CSPAN - President Trump Speaks to Reporters
Aired: 2026-04-13
Duration: 07:59


=== US Oil Blockade and NATO (06:55) ===

[00:00:00]  Between non-Iranian ports to enter the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:00:03]  This follows Iran over the weekend failing to reach a ceasefire agreement with the U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance in Pakistan.
[00:00:11]  Before imposing the blockade, President Trump spoke to reporters on his way back to the White House.
[00:00:16]  The president talked about the war with Iran while addressing Pope Leo's criticism on the American and Israeli strikes on Iran.
[00:00:24]  Here is what the president had to say.
[00:00:26]  You probably heard that a lot of very good
[00:00:56]  things are happening with regard to the straight hormones, and a lot of good things are happening for our country.
[00:01:04]  It's been very strong.
[00:01:05]  We had some tremendous numbers released economically on jobs and everything else.
[00:01:11]  And things are going very well.
[00:01:12]  What's wrong with East Fire holding, Mr. President?
[00:01:18]  I would say it's holding well.
[00:01:22]  Their military is destroyed.
[00:01:24]  Their whole Navy is underwater.
[00:01:29]  You know that.
[00:01:30]  158 ships are gone.
[00:01:32]  Their navy's gone.
[00:01:34]  Most of their mine droppers are gone.
[00:01:37]  We have a lot of people, as you know, at 10 o'clock tomorrow.
[00:01:40]  We have a blockade going into effect.
[00:01:42]  That'll be 10 o'clock tomorrow.
[00:01:44]  Other nations are working so that Iran will not be able to sell oil.
[00:01:49]  And that will be very effective.
[00:01:52]  But what we want to do is we want to, and again, we don't need it.
[00:01:56]  What we notice and what we see, and what I think is maybe my idea, maybe not.
[00:02:02]  I don't know.
[00:02:03]  But there are many boats heading toward our country to fill up with oil and then go and take it.
[00:02:09]  So they're not going to go through the hormone strait.
[00:02:12]  And ultimately, that'll be corrected.
[00:02:15]  But in the meantime, they're using us.
[00:02:17]  We have more oil because of Drill Baby Drill.
[00:02:21]  We have more oil than Russia and Saudi Arabia put together.
[00:02:25]  So if you look at Russia and Saudi Arabia, two big ones, we have much more oil than they have put together.
[00:02:33]  And what's happening is boats are coming over here, filling up.
[00:02:37]  We don't have to go through the hormone strait.
[00:02:39]  Can you give us an update, Mr. President?
[00:02:41]  The two pilots are being recognized.
[00:02:43]  Have you spoken in order to be?
[00:02:45]  They are in very good shape, and we're very proud of them, the two pilots.
[00:02:55]  I think Iran is in very bad shape.
[00:02:58]  I think they're very desperate.
[00:03:01]  We had a meeting that lasted 21 hours.
[00:03:03]  We understand the situation better than anybody.
[00:03:07]  And Iran's in very bad shape.
[00:03:09]  And just so you understand, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
[00:03:15]  We'll not have.
[00:03:16]  There is no way that they're going to get they still want it.
[00:03:20]  And they made that clear the other night.
[00:03:22]  Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
[00:03:25]  How long are you waiting for them to come back?
[00:03:28]  Oh, I don't know.
[00:03:28]  I don't care if they come back or not.
[00:03:30]  If they don't come back, I'm fine.
[00:03:32]  Their military is gone.
[00:03:34]  Their missiles are largely depleted.
[00:03:37]  The manufacturing capability for missiles and drones is largely defeated.
[00:03:43]  We've been very nice.
[00:03:44]  We haven't ripped down too many bridges.
[00:03:46]  We did one only because they broke their word.
[00:03:49]  They broke their promise.
[00:03:50]  And remember, their promise was that they were going to open the Hormuz Strait.
[00:03:57]  They didn't do it.
[00:03:58]  They lied.
