Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
Remarks on Signing the Executive Order Establishing the President's Military Spouse Commission and an Exchange With Reporters
August 3, 2026
The President. Thank you for all being here as we take a major new step to support our incredible military families, something that we've been working on for a long time, I guess you could say for decades. There's never been anything like this.
Today I'm signing an Executive order to establish the first-ever Presidential Military Spouse Commission. It will be chaired by Jennifer Hegseth, the wife of—and highly respected wife, I may add—of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Both here.
I also want to congratulate the new Executive Director of the Commission, Desiree. So where's Desiree? Where are you, Desiree? You do such a good job. Desiree Thompson Sayle.
Along with new Commission member Christie Mullin, wife of Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary Markwayne Mullin. These are outstanding people, everyone—male and female. Outstanding.
The Commission will also include the spouses of our wonderful service Secretaries, the spouses of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the spouses of their senior enlisted leaders. And we have some incredible talent. And I will tell you, these spouses, I've looked at educationally and every other way—they're amazing.
We're also pleased to be joined by Secretary Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. Thank you very much, Dan.
America cannot have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses who make the extraordinary sacrifices for our country. And they really are extraordinary.
Many military spouses spend months separated from their loved ones while our heroes are deployed overseas. Military families also endure frequent moves and other unique challenges, and the challenges are legendary. They write books about them.
This Commission will provide recommendations for improving the quality of life for military spouses so that we can better support both our military families and the entire United States Armed Forces.
The Commission will develop suggestions to address particular challenges in housing, employment, health care, education, childcare, and just about everything else you can think of. It's never—we've never had this opportunity. We're doing it now because we've done a lot for our military. We love our military.
Every day, our administration is fighting to give our military families the support they dearly need and they deserve.
As part of the "Great Big Beautiful Bill," we provided hundreds of millions of dollars for military childcare and improved housing on military bases. It's being built. Much of it's being built right now.
Last Christmas, every servicemember received a "Warrior Dividend" of $1,776. Think of that. I wonder where we got that number. It was actually $1,775. The number worked out to be
17—I said, if you add $1, we have 17—that was one of my genius ideas. [Laughter] We have
$1,776. But that's—that was a great thing.
And we've given it—every member of our military hard-earned pay raise. We've also given the pay raise.
The Commission will help ensure we continue to give military spouses our very best so our military can continue to be the strongest military anywhere in the world, and we're proving that.
As you know, we had a conflict with Venezuela. Worked out very well. And we have a conflict with Iran, and that's working out very well. Very, very well.
So now I'd like to ask Jennifer Hegseth to say a few words, followed by Pete, General Caine.
And then I will sign the Executive order putting this into play. And it's an order that's long overdue, as far as I'm concerned—like, by decades. And we're going to do a real job with it.
And, Jennifer, if you will, please.
Military Spouse Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Hegseth. Well, Mr. President, you have been a champion for the military, and we are so grateful for that. And that continues today.
And, like you said, these are generational issues that are long overdue to address. And we have the most amazing women here, who have decades of experience as military spouses themselves, to take a look at it. There's really nothing we're going to find that they haven't experienced.
And so, between what they've experienced and what they know, we're going to really tackle these things.
And I've spent the last year traveling around, meeting with military spouses and families around the world and around the country, and it's the same from Kentucky to Singapore. It's housing, it's health care, it's employment, it's childcare, it's education, and so we're going to take a look at all of those things.
Even one of the women up here—I won't say who, but was a paramedic. And as they moved from State to State, she could not get the license switched to that State in time before you move again, before you PCS. And it makes it really difficult for these families to survive, let alone all the other sacrifices we're asking for them.
So this is a big deal today. We're super grateful. Every time Pete travels around—Secretary Hegseth—[laughter]—travels around talking to the troops, he tells them, "The President has your back," and now the families know that you have their back too, and we are grateful.
Thank you.
The President. Thank you, Jennifer. Great job. Thank you. How about you say something first——
Secretary of War Peter B. Hegseth. I'll say——The President. ——and then we'll go——Secretary Hegseth. I can't really top that.
The President. Then we'll go back and to the general. You're not going to top it. [Laughter]
Secretary Hegseth. I can't top that, Mr. President. I'll just——
The President. Give it a shot. [Laughter] You're not going to.
Secretary Hegseth. You know, it's—[laughter]——
The President. Good job.
Secretary Hegseth. It's true. Strong families equal strong formations. I mean, when you look at it from a military perspective, as a Secretary, our job is to make sure our troops are prepared and ready on behalf of the Nation. And if your family's not taken care of, then it causes hesitations and complications for the warfighters out front.
And so we say often—and we mean it—no soldier, no marine, no member of the joint force serves alone. And so, if we can address the issues of housing and make sure it's quality housing, make sure employment opportunities are maxed out, make sure childcare is taken care of, make sure DoDEA or DoWEA schools are the best in the world so that our military kids are being educated the trade skills they might want to take the next chapter in life—if that warfighter knows that their family is good to go, they will go the extra mile, which is what our Nation asks.
So we're in—this is not one of those window-dressing efforts. The—Jen's right. This entire group has mountains of experience, and they're raring to go to put it to use on behalf of the great Americans who serve our Nation.
And this is going to be full speed ahead to address every quality-of-life issue we can, which, Mr. President, you invested in the "One Big Beautiful Bill." People don't know how much went into housing and into barracks and into pay. That's a down payment, and now with the $1.5 trillion, which we're working to get every dollar of, it's going to be a generational investment in barracks, in housing, in health care, in pay, in ways no Commander in Chief has ever done before.
So Mr. President, thank you for leading on this, and this Commission's ready to go.
The President. Well, thank you very much. You're doing a fantastic job. General, please.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. J. Daniel Caine, USAF. Mr. President, Mrs.
Hegseth, Secretary Hegseth, it's an honor for me to be here today at the launch of this Commission.
As we stand here now, around the world, military servicemembers are out doing our Nation's business and ready to do what is asked of them.
The foundation of American military readiness is the families, and the backstopping of all of that is the military spouses that serve behind them.
Inevitably, every time somebody deploys, that refrigerator will break down, the car will break down. You think we're strong? American military spouses are 10 times stronger, and the lift that they carry is significant every single day.
I want to thank this commission for the work that they're going to do to help improve military families' lives and military spouses' lives. It is a critical enabler for American warfighting capabilities.
