Remarks #2 transcript, Jul 8, 2026 (Donald Trump)

It was a long walk to you. [ Laughter ]

Hello, Mr. President.

It was about three times the walk we used to take, right? I hope you like it.

So we had a very good day, a very good 2 days, and a lot of things were determined. And what was really determined is the country is doing very well. We made a lot of good trade deals with Turkey. And they've been a very good partner. He's been great, by the way. President Erdoğan has been great.

And I hope you had a good time. Any questions?

Mr. President, what was the security concern that caused us to change planes?

The which?

What was the security concern that caused us to change planes?

We sent this one in so that the Air Force base here—it was on the same exact line. So you saw—did you see the picture with——

We did. We did.

——hundreds of pictures——

The printouts.

——hundreds of people. Let me see that.

Oh, yes. Well, you can't see it too well, but there are hundreds of people out there.

So you're——

So they wanted to see, so they came a little bit early, and we switched planes.

So you're saying there wasn't a security concern?

No, no, no. Why would there be?

Was there any other issue? No issues with the plane?

No. No, except——

Any reason?

Except we sent it a little early. Same line going back, and we sent it a little bit early so that we could let them see it. The base—the whole base came out and saw the plane, and then we landed.

Departure Protocol on the President's Flight From Ankara, Turkey, to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk, United Kingdom

Do you think—do you know why they had us close our window blinds? That was kind of unusual.

No.

So it has——

Well, yes, because you're—you know, you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags that we have to deal with. Maybe.

So you think that Iran was possibly thinking of targeting the flight?

Well, I mean, if they asked you to close your windows, probably they feel that way. They didn't ask me to close mine, but if they did, I would have done it.

No, these are sick people——

Were you——

——so I could see something like that. I didn't know they did that, but I could see something like that.

Were you aware of any credible threat by Iran against Air Force One?

Well, I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go.

Mm-hmm.

Right?

But was there a specific threat today?

So perhaps someday you want to change professions.

What do you have, Daniel [Daniel Baldwin, One America News Network]?

CENTCOM posted that there are strikes ongoing in Iran, sir.

They just——

Can you give us an update as to how those are?

We just hit them very hard, and I say we hit them 20 to 1. Every time they hit us, we're going to hit them 20. And we did it last night. They did a little something today, but it was really retribution for last night. They hit, actually, three boats, not two. And when they hit, we hit back much harder.

Are we returning to a full-scale military conflict, sir?

I don't know. I mean, I don't know. We'd win it very quickly. It's another way of doing—we have many ways we can win, but we've already won militarily. They've got very little—they have very little left, and they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly.

I just don't know if they're worthy of making a deal. I don't know that they're going to honor the deal. That's the problem.

If they want to make a deal, why do you think they attacked commercial vessels?

Because they're sort of crazy, to be honest with you. They're sort of crazy. They're a little bit out of control. But they want to make a deal. They—badly.

Mr. President, have you spoken to Senator Mitch McConnell since his hospitalization?

No, I haven't. No.

How's he doing?

I have no idea.

Do you have any idea how he's doing?

I have no idea how he's doing.

At the beginning of—at the beginning of—before this—before the NATO summit, you spoke——

Who are you with?

Reuters. You had——

Not the best. Not the best.

You had issues with—you said you had issues with leaders of Spain, U.K.——

Yes.

and various other countries.

Spain—I will say, I did have issues with Spain, and I still do.

Also Germany.

But Spain, they came back all the way today. Spain was very generous today. You know, I told them I'm going to stop trading.

What did—what did Spain do today?

They made—they honored a request for lots of payment, and if they didn't, we wouldn't even talk to them. They were very bad. They behaved very badly, in my opinion.

But there was great unity in that room today, the NATO room. It was pretty much—pretty amazing, actually. There was something very good about it. I actually wish the press was able to stay.

Now, they may have been different if the press was there, but there was tremendous unity and togetherness. It was—it was quite nice.

Sir, are you going to pull more U.S. troops out of Europe? And, if so, how many——

Maybe.

and where specifically?

I haven't made that final determination. A lot is going to depend on Greenland, and a lot—a lot—I mean, you know, we're going to make a very good deal on Greenland. And if we don't, maybe I will.

