Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
Remarks Prior to a Cabinet Meeting and an Exchange With Reporters at Camp David, Maryland
July 31, 2026
The President. Thank you very much. This is something very unique. It's Camp David. And this room is a very, very special room. I don't believe the press has come anywhere near it, but we are the party of transparency and we believe in transparency, and I think it's good for you to see certain aspects of Camp David.
It's a very special place. But it was not—I guess the last visit was with Eisenhower, where they allowed you onto the actual campus, and it's a long time ago, but never into this room.
I want to thank all of you for being here. And, again, this is a Cabinet meeting. It's open. We have done a lot of open Cabinet meetings, and I feel it works out very well. Everybody can ask certain questions. We'll let you talk about certain things. Certain things we can't answer because they're ongoing and very important.
But this is one of the most talented teams ever to serve the United States and in the United States Government. This is a talented group of people.
Let's see. I'll go one after another. [Laughter] Yes, there's a couple of stiffs, but that's okay. [Laughter] No, that's a—it's an amazing group.
And America is safer and stronger and far more successful than it was 2 years ago and, I think, frankly, than it ever was. I don't think it's ever been anything like this.
We're building more factories and plants in this country than we've ever built before. And we're going to be—at some point, we'll be leaving this position, and we're going to leave this country in very, very good shape—better shape than it's ever been.
When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe. The last administration created the worst inflation in 48 years, the most dangerous and insecure border in history, and exploding trade deficits like we have never seen before, rampant crime, men in women sports, transgender mutilization of your children, and chaos and bedlam all over the world. Other than that, they did quite a good job.
In less than 18 months, we've turned around 4 years of disaster, and we now have the strongest border in American history. We went from the worst border, I believe, of any country in history—25 million people came through in 4 years, and these are people that, in many cases, you don't want. They were murderers. They were drug dealers. They were people that you do not want.
But now we have the strongest border in American history. And for the last 15 months—the report just came out again—we've had no people coming in through our southern border. Zero. And it's almost hard to say, because you'd say, "Is that even possible?"
They had—25 million people came in. We have no people coming in through—illegally through our southern border, and that's in history. So think of that: zero—a big, beautiful zero.
The murder rate saw its single largest drop ever recorded, to the lowest in 125 years. That goes back to—think of it, it goes back to 1900. The lowest murder rate in the history of our country. So that's something.
Today I just want to mention that we heard in Minnesota there was an—a cyber attack, and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I think I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent. There was a cyber attack of 30 water plants, and I would blame it on Minnesota and the Governor—the corrupt Governor of Minnesota.
They like to say, "Oh, it was Iran." Iran should be so lucky. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota.
This month, it was announced that inflation is dropping at the fastest rate in more than 6 years. Walmart, Sam's Club, Giant Eagle, and others are slashing prices by—by hundreds of grocery stores—and all of the stores, I mean, throughout the country, they're slashing prices. Something that you haven't seen for a long time, since my last administration.
The stock market has set 73 alltime record highs since the election. That means alltime record highs 73 days out of a very short period of time. And the typical 401(k) is up by more than
$30,000. And when you think of that—if you add another $1,000 to it, it will be—we set the record in the last administration, a record still standing. This administration is going to blow my last administration away.
When the factories that we're building at record—and we're not building them—all over the world, they're building them. They're coming from all over the world. They're coming from Germany with the cars. They're coming from Germany. They're coming from Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico. From all over the world, they're building auto plants here because otherwise they have to pay tariffs. The tariffs have made our country rich and successful.
And all of this—I mean, I'd like to say it was the election on November 5—it was the election, and that's fine. But without the election, you wouldn't have what I've done economically. So we have the most successful environment that we've ever had. There's never been anything like it from the standpoint of investment into our country. It's five to six times higher than anybody has ever seen, than any other country—any other country, not just us—has ever had.
On July 4, we launched Trump Accounts, a key provision of our "Great Big Beautiful Bill," and these tax-free investment savings accounts have already been activated by over 7 million children. These are investments made in our future, which is our children—our children are the most important aspect of our future—with more being added each day.
So it's a tremendous hit: over 7 million. And really—it really just got going, I would say, Scott, about 2 weeks ago, when it was—we got the final approvals, and we have over 7 million. Actually, there's never been anything quite like that.
But millions of accounts are prefunded with a thousand dollars from the U.S. Treasury or generous gifts from private donors like Michael and Susan Dell and others who have given billions of dollars. Billions.
People are putting up hundreds of millions and billions of dollars into it and buying really a great future for children when they turn 18 or when they turn 21.
Instead of having no hope, no future, they will end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars and maybe even more than that. So it's going to be something to see.
With modest additional contributions, they'll grow by numbers that should be—it could be over $200,000. We're looking at the timeline. We're looking—I wish we had an economy like we have now, where the stock market is going up, but they will benefit by our country being successful. And we're going to give every child a head start on the American Dream.
So go to TrumpAccounts.gov. They're really something. The whole world is talking about it, and it's far ahead of schedule. Nobody thought it would be as successful as it's been, but it should
be. It should be. And we start them off with a thousand dollars. And this was part of the "Great Big Beautiful Bill."
With my most-favored-nation policy—you could say this is even a bigger thing, if that's possible—on drug prices, we're achieving record discounts on prescription drugs.
The prescription drugs were going through the roof for many years, and now we're getting record discounts, with price differences of 300, 400, 500, 600 percent. Nobody's ever heard of a thing like that.
And what this is all about is that we were the highest—we had the highest prices anywhere in the world by far. Most expensive drugs, prescription drugs, and—and others—the highest in the world. The whole world was laughing at us. We paid for the rest of the world. We subsidized the whole world. And I said, "We're not going to do that."
