| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| And Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services come specifically from the statutory created entity of Centers for Medicare Medicaid Innovation, as the name would state, have already launched a model. | ||
| It is designed to use artificial intelligence and other more cutting-edge tools to address the fraud that exists in health care. | ||
| And I have just two points on this I think are worth remembering. | ||
| The reason that AI works so well in the financial system is because bank managers aren't fraudsters usually, so they're not very good at fraud, whereas fraudsters are really good at fraud. | ||
| So you're asking people who don't study fraud, like in CMS, for example, Amy Brandt does not spend her whole life thinking how to defraud people. | ||
| So she doesn't think the way a criminal mind might work. | ||
| So we actually benefit tremendously, as would has been the case in banking and other transactional businesses, if we can bring these newer technologies to bear. | ||
| The other reality of health care is that we don't really penalize people for doing bad things when they steal money and they steal the health of Americans when they steal your money. | ||
| Because they're taking away resources that are vitally needed to take care of vulnerable Americans. | ||
| When they do that, I think not just criminal, but morally reprehensible activity, it's often a slap on the wrist. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You can watch this program in its entirety if you go to our website, c-span.org. | |
| We are going to lead this here and take you live to today's White House press briefing. | ||
| Live coverage on C-SPAN. | ||
| Located at Dade Collier Training in Transition Airport, alongside Secretary Christy Noam, Governor Ron DeSantis, Congressman Byron Donalds, and other state and local leaders. | ||
| We hope to see many of you there. | ||
| The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as Alligator Alcatraz. | ||
| There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight. | ||
| It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. | ||
| The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process, and deport criminal, illegal aliens. | ||
| This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history. | ||
| We are truly coming off a historic week of President Trump racking up win after win on behalf of the American people. | ||
| President Trump restored peace through strength and acted decisively as commander-in-chief to obliterate the immediate threat of the Iranian regime's nuclear capabilities and then brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which continues to hold. | ||
| Then, the President traveled to the Netherlands and achieved a monumental win for the United States and the NATO alliance by getting our allies to dedicate 5% of their GDPs to military spending. | ||
| As a result of President Trump unleashing American energy dominance, summer gas prices are at the lowest they have been in four years, heading into the July 4th week. | ||
| And with the incoming Trump economic boom, the stock market continues to roar back, with the SP 500 and the NASDAQ both hitting record highs. | ||
| And on this point of an economic boom, I bring to you original correspondence from the President of the United States to our Fed Chair, Jerome Powell. | ||
| As the President has consistently stated, the American economy is booming. | ||
| And there were so many economic analysts who said that this president's policies would drive our economy down when in fact we have seen the opposite. | ||
| We've seen a massive deregulation campaign take place. | ||
| We've seen inflation completely diminished from where it was under the reckless spending in the bad policies of the previous incompetent administration. | ||
| I would remind the Fed chair, and I would remind the entire world, that this is a president who was a businessman first, and he knows what he is doing. | ||
| He has a proven economic formula that worked in his first term as president, and it is working again. | ||
| The one problem that remains is high interest rates for the American people. | ||
| The American people want to borrow money cheaply, and they should be able to do that. | ||
| But unfortunately, we have interest rates that are still too high. | ||
| So the President sent this note to the Fed Chair today. | ||
| And if you look at this chart, this is a chart of all of the interest rates of many countries throughout the world. | ||
| At the top is Switzerland. | ||
| They're only paying a quarter for interest rates. | ||
| Cambodia, Japan, Denmark, Thailand, Botswana, Barbados, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Cuba, Sweden, Morocco, Cabo Verde, South Korea, Algeria, Canada, Albania, Libya, Malaysia, China, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Czechia, Bolivia, Australia, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Kuwait, Papua New Guinea, Bosnia, United Kingdom, and the UAE are all paying lower interest rates than the United States of America, | ||
| which has one of the hottest and strongest economies in the world. | ||
