White House press briefing transcript, Mar 5, 2025 (Leavitt)

hello everybody hello how are we I apologize for my tardiness it's quite the newsy day and I was with the president talking about that news so I look forward to taking your questions on it but first I want to talk about President Trump's historic and incredible speech last night the American people and the entire world watched president Trump powerfully lay out how he's renewing the American dream in a record-breaking joint address to Congress and Americans loved what they heard heard according to a CBS yugov survey an overwhelming 76% of those watching approved of President Trump speech last night the president spoke about how he's taken more than 400 executive actions on his key promises the expectations were high and president Trump is exceeding them according to brand new polling from The Daily Mail president Trump has never been more popular as his approval ratings are

reaching historic highs more Americans believe believe America is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction everyday Americans love this President because he tells it like it is no matter what and he did that last night president Trump level set with the American people on the economy and exposed how badly Joe Biden screwed it up by causing the worst inflation crisis in four decades president Trump was honest about where we are while making clear that help is on the way as the president declared last night he will make America affordable again last night you also saw who motivates the president to work so hard everyday Americans who president Trump shined a spotlight on last night in his speech from Mark Fogle who president Trump was finally able to reunite with his family and his beautiful 95-year-old mother after being detained in Russia to

pton McNab whose heart-wrenching story motivated president Trump to end men in women's sports and to Allison and Lauren Phillips the mother and daugh and sister of lakan Riley who president Trump honored by signing the lake and Riley act to ensure her name will live on forever in other amazing and surprised moments president Trump H honored the life of Joselyn nungay who was brutally murdered by illegal alien gang members she he ensured Joselyn will never be forgotten by renaming a National Wildlife Refuge in her home state of Texas to honor her life and in one of the greatest surprise moments of the night DJ Daniel an incredible 13-year-old boy who is beating brain cancer saw his dreams fulfilled by President Trump when he was made

an honorary secret service agent and finally after nearly four years president Trump delivered Justice for the families of the 13 American Heroes who were killed at abig gate in the Biden botched Afghanistan withdrawal which was one of the worst humiliations in the history of our country president Trump announced that we have detained Muhammad Sharif fola the monster who was responsible for that horrific attack and he was delivered to dullas Airfield earlier this morning on his first day in office president Trump's National Security team across the federal government prioritized intelligence gathering to locate this evil individual president Trump's team shared intelligence with regional Partners such as Pakistan who helped identify this monster in the Borderland area late last month Muhammad confessed to his crimes related to abig gate and other attacks in Russia and Iran as well to the pakistanis and US law enforcement officers traveled to Pakistan over the weekend where he again confessed his

crimes to the FBI as president Trump said last night this killer will now face the Swift sword of American Justice for these atrocities right here on United States soil Joe Biden was responsible for this botched withdrawal and he had three years to find this evil terrorist and he didn't even try to get the job done but president TR Trump campaigned on behalf of and grew very close to the gold star families he promised them accountability and last night he kept his promise he spoke to those gold star families yesterday ahead of his speech in an incredibly heartwarming call to share this incredible news and as president Trump asked in his speech last night how could anyone possibly be opposed to any of this action that he is taking well apparently the modern-day Democrat Party could the behavior of Democrats last night was completely disgraceful and

demonstrated how severely out of touch they are with the American public it was the most shameful moment in the history of presidential addresses in that beautiful chamber and what was supposed to be a unifying moment for our country Democrat members of Congress instead screamed at the president of the United States who was just overwhelmingly reelected by their constituents walked out of the chamber and worst of all they disrespected the American people Democrats didn't stand to keep men out of women's sports they couldn't even clap for a girl who got her head smashed in by a man on a volleyball court Democrats didn't stand for an innocent and beautiful child who is surviving brain cancer they opposed eliminating taxes on tips in Social Security they didn't stand in favor of cutting taxes for hardworking Americans they couldn't even clap for two mothers whose daughters were killed by illegal aliens one of the only things that could get