And I started it in the first administration. I took it up.
Obviously, Biden wasn't able to do anything about it, because you had to get the consent of the drug companies and you had to get the consent—more difficult would be the consent of other nations. The other nations had to agree, but they were paying a fraction, sometimes 10-percent, 20-percent, 40-percent, 70-percent less.
So I had to call them, and I had to get them on. And I said, "If you don't do it, we're going to have to charge you tariffs." And they all said no at first. Very politely said: "Sir, we can't do that. We're not going to double our prices." They had to double their prices and, in some cases, triple their price, and we would come down.
So a pill that sold for $10 in Germany would sell for $130 in New York. Same pill from the same company, the same factory, the same plant, the same laboratory—from $10, and we pay
$130. I say: "Nope. Nope."
Now, the world is a bigger place, so it's not as bad as it sounds for them. So they went up to
$20, and we came down to $20. So we now have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world, or tied with the lowest, but we're basically—its favored nation. So we have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world from the highest drug prices anywhere in the world.
Now, what that does for your health care—I mean, I see these fake polls where the Democrats have wonderful numbers on this stuff, and they are horrible, what they've done. Obamacare is a total disaster. It's a costly wreck. It's unaffordable. We call it the "Unaffordable Care Act." It's a disgrace.
They never even thought of being able to do something like this. They didn't even try. They didn't even try.
So I got the drug companies first, and then I got the countries. And the drug companies agreed because they knew the countries wouldn't agree. And when I called Germany, France, when I called the U.K., when I called all of these countries, I said: "You've got to do it. It's unfair. We're paying 10 times more than you're paying for the same drug. You can't do this."
And they said, "Well, we're not going to do that because we're going to have to double our price to—in order to make you happy." I said, "No, maybe you're going to have to triple your price." They said, "Well, we can't do it." I said: "That's all right. If you can't do it, then I can't do something also, and I'm going to charge you very substantial tariffs, which are far more than we're talking about." And they all said: "We'd love to do it. We would love to do it. It will be our great honor to do it."
So nobody else would do this. This would have never happened. So your drug prices have gone down by numbers not even thinkable.
In my first term, I had the privilege of having lower drug prices from the beginning of the year until the end for the first time in 28 years. You remember. And I called a news conference to announce it.
So the year had ended, and I was—turned out one-eighth of a percent. One-eighth of a percent. A little tiny—this much. It went down that much during 1 year. First time in 28 years, it went down. It was always like this, just up. More expensive.
And I called a news conference. I was so proud of myself, and I said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the first time in 28 years, drug prices have gone down from January until the end of December, and I want to just congratulate everybody for being a part of this wonderful experiment." And one-eighth of a point.
Now, we're talking about 400, 500, 600 percent coming down. We pay the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world from the highest.
So you know—and I'll say it again and again because the press doesn't want to report it. The fake news doesn't want to report it. They don't want to talk about it.
What that does for health care, Bobby, is unbelievable because medicine is a big part of health care.
So I wish that people would understand that, and I hope they're going to vote for us in the midterms, because you'll see some stuff that will be horrible, because they can blow it very fast if they don't know what they're doing.
So your drug prices are great.
You know, I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place. It was a—it looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people. And that same thing's going to happen to us if the Republicans don't get elected, except worse—much bigger. Much easier to get into, despite the fact that we have built thousands of miles of wall, which I said we were going to do. But if we didn't have that, forget it. But we have the safest border in the world.
If we're not in office, our country will be invaded at levels that made Spain look small-time.
And when I watched it, I said, "Boy"—I said, "I'm going to say it," because I knew you were going to be at Camp David. And I say, "That's going to be a talking point for the midterms," because when you look at what happened to Spain, they don't know what to do. And it's happening again today. They're coming in by the thousand—tens of thousands. They're just—they're just invading the country.
And what that is, is weak law, bad management, but very liberal law. They passed a couple of laws, and people read—you know, people are smart. They read from other countries. And they swam that 3-mile swim, or however they got in. But nobody's seen anything like it. That will look good compared to what's going to happen to the United States.
The biggest thing and the worst thing that Biden did is allowing 25 million people into our country, because many of those people are criminals. They're murderers. A lot of them are—11,888. A lot of them are gone now. We got them out. But they allowed people to come into this country that you can't allow to come into a country.
We're also making an unprecedented investment in the United States Armed Forces, where we're doing great. And we rebuilt the Armed Forces. We rebuilt our military in my first term, but we are doing great with our military.
They spent a lot of money in our military. They gave away 300 billion dollars' worth of ammo and everything else in the—in Biden's term, but we're building it up fast, and we have—we're in—we just have a great military. That's all there is to it.
But we rebuilt it in the—in my first term, and we're using it in my second term, with Venezuela and other places and Iran now.
Iran is doing very poorly, just in case you read incorrect stories. They're doing very, very poorly. They're having a hard time. They've been very dishonest. They've been very dishonorable to deal with, but that makes no difference. They're doing very, very poorly.
We're also making that investment and looking forward to getting, Pete, $1.5 trillion next year. And people see now how important it is. We want to keep a safe country. We have to keep a safe country.
And the good news is, all of that equipment is made in the U.S.A. So we're making it here.
It's jobs. And each one of our defense groups are building, literally, at least four new massive plants as we speak, because we want them to do—we want them to move faster.
We have the best equipment in the world, but we want them to move faster. We don't want to wait a year or a year and a half. We want to wait a week, maybe.
So that's happening, and I think the results are very good. They're all—they're building at levels that nobody's ever seen before.
And we've had tremendous success. And our military—we're just proud of it.
