Nov. 20, 2025 - The Benny Show - Benny Johnson
55:05
Participants
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| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Todd and Carly, good morning. | ||
| The bill is signed, but the battle over these documents may rage on. | ||
| President Trump, as promised, did sign the Epstein bill into law last night, accusing Democrats of sitting on these files for years. | ||
| This is what he posted on Truth Social. | ||
| Do not forget the Biden administration did not turn over a single file or page related to Democrat Epstein, nor did they ever even speak about him. | ||
| Democrats have used the Epstein issue, which affects them far more than the Republican Party, in order to try to distract from our amazing victories. | ||
| Attorney General Pam Bondi, meantime, and her Justice Department have 30 days now to comply, although some documents may be redacted and others may be withheld, citing ongoing investigations. | ||
| We have released 33,000, over 33,000 Epstein documents to the Hill, and we'll continue to follow the law and to have maximum transparency. | ||
| Also, we will always encourage all victims to come forward. | ||
| Now, Epstein, accused of sex trafficking and abusing children before his death, knew plenty of high-profile Democrats and Republicans. | ||
| And the congressional delegate from the Virgin Islands, Democrat Stacey Plaskett, you see her there, defended herself after it was revealed that she was texting with Epstein during a congressional hearing back in 2019. | ||
| I believe that Jeffrey Epstein had information, and I was going to get information to get it the truth. | ||
| Having a regrets. | ||
| A friendship with him is not something that I would deem to have. | ||
| And so I'm just looking forward. | ||
| I'm moving forward. | ||
| And I think that that's what we as American people should do is move forward. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So no regrets, basically, is what you're saying. | |
| I'm moving forward. | ||
| Moving forward, an effort in the House to censure her over those texts failed, though, largely along party lines. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Not a yes, sir. | |
| Not a follower. | ||
| Fit the box with the mold. | ||
| Have a seat. | ||
| Oh, yeah. | ||
| Took a number. | ||
| I was lightning before the thunder. Thunder, thunder. Lightning and the thunder. | ||
| That's not good. | ||
| That was like my worst class in college. | ||
| No way! | ||
| I could not take a picture. | ||
| Oh my gosh. | ||
| It was bad. | ||
| It was really bad. | ||
|
unidentified
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They were like, Don't do this. | |
| I had Jan Carl in my classroom where Jan who wanted access to all your soldiers in fact. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| That's what this is. | ||
| Good afternoon, everybody. | ||
| I brought a very special guest with me today, as you can see, Secretary McMahon. | ||
| So I will begin my remarks. | ||
| She's going to speak, and then we'll take some questions. | ||
| She'll take questions and I'll take questions from you as well. | ||
| First off, yesterday, First Lady Melania Trump and Second Lady Usha Vance traveled to Marine Corps Air Station New River in Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where they spent the day meeting with students, educators, military families, and United States Marines. | ||
| Both the First Lady and Second Lady were grateful for the warm welcome and remain deeply committed to supporting military families and the communities that serve our great nation. | ||
| May God bless all of them. | ||
| In economic news, the September jobs report showed the American economy remains strong, with 119,000 new jobs added, more than double expectations. | ||
| These gains came after the summer passage of President Trump's historic tax cuts and multiple big trade deals with countries around the world. | ||
| In particular, construction jobs surged by 19,000 in September, the largest monthly gain in a year. | ||
| Nearly all of this solid monthly job growth came from the private sector and went to Americans rather than foreign-born workers, the opposite of what we saw under the previous administration. | ||
| Inflation also remains under control, and wages are up by 3.8% over the year for American workers because of President Trump's pro-growth policies. | ||
| In fact, real wages are on pace to increase roughly $1,200 for the average worker this year under President Trump. | ||
| This is a complete reversal of the failed Biden era when we saw inflation skyrocket to 9%, causing private sector workers to see their wages decline by approximately $3,000. | ||
| We know that Americans are still hurting from the four-decade-high inflation caused by Joe Biden and the Democrats. | ||
| But President Trump is making significant progress to fix this, and he will not stop working until he solves it. | ||
| As the President recently stated, he is never satisfied. | ||
| For example, President Trump's policies are working to make Americans' Thanksgiving more affordable this year, from their commute to the dinner table. | ||
| Nearly 100 million Americans are expected to drive next week to spend time with loved ones for the holiday. | ||
