Oct. 23, 2025 - The Benny Show - Benny Johnson
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| And FBI Director Cash Patel said this is the insider trading saga of the NBA, and certainly a lot of fans are going to be very concerned about the integrity of the game after this news conference, where you mentioned NBA players and coaches are accused of using insider information to influence prop bets, which are bets placed on an individual player's performance rather than the result of the game. | ||
| But of course, it does impact the result of the game. | ||
| So there were two indictments, as you mentioned, 34 arrests. | ||
| One indictment focuses on this NBA scandal. | ||
| The other is on fixed poker games involving four of the five major mafia families. | ||
| And FBI Director Patel said, under the Trump administration, this activity simply will not be ignored. | ||
| Listen to this. | ||
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This is an operation that showcases to you that under President Trump's administration, there is no room for any type of criminal behavior, be it on the world's largest stage or in the back rooms of tiny parlors where guard games are being played. | |
| So Harris, Miami Heat Guard Terry Rogier was arrested in Orlando this morning. | ||
| He'll appear in federal court sometime this afternoon. | ||
| He's accused of purposely leaving a game with a foot injury back in 2023 after playing only nine minutes so that co-conspirators could profit off of those prop bets that I mentioned. | ||
| They took the under on his points, rebounds, and assist. | ||
| So when he left the game early, those bets hit, landing them tens of thousands of dollars. | ||
| Now, Rogier's lawyer tells Fox News, quote, it is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self-surrender, they opted for a photo op talking about the feds. | ||
| They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. | ||
| That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case. | ||
| Now, I mentioned the other indictment, Harris, NBA Hall of Famer and current head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, Chauncey Billops, was also arrested. | ||
| He's accused of partaking in those fixed poker games that happened across the country in several cities with four of those five major mafia families. | ||
| Prosecutors say Billops was used as a big name to lure victims to play, and the defendants allegedly used high-tech cheating technology to fix the games. | ||
| Now, Billops will appear in federal court in Portland later this afternoon. | ||
| Damon Jones was another name that was brought up during this news conference. | ||
| He's a former NBA player and coach. | ||
| He's the only person who's involved in both of these indictments. | ||
| The same investigation did lead to a lifetime ban for former Toronto Raptors player Jante Porter, who pleaded guilty. | ||
| He admitted to altering his performance to facilitate some of these prop bets, and he's awaiting his sentencing in December. | ||
| So a lot of news and a lot of concern in the sports world. | ||
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| afternoon, everybody. | ||
| I apologize for my tardiness today, so let's get right to it. | ||
| We'll begin today with some scheduling announcements for President Trump's upcoming trip to Asia. | ||
| Tomorrow night at 11 p.m., the president will depart the White House to fly to Malaysia, where he will arrive on Sunday morning local time. | ||
| It's a long flight. | ||
| President Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Malaysia in the afternoon, and then he will attend the ASEAN Leaders Working Dinner that evening. | ||
| On Monday morning, local time, the president will fly to Tokyo. | ||
| Tuesday morning, local time, President Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with the new Prime Minister of Japan. | ||
| On Wednesday morning, local time, the president will fly to Busan, where he will participate in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea, deliver keynote remarks at the APEC CEO luncheon, and then participate in a U.S. APEC leaders working dinner. | ||
| On Thursday morning, local time, President Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with President Xi of the People's Republic of China before departing to return home to Washington, D.C. On Thursday night, upon arrival in Washington, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will participate in Halloween at the White House, where they will welcome law enforcement, military, and foster families. | ||
| And I know many of us look forward to that. | ||
| In other news, we are now on day 23 of the Democrat government shutdown. | ||
| Senate Democrats have voted 12 separate times now to keep the government closed. | ||
| Innocent Americans are suffering every day as a result. | ||
| More than 500,000 civilian federal employees will miss a full paycheck tomorrow. | ||
| Thousands of small business loans are going unapproved each month. | ||
| This means almost $4 billion in capital is being withheld from small businesses across the country. | ||
| The Democrat shutdown is also causing severe impacts at airports across the country. | ||
| In one single day this week, the FAA had to issue ground stops impacting flights at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport. | ||
| 13,000 air traffic controllers who ensure that we all fly safely are continuing to work without pay. | ||
| This is egregious and truly sad. | ||
| Some of them are reportedly being forced to turn to driving for Uber and taking on other second jobs to make ends meet as the Democrats continue to shut down the government. | ||
| Pilots are calling on Democrats to end this dangerous political game. | ||
