I'm delighted to welcome FIFA President
Johnny Infantino back to the White House
for a major announcement about one of
the most anticipated competitions in all
of sports, the
2026, and this is a big deal. I'll tell
you, I was so happy to get it. The 20 26
FIFA World Cup. It's going to be the
World Cup as we know it. It's the
biggest uh probably the biggest event in
sports, I guess, Johnny, right? On
December 5th of this year, the 2026 FIFA
World Cup draw will take place at the
Kennedy Center. Some people refer as the
Trump Kennedy Center, but we're not
prepared to do that quite yet. Maybe in
a week or so, but right here in
Washington DC. It's a tremendous honor
to bring the global event and this
incredible group of people and these
unbelievable athletes, the best athletes
in the world to the cultural center of
our nation's capital. I just left the
Kennedy Center. We're spending a lot of
money wisely on making it really
beautiful. It's going to be beautiful
again. It's like Washington DC. We had,
by the way, in Washington DC, we have
the lowest crime numbers they've had in
years. Uh zero, it sounds like it's a
horrible thing to say, but I might as
well say it. Zero murders in the last
week since we've done this. That's the
first time in memory that that's
happened. If you can believe it, how
pathetic that is to have to even say it.
And tired of listening to these people
say how safe it was before we got here.
It was unsafe. It was horrible. And
Mayor Bowser better get her act straight
or she won't be mayor very long because
we'll take it over with the federal
government run it like it's supposed to
be run. Uh the numbers were horrible. It
was a crimeinfested
rat hole and they do have a lot of rats.
We're getting rid of them too and we've
made a lot of progress and uh it was
extremely unsafe and now it's extremely
safe. We had virtually uh no crime. The
uh number was down 87% and I'm trying to
figure out where was the 13% because I
don't think it existed. Uh the National
Guard has been unbelievable and they're
working with the police and they have
some very good people in there. They
have some people that shouldn't be
police actually, but they have some
great people there. And the Washington
DC is a whole different place. And
Johnny, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear
that too actually.
>> Oh yes.
>> But it's a whole different place. are
excited again. They're going out to
restaurants again. That was the other
thing. I saw numbers that restaurant
business is down in the last week. No,
no, restaurant business, you can't get
into a restaurant. Just really lying
people. And that's why people don't
understand how bad and how dishonest the
press is. Uh I saw one poll that had us
at 19% favorable on what we're doing
with Washington. Then I saw another one
says it's us 94% favorable. And I can
tell you the 94% is correct. The others
are fake, just fake news. They got to
get their act together. So bad for our
country. So sick, actually. So
Washington DC is really doing
unbelievably well. And the Kennedy
Center that we're fixing, I was just
there all morning with contractors.
We're making it unbel It's going to be
unbelievable. It's got great bones, but
it needs a lot of work. The World Cup
draw will set up the group stage of
competition. 48 teams will play in 104
games across 16 North American cities
from Seattle to Vancouver to Atlanta to
Miami. It's going to be so exciting for
our country. The 2026 FIFA World Cup
will be one of the largest and most
complex events. This will be one of the
greatest events, one of the large, in a
way, it's like Johnny said it better,
it's like having many Super Bowls in a
short period of time
>> because each one of these games
essentially is a Super Bowl. Some of
them are bigger than Super Bowls
actually,
>> but they're essentially each one of
these games is like a Super Bowl. The 20
26 FIFA World Cup will be the largest,
most complex set of events in sports
history and the Kennedy Center will give
it a phenomenal kickoff and we'll be
involved and they'll be working over
there for quite a bit of time. We have
it all set that they can stay there for
the big events, the big press
conferences and everything else. And
they'll be in a very safe capital.
That'll be nice. You don't have to worry
about walking down the street, Johnny.
Okay.
>> But you could handle yourself.
>> I could.
>> Okay.
>> Already FIFA is projecting six million
loyal fans will attend the World Cup
events next year. And six billion more
are going to be watching back home. And
they think the $6 billion number is
going to be actually a low number. And
this will drive more than 30 billion
dollars into the US economy and create
185,000 American jobs in a short period
of time. No sporting event attracts more
attention, more fans, more viewers, or
more revenue than the FIFA World Cup.
And again, I'll just say it's the World
Cup and it's the biggest thing there is
in sports. And we have it. And I got it
in my first administration. And I was
really somewhat devastated, as
devastated as I can be. I don't have
time to get too devastated. Uh I was
very happy that today, as you saw, the
uh group that does this, a government
group, radical left group, announced
that Trump was right. took in4 trillion
dollars worth of tariffs. At the$4
trillion dollars, they're going to
reduce the deficit by numbers far
greater than they ever expected or heard
of. And by the way, the stock market
went up a,000 points. Uh that was as of
10 minutes ago. I can't tell you what
happened. A lot of things happened, but
the stock market's up almost a thousand
points. Uh and it's basically on the
news that uh the release that just came
out from government that uh the tariffs
that everybody was talking about that
the whole world respects us for because
of what we did. Uh the tariffs are going
to be at $4 trillion. They're going to
reduce the deficit by $4 trillion. Mr.
Vice President Good.
>> Too bad it's not five, right?
>> That's right.
>> It's had a huge impact and the stock
market is way up. But this will drive
more than 30 billion dollars in US
economy and create 185,000 American
jobs. No sporting event attracts more
attention or more fans or anything else.
And I just look forward to the draw. So
we're going to have the draw
essentially, Johnny, at the Kennedy
Center. And by that time, it'll be in
even better shape. We're working on it.
It'll take It's about a year project to
make it. Uh it'll be great. It'll be
fantastic. You see the way this is
looking. Look nice. I can't tell you how
much that gold cost a lot of money.