Again, Venezuela was a 1-day war, and we have a great relationship with Venezuela. We're working. We're partners with Venezuela now, taking out tens of millions of barrels of oil, and going to Houston, going to Alaska, going to Louisiana, going to different places for refinement—refineries—and it's been very much amazing.
The administration has done more in 18 months than most administrations have done in 8 years, if you had a two-termer. We've done more in 18 months than anyone's ever seen before. Nobody's ever seen. This is the golden age of America.
And we have a war that's going on. I guess you call it a war, maybe. I call it a military operation, because they have no navy. It's been obliterated. Their air force has been obliterated. They have no planes. Their missiles have been largely—they have some left. They have some, but they have far fewer than they had 4 or 5 months ago. They—their manufacturing capacity is almost gone. The drone capacity is almost gone. They're have few, but they have some. They—if they have one, that's too many, as far as I'm concerned.
But we've done an amazing job with Venezuela. We've done an amazing job here. We're in there 5 months. You know, I know people like to say—because we've done a much bigger job, much more important job than we originally anticipated.
So we're in there for 5 months. And if you look at Vietnam, they were in there for 20 years. You look at Afghanistan, they were in there for many years. You look at any one of the wars—Korea—any one of them, they're in there for many years. We're in for 5 months, and we have obliterated their military capacity.
Again, they've got some left, but soon they won't have some left.
So I just want to thank everybody around this table. You've been very special. I want to thank a lot of the media people because many of you have been very, very fair and very—that's one of the reasons you're here, frankly. But you've been very fair. You've covered me this time, I mean, much more fairly, I think, than the first term.
The first term was a great success. We had the greatest economy in history in the first term, and this term is going to blow it away. I think this term is going to actually blow it away.
So it's an honor to have you, and I'd like to ask our great Vice President, J.D. Vance, to say a few words, followed by Marco and Pete and Scott and Bobby Kennedy. Okay? Thank you very much, everybody.
Please, J.D.
Vice President James D. "J.D." Vance. Well, great. Thanks, Mr. President. First of all, thanks for having us at this historical and beautiful place. And it's an honor to be on the team, an honor to be able to work on fraud, which is what I want to talk about today, though I know we have a lot of things going on.
This has been an amazing team, from Kelly Loeffler at SBA to Doug at the VA to Todd and Bobby Kennedy, this really has required a whole-of-administration approach to try to tackle fraud.
There are a few things that I want to talk about and celebrate. The first is that, just since the beginning of the Fraud Task Force that I started under the President's leadership and direction, we have identified $230 billion of fraud that's being perpetrated against the American people, and we have halted already $56 billion of that. It's sometimes hard—once the money has already gone out the door, it's hard to get it back. But stopping it from going out the door is how we save the American people $56 billion. And of course, we're going to keep on working on that.
Just today, Mr. President, we will announce 17 new antifraud actions that will total about a third of a billion dollars, and that's added to the $230 billion that we've already uncovered.
And I want to just talk, for the benefit of the American people, about why do we care so much about this. Because what I always try to remind people is that fraud has two victims.
So, to give one concrete example, there is a program that is administered by Medicaid, and that program ensures that low-income moms and low-income babies have access to neonatal care.
Now, I think most Americans probably share my view that this is one of the great things about the United States of America: that if we see a baby and we see a young mother that requires help, we help our fellow Americans. That's a good thing. It's something that we should be proud of.
And yet, there is a program that has defrauded the moms and the babies who benefit from these. You've gotten people who've gotten rich by setting up false companies that are providing false services.
So who loses in that equation? Number one, of course, is the American taxpayer that is $230 billion poorer because of the fraud that this country has let go on. But I actually think most importantly is that we've seen that program run out of money. So we've seen moms and babies unable to access the health care that they need because the fraudsters have gotten rich. That is a disgrace, and until the President ordered us to stop it, no one was doing anything about it.
So we've made a lot of progress, Mr. President, in just under a year, but we're going to keep on working at it because we believe the American people deserve to have their money spent as you and the Congress have directed it.
The President. Good. That's big numbers you're finding. Tremendous numbers. You look like Eliot Ness. Does anybody know who Eliot Ness is? [Laughter] You look like that group of people you have lined up behind you. That—you're doing a great job.
Vice President Vance. Yes, sir.
The President. Billions. Think of it. Not—not millions. Billions of dollars is being recovered. Billions. And you haven't seen anything yet. We have things happening that people
aren't going to believe. The level of corruption and fraud that took place under the Biden administration was unprecedented.
And Minnesota, California, Maine—Maine, believe it or not. You know, you think of Maine as this wonderful place.
Vice President Vance. Yes.
The President. It's a—the level of corruption is incredible all over—all over the place. So great job. Thank you very much.
Vice President Vance. Thank you, sir.
The President. Okay. Please.
Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio. Oh, my turn. Well, first of all, thank you for bringing us out here. I got the chance to drive for the first time in a year and a half. [Laughter] It was just a golf cart, but it was fun. [Laughter] So it was great. And——
The President. It's true.
Secretary Rubio. So, just a couple points that, you know, we all know—we've followed in the news, obviously, the events in the Middle East and others here who can talk about that. Not that they're not important, but there's some other issues happening around the world, Mr.
President, that you've shown great leadership in that have not gotten nearly as much attention. I think they deserve a mention today.
The first is the International Criminal Court is an illegitimate international organization that, frankly—illegitimate—they've made themselves illegitimate because they claim that even if you're not a member of that court, they can come after you. And what that literally means in the future is that American servicemen, political leaders, and others could find themselves under the
—under indictment by this International Criminal Court.
And if you want to know a little bit about it, Jack Smith used to work there. These are the people that think they can go out and basically indict any world leader and haul them into the Hague.