| The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association called for the clean continuing resolution to be passed, saying, quote, our air traffic controllers and the broader air traffic system are already operating under immense pressure. | ||
| A government shutdown only compounds that stress and threatens the efficiency of our skies. | ||
| The Airline Pilots Association International, which represents more than 80,000 pilots, is sounding the alarm as well. | ||
| They said this shutdown is undermining our system's safety. | ||
| Resources are stretched thin, negotiations are delayed, and strain grows daily. | ||
| With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, we are nearing the busiest travel period of the entire year when millions of Americans will go to airports to spend time with their loved ones. | ||
| Let us be very clear from the White House today. | ||
| If the Democrats continue to keep the government closed, we fear there will be significant flight delays, disruptions, and cancellations in major airports across the country this holiday season. | ||
| If Democrats continue to shut down the government, they will also be shutting down American air travel. | ||
| The White House is in constant communication with the air traffic controllers, with the airline associations, and with them, we urge Democrats to please pass the continuing resolution so we can just end this madness and this chaos and reopen the government. | ||
| These are very avoidable consequences. | ||
| The unnecessary pain unfortunately does not end there. | ||
| Funding for the supplemental nutrition assistance program known as SNAP, which provides food benefits to low-income families, is beginning to lapse this week in some states. | ||
| If Democrats continue to hold Americans hostage, there will not be enough funds to provide SNAP benefits for more than 40 million Americans on November 1st. | ||
| That is next week. | ||
| Democrats are solely responsible for all of this unnecessary pain. | ||
| Why are they doing it? | ||
| To give taxpayer-funded health care benefits to illegal aliens, some of whom are violent criminals. | ||
| During the four years of Joe Biden's administration, the Democrats forced Border Patrol to admit illegal aliens into our country with no legal status and minimal screening. | ||
| A significant number of these individuals are the worst of the worst criminals, rapists, pedophiles, murderers, and even members of the terrorist watch list. | ||
| Despite having no legal status, paroled aliens were able to file for work authorization, receive social security numbers, and access other benefits like Medicaid that are meant for Americans. | ||
| Since I've found many in this room to repeatedly deny the reality that Democrats gave Medicaid benefits to illegals, and they continue to seek to do just that, I've brought a few verified examples for you today. | ||
| These are examples of some of the illegals who received Medicaid benefits under President Biden's leadership, and this is what Democrats are wanting to do. | ||
| This is why they are continuing to keep the government closed. | ||
| An illegal alien from Laos was arrested for murder, robbery, and felony possession of a firearm. | ||
| An illegal alien from Guatemala who was arrested for rape and burglary. | ||
| An illegal alien from El Salvador who was arrested for strangulation, DUI, and burglary. | ||
| An illegal alien from Mexico who was arrested for attempted murder. | ||
| The Democrats' open border policies allowed these threats into our country, and then they provided them with free health care. | ||
| The president and Republicans, through the One Big Beautiful bill, implemented a common sense reform to end this fraudulent scheme. | ||
| But that's why the Democrats are continuing to shut down the federal government. | ||
| They are trying to reverse this and restore taxpayer-funded health care for illegal aliens like these. | ||
| Throughout this shutdown, Democrats have said this quiet part out loud. | ||
| Senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the caucus that is refusing to open the government, said, quote, every day gets better as the shutdown continues. | ||
| Ask the air traffic controllers if every day is getting better, Senator Schumer, and they will tell you absolutely not. | ||
| House Democrat Catherine Clark said, there are going to be families that are going to suffer. | ||
| We take that responsibility seriously, but this is one of the few leverage points that we have. | ||
| Here is a House Democrat who is admitting that they are using Americans who are suffering as political leverage. | ||
| And Senator Bernie Sanders said, if you reopen the government, we lose our leverage. | ||
| This is pure partisan games. | ||
| A senior Democrat aide said the party will not end the shutdown, quote, short of planes falling out of the sky. | ||
| That is truly a disturbing statement. | ||
| The Democrats clearly don't care about this suffering. | ||
| They care about playing political games against President Trump, and this dangerous charade needs to end. | ||
| The president and Republicans' position has been clear and unchanged. | ||
| Pass a clean, nonpartisan funding bill to reopen the government. | ||
| And then we can talk about all of the partisan issues that the Democrats wish to. | ||
| If you're watching at home, we urge you to call your Democrat senators and tell them to put our country over their party and reopen the government today. | ||
| Here in our new media seat, we have Brittany Gibson of Axios. | ||
| Brittany, why don't you start us off for our Q ⁇ A today? | ||
| Thank you for being here. | ||
