Speaker 1 (00:00):
[inaudible 00:06:55].
Donald Trump (07:01):
Well, thank you very much. It's a great honor to have Taoiseach Martin from Ireland and somebody that we know we get along with. We've had a very good relationship and we continue and we're going to have some big discussions today concerning trade, concerning lots of different subjects. We have a tremendous trade relationship with Ireland and we'll keep it that way. I think it's going to be expanded very greatly. Probably they want to talk a little bit about tariffs, but I won't mention that. We won't bring that up. But you might want to be discussing that a little bit. But it's an honor to have you and thank you very much for being here. Thank you.
Taoiseach Martin (07:43):
And may I thank you president for facilitating this visit. And in what is for us, probably one of the most important weeks in the United States. And in many ways, you're affirming the tremendous bonds between Ireland and United States that go back to the very foundation of this republic. And 35 million people in this country came Irish descent and Irish heritage. And I spent the first two days in Philadelphia.
(08:11)
Going back really into the heart of that history and the fact that three Irish people born in the island of Ireland signed the Declaration of Independence. It was printed by an Irish man, John Dunlap, and disseminated across the colonies. And Charles Thompson, as we discussed earlier, he designed the Bald Eagle, the seal of the US. So in many ways, our connection is foundational. It's historic. And the Irish had to build America. We're very proud of that connection. And we think you hosting us here in the White House is affirmation to all the Irish-Americans out there and to our diaspora in this country, for what they've contributed to America. And that's very much true to [inaudible 00:08:54] this year, the American 250, it's a very exciting year and we're discovering new things. I mean, even a guy from my own city, a guy called Stephen Moylan, who was an aide and comm to Washington, he's regarded as the guy who came up with the phrase the United States of America, first written record.
Donald Trump (09:10):
That's good. That's great.
Taoiseach Martin (09:11):
And it's in New York, in the museum and so on like that. So that's the nature, the history of those bonds.
Donald Trump (09:19):
Well, you told me something before that was maybe the most interesting of all. How many presidents are in some way related through blood with Ireland?
Taoiseach Martin (09:32):
23. 23 Irish presidents.
Donald Trump (09:34):
They're great politicians. The Irish are great politicians.
Taoiseach Martin (09:37):
Absolutely.
Donald Trump (09:37):
No, but think of it. 23 are in some form and many of them have gone to Ireland.
Taoiseach Martin (09:44):
Absolutely.
Donald Trump (09:44):
Grant was-
Taoiseach Martin (09:45):
Grant went to Ireland after his presidency. I was saying earlier, Ronald Reagan's visit was an extraordinary one in a place called Ballyporeen in County Tipperary. And of course John F. Kennedy's grandfather was Irish, came back I think early '63. And that's a very memorable visit because of what tragedy that happened subsequently in the assassination which touched people in Ireland very deeply. So the Kennedy-
Donald Trump (10:17):
Very popular.
Taoiseach Martin (10:18):
... Kennedy family's strong [inaudible 00:10:21] with Ireland.
Donald Trump (10:21):
Well, we like the family too. One person in particular, one very non-controversial.
Taoiseach Martin (10:27):
I know that.
Donald Trump (10:29):
But now he's doing a very good job. He really is. But we have more, I think people here by far than you have in Ireland that are Irish descent. So you have quite a few, but we have a lot.
Taoiseach Martin (10:43):
We have a lot more than we have.
Donald Trump (10:44):
Pretty amazing by a lot. Anyway, thank you very much. It's a great honor. And any questions for you?
Press (10:55):
[inaudible 00:10:52].
(10:55)
Ireland in September when you stay at Dunbar [inaudible 00:10:58].
Donald Trump (10:57):
Well, I'm having, it's a great thing, my son and my family, we have a great golf complex in Ireland, one of the best in the world called Doonbeg. It's in Doonbeg. And it's been amazing and Rory McIlroy loves it. They all love it. Great golfers. You have a tremendous golf tradition and it was chosen for the Irish Open, which is a big deal. That's a big event.
Taoiseach Martin (11:22):
Absolutely. Looking forward to it.
Donald Trump (11:24):
Everybody wants me to be there. You just said, "I hope you're going to go."
Taoiseach Martin (11:27):
I didn't.