| And thanks to President Trump's Drill Baby Drill agenda, the national average price of a gallon of gas on Thanksgiving Day is projected to be at the cheapest price since the COVID pandemic in 2021. | ||
| President Trump is bringing down gas prices and providing significant savings to American families at the pump. | ||
| And again, we expect those prices to continue to decline. | ||
| According to the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual survey, cooking Thanksgiving dinner will also cost less this year than it did last year and is down about 5% overall. | ||
| The average price for a staple of the meal, a 16-pound frozen turkey, is down more than 16% from last year, which will provide critical savings for families and their budgets. | ||
| President Trump's entire economic agenda is aimed at putting more money back into the pockets of hardworking Americans. | ||
| That's why he signed the largest middle tax class tax cuts in history into law, from no tax on overtime, no tax on tips, to no tax on Social Security. | ||
| And according to a new study from Piper Sandler, which is out this week, tax filers can expect an extra $1,000 bump to their tax refund next year and what could be a record-breaking tax refund season. | ||
| So there is more good news to come. | ||
| We know these refunds will make a huge difference for Americans to help pay down their bills and use towards life's expenses. | ||
| In other news this week, President Trump took a significant step toward delivering on a core campaign promise to finally close the Department of Education. | ||
| To shrink the bloated federal bureaucracy, the Department of Education just entered into new interagency agreements with four agencies, the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State. | ||
| These agencies will now ensure the delivery of legally required programs while also refocusing them to better serve students. | ||
| This common sense action brings the Trump administration much closer to finally returning education where it belongs at the state and local level, not in Washington, D.C. | ||
| The Democrats' reckless 43-day government shutdown did manage to do one valuable thing. | ||
| It proved that America does not need a federal Department of Education. | ||
| During the longest shutdown in history, the Department of Education furloughed 90% of its staff, and America's education system was not impacted whatsoever. | ||
| Schools stayed fully open across the country. | ||
| Students attended class and received normal in-person instruction. | ||
| And our wonderful teachers received their paychecks uninterrupted. | ||
| The Democrats' government shutdown made it painfully obvious that American families do not need the Department of Education. | ||
| Since its creation in 1979 during the Carter administration, the Department of Ed has spent over $3 trillion taxpayer dollars without improving student achievement. | ||
| Despite peer pupil spending having increased by more than 245% since the 1970s, math and reading scores are down in public schools. | ||
| In fact, the most recent nation's report card from 2024 showed that 13-year-olds' math scores are the lowest they've been in decades, and their reading scores are the lowest since testing began more than 30 years ago. | ||
| It's clear that throwing more money at a broken system does not work. | ||
| And that's why President Trump appointed the amazing leader behind me, our Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, who is making these monumental changes at the direction of the president. | ||
| We're very grateful to have you here today to talk about these changes and then take some questions. | ||
| Hopefully, folks in this room will have some questions on the very important topic of education. | ||
| So please, Mr. Secretary. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you much, Caroline. | ||
| It's really a pleasure to be here with you today and thank all of you for being here as well. | ||
| My purpose here is to speak directly to the American families, not just you, but to the American families, about the work this administration is doing in education to reverse our national decline with a hard reset of our educational system. | ||
| That reset was a top campaign promise from President Trump to send education back to the states and end Washington's micromanagement of education once and for all. | ||
| This week, we took the most decisive steps thus far to make good on this promise to you. | ||
| We have linked six groundbreaking partnerships with other federal agencies to delegate education department programs that are redundant with existing programs at labor, state, interior, and HHS. | ||
| These interagency agreements to cut our own bureaucratic bloat are a key step in our efforts to shift educational authority from Washington, D.C. to your state education agency, your local superintendent, your local school board, entities that are accountable to you, and we encourage parents to always be involved. | ||
| Cutting federal bureaucracy is never a popular move among DC insiders. | ||
| A chorus of anti-Trump voices have come out of the woodwork to complain that we are defunding education, harming students, or acting without a plan. | ||
