Pool Reports of February 16, 2025

Travel pool report #1: Motorcade leaves MAL

We are on the move. POTUS's motorcade left Mar-a-Lago at 11:46am, heading to Palm Beach International airport, where we will depart for Daytona Beach, Florida. 

President Trump plans to attend the Daytona 500, the kickoff race of the NASCAR season.

Travel pool report #2: Boarding AF1

POTUS got out of the presidential limousine and climbed the stairs of Air Force One at 11:56am. 

A group of Trump supporters were gathered by the airport. One of them had a huge flag with the image of Trump from the Butler rally with his fist raised and the words "fight, fight, fight." 

A White House official tells us that President Trump's entourage today includes: 
Eric Trump
Luke Trump
Sec. Sean Duffy
John Paul Duffy
Patrick Duffy
Sec. Doug Burgum
Kathryn Burgum
Sen. Todd Young
Sen. Ashley Moody
Rep. Jason Smith
Rep. Byron Donalds
Rep. Mike Haridopolos

Travel pool report #3: Take-off

Air Force One is rolling at 12:02pm, departing for Daytona Beach.

Travel pool report #4: Landing

Air Force One landed at Daytona Beach International Airport at 12:54pm after buzzing the Daytona speedway. TVs on Air Force One are tuned to Fox, and we had the odd experience of watching ourselves circling the speedway.

President Trump did not visit the press cabin during the flight.

Travel pool report #5: exiting plane / motorcade rolling

Senior Trump officials including Staff Secretary Will Scharf, Communications Director Steven Cheung and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino were seen exiting Air Force One around 1pm. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was standing on the tarmac with his iPhone to film President Trump disembarking.

POTUS descended the front stairs of Air Force One at 1:07pm, carrying several red MAGA hats.
He was followed by Eric and Lara Trump and two of their children. Trump put on one of the MAGA hats, matching his red tie, and stopped for several minutes to speak to greeters, which appeared to include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Trump waved at the press but did not come over and entered the presidential limousine at 1:12pm.

The motorcade began moving at 1:13pm.

Travel pool report #6: Arrival at Daytona International Speedway

The presidential motorcade drove straight onto the Daytona International Speedway at 1:17pm.

President Trump was driven in The Beast on a lap of the speedway, surrounded by stands packed with tens of thousands of NASCAR fans. We are traveling around 35 miles an hour, according to the driver of our humble pool van number three.

Travel pool report #7: Motorcade stopped

POTUS's motorcade came to a stop in a secure area at the center of the speedway at 1:22pm. Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," a Trump rally favorite, was blasting on the speakers as he arrived.

Travel pool report #8: Clarification

Apparently, what we did at the speedway does not qualify as a "lap." But we drove around a good bit of it and it seemed impressive and lap-like to me. 

POTUS has not yet done a lap of the Daytona speedway.

Travel pool report #9: POTUS stopped

Trump walked out to the gathered press and TV pool at 1:34pm, wearing a navy jacket with the presidential seal. He took off his hat for the national anthem and stood beside a race car with his hand over his heart. He did not take questions. Trump stood there for a flyover. 

Press was taken to the top of the bleachers, where we saw Trump, with one of his granddaughters, walking to the center of the track at 1:40 pm and shaking hands with NASCAR drivers.

Travel pool report #10: POTUS interview

We are a fair distance away but appears that POTUS just did a brief interview with Fox Sports on the track.

Interview finished at 1:45pm and Trump pumped his fist at the crowd and entered The Beast at 1:46pm.

Air Force Thunderbirds flew overhead, with a roar, at 1:49pm. POTUS is parked track side, watching the display from the presidential limousine.

Travel pool report #11: The Beast enters Speedway

The Beast, carrying POTUS, drives onto the Daytona speedway at 1:52pm and is now circling the track, followed by a procession of SUVs and race cars traveling at lower than usual speeds.

Travel pool report #12: Trump pulls to a stop

The Beast pulled into the secure area at the center of the speedway at 1:58pm.

Unsurprisingly, this is an extremely pro-Trump crowd at the Daytona speedway. Lots of fans wearing MAGA caps and the crowd section nearest to us roared at such a volume as The Beast drove by that we could hear the crowd from quite a distance over the very loud music.

Travel pool report #13: Race paused

It's raining here at Daytona and the race is paused. We are parked in the secure area in the center of the speedway, along with the other cars in the POTUS motorcade.

Travel pool report #14: Motorcade rolling

Motorcade is rolling at 2:49pm, leaving the Daytona speedway. The stands have emptied out as the race stopped due to the rain.

From our angle in the pool van, we could not see POTUS getting in The Beast.

Travel pool report #15: Departure from Daytona

The Beast pulled up at Daytona airport at 2:58pm and President Trump walked quickly through the rain, up the front stairs of Air Force One.

Air Force One is now rolling at 3:05pm

Travel pool report #16: Landed Palm Beach

Air Force One landed at Palm Beach International airport at 3:45pm.

Travel pool report #17: Disembark

President Trump disembarked Air Force One at exactly 4pm and answered questions from the press for a few minutes.

He took questions mostly on Russia-Ukraine but also on a couple of other topics. He did not make major news but I will go through the Otter and will send you detailed notes.