There's nothing like gold and there's
nothing like solid gold. But with this
this beautiful office needed it. It had
to be representative when we took it
over. It was dirty, not clean. I
immediately changed the chair and had
the this beautiful desk renovated,
brought out by the White House. People
that do this, they did a great job to
send it out. We have a craftsman who's
great. But uh this was not appropriate
for the Oval Office when I took over.
And now you look at all those paintings.
You're allowed to turn back. All of
these are great presidents and they were
all in the vaults. They were in vaults
for some some cases much more than a
hundred years. And now they're proudly
hanging on the oval office walls and I
can't imagine anybody changing it. But
they were they were buried in vaults for
over a hundred years, many of them. So
it's very exciting. People come in, they
really love it. They love what we're
doing here. They love what we're doing
in DC and they love what we're doing
most importantly in the country in the
world. I'd like to ask Johnny to say a
few words. He's the head of the whole
thing. He's been there for a long time.
Probably the most respected man in
sports. He's amazing. Actually, works
very hard and he's got uh the biggest
event in the world coming right here to
the United States. And a little we did a
little for Canada, we did a little for
Mexico. We thought, see, I'm a good
citizen. I said, let them have a little
peace. So, we gave a little to Canada to
see how nice I am and we gave a little
bit to Mexico. And uh Johnny, please say
a few words.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,
President. Uh great honor for me to be
here with you today.
President, Vice President, excellencies,
fantastic to announce what you said,
which is the final draw of the FIFA
World Cup on the 5th of December here in
the capital in the Kennedy Center in
Washington DC at 12:00 noon sharp. It
will be broadcast live all over the
world. one billion viewers uh will watch
it and it will determine of course the
match schedule the match schedule which
uh 48 participating teams will play. You
said it 104 matches in one months 104
Super Bowls not just the biggest the
greatest event not just a sports event
it's a social event as well with a lot
of emotion we are uniting the world Mr.
President United, the world here in uh
America and we are very proud of that
and those teams those national teams who
will come here to participate in this uh
draw with their coaches with their
presidents they will all be proud to uh
be part of writing this history and
that's why we brought as well this which
is the winners trophy. It is the trophy
that the winner of the FIFA World Cup
wins. Only the FIFA president,
presidents of countries, and then those
who win can touch it because it's for
winners only. And since you are a
winner, of course, you can as well touch
it. It's pretty heavy. It's the winner
trophy. The last one who lifted that is
Leo Messi. Leonard Messi of Argentina.
And here it is in the Oval Office in uh
the White House.
>> Can I keep it?
>> What do you Well, you can. We're not
giving it We're not giving it back. This
is That's serious.
>> It fits well.
>> That goes very well on the wall right
over there. We'll put it right below the
angel. See,
>> it fits well here. I think
>> that's beautiful. Yeah,
>> you can keep until we have to give it to
the next winner.
>> That's fine. That's That's a beautiful
piece of gold, I will say.
>> That's beautiful.
>> Yeah. So,
six billion euros for the World Cup, 6
million coming to the matches,
30 billion economic impact, 100
85,000 jobs. This is this will be
absolutely fantastic. The biggest event
ever and everything will start here in
Washington DC at the Kennedy Center or
the Trump Kennedy Center. See that how
it will be called on the 5th of
September at Louisa
5th of December, noon shop. Then, if I
may,
>> will they be doing most of the draws,
all of the draws at the Kennedy? Well,
how are you going to do that?
>> Yes, we'll do that at the Kennedy
Center. We'll do all the other meetings
around it with the coaches, with the
broadcasters, sponsors, everything at
the Kennedy Center.
>> The whole World Cup starts and everyone
will be happy
>> because everyone
>> has qualified for the World Cup and they
didn't yet play a game. So, they didn't
lose yet the game. So they are all they
all think they can become world
champions, right?
>> They'll all be happy.
>> Exactly. Now,
>> by the way, an example supposing we had
a week ago when everybody was being
killed and mugged and everything else
despite the phony numbers that were
given out that it was getting better.
Brian, do you believe it was getting
better or getting worse?
>> Oh, the crime is getting worse. I mean,
I was wrong.
>> How did the other guy come out?
>> He came out
with
Robert Brian zero.
>> No, but can you imagine? You do this and
then you start hearing that they had a
20-year reduction of crime. It's worse.
It was worse during the Biden
administration than anybody's ever
imagined possible. And I guarantee you
he wouldn't be here if those numbers
continued. But now we have total safety.
We have total security. And for the
border in three months, zero people.
These are done by liberal people uh that
do these charts. Zero people came
through our border in the last 90 days.
Can you believe it? Zero. Last year we
had millions of people coming in and
they came in from the uh wrong
locations. They came in from they they
came in a lot of people that shouldn't
be here. So now when we have this event
in December, it's going to be very safe.
Johnny, you can walk down the street
with your beautiful wife.
>> Yeah.
>> You can take her to dinner if you can
get a reservation, which I doubt. And
they all fill in the restaurants.
>> I know they're all full. I heard that
too. The restaurants aren't
>> the restaurants since we are doing this
are doing great and many new restaurants
are going to open because as you know
many closed many restaurants closed
because the crime was so bad. This will
be one of the safest places anywhere on
earth. So, you know, I really I really
am honored that the the National Guard
has done such an incredible job working
with the police and we haven't had to
bring in the uh the regular military,
which we're willing to do if we have to.
And after we do this, we'll go to
another location and we'll make it safe
also. We're going to make our country
very safe. We're going to make our
cities very, very safe. Chicago is a
mess. You have an incompetent mayor,
grossly incompetent, and we'll
straighten that one out probably next.
That'll be our next one after this. Uh,
and it won't even be tough. And the
people in Chicago, Mr. Vice President,
are screaming for us to come. They're
wearing red hats just like this one. But
they're wearing red hats.
