Pool Reports of February 14, 2025

In-town pool report #1: lunch lid

Good morning from the White House. We have a lunch lid until 1215 pm.

In-town pool report #2: Covid vaccine-related EO set for today

A White House official confirmed that today's executive order will focus on halting federal funds for schools and universities that impose coronavirus vaccine mandates, as first reported by Breitbart News. 

As a candidate, President Trump had vowed to restrict funding for schools with vaccination mandates. Your pooler notes that sometimes Trump specifically referenced coronavirus vaccine mandates, but he also spoke more broadly and suggested defunding schools with other vaccine mandates.

Here's the Breitbart story:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/14/exclusive-trump-expected-to-halt-federal-funding-to-schools-with-covid-vaccine-mandates/

In-town pool report #3: Brooke Rollins to gaggle with reporters

Brooke Rollins, the new Ag secretary, will speak with reporters at the sticks in 5 minutes, the White House said a minute ago.

In-town pool report #4: Rollins says first briefing was on avian flu

Brooke Rollins, new Ag secretary, acknowledges high food prices and risk of avian flu as possible contributor

"Clearly, one of the key issues facing all Americans right now is the price of food and grocery prices"

"My very first briefing in my office last night was on this particular issue, was on the avian bird flu"

She says they're looking at all possible approaches to fighting threat of avian flu

Also says she's heading to Kentucky soon for a major farm show

Still speaking

In-town pool report #5: Rollins on cuts to government workforce

Rollins says it's "clearly a new day" in government as layoffs sweep across the federal workforce.

She says President Trump has a mandate to cut government.

"I think the American people spoke on November 5 that they believe that government was too big … that it was no longer, in many respects, serving the people for which our Founders intended."

"I spoke to about 700 people" at Ag dept about her vision this morning, giving 10 minutes of remarks, she says.

Rollins also touts canceled contracts.

"To date, I think we have canceled almost 1000 trainings that would be DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion, gender ideology focused."

Still speaking

In-town pool report #6: Rollins finishes speaking

Rollins says she "would welcome DOGE to be involved"  in efforts to revamp Ag dept operations, around programs like SNAP

"Oftentimes, these government programs have started with the idea … it's not a handout, it's a hand up, and then years later, the programs are even bigger, and you've got more people on them. And are we really giving people a hand up, or is it a handout? So if we can have, you know, a whole other group of really smart people looking at SNAP, and other programs at USDA, that will allow us to ensure what are our metrics for success? Are we meeting those metrics for success?"

Rollins finished speaking.

In-town pool report #7: executive order signing is expected to be opened to press

Pool has been advised that this afternoon's EO signing with President Trump will likely be opened to press.

The EO signing was originally scheduled for 1 pm. No info yet on when it will be.

The EO is expected to focus on halting funding for schools and universities with coronavirus vaccination mandates, per a Breitbart News story and a White House official.

In-town pool report #8: Pool gathering

The pool is gathering for the EO signing.

In-town pool report #9: Associated Press blocked from joining pool

AP reporter attempted to join the pool. 

"No, sorry," said WH official.

In-town pool report #10: Entering Oval

pool has entered Oval at 207 pm

President is speaking

In-town pool report #11: Trump speaks, signs EO

"We have largely an energy group today. We're looking to be very energy dominant" he says flanked by Chris Wright and Doug Burgum and Sean Duffy

But he first signs EO halting federal funding for schools and universities with covid vaccination mandates

In-town pool report #12: Trump signs EO establishing national energy dominance council

President is signing a second EO to establish a council chaired by Burgum and vice chair Wright

Trump: We have more energy than any other country, and now we're unleashing it.

In-town pool report #13: Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, others speak

Burgum, Wright, Lee Zeldin, Sean Duffy, Howard Lutnick all speak about new energy council

Burgum says this is a reversal from Biden admin that he says was opposed to unleashing energy 

Burgum: "Now we need to turn that around 180 degrees and unleash that potential. We've got to unleash it from the Gulf of America all the way up to Alaska."

Wright speaks about LNG efforts

"With this fantastic action from our president, we now have authority across the government to lean in to fix these problems."

