White House: President Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, May 12, 2026

Mr. President. Mr. President, good afternoon.

What are your expectations for your.

Well, we're going to see what happens. We're only making a good deal. We have. Their military is gone, it's wiped out. And we're only going to make a good deal and we'll see what happens.

But I believe that one way or the other, it's going to be very good for the American people and I think actually very good for the Iranian people. Are you reconsidering the Pakistanis as mediators? No, they're great. I think they're great. Mr. President, the Pakistanis have been great.

The Field Marshal and the Prime Minister of Pakistan have been absolutely great. Mr. President, what is your message to President Xi as it relates to the Iran war? Well, I think, number one, we're going to have a long talk about it. I think he's been relatively good, to be honest with you. You look at the blockade, no problem.

They get a lot of their oil from that area. We've had no problem. And he's been a friend of mine. He's been somebody that we get along with. And I think you're going to see that good things are going to happen.

This is going to be a very exciting trip. A lot of good things are going to happen. Do you think he needs to intervene at all with the Iranians help in any way? No, I don't think we need any help with Iran. We'll win it.

One way or the other, we'll win it. We'll win it peacefully or otherwise. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Every single element of their war machine is gone.

They've killed a lot of people. They've killed 42,000 people at least over the last month and a half. We're going to. We win, Mr. President. How you cut it.

Mr. President, do you believe. Do you believe. Mr. Curdy, sir. Mr. President, do you believe your visit to China will impact of international economy and price of oil? It's going to be a positive.

We're going to have a very good meeting. I spoke with President Xi. We look forward, we both look forward to the meeting. It's going to be great.

Mr. President, what is going to be your red line to end. To end the ceasefire for you? What will it take to pull the plug? Well, we're going to see and we'll be thinking about it on the flight and we'll be thinking about it for the next little while. But we've beaten their military very soundly.

That's over with. The blockade is very effective. It's been 100% effective. And one way or the other, it's going to work out very well. It's going to work out very well.

I think you're going to have so much oil, you're going to have a gusher of oil like you've never had before. So when oil goes up a little bit, I thought it would go up much more. If you go back three, four months ago when we were contemplating, we assumed oil would go much higher. Yesterday it was at $99. And if you think about it, I would have taken that all day long because it's very simple.

Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. They will not have a nuclear weapon. They know that agreed to that. And then that's not what they said to me when it came to we don't play games. They're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

Mr. President, you promised to bring inflation down. Is now at its highest level in three years. Are your policies not working? My policies are working. Incredibly, if you go back to just before the war, for the last three months, inflation was at 1.7%.

Now, we had a choice. Let these lunatics have a nuclear weapon. If you want to do that, then you're a stupid person. And you happen to be. I mean, I know you very well.

Anybody that wants them to have a nuclear weapon is a stupid person. So we said we're going to take the greatest stock market in history and we're going to go down a little bit. And actually that turned out to be incorrect because our stock market is now at the highest point in history, which frankly surprised a lot of people. It's a very simple message. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and they won't have a nuclear weapon.

And that's 100%. The Navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti aircraft is gone. Their radar is gone.

Their leaders are gone. They're all gone. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

Are you ready to extend a waiver on sanctioned Russian oil to ease the global crude prices? We're going to do whatever is necessary. And as soon as this war is over, which will not be long, you're going to see oil prices drop and you're going to see a stock market which is already at the highest point in history go through the roof. You're going to see the golden age of America, frankly, and you're seeing it now. So as soon as this is, don't forget, you have hundreds of ships that are loaded up with oil that want to come out.

As soon as they come out we're going to have a gusher of oil, and you're going to have inflation that goes way down. Now with all of this. Inflation is much lower than it was under Biden. Biden had the highest inflation in the history of our country. Inflation is nothing by comparison.

But our inflation is just short term. Because if you go from before, just before the war, we were, for the last three months, 1.7%. And now what you have is as soon as this war is over, you're going to see inflation go down to probably one and a half percent. Will you extend the waiver? Will you.