African-American ladies, beautiful
ladies are saying, "Please, President
Trump, come to Chicago. Please. Uh I did
great with the black vote as you know
and uh they want something to happen.
So, I think Chicago will be our next and
then we'll help with uh New York and
we're gonna help with and I think really
I think a lot of and a lot of these
people that you see on television they
including the people in this audience
they'll say bad things about me and then
they'll say thank god he's here because
half of them got mugged and they don't
want to get mugged again but they're you
know they work for they work for stupid
people that are radical left and they're
made to do things and say things that
they don't want to be saying, but the
people right here are all happy because
you're not going to be mugged in
Washington DC anymore. Uh, I just want
to say Johnny's been my friend for a
long time. He's an incredible guy and we
will lay out the red carpet. Uh, Andrew,
you're going to be fantastic. Rick is
going to be everything Rick ever touched
is has always worked out and he's
working with me on the Kennedy Center
and his very good friend was an actor on
Broadway for five years, right? And uh,
I assume he's helping us a little bit,
right?
>> Yes. And uh Andrew, you're all excited
about it.
>> Absolutely. You
>> like to say something?
>> This is a great opportunity, Mr.
President, to show off the first 250
years of the United States of America,
the greatness and then the hope and
promise of the next 250 years. When you
think this World Cup is going to be
over, our 250th birthday, uh Mr. Mr.
President, your leadership obviously
with FIFA leading the way. This is the
largest sporting event in the history of
the world under the Trump
administration. So very exciting.
>> I just want to say one thing, Andrew
Giuliani. So his father is Rudy, the
greatest mayor in the history of New
York, I think by far. Uh he was he took
a ravaged city, a city that was really
under siege. Probably most people
thought it was going to survive. He
turned it around. He was a great great
mayor and uh then they uh treated him
very very unfairly. Uh you go back and
tell your father all of the things that
have come out over the last couple of
months through Tulsi and through uh all
of the people cash everybody uh they've
proven your father 100% correct. His
father was treated so unfairly. Your
father has been 100% correct and tell
him we all love him. Okay.
>> Thank you. has been amazing. What what
he had to go through was very very
unfair, nasty. These are bad people. Uh
Mr. Vice President, would you like to
say something?
>> Well, sure, Mr. President. Thank you and
thanks to Johnny for being here. We're
very thrilled about the World Cup. Just
to echo something the president said
about crime in Washington DC. This is
the national capital of the greatest
nation in the world. And we had murder
rates just a few weeks ago that rivaled
some of the worst third world cities
anywhere, even in very, very poor
regions of the world. Why did we accept
that? Why did we allow it to happen? We
allowed it to happen because we had
broken leadership in Washington DC and
unfortunately sitting behind the
Resolute desk. What we have shown in
just under two weeks of taking law
enforcement seriously is that the
American people can have their streets
back if their leadership is willing to
put in the time and the resources. Mr.
President, you've shown in Washington DC
that we can have safe streets again.
We've just got to have the political
willpower to focus on the bad guys and
to give the American people back their
communities. We are focused on doing
that thanks to the president's
leadership.
>> Thank you.
>> And that's a really very small
percentage. It's 2% 3% but that 2% and
3% wres just havoc throughout a
community. People are petrified. And I
noticed a couple of the women in the
back are shaking their head. Yes. Yes.
Yes. I won't report who you are because
you'll end up losing your jobs. But but
it's but it's true. It's amazing. Uh and
and uh the police and you look at the DC
National Guard. I saw pictures of them
last night getting off vans and all and
I saw some bad ones running, but they're
not running so much anymore. They're not
there. They're just not even They're not
even trying. You You're totally safe
now. There'll be something happening
sometime. I don't know. Maybe it won't
be for a long time. But this was every
night would get reports of people being
mugged and kicked that. There's one
woman on television last night. She had
a badly busted up nose and she's like
our streets the way they used to be. And
she thinks it's going to happen like by
doing nothing. And they say, "What
happened to your nose?" She got slugged
by a guy walking down the street.
Slugged. Her nose will never be the
same. I guarantee you unless it unless
it takes a pretty good turn. She wasn't
really for us, but she sort of said,
"Well, maybe something has to happen
before this happened to me." She got
whacked and uh I don't think she'll ever
be the same. She was she almost became
she was a half a Trump fan. A woman that
would have never been a Trump fan, but
she was she was hit hard. It's not going
to happen anymore. Not going to happen
anymore. But then we're going to
beautifi beautify the city, too. That's
where I was today at Kennedy Center.
We're going to beautify the city like it
hasn't. And we're working with Clark
Construction, the biggest construction
company in Chicago and uh in Chicago and
New York in Washington. And uh the head
of Clark is great. He's all over the
world actually, but Washington, I would
say, is their home. That's where they do
the best work, the biggest work. And
they're doing a uh they've been doing a
fantastic job. So you're going to have a
fantastic clean, beautiful place. It's
going to be better than it ever was
before. literally better than it ever
was before. We'll get it done very
quickly. And I want to thank Clark
because they they're doing a lot of work
in a lot of different locations, but uh
they've been fantastic for getting us
the right contractors and the people
that can really do the job right. And
Johnny, did you want to say something?
>> Yes. One one more thing because as you
rightly say, you know, with with
security and beautifying uh cities and
and the whole country, we want people to
come and enjoy and have fun. And that's
why uh this is not just the most iconic
trophy in the world of sport, but we
start on the 10th of September, the sale
of tickets for the FIFA World Cup. And
we have the first ticket here for the
final
>> for you.
>> It's of course row one, seed one. It's
ticket number 4547
>> and it's for the final in New York, New
Jersey.