| The President sent this note to the Fed chair. | ||
| It says, Jerome, you are, as usual, too late. | ||
| You have cost the USA a fortune and continue to do so. | ||
| You should lower the rate by a lot. | ||
| Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost, and there is no inflation. | ||
| And the president is right. | ||
| There is historically low inflation thanks to his policies. | ||
| And we will continue to drive down the cost of living in this country for Americans. | ||
| We will continue to deregulate. | ||
| And it's also incredibly important that we pass this One Big Beautiful bill, which is the largest tax cuts in American history. | ||
| And that's why the White House and the President himself have been in touch with lawmakers all weekend long to get this bill passed. | ||
| And they are working very hard to do so. | ||
| It remains a top priority for the president. | ||
| And this bill has exposed the clear differences between Republicans and Democrats in 2025. | ||
| The Democrats are doubling down on craziness and radical policies that are undermining the very fabric of our country. | ||
| Just look at the Democrat nominee for New York City Mayor, Zoron Mindami. | ||
| He's a Democrat socialist, really a communist, who proudly calls to defund the police, peddles anti-Semitism, praises pro-Hamas groups, wants Israel abolished, and believes wealthy Americans should not exist. | ||
| Those are his words, just as recent as this weekend. | ||
| Meanwhile, under President Trump's leadership, Republicans are fighting tirelessly for everyday middle-class working Americans who re-elected this president. | ||
| And we're carrying out a revolution of common sense. | ||
| And all of that is packed into this One Big Beautiful bill. | ||
| It delivers the largest middle and working class tax cuts in U.S. history. | ||
| It keeps America safe by funding the largest ever one-time investment in border security. | ||
| It's enough to reverse the Biden border invasion. | ||
| And every single Democrat is against that, against securing our border and deporting millions of criminal illegal aliens. | ||
| The One Big Beautiful bill also strengthens and protects Medicaid benefits, despite what Democrats are saying for eligible American citizens who rely on it, like pregnant women, children, seniors, and people with disabilities, by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse that threaten to destroy this program that was intended for the most vulnerable in our society. | ||
| And every single Democrat in Congress is against rooting out that waste, fraud, and abuse and blocking the 1.4 million illegal aliens who are currently improperly receiving these benefits that should be going to American taxpaying citizens. | ||
| The Democrats in Congress are more concerned with defending illegal aliens than they are hardworking Americans. | ||
| And the Big Beautiful bill also revitalizes our military and enhances our defense capabilities, protects our country from emerging new threats by funding a cutting-edge missile defense system called the Golden Dome. | ||
| And as we all know, the One Big Beautiful bill makes the Trump tax cuts permanent. | ||
| The White House and the President are adamant that this bill is passed and that this bill makes its way to his desk. | ||
| Republicans need to stay tough and unified during the home stretch, and we are counting on them to get the job done. | ||
| So, with that, we will take up questions. | ||
| John Fredericks is in our new media seat today. | ||
| John, thanks for being here. | ||
| We'll kick it to you. | ||
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Let's get to the One Big Beautiful bill first. | ||
| It appears now you're going to get at least 50 votes in this Senate. | ||
| There'll be some amendments. | ||
| What is the president's confidence level in getting 218 votes in the House by the end of this week in order for him to sign it on Friday? | ||
| Well, look, we are very well aware, the president is very well aware, that this bill needs to not only pass out of the Senate, but it needs to go back to the House. | ||
| And we need the full weight of the Republican Conference to get behind this bill, and we expect them to, and we are confident that they will. | ||
| The President has been working hand in hand with Senate Majority Leader Thune and also our House Republican leader, or the Speaker of the House, I'm sorry, Mike Johnson, both of whom will be at the White House today to meet with the President yet again. | ||
| I believe they were here this morning, actually. | ||
| I have one follow-up. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure. | |
| You outlined Jerome Powell and the note that the President just sent to him. | ||
| There are many who believe that Powell has been politicized in a lot of different ways. | ||
| The President has not been shy about acting on things that he believes in. | ||
| Why not just fire Jerome Powell and put in somebody that is going to lower rates? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Why? | |
| Well, it's a good question and one you can ask the president because that's a decision for him to make. | ||
| But you're right to point out the politicization of the Fed, and it's very unfortunate for our country. | ||
