President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One, Jan. 11, 2026

What a nice grouping this is. This is really nice.

Look at this.

And he quite — it's going to be very rough in about 10 minutes, so we'll have to go a little bit quickly. They just said, very, very rough.

The Press.

They're on Iran.

Have they crossed your red line yet to trigger a response?

No, no, they're starting to, it looks like. And there seem to be some people killed that aren't supposed to be killed. These are violent. If you call them leaders, I don't know if they're leaders or just they rule through violence. But we're looking at it very seriously.

The military is looking at it. And we're looking at some very strong options. We'll make a determination.

The Press Which options have you been briefed on?

Are you meeting with senior officials?

What do you want to do? The President.

The Press.

The Press. The Press. The Press. CNN, sir. Why don't you just say, I'm with CNN? She says, I'm with the White House pool. And I say, what? You're with CNN. You're with fake news.

Because CNN is fake news. Go ahead. Give me a question.

The Press Can I ask how you're balancing and how you're deciding your response, the balance between helping protesters versus hindering them? Because I imagine that's a delegate violence to strike.

Some of the protesters were killed through the stampeding. I mean, you know, there's so many of them. And some were shot. We're getting a full report. I'm getting an hourly report, and we're gonna make a determination.

Sir, you are a fellow Robinsonist.

Sir, the son of the disposed Shah, the son of the disposed Shah and some military leaders The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press.

The Press. We're doing well, sir. Venezuela is really working out well. We're working along really well with the leadership, and we'll see how it all works out.

The Press How are you planning to meet with Delsey to go?

The President At some point, I'll meet. Yeah, she's been very good. Look, she asked us, could we take 50 million barrels of oil? And I said, yes, we can. It's 4 billion — $4.2 billion. And it's on its way right now to the United States, by the way.

The Press When will you meet with Mer- — with Machado this week?

The President I'm looking for something to grab here. And because it's going to get rough, and I don't seem to be in a very — I think you did this to me. You put me in a position where there's absolutely nothing to grab. So I'm looking for something to grab, and

it's not going to be Caroline.

The Press. Have any oil companies made commitments to you, sir? Have any oil companies made commitments to the United States after your meeting on Friday, sir? Which — have Exxon, Kodama — No, I don't want to say.

No, I didn't like Exxon's response. You know, we have so many that want to not probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn't like their response. They're playing too cute.

What backstops or guarantees have you told the oil companies that you're willing to provide?

I have guarantees that they're going to be safe, that there's going to be no problem, and there will be. There's not going to be no problem, and there will be. There's not going to be a problem. They had problems in the past because they didn't have Trump as a President. They had stupid people.

The Press.

The Press.

What kind of deal are you looking for from Cuba? What kind of deal are you looking for from Cuba?

You're going to find out pretty soon. We're talking to Cuba, and you'll find out pretty soon. And one of the things I want taken care of and one of the groups I want taken care of are the people that came from Cuba that were forced out or left under duress, and they're great citizens of the United States right now.

You have a lot of people forced out of Cuba unfairly. So we're going to take care of, most importantly right now, we're going to take care of the people that came from Cuba that are American citizens or in our country.

The Press Are you planning to seize any oil tankers that are headed to Cuba?

The President Well, we have a lot of oil people really interested. You saw that the other day. And that was just a small group because the room in the White House, we need it. We need the ballroom, actually. We could have filled up the ballroom, practically.

We have so many people that want to go in for oil. So you saw the great — some great companies.

The Press Are you going to send Starlink to Iran, sir, to help the people in the ground with the Internet blackout for 70 — more than 72

hours? The President We're going to be talking about that. We may get the Internet going, if that's possible. The Press Are you talking to Moscow? that we may get the Internet going, if that's possible. We may speak to Elon, because, as you know, he's very good at that kind of thing. He's got a very good company.

So we may speak to Elon Musk. And, in fact, I'm going to call him as soon as I'm finished with you.

