Remarks transcript, Jun 11, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Terrible. And they do affect fishing, and it's very bad, and everybody is against it.

Yes, please.

Mr. President, on Iran——

Go ahead.

Mr. President, on Iran, how confident are you that there will be a signing this weekend? Because you have come close to sealing a deal, but at the last minute, it has fallen apart.

I'm pretty confident.

And has——

It will be soon. Maybe this weekend.

And has the Supreme Leader approved this deal, sir?

I understand the answer is yes.

And when the—and when this deal is signed, is the United States going to immediately lift the blockade?

Yes, that's true. That's part of the deal.

And—just one——

And you'll have oil prices dropping like a rock.

And, sir, have you actually secured an agreement on the discussions about the nuclear material and the nuclear negotiations? Has Iran——

Yes. Conceptually on that. And nobody is getting close to it because it's buried under a mountain, basically.

But——

Those B–2 bombers did their job.

Go ahead. Go ahead.

But has Iran committed to not pursuing a nuclear weapon, or will there be more negotiations on that down the line?

They will not have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that. There will be no —which is the whole reason—which is a big part of the reason, maybe the biggest.

Is that going to be in your agreement, sir?

They will not only "not have," they will not purchase, develop in any way, any shape—in any way, shape, or form a nuclear weapon. They will not have a nuclear weapon.

Mr. President, just to follow up on that. You have said before that Iran and the United States were close to a deal. It has not happened yet. Why are you so convinced that this time is different?

Because they've taken a pounding. They've taken a pounding like very few people could take. And they want to make the deal a lot more than I do. And we could have had it done the other way, I guess, but it would have taken longer. They got hit very hard recently, as you know, and I don't like to have to do things that way, but I felt it was necessary.

It's a great deal for the United States and for the Middle East and, I think, ultimately, great for Iran, because they'll be able to build up their country and—a lot of their country.

I really believe it's a regime change because I find these people to be much more rational than the people that are no longer with us. We knocked out the first team of leadership, the second team of leadership. This is a different group. This is a different level, and I think it's a—frankly, a smarter level, and it's a level that has reason.

And they've all approved the deal. Everybody has approved the deal. Now we'll get it finished up, and, hopefully, that will be done.

We will not have Iran having a nuclear weapon, which is very important to these people behind me. You know, we can talk about fishing. There won't be anybody to fish. The fish will still be around, I guess. They're probably going to be affected too. We're not going to let it happen.

So Iran will essentially—most important paragraph to me: Iran will in no way, shape, or form have a nuclear weapon or purchase a nuclear weapon.

But is this just a concept of that agreement? When it comes to nuclear, you said this was just a concept of that agreement. So is this just essentially——

No——

——setting the stage for deeper talks——

Well, it's a—it's——

——on nuclear?

It's a very strong memorandum of understanding—that is a little conceptual—but it's something that's going to get done. And if it doesn't get done for any reason, which I can't imagine that not happening—they want to sign it as much as I do or more. I would say they want to sign it more, maybe a lot more. But it's a very detailed memorandum of understanding, also agreed to by many other countries that have great influence over them, and everybody wants it done. So it's going to get done.

Mr. President, you suggested yesterday that Iran may be tapping along the U.S. Those were the words that you used. What makes you believe that they are sincere this time in wanting to pursue diplomacy?

It's a level of enthusiasm for getting it done. And we were hitting them very hard for the last 3 days. We're going to hit them even harder tonight. They knew that. We told them exactly what we were going to do. We explained it exactly. Because they had no navy, they had no air force, they had no—any weapons of detection. They had nothing, and so we could tell them exactly what their—there wasn't a thing they could have done about it.

And we won this war militarily very early on. The only thing we didn't win was the fake news was—you know, no matter if—they could have raised the white flag of surrender, and the fake news would say, "Oh, they did wonderfully." They didn't do wonderfully.

But you know what? They've got a chance to build a country. Their country is largely demolished.

