Pool Reports of April 14, 2025

In-town pool report #1 — Miller/Hassett gaggles

Good morning from the White House, where it's hazy 57 degrees.

President Trump will host President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and the reigning college football playoff champion Ohio State Buckeyes at the White House today.

Both deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett gaggled with reporters this morning ahead of Bukele's arrival.

Miller's exchange grew particularly heated, at one point admonishing the press for not knowing "the difference between a deportation order and a withholding order?"

MILLER: https://otter.ai/u/uo6UVVViTBFeCueQ4-s2gCm-hDA?view=transcript&tab=chat

Hassett focused on developments surrounding the president's tariff agenda, and he conceded that the White House is "concerned" about China. Thanks to Washington Examiner's Mabinty Quarshie for the Hassett audio

HASSETT: https://otter.ai/u/BjhIAEJL_GOD_dTfd_8bLNCO24A?tab=chat&view=transcript

Tktk

In-town pool report #2 — Bukele arrival

President Bukele's SUV pulled up to the West Wing at 11:29am, a half hour behind schedule. 

President Trump, wearing a dark suite and red tie, embraced Bukele but did not answer questions from to pool before retreating back into the WH at 11:30am

Pool is now moving to gather for Oval bilat

tktk

In-town pool report #3 — Oval gather

Pool is lining up outside of the West Wing, preparing to enter the Oval

The bilateral is being livestream at WH YouTube channel, so pool will not send full quotes, just color and news

Follow along here: 
https://www.youtube.com/live/UkZi5Slsau0?si=l48RmVPbqVYumnvC

In-town pool report #4 — Oval

Pool entered at 11:39am. POTUS is speaking now

In-town pool report #5 — Bukele t-shirt
[APP Note: This is the first of two reports numbered "5".]

Some color… President Bukele, wearing a dark t-shirt under his suit jacket ,spoke briefly about his efforts to support Trump's deportation agenda. 

Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio, and Attorney General Bondi are also in the meeting, seated to Trump's left

Tktk

In-town pool report #5 — more attendees
[APP Note: This is the second of two reports numbered "5".]

DHS Sec. Noem
CoS Wiles
NSA Waltz
Stephen Miller 
Karoline Leavitt
Margo Martin

Tktk

In-town pool report #6 — bilateral wraps

Pool was ushered out of the Oval Office at 12:22pm. POTUS did not answer additional questions from the press. 

Tktk

In-town pool report #7 — CSPAN video

Passing along CSPAN's video of the Trump-Bukele bilateral incase the WH stream cut out at any point.

https://www.c-span.org/event/white-house-event/president-trump-meets-with-salvadoran-president/432464

In-town pool report #8 — Bukele departure

President Bukele exited the West Wing and hopped into his SUV at 2:03pm. He gave a quick thumbs up when asked how his meeting went

POTUS might have sent Bukele off inside the WW entry hall, but pool did not put eyes on him 

In-town pool report #9 — gathering for Ohio State

Pool is now gathering for the Ohio State ceremony on the South Lawn

tktk

In-town pool report #10 — South Lawn

Pool is situated at the back of the crowd for the OSU ceremony… typical footprint, and pool estimates between 300-400 attendees

Marine Corps band is located stage left and is currently entertaining the crowd ahead of POTUS' arrival, most recently playing an orchestral arrangement of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll"

In-town pool report #11 — POTUS arrival

OSU exited the second floor of the residence at 3:20pm and was greeted by a boisterous "o-h... I-O!" chant from the crowd. 

POTUS, VP, and OSU head coach Ryan Day walked out of the West Wing and took the stage at 3:23pm. POTUS is now speaking

Follow along with remarks here: 
https://www.youtube.com/live/UkZi5Slsau0?si=LCV9Ztzk0q7WH8Zt

In-town pool report #12 — trophy breaks/event concludes

POTUS concluded his remarks at 3:40pm. VP spoke briefly immediately after, followed by Day who, along with the team captains, presented the president and VP with custom jerseys and an Ohio State helmet 

ONE NOTE: VP might have broken the CFP trophy… the base fell off the bottom as he picked it up, though it's now again standing on its pedestal 

Tktk

In-town pool report #13 — POTUS leads team toward OVAL

POTUS is walking with OSU players and staff toward the Oval Office, but pool was too far to shout questions as they made their way along the rope line 

Tktk

In-town pool report #14 — travel/photo lid

... called at 6:06pm. That's all from me, y'all. Have a great Monday evening!

Foreign pool note #1 - Background on Nayib Bukele's visit to the White House

Good morning,

I will be your foreign pooler today. Here is some background information on president Nayib Bukele's visit. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or comments.

Nayib Bukele is the first Latin American president to visit the White House since Donald Trump was reelected. With an 80% approval rating in his country, he secured reelection last year, largely due to his tough approach against criminal gangs.

During his first five- year term as El Salvador's president, his government reported a dramatic drop in crime—from over 2,000 incidents in 2019 to just 114 last year. This decline was made possible by the state of emergency he imposed in 2022, which remains in effect.