[00:04:02]  Yeah, they're coming up and they're helping you.
[00:04:05]  We have many other countries.
[00:04:06]  You have to find out that we'll be buying the oil from the United States.
[00:04:10]  Have you had any talks with specifics?
[00:04:12]  Well, you just have to see, but the ships are heading up to our country right now, empty, and they're going to go back filled up with oil.
[00:04:21]  Why did you attack Pope Leo on Prince Social?
[00:04:25]  I don't think he's doing a very good job.
[00:04:27]  He likes crime, I guess.
[00:04:30]  He hit us.
[00:04:31]  Think of it.
[00:04:32]  He's worried about fear.
[00:04:34]  What about the fear when the ministers and the priests and all of those great people that were arrested during COVID, and in many cases, they're outside 10 feet apart, and they were arrested.
[00:04:48]  So we don't like it.
[00:04:50]  We don't like a pope that's going to say that it's okay to have a nuclear weapon.
[00:04:55]  We don't want a pope that says crime is okay in our cities.
[00:04:59]  I don't like it.
[00:05:00]  I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo.
[00:05:02]  He's a very liberal person, and he's a man that doesn't believe in stopping crime.
[00:05:07]  He's a man that doesn't think that we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world.
[00:05:17]  I'm not a fan of Pope Leo.
[00:05:19]  Would you be okay with the third country that would be okay with a third country a priest of stuff to launch the rest of the world?
[00:05:29]  Well, that's a very theoretical question.
[00:05:33]  I don't want to answer.
[00:05:38]  Are you standing up for the fight?
[00:05:39]  Well, they're coming up.
[00:05:40]  They're going to be coming up.
[00:05:41]  But I'm very disappointed in NATO.
[00:05:43]  They didn't do that.
[00:05:44]  They weren't there for us.
[00:05:46]  We pay trillions of dollars for NATO, and they weren't there for us.
[00:05:51]  Remember what I said?
[00:05:52]  NATO was not there.
[00:05:54]  Now they want to come up, but there's no real threat anymore.
[00:05:58]  But NATO was not there for us.
[00:06:00]  Are you going to punish the country to get it helped?
[00:06:02]  We'll see what happens.
[00:06:03]  But you know, we spend trillions of dollars on NATO to help them guard really against Russia.
[00:06:09]  When you think of it, we're guarding against Russia.
[00:06:13]  And I've long thought it was a little ridiculous, but we spent trillions of dollars doing it.
[00:06:20]  And I think that's going to be under very serious examination.
[00:06:25]  Thank you very much.
[00:06:35]  Well, in response to President Trump's comments, Pope Leo today telling reporters, quote, to put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the gospel is.
[00:06:48]  He went on to say, quote, and I'm sorry to hear that, but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.

=== Pope Leo's Foreign Policy Stand (01:03) ===

[00:06:55]  Later today, we'll bring you a discussion on Pope Leo's stand on foreign policy, his ability to be a global mediator, and his impact on history and culture as the first pontiff born in the U.S. That's set to start at 2 p.m. Eastern.
[00:07:08]  Be sure to follow our live coverage on C-SPAN 2 on our free C-SPAN Now mobile app and online at c-SPAN.org.
[00:07:21]  This week, Congress returns after a two-week holiday break.
[00:07:25]  Lawmakers plan to take up key bills in both the House and Senate.
[00:07:28]  Expect House members to consider legislation to extend FISA Section 702 Warrantless Surveillance Authority for 18 months.
[00:07:36]  If approved by the House, the Senate must pass it before the Friday, April 17th deadline.
[00:07:41]  Senate Democrats intend to force a vote for a fourth time on an Iran war powers resolution to limit unauthorized U.S. military action against Iran.
[00:07:50]  Three other attempts were blocked, mainly along Senate party lines.
[00:07:54]  Follow the process when Congress returns this week on the C-SPAN networks and