| This could not be further from the truth. | ||
| The majority of Americans across the country handed President Trump the popular vote precisely because they have seen the brokenness of a top-down education system run by the federal government. | ||
| They're painfully aware that only three out of ten students can read proficiently at their grade level. | ||
| They know that college students are collectively $1.7 trillion in debt, and less than half of college graduates get a job that actually uses the degree which they studied so hard to get. | ||
| They see more teachers than ever before leaving the profession due to burnout, over-regulation, and lack of autonomy in the classroom. | ||
| Anti-Trump voices are stirring up fear that returning education to the states is a draconian action. | ||
| When Americans hear that we are shutting down the department, but given no other details, 51% oppose it. | ||
| But when those same Americans are informed of our plans to preserve important elements of our work and other federal agencies and to maintain the K-212 funding that is distributed to the states, that number flips to an even greater majority at 56%. | ||
| They support returning education to the states and breaking up the bureaucracy. | ||
| That's because the Department of Education is a pass-through entity. | ||
| It doesn't educate a single student. | ||
| The money it sends to states for education can be sent directly without waste. | ||
| The Democrats' government shutdown proved that without a doubt, now I'll reiterate what you said, that the Department of Education was not necessary during the shutdown. | ||
| Now, this is what I've seen already on my 50-state tour that I've embarked on. | ||
| Educators are innovating in their schools. | ||
| States are customizing their budgets and standards, and post-secondary institutions are planning for the economy of the future. | ||
| We're not leading them. | ||
| They are informing us. | ||
| That's why our final mission as a department is to fully empower states to carry the torch of our educational renaissance. | ||
| Education is local. | ||
| It should be overseen locally by those who best know local needs. | ||
| We're not ending federal support for education. | ||
| We are ending federal micromanagement and paving the way for education renewal through state reforms like school choice, the science of reading, and restoring the right priorities in higher education. | ||
| President Trump promised to send education back to the states, and we're keeping that promise. | ||
| America's next generation will look back on the work we've carried out, thankful for an education system that prioritizes students over bureaucracy. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Well, thank you very much, Madam Secretary, and we'll take some questions for the Secretary if you have them. | ||
| Elizabeth, why don't you start? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for joining us. | |
| You announced the partnership to move some functions of the education department to other agencies. | ||
| Are you talking to members of Congress about codifying this so that it lasts beyond the administration? | ||
| Yes, we started our conversation, and thanks very much for asking that because there have been some reports that Congress is in the dark on this. | ||
| That's clearly not true. | ||
| We've been talking to, probably I've talked to dozens of members of Congress to explain to them exactly what we're doing, to bring them up to speed, and to say to them, look, when we have completed some of these transfers that are working incredibly well, then we will be looking to Congress to codify those. | ||
| Make them permanent. | ||
| Brian. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Secretary McMahon. | |
| What is the update on the negotiations with Harvard? | ||
| I know the President has publicly pointed to you as somebody who's worked on that. | ||
| I think you've talked about that at length, but I'd like to understand where are things with those negotiations with Harvard at this time. | ||
| They're ongoing negotiations, and I feel very comfortable that we are getting close to having those negotiations finalized. | ||
| It's been an open-door conversation all along. | ||
| Deanna? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, Mr. Secretary. | |
| The President recently posted about establishing a federal standard for AI. | ||
| Do you know if the administration has a view on the use of AI for students in schools? | ||
| And Caroline, do you know if the president personally uses AI? | ||
| I think so. | ||
| You can handle it. | ||
| I've never witnessed it, so I can't attest to that. | ||
| Well, I do think AI is going to need guardrails, but I have witnessed AI firsthand. | ||
| I was at the Alpha School in Austin, Texas, and the first two hours of every day in that school, students are learning through AI. | ||
| They have their headsets on, they're in front of their screens, and the AI is really acting as like an individual tutor for those students, allowing those students that can progress faster to do that. | ||
| Those who need a little catch-up, it refeeds information to them. | ||