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Two questions, if I may, for the line. | |
| First is, we understand that the president and Republicans will not negotiate on ACA extensions until the government reopens. | ||
| If and when that happens, what does the president think should be or what are his plans for preventing rising health care costs for Americans? | ||
| It's a very good question, and I'll leave that to the president to negotiate that when Democrats vote to reopen the government. | ||
| When it comes to lowering health care costs, the president is deeply committed to this. | ||
| It's why he has spent so much time and effort negotiating with big pharma to lower the health care costs of prescription drugs. | ||
| All of you have been in the Oval Office for multiple different announcements. | ||
| We've had these most favored nations deals with these large pharmaceutical companies committing to lowering drug costs in this country. | ||
| So it's something the president wants to do. | ||
| And Brittany, one more point. | ||
| I'll just point out the irony in Democrats holding the government and the American public hostage over a health care system that they created. | ||
| The health care system was called Obamacare. | ||
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Why? | |
| Because Democrats and President Obama implemented. | ||
| And Republicans have always said it's a broken system, yes, but they caused it. | ||
| And now they want to shut down the government to fix it. | ||
| We need to open the government and then we can have these very important conversations about health care. | ||
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And the second, on H-1Bs and foreign students, during the campaign, President Trump said he wanted to make it easier for foreign students to work at U.S. companies, stable green cards, every diploma. | |
| But the changes from several agencies now on H-1Bs are adding more obstacles to that. | ||
| The administration is being sued over those changes. | ||
| Can you explain the changes in the president's thinking on H-1Bs? | ||
| Administration will fight these lawsuits in court. | ||
| The president's main priority has always been to put American workers first and also to strengthen our visa system. | ||
| We know for far too long the H-1B visa system has been spammed with fraud, basically, and that's driven down American wages. | ||
| So the president wants to refine this system, which is part of the reason he implemented these new policies. | ||
| These actions are lawful, they are necessary, and we'll continue to fight this battle in court. | ||
| Garrett? | ||
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Two questions on different topics. | |
| Sure. | ||
| On the pardon of Chiang Peng Zhao, apologies if I'm mispronouncing that name. | ||
| Binance has significant business interests with World Liberty Financial, the president's family's crypto company. | ||
| How do you respond to the allegations from Democrats that this is a corrupt act? | ||
| I would respond and say the president is exercising his constitutional authority to grant clemency requests. | ||
| And the president and the White House have a very thorough examination of every pardon request that comes to the president's desk. | ||
| It is thoroughly reviewed by the White House Counsel Office. | ||
| And I spoke with our great White House counsel about the pardon after it happened. | ||
| This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration. | ||
| Even the judge in the case admitted that the Biden administration was pursuing an egregious over-sentencing of this individual. | ||
| And the previous administration was very hostile to the cryptocurrency industry. | ||
| So the president wants to correct this overreach of the Biden administration's misjustice. | ||
| And he exercised his constitutional authority to do so. | ||
| And to the Democrats, I would just say there's nothing more corrupt than what President Biden did on his way out the door pardoning his extremely corrupt son and many of his associates. | ||
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On the ballroom, and first of which there will probably be several questions about this today, I imagine. | |
| Is it a big story? | ||
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It seems that way. | |
| The president's cost estimate has changed several times. | ||
| I think it's up to 300 million now. | ||
| Given the nature of all this, will the White House commit to releasing all of the donors and how much they're spending and how much of his own money the president is putting on the line to this? | ||
| We have released the full list of donors thus far. | ||
| Perhaps there will be more people who want to generously contribute to this project. | ||
| And the president, yes, has committed his own resources. | ||
| And when he releases that information, which I'm very confident he will, you will all see that. | ||
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We'll see the dollar if they hear from the president. | |
| Yes, we will. | ||
| And I would also just add the president has been incredibly transparent. | ||
| I would reject any notion otherwise when it comes to this ballroom project. | ||
| It's something he personally has obviously taken an interest into and has talked with all of you in this room many times about. | ||
| You have seen the model in the Oval Office. | ||
| Last night he showed that for you. | ||
| But when this plan was presented and when these renderings, as soon as they were complete, the president directed me to come out here and to share them with all of you. | ||
| I did an entire opening remarks about what this ballroom project was going to look like. | ||
