Remarks transcript, Jun 10, 2026 (Donald Trump)

So they put massive concrete plazas on the other side for people to wait getting in. There's nobody on them. There's nobody. They took a picture this morning. There was nobody on any of the plazas. They have four of them—big ones—where they'd come and stand by the thousands. There was nobody on the plaza. So, it's—it really amazing.

I want to speak about it in my speeches. I wanted to—I made a speech last week, which was really wonderful. Wisconsin.

That's right.

And I wanted to speak about the great job I've done on the border. And my people said, "Sir, nobody cares about that." I said: "What do you mean? I got elected on that."

Twice, actually, because I got elected the first time—2016—and after I left, it became horrible. Horrible. Second time was far worse. The—what it was in 2024, it was so bad. Far worse than 2016. Twenty-sixteen was like a pleasure trip by comparison to what it became. [ Laughter ]

It became—worst in the history of the world. I don't think there's ever been a border where 25 million people came across, all unchecked and unvetted. We can never let that happen. We can never let that happen, what happened to our country, again, because no country can stand it. No country could have withstood what these people—we had a border czar who never saw the border. [ Laughter ] We had a border czar who never called—never once—the people that we're giving good paychecks to. They never called up ICE. They never called up the Border Patrol, who are phenomenal people, by the way.

She never once called them. She was the border czar for 4 years—almost 4 years—and she never went to the border. And she never called up.

I used to call them all the time—Paul and Brandon. I used to call them all the time and say, "Hi, how we doing on the border?" "Sir, we're doing okay." But they're great people. Amazing people. She never called them. We had the worst border, I think, of any country in history. No third-world country would allow people to come into their country like that.

So the bill provides crucial funding for domestic law enforcement investigations and combating child exploitation, continuing our work to restore law and order across our Nation and to protect America's youth. We're so proud.

We're so proud of Washington, DC, and the National Guard, the job they've done. And we've worked with the Washington—the Capitol Police are—they're great people. I've gotten to know so many of them.

Very simply, the radical-left "Dumocrats" in—and I'm going to use that term a lot, because they're dumb. I mean, who wants open borders? Who wants transgender mutilization of your child? Who wants that? Who wants men playing in women's sports? They're dumb. They're "Dumocrats." They have the worst policy of anybody.

I watched that thug that's up in Maine. He's a thug. And they're trying to make excuses for him. I mean, he's worse than any human being that's ever run for office, probably. I don't know him. I don't want to say bad, but I just—look, I mean, nobody's ever had a record like that.

And you'll have Schumer—he goes crazy over this or that or Epstein. "Epstein, Epstein." This guy—why aren't they talking about him? He said, "Well, we don't know." But this guy's got a rap sheet. I've never seen anything like it. He's a thug. I know thugs. I had to deal with thugs.

I built a lot of buildings. I dealt with the toughest people on Earth. [ Laughter ] I dealt with worse than thugs. This guy's a thug. He's a low-level thug, and he's running for—to be a Senator, to work with Eric Schmitt.

Great—Eric will handle him, I think. [ Laughter ]

That's right.

He's not getting there.

To be with Barrasso, to—who the hell do we have?—to be with Rand. Now, Rand would be a very interesting with him. Rand would figure it out. [ Laughter ] He'll put him away. But this is a thug. He's a cheap, no-good person. And I watch these Senators on—the "Dumocrats." And "Well, we don't really know." You do know. He's as bad—I've never seen a person like that run for office.

And the guy from Texas—different, but he's terrible too. He's terrible. These are radical-left communists.

But I watched this guy this morning, and he was so bad. He was so bad. He's a bad guy. You know, he's just a bad guy. He must be laughing up his sleeve when he looks at these idiots, going—like Schumer—"Well, he's okay. He's okay." He's not okay. Can you imagine if the Republicans had him?

Oh, my golly.

No way.

What if we had him, John? So——

Wouldn't let it happen.

I think—I really believe it.

Yes.

If it meant losing the Senate, you would not let that happen.

Correct.