Democrats off their feet last night was cheering for Ukraine not for America last night was a very clarifying moment for our country the Democrats exposed themselves as the party of insanity and hate the party that wants to put America last they've allowed their Trump derangement syndrome to stop them from celebrating America Amica and our people and we will not allow them to forget that and it's not just the Democrat Party the mainstream media still doesn't get it last night msnbc's Nicole Wallace disgustingly looped in a 13-year-old boy with brain cancer into an attack on the president over January 6th in CNN's first Chiron out of the speech called it divisive president Trump wasn't divisive the Democrats were and CNN was proven Wrong by their own viewers

69% of whom in a posts speech poll said they had a positive reaction to the president's speech it's sad and frankly pathetic that Democrats and liberals in the Legacy Media continue to allow their hatred for the president to override their love for our country but nevertheless the president will continue to unify this nation through policies that are grounded in common sense and that uplift all Americans we have a individual in our new media seat today Margaret Mary maret olahan who is the daily wire's first ever White House correspondent congratulation Mary Margaret uh the daily wire was founded 10 years ago by Ben shipiro the daily wire now has over 1 million paid subscribers a monthly Network reach of 138 million and has evolved into a leading conservative multimedia giant they are now the fifth largest podcast Network in the world and home to

some of the top ranked shows with that I will take your questions and

Mary Margaret why don't you kick us off thank you so much Caroline it's good to be here thanks I had two questions if that's okay the first on last night and the second on Maine uh you talked about behavior from Democrat lawmakers a lot of disruptions and I just wanted to kind of go back to that um we saw Democrat lawmakers not stand for L and Riley for pton McNab for the son of a slain police officer and 13-year-old cancer survivor what are the Optics of that nationally just in terms of not just the people who were in the room last night but Across the Nation and also

was President Trump expecting this type of behavor when he was crafting his speech so I gave a quote to one of the media outlets in this room yesterday that Democrats behaving like children would be the least surprising thing of the night um and unfortunately that quote did turn out to be true I think the president and everyone frankly was surprised by the Democrats refusing to stand for um not the president's policies because frankly we expected that but for the everyday Americans who president Trump was shining light on their stories Mark Fogle for instance an American uh school teacher who was detained by the Russians president Trump uh freed him if Joe Biden had done that they all would have been on their feet but because of it what came from president Trump they weren't so we think it's very sad um but we're very proud of the president today and the American people are the the people that this President cares about most and the reviews are in and everybody loved his speech thank you and then

on Maine uh we know that the governor of Maine has really pushed back against the president's executive order saying the boys should not be in girl Sports uh I spoke with a lawmaker from Maine this morning who told me she' been censured by state lawmakers for calling a man a man and speaking up on this what is the next move for

the White House in this battle to protect the Integrity of women's sports yeah well the Department of Education has sued the state of Maine as you know there's ongoing litigation uh the president has made a commitment to ensure that states are being held accountable if they continue to allow men in women sports which he believes is um an egregious violation of taxpayer dollars um and so that Fight Continues and the president won't back down again this is a common sense policy 80% of the American people including more than 60% of Democrats do not want men in women's sports um so the president will will stand by this commitment thank you Gabe good to see you in here

good to see you Caroline um a couple questions one can you confirm that the president hell talks with the big three automakers today speaking about potentially delaying tariffs I can confirm and I'm glad that

you asked because the president sent me out here with a statement directly from him on this I saw it was reported earlier today by Bloomberg News um and he wanted me to share this with all of you we spoke with the big three auto dealers we are going to give a one-month exemption on any Autos coming through usmca reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April 2nd but at the request of the companies associated with usmca the president is giving them an exemption for one month so they are not at an economic disadvantage um so the three companies that he spoke to our stellantis Ford and General Motors they requested the call they made the ask and the president uh is happy to do it it's a one- Monon exemption and the president just posted on social media that he had spoken with prime minister Trudeau

he says he's not satisfied with what the Prime Minister has said when it comes to

