Trump calls sudden WH press briefing with Dana White

And one thing about him, he doesn't play games because I've known him a long time. But I'll introduce him in a second. I do want to read a statement that I had an excellent conversation with Sheikh Mohammed. Thank you, Ahmed. And you probably know who that is. He's Prime Minister of Qatar, wherein much was discussed with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most importantly, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others would prefer the status quo that we remain as is. In other words, a continuation of the... Greatest naval blockade in the history of our country, probably in the history of the world. Nothing has gotten through at all, and it's been months. Nothing has gotten through, having a very devastating effect on, as you know and you've seen, having a very devastating effect on Iran. And also Operation Iron Gate, which was newly imposed, and that's land. So you have land and sea, total lockdown. I've agreed that Iran cannot have, and everybody's agreed, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. And that's a non-negotiable point. They understand that. They accept that. They don't admit that they accept it. And they will tell you that they don't accept it, but they accept it 100%, more than 100%. And should there be any change with respect to developments in the Middle East, the United States of America is fully locked and loaded. I think we're going to be able to do this with the best equipment ever made, and we don't think there's going to be any reason to use it, however. It's going very well. You know, we haven't lost a soldier in six months. If you look, you know, they talk about wars, Ukraine and Russia, and by the way, we're having a very good conversation We're losing about 25,000 people a month, mostly soldiers. Two months ago, it was 32,000 people. And compare that with us. We haven't lost a soldier in six months. And nobody, not even an injury. And yet we have... The Strait is closed down, and more oil has come, closed down to Iran. More oil has come out of the Strait over the last week than at any point in the history of the Hormuz Strait. So we're doing very well. But at this point, it won't be necessary. Taking the military action doesn't seem to be a very necessary thing. But we're locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason necessary. that changes Israel and the entire Middle East are protected from Iranian danger and threats and we're seeing momentum toward the end of this conflict i think it's going to be ending fairly soon we're also seeing a very strong inclination to end russia and ukraine we're involved in that because i want to see people stop getting killed again 25 000 a month on average are being killed With respect to Iran, so in Vietnam, they lost 60,000 soldiers over a period of 21 years. In Afghanistan, they lost thousands over many, many years. In Korea, as you know, they lost about 50,000 soldiers over a period of four years. But numerous of these Wars went for over 10 years and basically nothing was won. Nothing was all that you ended up with was death. So we had two wars. We had Venezuela, which was over in 48 minutes and we lost no soldiers and we're taking in billions and billions of dollars a day. And we paid for that war in many times over and we're getting along very well with government. We're much in charge. We're totally in charge and getting along well. And the Venezuelan people love us because we're bringing the big oil companies are in there now. They're taking in a lot of money. They're seeing more money now than they've ever seen before. So Venezuela was 48 minutes. It was over. So let's say one day, but 48 minutes, It was done, and it's been, again, millions of barrels of oil are coming in every week. Millions of barrels and billions of dollars. So that's one. And the other is Iran. And Iran, militarily, is effectively over. We're just keeping it the status quo. And we're doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbors. But it's a failing country. It's got 301 percent inflation. It's got problems like you don't want to even think about. They're not paying their military. They're not paying their guard. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. They have 158 ships, they're underwater. They have 268 planes that are scattered all o ver the runways. Even end. So their military is essentially gone. Their manufacturing capability is reduced to about th they can still make some limited numbers of missiles and drones, but it's basically about 85% gone, and they're talking to us, and they're talking very politely, and we'll see what happens, but there's a good chance that that could get ended. So at the conclusion of the military engagement, the American people and the... People of the world will be far safer and more secure than they've been in many, many years because Iran was killing many people. You know, that war was started in 1979. We didn't start the war, they did. Even if you go back to the SS call, that was their situation. And a lot of people were killed. A lot of American people were killed. A lot of people throughout the world were killed. And if you go back just over the last seven or eight months, Seventy-five thousand, at a minimum, protesters have been killed. So it's a nasty place, but we think that it's in pretty good shape. We'll see what happens. I don't guarantee anything. But if we do have to go back in, we are locked and loaded and ready to go. With that being said, I was having a little fun, and I said, how about Dana White being the press secretary? Press Secretary Bill, press secretaries, Great guy. He's done an unbelievable job. Most successful. You