So to all of you here and all the work that went into putting this Commission together, thank
you.
And, Mr. President, we're honored to be here today.
The President. Where will they be meeting when you have meetings? Because you're going
to be having a lot of meetings.
White House Director of Presidential Correspondence and Military Spouse Commission Executive Director Desiree Thompson Sayle. Here at the White House.
The President. Do you know where you're going to be meeting, Jen?
Executive Director Sayle. Every month here at the White House.
The President. Oh, that's great.
Executive Director Sayle. Yes.
The President. Well, you can't do better than that.
Executive Director Sayle. Can't do better than that. [Laughter]
The President. Use the Oval Office. Take it. [Laughter]
Would anybody like to say anything? Maybe, Desiree, you could start? And then if you want to say anything, great time to say it.
Please.
Executive Director Sayle. Absolutely.
The President. Desiree, go ahead.
Executive Director Sayle. Well, I'll just be really short. I—it's a pleasure for me to serve as the executive director of this commission. I think it's a long time coming.
It's a little bit of a pet project out of my office, simply because we have the Chief of Staff of the Air Force's wife that has been inspirational for this. She's a 41-year spouse.
But collectively, this group has over 400 years of experience as an Active Duty military spouse. Four hundred. And they've probably moved about 300 times. [Laughter]
So if you can imagine that level of experience coming to this Commission and solving real problems for the future of our military spouses and families—it's just an incredible thing that you're doing, President Trump: Actually, asking them to solve these problems and give you good recommendations. And we're happy to help them do that.
The President. So you know, we have—Desiree has been with us for a long time, and she's directly and indirectly done what she's doing for a long, long time. Covered numerous Presidents.
And she basically responds to the public when the public—they send things. Sometimes they send gifts. I—actually, it amounts to millions of dollars in small money. And I said, "Well, what happens to that money?" They send it back or they do charitable work or—but it's literally millions. They send it to me. I should be able to get it. [Laughter] She won't give it to me. I should be entitled to it. No.
But they send it to me as a—just a gesture. But they write thousands and hundreds of thousands of letters. And she's got a staff that's all volunteer. And I have one question: How did I—how do I compare, in terms of response, with other Presidents of the past?
Executive Director Sayle. No comparison, sir. [Laughter] None.
The President. Is that good or bad?
Executive Director Sayle. No, it's good. [Laughter] Actually. It's very good.
The President. That's very good.
Executive Director Sayle. Yes. So——
The President. We do okay?
Executive Director Sayle. You do great.
The President. Little more than Sleepy Joe? [Laughter] Little bit more?
Executive Director Sayle. A hundred-percent positive.
The President. Little bit more? Executive Director Sayle. Yes. The President. Well, I think so. Thank you. Thank you.
Does anybody have anything to say, or a question or statement? Would you like to make a statement? Yes, please.
Doniel Wolfe, wife of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Wolfe, USAF. Could I just say—I'm so excited. We've served with the Wilsbachs now for a number of years, and I've seen them champion the enlisted corps.
As a—as the spouse of a senior enlisted leader, it's pretty easy for something amazing like this to happen and not include the enlisted corps—the senior enlisted leaders from the enlisted corps. It means the world to me that this started with them in mind.
And I don't know if you remember, but a few years ago, my husband was serving in Alaska.
And before you got on the plane, he asked your detail if he could ask you a question, and he asked if you would FaceTime me, and you did. [Laughter] And that——
The President. I do that.
Member Wolfe. It meant the world and——
The President. For people I respect, I do that.
Member Wolfe. You're getting ready to get on the plane, and this E–9—this enlisted command chief—asked you to FaceTime me. And you put your arm around him, you said, "He's doing a good job. Take good care of him."
And that picture hangs—has hung in his office since. And it just means the world to me that you highlight the enlisted corps every chance you get, and I love to tell people that story, that you took the time.
The President. That's so nice. Thank you very much. Say hello, okay? I remember. Please, anybody else?
Chairman Caine. Mr. President, this is Cindy Wilsbach, who's humble to her core——
The President. That's right.
Chairman Caine. ——and has had a significant role in putting this Commission together. So I just want to highlight Cindy's work.
The President. Would you like to say something?
Cindy Wilsbach, wife of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, USAF. I would just like to say this is a red-letter day for me. Just the honor that I feel to be surrounded by these spouses, who—what I like to say is, "We serve by oath or by vow." We didn't all raise our right hand to take an oath, but we began serving this great nation when we extended our left hand and said a vow to the person that we love that served this country. And we represent people that are at
the end of their careers. We have served decades—20, 30, 40 years of service. This is about the legacy that we leave for the people that come after us——
The President. That's great.
Member Wilsbach. ——for these people who have children who are serving now or for families that we say, "We love you, we care about you, and we are the greatest military in the world," and part of that is taking care of our families, and that's what this commission will do.
The President. And your husband is highly respected, I have to tell you that——
Member Wilsbach. Thank you. The President. ——by everybody. Member Wilsbach. Thank you.
The President. By everybody. Anybody over here? Yes, please.
LyndaLee Lunday, wife of Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, USCG. Mr. President, on behalf of the Coast Guard, we cannot thank you enough for the amount of money that you have put into our organization. We are beyond excited about the new potentials that we have. We can just feel it. The whole Coast Guard—every time we go to visit our different units and our families—people are super excited.
The President. Including 11 ice cutters, right? Member Lunday. I—absolutely, I'll be talking——The President. You just got them?
Member Lunday. Yes.
The President. Going to be beautiful—[inaudible].
Member Lunday. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
The President. They had 1. Russia has 48. They had 1, and it was 50 years old, and you're going to soon be getting 11 brandnew ones at top of the line So that's a big——
Member Lunday. Well, our people are——
The President. That's a big deal.
Member Lunday. ——very thrilled and super excited, and very thankful to you. Thank you,
sir.
The President. That's great. Thank you very much. Good. Anybody else like to say? Last chance. That's it. [Laughter] So I'm going to sign this, and it's a real honor.
And then, if you like, you could ask questions of the people, and—or me, if you want. [At this point, the President signed the Executive order.]
Okay. That's a good one. So I wouldn't want a bad one on this topic. [Laughter] Some are
good. You know, we rate them from 6 to 10. Sixes are usually when I'm standing up, holding it. [Laughter] You can't do a very good one. But that's a 10. So we're—you deserve a 10 too.
