report 27 -- Quotes

Some quotes from the question and answer session (Please check quotes against audio/video, reputable transcripts)

Q: Are you open to a Democratic proposal to hire back workers let go during the shutdown?

A: Trump blamed Democrats for the shutdown. “And we're not going to spend a trillion dollars, or one and a half trillion dollars on health care for people that came into the country illegally, many of them from prisons and many of them drug dealers and murderers.”

Q: What is the significance of Kazakhstan joining the Abraham Accords when they already have diplomatic relations with Israel?

A: Trump handed to VP Vance, who said it added to the “momentum” of the agreement, and to Sec State Rubio, who said that the Abraham Accords were a more significant partnership than just having embassies in each others' countries.

Trump then added his thoughts: “One of the reasons is we are, right now in negotiations with … with many countries that really wanted to come in, but they couldn't, because of the status of Iran, but Iran had a possibility of nuclear weapons, which they do not have. Now, when Iran was bullying the Middle East, let's call it bullying the Middle East, which it isn't anymore, they had a hard time going against that. I understand that now that Iran has been very much decimated in terms of their nuclear.”

Q: What is the status of the oil sanctions against Russia?

A: Trump gave an extended answer about how he would like to see “denuclearization” of all the countries with nuclear weapons.

Q: What is the status of the stabilization force in Gaza?

A: “Gaza is working out very well, and we haven't been hearing too much about problems. And I'll tell you, we've had countries that have volunteered if there's a problem with Hamas as an example, a problem with anything, but they volunteer if you want a single nation go in and take care of we're very powerful countries in this coalition, and it's not, you know, this is a very tentative, they are saying, well, it's a very tentative. This is not tentative, this is a very strong peace. This is peace in the Middle East.”

Q: A judge ruled that the SNAP payments had to go out in full, and the administration appeals, so what is your message to people struggling to get by

A: Trump handed off to VP Vance, who criticized the federal judge for telling them what to do amid a “Democratic government shutdown.”

Trump then added his thoughts about “Sleepy Joe Biden” letting too many people on the SNAP rolls, and the Walmart Thanksgiving dinner being cheaper than under Biden and how Democrats lie about affordability.

“Our energy costs are way down, our groceries are way down. Everything is way down, and the press doesn't reward it. The press reports whatever, they con people. You know I call the Democrats con men and women. They make up numbers.”

Your pool tried to ask the president, several times, about the grocery prices, but he did not take that question.

Have a good rest of your night.

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S.V. Dáte

Senior White House Correspondent

HuffPost

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