So you have your ticket already for the
final. All the others 10th of September
start getting your tickets.
>> That's beautiful. Yeah.
>> Six and a half, seven million tickets.
Fans will enjoy. We'll enjoy the
security here will be fantastic.
>> You're going to do record business. I
think
>> 100%.
>> Christie, would you like to say
something?
>> Mr. President, millions of people will
come to this country and we'll make sure
they get their travel documents, their
visas, that they want to come here and
spend their money and enjoy this
sporting event. It'll be the largest
event in the world. Sir, you're
reminding me of something that my dad
used to say all the time when I was
growing up. He would say, "Christie, you
kids need to look like you respect
yourself before anybody's going to
respect you." And in this country, when
people look at our streets, when they
look at our capital, you're bringing
respect back to this city. And people
will respect our country more because
it's safe, it's clean, it's beautiful.
And what you're doing is transforming
this nation by making sure that our laws
are upheld. and millions of people are
going to come and be able to enjoy it
next year. And I'm excited about that.
Thank you for doing that.
>> Well, our country is respected again.
And uh a year ago, we had a dead
country. I'm telling you, it was a dead
country. It was a country that was that
had lost its way. It was a country that
was going to fail. Look, even today
where they say $4 trillion in reductions
of deficits, and this was totally
unexpected. They didn't expect them. I
mean, I don't know where they've been,
the people that do this stuff, but it's
uh it's terrible. I want to thank
Christie for another reason. I said to
her two weeks ago, I said, "Christie, do
me a favor. I built hundreds of miles of
wall. I built the same wall that the
border patrol asked me to build. It
wasn't my first choice. I wanted to do
concrete plank and everything nice, but
you wouldn't have been able to see
through it." So, I had border patrol in
and they tested everything else. And we
gave them steel wall, high-grade steel,
very hard to cut. And we gave inside
that is 9,000 lb concrete, which is a
very tough concrete. Inside that is
rebar, a big fat piece of rebar. So you
have all different uh materials that are
very hard to cut and you need different
instruments to cut each one. And I said,
"Kristen, we got to get a coat of paint
on it." And I didn't know she was
listening, but I said, "We got to get a
coat of paint." And it should be black
because black makes the steel very hot.
It's untouchable. You could fry an egg
on it. And if you got a good black flat
paint, it would look beautiful. it will
preserve it from rust. And that was it.
And I gave it to her along with 30 other
things. And she's done such a good job
on the border with Tom Holman and the
group. Tom Holman's a fantastic guy.
What the job he does and the way they
work together. So I turn on last night
and I see Christiey's painting the wall
and it looked beautiful by the way when
that paint went over there.
>> It's hot.
>> It's hot. If it's white, it's not hot.
If it's black, it's it's going to be
very hard to climb that sucker. you.
It's not going to be easy. Uh, but it's
black and a high quality black. You
know, it really looked good.
>> Is that going to be a two coat job or
one coat?
>> Just one coat.
>> One coat.
>> We We used the paint you told me to buy.
>> Yep. The two coat will take place in
three years from now. We'll do the
second coat. But it looks beautiful. But
thank you very much. I didn't know you
were listening tonight because we talked
about seven different subjects and all
of a sudden I see you're out there
painting with a lot of painters and
everything else. But it was it was a
beautiful thing to say. Would you like
to say something? you've been such a big
part of this. Please,
>> we're just, Mr. President, we're
delighted to be here today for this
announcement, but we're also looking
forward to having at the final.
>> Oh, yes.
>> On July 19th, we'll be
>> in New York.
>> We're going to be there. A lot of people
are going to be there.
>> A lot of people.
>> I'd like to thank you all. Uh, do you
have any questions on people? First of
all,
>> it's going to be a big event at the
Kennedy Center. Do you intend to take
part in it? Will you have a part to play
in on December 5th?
>> Uh, I might play. sing.
>> I mean, I see the money that these
soccer players, you know, the so we call
it soccer, but I see the money that
these soccer players are making. I may
try and play. I'm a very good athlete.
My son, my son is a very good athlete
and uh he's a good soccer player on the
tall side for soccer.
>> He's 6'9. He's pretty tall, but
>> it's on the tall side.
>> It's on the tall side, but he's good.
But no, I may uh I may put on shorts. I
look extremely good in shorts and join
the play.
No, it's going to be a lot of fun. It's
going to be good.
>> Many foreigners uh who want to come to
us to attend the uh event are are
concerned about the visa situation. Can
you reassure them?
>> Yeah, they're going to have a very easy
time getting in. Certain countries are
going to be very very easy and other
countries are going to be obviously a
little bit more difficult. Would you
like to explain that, Chris?
>> Yeah, absolutely. We have a process set
up that we'll be implementing on on
getting visas uh approved. Um, everybody
will be thoroughly vetted, but they'll
be welcomed to this country. It'll
happen quickly, and we're excited for
them to come. So, I would hope that
around the world, people know that the
United States is excited to bring their
family here to enjoy this event.
>> America welcomes the world. Yes. And and
I can really from the collaboration that
we have testify for that. Absolutely.
Thank you.
>> And I was just sent a picture from
somebody that wants to be there very
badly. Uh, he's been very respectful of
me and of our country, but not so
respectful of others, but he'll uh I'm
going to sign this for him, but I was
sent one and I thought you'd all like to
see it. That's a man named Vladimir
Putin who I believe will be coming
depending on what happens. He may be
coming and he may not depending on what
happens. We have a lot of things
happening over the next couple of weeks.
But I thought it was a nice picture of
him.
Okay, of me, but nice of him. So that
was very nice that it was sent to me.
Okay. Uh Mr. President,
>> on that subject, have you talked to
Vladimir Putin about the fact that
yesterday a big US factory was hit in a
Russian air strike in Ukraine? What's
your reaction to that?