So we've begun—we tried to get them to reform and listen to us. They wouldn't do it. They're very arrogant. We've now begun an effort to really try to bring that court to heel.
The President. By the way, there's no information that they're after me. It could happen. [Laughter] I wouldn't be surprised—but just so you know. As he's talking about it, I'm saying I—that means that maybe—he's not trying to defend me. He is trying to defend Bibi and various other people. But there are many people that shouldn't be looked at that way. But there is no indication that I'm one of them at this moment. [Laughter]
Secretary Rubio. That's right, Mr.——
The President. Go ahead.
Secretary Rubio. Well, and I actually think the people who are in biggest danger in our system are servicemen, people in uniforms.
They'll try to go out—for the rest of their lives will not be able to travel anywhere in the world with their families because they could be arrested on one of these—imagine you're a soldier, you fought in a war, and 20 years later they—try to come grab you. So this is a big problem.
So we've had dozens of countries already join us and several—since we started 2 weeks ago, five countries have already quit the ICC and notified them that they're leaving, and we think there'll be more.
The second thing is, we had an unprecedented ministerial: 60 countries came to Washington and were a part of an effort—we were shedding light on far-left terrorism and violence.
You know, if a bomb goes off somewhere and it's tied to some right-wing group or what I—don't consider neo-Nazis right wing; I consider them Nazis, right?
But you're going to get a lot of attention on that. But if it's a leftist group, an antifa group, that gets no coverage or they ignore the ideological spin and the ideological reason behind it.
So we've got 60 countries that came up here, and hopefully creating a strong coalition to go after far-left violent terrorism, and go after it and call it by name. And I think we're building a very strong coalition there.
We've had some successes in the Middle East, Mr. President, as you know, in the diplomatic front. The deal with Lebanon and Israel is unprecedented. President Aoun was here a week ago. I think that was the first visit by a Lebanese President in over 30-some-odd years. In fact, this is the first time the Israelis and the Lebanese Government have spoken at the official level in close to 30 years, and that was thanks to your leadership. A lot of work to be done to keep that peace and build on it, but it's a real achievable.
And of course, as you announced last night, Mr. President, this disarmament deal that you brought about with Steve and Jared's work on Hamas is another big step as well. It's something a lot of people thought would never happen. It needs to happen, but the fact they've even agreed to it is a real achievable.
Last point is on the western hemisphere. For the first time in—I don't know—15, 20 years, the overwhelming majority of the countries in the Western Hemisphere are now led by pro-American leaders and pro-American Governments. It's an extraordinary achievement. All of it happening through a—virtually every election that's happened in the Western Hemisphere since you were elected President has elected someone who is pro-American, and I think this is an incredible situation.
And last but not least—and I have to thank a number of agencies here, particularly the Department of War—after that terrible earthquake in Venezuela. Within 36 hours, the full force of the American Government was on the ground providing humanitarian assistance. It was a sight to behold. The USS Fort, I think, was in their port. Our marines and armed service personnel were helping run their airport and their tower.
It is one of the fastest, most dramatic, the most effective humanitarian responses, certainly in recent history, if not ever. And it—they came at the direction of the President. In fact, within an hour of that earthquake hitting—I remember because I was overseas—the President called and said, "Make sure we go in there and help these people recover from this." And we did. And thanks to your leadership, Mr. President, it's a great story.
Enough needs to be told about it because the credit goes to so many agencies represented here today, but really, the Department of War's effort was phenomenal.
So thank you.
The President. That's true. Thank you very much, Marco.
And just before we continue, I want to just congratulate Jay Clayton. He's with us today, as you know. He just had a big victory. He's going to be—he's going to do a fantastic job. He's only done it for—his whole life has been about doing a fantastic job. So congratulations.
Secretary of War Peter B. Hegseth. Well, thank you, Mr. President, for the invitation, the opportunity to be here. It's an honor for the War Department to help run this facility, also, from the food to defense line.
It's an honor to have you, and it's great Americans here and all around the country and all around the world who are the core of what keep us safe, but in order to do that, you have to have a leader that's willing to put them in a position to do it. And that's my takeaway, Mr. President, is—sort of, three points.
[At this point, Secretary Hegseth continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]
In fact, so far, $75 billion dollars in private investment from defense companies who are now investing in new plants, new equipment, new assembly lines to build the munitions of the future faster than ever possible. That's saving taxpayer dollars because the companies themselves are investing. That would never—the Arsenal of Freedom would never happen without you.
So, just like—you know, we use a lot of the things Ronald Reagan's buildup was a part of. In this administration and in future administrations, they will look back at Donald Trump and the buildup that he has done, and that will be—the deterrence of the future will be established because of your investment.
So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership.
The President. Thank you very much. Thank you, Pete. Scott, please.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott K.H. Bessent. Mr. President, it's an honor to be here in this historic place as we celebrate our Nation's 250th anniversary.
And I think if we look back, the—whether the—our founders—President Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton could not have imagined the economy that we would have created. It is the envy of the world, and as you said, we have record investment coming in. We've never seen anything like it, and we're pulling away from the rest of the world because of your leadership, the policies that you did from day one in terms of digital assets, in terms of technology, and bringing back American manufacturing.
[Secretary Bessent continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]
And finally, I want to add, it has been a pleasure to be a part—or a privilege to be a part of—as we've gone from Epic Fury to Economic Fury, to constrict—on your orders, constrict the Iranian regimes, the financial tentacles all around the world. We started it in March—on your orders, we started in March 2025. In December of 2025, the largest bank in Iran collapsed. The central bank had to print money. It caused inflation. Now they've got 180-percent inflation. They aren't able to pay their troops.