| And so after those two hours of learning, you know, the basics of what they're doing in their curriculum that day, then they spend the rest of the day, I mean, they have good recess and all of that time, but then they spend the rest of the day in what are called life skills, and they're actually using the information that they've learned this morning. | ||
| So I've seen some AI in action that is really proven quite beneficial. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Michael. | |
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Secretary McMahon, as the Education Department continues to pare down, can you talk about taxpayer services like charter school grants and how the department will continue to assist kids with special needs? | ||
| Well, we are going to make sure that there is no interruption in getting that grant money out the door. | ||
| I mean, you know, that money is it comes from Congress, it's appropriated by Congress, and we legally are obligated to do that. | ||
| And the transitions we're starting to make, our first programs that went over to the Department of Labor, that was a few weeks ago. | ||
| We actually signed the first interagency agreement, which we accomplished under the authority of the Economy Act. | ||
| We transferred grants for WIOA and for the Perkins Act. | ||
| And the really good news is that the Department of Labor has a much more sophisticated system, technology system, and grant and grant fulfilling system than the Department of Education does. | ||
| As a matter of fact, our executive manager that went over with that group over to labor said he would compare what the labor system is to education's educations like held together by bubblegum that is not connected to any other part. | ||
| So we were able to get those grants out the door more smoothly and states have actually better access for those systems than they do at the Department of Education. | ||
| So that's a real bonus. | ||
| Take a couple more. | ||
| Carrie, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
As far as the diversity, equity, and inclusion new regulations that came out from the administration, a lot of schools, whether high school or even higher education is concerned, some of them are defying these new administration policies, even apparently according to a new report. | |
| I'm sorry, I can't hear you, but there's been a new report from the administration saying that half of medical schools are defying the administration when it comes to DEI policies. | ||
| What type of action will the administration take for these schools that are defined through the DEI policies? | ||
| Well, certainly the president has been very clear, and the Department of Education has taken measures to make sure that as schools are developing their policies or if they have open DEI offices, they're closed or DEI regulations and rules are stripped from their programs. | ||
| And so that will continue. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Great. | |
| We'll take one more. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Secretary McMahon, my question is, since you said three out of ten students are literate with regard to their reading capacity, would now the states help to improve those numbers since you have gone back to the states? | ||
| Well, what we are finding that the states that are making great progress, it's through their own innovation. | ||
| It's not coming from the Department of Education. | ||
| I think the Department of Education has really misunderstood about what our function is. | ||
| We don't teach one student. | ||
| We have nothing to do with the curriculum that are in any states. | ||
| We are a pass-through pathway from money that's appropriated by Congress to get to the states. | ||
| But what we have seen in those states that have taken that initiative and they are embracing the science of reading and returning that into their school programs, Louisiana has done it. | ||
| Mississippi, they call it the Mississippi Miracle, because they were like, I think bottom or next to last in reading proficiency in Mississippi. | ||
| And now they're like middle of the pack, which has been a really big jump. | ||
| Florida has, Iowa has, Tennessee. | ||
| So, but these are innovations that are done at the state level. | ||
| This is not anything we're dictating. | ||
| And that's why I'm saying returning education to the states, where they really are already leading in their education endeavors. | ||
| And 90% of their budget, they provide. | ||
| The federal government only provides 8 to 10% of the budget for education. | ||
| So let's make sure that that grant money that's coming from the federal government is getting in their hands as efficiently as possible and getting to students. | ||
| We don't want teachers having to spend their time and money in regulatory compliance. | ||
| There was one superintendent chief who said to me that they had done some calculation in their state and that for every dollar that went into the classroom in a grant, 47 cents was spent in regulatory compliance. | ||
| So let's get the money into the hands of our students and our teachers. | ||
| Let's raise the level of education. | ||
| The other thing I'll do, and I'll quickly wrap up for you, is this 50-state tour that I have embarked on. | ||
