Remarks transcript, Aug 3, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Thank you for all being here as we take a major new step to support our incredible military families, something that we've been working on for a long time, I guess you could say for decades. There's never been anything like this.

Today I'm signing an Executive order to establish the first-ever Presidential Military Spouse Commission. It will be chaired by Jennifer Hegseth, the wife of—and highly respected wife, I may add—of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Both here.

I also want to congratulate the new Executive Director of the Commission, Desiree. So where's Desiree? Where are you, Desiree? You do such a good job. Desiree Thompson Sayle.

Along with new Commission member Christie Mullin, wife of Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary Markwayne Mullin. These are outstanding people, everyone—male and female. Outstanding.

The Commission will also include the spouses of our wonderful service Secretaries, the spouses of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the spouses of their senior enlisted leaders. And we have some incredible talent. And I will tell you, these spouses, I've looked at educationally and every other way—they're amazing.

We're also pleased to be joined by Secretary Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. Thank you very much, Dan.

America cannot have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses who make the extraordinary sacrifices for our country. And they really are extraordinary.

Many military spouses spend months separated from their loved ones while our heroes are deployed overseas. Military families also endure frequent moves and other unique challenges, and the challenges are legendary. They write books about them.

This Commission will provide recommendations for improving the quality of life for military spouses so that we can better support both our military families and the entire United States Armed Forces.

The Commission will develop suggestions to address particular challenges in housing, employment, health care, education, childcare, and just about everything else you can think of. It's never—we've never had this opportunity. We're doing it now because we've done a lot for our military. We love our military.

Every day, our administration is fighting to give our military families the support they dearly need and they deserve.

As part of the "Great Big Beautiful Bill," we provided hundreds of millions of dollars for military childcare and improved housing on military bases. It's being built. Much of it's being built right now.

Last Christmas, every servicemember received a "Warrior Dividend" of $1,776. Think of that. I wonder where we got that number. It was actually $1,775. The number worked out to be 17—I said, if you add $1, we have 17—that was one of my genius ideas. [ Laughter ] We have $1,776. But that's—that was a great thing.

And we've given it—every member of our military hard-earned pay raise. We've also given the pay raise.

The Commission will help ensure we continue to give military spouses our very best so our military can continue to be the strongest military anywhere in the world, and we're proving that.

As you know, we had a conflict with Venezuela. Worked out very well. And we have a conflict with Iran, and that's working out very well. Very, very well.

So now I'd like to ask Jennifer Hegseth to say a few words, followed by Pete, General Caine.

And then I will sign the Executive order putting this into play. And it's an order that's long overdue, as far as I'm concerned—like, by decades. And we're going to do a real job with it.

And, Jennifer, if you will, please.

Well, Mr. President, you have been a champion for the military, and we are so grateful for that. And that continues today.

And, like you said, these are generational issues that are long overdue to address. And we have the most amazing women here, who have decades of experience as military spouses themselves, to take a look at it. There's really nothing we're going to find that they haven't experienced.

And so, between what they've experienced and what they know, we're going to really tackle these things.

And I've spent the last year traveling around, meeting with military spouses and families around the world and around the country, and it's the same from Kentucky to Singapore. It's housing, it's health care, it's employment, it's childcare, it's education, and so we're going to take a look at all of those things.

Even one of the women up here—I won't say who, but was a paramedic. And as they moved from State to State, she could not get the license switched to that State in time before you move again, before you PCS. And it makes it really difficult for these families to survive, let alone all the other sacrifices we're asking for them.

So this is a big deal today. We're super grateful. Every time Pete travels around—Secretary Hegseth—[ laughter ]—travels around talking to the troops, he tells them, "The President has your back," and now the families know that you have their back too, and we are grateful.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. Great job. Thank you.

How about you say something first——

I'll say——

——and then we'll go——

I can't really top that.

Then we'll go back and to the general.

You're not going to top it. [ Laughter ]

I can't top that, Mr. President. I'll just——

Give it a shot. [ Laughter ] You're not going to.

You know, it's—[ laughter ]——

Good job.

It's true. Strong families equal strong formations. I mean, when you look at it from a military perspective, as a Secretary, our job is to make sure our troops are prepared and ready on behalf of the Nation. And if your family's not taken care of, then it causes hesitations and complications for the warfighters out front.

And so we say often—and we mean it—no soldier, no marine, no member of the joint force serves alone. And so, if we can address the issues of housing and make sure it's quality housing, make sure employment opportunities are maxed out, make sure childcare is taken care of, make sure DoDEA or DoWEA schools are the best in the world so that our military kids are being educated the trade skills they might want to take the next chapter in life—if that warfighter knows that their family is good to go, they will go the extra mile, which is what our Nation asks.