At one point President Trump was asked what he thought President Putin wanted in Ukraine and whether he intended to keep fighting to seize the whole country. Trump said he asked that question of Putin and was convinced after their conversation that Putin does not want the whole of Ukraine and that he wants to stop fighting.

Direct quotes to come.

Travel pool report #18: Trump gaggle part 1

Check quotes against official transcript. Very hard to hear against the jet engines. Here's the first half of the short gaggle, courtesy of my much more competent sidekick Tarini Parti:

Q: spoken to Rubio? Update on talks in Saudi?

Trump said he had spoken to Rubio and that the peace process was "moving along." Added that it was a "war that should have never started." 

Q: Will President Zelensky be involved in these conversations?

Trump: "he will be involved yes."

Q: concerned about what Zelensky said today that Russia would wage war on NATO?

Trump: "not even a little bit"

Q: Vance said that the United States would potentially take military action against Russia if they won't come to an agreement. Do you agree?

Trump: "I don't know if that's what he said." 

Q: what do you think Putin wants? 

Trump: "I think he wants to stop fighting." Added that Russia defeated hitler and napoleon. 

"I think he wants to end it and they want to end it fast."

"Zelensky wants to end it too."

Travel pool report #19: Lid called

Pool dropped off President Trump at Mar-a-Lago and lid was called at 4:16pm.

Still working on getting you quotes from the rest of the gaggle.

Travel pool report #20: Trump gaggle part 2

The rest of the quotes from President Trump’s gaggle with reporters at Palm Beach International airport after getting off Air Force One on the return trip from Daytona.

Again CHECK all these against the official transcript. Hard to hear over the engines. And that's the last you'll hear from me today. Thanks for bearing with me. And thanks to WSJ's Tarini Parti for backstopping.

Q: Would you allow the Europeans to buy US made weapons for Ukrainians?
Trump: "Yeah I would"

Q: After speaking to Putin, what do you think he wants?

Trump: "I think he wants to stop fighting. I see that. We spoke long and hard. Steve Witkoff was with him for a very extended period, like about three hours. I think he wants to stop fighting. They have a big, powerful machine. You understand that. They defeated Hitler and they defeated Napoleon. They have been fighting a long time. They've done it before. 

Q: Do you think Putin wants to seize the whole of Ukraine?

Trump: "No. I think he wants to stop. That was my question to him, because if he's going to go on, that would have been a big problem for us. And that would have caused me a big problem, because you just can't let that happen. I think he wants to end it. And they want to end it fast, both of them. And Zelensky wants to end it too... It's really too bad. A lot of people are dead right now that should be alive, and a lot of cities are destroyed that can never come back like they were. Those beautiful golden domes, and all of the multicolored domes that were 1000 years old. They're all laying in, you know, just shattered. So it's very sad. They ruined the culture.

Q: Have you been briefed on the latest on the ceasefire with Israel and Hamas?

Trump: "Well, I told you I have been briefed. I told Bibi: 'You do whatever you want.' Because, you know my statement was they've got to come back. Now, the reason I made that statement was because they said they were not going to deliver... the people that they said they were going to deliver, that they agreed to deliver. And they did agree to do that, but they broke that agreement when I made the statement, they delivered everybody, plus an American. Now the good news is they look like they're in pretty good shape, because the people from the week before, it didn't look like they were in good shape. They looked like Holocaust survivors, frankly horrible. Whatever happened to them was horrible, but that will be up to Israel what the next step is, in consultation with me. 

Q: I can't make out the exact question but it's something along the lines of why are you supplying weapons to Israel that Biden withheld...

Trump: "Peace through strength. You understand that? Right? It's called peace through strength. You know they contracted for those weapons a long time ago in the Biden administration, and then Biden wouldn't deliver the weapons. But I look at it differently. I say peace through strength. They were sitting there. Nobody knew what to do with them. They bought them. But I believe in that very strongly.

Q: Question about the European Union planning retaliatory trade actions in response to Trump's tariffs...

Trump: "That's all right, I don't mind. Let them do it. Let them do it. They're just hurting themselves if they do that, I can't imagine it. But it doesn't matter. We're having reciprocal tariffs. Whatever they charge, we charge. Very simple. If a certain country like India, which is very high tariff, if they charge us X dollars, we charge them X dollars. It's alright. So it's a fair thing to do. Even the media said it was fair, and it's going to be very good for the United States.

Q: Any update on timing on your meeting with Putin and Saudi Arabia?

Trump: "No time set, but it could be very soon.

Q: Like this month?

Trump: "Well, it'll be soon. We'll see what happens. But they're meeting right now, and that's more... I mean, this should have been done four years ago, three years ago before it started, but it should have been done immediately after it started, as opposed to now three years later.

Q: "Egg prices have reached an all time high...

Trump, cutting off the questioner: "Which is what? Well, there's a flu. Before I ever got here, it was at an all time... remember, I've been here for three weeks, and when you saw the inflation numbers, I've been here for three weeks. I have had nothing to do with inflation. This was caused by Biden. I had four years of virtually no inflation. So I'm just taking over. But I'll tell you what, this country has made more progress in the last three weeks than it's made in the last four years, and we're respected again as a country. Thank you very much.