| We've done about 14 states. | ||
| We shut down a little bit during the shutdown. | ||
| But what I am doing is visiting different kinds of schools, grammar schools, middle schools, high schools, micro schools, private schools, charter schools, the whole gambit. | ||
| And in the end, my goal will be as we step away and fully deliver education back to the states is to provide them with a best practices toolkit of all of the things that I have seen around the country to say, hey, this is working. | ||
| Check with these superintendents, check with these governors. | ||
| And you know what I found a little bit is governors are a little competitive. | ||
| So it's kind of nice to give some of these best practices out there. | ||
| It'll work because it's already working. | ||
| If we leave it with the people who are closest to the students, the president believes, as do I, the best education is that that's closest to the child. | ||
| And parents' involvement is critical to the success. | ||
| Awesome. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much. | |
| Thank you so much. | ||
| I appreciate your comment. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| Thanks for your great work. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And she's all very much a busy lady, so we'll let her get back to work. | |
| All right. | ||
| Thank you again. | ||
| Well, let's get to it. | ||
| You guys were so calm with her. | ||
| I wish you were that calm with me. | ||
| We'll kick off with our new media seat. | ||
| As always, Javier, why don't you start us off and then we'll get to the rest of the room? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thank you very much. | ||
| My name is Javier Negre. | ||
| I'm from Spain. | ||
| I'm the owner of the biggest media platform in Spanish politics with brands like La Rechariago Ida TV or UH Plus or Visigra in Spanish. | ||
| And I'm happy to be here. | ||
| Thanks for supporting the new media also in the Spanish community. | ||
| We try to fight against medias like Telemundo, Invision, CNN, or NBC News that are spreading fake news and attacking the ICE operations. | ||
| We will premiere this Sunday the Real America's Voice, the Rainy Show, the first Spanish show against communism and war culture that is promoted by people like George Soros to bring communism all over the world that happened in New York. | ||
| I have two questions for you, if you don't mind. | ||
| In Mexico, the young people is protesting against President Shambaum. | ||
| They think she's doing nothing against the cartels. | ||
| Shaman used the police to attack them, junk people, kids, girls, and she's attacking journalists like me in a country where 150 journalists have been killed in the past years. | ||
| The USA legacy media is attacking President Trump for his comments about the fake news media while they are not publishing anything about the murders journalists in Mexico. | ||
| Why do you think they stay silent about the murders of journalists in Mexico and the attacks in businessmen like Ricardo Salinas? | ||
| And my second question is: Trump said he has a plan for the Narco State of Venezuela. | ||
| Does he have a plan for Mexico where, according to Stephen Miller, the cartels are controlling governments and territories? | ||
| Well, thank you, Javier, for the question, and thank you again for being here. | ||
| We're proud to have new media voices in the briefing room. | ||
| As for President Scheinbaum and the president's relationship with Mexico, I will tell you that we have seen historic strides from President Scheinbaum and her administration in Mexico when it comes to cracking down on the cartels. | ||
| They have been incredibly cooperative with the president's efforts at our southern border to crack down on illegal immigration and also the illegal trafficking of drugs at the southern border. | ||
| Now, the president is very interested in taking additional measures against the drug cartels. | ||
| He's been very clear about that. | ||
| He's spoken about it. | ||
| And this is a promise that he made to the American public. | ||
| And so his national security team is discussing these options all of the time. | ||
| And on the campaign show, the president promised to take on the cartels. | ||
| He has taken unprecedented action to do so. | ||
| And he has left additional options at his disposal on the table. | ||
| So those are only decisions that the president can make. | ||
| of the legacy media about the murders of journalists. | ||
| In Mexico, 150 journalists have been killed in the past years. | ||
| Yeah, well, it's certainly something I wish the media would report on more, and it's something that this administration absolutely condemns. | ||
| I can't speak for the media, but I can't speak for the president. | ||
| That's not something he wants to see. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Sure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| Is there anything that Mayor Elect Bamdami could say tomorrow that would ease the president's concerns about his future leadership in the Arctic? | ||
| Look, I don't want to speak for the president or get ahead of this meeting that we are currently working on tomorrow for tomorrow. | ||