| With any construction project, there are changes over time as you assess what the project is going to look like. | ||
| And we'll continue to keep you apprised of all of those changes. | ||
| But just trust the process. | ||
| This is going to be a magnificent addition to the White House for many years to come. | ||
| And it's not costing the taxpayers anything. | ||
| president is privately funding this ballroom addition to the White House grounds. | ||
| Jennifer. | ||
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To follow up on that, one thing that's not in the president's model is the East Wing bunker, the President's Emergency Operations Center. | |
| Can you say if his update, that $300 million, does that include the cost for upgrading that bunker? | ||
| Look, like any security enhancements that are made on the White House grounds, those will be made and maintained by United States Secret Service. | ||
| As for the cost of the ballroom and the construction itself, all of that is going to be, like I've said, privately funded and paid for by the president himself and many generous patriots who have stepped up. | ||
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Correct. | |
| Okay, and then can you say, well, that's right. | ||
| I'll skip that one. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
| We just. | ||
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Thank you, Jane. | |
| More ball in that. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| So the White House has explained that the reason you didn't submit construction plans to the NCPC is because that commission, along with others, don't have oversight over demolitions, but only over construction. | ||
| And so far, you haven't built anything. | ||
| So can you help us understand, can the president tear down anything he wants without oversight? | ||
| Could he demolish this building or say the Jefferson Memorial? | ||
| So it's not the president who came up with that legal opinion himself. | ||
| That's a legal opinion that's been held by the NCPC for many years. | ||
| It's written, so we can get to that background and that research if you wish to include it in your reporting because it is very important. | ||
| They have ruled consistently, their general counsel has said when it comes to phase one of this project, the tearing down of the current East Wing structure, a submission is not required legally for that. | ||
| Only for vertical construction will a submission be required. | ||
| And that's a legal opinion from them. | ||
| And we are following that legal opinion. | ||
| And again, I would just add, can any president do such a thing to the White House grounds? | ||
| There have been many presidents in the past who have made their mark on this beautiful White House complex. | ||
| This briefing room, as you all know, was not once a briefing room. | ||
| It was a swimming pool. | ||
| There have been presidents who have completely torn down the executive mansion. | ||
| If you look at what President Truman did, some of the photos of the construction project that took place in those years, I think sitting here today, we're all grateful for those efforts and the modifications that happened at that time. | ||
| And again, in due time, the East Wing is going to be more beautiful and modern than ever before. | ||
| And in addition, there will be a big, beautiful ballroom that can hold big parties and state visits for generations to come. | ||
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So it sounds like the answer is yes, he can tear down whatever he wants. | |
| And then secondly, I mean, that's not what we're saying. | ||
| That's a legal opinion that's been held for many years. | ||
| No, it's something that presidents have done for years and years. | ||
| In fact, I have some photos here. | ||
| Thank you, Pat, to show you the construction that's taken place on the White House grounds. | ||
| This is the construction of the West Wing in 1902. | ||
| Look at this, the construction of the West Terrace in 1902. | ||
| These images look quite similar to what you and the American people are seeing today, the construction of the East Terrace. | ||
| And that's the construction of the West Wing expansion in 1934. | ||
| So look, this is a legal opinion that's been held for many years. | ||
| Look at, this is 1950. | ||
| It looks a lot like what you were seeing today. | ||
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Can he demolish anything he wants? | |
| What do you think that rubble is? | ||
| How did that rubble get there? | ||
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Right, so I'm asking. | |
| And then back to the journey. | ||
| Go ahead, Richard. | ||
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Many of them are two questions. | |
| It's being reported that the semi-truck driver suspected of killing three people in a DUI crash is an illegal immigrant who came in under the Biden administration. | ||
| Do you know if California gave him a commercial driver's license? | ||
| And then it also appears that California largely has not been cooperating with English proficiency standards. | ||
| I'm wondering if the administration has any further plans to punish the state. | ||
| Yes, I can confirm that California gave this individual a license, and it is something that the Department of Transportation has already looked into. | ||
| I know Secretary Duffy, who's doing a phenomenal job, has spoken on this many times in the crackdown that the Department of Transportation is taking on these licenses that are wrongfully being issued to people who clearly do not deserve to uphold these positions. | ||