In-town pool report #14: Trump says they're working on a pipeline

Trump discusses a pipeline that he says will reduce energy prices in New England and New York

"We are also working on a project that has been under wraps for 20 years, everybody wanted it … We'll bring down the energy prices in New York and in all of New England"

In-town pool report #15: Trump discusses efforts to address Americans' water flow

"They take a shower, and water barely comes out, and it's an unnecessary restriction."

He says they're going back to rules from first Trump administration 

Now taking questions

In-town pool report #16: Trump discusses tariff announcements, riffs on his Cabinet

Tariff is a "beautiful word" he says

He's also praising officials standing behind him working on the new energy council, going through one by one to talk about them.

"I have a very talented group of people behind me."

Trump discusses at length Howard Lutnick witnessing Sept 11 terror attacks 

"I mean, he literally watched the plane go into the building"

"His wife insisted that he take his child to school for five years. He didn't do it. He was horrible. What kind of a father was he? Okay? I'll do it. And he took and he was therefore driving down at 843, whatever the time was, down the West Side Highway. And he saw the plane go into the side of the building."

In-town pool report #17: Trump takes question on Sen. Wicker

Reporter notes that Wicker said Hegseth made a "rookie mistake" in talking about Ukraine while in Munich

Trump says he wasn't aware of what Wicker said, but calls him a friend. Trump says that he generally knew what Hegseth would say while speaking in Munich 

Trump says that he will speak to both Wicker and Hegseth

In-town pool report #18: Trump on Vance speech, Eric Adams speech

Reporter asks about Vance's speech ruffling feathers in Europe after speaking about migration and freedom of speech.

Trump says it was a "very good speech, actually very brilliant."

"In Europe … they're losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech," he says.

In response to another question, Trump says he's not involved in what's happening with NYC Mayor Eric Adams' case and the resignation of prosecutors who say they were wrongly pressed to drop the case.

"I know nothing about the individual case. I know that they didn't feel it was much of a case."

Trump says he would know "better than anybody" how legal cases can be weaponized.

In-town pool report #19: Trump finishes speaking

Pool leaves oval at 2:45 pm

Helicopter is waiting for President outside 

Will follow later with more from Oval

In-town pool report #20: Trump says meeting with Starmer is coming next week

"I think he wants to come next week or the weekend and we'll be able to discuss I don't know it was his request, not mine, but, you know, I met him twice already. We get along very well. Very nice guy."

In-town pool report #21: Gathering to watch President’s departure

Pool and WH staff queued outside to watch President exit WH and head toward Marine One.

In-town pool report #22: Trump says meeting with Starmer is coming soon

Cleaning up the lack of punctuation in pool report #20. Also unclear to pool, with a bit of reflection, about whether the meeting is firmly set for next week or sometime after.

President Trump on Starmer: "He asked for a meeting, and I agreed to the meeting. We have a lot of good things going on, but he asked to come and see me, and I just accepted … I think he wants to come next week or the weekend … We get along very well. Very nice guy."

In-town pool report #23: Trump boards Marine One

Pool witnessed president entering Marine One at 3:03 PM

Burgum, Lutnick, others followed a minute later

In-town pool report #24: Marine One wheels up at 3:08 pm

Out-of-town pooler will be your pooler moving forward today.

In-town pooler will follow with more notes from Oval shortly.

In-town pool report #25: more from entering the Oval + Otter

Pooler was standing behind AP reporter at 2:05 p.m. as reporters gathered to enter the Oval. 

As reporters were told to begin walking, pooler saw two press wranglers stop the AP reporter.

Pooler didn't see which wrangler said "No, sorry," to AP reporter, but locked eyes with one wrangler who had a sheepish expression.

Pooler then entered the Oval, where the president was joined by NEC director Kevin Hassett, Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, Energy secretary Chris Wright, Interior secretary Doug Burgum and Transportation secretary Sean Duffy. Pooler also saw a number of Trump aides in the room, including chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Here's an otter with the president's comments from the Oval.
https://otter.ai/u/WbR-YvDI1aROpT0AzWmPUxRuskU?utm_source=copy_url

In-town pool report #26: WH officials tout 'this week's accomplishments'

A White House staffer walked through the press room a few minutes ago, handing out a three-page document titled "This Week's Accomplishments" that touts this week's actions. 

