CSPAN - President Trump Holds Oval Office Event
Aired: 2026-04-13
Duration: 17:54


=== Enforcing Freedom of Navigation (15:24) ===

[00:00:00]  Will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Omam.
[00:00:11]  CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.
[00:00:19]  The information being provided.
[00:00:21]  And again, it begins at 10 a.m. Eastern.
[00:00:25]  Back to your phone calls.
[00:00:26]  This is Debbie Columbia, Missouri Republican.
[00:00:29]  Good morning.
[00:00:30]  Hi.
[00:00:31]  Hi.
[00:00:32]  I'd like to talk about elections.
[00:00:34]  We can't have democracy unless every voter proves their citizenship.
[00:00:41]  We're going to leave this to take you live now to the White House for remarks from President Trump.
[00:00:54]  Yes.
[00:00:54]  Isn't that incredible?
[00:00:56]  And that's what it is.
[00:00:57]  The tax cut.
[00:00:59]  It's really, you know, we've got the Great Big Beautiful Bill.
[00:01:01]  We should call it the Great Big Beautiful Tax Cut Bill because it's tremendous amounts of money.
[00:01:07]  And that's overtime.
[00:01:08]  That's also on Social Security, as you know.
[00:01:10]  Yes.
[00:01:11]  And it's pretty amazing.
[00:01:13]  Yes, it is.
[00:01:14]  And you're really nice.
[00:01:15]  Would you like to do a little news conference with me at the table?
[00:01:18]  These are not the nicest people.
[00:01:20]  I mean, not nice like you.
[00:01:21]  You know that, right?
[00:01:23]  I'll do whatever you ask me to do, sir.
[00:01:25]  So the no-tax on tips is something special, right?
[00:01:28]  It's very special.
[00:01:29]  And that's one that really takes you more than anything else.
[00:01:32]  Yes, sir.
[00:01:32]  That's fantastic.
[00:01:33]  And so, since I'm not going to need you, and I think you voted for me, did they?
[00:01:38]  Yeah.
[00:01:40]  I heard you're a great supporter.
[00:01:42]  We appreciate it.
[00:01:43]  I'll put this over here.
[00:01:45]  And why don't we have a news conference with the press?
[00:01:48]  Want to do it?
[00:01:48]  Sure.
[00:01:49]  You don't have to space safety much.
[00:01:50]  I think they're looking about hormone straight and various other things.
[00:01:55]  Do you have any questions?
[00:01:57]  Mr. President, did you post that picture of yourself?
[00:02:00]  Didn't we do a season?
[00:02:02]  Well, it wasn't the picture.
[00:02:03]  It was me.
[00:02:04]  I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor, and it had to do with Red Cross as a Red Cross worker there, which we support.
[00:02:12]  And only the fake news could come up with that one.
[00:02:15]  So I just heard about it.
[00:02:19]  And I said, how did they come up with that?
[00:02:22]  It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better.
[00:02:25]  And I do make people better.
[00:02:26]  I make people a lot better.
[00:02:28]  As an example, the 11,000, I understand your husband's going through treatment.
[00:02:34]  Yes, sir.
[00:02:35]  Yes, sir.
[00:02:35]  He's going through some very serious cancer treatments.
[00:02:38]  So this goes a long way.
[00:02:40]  Yes, sir.
[00:02:40]  It sure does.
[00:02:42]  Mr. President, are another round of talks planned with Iran?
[00:02:46]  And if so, will you send Vice President Jamie Vance to it?
[00:02:50]  Well, he's done a good job.
[00:02:51]  Steve and Jared, they've all done a very good job.
[00:02:54]  And I can tell you that we've been called by the other side.
[00:02:58]  They'd like to make a deal very badly.
[00:03:00]  Very badly.
[00:03:02]  What was the sticking point over?
[00:03:03]  You said it was over nuclear.
[00:03:05]  It was over nuclear.
[00:03:06]  Very similar, yeah, very good.
[00:03:08]  I guess you're listening.
[00:03:08]  It's over the fact that they will never have a nuclear weapon.
[00:03:13]  Iran, you market it down.
[00:03:15]  Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
[00:03:18]  And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn't agree to that.
[00:03:22]  And I think they will agree to it.
[00:03:23]  I'm almost sure of it.