| But Jerome Powell cut rates numerous times ahead of the election when Joe Biden was in this Oval Office, but now he refuses to and the economy is in a much better place. | ||
| So there really isn't a good explanation for that, and the president is rightfully calling attention to it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Kelly. | ||
| Good afternoon. | ||
| On Iran, the president posted on his social that he is not even talking to them anymore. | ||
|
unidentified
|
When we were at NATO, he said he expected the U.S. and Iran to have talks as early as this week and that he might even want to see a written agreement. | |
| What is the update now if he's saying he's not even talking? | ||
| So as I told you from the podium last week, I said the administration and namely our special envoy Steve Woodkoff has been in communication both directly and indirectly with the Iranians. | ||
| That communication continues. | ||
| The president himself has not talked to Iran, which he pointed out in his truth statement. | ||
| Peter. | ||
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Does President Trump want Zorhan Mamdani deported? | ||
| I haven't heard him say that. | ||
| I haven't heard him call for that. | ||
| But certainly he does not want this individual to be elected. | ||
| I was just speaking to him about it and his radical policies that will completely crush New York City, which is obviously a city that the president holds near and dear to his heart. | ||
| There's this Congressman Andy Obles. | ||
| He wants the Attorney General Bondi to explore denaturalization proceedings because he thinks Mamdani could have misrepresented or concealed material support for terrorism based on rap lyrics he wrote in 2017. | ||
| Does President Trump think this is a worthwhile use of the Attorney General's time? | ||
| Well, I'll let the President speak to that. | ||
| I have not seen those claims, but surely, if they are true, it's something that should be investigated. | ||
| And could President Trump see himself? | ||
| You said you just talked to him about this. | ||
| Could he see himself working with a mayor, Momdani, somebody who on Meet the Press this weekend was given three chances to condemn the phrase globalize the intifada, but he couldn't? | ||
| Yeah, look, the president is always willing to work with everyone. | ||
| He's working with Democrats across the country, Democrat governors, and he said he'll work with people on the far left. | ||
| He works with Republicans. | ||
| He works with people in the middle. | ||
| He wants to do what's right for America. | ||
| But surely someone who holds these values and is quite literally a communist and condemns every value that makes this country great, common sense, law and order, low taxes, working hard and earning your keep in this country, he's against all of that. | ||
| And I think the president would find it difficult to work with someone like that. | ||
| If he is elected, I'm sure you'll hear more from the president on that. | ||
| But we'll have to see. | ||
| Hopefully, the voters of New York City choose wisely. | ||
| Sure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| The president last on Friday said that he was hopeful of a Gaza deal within the next week. | ||
| Can you give us an update on any progress towards that and on any talks that the White House is having with Israel on that? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Well, I know that Mr. Dermer is in Washington this week to meet with senior officials here at the White House. | ||
| I also know that this administration is in constant communication with Israeli leadership, and the President himself speaks frequently, as you know, to Prime Minister Netanyahu. | ||
| But this has been a priority for the President since he took office to end this brutal war in Gaza. | ||
| It is because of this president that humanitarian aid is being brought into the region. | ||
| It's heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the President wants to see it end. | ||
| He wants to save lives. | ||
| However, the main priority for the President also remains to bring all of the hostages home out of Gaza. | ||
| As you know, his tireless effort has brought home many of the hostages, including all of the American hostages who were held there. | ||
| So he wants to see both things happen, and we're continuing to work very hard to do those things. | ||
| Sure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, thanks, Caroline. | |
| What is the White House's response to Senator Tillis' criticism articulated from the Senate floor yesterday in which he said passing the big beautiful bill would betray President Trump's promise to protect Medicaid? | ||
| Well, he is just wrong. | ||
| And the President and the vast majority of Republicans who are supportive of this legislation are right. | ||
| This bill protects Medicaid, as I laid out for you, for those who truly deserve this program. | ||
| The needy, pregnant women, children, sick Americans who physically cannot work. | ||