| As for this case in California, on October 22nd, ICE lodged an immigration detainer for this individual following his arrest by local authorities in California on charges, as you know, of manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence. | ||
| He killed three people and he first entered the United States in 2022 through the southern border and he was released into our country by the previous administration. | ||
| So now ICE has lodged a separate detainer for this individual and these tragedies are following a disturbing pattern of these criminal illegal aliens being issued commercial vehicle licenses. | ||
| And so yes, the Department of Transportation is absolutely cracking down on that. | ||
| I defer you to them for any specifics. | ||
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Venezuela. | |
| President Trump has said Maduro doesn't want to mess with the United States, and this administration is continuing to position more military assets towards Venezuela. | ||
| I'm wondering if the end goal of this narco-terrorist war is to implement a regime change in Venezuela. | ||
| The president has spoken on that, Reagan, and I certainly won't get ahead of him. | ||
| What we've made very clear is that this administration is not going to tolerate international narco-terrorist organizations from trafficking drugs into the United States. | ||
| And these cartels over time have grown more armed, well-organized, and violent. | ||
| They have financial means, sophistication, and capabilities needed to operate in the way this administration has. | ||
| And they have illegally caused the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year. | ||
| So that's where we are right now with respect to Venezuela, but also any country that is sending purposefully illegal narco-terrorists to the United States of America to bring illegal drugs. | ||
| Why don't we go in the back? | ||
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The U.S. and Colombia relationship right now is at one of its lowest points in decades. | |
| We heard what President Gustal Petro had to say about President Trump. | ||
| We heard yesterday the response from President Trump. | ||
| Is there any kind of compromises or gestures from the Colombian president that President Trump would like to see in order to de-escalate the tensions? | ||
| Is it possible a de-escalation? | ||
| I don't think we're seeing de-escalation from the unhinged leader of Colombia right now, and I don't think the president, frankly, is interested in that at this point. | ||
| He spoke on this yesterday, and I don't have anything to add to his comments. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
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Thank you, Caroline. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden. | ||
| I'm going into the back, sorry. | ||
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In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden patio, is the President looking at any other renovations or significant kind of projects here at the White House? | |
| Not to my knowledge, no. | ||
| But he's a builder at heart, clearly. | ||
| And so his heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. | ||
| But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president's main priority. | ||
| Kristen. | ||
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Last week, President Trump announced that he had a productive call with Vladimir Putin. | |
| They scheduled a meeting in Hungary. | ||
| Since then, he has canceled the meeting and he has imposed sanctions on Russia oil companies. | ||
| Can you talk about what changed that led to this dramatic shift or even just what occurred in the last week that got us from point A to point B? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Look, the President has always maintained that he would implement sanctions on Russia when he felt it was appropriate and necessary. | ||
| And yesterday was that day. | ||
| I think the president has also long expressed his frustration with Vladimir Putin and frankly both sides of this war. | ||
| And he's always said in order to negotiate a good peace deal, both sides need to be interested in a good peace deal. | ||
| And he feels as though, unfortunately, from the Russian side as of late, he has not seen enough interest and enough action in terms of moving the ball forward towards peace. | ||
| And so a meeting between these two leaders is not completely off the table. | ||
| I think the president and the entire administration hopes that one day that can happen again. | ||
| But we want to make sure that there's a tangible positive outcome out of that meeting and that it's a good use of the president's time. | ||
| Of course, he's traveling to Asia next week. | ||
| He has a number of events coming up here on the home front as well. | ||
| He's been incredibly busy, as you all know. | ||
| You're all tired from covering him and his movements every day. | ||
| And so we want to make sure it's a good use of the president's time. | ||
| the president doesn't want to waste his time and he said that. | ||
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The call between the Secretary of State and Lavrov that led President Trump to believe that President Putin or the Russians did not want a beast deal. | |
| That was not the sole reason, no. | ||
| I think the Secretary Rubio felt that was actually a productive call. | ||
| But again, the President wants to make sure that a meeting between himself and President Putin will be a good use of his time. | ||
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What exactly led to President Trump not believing after his call on Thursday, although he said he did think he wanted peace and wanted a peace deal, to believing that Russians were not. | |