[00:03:25]  In fact, I am sure of it.
[00:03:26]  If they don't agree, there's no deal.
[00:03:27]  There'll never be a deal.
[00:03:28]  Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we're going to get the dust back.
[00:03:33]  We'll get it back either.
[00:03:34]  We'll get it back from them or we'll take it.
[00:03:36]  Mr. President, as far as the naval blockade is concerned, what's the end game?
[00:03:40]  Is it to force Iran back to the negotiating table?
[00:03:43]  Is it to open up the spray so that gas prices ultimately come down?
[00:03:46]  Maybe everything.
[00:03:47]  I mean, both of those things, certainly, and more.
[00:03:51]  We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world because that's what they're doing.
[00:03:58]  They're really blackmailing the world.
[00:03:59]  We're not going to let that happen.
[00:04:01]  And you know, the amazing thing is, we don't, can you believe this?
[00:04:05]  We don't use this trade.
[00:04:06]  We don't need this trade.
[00:04:07]  We have our own oil, gas, much more than we need.
[00:04:11]  We have more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia.
[00:04:13]  Think of this.
[00:04:14]  We produce more.
[00:04:15]  Saudi Arabia and add Russia to it.
[00:04:18]  Substantially more.
[00:04:20]  And by next year, we'll have double that amount.
[00:04:23]  So we don't need it, but the world needs it.
[00:04:25]  And many ships are heading to our country right now as we speak to load up with the best, really, I guess you could say, somebody said the best and sweetest.
[00:04:36]  I don't know exactly what sweet is, but when it relates to oil, it's a good thing.
[00:04:40]  But they're coming to our country.
[00:04:42]  Right now, there are many boats coming to our country.
[00:04:44]  Now, it could very well be this is going to be settled before then.
[00:04:48]  We've been called this morning by the right people, the appropriate people, and they want to work a deal.
[00:04:55]  They would like to work a deal.
[00:04:56]  Is it your anticipation, Mr. President, that other countries will assist in this effort to blockade Iran in those specific countries?
[00:05:03]  Yeah, other countries are going to also.
[00:05:06]  We don't need other countries, frankly, but they've offered the services.
[00:05:11]  We'll let it be known probably tomorrow.
[00:05:12]  Has the blockade started, sir?
[00:05:14]  Yeah, started at 10 o'clock.
[00:05:17]  25 Robert Barron supports you and your policies.
[00:05:20]  He praises you for defending religious freedoms.
[00:05:23]  He also says you owe Pope Leo an apology.
[00:05:26]  Will you apologize?
[00:05:27]  No, I don't, because Pope Leo said things that are wrong.
[00:05:31]  He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran.
[00:05:36]  And you cannot have a nuclear Iran.
[00:05:37]  Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result.
[00:05:40]  You have hundreds of millions of people dead.
[00:05:43]  And it's not going to happen.
[00:05:44]  So I can't.
[00:05:46]  I think he's very weak on crime and other things.
[00:05:50]  So I'm not.
[00:05:50]  I mean, he went public.
[00:05:52]  I'm just responding to Pope Leo.
[00:05:54]  And you know, his brother is a big MAGA person, and he's a great guy, Lewis.
[00:05:58]  And I said, I like Lewis better than I like the Pope.
[00:06:01]  Now, you have to have law and order in our country.
[00:06:04]  And that's what we have now.
[00:06:06]  We have the lowest crime numbers we've had in a long time, despite the fact that many criminals were allowed into our country.
[00:06:12]  But we've gotten a lot of them out.
[00:06:14]  We've done a great job on crime.
[00:06:16]  So we have the lowest murder rate in 125 years, since 1900, the lowest murder rate.
[00:06:24]  So we believe strongly in law and order.
[00:06:27]  And he seemed to have a problem with that.
[00:06:29]  So there's nothing to apologize for.
[00:06:32]  He's wrong.
[00:06:33]  The other thing is he didn't like what we're doing with respect to Iran, but Iran wants to be a nuclear nation so they can exterminate the world.
[00:06:44]  Not going to happen.
[00:06:45]  And Mr. President Otterman, what does the Black Dante is not reached by the end of this ceasefire?
[00:06:51]  Is your threat from the war still standing?
[00:06:53]  Yeah, I don't want to comment on that, but it won't be pleasant for them.