Your pooler has attempted to transcribe below, with apologies for any typos.

---- 

This Week's Accomplishments

•   Received his highest ever approval rating (53%), with 70% of respondents saying Trump was keeping his campaign promises per CBS poll. Even received a positive rating from 20% of Dem voters in JL Partners / Daily Mail poll.
•   Secured release of Pennsylvania teacher Marc Fogel from Russian captivity. Fogel had been held in Russia since 2021, with the Biden administration securing the release of Brittney Griner before Fogel despite Fogel being incarcerated before Griner for a similar infraction.
•   Directed the US Treasury to stop minting new pennies - a move 58% of all likely voters support
  • Pennies cost 3.7 cents to make and distribute.
•   Fired the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard following years of
  "Woke Leftist Ideologues" infiltrating US service academies.
  • Heritage: "Professor Lynne Chandler Garcia recently published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which she defended indoctrinating her students on the concepts of critical race theory, or CRT. Normally, this wouldn't raise any eyebrows. A member of the intelligentsia teaching her students a boutique academic theory? Hardly shocking.
    What did get people's attention was Garcia's place of employment. None other than the U.S. Air Force Academy."
• In March, West Point removed its "Duty, Honor, Country" motto from its mission statement.
•   Ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) - an Elizabeth Warren brainchild that funneled cash to left-wing nonprofits - to halt operations.
•   Became first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl and brought back tradition of pre-Super Bowl interviews.
•   Signed an executive order rolling back Biden-era push to phase out plastic straws.
•   Declared February 9 Gulf of America Day in order for "our great Nation to come together and commemorate this momentous occasion and the renaming of the Gulf of America."
•   Resumed repatriation flights to Venezuela.
•   Disney dropped two of its DEl programs amid backlash, including the company's "Reimagine Tomorrow" program - defined as the 'Company's digital destination for amplifying underrepresented voices and features some of Disney's DE&I commitments and actions" - which hosted a "controversial 2022 leaked "all-hands" meeting in which a Disney executive touting her "not at all secret gay agenda."
• Fired slew of Kennedy Center board members, including former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
  • Kennedy Center had hosted drag-themed show "Dragtastic Dress-up" - aimed at "LGBTQ+ youth under 18," performances from drag queen Kris Anderson in its "Family Theater," and drag brunches at its rooftop restaurant. The Kennedy Center also gave out multiple DEI-focused awards:
  • The Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting which is "offered for the outstanding student-written play that...explores issues of gender, diversity, and sexual orientation."
  • The True Voice Award, announced on International Transgender Day of Visibility, which was "developed to create more space in opera for artists who identify as transgender or nonbinary."
• FBI discovered 2,400 records tied to JFK assassination that were never provided to the board tasked with reviewing and disclosing the documents.
• Chicago Lurie Children's Hospital paused gender surgeries for patients under 19 as it "work[s) to understand the rapidly evolving environment."
• Eliminated the Federal Executive Institute - a training program for government bureaucrats.
• Paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which overregulated American business practices abroad, thereby threatening US national security
• Implemented a 25% global tariff on steel and aluminum imports, protecting the American steel and aluminum industries from unfair foreign competition.
• Issued DOGE "workforce optimization initiative" instructing DOGE and federal agencies to
  "undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force," with an edict for agencies to not hire more than one employee for every four that leave their post.
• U.S. crude oil stockpiles have risen every week since POTUS came to office, growing by 4.1 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 7 - 1.7 million barrels more than analysts had expected.
  Oil prices fell 1% on 2/12 as a result.
• Senate confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,, bringing the total number of cabinet confirmations to 16.
• Held calls with both Putin and Zelenskyy, with both sides reportedly open to making peace.
• Secured the release of an American hostage from Belarus, bringing the total number of hostages released to 11 since POTUS took office.
• Secured the resignations of over 75,000 federal workers - roughly 3.75% of the federal workforce, with Judge George O'Toole permitting the deferred resignation program to roll forward.
• Established one clear, unified voice for American foreign relations, reforming America's corps of careerist diplomats.
• Hamas agreed to free three more Israeli hostages after previously saying it would delay the releases. The change in Hamas's stance comes after POTUS said "all hell is going to break out" if Hamas delayed the hostage releases.
• Introduced the "Fair and Reciprocal Plan" to counter non-reciprocal trading arrangements with foreign trading partners.
• Established the "Make America Healthy Again" Commission to fight chronic disease and improve
  American health outcomes.
• Hosted Abdullah Il of Jordan on 2/11/2025, who offered to take in 2,000 Gazan children with cancer and other serious medical issues.
• Hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2/13/2025 and announced the following agreements:
  • Set target of $500 billion in mutual trade between the US and India, more than double the $190 billion in trade between the countries in 2023.
  • Agreed to increase military equipment sales to India "by many billions of dollars starting this year" in a bid to deepen defense ties.
  • Modi stated India was ready to take back verified illegal Indian migrants.
  • Announced the launch of the US-India TRUST initiative to enhance. government-to-government, academia and private sector collaboration on artificial intelligence.
    Agreed to move forward on US-India nuclear energy cooperation, with the countries working together to build US-designed nuclear reactors in India.
• Instructed EPA Administrator Zeldin to terminate Biden-era environmental water/flow and lightbulb standards.
• DOJ sued New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York AG Letitia James over sanctuary policies
• FCC launched investigation into Soros-funded radio station KCBS after it leaked ICE raid details
• Prior to the 2024 election, Soros purchased a $400 million stake in 227 US radio stations
• FCC launched probe into NBC-news parent Comcast's promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
  • "The FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act... including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI."

