White House press briefing transcript, Feb 25, 2025

The Cabinet secretaries and others have said that they were not aware that this was happening.

So, I'm wondering, like, will there be a give and take tomorrow at the Cabinet meeting? Is Elon Musk or the president open to any type of dialogue about who is actually in charge of the chain of command of these workers?

I would reject the premise of your question, Jeff. The Cabinet secretaries have not said that. I know anonymous sources, probably career bureaucrats, have leaked that to many of you in this room.

But as I said at the beginning of this press conference, everybody is working as one team, and the president respects the decisions of his Cabinet secretaries to tell their staff not to respond to that email because they did so out of interests of national security and they don't want to, obviously, risk confidential information. It's pretty common sense.

Dasha.

Musk has obviously been doing a lot of work. He's been working every day and, a lot of the time, weekends. He is designated as a special government employee, which means that he can only work 130 days per year. Is the White House expecting him to limit his work to 130 days, or are you going to work around those rules? Do you want to see him extend beyond the 130 days?

So, today is February 25th, so I think we've been here about 35 days, roughly, so ask me in another 100 days.

Daniel.

Karoline, thank you. You opened up with a major announcement from Apple: $500 billion, 20,000 jobs, doubling its advanced manufacturing fund.

Yeah.

What does that signal that such a global brand would make what it called "its largest-ever spend commitment" just a month into President Trump's second term? What does that signal about his economic vision for the country?

President Trump is a dealmaker, and he has restored confidence in business leaders around this entire world. Apple is one of the largest companies on the face of the planet. They employ hundreds of thousands of Americans, but the president wants to see more Americans employed, more investments here in the United States of America.

And this is another fulfillment of the president's campaign promises. I recall President Trump at his rallies on the campaign telling the world that: If and when I am elected, America is going to be back, and we want your investments to be driven on shore. We want you to hire American workers, and you will have the lowest regulatory burden, the lowest tax cuts.

And the president has already proven he's committed to slashing regulation. He's counting on Congress to implement those tax cuts.

And so, people are encouraged by the president's -- again, as Tim Cook called it, they're bullish about American innovation because of the leadership of this president.

And that's a stark contrast to the leadership of the previous administration, Joe Biden, who I don't think spent any time trying to recruit any investments or jobs here at home.

Mary.

Thanks, Karoline. We're hearing from some Republicans who are voicing concerns about how these cuts are being carried out. Congressman McCormick, a Republican from Georgia, tells us he's worried it's too rapid for real people to adapt to, and he says he's concerned that it could come off as "discompassionate," in her -- in his words, that it could risk undercutting the strong message that he feels you're trying to send about the need to cut government waste.

Well, I think that that was one comment from one senator, and I think, as I cited in my opening remarks in the poll, the most important people are the American people, and 77 percent of Americans at home support a full investigation into the waste, fraud, and abuse that the federal government has been spending their tax dollars on. So, that's the people the president cares about most, and that's why we're fulfilling this pledge.

And again, it should come as no secret to anybody. The president campaigned on doing this.

I just want -- the president yesterday said if you don't respond to this email, you will be fired or semi-fired. What does it -- what does he mean by that?

Again, I've been asked and answered this question three times now. It is --

But "semi-fired," what --

But it's --

-- does that mean?

But it's in the memo. The president, again, has entrusted his Cabinet secretaries to oversee their workforce. That's why he nominated them to be Cabinet secretaries. And so, federal workers can be directed to their agency leadership.

Sixth row. (Inaudible). Sixth row.

Karoline.

Karoline.

Sure.

Great. Thanks, Karoline. I wanted to ask about -- a federal judge yesterday was saying that they didn't know who the DOGE administrator was and was asking the -- the lawyer for the administration who it was, and the lawyer responded, "I don't know the answer to that." Can you tell us who the administrator of DOGE is?

Again, I've been asked and answered this question. Elon Musk is overseeing DOGE. There are career offi- --

So, he's the administrator?

There are -- no. Elon Musk is a special government employee, which I've also been asked and have answered that question as well.

So, who is the administrator?

There are career officials at DOGE. There are political appointees at DOGE. I am not going to reveal the name of that individual from this podium. I am happy to follow up and provide that to you.

But we've been incredibly transparent about the way that DOGE is working.

And if I could just ask about the --

Jon.

(Cross-talk.)

Thanks, Karoline.

Jon.

