In-town pool report #7 — Blair gaggle/WH rejected 7pm Fed

Deputy chief of staff James Blair gaggled with reporters for roughly 15 minutes, just before 4:15pm. See otter andhighlights below, and don't forget to double check quotes against video/transcript

https://otter.ai/u/pkeiJobTtLfn5fSjVsEJXoxLKZs?utm_source=copy_url

Notably, Blair told pool that the Fed had offered an invitation to visit their renovation site Friday at 7pm. The White House declined, due to POTUS' 7pm dinner with GOP Senators and WH's desire to do it during business hours

Q: Have you scheduled time for Fed review?

They offered us 7pm this evening. We rejected that. I don't think after hours on a weekend is when we want to be there. We want to see what's going on. We want to see what the construction is like. So we've sent a note back through the Office of Management and Budget that we'd like to come next week. We'd like to come during the day.

Q: What are you looking for when you get there?

Number one, we want to know if what the Fed Chair said was true. He said all of the design plans have changed from all of the features that have been much discussed to the public, the gardens, the beehives, the VIP elevators, the water features. He said, 'All of this has changed.' We just want to know whether or not that's true. We want to see it for ourselves... I would like all of the revised plans since 2021. I just got the binder in my office. I posted it online. Nothing's been submitted to the Commission since 2021. We just want to know whether the plans changed or they didn't.

Q: Do you have an update on timing of the next rescissions package?

Soon

Q: Can you be a little more specific

[Shakes head] I'll also leave that to Director Vought to discuss with you.

Q: What's the next move with Powell if WH determines "he lied" about renovation?

Obviously, that'll be up to the president if he chooses to exercise an action there. But more importantly, I think the question is, what do the governors think? There's the Board of Governors here, which the president has mentioned. They have a responsibility. It's not just the chair. There's a Board of Governors. They should hold him accountable, not only for the project, but his management of monetary policy.

Q: Has WH made a decision on what will be in next rescissions package, regardless of timing of transfer?

We've got a number of items we're looking at also, obviously talking to the senators too. They're going through the appropriations process. We don't know what's important to them, but you know, you'll obviously see that very soon.

Q: What are you looking at?

I mean, everything that just doesn't come aboard with the president's agenda, that doesn't make sense, really just taxpayer waste. Obviously, DOGE did a lot of work. A lot of the work that DOGE did is the type of thing you can see reflective of rescissions packages, which is what you saw earlier.

Q: How will Trump sell OBBB before the midterms?

It's just about talking about what's in the bill, and what's in the bill is really popular. It's everything the president campaigned on: no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime pay. Obviously, we have a historic amount of border resources. We've closed the border. I mean, literally, 99% drop in border crossings. The border is actually under control. Golden dome. All of these things that we ran on, we just have to tell the American people that it's done now.

Q: Will Trump's political operation put money behind the bill?

I wouldn't be surprised to see them do it in the future.

Q: Will Trump make supplemental funding request for more Texas flood aid?

We'll have to see. It's very early in that process. We'll have to see what Texas thinks it needs. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Obviously, it takes a while for meaningful damage assessments to come in in situations like this, so I think we'll have to wait and see what the recovery looks like, and what they think they need.

Q: what do you make of Elon Musk's third party threat?

You know, I don't know what to make of that. I don't know where that's going or if he'll follow through on that, and frankly, I'm not focused on it.

Q: Will Trump withhold political support from Susan Collins for voting against rescissions?

I think the President would like to see everybody join in the great Republican victories that are going on, including the rescissions package. What's important is that it's passed. What's important as this president has passed every single thing so far.

Christian Datoc

White House Correspondent

Washington Examiner

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