Travel Pool Report #1 — POTUS talks at JBA

Marine One was wheels down at 1516 and taxied to the front of the waiting VC-25A with tail# 29000, coming to a stop at 1518. 

POTUS exited the helicopter at 1519, saluted his Air Force greeter and patted one of the Marines at the foot of the helicopter stairs on the shoulder. 

He waved to pool while continuing to chat with the uniformed USAF greeter then stopped to tell pool about military recruiting numbers, which he said were at record levels. 

Exact quotes TK.

Travel pool report #2 — POTUS quote on recruiting numbers

Please check this against official transcript:

"I just wanted to let you know that the recruitment numbers are getting to be records that they're at levels that we haven't seen in many many years for the Army the Navy, Air Force, Marines, the whole thing. The recruitment numbers you're probably hearing, they're at records, so we're very happy about that."

He did not take a question about tariffs for pharmaceuticals coming into effect. 

Air Force One is rolling at 1527

Travel pool report #3 — wheels up

After a brief taxi, Air Force One was wheels up at 1531.

Next stop PBI — I have asked for but not yet gotten a list of greeters/travelers.

Travel Pool Report #4 — PBI

Air Force One was wheels down at Palm Beach International at 1717 before taxiing for several minutes and coming to a stop at 1724.

There were no visitors to the press cabin during the flight.

Travel pool report #5 — travelers / deplaning / rolling

Two officials deplaned from the front air stairs at 1532 (Howard Lutnik, Sergio Gor) 

POTUS followed them at 1533.

He descended the air stairs with some care, saluted the two Air Force sentries and went into the Beast followed by a USSS agent and Walt Nauta. 

Motorcade rolling at 1735. 

The White House provided this list of staff and officials traveling with the president:

Mike Waltz
Will Scharf
Nick Luna
Dan Scavino
Steven Cheung
Secretary Doug Burgum

Travel pool report 6: MAL

Motorcade dropped POTUS at Mar-a-Lago at 1744. 

There were supporters along roads between the airport and Mar-a-Lago including two people holding signs with "DOGE" in hearts and a person in an inflatable dinosaur suit with a sign pool was not able to read. 

There were no supporters at the usual spots just after the causeway — there appeared to be some construction there. 

Pool is holding in vans at the Bath and Tennis Club parking lot.

Travel pool report #7: Lid

The White House called a travel/photo lid as of 1758. 

Happy Valentine’s Day to all!