Travel Report 23 - Landed at JBA, Gaggle notes, and Trump’s playlist,

Good evening, at 9:39p Air Force One landed at JBA.

When we took off in Shannon, President Trump was called over by an aide to say goodbye to family who were traveling separately. Trump gave hugs and kisses to his family — Eric and Lara and kids, and Don and Bettina and kids. The pool was asked to go ahead and board as this was happening, but stayed back to catch the president going up the steps of the plane.

At 5:36p eastern time, the lead flight attendant for AF1 came to the press cabin to relay a message from the president. He wanted to know if the pool was interested in listening to his playlist. The press cabin said yes. A minute later, he re-emerged in the cabin with a large speaker that was playing songs from a playlist named “APPROVED RALLY PLAYLIST.”

The songs included:

Jolene by Dolly Parton

You Don’t Own Me by Leslie Gore

The WWE Undertaker Entrance

Wild World by Cat Stevens

Losing My Religion by REM

Teenage Wasteland by the Who

Nessun Dorma by Pavoratti

Fernando by Abba

November Rain by Guns N’ Roses

Then at 6:19p Trump came back to the press cabin, wearing a blue suit without a tie, and holding a piece of paper in his hand.

“I just wanted to make sure everyone’s OK with the music?” Trump said. “I picked most of them, I just want to make you happy.” He stayed to take questions from the press.

GAGGLE NOTES:

• Asked if he would discuss Chinese autos with Chinese President Xi, Trump said he will be “discussing everything with him.” Asked if he would allow Chinese autos into the US, Trump said “I haven’t, I’m the one that kept them out.. The tariffs kept them out.” Then he was asked about the potential Boeing deal, and Trump said “I get every deal.”

• Asked about Iran using Chinese imagery to target airbases in Jordan and if he will raise that with Xi, Trump said “They do what we do. I think he’s behaved reasonably well. And we behave reasonably well.” He said, “when they say China spies on us, I say you’re right. And we spy on them too.”

• Trump seemed confused when asked about a video he posted about January 6.

• Asked if he would meet with Delcy Rodriguez at UNGA, “I may be.” To talk about the oil? “We have the oil now. We’re bringing millions and millions in.”

-Asked what would end sooner, Russia or Ukraine war, Trump said “The problem I have with Ukraine and Russia is…a lot of the diesel oil comes from Russia…I asked Zelensky not to hit the diesel plants, refineries…diesel is being driven up by the fact that it’s having a hard time coming out of Russia. And it’s a case that hurts the world.”

-Asked about CIA Ratcliffe playing a greater role, Trump said he’s “doing a great job.” Asked about Kushner and Witkoff Trump said, “No they’ve done a great job…look at Gaza, we got all the hostages back….you know, people forget, there's not a lot of fighting in Gaza. Hamas is now willing to give up their weapons. They’ve done an incredible job.”

• Asked if Zelensky will get the Patriot missile licenses, he said “we are talking about it…a less sophisticated version…we have a big stockpile…a lot of them are, you know, virtually unlimited. We have a very big stockpile now….right now we are making more patriots than we’ve ever made.”

-Trump was asked about the laser weapons he mentioned yesterday at the US Ambassador’s residence. Trump said, “Laser's gonna be a big thing, because it's a lot less expensive than sending up patriots. And the lasers are big….Once you have the equipment, the laser beam itself is very inexpensive. Almost nothing. Yeah, we're getting close.

The lasers are very, very good for… for certain types of missiles, certain slower missiles. I think the laser is gonna be the future.”

• Asked if he has heard directly from any AI tech leaders this week, he said “yep.” When asked if he is downplaying their concerns he said “No, we are not downplaying but you know it’s going to be more good than bad by a lot. I’ve said it from the beginning whoever wins, we got it, we are leading by a lot. Whoever wins AI wins.”

• Asked if he has ever used AI himself, Trump said “I use AI, yeah.” Asked how do you use it? Trump said “You can use AI for a lot of things.” He would not elaborate on how he uses it.

-On Flock cameras Trump said “I like it….but some people don’t, they think it’s an infringement.”

The president then tried to say goodbye and leave the press cabin. But he continued talking when he was asked about showing First Lady Melania Trump the helipad, and when it will be operable. Trump said “I think it’s going to be the 21st” and went on to talk about the granite of the helipad.

This time, he actually left the press cabin. “Have a good time everybody.”

Meridith McGraw

White House Reporter