In-Town Pool Report #3: POTUS remarks/event over

Some tidbits from the event...

The president said two of Pete Hegseth’s sons are sitting in the front row; he said he told their father he could come but he should probably stay in the Situation Room. (Hegseth isn't in the East Room.)

He said Hegseth and Dan Caine are doing a great job.

Trump said FCC chairman Brendan Carr may be the most "powerful" person in the room and praised the job he was doing.

The president said Ronny Jackson was in the room and had him stand up; he was seated in the front row, on the left side of the room

He also acknowledged Van Orden (a "fantastic" guy) and Spicer, who he said has a successful TV career, before asking "what the hell do I get out of it...I get nice statements. That's what I get out of it, right?"

He gave shootouts to players on the team including Blake Horvath, quarterback for the Navy Midshipmen; said he will be taking the team to the Oval Office to give them a medal.

He told one of the team members, Landon Robinson, he has arms "like steel" and asked, "Do you think I could take him in a fight."

He spoke about reserving the second Saturday in December exclusively for the Army-Navy game, and making it so that no other team can play that day. (He signed a related executive order later in the event.)

Rough transcript: "Nobody else is going to be allowed. Of course, we'll probably get sued at some point. We always get sued, but we win the suits, and we'll win this one, the only game that's going to be played. So we preserve that time."

Later said the fight with Iran "is not even a contest" and no force on earth can beat America's military.

The president mentioned Iran multiple times though out his remarks and brought up other policy issues such as his support for a transgender athlete ban.

POTUS exited at 11:28 am; he didn't appear to answer opening questions.

Francesca Chambers

White House Correspondent, USA TODAY