I think you should hold that.
Chairwoman Hegseth. Thank you, sir.
The President. Okay? Questions, please. Please.
Q. On behalf of the press corps, thank you, ladies, for what you do for our servicemembers and this country.
The President. Great.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, are the talks with Iran now off and are airstrikes back on?
The President. No, they're on. They're going on right now. It's an amazing thing. We have a little problem with Iran because we have many talks, and we'll say we have or we don't have. You know, we're straight about it. But they deny. But they're not denying it now. They just put out a statement not denying it. But for some reason, they—when they're talking, they don't like saying that they're talking.
So I say, "Wait, we're in talks." Big deal. We're in talks. And they'll sometimes deny it, even though they spend hours and hours together talking.
No, the talks are going along. We were going to hit them very hard yesterday—very, very hard—harder than any attack—I think I can say, General, from a point of knowledge, any attack since World War II. That's pretty big.
And we were set to go. And they called—and in addition, Saudi Arabia called, and U.A.E. called, Qatar called. Got calls from numerous people. Not—I don't want to use the word "begging," but some were.
In particular, Iran did not want to be hit. And they said, "We want to talk. We want to talk about the Strait, but more importantly"—from my standpoint—"we want to talk about the denuclearization of Iran," because this is what it's all about. This is why I'm doing this. And it should have been done—it's now 50 years. We keep saying 47 years, but 3 years have gone by. But it's for 50 years that other Presidents should have been doing what I—or other countries—didn't have to be us, but other countries. And nobody did it. And it was time, and we hit them hard with the B–2s more than a year ago now, and that knocked out their capability—their potential capability. And we've done a great job.
But when we talk, we say we're talking. If we're not talking when you ask me, "No, we're not talking." I'll say it. But we are talking. Right now we're talking, and we're talking at the request of Iran, backed by Saudi Arabia, backed by U.A.E., and backed by Qatar, in particular, but others also.
Many countries called. Many of the leaders of many—I'm friendly with a lot of them, almost all of them one way or the other. And they all wanted to give this a last chance.
This is a last chance. This is not something that, if it doesn't happen—this is a last chance for them to sign a good document.
Yes, please.
Election Reforms
Q. Mr. President, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is requiring an ID to access his government-run grocery stores. What then is your message to Democrats who do not want to pass the SAVE America Act and——
The President. Yes.
Q. ——ensure, you know, ID at the ballot box?
The President. When did this—when was this announced? This was just announced.
Q. Yes.
The President. I heard about it. Yes. Well, I wish they'd have an ID to access the voting booth. You know? They don't want to access the voting booth with any identification. We want voter ID, and we want proof of citizenship.
Well, he also had a thing where you had to have two different IDs to shovel snow during the winter, right? So that's a very friendly question.
I like her. Who are you with? [Laughter]
Q. One American News, sir.
The President. Very good. All right. Good question. Very good. A good group too.
Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act
Q. And there are almost 20 GOP Senators who have pledged to stay in DC to pass the SAVE America Act. So what's your message to the rest of the Senators who are still on their summer recess?
The President. I think there's nothing more important than the SAVE America Act. I think they should stay. They do what they want, but I think they should stay until they get it passed.
[Several reporters began asking questions at once.] I think it's so important to get it passed.
Yes.
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement
Q. Mr. President, where are the Iran talks, and what are your requirements right now?
The President. Well, you'll find out today or tomorrow. I mean, they're going to go quickly, one way or the other. It's not very complex.
We're talking about the Strait—the opening of the Strait, having it open literally by tomorrow. Completely open. And that's phase one.
And phase two is we then will talk about the nuclear capacity, the nuclear what—you know, as we've been mentioning. The—basically, it's—I think most say—the denuclearization of Iran has to happen. Has to happen. And that'll be the second phase.
But the first phase is the opening of the Straits. The second phase will be the denuclearization, and that'll take a little while.
But we're very strong on it. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and I've never changed in that.
Yes, please in the back.
Border Security
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. You said that if Democrats get back into power, what is happening in Spain awaits America. Do you—what should voters in other countries with elections coming up soon take away from what's going on with Spain?
The President. Well, we have to be very careful with the whole socialist thing. I think, in many cases, it's much more than socialist. They skipped socialism; they went directly to communism.
But when I saw what happened in Spain, I said, "You know, we had a version of that." You could say much worse. We allowed 25 million people under Joe Biden, the Democrats. We had open borders, and countries all over the world—almost all of them—sent people that they don't want into our country, and we've gotten a lot of them out, and we're getting more, including murderers. And I always said 11,888. That was the number of murderers. Many of them committed more than one murder.
And we're going to be just like that if you put these lunatics in that I see running for office. They had—we had an open border. A year and a half ago, we had the worst border in the history of our country. Now we have the best border. We haven't had one person come in.
And this is done by the Democrats. It's not—by left-leaning people. They do charts, and they have—in 15 months, not one person has come in through our southern border illegally.
Now, that's pretty amazing. I'd say maybe 10, maybe 15. They say none, and believe me, if they did, they'd love to report it. But you could go outside in those vast plazas where hundreds of thousands of people gathered when they stormed our country, just like they did—in my opinion, worse—just like they did to Spain. They stormed our country, and those borders are—those big plazas that were built, they put concrete down. And now you look at them, and there's grass growing in the cracks.
Nobody comes up because they know they're not going to get through, and if they do get through it, they're going to be taken out, brought back to their country. So we've done a fantastic job.
You know, somebody said, "You did it too fast." I did it in 30 days—in my first 30 days.
Biden couldn't do it. He couldn't get it done. He tried at the end. He tried to do something because it was so overwhelming. It was so bad politically, but we did it in 30 days.
Somebody said, "You should have taken a year and a half or 2 years complete it, because everyone forgets." Even my speechwriters—they say, "Sir, nobody wants to hear about the border anymore. You've done it. It's an incredible job you've done, but nobody wants to hear about it." And I should have taken a couple of years to do it because—and it actually was—the public has about a 2-year—people do—they have a 2-year memory for certain things. They have a 2-week memory.
I may have gotten elected—I certainly—partially on the border, and because we did such a great job, it was a long time ago. I did it twice. I did it in 2016 when it was bad, but I did it this last time when it was really bad. It was, Steve [Steve A. Holland, Reuters], I would say, many, many times worse than it was in 2016.