It's just a terrible thing. I mean, I watch it happening. It's unfolding. It's really history, because there's never been a guy like that that's ever run for office at any level. I don't think at any level. And the excuses they come up—every day, somebody comes forward with, really, proven stuff.

Even his business, you know, "He's a"—he's not a businessman at all. His parents supported him. The guy's a loser. Other than that, he might be a very nice guy. [ Laughter ]

But very simply, the radical-left "Dumocrats" in Congres—and I don't—I look forward to the day when I don't call them "Dumocrats" anymore. And I won't if they do their job, if they want to stop crime, if they want to lower taxes, if they want to do the common—the education, the good things. There's so many things we can do together.

I look forward to the day that I don't call them "Dumocrats" anymore. There will be that day, I think. I hope. But they're in Congress, and they voted with the cartels, the terrorists, the gang members, the drug dealers, the human traffickers, the child predators. And our great Republican majorities voted to protect law-abiding American citizens.

I mean, they voted to raise your taxes. They voted for men in women's sports. They voted in favor of men participating in women's sports. It's ridiculous. They voted for the transgender mutilization of your child. They voted for all these things. They voted for open borders. So bad. One of the worst things that's ever happened in this country. Hardest thing to cure, because we had 25,000 people.

Remember this: When countries—because countries sent those people up—when countries put people into a cartel, into a—through the cartels, they put them into a whole group of 10-, 15-, 20,000 people that come in. They're not giving you their best people. They're giving you people that they don't want.

Yes.

And they're sending them into our—and the Democrats voted in favor of that. It's really a shame. And it's so bad for the country. You'd almost think they hate the country because they can't—they're not stupid people. You can't cheat like they did.

And look at the election in California, as an example. After a week, they determined that a kid who's leading and had all the mojo—all of a sudden, he doesn't make the runoff. And then I hit them hard on that. But I started talking about Steve Hilton, who's a fantastic guy. And I saw them say it was going to be 2 weeks before they knew. And I started hitting them.

It's going to happen to Steve Hilton too. It's—watch. You've got to watch. And they approved Steve Hilton very quickly. [ Laughter ] They didn't want to. There was too much heat on him. The only reason he got approved: He had all the votes he needed, probably, to be first place. But the only reason they approved Steve Hilton—it was going to be 2 weeks. They said it. And then they approved him that night, because the heat was on them——

Yes.

——because they're cheating dogs, and you can't have a great country when that happens. That's why Los Angeles—that's why that State is in such trouble. It's the most beautiful place. Best weather, maybe anywhere in the world. But it's in big trouble.

So we're going to have a tremendous success. The people alongside of me are amazing people. They're amazing people—every one of them. I know every one of them. They're amazing people. And they love their country. They want to do right for the country.

And if you have any questions, please let's go.

Mr. President, on Iran, you posted this morning about Iran, and you said that they've taken too long to get to a deal. And I want to make sure I quote you correctly. You said that "now they will have to pay the price."

Yes.

What did you mean by that specifically?

Well, we're going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard.

Resuming bombing?

Yes, well, we are. Based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that. You know, they shot down a very incredible—actually, an incredible machine. And at first, they said they didn't do it. Then they admitted they did it. It was sort of easy, because we have the—we have the bomb. We actually have the bomb. We got very lucky that bomb didn't explode. That bomb was lodged in the helicopter. It didn't explode. It was on fire, but it didn't explode. This was—those two guys, they knew how to fly, but they got very lucky.

And then we had the unmanned boat going very, very fast—at speeds that you wouldn't want to go. That's why it's unmanned, I guess, because nobody can go in that. But they rescued—so, the both—both people are—fortunately, the pilots are okay.

No, look, I've been working with Iran for a number of months, and they should sign the deal. It's a good deal. It doesn't give them the right to have a nuclear weapon. In fact, it totally prohibits them from ever having a nuclear weapon. And it was just tap, tap, tap. I don't know what they're doing.