[00:06:56]  Let me put it that way.
[00:06:57]  Do you still need a charge of 40 straight apart?
[00:07:00]  Has your timetable changed in any way in terms of ending this conflict?
[00:07:04]  No, I've worked.
[00:07:06]  It's going on.
[00:07:07]  Right now there's no fighting.
[00:07:08]  Right now we have a blockade.
[00:07:11]  They're doing no business.
[00:07:12]  I didn't like seeing boats come out if they were doing business with Iran, but if they weren't, no boats came out.
[00:07:18]  So now Iran is doing absolutely no business.
[00:07:22]  And we're going to keep it that way very easily.
[00:07:24]  Don't forget, their navy is gone, their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone, their radar is gone, and their leaders are gone.
[00:07:32]  That's a lot.
[00:07:33]  Do you still want to turn themselves in the world?
[00:07:38]  Mr. President, have a sushi being reached out and they're going to be able to do it.
[00:07:41]  No, but we have a very good relationship with China.
[00:07:44]  He would like to see this ended also.
[00:07:46]  He certainly wants it ended.
[00:07:48]  Everyone, I want to see it ended too.
[00:07:50]  We can't give a nuclear weapon to a group of people that have caused nothing but havoc for 47 years.
[00:07:59]  Look, I'm the president that's done something about it.
[00:08:02]  This should have been...
[00:08:03]  And many other presidents regret that they didn't.
[00:08:06]  Yeah, so I'm doing something.
[00:08:08]  Ukraine impeachment documents that were just declassified show that Eric Charonella not only submitted false information but that he had no direct knowledge of the alleged conversations over your state.
[00:08:19]  Do you feel vindicated by those?
[00:08:21]  Yeah, I do.
[00:08:22]  Are there a bunch of crooked people?
[00:08:23]  You're talking about with respect to all of the things that they put against me?
[00:08:28]  Yes?
[00:08:29]  Well, it's come out that in so many different ways.
[00:08:31]  Thank you very much for that question.
[00:08:32]  I appreciate it.
[00:08:33]  But in so many different ways, the election was rigged.
[00:08:36]  The 2020 election was rigged.
[00:08:38]  We found that out.
[00:08:39]  What you just said is just a piece of that.
[00:08:42]  It's a big piece, but minor, relatively speaking, compared to what they did.
[00:08:47]  They cheated on the election.
[00:08:48]  They cheated on the vote.
[00:08:50]  They cheated in every way possible.
[00:08:52]  And it's the only way we got an incompetent man to be a president.
[00:08:55]  And he was an incompetent.
[00:08:56]  Many of the things that we're talking about, even including this, this would have been settled a long time ago, not now.
[00:09:03]  And it should have been settled by other presidents.
[00:09:05]  But the election was a rigged election.
[00:09:07]  We can't let that happen to our country.
[00:09:09]  This concealment of expulpatory information, what should happen?
[00:09:12]  Well, it's a very serious charge against them and the Democrats.
[00:09:16]  They cheat.
[00:09:18]  They can't get elected with their policy.
[00:09:20]  So their policy is no good.
[00:09:22]  They want to have, I mean, open borders.
[00:09:25]  They want to have men playing in women's sport.
[00:09:28]  Do you think that men should play in women's sports?
[00:09:31]  I really don't have an opinion on that.
[00:09:33]  You don't, I'll bet you do.
[00:09:35]  No, I'm here about attacks on tips.
[00:09:39]  Madam President, you've delivered to the White House.
[00:09:44]  Thank you, Mr. President.
[00:09:45]  Is it your understanding that during this period of time, while the U.S. has instituted this naval blockade, that oil companies will be able to send their oil tankers through the strait, get more oil out from this area?
[00:09:57]  Yeah, I think they're going to be doing very well there, and I think they're doing very well here.
[00:10:01]  You know, a lot of tankers are coming up here.
[00:10:03]  They're coming in empty and out full.
[00:10:06]  And we have a great capacity to take care of that business.
[00:10:10]  May we know your name, please?
[00:10:11]  Have you delivered to the White House before?
[00:10:12]  I have not.
[00:10:13]  My name is Sharon Simmons.
[00:10:15]  And are the White House considers?
[00:10:17]  Do you know?
