Remarks transcript, Aug 14, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Remember, I used to say that about James Comey. I was right. These are dishonest—these are dirty cops. You know the expression? You've got dirty cops too. Letitia James is essentially a dirty cop.

And you have a person running, who I just met today for the first time, and I've endorsed her—running for attorney general. Where the hell are you, ma'am? Where are you? And I'm hearing you have a hell of a shot. Her resumé is unbelievable.

But the reason that all of the products in New York pharmacies and convenience stores are all locked behind glass—how do you do that? You know, I used to go—you go into a drugstore. You go into a store. You buy something. You buy a toothbrush. You buy some toothpaste. Now you have to open up glass. They—it's no way to run a business. I don't know how the hell they can make money. They can charge you a lot. I don't care how much they charge; they can't be making any money.

Actually, I have a store on Wall Street, and they said: "Sir, we're not going to make it. We're not going to make it." I go into the store. This is before I left. I go into this—it's a drugstore. Well-known, big brand. Good store. Beautiful store. Right across on the New York Stock Exchange in a building. And beautiful everything. Everything is beautiful.

There's only one problem. I walk into the store. I said, "What's going on here?" Every shelf has glass on it, and it's got a lock and a key. I said: "Why do you do that? How do you live like that?"

You want a piece of—you want a toothbrush or you want a little toothpaste or a—you want to get a little Dove soap. You know, you have nice skin. [ Laughter ] You want Dove. You can pour it gently on your face, keep your skin very nice. [ Laughter ] You want a little of that good hair that can puff up your hair a little bit more—[ laughter ]—so it makes you look like you have 4 percent more hair than you had, and they charge you a fortune. [ Laughter ] And you have to call a clerk. "Sir, would you please help me?" "Yes, sir, I will." And they open up a door, a glass door, and they give you a bottle of shampoo. Give me a break.

And that's because nothing happens to these criminals. Nothing happens to them. It's not like that in other places. It's like that in other blue States, but it's not like that in Republican States. I can tell you that.

But 3 weeks ago, in Kathy Hochul's New York, a demented criminal with 14 prior arrests threw an elderly woman—you know; you saw it—onto the subway tracks. Almost died. It was a miracle. Barely lived. I mean, what's your definition of "live"?

Two weeks ago, a wonderful 12-year-old boy named Jacob Freytes—you read about this one—was tragically shot and killed by a stray bullet fired by a repeat offender in a gun battle. He was having a gun battle with his friend, shooting bullets all over the place. Jacob was the son of a loving mom and a retired New York City police detective, and they are incredible people. And I think—I heard that they may be with us today.

Are you with us? May I introduce you?

Stand up. Stand up.

Please.

Incredible, horrible story. What a horrible thing.

But we're—we're going after them. I just said, "We're going after." These are bad, sick—they're sick people. They're sick people.

Also with us is former New York PD Officer Ethan Curreri—where is Ethan—Ethan Curreri?—who 3 years ago arrested an illegal alien criminal in New York City. Oh, that's the guy. I remember. [ Laughter ] I remember him. He arrested someone for endangering a child, only to watch that migrant criminal be released under the sanctuary laws that Kathy Hochul so fervently supports.

And just imagine the anguish that Ethan felt when he learned that that same monster was arrested for murder—and murdering a beautiful, young nursing student who became a very famous person after her death, unfortunately—Laken Riley—in Georgia.

Now, if they had the proper laws—you did your job. You did it, but they just released this animal into the world. I just want to thank Ethan Curreri. Please accept our congratulations and our love. Thank you. Thank you, Ethan.

And he was devastated. He was devastated. I—we've been together twice, but he was devastated because he had the guy, it was all done, and they released him. And he said: "Don't release him! Don't release him!" Begged them, but they released him, and he went on—the following couple of days later, he killed Laken Riley.

Thanks to our Republican majorities in Congress last year, it was my honor to sign the Laken Rilen Act—Laken Riley Act into law—helping us ensure migrant criminals are swiftly deported. It's been held up too. It's been—it's been—people are following it very closely. But—and we named it after Laken for a very good reason.

The family was devastated.

And I want to thank Bruce Blakeman for working closely with Federal law enforcement to remove——

Bruce!