| Again, the president wants to see action, not just talk. | ||
| And I think the president is extremely motivated by the success of his peace deal in the Middle East to get things done. | ||
| And he wants this war to come to an end. | ||
| He's been saying it now for nine months being in office. | ||
| And he's grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress from both sides of this war. | ||
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Two quick construction questions, if I can. | |
| You mentioned any construction project comes with changes. | ||
| The president had initially said that this project wouldn't interfere with or touch the current structure. | ||
| Now he says to do this properly, he realized that the East Wing had to be demolished. | ||
| This is the people's house. | ||
| Why not inform the public of that change and when it was decided that the East Wing would have to be demolished? | ||
| Look, again, with any construction project, changes come. | ||
| And we have informed all of you. | ||
| We've been keeping you apprised of this project. | ||
| We've shown you the renderings. | ||
| And if you look at the renderings, it's very clear the East Wing was going to be modernized. | ||
| Instead, in fact, I said that in the briefing when we initially introduced this plan to all of you and to the public. | ||
| The East Road. | ||
| Well, again, the president, the plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we're now in was necessary. | ||
| And the president wants to do right by the people's house. | ||
| And so that's exactly what he's doing. | ||
| It's going to be, again, like I said, much more stable, strong, secure, and more beautiful than ever once it's complete. | ||
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Where will those be? | |
| The first lady's offices, the social secretary, they will be back where they were. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Caroline. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Cattle ranchers who supported the president's election have raised some concerns about plans to import meat from Argentina. | ||
| How will the Trump administration support those farmers? | ||
| Look, the president hears those concerns. | ||
| He addressed them yesterday himself. | ||
| President loves our ranchers, and our ranchers love our president. | ||
| And in fact, the president did a lot for them in his first term here. | ||
| They are struggling because of the many horrible policies of the previous administration. | ||
| President loves our ranchers and he also loves American consumers and he wants to do right by both. | ||
| So the immediate solution to the problem of the rising cost of beef, the president wants to bring that down as we have to increase our supply. | ||
| And so that's what he's doing with respect to these imports. | ||
| The president also is looking out for our ranchers with a long-term plan that was released by the Secretary of Agriculture yesterday. | ||
| It's a three-part plan. | ||
| It's very extensive and detailed. | ||
| I would encourage all of you to read through it. | ||
| But there's really three points to this plan that the president has agreed upon and has entrusted Secretary Rollins to implement. | ||
| Number one, strengthening U.S. cattle production through increased grazing access, endangered species reforms, enhanced disaster relief, increased access to capital, and reducing costs for new and young ranchers. | ||
| We want to incentivize more Americans to get into this noble profession. | ||
| Lowering long-term costs by cutting inspection costs, increasing market options for consumers with product of USA labeling and ensuring consumers know that they are eating American beef. | ||
| It's a good incentive for the American consumer. | ||
| And lastly, growing the domestic herd while boosting long-term demand to reduce prices for consumers while growing the markets for our ranchers. | ||
| So the president hears them. | ||
| He has to address both of these problems for the ranchers, but also for the American consumer. | ||
| He promised to lower costs and that's what he's committed to doing. | ||
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Caroline. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Two questions not on the ballroom. | ||
| The first is: there's a Democrat in Texas who's actually running for Congress who said last night during an interview when talking about fighting Republicans and this administration, quote, if you hit me in my face, I'm not going to punch you back in your face. | ||
| I'm going to go across your neck. | ||
| This has obviously really upset those folks over at Turning Point USA after the Charlie Kirk assassination. | ||
| Just your response to that kind of rhetoric. | ||
| Very jarring rhetoric, and I think it's very unacceptable. | ||
| I hope the people of Texas will do the right thing and reject this person's candidacy. | ||
| It should have no place in American politics. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then just a quick second question on oversight Democrats that are saying that they're creating this master ICE tracker, basically tracking all ICE activity. | |
| We've seen the protests in New York just yesterday. | ||
| Homeland Security is saying that this sounds like obstruction of justice. | ||
| What do you say? | ||
| Again, this is actively putting the lives of our ICE agents at risk. | ||
| We've seen media outlets, in fact, in this room also write stories about ICE tracker apps that Democrats and other left-wing activists have created to track the location of ICE agents on the ground in our communities. | ||
| Again, I've said this repeatedly and I will continue to say it. | ||