| And what it does is it ensures that able-bodied Americans who can work 20 hours a week are actually doing so, and that will therefore strengthen and protect those benefits for Americans who need it, as well as cutting out the waste fraud and abuse, as well as getting 1.4 million illegal aliens off of the program. | ||
| So all of those measures are actually going to protect it for those who need it. | ||
| That's the president's position, and that's what this bill does, and that's why Republicans need to vote for it and get it to the president's desk. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What is that kind of criticism from a Republican senator? | |
| Is that reason for concern for the passage of this? | ||
| No, it's not. | ||
| We're confident this bill is going to be back at the White House by the 4th of July. | ||
| Stephen. | ||
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| Two questions. | ||
| On the New York mayoral race, does the President plan to make an endorsement? | ||
| And secondly, on Jerome Powell, a lot of the focus obviously has been on interest rates and him keeping them high, but a new controversy erupted today. | ||
| My colleague first reported that he's facing accusations, the chairman Jerome Powell is facing accusations of lying to Congress, which is a potential crime, about luxurious details of the Fed's $2.5 billion renovation project. | ||
| Senator Loomis has called attention to this. | ||
| Some experts want him to be investigated. | ||
| Does the White House want these allegations investigated and if found substantiated, punished? | ||
| I'll have to take a look at those allegations and I will raise them to the President's attention and let him speak on them himself. | ||
| To your first question regarding the mayoral race, the president was asked that yesterday by Maria Bottaromo. | ||
| He refused to give an endorsement, so you won't get one from me at this podium unless he wants me to do that. | ||
| Phil. | ||
| Philip, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, okay. | |
| Sure. | ||
| And then I can go to you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Cool. | |
| Thanks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| The president said that he's working on a temporary pause for immigration enforcement in certain industries. | ||
| I'm wondering what you can tell us about how he's determining which industries are deserving of a pass. | ||
| He mentioned farmers, but what about, say, construction workers? | ||
| Shouldn't there just be one standard here? | ||
| I don't have any more details to read out for you, but what I can tell you is that the White House is working closely every day with the Department of Agriculture as well as the Department of Homeland Security when it comes to workforce enforcement, work site enforcement, I'm sorry. | ||
| And the president's focus and the focus of this administration is, of course, to remove public safety threats from the streets and to deport as many of the illegal criminals, especially the violent criminals that we know are still here because of the previous administration. | ||
| So that's the main priority and the goal. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then the president has already made cuts to the office of the director of national intelligence, but now Senator Tom Cotton has put forward a bill that would cut the office by another 60%. | |
| What's the president's reaction to that legislation? | ||
| And is this something that he would support, those additional cuts? | ||
| I don't know if the president's even aware of that legislation, but I will get you a response if he is aware and if he wants to respond to it. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Carolyn. | |
| Thanks, Carolyn. | ||
| You mentioned the dangerous wildlife at the Alligator Elcatra. | ||
| Is that a design feature? | ||
| Why is the president going with this mega bill in such a precarious position in the Senate? | ||
| And then also, can you talk about the CBO estimate that it would add about 11 million uninsured? | ||
| Well, look, when you have illegal murders and rapists and heinous criminals in a detention facility surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that's a deterrent for them to try to escape. | ||
| We do know that some of these illegal criminals have escaped from other detention facilities like one in New Jersey, which I know was recently reported on. | ||
| So, of course, we want to keep the American people safe and we want to remove these public safety threats from our streets and we want to effectively detain them as best as we can. | ||
| As for why the president is going, I think his trip to this detention facility actually underscores the need to pass the One Big Beautiful bill because we need more detention facilities across the country. | ||
| The last administration let in nearly 20 million illegal people from all over the world and this administration is focused on arresting and detaining them. | ||
| But in comparison to that 20 million illegal criminal population in our country, we only have 7,000 ICE agents in the interior who are doing this very important work. | ||
| And so we obviously need more personnel, we need more resources, and that's why we need to pass the One Big Beautiful bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On the CBOC. | |