And on your orders, we are searching for their assets all around the world, and that money will go to the Iranian people, Americans who have been harmed by the Iranians—whether the USS Cole, the—or the barracks in Lebanon. They—or it will go back to when the Iranians attacked the ships coming out.
So it's been a privilege to be part of that, and I look forward to the rest of it.
The President. Thank you very much.
And I want to just add that today there are more people working in the United States than at any time in the history of our country. We have more people working today than—well, think of that number. I mean, more people working today by far than at any time in the history of our country. So it's been something very, very special.
Bobby, please.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Thank you, Mr. President.
Let me just take a moment to take note of the historical significance of this occasion. Before the press came in, you asked all the Cabinet members who had been to Camp David before, I think about three-quarters of them had. I raised my hand, but I haven't been here for 62 years.
I came here—[laughter]—I came here on weekends, as many weekends we could, between 1961 and 1963. My father loved this place. My uncle loved this place. He was—nobody knows about this because it's not in the history books, but he was resentful at Dwight Eisenhower for renaming it Camp David. And he—if he had got—made it to his second term, he was going to rename it Shangri-La, which was the original name that Roosevelt had had named it.
But my uncle prided himself on being the most open, transparent administration in history.
He was the first President to televise press conferences.
During his thousand days in office, he had about 30 press conferences. You, Mr. President, have press conferences every day. Nobody's done it. [Laughter] And here you've opened the inner sanctum of the Presidency for the first time in history, and I think that's a beautiful thing.
But you also face—although you gave these guys a lot of compliments—the most hostile press corps than any President in United States history, uniformly.
The President. I was trying to be nice. [Laughter]
Secretary Kennedy. So anyway, I'm going to talk just briefly about a subject you alluded to, which is the MFN.
And just so everybody has the background, you were ear to every President promise to fix that disparity between what we pay and what the other developed countries pay. When you came into office, the list price for Ozempic was $1,350 for Americans. You could get it at any pharmacy in London, Hamburg, Frankfurt for $88. And this, every President—President Bush, President Biden, President Clinton, President Obama have all promised to fix it. None of them did anything. You fixed it. So today—by the time you leave office, assuming that's in 2028—[laughter]—95 percent of the drugs that are available to Americans, will—they will be paying the lowest prices in the world.
TrumpRx, just in the short time that we—since we put it out, has saved Americans $700 million. We now have 800 drugs on there. We have deals with Amazon and with GoodRx. We're adding more and more drugs every day.
And I'll just give you one example. Praluent is a very popular cholesterol drug. Its list price is $522. That's what everybody is paying. We now have it on TrumpRx for $237. That means that the 300,000 Americans who take that drug will be saving $3,700 a year on pharmaceuticals every year.
And you can apply that across the board. This is going to change. It's making pharmaceuticals affordable—the most affordable in this country of any country in the world.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The President. How are you doing on the autism research?
Secretary Kennedy. We will have an answer for you. We just got—
The President. That's so important. Okay? We'll be talking about that. We'll be having something of interest. Such an important thing.
There's a picture of your uncle right there on the wall, I noticed. Look at—a handsome guy, and that's quite a picture. Did you see it?
Secretary Kennedy. Yes.
The President. I thought maybe that gave you the idea to start out that way, but it's quite a picture.
Any questions, please?
Q. Mr. President, Mr. President——
The President. Steve [Steve A. Holland, Reuters], go ahead.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. How—we've seen these strikes between Iran and the United States for the past 10 days. How do you go about reviving the ceasefire and getting diplomacy back on track?
The President. Well, I think we just want to win. You know, we just want to win. We're doing very well. We're trying to be nice—as nice as you can be in, you know, a situation like that.
But you know, they're being decimated. Look, they have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft. Doesn't mean they don't have any capability. They have some, but very little. We just want to win.
We don't want to have them—it's very simple: They cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and they can't have a nuclear weapon.
If they did, the Middle East would have been wiped out by now. If I didn't stop the JCPOA, the Obama deal—if I didn't terminate that, they would have had a nuclear weapon. I believe Israel would no longer be with us, and big parts of the Middle East, and perhaps other countries in different continents, frankly, because these people are crazy.
So they cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't.
Q. Mr. President, Mr. President——
Q. So what should—what should we expect over the next 4 weeks, 8 weeks?
The President. Well, you know, we'll be hitting them. We'll be hitting them very hard. And, you know, at some point they're going to say, "We just can't take it anymore."
Board of Peace Agreement Toward the Disarmament of Hamas/Gaza, Palestinian Territories
Q. Mr. President, on the disarmament deal that you announced, do you have assurances from Israel that they are on board with this deal? And what comes first? Does Israel pull back and then Hamas disarms, or does Hamas need to disarm——
The President. So——
Q. ——and then Israel leaves Gaza?
The President. So we do have an understanding with Israel. Israel is very happy about it.
Israel helped us, and they've been very good. They've been very good about it. Most people said that would be a deal that would be undoable.
Now, will it go through its ups and down? It's a very complex situation over there. The people are very complex and difficult—many cases, wonderful; in many cases, not so wonderful.
But that will be a—it's a great breakthrough. Nobody's ever thought that would—nobody thought that would be possible, to disarm Hamas.
That shows you how much success we're having with Iran, because if you go 4 months ago, 5 months ago, a deal like that would have been impossible.
So it's a big step for the Middle East, and people are really impressed by it, and they're surprised by it.
Q. And what comes first, Mr. President? What comes first?
Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup
Q. Mr. President, did FIFA or Mr. Infantino speak to you about their proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup? And is that something you support, having just——
The President. ——about who?
