In-town pool report #1
- From
- Mitchell, Tia (AJC-Atlanta)
- Sent
- Monday, October 13, 2025, 8:57 PM EDT
Good evening,
Your in-town pooler is waiting for President Trump’s arrival at the White House, expected around 2:50 a.m. Tuesday morning per the daily schedule.
In the meantime, the White House has passed along audio from a gaggle aboard AF1 during the second leg of his trip home.
Link to audio: https://youtube.com/live/Ouqvj5JMZ5U
Otter transcription: https://otter.ai/u/0MpGx9LweqgIofJd1YbPpsiqxUg?utm_source=copy_url
AF 1 Gaggle Highlights:
On the historic day: “A historic day, to put it mildly. Wasn’t it amazing? Even that last meeting, when you see the heads of those countries. Those are serious countries right.”
On the hostages being released: “Those kids come back home and the way their parents just went crazy.”
On how the day was for him: “It's been very good. I think it's a important day, because nobody thought this was possible.”
On his reception in the Middle East vs. at home: “I think I get a great reception in New York City. … I went to the Bronx and we had 31,000 people in a park in the Bronx in New York City during the campaign. 31,000 -- you remember that? And it was the friendliest crowd you've ever seen, and very diverse.”
Will the peace hold when he is no longer president: “I can't tell you what's going to happen, but I'll be out there fighting for whoever it may be.”
On urging the Netanyahu pardon: “Yes, it worked out well. It's a little risque, bringing up a pretty sore subject in Israel, but the people were fantastic.”
Does he think U.S. governors should mimic Egypt in address crime: “No, I want them to be stronger and tougher and not allow us to have record-breaking crime in Chicago and different places. I want them to admit they have crime.”
Does he need to use the Insurrection Act to address crime in the U.S.: “I don't have to go there yet, because I'm winning on appeal. … We're losing with radical left judges, generally radical left judges, and we're winning on appeal.”
On meeting with GOP leaders RE government shutdown: “I talk to them all the time. John Thune has been great and Mike has been great – speaker, he's been great. Those two guys have done a great job, but we're dealing with a bunch of radical left lunatics that have lost an election in a landslide. They don’t even admit that.”
On Bill Clinton giving him credit for ending the Israel-Hamas war: “I've always gotten along with him. He used to be a friend of mine.”
His thoughts on road ahead for governing Gaza: “A lot of people like the one-state solution. Some people like the two-state solutions. We'll have to see. I haven't commented on that.”
On whether it’s premature to declare peace:
He declined to comment on what leaders he thought were weak that were in the room with him: “There were a couple in the room, but overall I thought that was an amazing group of people.”
Tia Mitchell
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Washington Bureau Chief
Cell: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Follow me on Twitter: @AJConWashington
Follow me on BlueSky: @ tiamitchell.com
Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TiaReports