Will you extend the waiver, sir? Will you extend the waiver upon Russian crew? Thank you so much, Mr. President. Mr. President, yesterday you said you. You give the Kurds arms, but they did it for themselves.

A US Military official says that the Kurds have not received any arms and the Kurdish political parties are denying any arms. Officials are wrong people, sir. You understand. Summit.

You wanted Jerome Powell fired for cost overruns. How's that different than your ballroom? And there are. So what happened is we have a ballroom that's under budget. It's going up right here.

I've doubled the size of it because we obviously need that. And we're right now on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule. I doubled the size of it, you dumb person. Double the size you are. You are not a smart person.

Over here. And based on a lot of things that have happened over the last year, we are. We doubled the size of the ballroom. So we're going to have a ballroom that's appropriate for the White House. We doubled the size.

The ballroom now is ahead of schedule, and it's a little bit under budget, depending on the finishes that we use.

The president of Cuba has his days numbered. Well, let's. They're not doing well. Cuba is not doing well. It's a failed nation.

And we'll be talking about Cuba at the right time.

Mr. President. Mr. President. President, let me ask you about Venezuela. Some Venezuelans are concerned that there are some political prisoners still in their prisons. Would you do something about that?

Yeah, we'll do it. We're going to get them all out. I'll tell you what, Delsey is doing a great job. The people of Venezuela are thrilled with what's happened. They can't even believe it.

They're dancing in the streets. And as you know, we have Exxon, we have Chevron, we have all of the big companies going in. And Venezuela now is making more money than they've made in the last 25 years. Excuse me, sir. We, as you know, we let a lot, they let a lot of the political prisoners out and the rest will become.

Did you ask Marty McCary to resign, sir, or did you fire your FBI? Well, I don't want to say, but Marty's a great guy. He's a friend of mine. He's a wonderful man. And he's going to be off and the assistant, the deputy is taking over temporarily until we find everybody wants that job.

It's a very important job. Marty's a terrific guy, but he's going to go on and he's going to lead a good life.

He was having, he was having some difficulty, you know, he's a great doctor and he was having some difficulty, but he's going to go on and he's going to do well. We have. Everybody wants that job. Everybody. Internal, would you send the National Guard or ICE to voting locations in November?

Would you do that? Well, you know what? I'd do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections. We have to have honest elections. So you're not ruling that out?

Two quick question, Mr. President. This month is considered to be the month of Africa. On May 25th we'll be celebrating Africa Day. Would you mind doing, doing something special like 10 minute interview to speak about your views on the application?

Ceasefire is on. Life support. Is President Xi the person to bring it back to life? Well, we'll see what happens. We're going to have a great meeting in China.

He's a wonderful guy, he's a friend of mine and we're going to have a great meeting. We do a lot of business with China, we do very well with China and they do well with us. And the relationship is very good. We're going to have a great meeting. We are going to have a great meeting.

He's got what it takes to convince the Iranians, whatever he can do to help.

Mr. President, will you be able to. Talk about the end of the war in Ukraine with the President? Yeah, I think it's getting very close. The end of the war in Ukraine, I really think it's getting very close. Will China invest a trillion dollars in the U.S. will China trillion dollars in.

The U.S. negotiating with Iran? Mr. President, to what extent are Americans financial situation motivating you to make a deal? Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans financial situation.

I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot Let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. That's the only thing that motivates.

Or NATO. Say it. What is more broken, NATO or opec? Well, OPEC is having some difficulty right now because one of those things. But that has nothing to do with me.

NATO was very disappointing to me. NATO was not there when we wanted them. Was not. We don't need NATO. We don't need NATO.

But if we did need them, they just weren't there.

Do you think President Xi can help and contribute to a deal with Iran? He could. I mean, it might be. I don't think we need any help with Iran, to be honest with you. They're defeated militarily and they'll either do the right thing or we'll finish the job.

They're either gonna do the right thing or we're just gonna finish the job.

The message, sir, to the Chinese people as you embark on this summit, that we're gonna have great relationship for many, many decades to come. My relationship with presidency is a fantastic one. We've always gotten along and we're doing very well with China and working with China has been very good. So we look forward to it. As you know, presidency will be coming here toward the end of the year, so that will be exciting, too.