Twenty-sixteen was bad, but what we just had a year and a half ago, that was the worst border maybe in world history. There's not a third-world country that would have allowed that to happen, where people coming in from prisons and people coming in from mental institutions, and people forced in by government, because these are the people that those governments, those countries—I know them all—they didn't want. And they walked into our country totally unvetted, totally unchecked.
Not anymore. Nobody comes in, except if they come in legally.
Yes, please.
Q. All right, thank you, Mr. President. Yesterday you were——
The President. Who are you with, please?
Q. I'm with Washington Examiner, sir.
The President. Good. They're doing good.
Q. We——
The President. They've been very nice to me.
Representative Max Miller
Q. We—you were asked yesterday whether Representative Max Miller should resign from Congress over the allegations, and you said that you'd have a look at it.
The President. Yes.
Q. Have you thought about that? And also, do you think that he should be replaced on the ballot?
The President. It's a very sad thing. I know Max. He's a good person. I mean, I always thought he was a very good person, and I'm going to let the families figure that out. You know, those families—I know they're working on it. It's a very sad thing, especially when you know somebody so well to be going through that. But it's accusations, and I'm going to let them figure that out.
Yes, please.
Department of Justice Victims Compensation Fund/The President's Tax History
Q. Mr. President, did you sign off on Todd Blanche rescinding the anti-weaponization fund?
And also, there are Democrats right now who say there's essentially two tax codes: There's the Trump family Tax Code and a normal people Tax Code. Why do you think that your family deserves some level of special exemption when it comes to the auditing of taxes?
The President. Well, I'll go into that. First of all, I had a 10-year case that was settled until I announced I was running for office. It was a settled deal like I've been doing all my life. I've been audited every year for my entire life, which—I have a lot of wealthy friends that were never audited. To this day, they were never audited. I was audited.
And my deal was settled. In writing, it was settled, subject to final approval. Then I announced I was running for President, and all they did was haunt me with it. They ended the settlement, and they went after—and they went after me illegally.
And they did a lot of bad things to me, like they did to other people. And I was treated very unfairly by the IRS. I was—it was weaponized against me.
Think of it. I had a case from—this is a 10-year-old case, and it was settled. It was done. The case was over. I announced I'm running for President, and they terminated the settlement in Washington and they went after me.
And what they did here was very—frankly, if you talk about reparations or if you talk about payment, what they did to me, I had a very good case against them.
So this was a case that was settled, that when I decided to run for President, right at the beginning—this was a long time; it's been going on for a long time—they terminated the settlement, which is something that never happened before.
We have letters from the biggest law firms in Washington saying that this case is nonsense, just like the "Russia, Russia, Russia" was nonsense. They weaponized Government.
And so that's that. And most people understand that.
On the other, on the fund, these were people that were treated unbelievable. Twenty-two suicides—more than that, I think. Look at Ashli. Look at—look at so many other things that happened.
These people were treated horribly, and this fund could have given them some solace.
But you know, it happens to be very popular among many quarters. And I don't participate in that fund. I was certainly treated badly. I don't participate, but I thought it would be very fair for people that spent years in prison, people that were treated so badly for, in many cases, people that did absolutely nothing wrong.
So I view that fund as a positive, and a lot of Republicans do too. Not so many Democrats.
And it's not only for that. It's for other things too. People that have been treated unfairly, that have been weaponized by a corrupt Government that we had with Obama and that we had with Biden. You had a corrupt Government with both of them.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Acting Attorney General Todd W. Blanche
Q. Mr. President, did you sign off on Todd Blanche rescinding that?
The President. I didn't look at it. All I know is that Todd Blanche is great. He's going to do a great job. Everybody knows it.
And I understand there's been a sign off, but I did—I don't know what they agreed. I think Todd Blanche agreed to reconfirm things that he's already said, and what he said was okay.
Please, go ahead.
MSNOW/Department of Justice Victims Compensation Fund
Q. Are there other avenues you'd have supporters get paid potentially if it's not the anti-weaponization fund? Is there another way in the future?
The President. Who are you with?
Q. I'm with MSNOW, sir.
The President. You're who?
Q. MSNOW.
The President. MSNOW?
Q. Yes, sir.
The President. What a terrible show that is. [Laughter] They have the worst people on that show.
Q. Are there other avenues——
The President. Okay——
Q. ——that you'd want to see people paid?
The President. No, there's no other avenues that I know about.
Go ahead.
Q. Mr. President, on the Iran talks.
The President. MSNOW. That's the failed MSDNC, right? [Laughter] The failed——
Q. Formerly MSNBC, sir.
The President. They failed. They gave it a new name. You know why? Because nobody watched it.
Go ahead.
And they—and fewer people are watching it now.
Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. On the Iran talks, is there discussions? Is Iran willing to return to a fully free navigation of the Strait? Is that on the table?
The President. Say it again, differently.
Q. Would Iran be willing to return to fully free navigation of the Strait?
The President. Has to be. I'm not going to let them charge.
Q. Would you accept any——
The President. Anybody's going to charge, we'll charge. We're the one that has total—we have total control. You know, we have a thing called a blockade with his navy, and that navy is
—they call it a wall of steel. The United States wall of steel.
No, no, there's not going to be charging. We're not talking about charging at all. There won't be charging.
Yes, please, in the back.
Europe/Migration Issues/Energy Sources/United Kingdom
Q. Mr. President, you said last week that illegal immigration——
The President. Who are you with?
Q. GB News. You said that illegal immigration is killing the U.K. Nigel Farage today has proposed the use of the Royal Navy to combat all those crossing the Channel. Do you think that European nations, including the U.K., should be using their militaries to stop illegal immigration?
The President. Look, you have to stop illegal immigration in Europe. I know Europe better than anybody, better than the people that run it. And I have great relationships.
You're—two things are killing Europe. Number one is immigration. Number two is energy.
Like the U.K.—when you look at the U.K., they have one of the best energy fields in the world: North Sea oil. Now, I think your new Prime Minister is going to actually open up the—from what I hear. I spoke to him, and he sounded terrific on this subject.
But you open it up, you'll be a wealthy country. You keep it closed, you're going to be a bankrupt country, which is what you are now. Essentially, you're a bankrupt country.
You have one of the greatest energy fields—the North Sea oil—one of the greatest fields in the world.