| As you saw, the president put out a statement tomorrow that the mayor-elect will be coming to the Oval Office, and so our teams are arranging those details. | ||
| I won't get into the president's thinking on it. | ||
| I think you'll all hear from him directly. | ||
| I also think I will just add: it speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House because that's who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country. | ||
| I think it's very telling, but I also think it speaks to the fact that President Trump is willing to meet with anyone and talk to anyone and to try to do what's right on behalf of the American people, whether they live in blue states or red states or blue cities in a city that's becoming much more left than I think this president ever anticipated in his many years of living in New York himself. | ||
| Nancy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| This morning, President Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of seditious behavior punishable by death. | ||
| Just to be clear, does the president want to execute members of Congress? | ||
| No. | ||
| Let's be clear about what the president is responding to, because many in this room want to talk about the president's response, but not what brought the president to responding in this way. | ||
| You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military, to active duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president's lawful orders. | ||
| The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command. | ||
| And if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed. | ||
| It can lead to chaos. | ||
| And that's what these members of Congress who swore an oath to abide by the Constitution are essentially encouraging. | ||
| We have 1.3 active duty service members in this country. | ||
| And if they hear this radical message from sitting members of Congress, that could inspire chaos and it could incite violence and it certainly could disrupt the chain of command. | ||
| These three members of Congress, I will also add, knew exactly what they were doing. | ||
| You look at Alyssa Slotkin. | ||
| She's a former member of the CIA. | ||
| Mark Kelly was a captain in the U.S. Navy. | ||
| Maggie Goodlander was a naval officer. | ||
| And notably, she was also, she is also the wife of Joe Biden's national security former advisor, Jake Sullivan. | ||
| And so these members knew what they were doing. | ||
| They were leading into their credentials as former members of our military, as veterans, as former members of the national security apparatus to signal to people serving under this commander-in-chief, Donald Trump, that you can defy him and you can betray your oath of office. | ||
| That is a very, very dangerous message, and it perhaps is punishable by law. | ||
| I'm not a lawyer. | ||
| I'll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But the president has frequently, but Caroline, how just follow up, the president and the vice president, for that matter, have accused the other side of encouraging political violence. | |
| Isn't that exactly what the president is doing when he says that members of Congress should be killed? | ||
| Why aren't you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence? | ||
| They are literally saying to 1.3 million active duty service members not to defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Every single order, which is not a problem. | |
| But they're suggesting, Nancy, that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not. | ||
| Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander-in-chief and through this chain of command, through the Secretary of War, is lawful. | ||
| And the courts have proven that. | ||
| This administration has an unparalleled record at the Supreme Court because we are following the laws. | ||
| We don't defy court orders. | ||
| We do things by the books. | ||
| And to suggest and encourage that active duty service members defy the chain of command is a very dangerous thing for sitting members of Congress to do. | ||
| And they should be held accountable. | ||
| And that's what the president wants to see. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Phil. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Ambassador Mike Huckabee had a meeting with Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. citizen who was convicted and spent three decades in jail for selling state secrets to Israel. | ||
| Did the White House know that that meeting was going to happen? | ||
| Does the administration condone it? | ||
| The White House was not aware of that meeting, but the president stands by our Ambassador Mike Huckabee and all that he's doing for the United States and Israel. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You said that the president was going to do what was right for U.S. citizens, regardless of whether they lived in blue or red states. | |
| I'm curious if there's any chance in tomorrow's meeting with Mayor-elect Mamdani that he will be able to convince the president to abandon that promise to cut off federal funding to New York City. | ||
| Look, Phil, we'll see how the meeting goes tomorrow, and I'll let the president speak for himself. | ||