According to Human Rights Watch, Bukele's administration has detained around 85,000 individuals, yet only 1,000 have been convicted of crimes, raising concerns over wrongful imprisonments. Bukele claims that 8,000 innocent detainees have since been released.

On April 8, the U.S. State Department elevated El Salvador's travel safety rating to Level 1—the highest designation for countries deemed safest for American travelers. The advisory highlights a significant decrease in gang-related violence.

Terrorism Confinement Center, CECOT

Maximum-security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Built in 2022, it has a capacity for 40,000 people.

This weekend, President Bukele shared an article by Radio France Internationale on his X (formerly Twitter) account, which suggested that by accepting even more of these alleged criminals, El Salvador could secure funding and legitimize its high-security mega-prisons. President Bukele recently received $6 million from the Trump administration in exchange for taking in 238 Venezuelans accused of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang.

"El Salvador confirms it will house these individuals for one year, pending the United States' decision on their long-term disposition," the Associated Press (AP) reported, quoting a memo from El Salvador's Foreign Ministry.

"If he (president Bukele) can take these horrible criminals for less money than it costs us, I'm in—but I only do things in accordance with the law," President Donald Trump told American reporters on Monday, April 7.

Located near El Salvador's capital city of San Salvador, Cetco is also holding a Maryland resident, whose wrongful deportation has been acknowledged by authorities. Despite judicial rulings mandating his repatriation, the man remains incarcerated in the facility.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

The Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration must comply with a lower court's decision to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.

Maryland Federal District Court ordered authorities to arrange the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident and father of three who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. An immigration judge had previously granted him protected status, determining he faced potential gang violence in his home country.

However, the Department of Justice asserted on Sunday that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction to compel El Salvador to release Abrego Garcia, stating this authority lies exclusively with the president regarding international affairs.

Worth mentioning that while multiple judges had previously blocked the Trump administration's actions, the Supreme Court recently allowed the use of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act for these deportations. The justices did mandate that detainees receive court hearings prior to removal.

Senator Rubio confirmed that over the weekend, ten additional individuals - allegedly affiliated with MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs - were transferred to El Salvador.

Key Topics to expect during the meeting:

Border & Crime Plans: Talks will likely cover joint efforts on migration, Trump's tariffs, and the potential transfer of more U.S. criminals to Salvadoran prisons.

Security Upgrades: Expect major announcements on combating illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and deporting MS-13 members—alongside new high-tech tools like biometrics to monitor gang activity.

Tariffs: Bukele is expected to challenge Trump's 10% tariff, arguing it undermines El Salvador's economic recovery and anti-gang efforts.

Bitcoin: El Salvador made history as the first country to adopt Bitcoin (in 2021), and Bukele remains committed—his volcano-powered "Bitcoin City" project near Conchagua remains underway.

Schedule:

10:55 AM EDT: President Bukele's arrival and greeting with President Trump

11:05 AM EDT: Bilateral meeting (closed press)

Foreign Pool Report #2 - Spray Quotes

Bukele on Kilmar Abrego Garcia detention:

"How can I return him to the United States? I smuggle him into the United States? Of course I'm not going to do it."

Pam Bondi on Abrego García:

"Immigration court and an appellate immigration working ruled that he was a member of MS 13, and he was illegally in our country right now. It was a paperwork, it was additional paperwork. It needed to be done. That's up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That's not up to us. The Supreme Court ruled president that if as El Salvador, wants to return this, this is international matters, foreign affairs."

Rubio on Abrego García: 

"He was illegally in the United States and was returned to this country. That's where you deport people back to their country of origin, except for Venezuela that wasn't refusing to take people back, or places like that. I can tell you this, Mr. President, no, the foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the President of the United States, not by a court. And no court in the United States has a right to conduct this foreign policy in the United States, it's that simple, end of story."

On Congolese and Venezuelan jails:

Four years ago, when I heard that this guy was having open borders, I said every single criminal from all over the world is going to be dumped into a country, and that's what happened jails. The jails of the Congo were emptied out. The jails in Venezuela were emptied out. And you know what happened? They cried one way then, but now, Venezuela has other problems.

You know, the brothers had no money as they shut off their oil, and we were secondary tariffs because they're not they're not doing what's right over there. They know what to do. We spoke to him. I spoke to him. They know what to do, but they have no money.

On tariffs exceptions:

Look, I'm a very flexible person. I don't change my mind, but I'm flexible. I have to be. You just can't wall and you'll only sometimes you have to go around it, under or above it, there'll be maybe things coming up. I speak to Tim Cook. I helped Tim Cook recently and that whole business.

I'm not I don't want to hurt anybody. But the end result is we're going to get to the position of greatness for our country, with the greatest economic power in the world. If we're smart, if we're not smart, we're going to hurt our country very badly.

Ukraine:

"They have millions of people dead. Millions of people dead because of three people. I would say three people. Let's say Putin, number one, let's say Biden. You had no idea what the hell he was doing. Number two, and Zelensky. And all I can do is try and stop that's all I want. I want to stop the killing."

*** Please verify these quotes against the official transcript.