| The men and women of ICE are outstanding people. | ||
| I wish a Democrat on Capitol Hill would actually have the courage or the guts to stand up to their party and sit down with some of these men and women who are doing this incredibly difficult job of enforcing our federal immigration laws. | ||
| They are, again, simply trying to enforce the law and do their jobs. | ||
| And if Democrats spent a little bit more time understanding that and also focusing on the people who they are trying to get out of our country every single day. | ||
| As I spoke about earlier, three innocent people in California are dead because an illegal alien who Democrats led into this country was wrongfully issued a trucker's driving license and clearly was not fit for the job because he was driving intoxicated and killed three innocent people. | ||
| Democrats should focus a little bit more on that. | ||
| Stop trying to fight this president and this administration on every turn and restore law and order. | ||
| That's all that we and these brave men and women of ICE are trying to do. | ||
| Mary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| I have two questions, one on San Francisco and one on the note. | ||
| Thanks, protesters. | ||
| On San Francisco, the president said that he had a poll with the mayor and he was planning on surging there, but now because the mayor really wants to fix it up himself, they're going to do that. | ||
| Is this what Trump hopes happens in pretty much every city? | ||
| The president hopes, and I've said this so many times, and I think the president's conversation with the San Francisco mayor last night and his statement today prove the president is willing to work with anyone across the aisle, across the country, to do the right thing and clean up America's cities. | ||
| He is genuinely interested in this effort to make our streets safer, to make our cities safe and clean again. | ||
| And he heard from the mayor last night who told him that he is going to earnestly try to make his city better on his own. | ||
| The president heard him out. | ||
| He said, Okay, I'll give you a chance. | ||
| We'll be watching, and if you need us, we are here. | ||
| And if I feel as though you continue to fail your citizens, the federal government may have to step in. | ||
| But we'll continue to watch San Francisco, and that law enforcement operation has now been paused. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| And then on the No Kings protesters, I saw videos of people explicitly calling for violence against Stephen Miller, against the president, shirt saying we don't have enough assassins, calling for more political violence. | ||
| Does the president want to see arrests here? | ||
| And are we going to see arrests of these types of explicit calls to violence? | ||
| I would think myself, the president, and everyone here at the White House certainly hopes that anyone who is making violent and illegal threats in that way against public officials will be arrested and prosecuted. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Two questions. | ||
| Will the president support the Senate ending the legislative filibuster to end the shutdown? | ||
| This is something I haven't heard the president talk about much, so I don't want to speak on him for it. | ||
| I'll let him answer that question himself. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can you have an update on the NASA administrator nominee? | |
| Do you plan to nominate anyone soon? | ||
| Or does the president nominate anyone? | ||
| I'll leave that to the president himself. | ||
| He'll make a decision in due time, and when he does, you will hear directly from him as you always do. | ||
| We'll give our friends in the back a chance. | ||
| Yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
As you mentioned at the top of the briefing, USDA has warned that it will run out of funds to pay full SNAP benefits next month if the shutdown continues. | |
| Senator Hawley is floating a bill that would ensure SNAP benefits are continued to pay during the shutdown. | ||
| Would the president support such a move? | ||
| And you also announced that the administration was using tariff revenue to keep WIT going during the shutdown. | ||
| How long will that last? | ||
| And is anything similar being considered for SNAP? | ||
| Yes, the administration would absolutely support that legislation. | ||
| We hope that it would come over the finish line. | ||
| But the bill that will get everyone paid and put everyone back to work is the clean, continuing resolution. | ||
| That's what the president and Republicans want to see. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ed, go ahead, Ed. | |
| Thanks, Carol. | ||
| On the Russian sanctions again, how much pressure do you think the sanctioning these two Russian companies actually puts on President Putin? | ||
| Because the last administration sanctioned two other oil companies. | ||
| So how much economic pressure is this really? | ||
| A lot. | ||
| If you read the sanctions and look at them, they're pretty hefty. | ||
| And I saw some international news out of China this morning that they're scaling back oil purchases from Russia. | ||
| We know India has done the same at the request of the president. | ||
| The president has also pushed European countries, our allies, to please stop their purchases of Russian oil as well. | ||
| So it's full court press for sure, and we expect that these sanctions are going to do harm, as the Secretary of Treasury said yesterday. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Is this just the first step, or could there be more sanctions? | |
| I'll leave that to the president to decide. | ||