Donald Trump (11:28):
And we're going to try. We are going to try, but it would be an honor. But it was a great honor to be chosen. They only choose the best courses in the world for the big Opens. That's one of the big ones, the Irish Open. It's really become one of the most important tournaments in the world. It's going to do, it's going to be a fantastic success.
Taoiseach Martin (11:45):
It'd be a great success.
Press (11:45):
[inaudible 00:11:48].
Donald Trump (11:49):
That's a very hard question.
Press (11:54):
[inaudible 00:11:51].
(11:54)
What [inaudible 00:11:55] have you made, Mr. President, in getting America's allies to assist the US in escorting those oil tankers through the [inaudible 00:12:01]?
Donald Trump (12:01):
Well, we don't need too much help and we don't need any help actually. In fact, we just put out a notice. I was watching over the last couple of weeks and all of our NATO allies were very much in favor of what we did. They thought it was very important. We were just discussing it actually. Very important that we take out the nuclear threat from Iran and we've done that very strongly, very powerfully. We've wiped out their Navy, wiped out their military in every aspect. Their Air Force is now decimated. They have no Air Force, no Navy. They have no radar. Their radar is entirely gone. Their anti-aircraft machinery is gone. Everything is gone. Their leaders are gone. I guess one of their top person was, a lot of people say their actual top was killed yesterday, along with somebody else who was responsible for the killing... The man that was responsible for the killing of 32,000 people over the
Donald Trump (13:00):
... the last two weeks. He was in charge of the killing of protestors. It's an evil group. I mean, they've killed much more than 32,000 people. And the man who was responsible for that was also killed yesterday. And all of the NATO allies agreed with us, but they don't want to... Despite the fact that we helped them so much, we have thousands of soldiers in different countries all over the world and they don't want to help us, which is amazing. I mean, amazing. And I didn't do a full court press because I think if I did, they probably would be, but we don't need help. That war has been long prosecuted as far as I'm concerned. Almost from day one, we knocked out many of these things. We knocked out the Navy essentially in a couple of days.
(13:50)
But I was surprised to see that NATO, while they agree that it was a very important thing to do, they agreed fully. Nobody said, "Oh, you shouldn't do it." They would have had a nuclear weapon within one month of when we had the B2 bombers bomb the nuclear potential. I call it the nuclear dust. So I think NATO's making a very foolish mistake. And I've long said that I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this was a great test because we don't need them, but they should have been there.
(14:26)
The other thing is, and I think very important, we didn't have to be there for Ukraine. Biden chose to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on Ukraine. And I guess the head of Germany just made a statement that, well, they weren't involved and they have nothing to do with the war. But at the same time, they think we did a great thing by knocking them out. Nobody wants to have Iran or anybody, but nobody wants to have Iran with a nuclear, because these people are crazy. They're absolutely crazy. And they're vicious, violent. I mean, they kill. Think of it. They kill, now I hear it's about 41,000 people. They put out a notice two days ago. Anybody that protests will be immediately shot and killed. That's pretty tough stuff. So everyone agrees with us, but they don't want to help. And we as the United States have to remember that because we think it's pretty shocking.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
President Macron has just said in the last hour that he will never join a task force in the Strait of Hormuz until hostility's finished. Yet yesterday you said-
Donald Trump (15:35):
Who said that? Who said it?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
President Macron of France. What's your reaction to that, sir?
Donald Trump (15:40):
Well, he'll be out of office very soon, so we'll have to see. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
On Doonbeg, you're building an extension to it at the moment-
Donald Trump (15:51):
Yeah, we are.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
But there's been an objection put in and it's been held back at the moment due to small snails. Are you disappointed about that?
Speaker 5 (16:00):
What kind of question is that?
Donald Trump (16:03):
I have not heard that. The course was built and it's been operated very successfully. Somebody in an environmental group is objecting to small snails at Doonbeg?
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Yes.
Donald Trump (16:18):
It doesn't sound like the biggest problem I've ever had.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
How closely is to announce a coalition of willing to secure the Strait of Hormuz? Which countries are joining and which countries have-
Donald Trump (16:30):
Well, we've had great support from the Middle East. Qatar has been great. UAE has been absolutely been great. Saudi Arabia has been terrific. Bahrain has been very good. The Middle Eastern countries have been very strong in their support. And of course, Israel has been our partner. Israel's been very, very strong along with us. It's been a very strong collaboration.