——more than 2,000 migrant criminals from Nassau County. Thank you.

He removed 2,000 absolute, total criminals. That's why your records are so good. That's why you're number one in the whole country. I got to check that, Bruce. I don't know about that. [ Laughter ] But that's why you're number one in the country.

It's time for the people of New York to remind your politicians that their job is not to protect the criminals. Their job is to protect the good, hard-working people of New York.

And that's why, right here in Nassau County, Bruce Blakeman hired over 700 new police and correctional officers to keep New Yorkers safe.

I don't know. Should we do this? Come on up, Bruce. Come on. Should we do it? Come up, Bruce.

Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!

You got it.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I see Sid Rosenberg is here. What are you doing? You're supposed to be on radio. [ Laughter ]

Listen, we are so honored to have President Trump join with us here today in these magnificent facilities that we have here in Nassau County to honor the men and women of our law enforcement professionals and firefighters.

And especially, we want to thank President Trump. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart because I meet moms and dads everywhere I go throughout the State. Thank you, Mr. President, for sealing our borders. There are less and less—[ applause ]—there are less and less—less and less moms and dads that are burying their children from fentanyl and the illegal drugs that came through our poorest borders during Biden-Harris.

Thank you, President Trump, and God bless you for everything you do! We appreciate you! Keep going!

Amazing. Amazing.

Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!

That's what you need. That's what you need. He'll be great. I have no doubt about it.

A lot of times, I'm with people and I'm sort of not very sure. [ Laughter ] I'm sure of this one. He's going to be great.

The official communist platform calls for abolishing the police, abolishing prisons, abolishing qualified immunity, abolishing all immigration enforcement, and giving full amnesty to 50 million illegal aliens. How about that?

One of Mayor Mandami's [Mamdani's; White House correction] closest allies in New York, Darializa Avila—haves you—I've never heard of her. Who the hell is she?

Boo!

——called police "pigs." They're "pigs." She said they're "pigs," and she said that—"end policing, full stop." That was her. That's her campaign. That's what she—says: "End policing, full stop."

The radical extremist has not been disavowed by Chuck Schumer, who's a Palestinian. He's a full-fledged Palestine. In fact, I'm looking for Palestinian garb. I'm going to send it to him for his birthday. [ Laughter ] I know him very well.

Or Crazy Nancy Pelosi. She's totally crazy. If you got to know her, you'd say she's crazy.

Or Kathy Hochul, who's done such a poor job in New York. In fact——

Boo!

——she has the congressional Democrats full of—I mean full support. Think of it: Every Democrat—not the people; the people are going to vote for Bruce Blakeman. But the politicians, they're all for her. Begrudgingly, I have to tell you. They came in—the mayor came in very late for her, if you remember.

Communism is the greatest threat to our country in history, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11.

Today we declare again that America is going to be greater than ever before. It's going to be great. You know, I had a little expression that I came up with called "Make America Great Again"—MAGA. Who thought that was going to happen when we first said it 10 years ago? Right? First said it—I came up, I said, "That's a good sound." Who would have thought?

But we're joined today by some of the warriors in Congress who are standing up for our values, including Representatives Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, Nicole Malliotakis, and your former Congressman, a friend of mine, Anthony D'Esposito—Anthony.

And thanks as well to Sheriff Todd Hood, a fantastic guy, Kailee Buller, who's running; Anthony Constantino, who's running for Congress; Jeanine Driscoll; and Mike LiPetri.

Come on up. Come on up, fellas. Come on up. We got to get them in office. Come on up. Get up here. Come on up here.

What the hell? It's late in the week. We have—[ laughter ]—say a couple of words, darling.

Wow, we are so excited. Thank you, President Trump, for lighting this room on fire. We love the work you've done to make Nassau County the best county in New York. We appreciate every—all the devotion.

And thank you for coming here today to support us, to keep the Republican agenda going in Washington.

Thank you, darling. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. America is the hottest nation because of you, sir. America's swagger is back. Our enemies fear us. Our allies respect us.

And, Mr. President, you are here because you know we choose common sense over chaos, and we 100 percent back the blue.

God bless you, Mr. President. Thank you so much.

Long Island, are you fired up?

Hey, listen here. Mr. President, thank you for being with us here on Long Island.