Q. Did FIFA or Mr. Infantino speak to you about their proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup?
The President. No, I never spoke to him about it.
Department of Justice Victims Compensation Fund/Acting Attorney General Todd W. Blanche/Senate Confirmation Process
Q. Mr. President, on the—you said this morning on Truth Social that victims of Government abuse should be paid back.
The President. Yes.
Q. Even if it's not the anti-weaponization fund, would you still want the Acting Attorney General——
The President. Well, I'm talking about the——
Q. ——to find a new way to do that?
The President. ——weaponization against large numbers of people in our country by the Biden administration and by Obama, but by the Biden administration, in particular, in this case.
But large numbers of people, their lives have been ruined, they've been destroyed, their families have been, you know, decimated. They've gone to prison for no reason whatsoever. There's never been a group of people, most likely—I mean, I can think of a couple that were treated pretty badly—groups—but there's essentially never been a group of people treated so badly as these people.
And this fund was not for me. This fund was for those people that have been weaponized, that have been abused.
Now, I was abused. They attacked my house, Mar-a-Lago, where I live, and I was—you know, big damages should have been given to me. I don't want anything. I'm not talking about myself.
I think that there's a group of people in this country, history will show, that were treated like nobody else has ever been treated—so badly, so horribly. Their families have been ruined. Many, many suicides. They've committed suicide. People that were very successful that wanted to go to a rally or an event and ended up spending the rest of their lives in horror.
No, so I mean you can say what you want about the fund, and they've——
Q. Do you still want to find a way——
The President. ——they've agreed to not have a fund. But there are a lot of people that are very upset about it. A lot of Republican people, a lot of Democrat people are very upset about it. A lot of people were covered.
I wasn't covered by that fund. I don't want to be covered by the fund. I probably was abused more than anybody in the history of our country, but I wasn't looking for that. But there were a lot of people.
And I'll tell you something: Todd Blanche is a very, very good man, and he shouldn't be in the middle of this. He should get approved because you will never get anybody like him. You're never going to get anybody.
And to make him a pawn in this whole thing—this is being done by a Senator, and I don't really blame him, to be honest with you. I endorsed his opponent, and as soon as I endorsed his opponent, his opponent went through the roof and he won the primary election in Texas for the Senate. And the man that lost—the man that I didn't endorse—has become very angry, and that's okay.
I mean, I understand that. I probably would do the same thing. You want to know the truth? I think I'd do the same thing.
Department of Justice Victims Compensation Fund
Q. Mr. President, on that though, do you agree—just to be clear, do you agree with the Acting Attorney General that the anti-weaponization fund is dead, and why not just put that in writing?
The President. Well, it is dead, but, you know, I wish it weren't, to be honest with you. I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused—this has nothing to do with Todd; this was me—horribly abused, and I'd like to see them compensated for the pain.
They lost their families. They committed suicide. Many people committed suicide. They went down for an innocent journey.
And I'm not only talking there. I'm talking about not even having to do with that. The way they were treated. The Biden administration and the Obama administration weaponized Government and destroyed lives.
[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
Q. [Inaudible]—put it in writing?
Acting Attorney General Todd W. Blanche
Q. Mr. President, are you willing to accept limits on the scope of the audit immunity deal in order to get Attorney General Blanche confirmed?
The President. Well, no, he should be approved forthwith. I mean, he's—you're never going to get a person like that. Everybody agrees to it.
Don't forget, Senator Cornyn thought he was phenomenal until he lost. You know, when he lost——
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. That's true.
The President. Is that a correct statement?
Secretary Rollins. Yes.
The President. You come from Texas.
Secretary Rollins. Yes, it is.
The President. I mean, he thought this was the most incredible person. And then when he lost—and he lost because of me. I endorsed somebody else, and as soon as I endorsed the other person, the other person became a rocket ship upward, and he lost. And you know, I think I'd be the same, if you want to know——
Q. But would you accept limits on that immunity deal, sir?
The President. I mean, I shouldn't say that, but I'd be upset also, and I—so I fully understand it. He shouldn't be that way. I shouldn't be that way. But he is that way. He's a—become a very angry person, and I understand it.
You have a couple of others that I've caused their defeat too, and you know, you'll probably hear from them too.
Yes.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, back on Iran, there was a report that you got a proposal from the military to go big and hit them hard over 10 or 14 days. Are you——
The President. Well, we're going big.
Q. Are you going to consider that?
The President. We've already gone big. Look, I mean, what's big? They had 159 ships. That was their entire navy: 159. Their entire navy is laying at the bottom of the sea. I'd say that's going big.
They had 200 airplanes. They're all gone. Every one of them. They don't have one airplane.
They had anti-aircraft weaponry—very good, but it didn't work, and it's all gone. Their radar is all gone. Their leaders are all gone. Everything's all gone, but they'll fight onward.
Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance/Semiconductor Manufacturing
Q. Mr. President, on Ukraine, you said the other day that you're not sure about whether to grant Ukraine the Patriot missile license that had been discussed. Do you want to see more from Zelenskyy before you take that action?
The President. Well, it's a big step. Look, we have the greatest weapons in the world. We have the greatest drones in the world. People don't know that. We have the greatest weaponry in the world. We have—in the case of President Zelenskyy, he'd like to have some Patriots. They'd like to have some Tomahawks, which are, you know, lethal—one offensive, one defensive. But when you give somebody the right—they're very complex weapons, by the way.
I mean the Patriot—as an example, the other day you read that five missiles were shot. They were going 8,600 miles an hour. Think of it: 8,600. Now, a car—if you go 60, it gets to be a little fast. If you go 100—8,600, miles an hour, and they were big missiles, and they were shot at Jordan. And our guys were there: bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Five. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
Right? I don't want to be Biden. [Laughter] [Inaudible]—six.