So they then shot out a—shot at our helicopter—a very expensive helicopter, by the way, but much more importantly, the two men. Fortunately, they're okay. But an amazing rescue. If you ever get a clip, you'll—you won't believe the rescue, how cool it was. The equipment we have—look, we have the strongest military in the world.

And I gave them a break at the request of Pakistan. The field marshal and the Prime Minister of Pakistan are great. We stopped them from going to war with India. You would have had a nuclear war if it wasn't for me. But they became friendly to me—very friendly—and they're close to Iran, and they work—and they still are working on trying them to do what's right.

But we want a deal that's meaningful. We want a deal that works. We don't want to just have a Barack Hussein Obama deal—JCPOA, the worst deal.

That was a path to a nuclear. It's the exact opposite—you know, I like, on television, they say, "Oh, well they should have kept that deal." First of all, it was over. It was a short-term deal. But that deal was a path to a nuclear weapon.

This is a path against a nuclear—you can't have a nuclear weapon. His was a path to a nuclear weapon. They were developing, during his administration, nuclear weapon. If they had a nuclear weapon, there'd be no Israel, there'd be no Middle East, and they would have absolutely shot at us.

So we'll see what happens. But we hit them hard yesterday, and we're going to hit them again hard today, in case you miss it, in case you don't turn on your television set. And we'll see what happens with the deal.

We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers, because, you know what? They dealt with some very stupid Presidents. I have to say that. I'm embarrassed to say it. Some very stupid people were sitting here.

Yes.

Mr. President, you mentioned the Senate race in Maine. Are you all-in in supporting Susan Collins? Does she have your full support and endorsement in her Senate reelection?

Yes, she does, because she's a sane woman. She's not my best friend at all. These guys are.

I get along well. But I have some. But she's a sane person, and she's a person that never missed a vote in many years. I mean, she's, like, had 10,000 votes.

Ten thousand is right. Yes, that's right.

She had 10,000 votes. She never missed a vote—unfortunately, because sometimes she voted against me. [ Laughter ] You know, look, she's a sane woman, and she's a respected person. Maybe a little different ideology than me.

But this guy is a thug. He's a fake—he's a fake thug. He's a phony. I made a lot of money picking out phonies. He's a real phony. He's bad—he's a bad person.

Yes.

Mr. President, are you going to go back to attack—or are you thinking of attacking Iranian power plants and bridges, as you've threatened before?

Well, I'm not going to say that to you. I'm—but I can do that. Look, I could knock out—we have the most powerful—I built the military, with these people approving it. They approved numbers that nobody would have ever thought we would be.

But we built it. And we gave a lot to Ukraine through Biden. He gave a lot of money—a lot. But we're in great shape. We have a lot of storage capacity. But he gave a lot. And if you look at, you know, what's happened—I—when I left, our cupboard—our cupboards were full. He gave—and he gave it. Now, I sell it to the European Union, and they give it to Ukraine, for the most part.

But we have the strongest military anywhere in the world, and sometimes you'll have to use it. And we have to remember—and when people hear this—Iran, very simply, cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't. And they've agreed to that. All they have to do is, they have to start signing a paper.

It's fully negotiated. We have it fully negotiated, but they're tapping and tapping. And I say: "All right, let's give them a couple of more days." They're tapping. Because it's a meaningful paper. They know when they sign that paper, it's meaningful. The Obama deal, JCPOA, one of the worst, one of the dumbest documents I've ever seen.

Yes, please. Go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. When are you meeting with tech executives about the Government taking stake in AI companies, and what could this partnership look like?

About AI?

Yes, sir.

Well, I can say this. We're having a meeting with them. It's an amazing industry. It's bigger than any industry anyone's ever seen. We are leading China by a lot. And, you know, whoever leads that is going to really lead the world, to a large extent. That's how big it is.

And we're—I'm going to have meetings with the top 12 or 15 executives very shortly, and we're talking about giving back something to the public. And if we do that, the public will become very rich—the people in our country—because that's the kind of money we're talking about. And I think they'll do that, and I think it will make it very popular.

Please.