Listen, Suffolk County, we're pretty safe too. Any Suffolk County folks in the house? God bless Suffolk County too.

Now, listen, we Long Islanders, we want two things. We don't want to be able to move to Florida or North Carolina. We want to stay here. And we need two things to stay here, and you're helping us a lot, Mr. President. We want to make it more affordable, and you cutting our taxes helps us stay here on Long Island, but also making us safer.

And we've got our cops here too. We love that you're supporting the blue. We love that you're here in Long Island. God bless you, Mr. President.

Hello, Long Island. How are we doing?

All right. Are we ready to elect Bruce Blakeman the next Governor so the entire state can be safe?

Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!

Well, I'm proud to represent Staten Island and Brooklyn. Sadly, it's part of Mamdani's New York City. But we are going to change the tide in New York City and across America, and we're doing it already because of our Republican majority and this great President, Donald J. Trump.

My mother fled communist Cuba, and we will never allow that to happen here in the United States, the greatest and freest country in the world. Thank you, and God bless.

I just want to say thank you very quickly to President Trump for inspiring me to be here. I wasn't a politician until very recently. I saw what he did for our country, stepping aside from his incredible business, and I decided I wanted to do the same thing because of him.

And I tell you this—I think I'm still an objective person. Bruce Blakeman called me an anti-politician, so I have a clear message to everybody in New York State: Democrat, Republican, independent, you have no choice anymore but to vote Republican, vote Bruce Blakeman, vote every Republican you can find because the Democrats are destroying our State.

Thank you again, everybody. One thing we didn't mention today but we have to—This would not have happened without the President: Let's thank him for getting our SALT deduction back. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

Come on. Please. Can't forget this one here. [ Laughter

Thank you, Mr. President. You let me serve you in term one. I helped on your transition team, and you let me serve you in term two. And we are going to keep the House and keep enacting your agenda. Woo!

Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Thank you very much. They're fighters. What you need is fighters.

Also with us is New York Republican Party chair, Ed Cox. Where's Ed? Thank you, Ed. Good job. You've got a hot one going, Ed. A friend of mine for a long time, Nassau County chair, Joe Cairo. A longtime friend of mine, Senator Al D'Amato, I see is in the audience. Thank you, Al.

And another friend of mine, another great politician, Peter King. Thanks, Peter. Thank you, Peter. Great. Great.

We also have a fearless advocate for victims of crime who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention about the murder of her son Hason. And I tell you, this was a big moment. Madeline Brame. Where are you, Madeline? Where are you, Madeline?

What a job that was. What a—what—she got the biggest ovation of anybody in the place, including me. Including me.

Thank you, Madeline. Thank you very much. You got—she got a hand for 5 minutes. They were applauding you on the job, because they got to know you on television, talking about your great son, and I appreciate it.

Along with another passionate advocate for crime victims and a survivor of very violent crime, Jasmine Robles. Thank you. Thank you, Jasmine.

And finally—and I have to tell you, he's become a friend of mine because I think he's just great. I used to watch him on television in a slightly different mode. He was a comedian, I guess; an actor. He was a—he's sort of everything, and now he does some of the best commentary of anybody anywhere in the world, talking about the Civil War, talking about everything having to do with patriotism: Kelsey Grammer.

Thank you, Kelsey.

I don't know what it is. You know, originally, he made me laugh. [ Laughter ] Now, that doesn't easily go into civil wars and all the other wars he talks about. But you are really amazing—maybe it's the voice; maybe it's the look. Probably the voice. [ Laughter ] Must be the voice. But he's a great guy. There's nobody like him.

Under the Trump administration, America is winning again, and America is respected again all over the world. We're respected like never before, and that's because I put America first. We're first. And we're first in terms of many countries.

When they need help, they call America. I don't always give it because sometimes they haven't been very good to us.

You know, NATO wasn't there for us, by the way. You know, NATO——

Boo!

NATO was not there for us. We pay all that money for so many decades—money, money, money. We say, "Yes, give us a hand." "Well, sir, we'd rather not." [ Laughter ] But we remember.

We inherited the worst border in the history of the United States, and we quickly turned it into the most secure border in the history of our country. We took the worst border, and within a 60-day period, we turned it into the best—and I did it twice. If you remember, I did it in 2016——and then they let it go.

