In twon pool report 12 quotes

To fill in some more from the marathon session in the Oval:

And an apology. It was not a show in three acts. It was four. Pool Report 10 should have included the missing act, which began at 4:46 – the president talking about his success in freeing Americans held hostage in foreign countries.

When talking about the hostages, he pointedly contrasted his record with that of President Biden. An aide held a sign comparing the two presidents. Under Trump it listed 72 hostages rescued since Inauguration Day. For Biden, it showed 24 hostages lost in his four years. Sebastian Gorka, his senior director for counter terrorism, was vocal. When the president said the United States is respected again and that helps explain his success, Gorka said, “They are afraid of you, sir.” Then the president joked about how much work he is doing in the long session. “The last time I took a day off… they said bad things happened,” he said with a laugh, noting that no one is asking him questions like that when he is doing events. “That’s why they’re fake news, Mr. president,” said Gorka as he exited the Oval.

On the Department of War:

“This is something we thought long and hard about.” He then talked about how his attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was “a perfect attack” that “knocked out any possible nuclear capabilities.” He did not explicitly state that Harry Truman was woke, but he did say that the name was changed in 1947 after wining World War II. “Then we decided to go woke and change to Secretary of Defense.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke briefly in support of changing his title, noting all the wars won under the old name. “We haven’t won a major war since… It’s about restoring… the warrior ethos.” He said it is choosing “maximum lethality over tepid legality.” The president then said, “We could have won every war. We chose to be politically correct or wokey.” He added “We never wanted to win” He then noted “we solved seven wars” on his watch, repeating his earlier statements that he thought Ukraine would be the easiest one but has proven “a little more difficult” He said, “It will get done or there will be hell to pay.” When he signed the executive order, he said, “I think this is a big one, I’ll be honest. This is a big one.”

Asked when he started thinking about a rebranding, he suggested it was the botched withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. “So stupid… they were fools… We just didn’t fight to win.” Asked if he needed Congress to make it official, he said, “We’re going to find out,” but added he is “not sure we have to” get Congressional approval. He said the rebrand will not be costly. He said it is a “very important change because” we have “an attitude.” “It’s really about winning.”

Asked about the report of him sending SEALS to North Korea in his first term to plant listening devices, he said, “I don’t know anything about it.” Similarly, when asked about the ICE raid on Hyundi in Georgia, he said, “I just heard about it.” He said the Ice agents “were just doing their job” and stressed tht “they were illegal aliens.”

Asked about crime in DC, he railed against cashless bail. “That’s the big thing” he wants changed. He called DC now “a totally safe city,” before mentioning his plans to go out to dinner next week.

On Venezuela, he said they had had “a very strange election” and were responsible for “billions of drugs” being trafficked. He sidestepped a question on gun rights for transgenders. Asked if we had “lost India,” he said “I don’t think we have,” adding, “I have been very disappointed” in their purchases of energy from Russia.

Later, when asked about tina Peters, the former Repubican county clerk who has been convicted of allowing someone to access data from a secure voting system in Colorado, he called for her release from prison. He said she was “a wonderful woman” who “saw cheating in Colorado” and tried to investigate. “They arrested her instead of the people doing the cheating.” He added, “This woman is a real patriot… They should let her go.”

Asked about the hostages held by Hamas, he said, “We’re in very deep negotitions with Hamas.”

When the spotlight shifted to the G20, he again teased Kevin Hassett about his possible candidacy for the Fed chairman, saying he was one of three candidates and saying of the job, “I’ have never seen an easier position than that.”

On the G20 this year in South Africa, he confirmed, “I won’t be going there. J.D. will be going.”

For next year’s meeting, he said he has already invited Poland. Asked if Russia should be invited, he said, “I haven’t thought about that…I’m going to think about that a little bit.”

He added some criticism of the opposition party domestically. “It used to be the opposite: the Democrats were with the working people and the Republicans were supposedly for the rich... The Democrats have lost millions of people. They've gone crazy... They suffer a major Trump derangement syndrome, and it’s turned out to be actually a disease, but it's a disease of weak people and stupid people... their policies are terrible.”

When informed that Mayor Eric Adams was staying in the NYC mayoral race, he said, “He has to do… He is free to do what he wants.” He seemed disappointed, though, suggesting that “the only way to beat the communist” is to reduce the number of candidates. He was fatalistic. “We’ll get used to a communist,” adding, “He’ll have to go through the White House.” Asked if he had offered the mayor an ambassadorship, he said he had not.

On the site of the G20 being at his Doral property, he said, “Everybody wants it there,” adding, “We won’t make any money on it.”

Then back on DC crime, “We have not crime in Washington. Literally no crime.” He said the statistics say it is down 87 percent. But it really is 100 percent. He marveled at the suit filed by the DC attorney general. We “just set a record on low crime and we have a man suing us to go back to high crime.” He suggested, “I can always declare a national emergency.”

He talked about vaccines. The quotes were in the earlier pool report. He also talked about is surprise at seeing the crime statistics in Portland, noting that Portland is now among the cities he is considered for further federal action.

Asked about the long-standing protest tent in Lafayette Park, the president ordered, “Take it down.”

A note on the earlier pool report. Yes, the math was wrong. Enough seats for 96 people, not 192. There is a reason your pool is a writer, not a numbers guy. Sorry.