WH in-town pool report #6/ POTUS on Spirit Airlines, Iran and troops in Italy and Spain
- From
- David Smith
- Sent
- Friday, May 1, 2026 1:26 PM
Some highlights from the first half of the press gaggle with POTUS, wearing dark suit, white shirt and red tie, on the south lawn today.
SPIRIT AIRLINES
Asked if he has decided against bailing out Spirit Airlines, POTUS replied: "Well, I guess we're looking at it. If we can do, we'll do it, but only if it's a good deal.
"We're looking at it but only if we can make a good deal - no institution's been able to do it. I said I'd like to save the jobs but we'll have an announcement some time today. We gave them a final proposal."
Asked what has been the hold up on a deal, POTUS said: "We're looking at it, we're looking at trying to help them. It's something we're not looking to get involved with but, if we can, it's 14,000 jobs – I would say we are driving a tough deal but it's one of those things. We will do it or we won't. We'll have something for you today or tomorrow."
Asked about other lenders thinking they are getting bumped down in priority, POTUS replied: "Well, they will, you know. We come first. Hey, you know what it is? USA first. America first, including with airlines, including with Intel... We're looking at Spirit and if we can help them we will but we have to come first. We're first. It's America first."
IRAN
Asked about a new Iranian proposal, he said: "So, they want to make a deal but I'm not satisfied with it so we'll see what happens. Iran wants to make a deal because they have no military left, essentially, and they want to make a deal but I'm not satisfied with it."
Another answer: "There's tremendous discord, they've having a tremendous problem getting along with other in Iran. The leadership is very disjointed. It's got two to three groups, maybe four, and it's a very disjointed leadership and, with that being said, they all want to make a deal but they're all messed up."
And later: "We just had a conversation with Iran. Let's see what happens but I would say that I am not happy. Their leadership is very disjointed, very argumentative with each other. They come back: one says one thing, one says another. They're confused. Obviously their country has been, frankly, decimated."
TROOPS IN EUROPE
Asked about threatened withdrawal of troops from Italy and Spain, POTUS said: "Well, I'm not happy with Italy and I'm not happy with Spain. They feel it's OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Anybody that feels it's OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon is not very smart and it'll be a terrible thing in the future. If they were allowed to have a nuclear weapon, you would have a problem the likes of which the world has never seen before and it's not going to happen."
More to follow.
David Smith
Washington bureau chief
Guardian News & Media
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