Just quickly, Iran said that they would consider military and commercial bases as legitimate targets if you struck. Are you concerned about-

If we do that, we'll consider things targets they wouldn't — that they wouldn't believe. If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they've never been hit before. And they won't even believe it. I have — I have options that are so strong.

So, I mean, if they did that, it'll be met with a very, very powerful force. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. threat wiped out. Don't you think — and then you just had Venezuela. Don't you think — she says, CNN, do you think

they take your threat seriously? Wouldn't you say they do after all of the things we have done? What a stupid question.

The Press.

The Press.

Are you coordinating with allies on the response to

Iran?

Mr. President, when will you meet with Maria

Karina Machado this week?

I don't know. I hear Tuesday or Wednesday. I look forward to that.

Have you named your Board of Peace for Gaza yet?

Where do those plans stand?

We have a Board of Peace that's being formed, but essentially it's the most important leaders of the most important nations. All nations, but the most important. You take the most important leaders and nations, that's who the Board You take the most important leaders and nations.

That's who the border peace is going to be. Everybody wants to be on it.

The Press.

One group taking your threats seriously is Greenland. One area taking your threats seriously is the New York Post.

The President.

New York Post speaks to me semi-fairly. So, go ahead. The Press. One group taking your threats very seriously is

Greenland. Are you still thinking of military action there? Or is there anything they can —

The President One group?

Where?

Military action?

The Press Greenland.

Greenland.

Is there anything they can offer you for a deal?

The President If we don't take Greenland, Russia or China will. And I'm not letting that happen. If we don't take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland. And I am not going to let that happen.

The Press Is there any deal they can offer you?

Either like Russia or China?

The President Yeah, she's right, Ron. I'd love to make a deal with them.

It's easier.

But one way or the other, we're going to have Greenland.

The Press Are you okay if that compromises NATO? If NATO effectively ceases to exist in order to

keep the peace? The President. The Press. The President. The President. The Press. The President. The President. The President. The President.

The President.

The President. The President. I'd be upset if I did it. Maybe NATO would save a lot of money. I like NATO. I just wonder whether or not, if we needed NATO, would they be there for us. I'm not sure they would. You know, we spent a lot of money on NATO,

and I'm not sure they would. Now, what's happened is, as you know, Sleepy Joe Biden gave $350 billion to Ukraine and got nothing for it. I got rare earth back. I got, I think, value back far greater than that.

But — and that's what he should have done. Now, if you look at what's going on with respect to NATO, we have a very good relationship. Five percent GDP, and they pay us. We send them military equipment, and they pay us back the full cost of the equipment.

The war is — we make money with the war, but I don't even want to talk about that. I want to save the lives. They're Russian and Ukrainian lives. I want to save the lives. That's the only reason I'm doing it.

This is Biden's war. It should have never happened. It would have never happened if I were President. This is Biden's war. It's not Trump's war. All I can do is stop it. And I think we're making progress toward stopping it. Which would be number nine and a quarter.

You know what the quarter is, right? Right? Thailand and Cambodia went at it again. But I got it stopped very quickly. I consider that one quarter of a war.

When was the last time you made a tangible offer

to Greenland yet?

Have you made an actual offer to Denmark?

I haven't done that, but Greenland should make the

deal because Greenland does not want to see Russia or China take over. They don't go there. It's very far away from Greenland. And Greenland, basically, their defense is two dog sleds.

Do you know that?

You know what their defense is? Two dogsleds. In the meantime, you have Russian destroyers and submarines and China destroyers and submarines all over the place. We're not going to let that happen. That'll be an affection to NATO, and then it affects NATO. But, you know, they need us much more than we need them,

I will tell you that right now. The war that should have never happened with Ukraine. The UK. The Press. The President, are you going to increase the amount of military bases? The President That's a war that should have never happened with Ukraine.

The Press. The President The UK and Germany are discussing plans for a joint NATO mission to protect Arctic security in Greenland. Does that change your calculus at all?

The President No.