| Go ahead. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| In the pink. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Rob. | ||
| Can you please share some details of the China trade deal? | ||
| Has the U.S. agreed to ease some exports, technology export restrictions? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Well, the final language that was agreed upon in both Geneva and in London was signed just past week. | ||
| We can get you that final text of the agreement. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Caroline. | |
| Eamon, and then behind you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, thanks, Caroline. | |
| So on Jay Powell, has the President got a short list of who he wants to see as J-Powell's successor, and is he going to name a successor as early as this summer? | ||
| I won't get ahead of the president on any announcements on that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Does he like Scott Besson for the job? | |
| Again, I won't get ahead of the president. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On TikTok, if you could, real quick, he said yesterday he's got a buyer, but the question there is: does he have a seller? | |
| Do you have any indication from the Chinese government that they've authorized a sale of TikTok to the U.S. or do U.S. buyers? | ||
| What I can tell you is that these discussions with China regarding the sale of TikTok have been ongoing at the highest level, and they will continue. | ||
| As you know, we have another 90-day extension, and it's just to continue to work out this deal and make sure that TikTok stays on for the American people. | ||
| That's the President's main goal, and this while protecting their privacy and their security. | ||
| Behind you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thank you, Caroline. | ||
| The President has been calling for AD in Gaza for two days and many posts. | ||
| Who is blocking Nadib? | ||
| And one other thing: when he posted on Netanyahu's trial, also he said it interferes with the negotiations on Iran and on Gaza. | ||
| What did he mean by that? | ||
| I'm sorry, to your second question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Second question. | |
| When he posted about the Israeli Prime Minister trial, he said it interferes with the negotiations on Gaza and on Iran. | ||
| What did he mean by that? | ||
| It interferes because it physically and logistically was interfering. | ||
| The Prime Minister was slated to go to court last week when he's in the middle of negotiating a peace deal and bringing hostages out of a war-torn region. | ||
| And so the president was simply, I think, emphasizing his empathy that he has for B.B. Netanyahu and seeing him go what he's going through with his own judicial system in the state of Israel. | ||
| Clearly, the president knows that very well. | ||
| He, too, was a victim of a judicial system that was trying to put him in jail, as you all know. | ||
| You all covered it. | ||
| But President Trump prevailed. | ||
| That's why he's back in the Oval Office. | ||
| And he believes that B.B. Netanyahu is a great leader for the people of Israel. | ||
| The president just worked with him closely to end that 12-day war and to obliterate Iran's nuclear facility to take out that imminent threat, not just to the state of Israel, but also to the United States of America and the rest of the world. | ||
| And he believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu should be praised for that. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ms. Caroline. | |
| On the mega bill and the amendment that would limit Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, does the President want that amendment to pass? | ||
| The President wants this bill to pass. | ||
| Mary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, thanks, Caroline. | |
| On trade, we have this looming July 9th deadline coming up. | ||
| We heard the Treasury Secretary say that he expects to wrap up these trade deals by Labor Day, but when President Trump was asked yesterday about any extensions by July 9th, he said I think that would be necessary. | ||
| So it's the President ruling out any extensions on trade for any nations, even if they're negotiating in good faith. | ||
| Well, you heard from him directly. | ||
| He said he did not think that it would be necessary. | ||
| He is going to set the rates for many of these countries if they don't come to the table to negotiate in good faith. | ||
| And he is meeting with his trade team this week to do that. | ||
| Mary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| I just watched a CNN segment on a new app called ICE Block, and it kind of appeared to be promoting this app where you can tell people where ICE agents are. | ||
| Given the recent rise of the USA. | ||
| Anybody that tells people where ICE agents are? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| And given the rise, I believe 500% increase in assaults on ICE agents. | ||
| I want to see if you could comment on that and why CNN would be promoting such an app. | ||
| Well, it's a very good question. | ||
