Travel print pool note #12 - Gaggle transcript from DJT airport

https://otter.ai/u/1VVQf6x7aaEO84hBd7DXswvYpVU?utm_source=copy_url

Please check the transcript against the audio.

POTUS on meeting at MAL about Russia:

"I have a meeting at Mar a Lago with a lot of different people having to do with Russia and having to do with other things."

POTUS on stock market

"The economy is incredible other than we lost about $3 trillion when they found out that the Democrats did well in the election, rather surprisingly, but that's the way life goes."

"It had to do with the fact that we won't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You always have to go with that first. But we just had a very good. And we have a lot of good calls made, and we're doing very well. So we're working well with Russia, Ukraine. We're making a lot of progress.

POTUS on Iran

"We've made a lot of progress with Iran. We're taking out more oil now than we were before the war. It's not a war. It can't be a war when for five months nobody hurt, killed or anything else. It's not a war. You know, in Russia,Ukraine, they lose 25,000 people a month."

"We haven't lost anybody in seven months. So I don't think that's a war. Total control. But we're dealing with Iranians. We'll see how that all works out."

POTUS on an initiative or effort led by the Democrats that he thinks he can get behind

"I think a lot. I mean, I said before, immigration is one, tax cuts or maybe certain things having to do with taxes to make it more convenient and better."

" A lot of economic development initiatives we can do. I think we can do a lot of things together, actually. You know, a lot of them are about common sense also. And I think you'll see that. You can see already some of the people that are elected want to meet and want to discuss things having to do with, as an example, Texas, South Carolina, you know, etc. So I'm very much open to him."

POTUS on people describing Stephen Miller as your wartime consigliere.

"Well, he's a great fighter. He's been with me right from the beginning, 2015. He was with me from before 2016, 2015. And he's very loyal, smart, does a great job. He's been an MVP every year. He's been so-- we're very happy."

POTUS on whether he was disappointed with his team bbeacuse of the results of the election

"Not because of the election, just,sometimesyou change. The election wasn't my election. I wasn't on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, you saw the rallies. They were the biggest, most powerful rallies in the history of midterm elections...lEvery arena was full and we had thousands of people outside that couldn't get in."

"We had to use the big television jumbotrons. They were unbelievable. They were unbelievable rallies. But I wasn't on the ballot. I wish I was on the ballot. I think we would have had a much different outcome."

Q: Do you expect more (cabinet/administration) departures in the coming months?

POTUS: "Very little. We have a great cabinet."

POTUS on who urged him to engage in negotiations with Iran following initial strikes

"Nobody. We hit Iran very hard...Look, if we didn't hit Iran, you wouldn't have Israel today. Israel would be gone. It would have been wiped off the face of the earth. And they know it."

"If they had nuclear, they would have used nuclear. They would have obliterated the Middle East. They would have gone after Europe and they would have gone after some of our cities. Because I know them very well."

POTUS on his priorities when new Congress is sworn in

"The Senate has to act. The Senate is Getting nothing passed and it's just killing our country. That means Democrats and Republicans, they're just not getting anything done. So the Democrats vote in a block."

"We could have the best bill in the world for our country. They vote in a block. And we always have a few Republicans that obstructand hopefully John Thune can finally get himto act."

"The Senate, the Senate is killing our country. Nothing is getting through the Senate."

POTUS in rebuilding the GOP party after midterm losses

"Now we have a great party. We had a bad election, because of a few things. One thing was not getting things approved in the Senate. One thing was we had a higher oil price than we had, still lower than Biden and still lower than Obama."

"And what we did is something very significant. We ended Iran having A nuclear weapon. They did nothing. And yet, all right, now, the oil is coming down very rapidly.

"Presidents always lose them [midterms]. I don't know why, but they lose them all the time."

POTUS on stock market

"There were a lot bigger losses than this. When they learned about the midterms, the stock market lost $3 trillion. That's the most in history. So in other words, the markets all over the world, when they heard that the Democrats won that election, the market dropped $3 trillion, the highest amount in history. But it'll level off and we'll do great."

POTUS on meetings with Russia, and if it feels different now

"It does. They want to settle. Russia and Ukraine for the first time, I think, want to settle. We have meetings. I've had phone call having some tomorrow. They're having a meeting on Monday and Tuesdays, you know, but they. I think they want to settle."

"I think it's going to be a very big settlement. I think it's going to involve all of Europe. It's going to be a very big settlement."

POTUS on his upcoming meeting with Xi jinping and talks about American detainees in China.

"I do talk to them about that [releasing American detainees] a lot. And we've done well, as you know, Russia just released one that we wanted very badly. And we're talking about detainees or people that they oftentimes say are spies and they put them in jail."

"Yeah, we talk to them about a lot. We've had the best record in history on that. We get a lot of them back. We got one back, as you know, last week. It was a great thing."

"

Kerry Picket | White House Correspondent | The Washington Times