So we're in—this is not one of those window-dressing efforts. The—Jen's right. This entire group has mountains of experience, and they're raring to go to put it to use on behalf of the great Americans who serve our Nation.

And this is going to be full speed ahead to address every quality-of-life issue we can, which, Mr. President, you invested in the "One Big Beautiful Bill." People don't know how much went into housing and into barracks and into pay. That's a down payment, and now with the $1.5 trillion, which we're working to get every dollar of, it's going to be a generational investment in barracks, in housing, in health care, in pay, in ways no Commander in Chief has ever done before.

So Mr. President, thank you for leading on this, and this Commission's ready to go.

Well, thank you very much. You're doing a fantastic job.

General, please.

Mr. President, Mrs. Hegseth, Secretary Hegseth, it's an honor for me to be here today at the launch of this Commission.

As we stand here now, around the world, military servicemembers are out doing our Nation's business and ready to do what is asked of them.

The foundation of American military readiness is the families, and the backstopping of all of that is the military spouses that serve behind them.

Inevitably, every time somebody deploys, that refrigerator will break down, the car will break down. You think we're strong? American military spouses are 10 times stronger, and the lift that they carry is significant every single day.

I want to thank this commission for the work that they're going to do to help improve military families' lives and military spouses' lives. It is a critical enabler for American warfighting capabilities.

So to all of you here and all the work that went into putting this Commission together, thank you.

And, Mr. President, we're honored to be here today.

Where will they be meeting when you have meetings? Because you're going to be having a lot of meetings.

White House Director of Presidential Correspondence and Military Spouse Commission Executive Director Desiree Thompson Sayle . Here at the White House.

Do you know where you're going to be meeting, Jen?

Every month here at the White House.

Oh, that's great.

Yes.

Well, you can't do better than that.

Can't do better than that. [ Laughter ]

Use the Oval Office. Take it. [ Laughter ]

Would anybody like to say anything? Maybe, Desiree, you could start? And then if you want to say anything, great time to say it.

Please.

Absolutely.

Desiree, go ahead.

Well, I'll just be really short. I—it's a pleasure for me to serve as the executive director of this commission. I think it's a long time coming.

It's a little bit of a pet project out of my office, simply because we have the Chief of Staff of the Air Force's wife that has been inspirational for this. She's a 41-year spouse.

But collectively, this group has over 400 years of experience as an Active Duty military spouse. Four hundred. And they've probably moved about 300 times. [ Laughter ]

So if you can imagine that level of experience coming to this Commission and solving real problems for the future of our military spouses and families—it's just an incredible thing that you're doing, President Trump: Actually, asking them to solve these problems and give you good recommendations. And we're happy to help them do that.

So you know, we have—Desiree has been with us for a long time, and she's directly and indirectly done what she's doing for a long, long time. Covered numerous Presidents.

And she basically responds to the public when the public—they send things. Sometimes they send gifts. I—actually, it amounts to millions of dollars in small money. And I said, "Well, what happens to that money?" They send it back or they do charitable work or—but it's literally millions. They send it to me. I should be able to get it. [ Laughter ] She won't give it to me. I should be entitled to it. No.

But they send it to me as a—just a gesture. But they write thousands and hundreds of thousands of letters. And she's got a staff that's all volunteer. And I have one question: How did I—how do I compare, in terms of response, with other Presidents of the past?

No comparison, sir. [ Laughter ] None.

Is that good or bad?

No, it's good. [ Laughter ] Actually. It's very good.

That's very good.

Yes. So——

We do okay?

You do great.

Little more than Sleepy Joe? [ Laughter ] Little bit more?

A hundred-percent positive.

Little bit more?

Yes.

Well, I think so.

Thank you. Thank you.

Does anybody have anything to say, or a question or statement? Would you like to make a statement? Yes, please.

Could I just say—I'm so excited. We've served with the Wilsbachs now for a number of years, and I've seen them champion the enlisted corps.

As a—as the spouse of a senior enlisted leader, it's pretty easy for something amazing like this to happen and not include the enlisted corps—the senior enlisted leaders from the enlisted corps. It means the world to me that this started with them in mind.

And I don't know if you remember, but a few years ago, my husband was serving in Alaska. And before you got on the plane, he asked your detail if he could ask you a question, and he asked if you would FaceTime me, and you did. [ Laughter ] And that——

I do that.

It meant the world and——

For people I respect, I do that.

You're getting ready to get on the plane, and this E–9—this enlisted command chief—asked you to FaceTime me. And you put your arm around him, you said, "He's doing a good job. Take good care of him."

And that picture hangs—has hung in his office since. And it just means the world to me that you highlight the enlisted corps every chance you get, and I love to tell people that story, that you took the time.

That's so nice. Thank you very much. Say hello, okay? I remember.

Please, anybody else?

Mr. President, this is Cindy Wilsbach, who's humble to her core——

That's right.