(16:58)
I was against Iran long before I even thought about Israel being against Iran. If you look back, many years ago, I talked about Iran was a big threat to this country, to this world of ours. And turned out to be I was right. In fact, I said you have to attack Kharg Island. You have to attack them years ago when they were acting up. They've been acting up for 37, 47, I guess now 48 years. For 48 years, they've been bad players, vicious players.
(17:35)
And you can't let them have a nuclear weapon. If they got a nuclear weapon, I would say they would have used it within 24 hours after having it. And they would have had it if we didn't bomb them out on a great raid with the B2 bombers eight months ago or so. You would have had a nuclear war in the Middle East and maybe beyond. I think it would have hit Europe. Maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe. I think it would have been a nice piece of that. It all gets you. It's big enough that you would have been affected. They would have hit Europe eventually.
Speaker 9 (18:05):
Mr. President, your director of national counter terrorism, Joe Kent, he just resigned today. He said he can't support your conflict with Iran. What's your reaction to that and did you talk to him-
Donald Trump (18:18):
Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security. Very weak on security. I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it. And many people, many of the greatest military scholars are saying for years that presidents should have taken out Iran because they wanted a nuclear weapon. If we didn't do the attack, or if ... I'll go a step further. If I didn't terminate the Iran nuclear deal given to us, one of the worst deals ever made by Barack Hussein Obama.
(19:07)
Remember when they sent Boeing 757s over there loaded with cash. Hundreds of millions of dollars. You would have been very happy. This was a wonderful ... They sent hundreds of million ... People forget that. Does anybody remember? Right? You remember hundreds of millions of dollars in a Boeing 757. I think they had two of them loaded. They took the seats out and they put cash. And it was so much that there wasn't a bank in Virginia, Maryland or DC that had any money left. They stripped them of all their money, put it into place, sent it to Iran almost as ransom.
(19:46)
That's not going to happen with Trump. And nobody ever did anything about it. Nobody ever said anything. Can you imagine if I did that? So they've been a threat for a long time, but they've really been a threat. If I didn't terminate Obama's horrible deal that he made, the Iran nuclear deal, you would have had a nuclear war four years ago. You would have had nuclear Holocaust and you would have had it again if we didn't bomb the site. So when somebody is working with us that says they didn't think Iran was a threat, we don't want those people because ...
(20:24)
And there are some people I guess that would say that, but they're not smart people or they're not savvy people. Iran was a tremendous threat. And virtually every NATO nation... And this is the thing, if they told me it wasn't a threat and therefore they don't want to help, but when they say it was a threat and it was a major threat, every one of them, I think every one of them... I don't know of one that said they're not a threat, but when they say it was a threat but we're not going to help, I think they're very foolish.
(20:56)
It's interesting because I could say this, that what's happening in Ukraine, we're probably in there for $400 billion. We don't spend any money anymore. They buy it from us and they pay full price. But Biden gave them between 350 and $400 billion of equipment and cash. Somebody would have to find out about the cash. And you could say that wasn't a threat. We're helping them. So we helped them and they didn't help us. And I think that's a very bad thing for NATO.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Are there any repercussions for NATO and are you still going to China?
Donald Trump (21:36):
Well, yeah. On China, it's a little different story. We're resetting the meeting and it looks like it'll take place in about five weeks. We're working with China. They were fine with it. I look forward to seeing President Xi. He looks forward to seeing me, I think, but I do look forward to seeing him. We have a good relationship with China. China actually has become economically for us very good. Very good as you know. It's much different than it was in the past. And we have a very good working relationship with China. So we're making it in about five or six weeks.
Speaker 10 (22:14):
Mr. President, any repercussions on NATO for not supporting you on this? Any repercussions?
Donald Trump (22:21):
Well, no, I just think that it's not good for a partnership when they say what you're doing is a great thing, but we're not going to help. What you did is a great thing, but we're not going to help.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
[inaudible 00:22:36] in Iran, because the Iranian regime has told Sky News, if you put boots on the ground in Iran, it will be another Vietnam. Are you afraid of that?