Again, their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. Everything is gone. Their leadership is gone many times over. Even many people from this leadership is gone, but we found them to be rational, and they're going to make a deal. I mean, we're going to—we'll be——

And I'll tell you what: It's a great deal. You know why it's a great deal? Because they will never have a nuclear weapon.

Mr. President, is there a specific amount of time that has to pass between this memorandum of understanding and a final deal being done?

Well, we hope it's going to go relatively quickly, but it's now——

Is there a 60- or a 90-day deadline?

I mean, the Straits are going to open immediately. It's—upon signing. Maybe it will be Saturday or Monday.

Or is there a deadline, though, to get from this to a final deal?

We think it's going to go pretty quickly. I don't want to say a deadline, because if I say a deadline, you'll say, "Oh, he didn't meet the deadline." You know, this is like—it's not going to matter much because it's going to get signed, and the Strait is open. But the Straits have been open for a number of months already, and you just didn't know about it. You know, you, as reporters, were—weren't able to get it.

I just announced yesterday that we're bringing—that we brought a lot of ships through, and nobody knew about it. I guess we did a pretty good job, Peter, right?

Yes, sir.

But we brought many, many ships across, and millions—hundreds of millions of barrels of oil were brought——

But why were the—sorry——

——were brought across.

But, Mr. President, is the——

And there wasn't a thing that anybody could have done about that.

Yes.

Is the Kharg Island operation off the table? And are you ruling out boots on the ground at this point?

Well, now it would be. If we sign this agreement, it would be. They weren't so thrilled when they heard that that's what I was—would have done. And I just don't think I like it great.

Look at Venezuela, how well that's worked out. We paid for that war many times over and—many, many times over. We have millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela going to Houston, and we're working great with the Venezuelan government. Couldn't be better. It's a real—good relationship, really good relationship. Venezuela has been amazing.

This is a larger situation—actually, less oil. Venezuela has a lot of oil, but we—think of it: We spent x dollars; we paid for it many, many times. When was the last time you heard that? Many times over we paid for it.

You ever think you'd see that in this country, right? We go to wars; we end up with—always, we end up with just blasting the hell out of people. And we come home, and nothing happens.

Venezuela was amazing, and this is amazing.

Yes.

Mr. President, thank you. Are you considering using or drafting an Executive order to extend back FISA or to continue using section 702?

Well, the Congress wants me to do it, and let's see what happens. They're, right now——

Republican leadership wants you to do that?

Well, you know, I put out a statement. Sure. I—that's very important.

Do you think you have the executive——

It's very important for our military.

Yes.

Mr. President, on the SAVE America Act, you are now urging Republicans to add that to this third reconciliation bill.

Yes.

What's your perspective on why election integrity matters so much for national security, from your perspective, as Commander in Chief?

Well, we need it for our elections. We need to have voter identification, which you don't have right now on a national basis. We need it for—and the voter ID is very important. We need it for proof of citizenship.

Do you believe it? The Democrats are fighting. They don't want you to prove your citizenship when you vote. You know why they want that? Because they cheat.

And we also want it—mail-in voting, where you have people that are sent seven, eight ballots, two ballots, four ballots. And a lot of them sign those ballots. But mail-in voting. And we want to be very judicious. If you're in the military and you're far away or if you're handicapped or if you're sick or if you're on vacation, then you have a—but you're not going to—millions and millions—look at California. They send out millions of ballots, tens of millions. They have no idea what's going on.

Those elections are so corrupt. So we have a mail-in ballot. Then we have no men in—we add two more: no men in women's sports. We're talking about saving America, right? No men in women's sports. Another one, very popular. I think it's 99 to 1. They say it's 80/20. I think it's 99 to 1.

And we have no mutilization of your children for gender—transgender purposes. So I see transgender mutilization of your children. Does that sound good with you guys, generally speaking? You—you're not into transgender mutilization of your children?

Not at all. Not at all, sir.