——and has had a significant role in putting this Commission together. So I just want to highlight Cindy's work.

Would you like to say something?

I would just like to say this is a red-letter day for me. Just the honor that I feel to be surrounded by these spouses, who—what I like to say is, "We serve by oath or by vow." We didn't all raise our right hand to take an oath, but we began serving this great nation when we extended our left hand and said a vow to the person that we love that served this country. And we represent people that are at the end of their careers. We have served decades—20, 30, 40 years of service. This is about the legacy that we leave for the people that come after us——

That's great.

——for these people who have children who are serving now or for families that we say, "We love you, we care about you, and we are the greatest military in the world," and part of that is taking care of our families, and that's what this commission will do.

And your husband is highly respected, I have to tell you that——

Thank you.

——by everybody.

Thank you.

By everybody.

Anybody over here? Yes, please.

LyndaLee Lunday, wife of Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, USCG . Mr. President, on behalf of the Coast Guard, we cannot thank you enough for the amount of money that you have put into our organization. We are beyond excited about the new potentials that we have. We can just feel it. The whole Coast Guard—every time we go to visit our different units and our families—people are super excited.

Including 11 ice cutters, right?

I—absolutely, I'll be talking——

You just got them?

Yes.

Going to be beautiful—[ inaudible ].

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

They had 1. Russia has 48. They had 1, and it was 50 years old, and you're going to soon be getting 11 brandnew ones at top of the line So that's a big——

Well, our people are——

That's a big deal.

——very thrilled and super excited, and very thankful to you. Thank you, sir.

That's great. Thank you very much. Good.

Anybody else like to say? Last chance. That's it. [ Laughter ]

So I'm going to sign this, and it's a real honor.

And then, if you like, you could ask questions of the people, and—or me, if you want.

Okay. That's a good one. So I wouldn't want a bad one on this topic. [ Laughter ] Some are good. You know, we rate them from 6 to 10. Sixes are usually when I'm standing up, holding it. [ Laughter ] You can't do a very good one. But that's a 10. So we're—you deserve a 10 too.

I think you should hold that.

Thank you, sir.

Okay?

Questions, please. Please.

On behalf of the press corps, thank you, ladies, for what you do for our servicemembers and this country.

Great.

Mr. President, are the talks with Iran now off and are airstrikes back on?

No, they're on. They're going on right now. It's an amazing thing. We have a little problem with Iran because we have many talks, and we'll say we have or we don't have. You know, we're straight about it. But they deny. But they're not denying it now. They just put out a statement not denying it. But for some reason, they—when they're talking, they don't like saying that they're talking.

So I say, "Wait, we're in talks." Big deal. We're in talks. And they'll sometimes deny it, even though they spend hours and hours together talking.

No, the talks are going along. We were going to hit them very hard yesterday—very, very hard—harder than any attack—I think I can say, General, from a point of knowledge, any attack since World War II. That's pretty big.

And we were set to go. And they called—and in addition, Saudi Arabia called, and U.A.E. called, Qatar called. Got calls from numerous people. Not—I don't want to use the word "begging," but some were.

In particular, Iran did not want to be hit. And they said, "We want to talk. We want to talk about the Strait, but more importantly"—from my standpoint—"we want to talk about the denuclearization of Iran," because this is what it's all about. This is why I'm doing this. And it should have been done—it's now 50 years. We keep saying 47 years, but 3 years have gone by. But it's for 50 years that other Presidents should have been doing what I—or other countries—didn't have to be us, but other countries. And nobody did it. And it was time, and we hit them hard with the B–2s more than a year ago now, and that knocked out their capability—their potential capability. And we've done a great job.

But when we talk, we say we're talking. If we're not talking when you ask me, "No, we're not talking." I'll say it. But we are talking. Right now we're talking, and we're talking at the request of Iran, backed by Saudi Arabia, backed by U.A.E., and backed by Qatar, in particular, but others also.

Many countries called. Many of the leaders of many—I'm friendly with a lot of them, almost all of them one way or the other. And they all wanted to give this a last chance.

This is a last chance. This is not something that, if it doesn't happen—this is a last chance for them to sign a good document.

Yes, please.

Mr. President, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is requiring an ID to access his government-run grocery stores. What then is your message to Democrats who do not want to pass the SAVE America Act and——

Yes.

ensure, you know, ID at the ballot box?

When did this—when was this announced?

This was just announced.

Yes.

I heard about it. Yes. Well, I wish they'd have an ID to access the voting booth. You know? They don't want to access the voting booth with any identification. We want voter ID, and we want proof of citizenship.

Well, he also had a thing where you had to have two different IDs to shovel snow during the winter, right? So that's a very friendly question.

I like her. Who are you with? [ Laughter ]

One American News, sir.