Thank you, President. I have two questions. First of all, Turkish President Erdoğan keeps threatening Israel. Do you think there's a chance of a conflict between Israel and Turkey? And will you sell F–35 to Turkey?

Well, you know, he's a very good friend of mine, and we've worked very well together. I like him a lot. I'm not supposed to say that because the press will say, "Oh, he likes Erdoğan." No, he's a hell of a leader and a strong person. Very strong person.

I haven't heard that at all. If I did, I'd call him, and I think I'd make sure that things were fine. I don't think that will happen with Turkey, not as long as I'm President, because he respects me and I respect him. But beyond that, we have a good friendship. So, you know, we'll see.

And my second question. Just my second question. Beside peace in the Middle East, what do you wish yourself for your birthday? [ Laughter ]

For my birthday. Well, I'll go a step bigger: Peace for the world. Okay? [ Laughter ] Peace for the world. Middle East, yes. Peace for the whole world.

Yes.

Mr. President, there is a New Jersey Democratic congressional nominee over in the 12th District. His name is Adam Hamawy. He has a connection to the "Blind Sheikh."

Yes.

And I was wondering if I can get your thoughts on that.

I think it's terrible. Okay?

It's who they are.

I think it's terrible. I've seen it. I mean, he was more—you know, now he's trying to sort of say, "Yes, I sort of knew him." He didn't "know him." They were very good friends.

And you look at the—you go back and look at what happened during that period of time. He was a witness at the trial for him. He was a positive witness for him. He said the most glowing things. The guy knocked down the World Trade Center—admitted that he knocked down the World Trade Center.

Good grief.

I think it's another one, if you look. I actually think the one in Maine is worse, because he's just an outright pig. He's like a pig. I watched him a couple of times. He's like a pig. [ Laughter ] That's what he reminds me of. You know, I come up with good names for people. I don't want to stick him with that one, although I think pigs would be very upset about it. [ Laughter ]

Go ahead.

Mr. President, July 1 is coming fast. How confident are you that you'll be able to renew the USMCA? And what more do you expect from Canada at this point?

Well, I'm not looking to renew it. I don't—you know, I mean, I made the deal, and the primary reason I made the deal is that NAFTA was the worst trade deal I've ever seen.

Yes.

And I made it better, but I have the right to terminate. And, you know, with NAFTA, we didn't have the right to terminate. I had to get these Senators to approve that deal. That was a tough thing. Congressmen too.

NAFTA had no termination. So, I mean, I've never said this before, but I'll tell you what my thinking was: NAFTA was a disaster for our country—the worst trade deal ever made, by far. You know, they had typos in. Okay? And they were supposed to correct them, and they never corrected them when they were signed. They knew there were typos. And there's a process for that. You state your claim, and, you know, you get it changed. They had typos on percentages, or maybe somebody wrote—and it was—for years, they never ran—they had horrible—all against us. So it probably wasn't typos. They never—NAFTA was the worst trade deal we ever had.

USMCA did one thing that I loved. After 6 years, it comes up for renewal. I don't know that I'm going to renew it because, to be honest with you, United States does much better. Hey, we don't need anything that Canada has. We don't need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have. And they have to treat us better.

You know, with Mexico and Canada, we have trade deficits. We should have surpluses with them. We don't need their cars. We don't need their lumber. We don't need their energy. We don't need anything that they have.

So the primary thing that I got—it was a much better deal than NAFTA. Much, much better. It was sort of a good deal, but it was a great deal for one reason: It gave the right to terminate. And who would have thought that I was—you know, they just didn't want to have it during the 4-year period when I was President. So now they made it so that I wouldn't be President. And because they rigged the election—the second election—as you probably hear and probably know. Most of you know that happened, and now it's been proven. And it will be proven as time goes by even more so. We have things that you won't believe. When we release the full files, you're not going to believe how crooked the second—the 2020 election was.

But who would have thought that it comes due in my term? I mean, this was——

Thank you very much. [ Laughter ]

So it was very important that we be able to do that. So we're talking to them. We'll see if we do something.