>> I'm not happy about it and I'm not happy
about anything having to do with that
war. I said I settled n seven wars and
actually if you think about pre-wars add
three more so it would be 10. Uh, I
thought this would be in the middle of
the pack in terms of difficulty. You
know, I'm not happy about anything about
that war. Nothing. Not happy at all.
We'll see what happens. I think over the
next two weeks, we're going to find out
which way it's going to go. And uh I
better be very happy.
>> A very good call with Prime Minister
Carney of Canada yesterday morning.
>> Yes.
>> Uh actually Canada is taking away
retaliatory tariffs.
>> He's removing his tariffs. Yeah, he's
he's removing his retaliatory tariffs,
which I thought was nice. And we're
going to have another call soon. Yeah,
we had a very good call.
>> They're getting closer in towards trade.
>> I like them. You know, look, I'm
fighting for the United States, Canada,
and Mexico taking a lot of our business
over the years, over 25, 30 years,
especially during the Biden years. They
took a lot of our business, and it's
basically all coming back into the
United States now. hot as a pistol and
it's coming back and because of tariffs
and the incentives we give it's coming
back and it's impossible I think for
another country to stop it and we are
working on something we want to be very
good to Canada I like Carney a lot I
think he's a good good person and we had
a very good talk yesterday so I think
it'll pretty good
>> Mr. President I have a question about
the search of Ambassador Bolton's home
the vice president recently just did an
interview saying that it's about
classified documents, but that there's
also broad concern about him. What are
what are the concerns?
>> Well, I haven't spoken to Pam and the
group yet, but uh I will be uh I I saw
that just like everybody else. I try and
stay out of that stuff. I'm allowed to
be and I'm chief law enforcement
officer, believe it or not. You know, I
don't like to go around saying that, but
I am. That's the position. Uh but I
purposely don't want to really get
involved in it. I'm not a fan of John
Bolton. I thought he was a sleeves bag,
actually. and uh he's uh suffers major
Trump derangement syndrome, but so do a
lot of people and they're not being
affected by anything we do. Uh I don't
know anything about it. I saw just saw
that. I'll find out about it. But uh if
you believe the news, which I do, I
guess his house was raided today, but my
house was raided also called Mara Lago.
They went through everything they could,
including my young son's room and my
wife's area. They went through her
drawers, as the expression goes. They
went through everything you can imagine.
And when she came back, she looked, she
said, "She's very neat, you know, she's
meticulous." And she looked and she
said, "Woo, this wasn't this wasn't the
way that she had it." So, you know, so I
know the feeling. It's not a good
feeling. Thank you,
>> Mr. President. Mr. President,
how long will you give uh Putin?
>> A couple of weeks. We're going to figure
it out.
Do you think you'll have to intervene at
some point?
>> Look, it takes two to tangle. You
understand that? I wanted to have a
meeting with those two. I could have
been at the meeting, but and a lot of
people think that nothing's going to
come out of that meeting. You have to be
there. Maybe that's true. Maybe it's
not. But we're going to see. In the
meantime, people continue to die. But
I've solved uh seven of them where they
were in wars for 31, 35, and 37 years.
We had three of them that were for more
than 30 years, Johnny. And I got them
solved.
Uh and we solved one that could have
been a nuclear war with India and
Pakistan. That was getting ready to be a
nuclear war. I solved them all. And uh
this one I thought we would have had it
done by now, but it's a it's more
difficult. There's a lot of anger, a lot
of hatred. There's a tremendous amount
of hatred there. So, but we'll see what
happens. I think in two weeks we'll know
which way I'm going because I'm going to
go one way or the other and they'll
learn which way I'm going. Mr.
President,
>> hey, I got two questions for you. One on
FIFA, the other one on DC. Um,
>> let's talk, can you talk about the
economic impact that FIFA will have in
these cities and what's your message to
the mayors to get their cities prepared?
Not only the beautifification process,
but also the safety aspect.
>> Well, Los Angeles is an example. You
know, it's poorly run. We have a mayor
there that can't even get permits to the
people that lost their houses. Uh, Lee
Zeldon got every permit, the hardest
permit is the federal permit within 20
days. Every single permit was there for
the people to build their houses. But
people are writing us and they're saying
they won't give us the mayor is
incompetent. The governor is
incompetent. You know, Gavin, I know
Gavin very well. He's an incompetent guy
with a good line of and he
doesn't get the job done. And frankly,
uh, those people want to build their
houses. It's terrible. They could have
been built. Some of them could have been
built already. But think of it, the
federal government that has the most
complex
It's the most complex environmental
thing to do. We got it. Everybody had it
within 30 days. And they're not even
close to getting their permits. And now
they're talking about taking some of
those sites and building lowincome
housing on them. These are high-end
neighborhoods. And I'm all for
low-income housing. I built a lot of
low-income housing. I know all about
236. I know every program that there is
in the government. I used every one of
them. I know more about low-income
housing than probably almost anybody and
it's great. It's fine. It's wonderful.
But you don't build it in uh Pacific
Palisades. You don't build it there and
you don't build it in the other areas
that burn down. So, they're talking
about putting up low-income housing. And
you talk about riots. They're going to
have riots if that happens because
you're taking the people's property
away. They want to build their houses
and they're unable to get permits from
the mayor and from the governor. And
that's a terrible thing. But and and let
me tell you, if I didn't send in the
troops in Los Angeles, Johnny wouldn't
be in Los Angeles. You wouldn't be
having your World Cup there. I sent in
the troops and we kept it. And even the
police commissioner, the sheriff, and
the police comm they all said the same
thing. They said, "We could have never
handled what was happening." You saw
that you you were there. He said, "We
could have never handled what was and
then you hear Gavin Newsome after it's
all quelled." He had Newsome get up and
said, "We could have done this for
themselves now. They couldn't have. And
if they could have, I wouldn't have
taken the chance to.