Donald Trump (22:44):
No, I'm really not afraid of anything.
Speaker 11 (22:52):
Are you re-thinking the United States's relationship with NATO possibly getting out?
Donald Trump (22:57):
Well, I'm disappointed in NATO that we spend trillions of dollars on NATO. Think of it, trillions over the years, many trillions of dollars. It's one of the reasons we have deficits and we help other countries. And when they don't help us, I mean, it's certainly something that we should think about. I don't need Congress for that decision. As you probably know, I can make that decision myself. I'd work with some very smart people, and I'd always deal with Congress anyway, but I don't need Congress for that decision.
(23:28)
But when you say rethink, I have nothing currently in mind, but I will say that I'm not exactly thrilled when we helped them with Ukraine. Look, Ukraine would have been over in one day if we didn't help. Frankly, Ukraine would have been over in the first day. They had the best equipment in the world. It was our equipment given by sleepy Joe Biden. No charge. No charge. Hundreds of billions of dollars of the best equipment in the world, no charge. I will say that I'm not happy about it.
Speaker 8 (24:05):
Two questions, one on Iran and one on Cuba. Is Iran now a bigger foreign policy priority for you than China? And on Cuba, the Cuban government...
Donald Trump (24:15):
Iran is just a military operation to me. Iran is something that was essentially largely over in two or three days because the Navy was wiped out almost immediately. The Air Force came next. The anti-aircraft came next. I mean, we're flying over Iran. We could take out their electric capacity in one hour. There's nothing they can do right now because everything is knocked out. They have again, no radar, no anti-aircraft. They have nothing.
(24:49)
And it was a decision I made. We discussed it. Pete, Marco, JD, all of us, Chris, we discussed it. We can knock out their electricity in a matter of minutes if we wanted to. There's nothing they can do about it. We can knock out their oil in Kharg Island. The only thing we didn't take down was their oil because if we knock out, I call them the pipes, very complex. But if you do that, it'll take them forever to rebuild. Meaning whoever, and hopefully it's a sane group of people, but whoever it is that's going to be running that, and we're going to try to get people that are going to run it well, and it's going to be a prosperous, wonderful place.
(25:33)
It used to be. If you go back, it used to be a very ... The people are great. The people are smart and energetic and it used to be very successful. Now it's a country run by fear. It's a country where they tell protestors, "Don't go outside because if you do, we're going to kill you."
(25:55)
Well, Cuba right now is in very bad shape. They're talking to
Donald Trump (26:00):
... Marco, and we'll be doing something with Cuba very soon. We're really focused on this, but we're dealing with Cuba. Marco, do you want to say a couple of words about it?
Marco Rubio (26:12):
Yeah. I mean, Cuba has an economy that doesn't work and a political and governmental system. They can't fix it. So they have to change dramatically. What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It's not going to fix it. So they've got some big decisions to make over there.
Interviewer 1 (26:24):
Secretary Rubio, do you support, and I know this is up to Congress, but do you support easing the Cuban, the trade embargo if you get more cooperation from Havana?
Marco Rubio (26:34):
Well, I'm not going to discuss what we would talk about or not. Suffice it to say that the embargo's tied to political change on the island. The embargo's codified. But the bottom line is their economy doesn't work. It's a non-functional economy. It's an economy that has survived. That revolution, it's not even a revolution, that thing they have, has survived on subsidies from the Soviet Union and now from Venezuela. They don't get subsidies anymore. So they're in a lot of trouble. And the people in charge, they don't know how to fix it. So they have to get new people in charge. That's what-
Donald Trump (27:02):
And the relationship we have with Venezuela has been, I think you could almost say incredible. It's been really good. It's been good for Venezuela and it's been good for us. And I congratulate the Venezuelan baseball team because that was a big win and I guess they play another game tonight in the finals. And I said a lot of good things have happened to Venezuela lately. This is the first time they've ever been in the finals. And it was pretty exciting. Yeah.
Interviewer 2 (27:29):
Iran is just a military operation to you. But do you not have a day after plan? And if so, what is your day after plan for Iran?