When your child leaves your house and they take your child from you, in some—think of it: In six States, they take the child and do what they want to do. What they do is—I don't even want to talk about it.

We add that: no transgender mutilization of your children.

On DNI, Mr. President. Do you intend to have Bill Pulte continue to serve as the acting director——

Yes.

——of National Intelligence? And do you think it's unreasonable that some Republicans have concerns that he has no intelligence experience, even if he's serving in this acting role?

No, he's—but he's intelligent, unlike a lot of other people. [ Laughter ]

But do you think that's a fair—no intelligence——

No, he's only there for a little while. He's running it for a short while we get a very talented person, Jay Clayton, in, as you know. Jay Clayton is an incredible talent, the head of Sullivan and Cromwell. He was head of the SEC. He's now Southern District. I mean, nobody has better credentials. But——

Do you want Clayton to—[ inaudible ]—DNI, sir?

——Bill will run it for a short while. He's done a fantastic job at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac; created tremendous—it's probably worth a trillion dollars now. Trillion. And he's done a great job. He's a smart guy.

Yes.

Mr. President, today is another example of you bringing these everyday Americans into the White House and listening to them.

Yes.

How important is it for you to listen to everyday Americans when it comes to——

Very important.

——policymaking on a daily basis?

These people built the country, not the complainers. The complainers didn't build the country. These people built the country. Whether it's fishermen or farmers or anything else, me—guys like me—they built the country.

You know, I watch all these ingrates. They're always complaining, complaining. They didn't build anything. They couldn't build anything.

Look at what's happened in Minnesota: Somalia. All these people came in from Somalia. They ripped off our system. You have the woman who married her brother. She came in, married her brother. Isn't that wonderful? And she talks about the Constitution of the United States. She comes from Somalia.

They don't have constitutions in Somalia. They don't have police. They don't have—all they have is people that run around shooting each other. And then she comes and tells us how to run our country.

I don't like it. These people don't like it, I can tell you. I think I can speak for you.

Yes.

She comes in—Ilhan Omar. She comes in. She tells us how to run the United States of America, and she comes from a place without anything—without anything. Probably among the worst countries in the world.

And she says, "The Constitution of the United States protects me." [ Laughter ] She shouldn't be protected. She—if she—honestly, she should be thrown out of the country. She's corrupt, and most of the people that came in are corrupt. And the whole voting system is corrupt in Minnesota.

I won Minnesota three times, easily. I won almost every county. But they didn't give it to me. It's a corrupt system, very corrupt State. The Governor is terrible. The attorney general is terrible—they're all very corrupt people.

Yes, please.

Sir, on the defense supplemental. Do you think there's enough support from Republicans in Congress to pass it?

I hope so. I mean, any—Republican that voted against it would be——

McConnell and Collins say they don't think it's going to happen.

Well, McConnell is an angry man. He—you know, he got thrown out of his position. He's an angry guy. You know, he should be very thankful to me, because if I didn't win, he wouldn't have gotten to appoint. I appointed the judges. He didn't.

He gets credit for appointing judge. He didn't appoint anybody. I did. You know how I did? I won the election, and they're—then I picked judges. And the judges ended up getting approved, and they said, "Oh, didn't he do a good job?" He didn't do a good job. What the hell did he do? I won the election.

He's an angry man who's very disloyal to John Thune. John Thune is a good man. He was a loyal worker for Mitch McConnell. He worked for Mitch McConnell. He worked very hard. He was very loyal to him.

I disagreed with him a lot because Mitch McConnell gave so much money to Democrats. He gave them money. I had to go get the wall money from the military—I just took it out of the military, because that guy wouldn't do anything. He gave it—no, Mitch McConnell is a bad guy. And he's a—and a—I thought he was lousy at his job. Lousy at his job. But when they gave him—the only thing he—they gave him a lot of credit for judges. But I'm the one that got the judges. You know why? I won the election. If I didn't win the election, he wouldn't have had any judges. So, yes, I mean——

So when will the administration send the supplemental?