know, we talked Don King, who's a friend of mine. I got a lot of friends. When you talk about fight promoters, this is more than a fight promoter. This is a man that's. He's done the most incredible job anybody's ever seen. UFC, it's like broadcasting the NFL, the numbers and what he's been able to do. And he's done a lot of press. And I said, you know what, I want to elevate you. I'm going to bring you into the press room. And Dana White could be our press secretary if he would only take the job. There would never have been, even Caroline would admit, that Dana is really very unique. The only problem is he'll talk for a little while and then he's going to beat the hell out of you. So I don't know if Daniel would like that. I don't think Daniel wants to take him on. But he's built an amazing machine. He's got a big fight this weekend at Madison Square Garden with the two greatest women fighters of... All time, as far as I'm concerned. Thank you. Women's fighting, it's not a nice thing, but they are very tough. When I say no men in women's sports, that's great. I would not want to fight it. However, I would not. How would I do against one of them? Would I do well? I don't think so. Not well, sir. You said not well. I'll bring it back. This would not be a good occurrence. Anyway, but I thought I'd bring Dana here because... He loves the idea, and I love the idea. The only thing is, we have other things we have to think about. But he's a unique person, and he was seeing me anyway, unrelated. And I thought maybe he would say a few words. And I think he'd probably like the job. He loves the country, and he would do a hell of a job. So you were here, he was here. And Dana, please say a few words. Dana White, thank you. I've always wanted to do this. Who has the first question? Thank you very much. I have zero political aspirations. I was in a fight for Zuffa Boxing in London when he called me and told me that he had done this, and the last 24 hours of my life has been insane. Thank you very much. That's true. But, yeah. Good to see you. Yes, ma'am. I have a question. There was a pound-for-pound UFC cage match between President Trump and former President Joe Biden. Same age, same weight, and considering what styles make fights, could you give us an analysis of who- The toughest, most resilient human being that I've ever met in my entire life. Many times during the last eight, 10 years, whatever it's been, I have told him, why do you keep doing this? Why are you doing this? When he was going through everything that he went through. And I mean, as tough and as resilient as I thought he was after he got shot, I, yeah, he is a one-of-one, unique human being, and, yeah. Would it be a knockout victory for President Trump? It would be very bad, yeah, I think it would be very bad. I can't believe you actually have questions for me, yes? The President has said he might consider a pardon for Pete Rose. What is your advice to the president about that pardon? I don't advise the president on anything ever, but, yeah, I think it's fair. I think it's fair to pardon Pete Rose, yes. I would do that. By the way, but why does he need a pardon? He was not really convicted of a criminal crime. It was a tax charge, sir. Oh, he did? Yes, sir. I'd give Pete Rose a pardon. All right, let's make it happen. I think Pete Rose was very mistreated. He was, you know... Uh, 4,200 and some odd hits, way ahead of anybody else. A record can never be broken. And he was caught gambling. Now it's legal, right? But he was gambling on his own team, Dana. He wasn't gambling against. That's different. He was gambling. He shouldn't have done it, but he went through 40 years of hell, and they never, and they should have given him a pardon. They should have given him into the Baseball Hall of Fame a long time ago. And I spoke to the commissioner about it, and he agreed to do it. And then he waited, though, and Pete Rose died. So it didn't help him too much. But I would give Pete Rose a pardon. I would do that. Thank you very much for this. Just to confirm, did you tell the President no to the Press Secretary job? I don't tell the President no to anything. No, I didn't say no. I literally, everybody, every media outlet was calling me, and I didn't want to be disrespectful and say anything until he said something first. And Mr. President, we were having a very bad press day, and I said, I don't know why, I thought of his name. He's been my friend for a long time. I said, you know, I think I'm going to get... Dana White, to be my new press secretary, I sent it to a group of the press and that was it. I'm sort of kidding. And then they wrote the story as though I wasn't kidding. And you were inundated and I was inundated and he was here anyway. We thought we'd have a little fun and we brought Dana here. He would be. Fantastic. Go ahead. Mr. President, first of all, were you surprised by the results of the midterms last Tuesday? And Mr. President, you on the campaign trail, you had said that you had stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon. Why not just declare an end to the conflict and be done with it? Because we have some great allies there and we have to make sure they're not hurt. And they would be hurt. Thank you very much. They are right now a lot safer than they were six months ago because Iran's been very much decapitated. But they're still the bully of the Middle East a little bit. And I see that. We want to make sure they're okay. We want to make sure it's a long-term solution, not just a short-term. They'll never have a nuclear weapon, but we have to make sure that's a long-term. So it's ending quickly. But we want to take care of people that have been very good to us over the