White House press briefing transcript, Sep 9, 2025 (Leavitt)

Yes, we absolutely are. As soon as we saw this case, we ensured that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice were on it. And I can assure you that they are. This is another heinous act of violence against someone who should have never been in our country illegally in the first place.

And that's exactly why the deportation of illegal criminals from our country is a top priority for this administration. And it's something that is happening every single day. And I would encourage all of you to continue to report on the very violent illegal alien criminals that we are deporting daily from American communities across the country.

There will never — we will never understand how many lives have been saved by these efforts or how many lives would have been lost if not for this president and the administration's policy to deport illegal criminal aliens. Harris.

Thanks, Karoline. Follow up on Charlie's question. Would the president speak with the Jeffrey Epstein victims?

I don't have any meetings for you to read out on that. Go ahead.

Thanks, Karoline. Is the Trump administration considering a ban on transgender Americans owning guns? Is that something the president would support even as we've seen some gun groups oppose the idea of it?

I saw reporting on this, I understand there were very preliminary low-level discussions about this at the Department of Justice, and then sometimes those discussions are reported as fact. I'm not tracking any potential actions on this front, and I'll let the president weigh in on that. It's a policy decision and it's far too early or would be premature, inappropriate for me to weigh in on it at this point in time.

Behind you, go ahead.

Thank you. After the immigration raid at the plant in Georgia on Friday, the president said over the weekend that he's open to some kind of changes and perhaps rules or visa rules or law that would prevent something like that happening in the future for skilled workers to train American workers.

That's right.

Can you confirm that and that the administration supports those changes? And what exactly would that look like?

Well, the president said it himself in a statement that he put out on Sunday night where he is very grateful for foreign companies from around the world and the investments that they're making right here in the United States of America. And he understands that these companies want to bring their highly skilled and trained workers with them, especially when they're creating very niche products like chips or in this case in Georgia like batteries.

But the president also expects these foreign companies to hire American workers, and for these foreign workers and American workers to work together to train and to teach one another. And so, he expects these foreign companies to hire American labor. We want Americans to have these jobs. Americans need these jobs.

But he also understands the need for these companies to bring over their workers who already have these skills. So, I think it's a very —

Could you shed a light on what those changes might be?

I think it's a very nuanced and responsible and sensible approach for the president to take. And I know that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce are working on this matter together. I would defer you to them for any further action on this front.

Karoline, thank you. Just I want to follow up on something you said. You said the Epstein documents are a hoax that Democrats are perpetrating against the president. You said he didn't sign that check, that he didn't sign the birthday card that he allegedly signed. So, what is the theory since these documents came from the Epstein estate?

Who is, I guess in your view, faking?

I did not say the documents are a hoax. I said the entire narrative surrounding Jeffrey Epstein right now that is absorbing many of the liberal cable channels on — on television is a hoax that is being perpetuated by opportunistic Democrats like Ro Khanna and the others whom you saw on that press conference outside of Capitol Hill, who are trying to push this hoax against the president of the United States.

What exactly is the hoax? I'm just trying to understand what's fake. What's fake is not the documents?

The hoax is the Democrats pretending to care about victims of crime when they do not care about victims of crime, when they have done nothing to solve crimes, when they have done nothing to lock up child pedophiles and child rapists across the country, and when they are now using victims as political props to try and, again, smear the president of the United States and drag on this bad story about him.

It is a distraction. The Democrats view this story as nothing more than an attempt to distract from the accomplishments and the achievements of this administration, and that is what we mean when we call it a hoax.

Yeah. But if he didn't sign these — and you said he didn't sign the birthday card. He didn't do this. He also didn't do the check. Those were in documents from the estate. So, what is the working theory as to why he's in them, or who's —

The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world, and he has for many, many years. You know that, Maggie. You've covered him for a long time, long before he assumed this office, when he was a businessman in New York. The president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents.

He maintains that position, and that position will be argued in court by his lawyers. The president is very confident he is going to win this case.

Karoline?

Deana?

Thank you. Is the president planning to meet with Eric Adams in New York, maybe at the Yankees game? And has he personally talked to him about the race?

I am not tracking any meeting with Mayor Adams at this time. But if that happens, I'm sure the New York Post will be one of the first people to know about it. I'll take a couple more questions.

Karoline? Karoline?

Why don't we go we go to the back?

Tom Dempsey with News Nation. Regarding the growing US military presence—

News Nation all the way in the back.

Regarding the US military — the growing US military presence in the Caribbean, when asked directly about possible future military action, President Trump responded you're going to find out. What can the US public expect of that situation moving forward? And what sort of ongoing threat is Tren de Aragua?

I think it would be very unwise of me to preview what the president meant from this podium. But I think what — the heart of what the president was saying — I know the heart of what the president was saying and this administration believes is that the regime in Venezuela is illegitimate, and it is unacceptable to this president and this administration to traffic illegal deadly drugs into the United States of America.

And that's why the president and the administration took very strong action against a boat and 11 Narco-terrorists in international waters as you all saw. I think that sends a very strong message to drug traffickers around the world the president will not tolerate it. And the amount of drugs on that boat represents the lives of thousands of Americans that could have been killed by that deadly poison, and we're not going to allow that deadly poison to come into our country.

You — the president will be signing a proclamation in the Oval Office later this afternoon, and we will see you all later. Thank you.