Say it again?

When will you send the supplemental to—do you have any idea when?

We're going to send a supplemental. But you have him. You have Murkowski. I've done so much for Murkowski.

You have the Governor right here. Governor, have I done a lot for Alaska? Is there anybody done more for Alaska than me?

You've been the best President for Alaska in our history, Mr. President. I've said that many times.

And Murkowski is terrible—terrible to us, terrible to the country.

And you know, I almost feel guilty. I do more—probably done more for Alaska than any other State—not because of her; because it's the right thing to do. She's just an impediment.

But if she's there, she probably will be a negative vote. You have a couple of other. I think Rand Paul has come a long way. Let's see what happens. I think Rand Paul likes SAVE America, so—because Rand Paul is usually a negative vote, but I think he likes SAVE America, so that's good. I like Rand Paul, but you know, I hope he votes for us.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. President. The president of the Kentucky Farm Bureau——

Yes.

——testified before the Senate about a month ago, middle of May. At that point, he said that the pricing and availability of fertilizer was a crisis for farmers.

Yes.

And he said the war was not helping that, and he said we need the Government to step in and provide economic help. Even if you do make a deal in the next couple of days, that was a month ago that farmers were saying they were in crisis. Do you think there needs to be Federal aid specifically for farmers——

I'm going to look at that.

——because of the war?

Yes. No, it's fair. You know, I gave the farmers $28 billion in my first term because they were taken advantage of by China, and I charged China for it. I put tariffs on, and China paid us hundreds of billions of dollars. And I took $28 billion out of the tariffs from China—and other countries have treated our farmers very badly. I gave them $28 billion.

And I'm looking at that, actually.

What would——

The war is the primary impediment, which is now going to come down from Ukraine. You know, a lot of it comes out of Ukraine and other things, but—other places. But no, the farmers have a problem with fertilizer, but that's all coming down now.

And your fuel is going to be—I think it's going to be lower than it was 4 or 5 months ago. Four or 5 months ago, we were doing unbelievable.

Remember this: If you look at Biden, his oil prices, without saving our country, saving the world by going out and saying to Iran, "You cannot have a nuclear weapon"—if I ask these people about Iran having a nuclear weapon, and they're going to have to go through some pain, I mean, I don't think I—you know, I hate to really do it because it's a little dangerous—every one of these people are going to say, "You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon." Because they'd use it.

You want to see turmoil? You want to see death and destruction? Let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

President Trump——

So—but I am looking at doing a form of help because of fertilizer, but fertilizer is going to come way down as soon as this is over.

And then a political question, if I can. Next week, there's a big runoff race in Georgia for U.S. Senate.

Yes.

You notably have endorsed a candidate for Governor there. You haven't endorsed for U.S. Senate between the two Republicans. Why not?

I may do that. But you know, every time I endorse, they win. It's been a pretty amazing track record. I was 18 and 0 this last week. And a lot of them are insurgents.

Do you regret endorsing Randy Feenstra, sir?

What?

Do you regret endorsing Randy Feenstra in Iowa?

I—the man running against him was all Trump and the only one out of hundreds of races—hundreds. I'm glad she brought it up. You know, she's got to bring it up.

There's a gentleman in Georgia that I endorsed who was much less Trump than the other man that won, as you know. And had I been given the proper information, which I don't think I was, I probably would have endorsed the other person. But—or not endorsed at all, but I would have endorsed the other person.

The other person was much more Trump, as you know, than Randy.

Mr. President, here in Washington, DC, there's a Democratic primary for mayor. One of the two leading candidates, Janeese Lewis George, is running a Zohran Mamdani campaign. It's focused on socialist policies. How would you feel if she emerges victorious in next Tuesday's primary?

Well, I wouldn't like it. And maybe we take back Washington, run it on the Federal basis. We won't put up with it. We're not going to lose our businesses.