You know, the U.K. buys its energy from Norway, who gets the energy from the North Sea—from not as vibrant a part of the North Sea, oil-wise. You're sitting on top of gold—better than gold—and you don't do anything with it.
Q. [Inaudible]
The President. It's—it doesn't work. You don't allow the oil companies in, and it doesn't work.
And I spoke with your new Prime Minister. I was very impressed, and he sort of indicated to me—I said, "Look, you can be a wealthy country or a bankrupt country. You have your choice." Not every country has that choice. Almost no country has that choice.
But in the case of the U.K., Scotland—I'm talking about Scotland—right off the shore, in Aberdeen, Scotland. That—Aberdeen was the oil capital of Europe for years. And then, 1 day, the liberals got in and they closed it, and your energy rates have quadrupled.
You have among the highest energy prices in the world. You could cut them in half. You could give away free energy if you'd open up the North Sea. And it's good for another 500 years, maybe more—probably 1,000 years.
Q. Has our new Prime Minister restored your faith in the leadership of Britain or—has our new Prime Minister restored your faith in the leadership of Britain, or do you think it's too late?
The President. Look, I think we're going to have a very good relationship. We'll see. I'm not going to tell him how to run his country.
But I can tell you, immigration is an incredible problem for Europe. You're allowing people in that, in many cases, are not going to help you. I'm going to be nice. They're not going to help you.
And the people that are there, people from your country, people from other countries that have been there for a long time and did a great job—beautiful—look, I love it. You know, my parents both came from Europe, indirectly. So a German, Scot. And you know, it's like one of those things. It's very sad. When I see what's happening to Europe, it's very sad to me.
But they have a problem with immigration. They have a problem with energy.
You have windmills all over the place. Windmills, you lose your shirt. Any country with windmills is a loser. Okay? You just have to look. If they have windmills, they're a loser, because you lose money with windmills.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Yes. Please, go ahead.
Q. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Two domestic——
The President. Go ahead. Who are you with.
Q. John Fredericks Media.
The President. Yes, that's right.
Q. Original name.
The President. What was your name before?
Q. John Fredericks. [Laughter]
The President. Go ahead, John.
Domestic Oil Production
Q. [Inaudible] Two domestic questions, sir.
The first one is: Exxon and Chevron—integrated oil U.S.—just announced record profits second quarter.
The President. Yes.
Q. Unbelievable. For Exxon, for instance, $14 billion—highest they've had in over a decade. For Chevron, for the quarter, highest in history. On the backs——
The President. By 12 times.
Q. On the backs——
The President. You saw that.
Q. Yes. I mean, it's unbelievable. On the backs of——
The President. I don't like it.
Q. ——on the backs of workers paying higher gas.
The President. Yes.
Q. What are—is our Department of Justice doing?
The President. They're making too much money. Okay? Based on a shortage, they're making too much money. I don't like it, and I'm—I should be the last one to say it, because I'm a big free enterprise guy. Nobody bigger.
And, you know, we're—you're going to see oil—when we're finished with Iran, you're going to see the prices drop through the floor. But they made too much money. Too much money.
Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much—too much money.
When you look at one company, where they made 12 times what they made the year before, they ought to give some of that back to the public. And they'd better cut the retail price, the consumer price.
Too much money. You're surprised I'm saying it. I'll say it loud and clear. I'm not happy about it.
Go ahead.
Q. Mr. President, a follow-up.
Q. Mr. President, have you talked to Jeanine Pirro since Friday?
Q. A follow-up.
The President. Go ahead.
District of Columbia Public Safety and Beatification Efforts
Q. Just one. For those of us here that live in Washington, DC, with our families, like I do, the renaissance of the city that you've been able to do in 18 months is incredible.
Before you were here, I——
The President. I hope you heard the——
Q. I couldn't take my——
The President. Did hear that, everybody?
Q. I couldn't take my wife to dinner.
The President. The renaissance of Washington, DC, in 15, 16 months is incredible, and it is.
It's clean, it's safe, and you haven't seen anything yet.
We're replacing all of the grass that hasn't been replaced in the fields—all the beautiful fields where the grass is. You know, grass is like humans: It has a life. This grass hasn't been changed in a hundred years.
We're doing all the fields. We're doing all the—most of the graffiti is—but most important thing is it's been beautified.
We did 78 monuments and fountains and waterfalls. And they went from being horrible, mostly graffiti—he said, most of them, for 25 years, never worked. They haven't worked. And it's a renaissance. Like, you used the word "renaissance," but it's a renaissance.
But the biggest thing is, we have very little crime now. This was the crime capital, frankly, of the world. It was the most unsafe capital of any country in the world. Now it's one of the safest, and it's one of the safest places in the United States.
And people are coming down—you see it. The tourism in Washington—everyone's safe now. Nobody get—nobody's getting mugged, shot.
We used to lose three people a week. Death. That's the least—I mean, it's three people in terms of death. Hundred and fifty people a year were killed. They come down from Iowa. They come from Indiana: "Mom, I'm looking at the Washington Monument. I'm looking at"—and they end up getting killed. You call their parents, "I'm sorry."
Doesn't happen anymore. We don't have that anymore. We play—we're rough. But we don't have that anymore.
Our military has been unbelievable, and they work very well with the DC police.
But our military came in, the general, people that we know so well, General. Right? They don't play games. And we got the gangs out.
We removed almost 5,000 people who were career criminals, who came in with Biden with the open borders—lot of them—and they're no longer here. We send them back to their countries.
Okay?
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
You've got to say—have you ever seen such a transformation of a city?
Q. It's unbelievable if you live here. It's just—you don't want to go back. Democrats——
The President. And now you can walk to work. You can walk to the White House.
Q. Metro. Same thing.
The President. The people in the White House—they work in the White—they tell me, "Sir, thank you" all—they're thanking me all the time.
They used to have to take Uber, and the Uber would be robbed. Okay? [Laughter] They weren't even safe. They'd go to a restaurant, and they'd feel safe in a restaurant, and then the restaurant would be robbed.
Do you know the restaurants were all closing? And now you can't—if you're a restauranteur, you can't get a restaurant. You—I mean, you literally can't. The restaurants are booming. Crime is down 92 percent, maybe more. I want to get it down a hundred percent.
You know, the greatest statistic, though, that you have is that 2 percent of the people create 91 percent of the crime. You can really handle that, and we've moved almost 5,000 people out. They're criminals—career criminals. We removed them or, in some cases, they're in jail.