And a lot is dependent on Iran. I mean, they want to help now. You know, it's a little late to the thing, because essentially there's not that much fighting to be done. But some will depend on Iran. You know, when they had a chance, an opportunity to help, they chose not to, so—but we're sort of forgetting about that.

Mr. President——

And now they want to help. They all want to go in. They want to help on Iran so badly, but we don't really need help. It's little things, but we don't really need help.

Did President al-Shara' make any commitments to you on helping with Hizballah in Lebanon?

Yes, he did. He was——

What did——

He's done a great job. He's unified Syria, the President. I'm not going to tell you what he said, but yes, he did. He was a—he was great today. He was great, and President Zelenskyy was great too. We had a lot of good meetings today.

Sir, you suggested that the only reason you came to this summit was because it was held in Turkey. Was this your last NATO summit?

No. I think they came a long way today. They made some concessions, and I think NATO came a long way today. And one of the things—you know, we shouldn't be paying for the kind of money we were paying for. No President—I did, in my first term, but Biden immediately gave it back. No President should be having to pay the kind of money we pay.

And, again, we're really there for protecting them, not for protecting us. It's a—it was—ultimately, it was protected against the—protection against the Soviet Union, now Russia, but it was against the Soviet Union. And you know, honestly, we're very far away. We have an ocean separating us.

But we'll see. We're—the meeting today settled a lot of things. It was a very, very good meeting. And people understand that the United States is—we've been treated very unfairly. And then, on top of that, they weren't there for a, really, denuking, because it's really not a war so much; it's a denuking of Iran—denuclearization of Iran.

So this is all about taking nuclear weapons, not allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons. And everybody should like that, even you.

Do you have a question?

Yes. The housing bill becomes law on Friday night if you don't sign it. What do you plan to do?

About what?

The housing bill.

The housing bill.

That's a very good question. See, I'm a big fan of many bills, but I'm a much bigger fan of the most important bill. It's called the SAVE America Act. It's voter ID, it's proof of citizenship, and it's no mail-in ballots, other than—it would be very, you know, easier than this, frankly—but military, illness, disability, vacations, you can't get there, you're away, business. But other than that, you should go and vote. And if you don't, people cheat. People cheat.

You look at California. Look at what happened in this Spencer Pratt thing. I mean, the—with the votes—hundreds of thousands, probably millions of votes gone, where he didn't make the runoff. He was so far ahead of third place, it was ridiculous. Maybe ahead of first place.

But look at that. Look at what's happened with Steve Hilton. Had the U.S. attorney not started an investigation, they would have gotten Steve Hilton out too.

So it's a—you know, it's a very—we have a—we're a third-world country in some States with respect to voting.

But Friday—Friday is the deadline for the housing—Friday is the deadline after which the housing bill will become law——

Yes, we'll make a decision.

without your signature. Will you let it?

I'll make a decision. Not that I dislike it. I dislike the fact that people aren't voting for voter ID with a picture. How can you not vote for voter ID? And, by the way, the public wants it 94 percent. Voter ID, proof of citizenship, no mail-in ballots, other than with the exceptions.

On Venezuela, did you—did you tell Machado not to go back to Venezuela the other week? And what's your relationship with——

You mean, did I tell him a long time ago?

No, no, María Corina Machado, the opposition figure.

Oh. Oh.

Did you tell her not to go back?

Oh, no. No. No, not at all. No, she's terrific. She's a wonderful person. Did she go back? I guess, right?

She didn't, and it was reported that she——

She did or didn't?

She did not. It was reported—[ inaudible ]——

I did not tell her to not to go back. I think she's a good person. She gave me the Nobel Prize, right? So, how can I dislike her? She gave me the—she won the Nobel Prize. She said, "The only one that should win it is Trump." I didn't know her at all. She said, "Trump settled eight wars," which is true.

They were talking about it today. Azerbaijan—I mean, think of the wars I settled, eight. Wars that were going on for 30—even if you look in the Congo. The Congo versus Rwanda, I settled it, after 14 years and about 15 million people had their heads chopped off. I settled that one.

I settled eight wars. And when she won the Nobel Prize for peace, she said: "I can't believe I won it. The only one that should win it is Trump."