But the 2016 border was nothing compared to the border we just had. That border was horrible. What they let into this country—the 2016 was like a secure border by comparison, what we just had to go through. And we did it fast.

Remember they said you couldn't do it; you couldn't secure the border? I did it in, really, 30 days. Sixty days became perfect but, really, 30 days.

And you know the only difference? Because they said you have to go back to Congress. Yes, I didn't go back to Congress. [ Laughter ] The only difference is you had a different President. That's the only difference.

In the past 15 months, a historic record of zero illegal aliens have been admitted into the United States. And we take people in, but they have to come in legally. They have to come in legally.

And it was just announced that the total number of attempted illegal border crossings is down by 94 percent. And by the way, water crossing—you know, for the drugs—97 percent down. Ninety-seven percent.

You know, for years we've been interdicting, they like to say. But for years we've been grabbing those boats, bringing them into Miami and different places. They'd be let go in a matter of minutes. Always had good lawyers. And they'd be back sailing sometimes that night.

They don't sail anymore. They don't sail. [ Laughter ]

And the 97 percent—in fact, we're going to give probably medals to some of the 3 percent because I think they happen to be the bravest people. [ Laughter ] Anybody getting into one of those boats to bring drugs into our country, I consider them to be among the bravest people anywhere in the world—either that or the dumbest people in the world.

Dumbest!

With the help of our Republican majorities in Congress, I proudly signed the largest tax cuts in American history just now. Largest in American history.

And they wanted to give you the largest tax increase in American history.

You know, all my life I've been watching politics, and I wasn't a politician until relatively recently. But I've been watching, and I've always watched politicians—Democrat, Republican, independent. They got up, and they—"We will cut your taxes. We will cut your"—even if they didn't mean it, they always said it.

These people actually say, "We're going to raise your taxes." [ Laughter ] "We're going to drive you crazy. We're going to do things that is shocking." That's why people are leaving New York because of those policies. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It can't work. It just can't work.

And we have to be careful because, as the Federal Government, we don't want to throw good money after bad. They're destroying the city. They're destroying the State. We want to be there for the State, but we don't like—what's happening is a guaranteed failure. It's a guaranteed failure. It's not like, "Oh, maybe it will work." It's a guaranteed failure. We have to be very careful.

Under our leadership, the stock market has set almost 80 alltime highs since the election. Set another one.

More Americans are working today, as I said—to me, it's one of the cool-—because, you know, they say, "Well, employment"—they say, "How's Trump doing on the economy?" "He's at 42 on the"—42? We built the greatest machine in history. It's the greatest in history. More money invested—as I said, $19.2 billion—trillion, with a "t"—$19.2 trillion. And they say, "How's he doing on the economy?" "Oh, he's okay." Not okay. [ Laughter ] When I say we have the most people working—and by the way, the fake news—you see those people? If I'm wrong by——

Boo!

If I'm wrong by—I have to be very careful——

Boo!

——because if I'm wrong by a half a point, it's headlines all over the place. [ Laughter ]

When other Presidents or Democrats make mistakes, that's okay. But if I misstate something slightly—just a little bit, like a half a point, a quarter of a point—it's headlines all over the world. Under my—which keeps me extremely honest, I must be honest with you. [ Laughter ]

Under my most-favored-nation policy on drug prices, we're delivering the largest prescription drug price cuts in the history of our country by far—with price differences of 400, 500, and even 600 percent. And the headline in most of the papers this morning was "the largest drug price decrease in 65 years." And that alone should win us the midterms, really. That alone, because that reduces health care, reduces everything.

For decades, Americans paid the highest prices for prescription drugs. We paid more for prescription drugs than anywhere in the world, and now we pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for prescription drugs.

And I could tell you how I did it, but it's too boring. [ Laughter ] All I know is, you had to get other countries to agree, and I got every one of them to agree. You know why? If they weren't going to do it, I said: "I'm going to raise tariffs on you. I'm going to put 100-percent tariff. It's going to be 10 times more." "Sir, we'd love to do it. We'd be honored to double our prices." They had to double their prices in order for us to get the reduction.