Acting Director of National Intelligence William J. Pulte/Federal Housing Finance Agency/Acting Attorney General Todd W. Blanche

Mr. President, just before we came in here, you posted about Bill Pulte and that he'd be starting the job early.

Yes.

You said he's going to be downsizing the DNI. Can you talk about your thinking there?

Well, yes, people have wanted that downsized for a long time. And many people don't want it at all.

Does that mean cutting intelligence jobs?

You know, a lot of people thought it was a duplication. Yes. A lot of people thought it was a duplication.

He's done a great job at Fannie Mae. And you know, you take Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae. The value of that has increased so much since I've been in charge. You know, I had the right to sell that. And, in my first term, a group came to see me wanting to buy it, and they offered me exactly 10 percent of what it's worth today. And I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to look foolish when they flipped it a year later for hundreds of billions of dollars more. So I kept it.

And I put him in charge as soon as I got here, and he's done an amazing job. Could be worth a trillion dollars, yes.

That's a pretty different portfolio, though.

Well, it is. I know. But, you know, smart people are smart people. I always say, I'd rather have smart than experienced, but experience is good too.

I would say this: He's going to be there for a short while, while we pick somebody else. We're interviewing five different people. They're all very good, very different. And we'll put somebody there.

But people want it downsized. The Senators and the Congresspeople—I think everybody wants it downsized. And many people, I think—and I won't speak for Todd, but—and I'm not sure how Todd feels, but—by the way, he's great. I hope you people have—give him an easy run, because he's very busy. He doesn't need stupid people saying: "Why didn't you get a higher mark at a certain college?" Because he's highly educated. He was a great student. He's great at everything he's done. And, "How come he got a B-plus?" [ Laughter ] See, they'll go after him for getting a B-plus instead of an A, but the other guy can be a thug, and: "Let him run. He's okay. He's fine."

The one thing about him—it's great, because every time they bring something up, he's worse than anybody that we've ever seen. And I hope the Republicans are going to use him as your—as your standard-bearer, when they—when they say that: "Gee, Eric, we don't like the way you dress today. It's unacceptable, right?" And then all you have to do is point to this thug that they're trying to put in. So, pretty much, that's the way it is.

He's going to do a good job. He's going to be there for a very short period of time. He will be superseded and replaced by somebody that's going to have the job permanently.

Okay?

What do you—what do you make of Democrats saying they'll hold up the FISA extension over this?

I don't care what they say.

It's an important tool.

"Dumocrats." They're not Democrats. They're "Dumocrats." They're dumb people.

Yes.

Do you need their votes?

Then, I guess, something's going to happen. No, we can't let them extort us. I told the guys today: We can't let them. They did—they've done it on numerous occasions. I said, "We can't"—this—what we're signing today has been amazing, but they tried to extort us.

Exactly.

Yes.

And eventually—and they were losing tremendous support, because they're extorting on law and order, and they can't win on law and order. People want law and order. They don't want crime. And that's essentially what they were doing. And ultimately, they could not take the heat. But we can't let them extort us.

The World Cup, Mr. President, it starts tomorrow and some——

What starts?

The World Cup.

Yes.

The soccer World Cup. The football World Cup.

The most successful World Cup they've ever had.

Exactly. And——

They've never sold tickets at that level. They've never sold that many tickets so quickly. It's amazing, because you don't think of soccer—we use the word—football, soccer, right?—but you don't think of soccer in this country.

It's the most successful—I spoke to Gianni this morning. He's fantastic. And he's the boss. He said: "There's never been anything close to what's happened."

But because of the success, some people are afraid that it's going to be harder and harder to get visas to come from outside. Can you reassure them?

Well, we're going to—we're working on it very closely to make sure the right people come into our country.

Mr. President, are you going to go to any games, sir?

Are you going to go to any World Cup games?

I will. I will.

Are you concerned, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number, which came out this morning? Could that be a net win——

No, I love it.

——for Republicans in terms of——

The numbers were great.

——trying to hold onto the House and the Senate?

You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why?