Donald Trump (27:36):
Well, we have a lot. Look, if we left right now, it would take 10 years for them to rebuild, but we're not ready to leave yet. But we'll be leaving in the near future. We'll be leaving in pretty much the very near future. But right now they've been decimated from every standpoint. And again, we've had great support from countries in the Middle East, great support, but we've had no support from, essentially, no support from NATO.
Interviewer 4 (28:10):
Describe your special relationship.
Interviewer 3 (28:11):
What about your relationship with London? Has it been damaged by the fact that Keir Starmer hasn't supported you in this war? And has your opinion of Keir Starmer changed because of this?
Donald Trump (28:19):
Well, he hasn't been supportive. And I think it's a big mistake. They make a lot of money on trade with the United States. I went out of my way. As you know, they couldn't make a deal with Biden because they had no real administration to make a deal, Biden. But we made a deal. We made a good deal for them, and frankly, probably wasn't appreciated. I do look forward to seeing the King. He's going to be coming, as you know, very shortly. But no, I was disappointed because Keir was willing to send two aircraft carriers after we won, because essentially there's no threat for the aircraft carriers right now. And I said, "No, no, we want things sent before the war, not after the war is won." So yeah, I'm disappointed with Keir. I like him. I think he's a nice man, but I'm disappointed.
Interviewers (29:11):
[inaudible 00:29:15].
Donald Trump (29:16):
You see that man right there?You know who that is?
Interviewers (29:19):
Churchill.
Donald Trump (29:20):
The late great Winston Churchill and Barack Hussein Obama did not want his bust in this office. Did you know that? And Barack Hussein Obama sent that bust back to England. They didn't want it. And when I came in, I was asked if I want it. I said, "Absolutely, I want it." And I put it right there, Winston Churchill. And unfortunately, Keir is not Winston Churchill.
Interviewers (29:44):
[inaudible 00:29:47].
Donald Trump (29:54):
No, no. Hold it. Right here. Hold it. Hold it.
Taoiseach Martin (29:55):
Just could I make a number of points. First of all, I think, notwithstanding what has happened, the transatlantic relationship between Europe and the US is very, very important on a number of fronts. And I think we've had issues over the last year, but we settled them. And I think many of these leaders engaged with you, particularly on trade initially. Remember all the fuss last year, but we got a landing zone between Europe and US and I think we can get a landing zone again. And I think I just met with Keir Starmer last week. The British-Irish relationship is a very important one. Churchill was a great wartime leader, although in Ireland there was kind of a different perspective in terms of during our own war of independence. He created his own bit of difficulties for us. But that said, he was a great wartime hero.
(30:40)
Keir Starmer has done a lot to reset the Irish-British relationship. I just want to put that on the record. But I do believe that he's a very earnest sound person who I think you have a capacity to get on with and you've gone on with him before and you've got on with other European leaders as well.
Donald Trump (30:56):
For sure.
Taoiseach Martin (30:57):
And I think you have that capacity again. And I think, everyone exists, I mean, you cannot have a rogue state with a nuclear weapon or the capacity for a nuclear weapon. Iran was the sponsor of terrorism. We sanctioned Iran, all European countries did. And the IRGC in particular, it's a terrorist organization. They sponsored Hamas, they sponsored Hezbollah, the Houthis, they created mayhem, a most maligned force in the Middle East.
(31:23)
The Irish position has always been ultimately, can we resolve this to ... Can we get peace? And obviously there's preconditions before you get to that situation. We had our own conflict, which went on for 30 years, and we learned a lot from that in terms of how to try and bring about peace. And I think I've listened to you in terms of ... you're correct, I mean, our hearts go to the Iranian people who have been repressed and suppressed for so many years, culminating in that savage order of thousands and thousands of Iranians, some months gone.
Interviewers (31:57):
[inaudible 00:32:00].
Taoiseach Martin (31:59):
No one was in a position to do anything about that. And I think, and likewise with Ukraine, I mean, the Russians did invade Ukraine, have attacked civilian infrastructure and so on like that. And for the people of Ukraine who just want peace and an opportunity to live, I think there is ... I think we have to continue to work to see, can we bring peace, different regime to Iran where Iranians can live in peace again. And the people in the Middle East can live in peace and you're doing your bit there in terms of the work in Gaza and so on like that. And I think that's what we want is a peaceful resolution of conflict. That's where we come from as a small nation. We've been peacekeepers all our lives and we're the longest serving nation in terms of provision of peacekeeping forces in the world as it turns out.
