Travel pool report #2: Landed in Amsterdam

Air Force One landed at Amsterdam Schipol airport at 7:36 p.m. local time after a 6 hour and 20 minute flight.

President Trump came back to the press cabin an hour after takeoff, gaggling with the pool for about eight minutes. Quotes are below. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood behind him but did not speak.

The president credited Israel backing off from further retaliation on Iran to his conversation with Netanyahu today and Truth Social post instructing him to turn planes around.

He said Iran won’t have a nuclear weapon, but declined when asked multiple times to say whether they’ve made a commitment about uranium enrichment. POTUS seemed to back away from supporting regime change in Iran, saying it would require “chaos,” which he wants to avoid.

Trump said he expects to speak to Zelensky while at the NATO summit, and said he needed to look at the final declaration language surrounding Russia before determining whether he is OK with it.

He declined to say whether he is committed to Article 5 of NATO, but said he is committed to “saving lives.” He also said he is committed to helping European leaders, many of whom have become his friends.

Trump said he is concerned about Iranian sleeper cells in the U.S., accusing Biden of letting them in. He said “hopefully” the US will “take care of them.”

Unrelated, your pooler accidentally misspelled Stephen Miller’s first name in the earlier report, and regrets the error.

Quotes from the gaggle are below. Transcribed as best as your pooler could from audio taken phone mic audio, which picked up lots of background roaring.

“The ceasefire is very much in effect, and I think we’re going to keep it there for a long time.”

Q: have you spoken to Netanyahu today?

“Yeah. I said, you’ve got to turn back the planes. They hit him very hard after we made the deal yesterday … it shouldn’t have happened.”

“There as going to be a retaliation this morning from Israel, and I said ‘You’ve got to hold back the planes. That’s enough.’ And they did, which I respect very greatly.”

Q: Do you want any consequences for Israel or Iran?

(Seemed to be answering only the Israel part)

“No, because they didn’t do anything. They would have if” Trump didn’t “put out a statement on Truth.”

Q: How are you confident this won’t happen again?

“I think they’re both tired of it. I don’t think they want it to happen again. And Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon. I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”

Q: Did Iran make and commitments yesterday about uranium enrichment?

“They’re not going to have enrichment, and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. They’re going to get on to being the great trading nation. They have a lot of oil. They’re going to do well, and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.

Q: Did they promise?

“The last thing on Iran’s mind right now is nuclear weapons.”

Q: Do you want to see regime change in Iran?

“No. If there was, there was. But no. I want to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don’t want to see much chaos. You know, the Iranians are very good traders, very good business people.”

Other quotes on US strikes:

“Our B-2 pilots made this all possible. Has a magnificent hit in the dark of night, with no moon, no light, no nothing. They hit the target perfectly, wiped it out. And the press is very disrespectful. I saw CNN fake news going ‘Well maybe it wasn’t a perfect hit.’ It was perfect.

“It was very disrespectful to those great geniuses and patriots that flew those planes through tremendous danger. So CNN and MSDNC are a disgrace, and so are the others. Pretty much all are a disgrace. It’s an amazing period of time.”

On NATO:

“Now we’re going to NATO. We’ll get a new set of problems. We’ll solve a new set of problems.”

Q: Will you meet with Zelensky there?

“Yeah, probably I’ll see him.”

Q: What will you say?

“I’ll say, ‘How you doing?’ He’s in a tough situation. Should have never been there.”

Q: Should the US have to agree to the NATO 5% defense spending requirement?

“No, I don’t think so. I was the one that said they should be paying. They’re having a problem with Spain. Spain’s not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them. I don’t think we should pay what everyone else (does). They’re in Europe. A lot of that money goes to rebuilding their bridges, their roads, so it can take heavy equipment. We don’t have any roads in Europe, we don’t have any bridges in Europe. So no, it wouldn’t be quite the same thing for us. But we’re with them.”

Q: Are you still committed to Article 5 of NATO?

“It depends on your definition. There’s numerous definitions of Article 5. But I’m committed to being their friends. You know, I’ve become friends with many of those leaders, and I’m committed to helping them.”

Q: Can you clarify on Article 5? Are you committed to mutual defense?

“I’m committed to saving lives, I’m committed to life and safety. And I’m going to give you an exact definition when I get there. Just don’t want to do it in the back of an airplane.”

Q: If there's language in the NATO summit declaration about aggression by Russia, are you OK with that?

“I’ll have to take a look at it. I’d like to see a deal with Russia. As you know, Vladimir called me up and said ‘Can I help you with Iran?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t need help with Iran. I need help with you.’ I hope we’re going to be getting a deal. It’s a shame. 6,000 soldiers died last week. More. 6,500 soldiers died last week, Russia-Ukraine. A war that would have never happened if I was president.”

Q: What’s your take on oil prices?

“I think it’s great. It dropped almost $10 yesterday. I put out a statement, ‘Get it down.’ Our energy department is doing a great job. They’re drilling like they’ve never drilled before. We’re going to keep it down until all these wars are settled.”

Q: Are you concerned about Iranian sleeper cells in the United States?

“Yeah, Biden let a lot of super cells in. Biden was an incompetent president, had no idea what he was doing. Hardly ever signed a document. Other people signed documents for him with the autopen. It was gross incompetence.

“And among everything else he let a lot of super cells in, many from Iran. But hopefully, we’ll take care of them. What Biden did to this country should never be forgotten.”

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Natalie Allison

White House Reporter

The Washington Post