In some cases, they were just—they were so bad—they came in through Biden. They're so bad, we don't want to move them out. We want to put them in jails because we're afraid they're going to come back in somehow.
So I appreciate you saying that. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
District of Columbia Governance/White House Renovation Projects
Q. Would you revoke—would you consider going to Congress if they come in and try to roll it back, the new Democratic mayor, and——
The President. Well, you had a mayor——
Q. ——and invoking Home Rule?
The President. ——who's—I guess she's a Communist. I mean, she says she's a Socialist.
But I guess she's a Communist, based on what she says.
But I have not met her yet. I look forward to meeting her. Would I federalize—basically, you're saying federalize DC?
Q. Yes.
The President. Yes. Well, I'm allowed to do that. Would I do it? If they want to——
We took something that was in deep trouble. It was a graffiti-filled, crime-filled mess. We turned it into Shangri-la. We turned it into a great place.
Look outside. Look what's happening. Look at the beautiful ballroom and military center. It's a military center, much more than—we have a drone port on top it.
We—look at the grass in front of the White House being all replaced with the top stuff. The parks are all being replaced. It starts very soon, actually. We'll do one at a time. It's about 700 acres of parks. They're all going to have brand-new—the best grass you can get.
Scotts—you know Scotts? Scotts Miracle-Gro. They're doing it. [Laughter] They do great grass. What can I tell you? I've got to give them a plug because they did the White House for free. "Sir"—a friend of mine, a guy that—he's terrific. "We'd like to give you new grass at the White House." I said, "I'll take it. How much?" He said, "Free." "I'll take it." [Laughter]
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Thank you. Thank you very much.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran/Democratic Party/District of Columbia Law Enforcement and Crime
Q. Mr. President, this is at least the fifth time you've turned off airstrikes against Iran since April——
The President. Yes.
Q. ——to negotiate. What is your message to the American people who are wondering what has changed this time? Why should it be any different?
The President. Well, you don't know. I don't know. I think we're going to, maybe, get something, but I want to give him every last chance before decapitation. Very tough to do what I—what we have planned. It's still planned. We'll see what happens. But it's a very, very tough thing to do. I think—I'm very proud of the fact that I will give people—I'll give people a chance. This is a big move. To do an attack that big on a country, I'd rather not do it.
Now we've already threw lots of large attacks, but they were normal large. Hopefully, they'll come to their senses, because what happened, you cannot have a nuclear weapon, but hopefully they'll come to their senses.
So they called me, and they said: "Please don't attack. We'll make a deal." That's the real truth, and everyone knows it. And who wouldn't call? And they found out through leaks and sleazebags—you know, a lot of sleazebags leak—leakers.
Leakers should be put in jail. They should. They have to strengthen up the laws for leakers. But in this case, leakers helped, because they said the severity of the attack, and Iran knew it.
They knew what was coming. It was going to come last night. And it would have gone on for a long time, and there'd be essentially very little left. There'd be nothing left. And if I am given a chance to let a lot of people live, I want to give that chance.
So I have—I'm under no time constraint. You know, I don't happen to be running, but a lot of very good Republicans are running. And you have a sick ideology taking place right now that—you know, hopefully, they'll be defeated because they'll destroy the country if they ever take over.
But this desk is like a blocking desk. No matter who gets in, if it's bad, I block. And I'm good at blocking.
If it's bad, if it's stupid things like the things they want to do—"We want to get rid of the
U.S. Senate." I don't like a lot of Senators, to be honest with you. [Laughter] I don't want to get rid of the Senate. "We want to get rid of the Supreme Court." They want to put, now, 21 or 23 people—those—that's the real—on the Supreme Court, or get rid of it.
They want to get rid of the Presidency. They want to have an appointed executive running.
That's a communist thing, you know? That's a communist thing. These are sick people.
And you know, I said it the other day, and it maybe—doesn't sound that important, but when a country goes bad—like, look at the blue cities. What do they have in common aside from massive crime? Much more crime. The Republicans have very little crime. But what do the blue cities have in mind? And also, you could say this with nations, when they go bad. The blue cities have something in common: crime—high crime; vicious, violent crime.
But what do they have in common? They're all dirty. They're filthy dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty. And I don't want to mention any specific city. It's really all of them. But you go into these cities that are blue, they're crime-ridden, and they're filthy dirty.
They're like Washington, DC, was a year and a half ago, with graffiti all over the place, with crime all over the place, with people afraid to be here. You had to be ashamed of your Capital.
Some of the most beautiful buildings built in the real time. Like, you look at the Supreme Court building, and they put graffiti on it—the most beautiful columns I've ever seen.
In fact, our columns are going to be nicer at the ballroom. I said, "I want the Supreme Court but better."
But you look at those columns, how—and then you see graffiti on the side of the building.
No artistry, just bad people.
But the one thing they all have in common: crime. Two things—crime, but they're disgusting. They're filthy dirty. The streets are dirty. They have people lying all over the street doing you-know-what. They're all the same. And this is what we're going to put in our—not going to happen in our country.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Go ahead, please.
Yes, in the back.
Q. Yes.
Q. When someone—me, sir? Or her?
The President. Go ahead.
Q. Okay. Have you——
Q. When a group—sir, when a group loses——
The President. Well, let him go, then you.
Q. I'm sorry, ma'am.
The President. He was very rude to you, right? [Laughter] Go ahead. Who are you with?
Haitian Refugees/Temporary Protected Status
Q. I'm with Real America's Voice, sir. Sir, when a group such as the Haitians lose their temporary protective status, how soon should they be bused and flown out?
The President. Well, we had the—a big victory in court on temporary—you know, the protective status. And I largely leave it up to my people.
But we've had people here for many years and they were here temporarily. You know, we had people coming in, and they've been here for many, many years. And they had a tragedy in their country. They had—sometimes it was storms, or it was—you know, it was hurricanes. And they come in and then, you know, they're here for 12 years, 14 years. So something's got to be done.
Yes, please.
Suspected Vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool/Refurbished Monuments
Q. Mr. President, have you spoken to Jeanine Pirro about her decision to drop criminal charges?
The President. No, Jeanine Pirro made a mistake.
Q. Have you spoken to her about it?
The President. It was vandalism.