(32:47)
But we think ultimately all conflicts come to an end and I think we have to try and work towards that end. And I'm sure European leaders and the US administration will engage and hopefully we can get a landing zone.
Interviewers (33:03):
[inaudible 00:33:04].
Donald Trump (33:06):
I mean, the only thing, and I agree with everything he said, but we helped with Ukraine.
Taoiseach Martin (33:11):
Yes.
Donald Trump (33:12):
And they don't help with Iran and they all acknowledge that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon, you yourself say that. These are horrendous people. These are the worst people. And going back to Hitler, right? Going back to Hitler, these are the worst people. That's a long time ago and there's been nothing close. Every problem, so many deaths, 90% of the people that got blown up by landmines and landmines, they loved them. Soleimani, we killed him. If we didn't, it might be a different story because he was a horrible person, but he was a very powerful person and leader, smart. But we killed him. If we didn't, I think he'd have it [inaudible 00:33:55]. But I think we'd have maybe a different situation. It wouldn't have been so easy as it has been because it has been very easy. All of their military is out, but you could always have somebody drop a mine in the water. It's like terrorism.
(34:10)
And then you have the people that own the billion-dollar ship saying, "Well, let's not move that ship yet because we want ..." So we thought that Europe would help that because they do have some mine sweepers, but it's amazing that they all said, "What a great job." They would call me congratulating us on the great job we did with respect to Iran and we knocked the hell out of them. They're no longer the bully of the Middle East. They were known as the bully of the Middle East and they're not the bully anymore, but you would have thought they would have said, "We'd love to send a couple of mine sweepers. It's not a big deal. It doesn't cost very much money." But they didn't do that. So I think it's very unfair to the United States, not to me, but to the United States. Go ahead, please.
Interviewer 4 (34:54):
Keir Starmer isn't making-
Donald Trump (34:56):
She's a fantastic reporter, by the way. Go ahead.
Interviewer 4 (34:58):
Thank you. The prime minister isn't making the case to the British public as to why we should be supporting you. Could you do that now, talk to the UK, to GB News viewers about why it's in their interest that we help you?
Donald Trump (35:13):
Well, because we have a tremendous long-term relationship with the UK. I mean, people would say it's the best. I don't want to get into that, but we've had ... It was the longest, the oldest, should be the best, always was the best until Keir came along and now ... And I like him. He's a nice man. He says everything beautiful. He's a very nice man with a beautiful family. Everything's perfect, but he doesn't produce. And I think it's very inexpensive. I just said, "You don't have to send me aircraft carriers. Send me a couple of mine sweepers. We don't need your aircraft carriers." But even the aircraft carriers, he would only send them after we essentially won. I mean, he's sending them when there are no planes left. When the missiles are down to 8%, they have like 8% of the missiles. The rest, we demolished the missiles and the factories, largely the factories are going even as we speak. They just hit another factory. They have a lot of missile factories. They have a lot of drone factories.
(36:11)
And so he wants to send them when we don't need them. But we'd like to have mine sweepers because just in case. We don't know that there are any mines now because we wiped out I think 24. They actually have to think of this for country. They have 24 boats that do nothing but put mines in the water. This doesn't sound like a great country. This doesn't sound like a friendly country, but we killed all of those boats. They're at the bottom of the sea. So we don't even know if there are any mines there, but if there are, we'd like to have a little help in finding them, probably most importantly.
Interviewer 2 (36:46):
Would you like to change in prime minister? Do you have confidence in Keir Starmer? Would you prefer to deal with somebody else-
Donald Trump (36:50):
Well, it's not for me. It's really for the people of the UK to have confidence.
Interviewer 2 (36:56):
Of course, but is he-
Donald Trump (36:57):
I mean, I've been very critical of Keir, and I did it in a friendly way. I said, "If you don't change your energy thing and get away from windmills and go back to oil and gas, you have something that no other country has. Very few countries have anything like it, the North Sea." You have some of the greatest oil and oil deposits in the entire world, the North Sea. They don't use it. You buy a lot of your oil from Norway. You know where they get their oil? From the North Sea, and you pay a very big price. So why are you paying a lot of money? And I tell him. And you have the better part of the North Sea. So why aren't they taking the oil from the North Sea? Why are they buying oil from Norway?