[00:10:19]  Wait.
[00:10:22]  Yes, very.
[00:10:24]  Mr. President, can I ask you something about this?
[00:10:26]  That's great.
[00:10:26]  Thank you.
[00:10:26]  You reminded me.
[00:10:28]  Mr. President, why don't you, sir?
[00:10:30]  You previously said that you had no problem with countries sending fuel to Cuba after previously promising to tariff them.
[00:10:39]  What happened?
[00:10:40]  What changed?
[00:10:40]  Well, we're going to see with Cuba.
[00:10:42]  Cuba's another story.
[00:10:44]  Cuba's been a terribly run country for a long time.
[00:10:46]  It's got a bad system.
[00:10:48]  It's been very oppressive, as you know.
[00:10:50]  And we have a lot of great Cuban Americans, all of whom just about voted for me.
[00:10:55]  And they were treated very badly.
[00:10:57]  In many cases, family members have been killed.
[00:10:59]  They've been beaten up and mugged and like terrible things happened in Cuba.
[00:11:05]  And Cuba is a failing nation.
[00:11:07]  And we're going to do this.
[00:11:09]  And we may stop by Cuba after we're finished with this.
[00:11:12]  But Cuba is a nation that has been horribly run for many years by Castro.
[00:11:18]  You've been raised by Congress Bill Pultey.
[00:11:22]  Regarding those two recent referrals for Letitia James for insurance fraud, do you know if federal prosecutors have evidence to charge?
[00:11:29]  Well, I don't know.
[00:11:30]  I know she's a very corrupt person.
[00:11:33]  And you're talking about the so-called Attorney General of New York.
[00:11:37]  She's a very corrupt person.
[00:11:38]  That's been proven now.
[00:11:40]  And I know they've...
[00:11:42]  I have nothing to do with it, but they're looking at things all over, all over the place, more than one state concerning her.
[00:11:49]  concerning people like Comey, who's a dirty cop.
[00:11:53]  Comey's a dirty cop and dirty cops are bad.
[00:11:57]  I love nobody likes the police more than me, law enforcement more than me, but Comey's a totally dirty cop and not gonna, we're not gonna stand for it yet.
[00:12:07]  The UFC fight that's happening at the White House this summer.
[00:12:10]  UFC typically numbers those fights consecutively, but should they label this one UFC 1776?
[00:12:17]  That's a good idea.
[00:12:17]  I'll tell that to Dana White.
[00:12:19]  I like that idea.
[00:12:21]  I will say I've been involved with a lot of big events.
[00:12:23]  I have never had an event that's had more interest than the UFC fight that we have right at the front door.
[00:12:29]  Right there, they're going to start building about a 4,500 seat arena.
[00:12:34]  And then in the back, at the ellipse, we're going to have maybe 100,000, 50,000 to 100,000 people, I guess.
[00:12:40]  They're building tremendous stages and we're going to have massive screens of the fight.
[00:12:47]  And it's a very popular sport.
[00:12:49]  But I have never been involved because of the White House and everything.
[00:12:53]  There's a lot of reasons for it.
[00:12:54]  But we're having a fight at the White House on June 14th.
[00:12:58]  And we're going to have an arena built right at the front door.
[00:13:02]  And you know, if you want your husband up to coming, you're there.
[00:13:05]  Does he like UFC?
[00:13:07]  He might.
[00:13:08]  If he's feeling good, we'll make sure you come, okay?
[00:13:10]  That would be wonderful.
[00:13:11]  That's better than the tip I just gave you.
[00:13:14]  That's a lot better.
[00:13:14]  But no, he's feeling good, right?
[00:13:16]  Is he doing okay?
[00:13:17]  Is he going to be good?
[00:13:18]  He's doing very well.
[00:13:19]  He's doing very well.
[00:13:20]  He actually, during the process, he wrote a book.
[00:13:27]  Go ahead, give him the name, maybe you'll see.
[00:13:29]  He hasn't had it published yet, but it's a book on humility.
[00:13:33]  And his name is Leo, and he's just...
[00:13:37]  Good guy.
[00:13:37]  Doing good.
[00:13:38]  He's doing great.
[00:13:40]  How long are you married?
[00:13:41]  We have been married for six years.
[00:13:44]  Oh, so.