years. Here's the thing. The Press Thank you, Mr. President. You told 60 Minutes that you felt that your deportation policy may have gone too far. But then you named the architect of that policy, Stephen Miller, to be your chief of staff. Have you told him that you want changes to the deportation policy? The President No, no, we have a very strong deportation policy. There's no amnesty, no anything. We keep that. But we focus on the worst of the worst. We want to get the murderers out. We've gotten most of them out. We've gotten most of the really bad, you know, they allowed, Joe Biden allowed 100, well, 25 million people to come in. Of that, 11,888 murderers, most of whom committed more than one murder. We've gotten most of them. We want to get the worst of the worst, and then we'll see what happens. But they came in illegally. Many of them have good jobs now. They're productive. Some of them are even paying taxes. And we're seeing what's going to happen. There won't be amnesty. Somebody suggested, will there be amnesty? No. But they came in. They knew the law. And we're working with a lot of different groups to see whether or not. But my policy hasn't changed. What we are doing is absolutely the worst of the worst. We're getting the murderers. They allowed people to come in from prisons. They emptied their prisons into our country. Many countries. And they emptied our prisons into our country. The drug dealers that we have. The people from the mental institutions, mental institutions all over the world were emptied out. Prisons all over the world. The Congo were in the Congo. Their prison population was emptied into our country all over South America, all over Asia. They did that to what Biden did to this country should never, ever be forgotten. And I hope the Democrats will not Try and allow that to happen again. Mr. President, we've seen the stock market really take, you know, up and down like a rollercoaster the last couple of days. Today, up. Last week, it tanked. Not last week. Right after the election, it went down $3 trillion. That was because of the result of the election, because the stock market does not want to see Democrats. And your 401ks have gone way down because of the ridiculous result. It's not even a result. It's almost hard to believe. Now, I wasn't on the ballot. I shouldn't take anything personally. But I will tell you, I thought it was ridiculous. But the stock market went way down right after that event. Today, it's way up because I think they feel we have things under control. Thank you, sir. When were you first informed that there was an issue with Jensen Huang and the affair? And what was presented to you at the time? What was the concern? I would say that When I heard about it, first of all, I was amazed because I view him as a very high quality person. I've known him a long time. It's actually the largest, I think by value, it's probably the largest or one of the largest companies in the world. He did that with a chip. You know, when you think about it, he's got a chip that's 10 years advanced, can't be cut because of the complexity, can't even, the Blackwell, can't even be copied. He's an amazing guy. I just hope it's I hope there's no problem. If there is a problem, we'll let you know about it, but I hope there's no problem. I believe he's suffering greatly. I read his statement, and I believe he's suffering greatly, more so because of his family, his wife, who he loves, and his family. But he is definitely suffering. Just to follow up on the when were you first told of these potential issues with Mr. Wayne. You didn't answer that question. Well, I've been hearing about it, and I've been reading a little bit about it over a period of time. But, uh... Not too long ago. The Press: Well, when is that? The President: We'll look into it. I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he'll be in good shape. Q: Mr. President, you say the war with Iran will be ending fairly soon, but you've made this claim dozens of times over the past eight months. Why should Americans think this time is any different? The President: Well, no, I made the claim that they won't have a nuclear weapon, and they won't have a nuclear weapon. Well, we knocked them out a year ago. I said I was going to do that, and I kept my word on that. Now what we're doing is we're, it's really status quo territory. We're keeping it going. We have the greatest military blockade ever. We have the new Iron Gate. Iron Gate is land, so by land and by sea. And we will take care of business. Look, Iran, I hope we're going to be able to make a deal with them. Nothing's going to happen, and if we have to, we'll take very serious. We are so loaded. We just have another aircraft carrier. It's all loaded up to the gills with brand-new, beautiful stuff. We're making more military equipment and munitions right now than at any time in the history of our country. We've built and are building more plants. Our defense companies are building more plants than ever at any time. Thank you very much. Joe Biden gave $350 billion worth of free equipment to Ukraine. Now, that was unbelievable. Now they pay and we give it to the European Union. We have a very good relationship. We took them from 2% to 5% is what they're paying now, which is pretty amazing. Nobody thought that could happen. But they pay full for the equipment. Joe Biden gave free equipment. Okay, you've been watching the president making an unexpected appearance in the White House press briefing room, taking questions from reporters on a number of topics in the wake of a very bad midterms for Republicans. Many of those questions addressed about the war in Iran. Our coverage will continue shortly here on Live Now by Fox.