I just told you we did, I think, 78. One of the things was the reflecting pool. Hasn't worked since 1922 because it always leaked. It always leaked, from 1922. You know, it's the largest, longest pool ever, all that. The concept is beautiful, but it always leaked because of the size, because of maintenance, whatever. But it was built in 1922, and from the day it was built, it—it leaked.
Biden spent $58 million. Barack Hussein Obama spent much more than that. He said: "I have an idea. Let's take the river from—let's take the water from the Potomac." So they took the water from the Potomac, and it was putrid. It was putrid. It was a disaster. Biden was a disaster.
I said, "I'm going to get that fixed," along with Doug Burgum and Department of Interior, and we worked hard on that.
Now, we worked hard on all 70—it's actually, I think, 81 now. You saw the new horses that just opened by the bridge with the gold. That was the way they were many years ago. Now they look better than they did many years ago.
But these monuments look better than they did when they were originally built. Not just a little fixup. We made them the way they were plus, and everyone's so proud.
The biggest—one of the bigger jobs was—not really the biggest, believe it or not, but one of the biggest was the Reflecting Pool, and we did a great job. We sandblasted the stone outside. It was granite, so it has a long life. We did a great job. We got very expensive material to put on top of the surface that always leaked because it was stone. It was a stone surface. Always leaked. And we put it on, and it was beautiful.
Now, we have photographs or tapes—like, movie cameras, right? We have them where people are on the side cutting it with a box knife, with a—so—now, I'm not saying I was a-hundred-percent thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing. We wanted to get it
—open for July 4, and we got it done. But in addition, there was vandalism.
Number one, look at the grass, where the grass was all knocked out with a very, very powerful ingredient that we know very well what it is. I'm not going to say the name because people get ideas. But—and they put a terrible phrase—I won't say that either—but a terrible phrase on a massive piece of grass that we had just replaced. Killed the grass. We had to replace the grass—a lot of grass.
In addition, they took knives or cutters and they cut the material—it's material. And they put their hands and they pulled it.
And there was also some maintenance things that we would have routinely fixed, but we had that up and it was perfect.
And then you had the bubblers, which get rid of the—you know, the—what forms in the water. And that works great. But they turned it off because of the fight, because it competed. A little bit of noise during the fight. They turned it off, and it grows very rapidly in the water. But that actually works very well, and that's all.
So now, we're just about set to reopen it, and we had to replace cut areas where they cut it and ripped it.
But there's a tape, and Jesse Watters, by the way, did a whole big thing on it. There's a tape that's out there, that I posted on Truth, where you have people leaning over the side—the weakest part because of the flexibility. You know, it moves. It's very complicated. It moves. And the softest part has to be flexible, and that's the stuff you can cut. And these guys knew what they were doing, and they cut all the way along the base. Cut, cut, cut.
Now, when Jeanine looked at it, it was the day after the Fourth of July with the largest fireworks display in the world. And the stuff was laying all over the pool—the fireworks, because they—they used the pool as one of the—and it was all over the pool. It was the day after, or very shortly thereafter. But that was working beautifully, and it was vandalized.
And if you look at the tape—now, the tape isn't a great tape in the sense that you—it's a little hard to say who it exactly was, but it was people cutting this very expensive material, waterproofing material.
Anyway, it looked beautiful, and then they cut it, and they vandalized.
And we weren't necessarily thrilled with the contractor, but they did a job, and they were fixing any problems. But then it got carried away, because the judge was extremely unfriendly to Jeanine. And frankly, I think she choked, because the judge was really vicious.
Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked. I don't know what the hell happened.
News Media/Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
Q. Are you reconsidering her role—Pirro's role?
The President. I don't know what—you don't. You're fake news. Don't—don't ever talk again. You're fake news. One of the worst in the business. Fortunately, nobody watches you.
But something happened. There was vandalism there, and there was some, I—things from the contractor, which you—which we would fix.
But it's almost complete. And when it opens, it's incredible. It's really incredible.
But remember this: It leaked from 1922. It opened in 1922. They never solved the leak problem because it was stone, and the cracks with the stone. It's not a—stone is really not a waterproofing material. We essentially use a very high-grade swimming pool-type material, which was my idea. I was very proud of that idea.
And by the way, I didn't know the contractor. Everyone said the contract-—I didn't know the contractor.
But when it was completed, it was perfect. But then somebody went in and cut it, just like they did the grass. You know, nobody talks about the grass. The grass have helicopter pictures of what they did. Wasn't it 87—right? Do you know what they did? Right? Did you see what they did? Did you see what they wrote? What did they write?
Q. "87"—or, sorry, "86 47."
The President. That's right, "86 47." They—86 him. So it's 86, 47. They didn't do 45. At least they left 45 out.
But they—in massive letters on the grass, "86 47." And nobody talked about that. That was vandalism too. We had to replace all that grass. It was a tremendous amount of grass, because when you hit it with this poison—it's acid—it kills the grass, no matter how—you can't even clean it, even if you got there right after. It's very powerful stuff. I know it well.
So people did great damage to this thing because they're sick people.
You know who's representing the man is a man from CREW, a sleazebag who's been suing me for my whole political—hasn't won. He's lost all the time. But CREW. Do you know what CREW is? It's a third-rate operation that's supposed to be a charity, but it's not. They used it for political reasons.
So we should be proud of our monuments, and we should be proud of our city.
And you know, that was opened. Before they did the damage, that was opened. It never looked more beautiful. It looked like a mirror, and that's what it was supposed to be.
It was a very dark color—because otherwise you don't see it as a Reflecting Pool, and it looked beautiful.
Well, it will look just as beautiful. It will be fixed and open over the next week and a half, 2 weeks.
Q. Mr. President——
Q. Who are you rooting for in Michigan——
The President. Okay. One more. Yes.
Michigan Partisan Primary Election
Q. Who are you rooting for in Michigan tomorrow, Mr. President?
The President. Well, you have a very interesting group. I—who I'm really voting for is Mike Rogers, because I think he's going to be a great Senator.
But you have a Communist versus a Socialist. That's the way I look at it. You have a Communist versus a Socialist. It looks like the Communist is leading. We're talking about for the Democrat primary.
But, for the Republican, you have a very good man, and he should be able to—he should be able to win. Yes.
Okay. One more.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Go ahead. In the back. Yes, go ahead.