I only wish we had the ballroom finished. The ballroom is right on budget and ahead of schedule. But I wish we had a finished job. You also may want to do one other thing. You may want to go see the reflecting pool, because that's under construction.

And for the first time since 1922, it's going to work properly. Sir, the gas station, Congress.

Thank you. Mark Stone from Sky News. What's your advice to Keir Starmer, sir? He seems to be on the brink. Well, my advice to him has always been open up.

Open up your oil in the North Sea. You got one of the great oil finds anywhere in the world, and you're not using it. They're not allowed to use it. And it's one of the best in the world, among the best oils in the world. Open up your oil in the North Sea and get tough on immigration.

Should he stay or go. Europe is being very, very hurt by immigration all over Europe. Not only go, that's up to him, but I told him from day one, you're getting killed on energy. You're windmilling your country to death. Open up the North Sea.

You have one of the greatest sources of energy in the world. Open up the North Sea. The pressure is from Nigel Barras, though. Should state governors should State governors drop taxes on oil. Would you ask them to do that?

I think it's a great idea. Ask you two questions.

Has there been any understanding between you and Putin that Russia should get entire Donbas? No. No. You have a standing invitation to travel to Russia. Do you think it might happen this year?

I mean, what. I will do whatever is necessary. That war, I've settled eight wars. That war is getting closer. Believe it or not, it's getting closer.

And we think we're going to end up getting a settlement between Russia and Ukraine. Mr. President, what is the ultimate goal of your trip to China? I think more than anything else as we have massive relationships with China. We're the two superpowers. We're the strongest nation on earth in terms of military.

China's considered second. Who knows? I mean, who knows? But we are. There's nobody even to come close.

And you see that whether it's Venezuela or whether it's Iran, Iran's military is not decimated. I have a great relationship with President Xi and I think it's going to remain that way. We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn't say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control. We're either going to make a deal or they're going to be decimated.

So one way or the other, we win. But we'll be, we're going to be talking about, we're going to be talking with friends presidency about a lot of different things. I would say more than anything else will be trade.

Did you say, did you say earlier that the only thing that matters to you when it comes to Iran is a nuclear weapon? You're not considering the financial impact of this war on Americans. The, the most important thing by far, including whether our stock market, which by the way is at an all time high, but including whether or not our stock market goes up or down a little bit. The most important thing by far is Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. What about the pressure on Americans and crisis right now?

Every American understand how they're feeling about. Every American. Are you, are you listening to me? Every American understands and they would just had a poll like 85% which is surprising. It's only that they understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

If Iran has a nuclear weapon, the whole world would be in trouble because they happen to be crazy. They're not going to have a nuclear weapon. Now if the stock market goes up or down a little bit, the American people understand when it's over, you're going to have a massive drop in the price of oil, which a lot of people thought would be higher. And I mean, it was 100. It was $99 yesterday, which is low, which is relatively low.

When this war is over, oil is going to drop, the stock market's going to go through the roof. And truly, I think we're in the golden age right now. You're going to see a golden age like we've never seen before. The minute it's announced, and I'll be the one to announce it because I'm the one that makes that decision. I could leave right now and it would take them 25 years to rebuild their country.

But I don't want to do that. I want to have it complete and total. So you ready? As soon as this war is over, you're going to see numbers like you've never seen.

I know how much you value loyalty. I know how much you value loyalty. Are you comfortable with people serving in the military if they personally oppose the Iran war or you? It doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but I live with a lot of different question on redistricting. To voters who are confused about the changing map, the changing dates, and to African Americans concerned that this is going to draw black members of Congress off the map, what do you say?

Well, I think it's been a wonderful process. They've been the Democrats, or as I call the dumb ocrats because they are dumb in so many ways. They've redistricted for years and now we took our shot and it looks like we're going to pick up a lot of seats. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing.

We want voters to have the their choice. We want fair voting. We want fair elections. The Democrats have been cheating on elections for many years, and all we're doing is winning. Thank you.