Remarks #2 transcript, Jun 23, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Hello, everybody. We're in Pennsylvania. We're celebrating the great steel numbers. We are back in the steel business in a big way, one of the biggest in the world again. And we're here to have a good time with a very big crowd of people.

Mr. President, your Department of War is asking for 80 billion more dollars for the Iran war. Do you think Americans support this at a time when so many are financially struggling?

Who are you with?

I'm with NewsNation, sir.

Not a very good group. Not doing very well.

But, Mr. President, do Americans support that?

Not only do they support it—not only do they support it, they demand it, because they won't allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. You want to see trouble, let them have a nuclear weapon.

We're doing very well with Iran. They've been decimated. And we're making a deal with them, and we'll see how that all goes. And right now, as you probably heard yesterday, we had 19 barrels of oil—19 million barrels of oil come off, and that's the biggest in the history of the Strait—the Hormuz Strait.

Our stock market is through the roof, and oil prices are tumbling. We actually hit, for a moment today—in fact, I think it's going to break it—$70 a barrel. That's lower than we were when we started, and it's been amazing.

And the big thing is Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

Mr. President, what's on your agenda for your meeting tomorrow with Senators at the lunch about the SAVE America Act? What's your message?

Well, we're just going to talk about SAVE America. We have to get—we have to pass the SAVE America Act, which is voter ID, which is proof of citizenship, et cetera.

We have to pass it. So we're going to have to talk about that and many other things. A lot of good relations.

Mr. President, the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, has told me many times he doesn't believe that they have the votes to pass it.

That's what being a leader's about. You know, he's a leader. John's a leader. That's what being is leader about.

Look, we have to be able to get proof of citizenship when you vote, otherwise we don't have elections. We have to be able to get voter ID. So John is a leader, and hopefully he can get the votes.

Mr. President, on Iran. On Iran. The Iranians are saying there's no scheduled visit for the IAEA inspectors. Is that part of your agreement?

They're wrong.

So——

They're wrong. They know they're wrong. They told us inside, and we have it down, a hundred percent inspections. And if they were right, I'd cancel the meetings right now.

Mr. President, when will those—from your view, Mr. President, when will those inspectors actually be on the ground in Iran?

At the appropriate time. At the appropriate time. There's no rush. But they'll be on the ground at the appropriate time.

Sir, on Lebanon. On Lebanon, sir. Israeli forces have opened fire in South Lebanon today, killing two people. Are you confident that the cease-fire is still holding in Lebanon?

Well, we'll see what—look, they've been fighting each other for many, many years, decades, and we'll see. But it's going to come along.

Mr. President, on Nancy Guthrie. There's a note that our Brian Entin reported on that says that she's dead, she's "with nature." Is there any hope that the FBI and investigators find her?

I hope they find her. I mean, Savannah has gone through a rough—that family has gone through hell. I hope they find her.

Mr. President, on the reflecting pool, you mentioned yesterday that the Interior Department has video and photos. We reached out to them, and they haven't shared it with us. Are you going——

Well, they will share it.

to compel them to release it?

They've arrested, I think, 6 people on the reflecting pool.

So the reflecting pool looks fantastic. I just got pictures of it. It's beautiful. But somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good. And then they cut a 200—350-foot slip in the form of lots of little slips. Real horrible stuff.

And they destroyed the grass. We put a brandnew big load of grass out there. They destroyed it. So it's all being fixed, but it's a shame.

So I understand 5 or 6 people were arrested. The Interior Department can refer to you on that.

Will they release, though——

And I hear——

Are you going to ask them to release that?

I hear that—I hear they have 6 people under investigation.

Mr. President, you're about to speak to truckers. Truckers are at high risk of losing their jobs to AI because of self-driving vehicles.

Well, now they're not. You can't get a job—right now we have the highest job numbers we've ever had in the country—in the history of the country.

And I'm just with a couple of the great Senators and Congressmen, we're talking—it's actually hard to fill the—you know, nobody's ever seen a time like this. We have, right now, so many jobs that are going to be available, and the biggest problem we have is getting the people. So we're really doing spectacular.

In this area, in Pennsylvania, for steel, Eli Lilly just announced billions of dollars' worth of plants. We have more plants being built right now in the United States than at any time in the history of our country.

When you meet with Senators tomorrow, what will you say to allies of yours, like Senator Cruz, who have been critical of the Iran deal?

Well, I think anybody that's been critical of it has to be educated, even if they're friends of mine, because we have Iran in a position that nobody has ever had. The—this should have been done for 47 years by other Presidents, and we have Iran in a position where their military has been totally wiped out, their leadership has been wiped out, their radar has been wiped out. Everything has been wiped out. They have not a good negotiating position.

But despite that—and money that will be taken out of Iran is going to go to our far—farmers to give corn, soybeans, wheat to Iran because they have a hunger problem. They have food problem. They have a medicine problem. They've got a lot of problems. And they have an inflation—their inflation now just hit 300 percent. So they have a lot of problems.

Mr. President, on Iran——

Mr. President, are you planning to do a Federal takeover of DC soon, since it looks likely that a Socialist, Janeese Lewis George—[ inaudible ]——

So we have a radical-left Communist elected—I guess soon to be elected mayor of DC.

DC is now a safe—you people know better than anybody. It's a safe, beautiful city. When I came here, it was an unsafe, unkempt, horrible city. It—you—it was horrible. The monuments and the waterfalls and the statues and everything were graffiti-ridden, hadn't been fixed in 50 years—cleaned. Now it's beautiful.

We did 52 statues, monuments, waterfalls, including the thing that—you know, where the vandals hit the reflecting pool, but we'll get that back very quickly. In fact, I will say, this morning I sent people over. They say it looks absolutely beautiful, but we're going to have to let a little water out and fix it, and then we'll put the water back in.

Mr. President, on ODNI——

But just so you understand. So our country is doing really well, and we're going to keep it that way. And any Senator that didn't vote for all of the things we need—because we're making an amazing deal with Iran. We're making a deal that's going to keep our country and the world safe because we're not going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and they know that, and they agree to that.

Thank you very much.