(37:43)
But they have windmills all over the country destroying those gorgeous Scottish fields and those beautiful fields all over, the windmills, which don't work. They're tremendously expensive. And the best testament to that is the windmills are made in China, but China doesn't use them. You know what China uses? Coal. They're building 58 coal-fired plants right now, and that's up to them. But these foolish countries that are buying windmills are putting them out of business. I'm proudly telling you that we're going to try and have no windmills built in the United States during my-
Interviewers (38:18):
[inaudible 00:38:21].
Donald Trump (38:22):
Because they're very bad environmentally. They kill the birds. They're unsightly. They make a lot of noise. And for some reason, the environmentalists love windmills, okay?
Interviewers (38:31):
[inaudible 00:38:32].
Interviewer 2 (38:35):
Mr. President, you say he's a very nice man.
Donald Trump (38:35):
I think he's a nice man.
Interviewer 2 (38:35):
[inaudible 00:38:39].
Donald Trump (38:38):
I think he's a nice man, but I disagree with him on two things primarily. Immigration. His immigration policy is a disaster, and his energy policy is a disaster. And they're about the biggest policies you can have. You've allowed millions and millions and millions of people to come into your country that shouldn't be there. And by the way,
Donald Trump (39:00):
... That's all over Europe. Europe is a different place. It's a different place. And I originate, to put it nicely, I originate, many of us do, from Europe. I love Europe. I spend a lot of time in Europe. It's a different place. Bad things have happened to Europe. Very bad things. And you better do something about immigration, and you better do something about energy, or you won't have a Europe.
Speaker 12 (39:31):
What's your timeframe, Mr. President, for when cargo ships can safely go through the Strait of Hormuz?
Donald Trump (39:36):
It won't be, I don't believe too long. We're knocking the hell out of the coast. It's basically the coast and the water. And it won't be too long. And the Middle Eastern states, including Israel, by the way, who has been terrific. The Middle Eastern states have been helping us a lot. Go ahead, you.
Speaker 13 (40:03):
Mr. President, on fuel prices, what do you have to say to the people in Ireland who are paying story high prices because of your war in Iran?
Donald Trump (40:08):
Well, I think the people in Ireland are very happy that I'm getting rid of, I have a lot of friends from Ireland, they're very happy that I'm getting rid of a nuclear power, a nuclear terrorist. And as soon as that war's over, which will be soon, your prices are going to drop like a rock. You watch. I've been very good at predicting. In the back.
Speaker 14 (40:29):
Hi Mr. President, what do you think about our president's comments that your options in Iran is breaking national law?
Donald Trump (40:36):
Say it?
Speaker 14 (40:37):
What do you think about our president's comments-
Donald Trump (40:39):
Can you speak, you're speaking right into your...
Speaker 15 (40:46):
Mr. President, how do you respond to the increased attacks by the Iraqi ministry groups against the US embassy and constellate in Kurdistan region?
Donald Trump (40:53):
You want to answer that JD? Do you want to?
JD Vance (40:56):
Yeah. Well, Marco, obviously the Secretary of State has control over the embassy. Look, there have been a lot of militia attacks against our base, our embassy in Iran. I think Marco's done a good job of limiting the number of people who are at that embassy so we can provide essential functions, but also protect our people. But it goes to show there are a lot of terrorists in that region of the world, and we've got to eliminate when we find them.
Donald Trump (41:16):
And you can't give them nuclear weapons. You can give them rifles, you can give them guns, you can't give them nuclear weapons. I think we agree very strongly in that place. Yes, excuse me.
Taoiseach Martin (41:28):
First of all, I would say Europe is still a very good place to live in.
Donald Trump (41:31):
Good.
Taoiseach Martin (41:32):
Just let you know.
Donald Trump (41:33):
I'm glad to hear that.
Taoiseach Martin (41:36):
And our view is you have to have robust and fair rules around migration, but on the other hand, a lot of people, within the European Union, we have free mobility of people. And in Ireland, our population is growing, but in a very positive way. Our economy is going well because we're attracting a lot of people from Europe and beyond into work legally and validly in our country. In fact, I'd love if we could develop a legal pathway between the US and Ireland into the future because of our history and so on like that.