Look, look, we're talking about acquiring, not leasing, not having it short term. We're talking about acquiring. And if we don't do it, Russia or China will. And that's not going to happen when I'm President. The Press Are you going to increase the amount of military bases on Greenland in the meantime? The President We have bases on Greenland, yeah. The Press Are you going to make them do more? The President We want a lot of soldiers there right now, if I want.

But you need more than that.

You need ownership. You really have to. You really need title, as they say in the real estate business. You're on Minneapolis. Your administration has advocated for absolute immunity for the ICE officer who shot Renee

Goode.

How do you define absolute immunity? What does that mean?

Everyone's seen it.

And the woman was very violent. She's a, you know, very radical person.

Very sad what happened.

Her friend was very radical, you know. Go, drive, drive.

The Press But with the officer absolute immunity,

how would you define that?

The President Well, I'm going to let the people define it. But immunity, you know what immunity, what notice means as well as I do.

The Press So that officer should be back on the course?

The President But we can't do that. We have — you know, the law enforcement in our country is doing really well, despite the fact that sleepy Joe Biden allowed people to pour through an open border. Crime stats just came out.

We have the best crime stats on record, despite all the criminals he allowed into our country. We've gotten a lot of them out. We have to respect our law enforcement. At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement.

And you heard the same noises. You saw the same crunch that I saw. You can't do that with law enforcement, whether it's police or ICE or Border Patrol or anybody else.

The Press.

The Press.

The Press. The Press. The Press. police or ICE or Border Patrol or anybody else. When it comes to ICE officials, no.

Mr. President, just to clarify on the absolute immunity, do you believe ICE officers should have absolute immunity?

No.

Generally speaking, I mean, these people have been harassed. They're threatened every day. They had bands out playing so they couldn't sleep at the hotel. I see what they're doing to them. They're threatening every day. They had bands out playing so they couldn't sleep at the hotel. I see what they're doing to them. They're threatening them constantly. And all they're doing is doing what I got elected on.

We had millions of people that came into our country that are horrible people that shouldn't be in our country. They're murderers. They're drug dealers. They're people from mental institutions. They're the criminally insane. They're peopleers. They're drug dealers. They're people from mental institutions. They're the criminally insane. They're people from prisons.

They were allowed to come into our country because

Biden was a stupid person. And the people surrounding him, very smart, very vicious, but they have no common sense, and they're radicalized people. They're radical left people, not radical right. They're radical left people.

And all they're doing is what, not radical right. They're radical left people. And all they're doing is what I campaigned on. I won in a landslide. We won all seven swing states. We won the popular vote. We won the districts.

We won everything. We won the counties. We won the counties by 79 percent, I believe. I campaigned on the Great Border, and now we have a Great Border. But Biden let 25 million people come into this

country, and many of those people are criminals, including 11,888 murderers. And we want them out. And I won on that. Now people don't talk about it because the border is so secure, nobody wants to talk about it anymore.

The border was one of the reasons I won the election. I've done such a good job on it, but nobody wants to talk about it anymore. The border is totally secure. And now the crime stats just came out, and they're the best numbers since they were taken. And that's like 50 years ago. We have the best crime numbers, despite the fact

that a lot of criminals were allowed into our country. We have to respect our law enforcement.

The Press Do you believe that deadly force was necessary after watching all the footage of the inmates in the past?

What's your assessment there?

The President It was highly disrespectful of law enforcement. The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement. The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement. You saw that. They were harassing.

They were following for days and for hours. And I think, frankly, they're professional agitators. And I'd like to find out, and we are going to find out who's paying for it. With their brand-new signs and all the different things.

But these are professional agitators. And law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff. What that woman and what her friend and what their other friends were doing to law enforcement, not just ICE, law enforcement, is outrageous.

Do ICE positions even work?