>> Okay. My second question is on crime
prevention. Would you be open to
expanding the national concealed carry
to apply to DC like it does in other
states like Texas?
>> Well, they have it in some states and
they feel strongly about it. I, you
know, as you know, I'm in favor of it.
Um, people have to protect the I'm a
Second Amendment person, very simply.
People have to be able to protect
themselves, especially like in
Washington. walk down the street, a guy
comes up and slugs you. He's got a he's
got a pistol in his hand. You can be
tough. You're going to be in great
shape. You could be a powerful person or
you can be a guy that weighs 100 pounds
with a gun in your hand.
>> And I'll I'll bet on the guy with a gun
100% of the time. Right. And so you need
protection. So I'm a second amendment
person all the way. Yeah. Please.
>> President Trump, you said this morning
that you're working with Congress to get
two billion dollars to help clean up DC.
Have you had any conversations with Mike
Johnson and John Thoon about where
they're going to get that money from?
>> Which money?
>> You said this morning. You're going to
get $2 billion from Congress to help
clean up.
>> Yeah, I've spoken to Mike Johnson. I've
spoken to John Thoon, the Senate, the
House, and uh I think it's going to be
very easy to get. It's uh it's going to
be not a lot of money. I wouldn't even
know where to spend the number that you
mentioned, but it's going to be uh money
to beautify the city. Yeah, they they're
ready. Everybody wants to save DC. In
one way, it's the easiest. The violence
was more than any other city in the
country, actually. By far. It may have
been more than any other city in the
world. If you could think, you know, we
looked at some of the worst cities in
the world. It was worse. And that's why
it angers me to see the mayor saying
about how they have it on the not on the
slide. It was worse than ever. Uh, yeah,
we have no problem getting that money.
That money will come out of Congress. I
think it'll be even bipartisan. Is the
plan
>> I mean I would imagine Democrats would
vote for that one.
>> Is the plan to get it before the
September 30 spending deadline on the
Hill?
>> Well, I don't know if there is a
headline a deadline because uh if I
declare a national emergency, which this
was, that ends the deadline. So, I mean,
I keep seeing about a 30-day deadline of
which we have 22 days left or something.
But, uh if I think we're in great shape
here, that's one thing. But if I don't,
I'm going to just say it's a it's a
national emergency. And if I have a
national emergency, I can keep the
troops there as long as I want. People
are not going to want to have the troops
out in 30 days. You know, it's one thing
to get them out. It's another thing to
keep them out for a long period of time.
Uh you've got to train people. You can't
do this. You can't bop people over the
head. And a lot of those people are in
courts right now going to court. They're
going to go to jail for a long time. Uh
so that's going to take more than 30
days. But if I have to, I'll declare a
national emergency, which I don't think
I'll have to do. Yeah,
>> Mr. President, you said at two weeks,
you'll know whether you go.
>> Yeah, I think I'll know. I think I'll
know the attitude of Russia and frankly
of Ukraine. It takes two.
>> What are the two ways you can go at the
end of two weeks then?
>> Well, then I'm going to make a decision
as to what we do
>> or
>> and it's going to be it's going to be a
very important decision.
And that's whether or not it's massive
sanctions or massive tariffs or both. Uh
or do we do nothing and say it's your
fight. Look, I would have never been in
this war if I were president. You
wouldn't have you wouldn't have had this
war. It was never going to happen. This
was caused by
stupid people that fought fought and you
know people say, "Well, how do we know?"
Because for four years it was never even
a subject. And Vladimir knew. And you
see his picture right here. It was nice
that he sent, but Vladimir knew very
strongly. He he we wouldn't have stood
for it. It wouldn't have happened. 100%
wouldn't have happened. But it did
happen and now they're losing from five
to seven young kids. Think of it. You're
a parent and your son is leaving. He's
Russian or he's Ukrainian and he's
leaving and they're waving by nice,
beautiful kid,
nice crew cut, all set. He wants to be a
soldier and goes there first. He has his
head blown off and he's no different
than you people, me and it doesn't
matter where. I mean, I s I solved a
problem in the Congo that was uh
vicious. Rwanda and the Congo, the
Republic of the Congo, and they were
fighting for 31 years and it was
machetes.
People were getting their heads chopped
off. That was going on for 31 years. I
got it solved. You saw they came to the
White House and we signed an agreement.
It was amazing. People can't believe we
got it done. Uh I love to stop killing.
I really do. People People thought it
would be just the opposite. Hillary
Clinton said, "Oh, he'll get us into a
war." No, I'm getting everybody else out
of wars.
>> Are you saying there's a real
possibility then that you do nothing uh
if if if Putin doesn't come to the table
for ceasefire?
>> I'll see whose fault it is. If uh if
there are reasons why, I'll understand
that. I know exactly what I'm doing. Uh
we're going to see whether or not they
have a meeting. That'll be interesting
to see. And if they don't, why didn't
they have a meeting? Because I told them
to have a meeting. Uh but I'll know in
two weeks what uh what I'm going to do.