| Natalie. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| What did the president mean when he called Reporter Phoebe? | ||
| Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room. | ||
| You've all seen it yourself. | ||
| You've all experienced it yourselves. | ||
| And I think it's one of the many reasons that the American people re-elected this president because of his frankness. | ||
| And he calls out fake news when he sees it. | ||
| He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration. | ||
| But he also is the most transparent president in history. | ||
| And he gives all of you in this room, as you all know, unprecedented access. | ||
| You are in the Oval Office almost every day asking the president questions. | ||
| And so, I think the president being frank and open and honest to your faces rather than hiding behind your backs is frankly a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration, where you had a president who lied to your face and then didn't speak to you for weeks and hid upstairs and didn't take your questions. | ||
| So I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness that the administration is now sending a U.S. official to the G20. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They are sending Mark Dillard. | |
| Can you just confirm if that is true and then also explain the shift? | ||
| I'd be happy to explain because there is not a shift. | ||
| The United States is not participating in official talks at the G20 in South Africa. | ||
| I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States earlier today, and that language is not appreciated by the president or his team. | ||
| The ambassador or the representative of the embassy in South Africa is simply there to recognize that the United States will be the host of the G20. | ||
| They are receiving that send-off at the end of the event. | ||
| They are not there to participate in official talks despite what the South African president is falsely claiming. | ||
| On Ukraine, they're there to recognize that the United States will be the host of the G20. | ||
| They are receiving that send-off at the end of the event. | ||
| They are not there to participate in official talks despite what the South African president is falsely claiming. | ||
|
unidentified
|
There have been reports that President Zelensky said, you know, he's looking to look at the plan. | |
| There's been reports about the Trump administration proposing the plan. | ||
| Can you just give an update on where Russia-Ukraine stands? | ||
| And does the president submit Ukraine alike for their refusal to commit to a peace agreement? | ||
| But nevertheless, the president and his national security team are steadfast in seeing this war come to an end to end the killing and deliver on the president's promise. | ||
| Special Envoy Witkoff, that Marco Rubio have been working on a plan quietly for about the last month. | ||
| They've been engaging with both sides, Russia and Ukraine, equally, to understand one, deliver on the president's promise. | ||
| Special Envoy Witkoff, that Marco Rubio have been working on a plan quietly for about the last month. | ||
| They've been engaging with both sides, Russia and Ukraine, right? | ||
| That's how it worked with Israel with respect to Israel and Gaza and all of the Arab countries in the Middle East. | ||
| That's how we accomplished that historic agreement, which the UN, by the way, voted to commit to and accept this week, which was a huge monumental moment. | ||
| So they have been engaged with both sides and these talks are continuing. | ||
| As always, I'm not going to litigate hard to get it done. | ||
| And I'll also add: I know Secretary Driscoll did meet with President Zelensky today. | ||
| We spoke with him. | ||
| He was very optimistic following that meeting. | ||
| And so, again, we are having good conversations with both sides with respect to ending this war. | ||
| Carolyn? | ||
| Sure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| You said this is a good plan. | ||
| So, according to our sources, this proposal demands major concessions from Ukraine and doesn't demand much from Russia. | ||
| So, was Russia? | ||
| Your understanding is wrong. | ||
| Have you read the full plan? | ||
| You haven't. | ||
| So, if you can give details, you've read reporting from one side of the war. | ||
| And so I want you to understand that the administration has talked equally with both sides. | ||
| You have seen President Trump engage directly with both President Putin and President Zelensky. | ||
| Likewise, his national security team has as well. | ||
| In fact, Special Envoy Witkoff and Secretary Rubio met with some of the Ukrainians just in the past week to discuss this very plan. | ||
| And so just like you saw with respect to Israel in Gaza, we are hearing out both sides of this war to understand what you can commit to to end the war. | ||
| And that's ultimately how we are going to get to an agreeable solution. | ||
| That's what the president has directed of his team. | ||
| I know there's a lot of criticism out there and a lot of doubters, but I would just remind you of the historic success that this president and his team accomplished in the Middle East. | ||
