WH in-town pool report #15/ More details on shutdown and other comments
- From
- David Smith
- Sent
- Tuesday, September 30, 2025 5:32 PM
Here are some more comprehensive highlights from POTUS's event in the Oval Office announcing an executive order on pediatric cancer research and AI.
POTUS took questions from the pool and was asked why it is necessary to link more federal job cuts to the imminent government shutdown.
POTUS said: "Well, the Democrats want to shut it down. So, when you shut it down, you have to do layoffs so we'd be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected and the Democrats, they're going to be Democrats.
"As you know, this country - no country can afford to pay for illegal immigration, healthcare for everybody that comes into the country. That's what they're insisting. And obviously, I have an obligation to not accept that. That would affect everybody."
He criticised President Joe Biden and added: "We're doing well as a country so the last thing we want to do is shut it down. But a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want and they'd be Democrat things.
"They want open borders. They want men playing in women's sports. They want transgender for everybody. They never stop. They don't learn. We won an election in a landslide. They just don't learn. So we have no choice. I have to do that for the country."
There was a question about Harvard, which POTUS said would be paying about $500 million and operating trade schools. There was also a question about drug prices and how the US got here.
POTUS observed: "We got here by incompetent people sitting behind this desk." He went on to talk about the successes of his first term.
Later he made a reference to California governor "Gavin Newscum" and vowed: "We're going to have safe cities again. We're going to be very safe.
"We're going to be going to Chicago pretty soon. Because a friend of mine, a great guy, the head of the Union Pacific, he said, sir, you have to save Chicago. It's going bad. It's gone bad for us and it's a great city. He's right. It's a great city. I know it very well. And we have to save Chicago. So we're going to Memphis, Tennessee right now. We've had a home run in DC."
After an exchange with reporter Brian Glenn about crime in Washington, POTUS added: "The restaurants are booming. The town is booming. It's clean. You know, the National Guard actually went out and started cleaning all that crap out of the parks. The tents are knocked down."
Earlier POTUS announced the executive order directing the federal government to use AI to analyse vast datasets to discover new treatments, cures and prevention strategies for pediatric cancer. He said this builds on the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, launched in 2019, by immediately doubling its investment with an additional $50 million.
POTUS said: "I'm thrilled to sign a very historic executive order to massively accelerate pediatric cancer research and harness the extraordinary potential of artificial intelligence to fight this terrible disease."
Several officials and supporters, including Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr and Stephanie McMahon, praised the order, with Kennedy noting the urgency given what he said is a 40% rise in cancer incidence in children since 1975.
Jay Bhattacharya, director of the NIH, said: "We're building a future where every child's data contributes to faster diagnosis. Artificial intelligence will help us uncover faster, more precise treatments, improve quality of life, and better survival."
Also, Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spoke about an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry, starting with Pfizer, to implement "most favored nation" drug pricing. He said this aims to dramatically lower drug costs for Medicaid recipients, with a goal of applying this standard to 95% of all pharmaceuticals by the end of POTUS's term.
The event culminated with remarks from parents and children about their experiences with cancer.
Josh Armstrong, a father from West Virginia, said: "What you are doing today gives parents like me and children like [my daughter] the one thing that we most desperately need and that's hope."
One boy told POTUS: "I've had a brain tumor since I was four months and I'm doing great. I'm 15 now and I'm going to 10th grade." POTUS quipped: "And you're going to be a football player – offensive lineman!"
Carolyn Hendrix, 16, a pediatric bone cancer survivor, said of the executive order: "What you're doing today, Mr President, means that kids like me will get better options and so much more hope for the future."
Your pooler did not see POTUS sign the executive order but is told he did so as the last members of the pool were departing.
C-SPAN video here:
https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-signs-executive-orders/666507
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