot of people, they're walking around
looking for their ball and weeds, okay?
But I've been watching that.
So, you know, I thought it was a tough call against him.
I thought the red card was a very tough call.
And it worked out brilliantly.
Look, supposing that they didn't let him play and we lost.
Everyone would have been angry, right?
The way it was that they lost with their best player.
Now everyone is happy, including Belgium.
Of course, they lost the next game.
So they're not that happy either.
But it worked out great.
Johnny did a good job in making that call.
All I did, I asked for a review.
I thought that call was not a good call.
Mr. President, your administration
announced new tariffs today.
And you did a post earlier also about a probe against the EU.
Are you confident that the new tariffs
and any tariffs that may come from this probe
will withstand legal scrutiny?
Well, these tariffs have been up for a long time.
They've been approved for years.
Thousands of cases, they've been approved.
Of course, with me, you know, it's different when I go up.
I don't get treated fairly, but I've lived with it.
And here we are in the Oval Office.
I guess I somehow figured it out.
But, no, we put the tariffs on. They're very standard tariffs.
The other way was easier.
I thought the decision by the Supreme Court
was not a good one.
But we have many forms of tariffs.
And all we did is go to B, you know, follow the line B.
Now, B is something that's been used many,
many times for years and very standard.
And we've used that, and we're taking in billions of dollars.
And because of tariffs, largely —
I think the election, November 5th —
but largely because of tariffs,
we have $19.2 trillion being invested in our country.
And without tariffs, we wouldn't —
you know, we'd be in big trouble.
Think of it. So, the sleepy Joe Biden administration
has less than a trillion being invested —
much less, for four years.
We have $19.2 trillion for one year.
There's never been anything like it in history.
That's because of tariffs.
So, the Supreme Court said, please do it a different way.
You have other ways to do it. And we did that.
The last time I was in Iran, child labor was one of the things
that the USTR cited as a reason for —
Well, it seems to me that that's what they decided.
They go all over the world, and they look,
and they examine, and they see, and they see.
And child labor was one of the things that —
that — one of the reasons.
And they had a big problem with that.
Yeah.
You told Axios that you were considering a,
quote, massive attack on Iran.
What is the tipping point for you to make the decision today?
I can't tell you that. Right now, we're talking to them.
So, you know, maybe there won't be a tipping point,
and maybe there will. We're ready to go.
Look, we're locked and loaded. We're ready to go.
But we're talking to them. So maybe there will be.
Maybe there won't be a tipping point.
But at what point with Iran do you think
they're going to cry, Uncle, and come to the —
actually come to the table?
Well, you know, maybe they will cry, Uncle,
or maybe they'll just give up,
or maybe they'll just go into a cave and hide.
You know, they have caves very deep in the ground,
and they can hide.
It's — they get shaken up pretty good, but they can hide.
But we've taken out their first level of leadership.
We've then taken out their second level of leadership.
We've taken out some of the third level.
And we're negotiating with the rest.
And we'll see how it all works.
Right now, we are talking to them seriously.
But, you know, I've talked to them before,
and they don't seem to be able to get there.
Maybe now they will.
But, you know, look,
if I thought they were anywhere near getting a nuclear weapon —
if I didn't come — if I wasn't elected,
Israel would, in my opinion, not be around anymore.
They would have been hit by a nuclear weapon.
And that includes right at the beginning
with Barack Hussein Obama's nuclear deal
that was so bad with Iran.
That was a road to a nuclear weapon.
And maybe even more so, the B-2 bombers.
If that plane — right there, that plane, that beautiful plane,
the wing — it carries the largest bombs in the world.
If that bomb didn't go over their 17-hour flight
and it hit — every one of those bombs hit their target.
And the target was an airshaft at 2 o'clock in the morning.
It's hard to believe, right?
Going at very tremendous speeds.
Every one of them hit and blew it to hell.
If that didn't happen, they would have had a nuclear weapon
and there would be no Israel.
If I wasn't here, if I wasn't President,
there would be no Israel,
and there probably would be no Middle East.
And you saw that when they, shockingly,
started shooting at everybody all over the Middle East.
If they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used that.
There might not be a Middle East as we know it today.
But there definitely, in my opinion,
there would not have been an Israel.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you. Thank you.