Actually, they probably will do the wrong thing. It's very sad, with Norway. But I would say I should have won that award more than anybody that ever received the Nobel Peace Prize, because nobody settled wars. I settled eight of them. Because I'm a certain type of personality, I was able to settle them.

Think of it: India and Pakistan. You know because you covered it. That war was raging. They were a week into it, 11 planes were shot down, and that war was going to go nuclear. The Prime Minister of Pakistan said, "President Trump saved from 30 to 50 million lives." Well, guess what? It could have been a lot more than that.

Mr. President, sir——

Do you think Democrats should be able to pick a replacement for——

a story that hasn't gotten a lot of attention. Starting on July 1, Medicare is now covering GLP–1 drugs——

Yes.

for weight loss, illness. It's the first time it's ever happened. It happened under your leadership.

Yes.

How big of a deal is that for people who need these drugs?

Well, we—because of favored nations, the drug prices have come down tremendously. And, also, if you look at TrumpRx, it's been unbelievable, the price cuts.

But take a look at what we've done in terms of favored nations. We paid the highest drug price in the entire world, and now we pay the lowest drug price in the entire world, and that means 4-, 5-, 600 percent difference. Think of it.

The press doesn't want to write about it. And to get that, I had to get the drug companies to do it, and they were good, but they were good because they knew that I couldn't get the countries to do it. You had to get both.

And I called the countries. I said: "If you don't do it, I'm going to put a very big tariff on you that's more money," and every country agreed to it.

So we went from the highest drug prices in the world—like, in New York, a pill would cost $130, and in London, it costs $10. So now it costs $20 and $20, because the world is a bigger place so it's not really split 50/50.

So we got it down, and it's a great question because that should have a huge impact on health care, because prescription drugs is a big price. But prescription drugs have come down 400 to 500 to 600 percent under Trump.

And that alone should win us the midterms, and the Democrats will terminate it and try and blame somebody else, like I—as I call it, the "Dumocrats."

Do you think——

Dumb—"Dumocrat."

Speaking of——

Do you know what a "Dumocrat" is?

Speaking of Democrats, do you think that the Democrats should be able to pick a replacement for Graham Platner? He's had all these new allegations that have come out. Now Democrats are talking about picking a replacement for him. Should they be able to do that?

They're picking what?

A replacement for Graham Platner, if he steps out of the race.

Well, so he won the primary, right?

Mm-hmm. And now there's these new allegations.

It's very hard for them to do. And it's really a question of whether or not you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods, you know? It's—he's in a bind. He's in a bind.

But should they be able to do it? Well, he's—I guess he's going to lose. I would imagine he's going to lose.

It's very interesting: When a Republican woman came out with the same charge, nobody believed her. When this woman came out, everybody believed her.

Right, Doug [Doug Mills, New York Times]? Did you get any pictures of it, Doug? You don't want them. They wouldn't sell, Doug.

So any other questions?

Mr. President, sir, a new Federal Reserve working paper came out, and it suggested that the illegal migration surge under Joe Biden caused housing costs to spike 30——

Yes.

30 percent. What is the lesson to be learned in that?

Well, what's happening is housing costs are going down because—and rental costs are going down because we're getting so many illegals out of the country.

But Joe Biden raised the cost of housing by 40 and 50 percent, the cost of rental, because they were housing illegal aliens in the—in all of those empty units. And now they're coming down because we're removing people that are here illegally—criminals from the Congo, from Venezuela. We love Venezuela, but he emptied—Maduro emptied out his jails. They opened up their jails; they let them in. But many countries did that.

Twenty-five million people, and we've gotten—I think we're getting most of the bad ones out, and we start the process. But we've done very well on that. But it cost—it was a tremendous increase in housing costs.

By allowing—you don't even think of that. And you know who paid for it? The Federal Government. So the Federal Government just renting, at tremendous prices, all of these houses to service illegal immigrants. But they're not taking care of our soldiers. They didn't take care of our soldiers. So it's a sad thing.

Enjoy the flight. Okay?

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, sir.

That was number five or six or seven today, and every question was a kill, but then we have Daniel and some very good reporters.