[00:13:46]  You know, like most people, we've been together for over 10.
[00:13:49]  That's very good.
[00:13:50]  Well, that's fighting.
[00:13:51]  Say hello, Don.
[00:13:52]  He's going to be good.
[00:13:53]  Okay.
[00:13:54]  He's going to get better and he's going to be good.
[00:13:56]  Yes, sir.
[00:13:57]  Well, I want to thank you all, and I especially want to thank you for being here.
[00:14:00]  Well, I want to thank you for the no-tax on tips.
[00:14:05]  It has helped my family out immensely.
[00:14:08]  And I definitely appreciate it.
[00:14:11]  You know, the one thing that I just in leaving, we've had more good press for change having to do with the fact that people are receiving more money from their tax refunds than they ever thought possible.
[00:14:24]  We had a man the other day got $5,000.
[00:14:26]  Another one got $7,000.
[00:14:27]  They weren't expecting anything like this.
[00:14:29]  And it's because of the great big beautiful bill.
[00:14:32]  And that's why you came, and I really appreciate it.
[00:14:34]  And tell your husband to get better.
[00:14:36]  I will.
[00:14:36]  And if you're feeling good, you'll come up and you'll watch that fight.
[00:14:39]  I will.
[00:14:40]  I appreciate it.
[00:14:40]  All right.
[00:14:41]  Thank you very much.
[00:14:42]  Thank you so much.
[00:14:43]  Thank you very much.
[00:14:44]  Any updates, thank you very much.
[00:14:46]  Do you want to leave DOJ?
[00:14:47]  Any update on who you want to leave DOJ when you did it all?
[00:14:50]  Well, I think Todd Desmond is doing a fantastic job.
[00:14:53]  I will say that.
[00:14:53]  He's a great lawyer.
[00:14:54]  I know that because he's been with me a long time.
[00:14:57]  And so far, he's doing a great job.
[00:15:00]  But we have incredible people in the DOJ getting better all the time.
[00:15:03]  Thank you very much, everybody.
[00:15:04]  Thank you very much.
[00:15:05]  Thank you, sir.
[00:15:09]  You want to come in first, sir?
[00:15:11]  Thank you.
[00:15:18]  All right, guys.

=== American Democracy in Sanctuary (02:29) ===

[00:15:24]  Democracy is always an unfinished creation.
[00:15:28]  Democracy is worth dying for.
[00:15:30]  Democracy belongs to us all.
[00:15:32]  We are here in the sanctuary of democracy.
[00:15:35]  Great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies.
[00:15:39]  American democracy is bigger than any one person.
[00:15:42]  Freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected.
[00:15:48]  We are still at our core, a democracy.
[00:15:51]  This is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom.
[00:16:02]  Today, former U.S. Senator Mitt Romney speaks about the state of democracy and governance in the United States as part of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.
[00:16:11]  From Harvard University's Institute of Politics, watch it live at 6 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and c-SPAN.org.
[00:16:20]  And then at 7.30 p.m. Eastern, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sits down for a conversation on American politics as she retires from Congress after 20 terms.
[00:16:30]  She'll chat with former CNN Washington Bureau Chief Frank Cesno.
[00:16:33]  From George Washington University, watch that conversation live on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-SPAN.org.
[00:16:47]  Who's your representative?
[00:16:49]  Who sits on which committee?
[00:16:50]  Where do you even start?
[00:16:52]  C-SPAN's official congressional directory.
[00:16:55]  Get essential contact information for government officials all in one place.
[00:16:59]  The congressional directory costs $32.95 plus shipping and handling, and every purchase helps support C-SPAN's nonprofit operations.
[00:17:06]  Get your congressional directory by scanning the QR code or at c-span shop.org.
[00:17:12]  Stay informed.
[00:17:13]  Stay engaged.
[00:17:17]  Independent Senator Bernie Sanders and New York City Mayor Zoran Mandani were among the keynote speakers at a Union Now labor rally.
[00:17:25]  The event also heard from labor leaders representing Amazon, Whole Foods, Starbucks, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Association of Flight Attendants.
[00:17:34]  From New York City, the rally is about two hours.
[00:17:48]  Please welcome to the stage President of the Association of Flight Attendants, CWA, Sarah Sarah Nelson.