| I'll have to go back and watch the clip myself, but surely it sounds like this would be an incitement of further violence against our ICE officers. | ||
| As you know, as you stated, there's been a 500% increase in violence against ICE agents, law enforcement officers across the country who are just simply trying to do their jobs and remove public safety threats from our communities. | ||
| And that's something we as Americans, including journalists at CNN who live in many of these cities where illegal aliens are hiding and were let in from the previous administration, should be very grateful for. | ||
| So we haven't seen the clip. | ||
| We'll take a look at it. | ||
| But certainly it's unacceptable that a major network would promote such an app that is encouraging violence against law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our country safe. | ||
| Caroline Shelby. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I just want to do that clarification. | |
| On the Senator Rick Scott's amendment, it sounds like the president is agnostic about whether it's attached. | ||
| Is that accurate? | ||
| Look, I'm not going to get into the details of the discussions that are ongoing right now, but the president wants these senators to come to a conclusion to get this bill back to the White House as soon as possible and make sure that it's a piece of legislation that can make its way back through the House as well. | ||
| So obviously there's some ping-ponging between both sides of Capitol Hill right now, but that's why Senator Thun and Speaker Johnson are working with the President in lockstep every step of the way. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Caroline. | |
| In the back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| Or the President did answer. | ||
| And then in front of you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The President did announce last week that the trade deal with India is closed and this could happen anytime soon. | |
| Are there any roadblocks as of now? | ||
| Are there any updates on that? | ||
| And how does the President see this about China's role or its influence in the Indo-Pacific region? | ||
| Sure, yes. | ||
| The president said that last week and it remains true. | ||
| I actually just spoke to our Secretary of Commerce about it. | ||
| He was in the Oval Office with the President. | ||
| Are finalizing these agreements, and you'll hear from the president and his trade team very soon when it comes to India. | ||
| Yes, I mean, look, India remains a very strategic ally in the Asia Pacific, and the President has a very good relationship with Prime Minister Modi, as you know, and he will continue to have that. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Carolyn. | |
| On the reconciliation bill, Senator Tillis from the floor yesterday seemed to suggest President Trump was getting bad counsel on the effects of the bill. | ||
| Is President Trump aware of the analyses, and there are several of these that suggest if rural hospitals potentially close, if there are Medicaid patients in the millions that become ineligible for that? | ||
| Yes, and that claim is just simply untrue. | ||
| Rural hospitals comprise 7% of all hospital spending on Medicaid, and that illustrates that they have not benefited from the massive increase of waste, fraud, and abuse under the Biden administration. | ||
| So, this bill strengthens Medicaid. | ||
| It will protect those benefits that hardworking Americans need, and that's why the President wants this bill to pass. | ||
| The Senator was wrong. | ||
| The President put out a Truth Social post addressing it, and then the Senator announced he's no longer running for office anymore. | ||
| So, I think that case has been closed, and the White House is continuing to focus on getting this legislation to the President's desk for his signature. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| Yes, you can. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The Syrian government get back to you that they are ready to join the Iran Accord. | |
| Is there any discussion with the Syrian and Israeli government for having a security agreement? | ||
| This is the first question. | ||
| And the second question, what's the end goal for talking with the Iranians? | ||
| Is that only focused on the nuclear program? | ||
| Or are you willing to speak about other issues like the proxy brokers and ballistic missiles or even trade with Iran? | ||
| So, as for discussions between Syria and Israel, you'll have to reach out to those respective governments. | ||
| I can't comment on that. | ||
| But what I can tell you is that this afternoon, the President will be signing an executive order to terminate the United States sanctions program on Syria. | ||
| And this is in an effort to promote and support the country's path to stability and peace. | ||
| The order will remove sanctions on Syria while maintaining sanctions on the former President Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, persons linked to chemical weapons activities, ISIS and their affiliates, and Iranian proxies. | ||
| And this is, again, an action that the President promised and shocked the world with in Saudi Arabia because he's committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors. | ||