fenel but less than 1% as you know less than 1% of the fenel Seas last year was in the northern border what else does

candidate need to do uh well the president did just put out a statement on his call with uh the governor Justin Trudeau as he calls him of Canada um and he said uh that he was not pleased as you said he said it's not good enough he told uh prime minister Justin Trudeau that directly um the call ended in a a somewhat friend friendly manner as the president said but um he's not going to stop standing up for the American people and to answer your question directly when it comes to fentanyl U for the last four years unfortunately our neighbors to the North and the South Canada and Mexico respectively have allowed America to be a Dumping Ground not just for illegal aliens but for illegal poisonous deadly fentanyl which is now the number one killer of young people in this country aged 18 to

34 um through the northern border in Canada uh in FIS last fiscal year alone there was enough fentanyl Seas to kill 4.8 billion people and that number is up uh 2, and uh 50% from 2023 the year before so there's been more than a 2,000% increase in a legal fentanyl seizure at the northern border why because Canada is allowing that fentanyl to come to the United States the president sees these numbers he thinks about the lives that are lost and everybody in this room I'm sure everybody watching at home everybody across the country knows someone in our Lives who has been killed at the hands of this deadly poison there needs to be repercussions for that the president feels very

strongly about it respectfully it's just 43 pounds that were found last year that's less than a

car that's less than a carry-on suitcase is that a lot of fenel compared to say Mexico the vast majority of the fenel is brought in through Mexico not Canada so what else does Canada need to do well I just told you uh last year alone there was uh

a 2,000% increase in illegal fentanyl you're asking me you're asking me for what the president's justification is for these tariffs it's not up to you you're not the president Gabe uh and frankly I think it's a little bit disrespectful to the families in this country who have lost loved ones at the hands of this deadly poison if you talk to them and this president has they are grateful that they finally have a president who is standing up to both Canada and Mexico and most importantly to China as well um the president added an additional 10% uh tariff on China because this deadly poison is being produced in that country it's being distributed through our neighbors and there needs to be

consequences for that period Peter thank you Caroline if the US has a long-standing policy that uh we do not negotiate with terrorists then why is the US now negotiating directly and for the first

time ever with homas uh well when it comes to the negotiations that you're referring to first of all the special Envoy who's engaged in those negotiations um does have the authority to talk to anyone um Israel was consulted on this matter um and look dialogue and talking uh to people around the world to do what's in the best interest of the American people um is something that the president has proven is what he believes is is uh good faith effort to do what's

right for the American people is it just about the hostages or are they also talking about the president's plan to take over go these are ongoing talks and discussions I not going to detail

them here there are American lives at stake I would defer you to the Department of State uh for further details but I'm not going to get into those talks here at this Podium we know that some officials here were

mythed that zilinsky showed up last week without a suit for his meeting in the Oval Office but Elon Musk never wears a suit he

did last night so what is the dress code well Elon Musk wore a suit last night I'm sure you saw it was he spooked by uh zsky getting kicked out no I don't think so I'm just pointing out that he did wear a suit last night um and I think U the president liked that very much uh and he looked great speaking of the president he just passed me a note uh while I'm standing here he wanted me to hold this up this is the poll that I cited the CBS yugov poll that shows that 76% of those who watched the president's speech last night approved of his speech and so it goes to my earlier point that I made in my monologue about um how incredibly

sad it is that we have a modern day Democrat Party who is so severely out of touch with the American public uh this is a great poll the ultimate poll though came on November 5th when the president won by an overwhelming margin that he spoke about last night Democrats weren't happy to hear that either WEA Thank You

