WH in-town pool report #7 – Fuller POTUS quotes

On the Amazon story this morning: "Jeff Bezos is very nice. Terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. He did the right thing. Good guy."

He said there's no update on negotiations with Canada.

Asked if the media are the enemy of the people by an individual who claimed reporters are trying to obscure White House signs on the North Lawn driveway displaying deportees, he said, "I guess they are. I guess they are, right?"

Asked about negotiations with Congress over tax legislation, he said, "the Republicans are with us. I think we've got the big beautiful deal that's moving along, and I think we're going to have it taken care of."

Asked about his 100-day milestone and the road ahead: "Well I think either we've done everything, or it's in the process of being done. For instance, the border's in great shape – 99.9%, came out again today. 99.9. I would say that was my No. 1 thing. The economy would be certainly right up there, and I think it's doing great. We were losing billions and billions of dollars a day with trade, and now I have that down to a very low level, and soon we're going to be making a lot of money."

"A very important element that we're working on now, more important than anything with the border in good shape, is the fact that we want to get, and very importantly, the big beautiful new deal. If we get that done, that's the biggest thing. [inaudible] And I think we're going to get it done. We have great Republican support. If the Democrats blocked it, you'd have a 60% tax increase. I don't think that's going to happen. We have great support from Republicans."

"The next period of time, I think, my biggest focus will be on Congress, the deal that we're working on. that would be the biggest bill in the history of our country in terms of tax cuts and regulation cuts, and other things."

On his preference for the next pope, he joked: "I would like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice. I don't know. I have no preference. I must say, we have a cardinal out of a place called New York who's very good. So we'll see what happens."

On whether he would travel to Africa as president: "Sure, I would do that. I would do that. Absolutely."

On whether he'll speak to the president of Australia on trade: "They are calling, and I'll be talking to him, yes."

And on trade negotiations with India, he said: "India's coming along great. I think we'll have a deal with India... they want to make a deal."

On the auto tariff EOs, he said: "We just wanted to help them enjoy this little transition, short-term. If they can't get parts, you know, it has to do with a very small percentage. If they can't get parts, we didn't want to penalize them."

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Michael A. Wilner

Washington Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times

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