| Sure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You've seen the video or heard the NBA gambling involved in the gambling issue there. | |
| Does the president gamble? | ||
| What does he think about that? | ||
| You know? | ||
| I'm not sure. | ||
| I don't think he does. | ||
| I've been with him quite some time and I have not seen him gamble before. | ||
| I don't think he's a big gambler, but you can ask him yourself the next time you have a chance to end. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thank you, Carolyn. | ||
| Hi, Jake, and then we'll go to you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Two quick questions. | ||
| Back to the ballroom. | ||
| It is a very spectacular ballroom, according to the renderings. | ||
| And if it's half as nice as the one in Mar-a-Laughla, then future presidents are really going to appreciate it. | ||
| They will. | ||
| First of all, is there like an official name? | ||
| Like, are we calling it the Trump Ballroom, or does the President have a vision for what the name for the ballroom is going to be? | ||
| There will be an official name. | ||
| I will let the president announce that once he firmly decides on it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
My second question is: you know, looking at these renderings, and it kind of got me thinking, he's likely going to go down as the greatest builder of this era. | |
| And you've been in on a lot of those meetings with him. | ||
| Has, to your knowledge, has the subject of rebuilding the Holy Temple in Jerusalem come up? | ||
| It has not. | ||
| No. | ||
| It has not. | ||
| I don't. | ||
| I'm sorry. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Caroline. | ||
| On the CC pardon, could this clear the way for finance to resume U.S. operations? | ||
| I won't get ahead of that. | ||
| That's something for Treasury or the Departments of Commerce to comment on, so you're welcome to ask them. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then one follow-up question: any more details on the president's Walter Reed visit? | |
| The readout from his doctor mentioned advanced imaging. | ||
| What procedure was he referring to? | ||
| Advanced imaging is something that presidents receive and people receive when they go to the doctor. | ||
| And so we provide a detailed readout of that physical, and I would encourage you back to that. | ||
| President, I don't know the exact imaging that took place, but as the physician's note said, the president is in incredibly good shape, and I think that's evidenced here every single day. | ||
| Danny. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| Back to the ballroom, I'm afraid. | ||
| I just wanted to ask, because in July, the White House said that it would cost 200 million. | ||
| Yesterday, the president said 300 million. | ||
| Is 300 million now the operative figure? | ||
| And why did it go up by so much? | ||
| 300 million is the figure. | ||
| And again, it's not going to cost the taxpayers a dime. | ||
| So we look forward to this project continuing and we will continue to keep everyone apprised on it. | ||
| Perhaps the president will even bring you all out to see it one day at the appropriate time. | ||
| You're also going to hear from the president directly in about an hour. | ||
| He's hosting an event with the Homeland Security Task Force. | ||
| This was a newly created federal task force that the president and his law enforcement team have put together. | ||
| I would encourage you all to tune in to the remarks. | ||
| They have really done a tremendous job at refocusing how federal law enforcement and local law enforcement work together. | ||
| There will be some local sheriffs and law enforcement officials in attendance as well, and they'll be talking about the success and the many arrests they have made of drug traffickers and cartel members all across the country by just simply working together. | ||
| So we will see you at the event. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| I was lightning before the thunder Thunder, thunder Lightning and the thunder Thunder, feel the thunder Who do you think you are? | ||
| Dreaming about being a big star. | ||
| It's the Benny show where the truth's gonna be. | ||
| Faith and freedom on your TV screen. | ||
| Stand up strong, battle through the night. | ||
| The Benny shows here, bringing liberty to light. | ||
| From the speeches to the baits, Benny's sharp like a blade. | ||
| Cover through the lies, watch the truth cascade. | ||
| With the warriors' heart, this man never fades. | ||
| You know it's primetime when Benny invades. | ||
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| Stay in the loop, let freedom take hold. | ||
| Salting all the lips, soul never sold. | ||
| It's the benny show where the truth gon' be. | ||
| Faith and freedom on your TV screen. | ||
| Stand up strong, battle through the night. | ||
| The Benny shows here, bringing liberty to life. | ||
| Liberty to light. | ||
| Bringing liberty to light. | ||
| Liberty to light. | ||
| Bringing liberty to light. | ||
| From the speeches to the baits, Benny sharp like a blade. | ||
| Cutting through the lies, watch the truth cascade. | ||
| With the warrior's heart, this man never fades. | ||
| You know it's primetime when Benny invades. | ||
| From saving the nation to stories untold. | ||
| The Benny shows a storm, see the truth unfold. | ||
| Stay in the loop, let freedom take hold. | ||
| Salting all the lips, soul never sold. | ||
| It's the benny show where the truth gon' be. | ||
| Faith and freedom on your TV screen. | ||
| Stand up strong, battle through the night. | ||
| The Benny shows here, bringing liberty to light. | ||
| Bringing liberty to light. |
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