Caroline back on teror last night president Trump said there will be a little disturbance but we're okay with that can you put a dollar figure amount on how much the average American family should expect to pay as this disturbance and why should Americans be okay with that when so many are already struggling to pay the bills well first of

all last night the president uh told the truth and he was realistic and he level set with the American people and I think frankly it's very refreshing and everybody in this room should be very grateful that we have a president who tells the truth about the reality of the economic situation that we are in unlike the previous president who lied to everybody's faces saying inflation was transitory saying it was under control saying that the Border was Secure when none of that was true so the president is being frank and honest and the American people elected this President um to have Monumental reform and change including rebuilding our manufacturing base in this country standing up to foreign Nations who have been ripping off

our country for decades U and that requires a little bit of disruption that requires a lot of effort and work that this President is focused on doing with that said as the president said last night his administration is wholeheartedly committed of course to ending the inflation nightmare caused by the Biden Administration look at the deregulation efforts uh look at the president's push last night in his speech for Congress to pass tax cuts to end taxes on Social Security and overtime pay for hardworking Americans end taxes on tips we need Congress to get that done because that's going to put more money back into the pockets of the American people and I didn't even mention energy look at the president's uh approach and focus on unleashing the might of our energy industry we know that's the number one driver of inflation he's been slashing back a lot of the burdensome regulation from the previous administration to unleash our energy industry here at home which will drive down costs he said he is committed to making America affordable again

he did it in his first term and Americans can trust him to do it again president Trump has made clear Caroline that he loves

terrorists but the stock market does not how does he factor that into

his decision making well the president does love tariffs he said it's one of his favorite words of the English dictionary uh and he believes in tariffs because they'll ultimately make America Rich again they're going to raise revenue they're going to help us pay down our debt most importantly they're going to bring American jobs here back home so uh I think for folks on Wall Street who may be concerned look at what this President did for you in his first term Wall Street boomed Stock Market boomed uh the president expects that to happen again but most importantly Main Street is going to boom and that's why the president has this whole of government economic approach which includes tax cuts tariffs regulation Cuts in an energy industry that will

bring down costs for American consumers sure Monica thank you than Caroline um you mentioned not one Democrat Senator voted to protect women's sports from males not one Democrat Congressman or congresswoman stood to applaud or support protecting women's spaces and sports at the president's joint session to Congress last night as you articulately mentioned at the beginning so I'm wondering what message is that sending to not only young women who are competing in these Sports across the country but also to the parents of these young girls yeah

I think the message that Americans should take away from last night is that they have a president in the Oval Office who is committed to doing what's right for them especially women and girls across the country and I think it's very ironic thank you for bringing up the point about women that Democrat women were wearing pink to support our Fe fellow females uh yet they couldn't stand again for a young woman who was uh almost killed uh and severely injured by a man on the volleyball court um they couldn't stand for the mothers of two beautiful young women whose lives were taken tragically at the hands of illegal people so um you can't say you're the party of women and then support men and women sports and not stand up for basic Law and Order and immigration uh reform that will protect women in this country that's

what president Trump is doing he's the president for women Lindsay good to see

you thank you Caroline good to see you so speaking of tariffs China said yesterday that they're ready for any kind of war with the US uh because of these tariffs that have been placed on them and a Chinese spokesperson also said that the ter would not lead to a resolution of us concerns about fitel originating in China can you speak to

how the administration is planning on responding to that well I think secretary heg Seth has responded to that this morning uh he said that America will always be prepared to defend itself especially under the leadership of this president in the Oval Office and that certainly remains true again when it comes to tariffs the president has been very tough on China not just now with 20% uh and and more with the reciprocal tariffs that will hit on April 2nd um but look at what he did in his first term there were billions of dollars worth of tariffs that he implemented on China and uh it's quite telling that the previous administration did not resend those tariffs because they realized the value that they had in not only

deterring China uh but also raising revenue here in the United States Rachel thanks Caroline just a quick followup two quick followups on tariffs um the president mentioned a little disturbance during his remarks yesterday the CEO of Target says that consumers will likely see prices go up on everything from strawberries to bananas to avocados how long should Americans expect to pay

higher prices are we talking a week a couple of days a few months again I don't have a crystal ball but what I can