Thanks a lot, Karoline. Since your last briefing, there have been some personnel moves that have been announced by the president, and I wanted to ask you about them. One was the president replacing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown, Jr. What was the reason for the president naming a replacement for General Brown?

And then I'll follow up with another personnel announcement that's been made over the last few days.

He thinks he's doing a bad job, and it's time for a shake-up at the Pentagon. They failed seven audits in a row. The trust in our United States military, amongst the war fighters, is low. The president is shaking up the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, of course with Secretary Hegseth leading. And he has the right to do that. It's actually quite common from administration to administration to do such a thing.

The president, when he swore him in as the chief of staff for the Air Force, called him "a great man" and "a great gentleman." Does he distance himself from the remarks that he made back in August of 2020?

I think replacing him speaks for itself.

And then on --

James.

There was one -- one other --

Thank you.

One other one, if -- I'm sor- -- thank you. On the FBI, the president also announced a new deputy director of the FBI, Dan Bongino. From what has been reported, and maybe this is not accurate reporting -- you can tell me -- the FBI director, Kash Patel, informed Republican senators that it would be an individual named as the deputy who was a special agent currently at the FBI. And, of course, Mr. Bongino is not. What was the reason for naming Mr. Bongino to this position? And was Mr. Patel not correct in making that assurance to those senators?

I'm not sure if anybody in this room has listened to Mr. Bongino when he talks about the past corruption at the FBI, when he talks about his experience serving the United States Secret Service. This is a man who loves his country and who has honorably served our country in ways that many people have not. He understands the depth of the corruption at these institutions, which the American people reelected President Trump to shake up.

And I think it's quite despicable to see many networks in this room who have had chyrons on their television screens labeling Mr. Bongino as a far-right podcaster. He is not. He is a former law enforcement agent. He is a former Secret Service agent who put his life on the line to protect this country. And that is why the president of the United States has entrusted him for this important role.

He's also an outsider to this Washington swamp, and we often see that when outsiders are appointed to such coveted positions, a lot of people in this city get very, very nervous. And they should be, because Dan Bongino and Kash Patel and Attorney General Bondi are focused on rooting out the corruption at these agencies and ending the weaponization of government once and for all.

I'd like to end with something. As you all know --

Calling on James, as you were just about to do before you called on Jon.

You know what, James. I'm feeling generous. Go ahead. (Laughter.)

Thank you. I will take it. Thank you, Karoline.

Sure.

I wanted to ask about --

Don't make me regret this. (Laughter.)

I -- I wanted to ask about the Macron visit and the -- the Russia-Ukraine talks in general.

Sure.

It was pretty clear to my eye that President Macron was performing a kind of delicate dance, lavishing praise on the president while seeking in his own remarks to try to bind President Trump to positions and even specific language that the president has not committed to heretofore.

One of the most bracing comments from President Macron was when he said that the deal that President Trump is negotiating with the Russians must not be, quote, "a surrender" for Ukraine.

All of the public points that we have heard from President Trump, from Secretary Hegseth, and from other administration officials talking about these negotiations have averred to -- quite openly, to concessions from the Ukrainians that will have to be made: the minerals deal, the abandonment of their NATO ambitions, and other elements. So far, we have not heard any administration officials suggest a single concession that the Russians should be prepared to make.

And so, I wonder if you could assure us, at a minimum, that this negotiation process will not be as one-sided as the Europeans seem to think it is and that, in fact, President Putin will also be made to engage in some concessions to reach this deal.

Well, I think the president knows how to make a deal better than anyone who has ever assumed the office of the American presidency. And in order to make a deal, you have to bring both sides to the table. And typically, when you make a good deal, both sides leave that table a little bit unhappy.

I'm not going to outline the concessions that the president and his team are engaged in discussing. These are obviously ongoing negotiations, and it would be unwise of me to impede them from this podium.

But the president has made significant improvements in ending this conflict. He is committed to seeing an end to the war. He wants to see the bloodshed and the killing stopped. He wants to stop seeing young men being killed and slaughtered. This has been going on for far too long. The president inherited this mess because of the incompetence of the previous administration, and he's committed to fixing it.

And he's made, you know, some of those concessions clear, but I'm not going to get ahead of him on additional ones. But he is wholeheartedly committed to striking a peace deal in Russia and Ukraine, also in the Middle East.

Thank you very much, guys. Good to see you.

Thank you.

We'll see you later.

Thank you.