(42:01)
That we could have a legal pathway because no one is in favor of illegal migration and so forth. We have to have robust rules for that. But fundamentally, I think sometimes Europe gets characterized wrongly in terms of it being overrun or whatever like that. It's much more robust now. There's much more stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration. And I think it's important that understanding is that we need more economic growth in Europe. It doesn't have the same focus on innovation as you do here in the US. We discussed that earlier with the vice president in terms of technology, in terms of AI. We need to pivot more to innovation as opposed to regulation. And I think investing in people. And that's the key to, I think, our collective future. We do take our [inaudible 00:42:58].
Speaker 16 (42:58):
Prime Minister. Mr. President.
Speaker 14 (43:02):
Irish President has said that your war against Iran is illegal. It's an attack on international law.
Donald Trump (43:08):
Who said that? The...
Speaker 14 (43:08):
The Irish president.
Donald Trump (43:10):
Look, he's lucky I exist. That's all I can say. Because if you're going to allow countries that are sick and demented and they are demented, to have nuclear weapons, everybody in the whole world should be very thankful. And I'm disappointed in NATO, very disappointed. I'm disappointed in a couple of other countries too, but they should be very thankful that this group of people feels the way we do. Because if a country like Iran was allowed to have the power of a nuclear weapon, if we didn't stop them, I stopped them twice. I stopped them my first term when I terminated the Iran nuclear deal, which was a Barack Obama's deal. It was maybe the worst deal I've ever seen. It gave everything to Iran, including billions of dollars in green cash. I don't mean cash. I mean, green cash flown over by airplanes.
(44:05)
I can't to this day believe that was allowed to happen. And come to think of it would be a good thing for somebody to look at. Does the president have the power to hand hundreds of millions of dollars of cash to terrorists? But it began with that and I terminated that deal. If I didn't terminate that deal, we might not be here right now. If I didn't terminate that deal, unbelievable nuclear Holocaust would have taken place. And then I did it a second time when we hit them with the B2 bombers and we totally obliterated their potential nuclear weapon that they would have had in less than one month. They think two weeks, but in less than one month. And I believe it would have been a much different world than it is right now. We're going to a lunch, so maybe we'll take one more nice question.
Interviewer 4 (44:57):
Can I ask you how you're doing with your legal case against the BBC and their fake news documentary?
Donald Trump (45:03):
Well, the BBC was incredible. What they did is they had me speaking something I never said. And I've never seen anything quite like it. CBS had that. We had the situation on 60 Minutes and not the current owners, the past owners. The current owners I think are good, Ellison. But BBC took it a step further. They actually had... They put words in my mouth and they said I said some pretty bad things. And I didn't say them. It was AI generated. And I said, "I never said that." In fact, some of my people said, "Wow, that was pretty bad stuff you said." I said, "What did I say?" I'm pretty good at this stuff. I mean, if you can go through years of these press conferences and you're a popular President of the United States that won in a landslide that won all seven swing states that got record numbers of votes.
(45:58)
I mean, so I guess I'm okay at this stuff. I said, "I never said that." And then we found out it was AI generated and they admit they made a mistake, BBC. But I watched them this morning for some crazy reason, and it was so inaccurate. Their reporting of the war was unbelievable. We have decimated that country. And if you watch BBC, it's almost like they're fighting us to a draw. They're not fighting us to a draw. It was very inaccurate news. It was fake news. So I'm very proud of the term fake news because it was my term.
(46:36)
I came up with it, but it's no longer accurate. It really is, it's corrupt fraudulent news. It really is. It's fraudulent. It's not just fake. It's beyond fake. It's really criminal what they do. But I watched BBC this morning and I don't know much about BBC other than what took place because people were calling me saying, "That was a terrible thing you said." I said, "What did I say?" And I said, "I never said that." And we checked it, do you agree? They agree. It was somehow generated, I guess, by AI or something with me staying unbelievable. So we brought a lawsuit against them. They admit they're guilty, but we'll see how it comes out. Thank you. I like that question. I like that question. Thank you very much. We'll see you later.