But think of that: 400, 500, 600 percent. We should win the midterms on that alone.

We're making the largest ever investment in the United States Armed Forces. Our Armed Forces are the best in the world.

I built it during my—I built it. I built it during my first term, including Space Force, which has turned out to be very important. And now we're using it.

We won in Venezuela, which is now working with—nobody's ever seen any—we're taking millions and millions of barrels of oil out every single week, and we're likewise winning big with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nobody has any idea how successful we are. They don't want to write it, but they know.

You know who knows how well we're doing? Iran. Iran knows. [ Laughter ] Think of it. They have no navy. It's totally gone—159 ships. They had a total of 159 ships. A hundred and fifty-nine ships are right now at the bottom of the sea.

They had 212 very nice airplanes. Some bought from the United States brilliantly through Obama—Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him, Barack Hussein Obama?

Boo!

And every one of their airplanes is shot down. It's gone.

They have no leadership. Their leadership is gone. Their first tour is gone. Their second tour is gone. Their third tour is half gone. That's one of my problems. There's nobody to negotiate with. It is a problem. [ Laughter ]

I said, "Are you sure this guy is okay?" It's the only country in the world where nobody wants to be president. [ Laughter ]

But their radar is gone. All of their high-intelligence equipment is gone. Their manufacturing of missiles is 82 percent—they still have missiles, but not a lot. They still have drones, but just a fraction of what they had. But their manufacturing is largely gone.

And I read an article in one of the fake newspapers the other day, "Iran is in very good position." They have 350-percent inflation. Their currency is valueless. It's value—I read today where their currency is of no value, and the New York Times said, "Iran is doing quite well in the war." [ Laughter ] Ah, gee.

These guys—fake news. It's just fake news. There's nothing you can do about it. They're sick. They're just as sick as the—as their partners, the Democrats.

Boo!

In just 18 months, we've turned this country completely around. Our border is secure. Our jobs are up. Inflation is way down. Investment is pouring in. Factories are opening. Our military is more powerful than it has ever been, and America is back, and our greatest victories are still to come. Our greatest victories are yet to come.

It's amazing—amazing what we've done—what we've done. And I would not have said we would have done this in a year and a half, but in a year and a half. And I tell the story all the time: The King of Saudi Arabia, 2 years ago, he—I was there. And he said, you know, just—I was in office for a little while, like 6 months, so it was a year ago, and he was with me. Good guy. Smart guy.

Under siege, by the way. All those countries are—because Iran was known as the bully of the Middle East.

And he said, "You know, sir, that—a year ago, we said your country was dead, and now you have the hottest country anywhere in the world." He said that. That's where I got the expression. Many other leaders say the same thing. Every other leader says it, but a lot of them don't like saying it publicly.

So, in conclusion, with the help of our Republican majorities in Congress, we will crush violent crime to the lowest levels ever. Already there. We're already there. Lowest levels—best crime levels in 125 years on murder and most of the other crimes.

We will impose harsh new penalties for dangerous repeat offenders.

We will crack down on Marxist prosecutors.

We will never abolish the police. Instead, we will abolish the sanctuary cities. We will abolish them. We will destroy them. We will take them out. We're going to take them out of service.

And we will immediately end no-cash bail.

We will pass the "Great Health Care Plan" to stop all payments to big insurance companies. We'll give—you have to understand, the insurance companies are totally controlled—100 percent—they're totally controlled by the Democrats.

And give the money directly to the people. They give billions and billions of dollars to insurance companies. We're giving them directly to the people. You go out, you buy your own health insurance, and you have money left over. You end up with better health insurance. So you're going to get better health insurance at a lower cost.

And finally, we will pass the SAVE America Act to defend our sacred American elections.

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Because all voters must have photo ID, and all voters must provide proof of citizenship.

Have to do it. We have to do it.

And mail-in ballots—we're going to make them so secure, you have no idea. If you want to stay home, you can do it, but we've got to make them secure because they are crooked as hell.

So thank you. Thank you very much.

And we'll also enshrine permanent law: There will be no men in women's sports, and there will be no transgender surgery for your children. No more.

And we've—essentially killed DEI. Isn't that nice? No more DEI.

I don't see the people behind me big on DEI. Were you big on DEI, anybody?