Lafayette Park Beautification Efforts/Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
Q. Mr. President, when are you going to open up—when are you going to open up Lafayette Park?
The President. Lafayette Park, it's great. Did we do a good job in Lafayette Park?
Q. It's phenomenal.
The President. So Lafayette Park is right across—on the other side of the street. And I made a donation of $10 million. That was me, personally. And it's unbelievable.
It was so dirty and so disgusting, like everything liberal becomes dirty and disgusting.
Social—socialism, liberalism, progressivism. You know the word "progressive" is such a nice word. They love using it, but the radical left isn't letting them use that word anymore.
But Lafayette Park is a large park. It was known as the gateway to the White House, and it was disgusting. The monument is beautiful. Graffiti all over it. I won't say what was on the sidewalk, but horrible, horrible, horrible, disgusting stuff.
And not only did we fix it, we have military standing there watching it. And if anybody touches it, we—that was the one mistake with the reflecting pond. They hadn't put up the cameras yet. They had enough up, because you see what's happening. But if they would have had them up, we would have had a lot of—it would have been a lot easier.
But—and I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella.
Q. Do you have confidence in her?
The President. And people get away with things, and it's a disgrace. But we're very proud of Lafayette Park.
Now, we have a big decision to make: Do we take the pavers that are red—you know, the red brick pavers—and do we change them into a granite—to gray granite? They're beautiful, but they're not the original. So we're going to have to make that decision.
You have a good sense of taste. What would you do?
Q. Yes.
The President. Huh?
Q. Yes, change it.
The President. You would change the red brick into the granite?
Q. Yes. Heartbeat. Yes.
The President. The granite is much stronger. It holds up much better. Different color.
Q. Legacy.
The President. Change it? Okay.
Q. Are you considering firing Pirro, Mr. President?
The President. Go ahead, please.
Major League Baseball
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Today is the MLB trade deadline, and there's been talk lately about a potential lockout next year, I think, over salary cap concerns.
The President. Yes.
Q. A proposed salary cap.
Do you support a salary cap in the MLB, and what are your thoughts about a potential lockout?
The President. Well, we're going to talk about that at a different time. You know, it's a complex situation, but not too complex for me.
Yes. Please. In the back.
New York Yankees General Manager and Senior Vice President Brian Cashman/Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Compensation Programs
Q. A follow-up. What did you think of the Nationals trading Luis García to the Yankees? And do you think Brian Cashman——
The President. The which one?
Q. Luis García from the Washington Nationals to the New York Yankees—your New York Yankees.
The President. Yes.
Q. And what do you think of the job Brian Cashman's doing?
The President. Well, I've known Brian Cashman for a long time. Look, he's done a good job.
I think Randy Levine is great. He's a great executive.
And by the way, the NIL—or whatever it is—is very close to getting solved—college sports. And Randy Levine and Nick Saban and a whole group of people have done an unbelievable job. That was a case that should have been appealed by the NCAA, and they never appealed it.
Whoever ran the NCAA, they never appealed it.
The original case was thrown out by a judge that knew nothing about sports—nothing about sports or college sports. And that case should have been appealed. They didn't appeal it. They didn't know. I think they forgot. Something happened.
And college sports was and is in turmoil right now. Turmoil.
And Randy Levine from the Yankees—he's the president of the Yankees—got together with a lot of people. We had it right here. Sixty people that were in that world, including legal people. And from football it was Nick Saban, who won six or seven championships. Fantastic coach and very respected. And many other people. Very, very respected. And we have a bipartisan deal as of right now, so we'll see what happens.
We have to—they'll be voting on it soon. I hope they get it done. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for that question. I loved his question. Have a good time. Thank you, everybody. Good luck.
NOTE: The President spoke at 1:43 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Andy Burnham of the United Kingdom; District of Columbia Democratic mayoral candidate and councilmember Janeese Lewis George; Jim Hagedorn, chairman and chief executive officer, ScottsMiracle-Gro; U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro; Jesse Watters, cohost, Fox News Channel's "The Five" program; Todd E. Edelman, judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia; former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who was charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool; Norman L. Eisen, cofounder and former board chair emeritus, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW); former Rep. Michael J. Rogers; Michigan Democratic senatorial candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens; Randy Levine, president, Major League Baseball's New York Yankees; Nick Saban, former head coach, University of Alabama football team; and Claudia A. Wilken, judge,
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He also referred to S. 1383. Reporters referred to Nigel P. Farage, Member of Parliament and leader of the United Kingdom's Reform
U.K. Party; and Luis Garcia, first baseman, New York Yankees.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : President's Military Spouse Commission, establishment, signing the Executive order; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, White House.
Locations: Washington, DC.
Names: Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Blanche, Todd W.; Burgum, Douglas J.; Burnham, Andy; Caine, J. Daniel; Cashman, Brian; Edelman, Todd E.; Eisen, Norman L.; El-Sayed, Abdul; George, Janeese Lewis; Hagedorn, Jim; Hearn, David; Hegseth, Jennifer; Hegseth, Peter B.; Levine, Randy; Lunday, LyndaLee; Miller, Max; Mullin, Christie; Mullin, Markwayne; Obama, Barack; Pirro, Jeanine; Rogers, Michael J.; Saban, Nick; Sayle, Desiree Thompson; Stevens, Haley; Watters, Jesse; Wilken, Claudia A.; Wilsbach, Cindy; Wilsbach, Kenneth S.; Wolfe, Doniel.
Subjects: 2026 midterm elections; Acting Attorney General; Border security; Department of Justice, proposed "Anti-Weaponization Fund"; District of Columbia, beautification efforts; District of Columbia, Lafayette Park renovation efforts; District of Columbia, law enforcement
improvement efforts; Election security and integrity, strengthening efforts; Europe, energy sources; Europe, migration issues; Illegal immigration; Internal Revenue Service; Iran, commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iran, diplomatic engagement with U.S.; Iran, nuclear weapons development; Iran, U.S. military operations; Joint Chiefs of Staff; Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, renovation work; Military families; MSNOW; Oil markets and prices; President's Military Spouse Commission; Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act; Secretary of Homeland Security; Secretary of the Interior; Secretary of War; Spain, migration issues; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. servicemembers, service and dedication; United Kingdom, Prime Minister; United Kingdom, relations with U.S.; Venezuela, U.S. military capture and exfiltration of President Maduro.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600512.