| The President met with Syria's new president when we were in the Middle East, as you know, and so this is another promise made and promise kept by this president to promote peace and stability in the region. | ||
| Go ahead, Alex. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Questions on two topics, if you don't mind, with NTD here. | |
| First, on Canada. | ||
| Canada says it's now dropping its digital services tax on American tech companies days after President Trump says he's halting on trade talks with Canada. | ||
| First, what's the President's reaction to this? | ||
| Can you tell us more about his call with Prime Minister Kearney over the weekend? | ||
| How did he get Carney to drop it? | ||
| And also, what's the impact on American tech companies given this latest progress as president says he has been fighting for American tech companies? | ||
| It's very simple. | ||
| Prime Minister Kearney in Canada caved to President Trump and the United States of America. | ||
| And President Trump knows how to negotiate, and he knows that he is governing the best country and the best economy in this world on this planet. | ||
| And every country on the planet needs to have good trade relationships with the United States. | ||
| And it was a mistake for Canada to vow to implement that tax. | ||
| That would have hurt our tech companies here in the United States. | ||
| The president made his position quite clear to the prime minister, and the prime minister called the president last night to let the president know that he would be dropping that tax, which is a big victory for our tech companies and our American workers here at home. | ||
|
unidentified
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And on Harvard, you don't mind. | |
| The administration today formally accused Harvard of violating civil rights laws by not doing enough to fight anti-Semitism. | ||
| We know that the president has talked to us before about how we're potentially having to deal with administration in the coming days. | ||
|
unidentified
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Do you have enough data timeline for that? | |
| How's the negotiations going? | ||
| And is more pressure needed for Harvard to take fighting anti-Semitism seriously? | ||
| Well, there was quite a direct letter that was sent to Harvard this morning, as you know. | ||
| The negotiations are taking place behind closed doors, so I won't comment on that. | ||
| But what I will share with all of you, for those who haven't seen it, is the context of this letter because I think it's very important. | ||
| And this comes from the Department of Health and Human Services, which concluded after a thorough investigation that Harvard University is in a violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin. | ||
| And if you read some of the content of the investigation and what they found, the majority of Jewish students reportedly experienced negative bias or discrimination on their campus, while a quarter of Jewish students at Harvard felt physically unsafe. | ||
| Jewish and Israeli students were assaulted and spit on. | ||
| They had their kippahs for fear of being harassed and concealed their Jewish identity from classmates for fear of ostracization. | ||
| Images were widely circulated amongst the Harvard community that trafficked in obvious anti-Semitic tropes, including one that showed a dollar sign inside of a Star of David, and the campus was vandalized with anti-Semitic stickers, including one that showed the Israeli flag with a swastika. | ||
| The Harvard campus was racked by demonstrations, as you all know, violent protests that violated the university's rules of conduct. | ||
| The demonstrations called for genocide and murder, denied Jewish and Israeli students access to campus spaces. | ||
| These are all facts that Harvard cannot dispute, and that's why the administration has found them in violation of Title VI and has threatened to withhold their federal funding because if you break federal law, you should not be receiving federal tax dollars. | ||
| And so I rest my case on Harvard. | ||
| Andrea. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, so President Macron of France earlier today said that tariffs levied by powerful countries are often a form of blackmail and criticized the sort of process that's underway. | |
| I didn't mention the United States specifically, but said that these tariffs are really hurting developing countries. | ||
| So there's this big UN conference going on. | ||
| What do you say to that? | ||
| Do you, do you know, what is the president? | ||
| Was he aware of that comment? | ||
| And do we have any response to this? | ||
| I think the president and the White House would certainly reject that characterization by Prime Minister Macron. | ||
| Tariffs are an effective use of presidential power to bring back the middle class, to bring back our manufacturing industry, which was the backbone of our American economy and has been hollowed out by globalist politicians who have caved to foreign countries instead of doing what's right for American workers. | ||