assure the American people is that this president in this Administration is doing everything they can and I would remind you and everybody else uh in this room that it's because of the previous administration's economic policies that Americans were left with record high inflation inflation throughout Joe Biden's entire 48 months in office was at or above 3% uh it hit record highs as you know uh and there's a whole list of what the Biden economic disaster this president was left to clean up it's been a month uh but he's working hard every single day to do just that follow up on

the card out sorry to cut you off there um the US imported $43 Million worth of eggs from Canada I know you mentioned some of the exemptions um when it comes to auto makers um will there be any other car bouts including for eggs we know prices are

storing for Americans the president is open to hear hear in about additional exemptions uh he always has open dialogue and he'll always do you know what's right what he believes is right for the American people uh but a again as for the egg uh crisis in this country uh the president is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring we're increasing our egg supply and we're also bringing down cost and secretary Rollins has been all over this issue she comes from an agricultural background in family that's why she's leading that very important department um she wrote an amazing oped in the Wall Street Journal she's been all over the media talking about her plan she has a real plan the president endorses it and he even you know gave her an off the prompter shout out last night to say

Brooke I'm counting on you it's an important issue and this White House is working with secretary of agriculture every single day um to address

this issue sure Jordan thanks Caroline so um what does it say that the Democrats while they couldn't stand for Americans or stand for victims

they stood for war and clapped for war and clapped for five more years war yeah you know the president uh addressed that last night I think think when he called out Senator Elizabeth Warren and said that it again as I said in my opening speech very telling um that the Democrats refused to to clap for American people um and American interests and American priorities uh but they did clap for the country of Ukraine which by the way the president's working very hard to end that war so democrats should be applauding him for actually doing something about it

follow up on that if I can you've spoken recently about how um what happened in the Oval Office last week gave Americans an inside look into behind the scenes discussions with zinsky is this how he treated Joe Biden and just treated him disrespectfully and received billions of dollars well it's a very interesting question um I don't know if anybody

in here asked the previous my predecessor who stood at this Podium about that but there was a report from NBC news that uh President Biden also got increasingly frustrated with president zalinski when he was handing out blank checks uh and president zalinski kept asking for more uh Joe Biden was quite frustrated with that so um again as as I've said repeatedly Friday revealed the frustrations that this Administration has had in closed door negotiations with the ukrainians uh however president zalinski did put out a statement yesterday which we believe is a positive step forward uh and secret uh National Security adviser Mike Waltz has been talking to his Ukrainian counterparts uh and so we're in the midst of this and we'll see what happens

next Caitlyn thanks Carol I have two questions one on the reprieve that is being granted to these three automakers for for one month on the tariffs on Canada and Mexico how did the president settle on one month MH

the reciprocal tariffs will go into effect on April 2nd and he feels strongly about that no matter what no exe exemption so um that's where the one month come from comes from so does he expect them to be able to shift production within a month he told them that he they should get on it start investing start moving shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff that's the ultimate goal and on the conversations between the White House

and the ukrainians and the letter that President Trump revealed last night that he got from president zalinsky director rff said today that the president has paused also intelligence sharing with Ukraine is that temporary or is that permanent

um I believe what the National Security Council told me in regards to that um was that they paused um or they are reconsidering um the the funding uh for Ukraine as you saw the pause on the funding as for intelligence matters I would refer you to either the National Security Council uh or the CIA as well but they're considering lifting the or reinst ating the military aid going to Ukraine which they paed again it's a pause for a review follow up on that sure um the

president read parts of the letter that he received last night from uh president zalinsky can you give us a sense of when President Trump now plans to sign that minerals DE after receiving that letter those talks are happening as

we speak I just saw the National Security adviser uh he's working very hard on it I believe he was going into the Oval Office to give the president an update on where this stands uh but again the president is committed to a peace deal he wants to see this war end um and I think that President zelinsky's message which he also shared on X as well is a positive sign in the right direction President also said that the United States was