I'm pretty good on the
>> Justice Department is also sending um
some of the Epstein files over to the
House Oversight Committee today. Are you
are you in support of them releasing
>> keeping it open? Innocent people
shouldn't be hurt, but I'm in support of
keeping it totally open. I couldn't care
less. You got a lot of people that could
be mentioned in those files that don't
deserve to be people because he knew
everybody in Palm Beach. I don't know
anything about that, but I have said to
Pam and everybody else, give them
everything you can give them because
it's a it's a Democrat hoax. That's just
a hoax. The whole Epstein thing is a
Democrat hoax. So, we had the greatest
six months, seven months in the history
of the presidency and the Democrats
don't know what to do. So, they keep
bringing up that stuff, but it affected
them. Uh the uh Bill Clinton was on his
plane and went to the island supposedly
28 times. I don't want to bring that up,
frankly. Uh you have uh Larry, whatever
his name is, Summers, the head of
Harvard, who was Jeffrey Epstein's best
friend. Nobody ever talks about that. I
mean, I But I don't want to hurt Larry
Summers, but he was best friends with
Jeffrey Epstein. No, this is a
Democratic hoax to try and get the uh
the significance of what we've done over
the past seven months. Nobody's ever
seen anything like it. They say it's
number one in history. What we've done,
including stopping seven wars. I mean,
just include that. And now you look And
now you look at the stock market today.
It's way up to start off with from where
I took it. And this market was going to
crash. If Joe Biden or Kamala were
president, this market would we would
have had a crash like in 1929. You're
not going to have that. It's only a
question of how high is it going to go.
You know, I had the strongest economy in
the history of our country. And despite
co, we had the strongest economy in the
history of our country. And we're going
to blow it away this time. I was always
good at making a lot of money. And
whether it was for myself or whether it
was I like doing it this way better. I
mean, I like I like making it for the
country. Our country's been ripped off
by friend and foe. Nations all over the
world ripped off. And the friends have
been much worse than the foes for the
most part. And uh they're not ripping us
off. We just signed a deal with the
European Union. They're paying us
essentially $950 billion
like a signing fee. They're going to buy
$750 billion worth of energy. They
weren't buying much of our energy.
They're and they're be they're very
smart in doing it. And and as you know,
Ursula was here a couple of days ago
having to do with the people the leaders
that we we had agreed people said
they've never seen anything like it.
Well, we had the leaders of Europe right
here in the Oval Office and she's so
happy that she has an agreement. But
people aren't ripping us anymore.
They're we're run by uh this country is
run by smart people now.
>> Mr. President,
>> two questions. One is about intel. There
have been reports that you're
considering taking stake in Intel. Can
you tell us
>> about the 10%?
>> About the 10%.
>> Yeah. I met a man who was a very nice
man and I called for his removal because
I saw something by a man named Tom
Cotton, a senator from Arkansas. He's a
great guy, friend of mine, supporter of
mine. Big I'm a supporter of his team.
And he wrote a pretty nasty uh story
about the head of Intel.
And I said, "Well, if that's right, he
should resign." And he came and he saw
me. We talked for a while. I liked him a
lot. I thought he was very good. I
thought he was somewhat a victim, but
you know, nobody's a total victim, I
guess. And uh I said, "You know what? I
think the United States should be given
10% of Intel."
And he said, "I would consider that." I
said, "Well, I'd like you to do that
because
uh Intel has been left behind, as you
know, compared to uh Jensen and some of
our friends, Nvidia, some of the people
and the people in because Intel should
have never been. Intel was the biggest
most powerful chip company in the
world." And then uh they started leaving
and they started going to foreign
countries in particular Taiwan. And if
we had a president that would have said,
"Okay, you can go to Taiwan, but we're
going to put a 100% tariff or 200 or 300
or 500% tariff. Anybody that sells into
the United States has to pay." They
wouldn't have left. They would have
never left and we wouldn't have. So, in
the meantime, we had people that were in
some cases good politicians that weren't
good on trade. I loved that man, but he
was not good on trade. I totally
disagreed. He allowed the car industry
to be taken out of this country. We lost
50% of our car industry. But that's all
coming back. It's all coming back. But
if somebody would have said that with
Intel would be a giant right now. Now
with that, they've had some bad
management over the years and and they
got lost. And I said, I think you should
pay us 10% of your company. And they
said, yes, that's about 10 billion
dollars for the I don't get it. This
comes to the United States of America.
And I said, I think it would be good
having the United States as your
partner. He agreed. And they've agreed
to do it. And I think it's a great deal
for them. And I think it's a great deal.
He walked in wanting to keep his job and
he ended up giving us10 billion dollars
with the United States. So we picked up
10 billion and we do a lot of deals like
that. I'll do more of them if somebody
has like we have restrictive covenants
with uh Jensen. we have it's invidia
and to unrestrict the cover nothing to
do with losing our our powers or
military or anything because that I
wouldn't do but there are things you can
do that don't affect us that actually
help us and if we're going to give
somebody a free out a restricted
covenant we have a strong restrictive
covenant on certain industries and I
will absolutely give somebody a opening
on a restricted to do a lot of business
which is good for us as long as it
doesn't hurt us in a security or
military way and if I do that I think
the country should be paid because
anybody else I have it in real estate
where I'll have a deal with somebody and
I'll have them restrictive covenant and
they'll come back and they'll say I'd
love to be able to build over here but
I'm not allowed to because you have me
covered you have me restricted I say
I'll let you build over there but pay me
a lot of money no different but the c
the country never did it because the
country was run by foolish people.
>> You said Chicago might be next.
>> Are you making have have there been
concrete steps that the administration
is taking to do that or what are other
cities?
>> I haven't spoken to the mayor. He's
grossly incompetent. I haven't spoken to
the mayor. No. When we're ready, we'll
go in and we'll straighten out Chicago
just like we did DC. Chicago is very
dangerous. Great place. I built great
stuff there. I have a I have the most
beautiful building in Chicago, I think.
