In-town pool 5: summary of remarks

The president began by praising the Rose Garden setting and his renovations around the White House, include the new helipad. He noted that President Xi Jinping of China would visit in two weeks, and referenced the ballroom he saw on his own trip to Beijing in May. Trump said the White House would soon have a ballroom, too.

Trump praised McMahon and outgoing press secretary Karoline Leavitt, joking that he was upset because "she decided she loved her children more than she loved Donald Trump.” He attacked the previous administration’s education policies as “weaponized,” citing teachings on race and gender and law enforcement investigations into disruptive parents at school board meetings. Trump described watching an unspecified Democratic congressman arguing with a television anchor about transgender athletes, saying he hoped they would continue.

Trump promoted a tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting nonprofits and allowing parents to pay for home-schooling out of education savings accounts, both provisions of his 2025 domestic spending package. He called up Pastor Caleb Griffith from Statesville, N.C., who said the tax credit helped pay for the education of his three biological sons and two foster children, especially special needs for autism and developmental delay. Trump praised the First Lady’s work on the foster care system, then called up a couple identified as Maureen and Hubert from Jacksonville, Florida, who said their three children benefit from using their 529 account on homeschooling.

Trump mentioned administration actions to protect prayer in public schools and shrink the Department of Education, redesigning the food pyramid and vaccine recommendations, as well as signing a bill to provide whole milk in schools. Trump predicted that spreading out vaccines would reduce autism rates, making a connection that is not supported by scientific research.