um reclaiming the Panama Canal the president of Panama this morning or at some point today said that President Trump was lying wanted to get your response to that and also curious if the president had a reason for not specifically mentioning Black Rock last night when he was praising the company that is buying canals or or ports around the Panet I'm

not sure if Panama has seen what's going on with their own Canal but as you just mentioned Black Rock is now interested in investing and taking over the two ends of the the port which is very important because the president was very vocal several weeks ago about the need to ensure that China is not controlling the Panama Canal um this is a a very uh important um uh place for the United States of America uh we also saw that the Panama Canal lifted uh fees on our us naval ships that are going in and out of the canal that's to win for the United States of America U and the president will continue to ensure that the uh Chinese government the CCP cannot be uh infiltrated in the the Western Hemisphere and certainly not in the Panama Canal which is a very important place for

our country Dasha president continues to call the prime minister of Canada Justin trau governor of Canada I'm curious uh what he means by that and if there are any uh plans that are moving forward with trying to make Canada the 51st state and I have a followup on the economy as well sure well the president uh put that

in his true Social account uh or his true social post earlier today uh he feels strongly that it would be very beneficial for the Canadian people to be the 51st state of the United States they wouldn't pay be paying for these tariffs they'd have much lower taxes if they were part of our great Country economy you and I traveled the country during the campaign this is an issue that so many voters decided uh to cast their

ballots on and they voted for uh president Trump he has started to have that realistic conversation with the American people that disturbance comment last

night but I'm curious if you can be real with Americans right now as all of these factors are playing out are things potentially going

to get worse before they get better look I've now been asked and answered this same question just given to me in different verbiage of three different times and I will answer it again in an effort of transparency to the American people because this is an important issue and the American people this President understands that it is and again that's why in his joint address to Congress last last night he addressed this issue uh with a realistic and honest approach he talked about what this Administration is doing to unleash American Energy uh and to make America affordable again and this Administration is wholeheartedly committed to doing it and I would remind um the American public that uh the first term record of this of this President speaks volumes that's why they reelected him uh because

they know that he can fix our broken economy and it's very very broken from the previous administration stepen Thank You Caroline I've got two questions one on press access the other on fenadol and tariffs sure on press access your predecessor Ken Jean Pierre presided over many novel press access restrictions uh criticized the recent changes to the uh press pool uh made by your office she said in an interview quote uh what we're looking at is what North Korea is doing um what's your response to that and can you say anything to laay concerns that um unfavorable coverage will be punished in this new press system I think that's the same

individ ual who said from this Podium numerous times that the commanderin-chief uh was mentally and physically up for the job which we knew was a lie many people in this room knew it was a lie many of you were admonished for asking questions about that truth um and um so when it comes to truth and transparency this Administration this White House is setting the example this President is taking far more questions

than his predecessor Joe Biden did on a daily basis and that will continue and on fens tariffs um banol produced largely in China has killed uh 334,000 Americans over 5 years according to CBC data that's uh about one in every thousand Americans um president Trump has cited this

for replying new tariffs to Canada Mexico and China but in addition to China's talk about being ready for any kind of War they said yesterday the foreign Ministry said that uh Quote The fensel issue is a flimsy excuse to raise us tariffs and Quote us not anyone else is responsible for the fentone crisis so what's the response to

China that um the talk offens was just an excuse for tariffs and what does that say about the resolution well of course the country that is get getting very rich off of Distributing this uh

deadly poison to American citizens is going to say that again the president knows where the American people uh stand on this issue fanol overdoses Dasha brought up all of us campaigning all across the country they talked about inflation they also talked about the border the illegal immigrants that were pouring through but also these dead drugs and again the president keeps in mind those families every single day when he is making these tough decisions but it's a necessary decision and he's no longer going to allow the United States of America to be a Dumping Ground for illegal immigrants and for illegal drugs that are killing our nation's people this is the number one leading cause of death in our country and there needs to be action taken to ensure that that cannot continue thank you very much guys we'll see you later

thanks car