I had to be very careful. That would have been—that would have been a great soundbite, right?
There were five missiles, and we shot all five down before they got close. Nobody else has that capacity. These weapons are incredible, and we have to be very careful about letting somebody build them. You know, it's very important.
Now, we are building many plants now to make those and other—the Tomahawk missile is the most incredible thing. It can go into a doorway. You can put it through a window of a house. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful.
Now, we have not agreed to that. We're talking about it, but it's a hard thing to give away that kind of technology. And I don't think this would ever happen, but, you know, those people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you. You know, that is possible. You look at war. It's happened a couple of times over the years, right? So we have to be very careful. I mean, we guard that.
We have the greatest military in the world, but we have the greatest weapons in the world.
Now we have to make them a little bit faster because we've given a lot away.
You know, President Biden, unfortunately, gave a lot away to Ukraine, and he gave—so did
I. I mean, I gave them the Javelins, the tank busters. Without the Javelins, that war would have been a 1-day war. It would have been over.
They wiped out the tanks going up to Kyiv when they got stuck in the mud. They had a general that decided to go through the mud instead of going up the highway where they were going very nicely. It would have been over.
But no, I gave them the Javelins. The Javelins are unbelievably—we have the greatest weapons in the world. We have to be very careful about giving out the secrets to those weapons, and they're not—you can't copy them.
It's a little like Nvidia. They have a chip. They say you cannot copy it. The complexity is so great you cannot. You know, most things you copy. China is known for it. Other countries are. We do something. And I guess we copy also. But most things you can copy pretty easily.
There's a chip that they made, their ultimate chip. And they always have the ultimate chip.
And I say, "Well, why doesn't somebody copy it?" Because they can't. The complexity.
They can't copy our weapons. We have the greatest weapons in the world. Many of them.
Those are just two or three that I mentioned. But you cannot copy them.
So we have to be very careful.
Q. Mr. President, on Iran——
Board of Peace Agreement Toward the Disarmament of Hamas
Q. Sir, as—as Hamas disarms as part of this plan, who do you see as taking possession of those weapons that they have? Does that go to the new government? Does it——
The President. It would be the Board of Peace mostly. It's going to be run by the board. This Board of Peace has been an amazing—it's led by some amazing people. Board of Peace.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. On Iran, Mr. President, you said they do have some capabilities left.
The President. Yes.
Q. Should Americans be prepared for these back-and-forth attacks to continue until Iran simply isn't able of striking back?
The President. A little bit. They'll get weaker. They'll get weaker. They'll get a little stronger maybe now, but they'll get weaker, and then they peter out.
Yes, sure. I think so. I mean, it'd be foolish to say no. You know, you always have to keep your guard up.
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement
Q. What is the status of talks? Who from the administration is talking to the Iranians?
The President. Well, they always want to talk, but they break their words so often. Steve is talking. Jared. We have very good people. J.D. is involved—very strongly involved. We have great people talking. Marco's involved. They're all involved.
Q. Because they say talks aren't happening.
The President. Very good people. We have the best people.
But they'll make a deal—as an example, we'll talk about nuclear, and we'll be in there talking about nuclear for 7 hours. I say: "Why does it—why do you need 7? You can take 10 minutes.
You have 5 minutes, you should solve it." [Laughter] But 7 hours. And then they'll go out, and I'll say, "They discussed nuclear," and they'll go out and they'll say, "We never discussed nuclear." And I say: "Why? Why do they say that?" All they do is make me angry. You know, they just make me angry.
Any other questions?
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
U.S. Military Technology
Q. Do you still believe that you can reach a deal with Iran, given that you talked about disloyal they are?
The President. I guess you can. I mean, look, I'm losing faith in them because they do lie and do—they do misrepresent.
Well, the other day the five missiles were shot. We knocked them down, but we were in the midst of a negotiation. I mean, I'm waiting for Steve to call me—"How's the negotiation going?"—and instead, I got a call from Pete that they just shot five missiles at one of our bases in Jordan. You know, we have bases in Jordan. Fortunately, our people operated the equipment.
It's also very complex to operate. You know, you talk about the equipment. It's very—you have to be—oftentimes, you'll say—"Where did you go to school?" "MIT." "Caltech." I mean, you know, they go to schools that are not as normal for the military, to be honest with you. We have unbelievably brilliant people operating that equipment.
And when you don't, you know, the equipment—the shots miss. The safety misses, or the accuracy misses.
We have unbelievable people. Think of it. We had 111 at one point, a couple of months ago.
A hundred and eleven, over a short period of time, missiles were shot at the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier—great, beautiful ship. One of the most beautiful ships to me, design-wise. A hundred and eleven missiles going out. Out of the hundred and eleven missiles, one hundred and
—eleven missiles were shot down quite a bit earlier than—they got—I mean, long before they got there, they were shot down. It was almost—in a couple of cases, they were shot down almost as they were taking off. It's incredible technology.
So you have a ship that costs billions of dollars, and you have missiles heading to it. A hundred and eleven missiles were shot down—routinely shot down. And I speak—I spoke to the people. I like to reward people. I call them up, I'm the President, and they were cool as a cucumber.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, the last 2 weeks of strikes by CENTCOM. CENTCOM has said that those were meant to degrade Iran's ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz.
The President. And they did.
Q. How many more strikes will it take to significantly obliterate it?
The President. Well, you never know.
Look, I mean, most people would have given up by now. You know? They've got no navy. They've got no air force. They—most people would have given up. They haven't. So I give them credit for that. I mean, they're known as being tough. They're tough.
Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance
Q. Back on Ukraine.
The President. Steve.
Q. What did you tell President Zelenskyy about the Patriots? Did you explain all that to him, your concerns about——
The President. I did. I spoke about Patriots. I spoke to him about Tomahawks. I spoke to him about everything. I also spoke to him about let's get this war over with.
So, last month, they had 25,000 people—it's averaging about 25,000 people a month die.
Mostly soldiers. Almost entirely, but you know, missiles are hitting areas also. But mostly soldiers. They had 25,000 soldiers. The month before that, it was 32,000 soldiers.
I said, "You've got to get this war over with."
I think he wants to make a deal, and I think Putin wants to make a deal. But there's a lot of dislike, as you probably noticed.
The President's Foreign Policy
Q. But he seems very reluctant to make concessions—President Putin, I mean.
The President. Well, nobody wants to make concessions, but they're both going to have to make some concessions. I mean, you've got to make a deal. Twenty-five thousand young, beautiful people—soldiers—mostly soldiers are dying a month.
It's—I ended eight wars. That was the war I thought would maybe go first, and it really hasn't. It's gone last. I mean, I ended wars that were, in theory, much more difficult to end. We had a couple that were into the 30-year category.
Well, the Congo—look at the Congo and Rwanda. That was a nasty war. And they have peace. I don't know how long that one's going to stay.
But we ended India-Pakistan. Eleven planes were shot down. That was raging. That was going to—I used tariffs. I said, "If you're going to go to war, 250-percent tariff" to each of them. And they screamed and yelled and were very angry. They were both angry about it. And a day later, they called, and they said, "We will not go to war." I mean, I ended up—and the Prime
Minister of Pakistan said I saved 50 million lives, because that's two nuclear powers—serious nuclear powers.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Enjoy——
[Several reporters began asking questions at once.] Enjoy Camp David.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Suspected Cyber Attacks on Minnesota Water Infrastructure
Q. Can you rule out that Iran was behind the water attacks? Can you rule out that Iran was behind that cyber attack?
The President. I don't think so. No, I think that Minnesota is behind it. You know who's behind it? Minnesota, because they're grossly incompetent. I think the Governor is behind it. I don't think there was an Iranian cyber attack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together. It's one of the worst-run States.
J.D. will tell you. He found tremendous corruption in Minnesota.
Vice President Vance. Yes, sir.
The President. And by the way, just gave me a report: Massive—massive future things having to do with corruption in Minnesota are happening right now.
Thank you very much.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
NOTE: The President spoke at 11:30 a.m. in the Laurel Lodge. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Timothy J. Walz of Minnesota; Michael S. Dell, chairman and chief executive officer, Dell Technologies, and his wife Susan; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel; Director of National Intelligence Walter J. "Jay" Clayton III; Texas Republican senatorial candidate State Attorney General W. Kenneth Paxton, Jr.; U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven C. Witkoff; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan. He also referred to his son-in-law, U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Jared C. Kushner. Vice President Vance referred to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas A. Collins. Secretary Rubio referred to former Department of Justice Special Counsel John L. "Jack" Smith.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Cabinet meeting at Camp David, MD; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, Camp David, MD.
Locations: Camp David, MD.
Names: Bessent, Scott K.H.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Blanche, Todd W.; Clayton, Walter J. "Jay," III; Cornyn, John, III; Dell, Michael S.; Dell, Susan; Hegseth, Peter B.; Infantino, Giovanni V.; Kennedy, Robert F., Jr.; Kushner, Jared C.; Netanyahu, Benjamin; Obama, Barack; Paxton, W. Kenneth, Jr.; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Rollins, Brooke L.; Rubio, Marco A.; Sharif, Shehbaz; Vance, James D. "J.D."; Walz, Timothy J.; Witkoff, Steven C.; Zelenskyy, Volodymyr.
Subjects: 2024 Presidential election; 2026 midterm elections; Acting Attorney General; Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Automobile industry, strengthening efforts; Board of Peace; Border security; Cabinet meetings; Congo, Democratic Republic of the, relations with Rwanda; Crime rates; Defense contractors, delivery improvement efforts; Department of Justice, proposed "Anti-
Weaponization Fund"; Director of National Intelligence; Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup; Foreign nations, investment and business ventures in U.S.; Fraud enforcement, strengthening efforts; Gaza, agreement on Hamas disarmament; Gaza, conflict with Israel; Grocery prices; Hamas political-paramilitary organization; India, relations with Pakistan; Inflation; International Criminal Court; Iran, diplomatic engagement with U.S.; Iran, nuclear weapons program; Iran, suspected cyber attack on municipal water systems in Minnesota; Iran,
U.S. military operations; Israel, defense relationship with U.S.; Israel, military operations in Gaza; Israel, Prime Minister; Job creation and growth; Manufacturing industry, domestic investment; Maryland, President's visit; Minnesota, fraud investigation; Minnesota, Governor; Minnesota, suspected Iranian cyber attack on municipal water systems; Pakistan, Prime Minister; Pakistan, relations with India; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Russia, President; Rwanda, relations with Democratic Republic of the Congo; Secretary of Agriculture; Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of State; Secretary of the Treasury; Secretary of War; Semiconductor manufacturing; Spain, migration issues; Stock market; Tariffs; Trump Accounts, children's savings program; U.S. Armed Forces, funding and equipment, improvement efforts; U.S. Special Envoy for Peace; U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East; Ukraine, President; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Ukraine, U.S. assistance; Undocumented immigrants, deportation of criminals; Venezuela, oil supply and refining; Venezuela, relations with U.S.; Venezuela, U.S. military capture and exfiltration of President Maduro; Vice President.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600509.