Can you tell us about your trip to Detroit on Tuesday? I'm going to be making a trip to Detroit

to talk about our unbelievable amount of factories that are opening up all over the country, many of which are car factories and car plants. We have manufacturing plants opening up at levels that nobody has ever seen before because

of tariffs. If we didn't have tariffs, you wouldn't have them opening, although they were very happy with the November 5th election. But we have — from Canada, they're coming. From Mexico, they're coming. From Germany, from Japan, from all over Europe,

and from Japan, other places. And from China, they're opening up car factories, car manufacturing plants at levels that we've never seen before. So I'm going to Detroit because they're going to be opening up plants in Detroit, or redoing plants.

But they're really ripping down old plants and building new. We are going to be — we're the hottest country right now anywhere in the world. I mean, think of it. A year and a half ago, we were a dead country, and

now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world.

The Press.

Mr. President, the Pearl Spas is a three-year extension of the ACA. It's in the Senate. If it passed the Senate, would you veto it or not?

I might.

Yeah, I might.

Sir, do you have any information about the suspicious object that was found at Palm Beach International Airport before takeoff? The President No. I know nothing about it. The Press Okay. And back on Iran, the ayatollah said that he thinks that the protesters are trying to, quote, please you. Do you see it that way?

What's your message to the Iranian people right now?

The President I don't know that they're trying to please me. They named a boulevard after me, but that's But I don't think they're trying to please. I think they just want peace. They want to have freedom. The protesters are after freedom. Iran has not allowed freedom for a long time. And the protesters, I don't think they're trying to please me.

They're trying to get somebody to help them. They're under siege. And now it looks like they're being shot, which is a very bad thing.

The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press.

The Press.

The Press.

The Press.

The Press. Have you seen the movie yet? And what are your thoughts on it? The President I've seen pieces of it. It's incredible, I tell you. I think it's going to do very — you know, she did a book, and the book was a big number-one bestseller. And this is a movie, and it seems to be captivating a lot of people's attention.

It's very good.

The Press Did you tell them you were premiering the

Trump-Kennedy Center. It's going to be very exciting. It's a very hard ticket, I can tell you. Everybody, Wade Gretzky and his wife, Janet. Beautiful wife. Great wife. He said last night, gee, I want to go to a lot of

people. Everybody wants tickets to the premiere. I think it's going to be great.

The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press. The Press.

The Press. The Press. Not only for that reason, for other reasons, too. But interest rates are falling very rapidly.

The Press With no help from the Fed?

Because we have a total stiff at the Fed.

The Press You haven't asked us to ask you on the deficit on the credit cap on credit card interest rates that came out on Friday. What happens if the credit card companies don't comply by the Take-Away Deed?

The President Well, then they're in violation of

the law. The Press And you want congressional support?

The President Very severe things. No, I want a cap on credit card interest rates. Because, you know, some of them are 28, almost 30 percent. And that — people don't know they're paying 30 percent. Some of the people out there — you know, they're working, and they have no idea that they're paying 30 percent. No way. We're putting a one-year cap at 10 percent, and that's it.

They know it. And they really — they've really abused the public. The credit card companies have totally abused — I'm not going to let it happen.

Do you have something really nice from Iran to engage diplomatically with you, or perhaps negotiate on nuclear — their nuclear program?

With Iran?

Yeah. Do you think they want to engage diplomatically with you? The President They do. They called yesterday.

The Press Is it still an option? Is it still an option?

The President Iran called to negotiate.

The Press Yesterday.

They called?

The President Yesterday.

The leaders of Iran called.

They want to negotiate.

I think they're tired of being beat up by the United States. The Press. The President wants to negotiate. Yes. We may meet with them. I mean, it's a meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what's happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up.

Iran called. They want to negotiate. Thank you very much, everybody. Be careful. A lot of bumps.

The Press.

The President is going to renovate the golf course?

Are you going to make it a beautiful, world-class,

U.S. Open-caliber course? And ideally, we're going to have major tournaments there and everything else. It's going to bring a lot of business into Washington. By the way, the crime stats just came out on And there is virtually no crime. It's gone from tremendous crime, murder, and

everything else. There's virtually no crime in Washington, D.C. Thank you, President Trump. Thank you, President Trump. Thank you very much, everybody.