But I hate to see what's happened to
Chicago. Chicago was our greatest city
actually. Uh Bob Tish, a great friend of
mine, passed away. Used to own the
Giants and very successful Lowe's. Uh he
said Chicago, I think they had their
main office in Chicago. He said Chicago
and San Francisco, the two greatest
cities in the world. Now you look at
what the Democrats have done to San
Francisco. They've destroyed it. I own a
big chunk of the Bank of America
building in San Francisco and you know,
it's just different. We can clean that
up too. We'll clean that one up too. No,
if we if everything works out and we've
already had calls from other cities,
quiet calls, calls from Democrats. We'd
love you to come here because they've
lost control of their cities.
>> I'm not going to say because I don't
want them to lose their elections. But
we've had calls from Democrats and calls
from people generally. We'd love you to
come here because we'll straighten out
the problem.
The families of hostages are in Israel.
Families of hostages are opposed to the
reoccupying of Gaza. Why is the US?
>> Well, not all of them. And you have to
understand, I'm the one that got all of
the hostages out. You got a lot of
people out. If it wasn't for me, they
wouldn't be out. Uh I worked with BB and
I worked with Steve Whit, but if it
wasn't for me, you would have all these
hostages would most likely be dead right
now. Every one of them. So, they all
come up here. They all come in groups of
10.
12, 13, and many of them, and I've
gotten to know a lot of them. They're
great people. What they had to go
through is incredible. But so now they
have 20, but the 20 is actually probably
not 20 because a couple maybe aren't
around any longer. It's a terrible
thing. No, I like I I don't like
anymore. I said, you know, when you get
down to 20, they're not going to make
deals anymore. And they didn't. And then
I put out a statement, as you know, that
was a tough statement. Go in and get
them. And they said, we'll give you 10.
We'll give you 10. I don't know what
Israel is doing, but they were willing
now immediately to give us another 10.
Uh the situation has to end. It's
extortion and it has to end and we'll
see what happens. I actually think
they're safer in many ways if you went
in and you really went in fast and you
did it. And people can't forget October
7th. Remember that. I'm friendly with
all groups. I won the Arab vote in
Michigan. I did so great with the Arab
vote. Remember, I started off at zero. I
ended up winning. I wouldn't say the
candidate was the greatest, but I would
have won against anybody. They they're
great people. But, uh, we have to do
things properly. And, you know, I'm very
proud to say I got the hostages out. You
have hundreds of people that are living
now because of me.
And now we have that final little group
of people. And Hamas knows that if they
give them, that's probably the end of
their lives. So, it's not easy to get.
And, uh, I know if you're a parent, you
just don't care. you you want I want my
baby back. They want their babies back.
They want their kids back and I
understand it. But I got them out and
did a good job and we'll uh we're doing
everything we can to get the hostages
out. Thank you all very much.
>> So Jackson J today said
suggested that they might cut interest
rates but they
>> Well, we call him too late for a reason.
He should have cut him a year ago. He's
too late. Uh, you know, we have a stock
market that's up a thousand points
today. I better be careful because I'll
go out there now. See, it's down a
thousand, right? But it's up a thousand
points when I came in here. We have a
country that the market's the hottest
it's ever been. The country is better
than it's ever been. We have a military
that I rebuilt largely in my first term.
We had a great successful first term,
but this is going to be even better. But
we rebuilt it. We gave a lot of it away
to Afghanistan, but relatively small
compared to the overall. But I think it
was the most embarrassing
day and period in the history of our
country that they allowed those 13
wonderful people, but it's really
hundreds of people were killed. And they
don't talk about the 48 that were so
severely wounded with no legs, no arms,
no don't nobody ever mentions them
except me, but that was the worst day.
The most uh it just showed how
incompetent. Frankly, if that didn't
happen, I really believe that you might
not have had the problem with Russia. I
think Putin was sitting there watching
these stupid people running our country
and said this is a time to invade. It's
uh you know this is a time and then
Biden made the statement well he can do
a small incursion. When he said that it
was off to the races, right? When he
said he can do a small incursion,
remember that? I was surprised he knew
the word incursion. I didn't think he
had that good of a vocabulary. I want to
thank everybody. Uh, it's very important
to me and to everybody up here, the
World Cup. And Johnny has been so
incredible. I mean, he's really a great
leader. I mean, to think I said,
"Johnny, do it by phone. You don't have
to come." No. He said, "I'll come. I'll
come." And he flew all night long to be
here and listen to this about how great
we're doing in DC. But, uh, he's a
fantastic leader and this will be your
most successful World Cup ever.
>> Thank you, America.
>> Can we win it, Mr. President?
>> I don't know.
You watch I watch some of those teams go
right. They they go down that field. I
don't know. But let me ask you, can what
chance does America have of winning?
>> Well, the home team always has a good
chance to win. It depends.
>> Good difference.
>> No, but has some good.
>> We have a we of course you have a
chance. Will be going to the games, Mr.
President?
>> Uh, I'd love to have him. He'd love to.
Uh, he's very tall. I think we could
make him a goalie. The goalies are very
tall now, right? The goalies. Well, he
he'd be a perfect goalie at his% at his
height. He'll be a great goalie. So,
we'll put him on the American team.
>> No, but do the Americans have a chance
of like getting into the quarterfinals,
>> Definitely. No, the quarterfinal
definitely. But then, you know, as the
tournament goes on with the with the
public 250 years of United States, let's
don't forget they will all feel
>> energized about that.
>> You know, it's amazing. The talent is
really great. When you watch these
things, I went to the game uh two weeks
ago and it was a big upset. But you look
at these people, they're so the way they
pass it. It's amazing. Really amazing.
It's a great It's a great art, right?
It's great talent.
>> It is.
>> You know the expression.
>> What?
>> Will you draw the names?
>> I don't know. He's the boss.
>> That's an interesting proposal.
>> He's the boss. We'll discuss that.
>> It's going to be great. And I think the
American team is going to do I mean, I
hear it's a very good team. Good luck,
everybody. Thank you very much.