Travel pool note #7: quotes from gaggle

On Lisa Cook, President Trump said he formed a committee to investigate the allegations against her “because I think she's dishonest, and she shouldn't be in an important position. And she’s an automatic no vote, and that's not a good thing.”

Later, he said he would fire her if the committee found cause.

On Zelensky: “I think he should have an election, and he could have settled this thing many times, and he should have an election, and he can't raise the price of oil. It’s not enough."

Asked about declaring victory in Iran, he said: “We can leave right now, but we have to guarantee that they can't have it in the future,” referring to a nuclear weapon.

Asked about sending Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow, and if he would speak with Putin again, he responded that “I think that Russia would like to make a deal, and we've had it back and forth. But Russia would like to make a deal. But as I said this is something that could have been solved many times, but for whatever reason, Zelensky does not want to make a deal. And if you look at the odds, you know you're talking about millions more soldiers on one side than the other. I think it would have been smart if he would have made a deal two years ago. He would have been a lot better off. He would have made a much better deal two years ago.”

“President Putin would like to see a settlement strongly,” he added.

Asked about the midterms and if he should campaign more in contested areas, he said “You know, we're waiting a little bit, and to a certain extent, and you heard me saying today, I want to give some recognition to places that have just backed me automatically, like Tennessee, and I'll be going to Ohio, which backed me, but we have very close races. You know, I won, I won all of them by a lot, and I think I'm more popular with them now than I was.”

He said he has “respect” for CNN for airing polling that shows his strong support with MAGA voters.

Asked why not put CNN back on the plane, given that he trusts them enough to air their segment at his rally, he responded: “I just think that there were good polls.”

On if Fetterman could become a Republican, he said “I'd love to see it. … It's going to be hard for him to get the nomination as a Democrat, but I'd love to have him as a Republican.” He said he spoke with his “magnificent” parents.

He called the attack on Riyadh “a terrible thing” and said the U.S. “has communication with the Houthis.” He said he planned to speak with MBS.

On Katie Zacharia whom he just named as press secretary, he said: “I've known Katie a little bit, but I've watched her a lot on television, and she does a very good job. And she believes in us, and she believes in what we're doing, which is making America great again, she really does.“

He called the Supreme Court’s tariff and birthright citizenship decisions “both very bad for our country.”

Thank you to co-pooler Steve Holland for his help.

And one more detail: Air Force One flew over fireworks as we landed.

That's all from me tonight.
Katherine Doyle
The Washington Post