| That's why the president is effectively utilizing his authority to wage tariffs and to utilize tariffs and continues to be in discussions and negotiations on trade to do what's right for America. | ||
| And Europe and the rest of the world might not be used to that, but President Trump is back in town and he's going to do what's right for our people and our country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can I just follow up on Netanyahu? | |
| So there's a report in Israeli media that the Prime Minister will actually be here, that Netanyahu will be here today meeting with the President. | ||
| Can you confirm that? | ||
| I don't believe Prime Minister Nenya, who is here today. | ||
| I think you guys would know about that by now. | ||
| Unless there's something going on I don't know about, but I don't believe he is. | ||
| I do know he has expressed interest in coming to Washington and meeting with the president, and we are working on a date for that. | ||
| I do not believe it is today, but that would be fun. | ||
| You never know in this White House, let's be honest. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thanks, Carolyn. | ||
| Does the President support this new measure in the big beautiful bill that would impose steep new taxes on new wind and solar projects? | ||
| I believe you're referring to the credits for wind and solar projects. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We're talking about the new tax. | |
| There's a new tax that it's estimated would add 10 to 20 percent to the cost of any new wind and solar projects that start after this year. | ||
| Again, I don't want to comment on the specifics of provisions, but I'm sure the president will speak on that directly. | ||
| Again, this is an ongoing process. | ||
| The president continues to be very much engaged with the leadership in both the Senate and the House to get this bill back to his desk. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The president asked for that provision because the National Building Trades Union is saying that it's the equivalent of terminating more than a thousand Keystone XL pipeline projects. | |
| Is that something that would concern him? | ||
| Well, the President spoke on this yesterday in his interview, and he said he understands that legislatures want to protect, legislators want to protect jobs in their communities and in their districts. | ||
| And so he understands why some of them are against this provision, but he also understands why people want the provision. | ||
| So again, this is an ongoing deliberation and discussion, and the president is engaged in this very much. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Caroline. | |
| We've been hearing from White House officials for weeks that you're close on trade deals with a number of countries. | ||
| Can we get any update on which countries will have deals by the 9th and when they're making any announcements? | ||
| I'll let the president and the trade team speak on it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Or can you respond to the CBO estimate that the Senate bill would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion? | |
| This is one of the most fiscally conservative pieces of legislation that has ever made its way through Capitol Hill. | ||
| There's $2 trillion in mandatory savings in this bill. | ||
| And not only that, the projected growth that this bill will bring to our economy will be an economic boom. | ||
| The Council of Economic Advisors has an analysis that shows that the bill will generate $4.1 trillion in economic growth. | ||
| And it will cut taxes, putting more money back into the American people's pockets. | ||
| That's why this president wants this bill to pass. | ||
| And I know he's busy working the phones and doing what he needs to do today to make it happen. | ||
| So we'll see you all later. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| We'll see you in Florida. | ||
|
unidentified
|
A live look now at the U.S. Senate where members are considering the Republicans' tax and spending cuts bill. | |
| Lawmakers are taking part in a so-called Votorama, which allows for an unlimited number of amendments in a marathon series. | ||
| One notable amendment that's expected to be debated lowers the percentage of Medicaid costs covered by the federal government by the end of this year. | ||
| This follows a weekend Senate session where Democrats forced the reading of the 940-page bill. | ||
| How, if approved by the upper chamber, the House could come back as soon as Wednesday morning to consider it. | ||
| President Trump has set a July 4th deadline for Congress to pass the bill. | ||
| Watch live coverage of the U.S. Senate on C-SPAN2. | ||
| Also, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| Democracy. | ||
| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||
| Democracy in real time. | ||
| This is your government at work. | ||
| This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered. | ||
| Today, the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals hears oral argument on procedures the Trump administration must follow to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. | ||
| You can watch live coverage of that at 3 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. |