| We believe that is possible with Russia and Ukraine, and we're hoping and working very hard to achieve that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Stephen. | |
| Could you provide a little more context on what to expect tomorrow with the Montani meeting? | ||
| Will it be in the Oval Office or is it going to be open at least partially to the press? | ||
| I don't have any more details to read out for you on the meeting quite yet, Stephen. | ||
| I know it's of great interest to you in the New York Post, but we'll keep. | ||
| Maybe if it opens, we can commit to letting you in. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| It came up yesterday during a confirmation hearing for the president's pick to lead the CFTC that the CFTC currently has zero Democrat commissioners, whereas usually it's had two or more. | ||
| Does the president plan to appoint Democrats to financial regulators like the CFTC and SEC, or does the president feel that there shouldn't be Democrat leadership at those agencies consistent with the administration's move earlier this year to remove Democrats from the FTC and other agencies? | ||
| I'm going to be completely honest. | ||
| I haven't spoken to the president about the FTC CFTC in quite some time, but I'm happy to check in with our presidential personnel office and see if there's any updates that we can provide you there. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Verona. | ||
| Last week on Fox News, President Trump said that we've had a lot of problems with the French. | ||
| How would you describe the current relationship between France and the U.S.? | ||
| The relationship remains very strong. | ||
| President Trump speaks quite frequently with Emmanuel Macron. | ||
| I think they have a good working relationship. | ||
| But the president is not shy to point out when he has disagreements with world leaders as well. | ||
| And he's done that with respect to Mr. Macron as well. | ||
| Deanna. | ||
| Deanna. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Carolyn, there are reports that Qatar is acting as a mediator in the Ukraine peace process. | |
| Can you confirm that? | ||
| And why did Trump, why did the president choose that country? | ||
| I'm not going to get into further details other than what I previously shared, which I think was quite a bit of information. | ||
| Brian? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Carolyn. | |
| Two questions. | ||
| You were talking about four earlier in this briefing about the president's orders. | ||
| You were going back and forth about what the ad said, what it should say. | ||
| My first question is the advertisement with the Senate Democrats were featured in. | ||
| So the first question is, no matter what the order is, it could be to any administration official, military or otherwise, no matter if the electorates might think it's illegal, does the president expect those cabinet members, administrative officials to go ahead with those orders regardless of any outside thinking or action? | ||
| The president expects his cabinet officials and the administration to follow the law and to demand accountability and hold people accountable for their dangerous rhetoric. | ||
| And I would just add that if this were Republican members of Congress who were encouraging members of the military and members of our United States government to defy orders from the president and from the chain of command, this entire room would be up in arms. | ||
| But instead, it is the other way around. | ||
| And I think that's quite telling. | ||
| I'm going to let you all go because the president, excuse me, I appreciate the encouragement this morning, but this afternoon, but President Trump is about to meet, is about to meet in minutes with Israeli hostages who this administration freed. | ||
| So, I'm gonna go up to that meeting and you will hear more about that later. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| I'd hate to have to come back here. | ||
| From the speeches to the baits, Benny sharp like a blade. | ||
| Cutting through the lies, watch the truth cascade. | ||
|
unidentified
|
With the warriors' heart, this man never fades. | |
| You know it's prime time 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. | ||
| Salt in 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. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The Benny shows here, bringing liberty to light. | |
| Liberty to light. | ||
| Bringing liberty to light. | ||
| Liberty to light. | ||
| Bringing liberty to light. | ||
|
unidentified
|
From the speeches to the baits, Benny sharp like a blade. | |
| Cutting through the lies, watch the truth cascade. | ||
|
unidentified
|
With the warrior's heart, this man never fades. | |
| You know it's prime time when Benny invades. | ||
| From saving the nation to stories untold. | ||
| The Benny shows a storm, see the truth unfold. | ||
|
unidentified
|
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. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Stand up strong, battle through the night. | |
| The Benny shows here, bringing liberty to light. | ||
| Bringing liberty to light. |
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