Pool Reports of February 4, 2025

In-town Travel Pool Report #1 - Karoline Leavitt gaggle

Hi all,

It appears that Karoline Leavitt gaggled for a couple of minutes on the driveway this morning. Your pooler was not aware it has happened, but have gotten the audio. It does not look like she made much news.

• Talked about the importance of the first meeting with a foreign leader today (Netanyahu)
• Said the WH expects republicans to stay strong and confirm RFK jr.
• No updates on call with Xi, but expects china to do more to stop fentanyl

The audio is attached.

In-town Travel Pool Report #2 — resending leavitt audio

Hi all,
Some people seem not to have gotten that audio
Try this link instead:

Leavitt audio

In-town Travel Pool Report #3 - witkoff / waltz

Hi all,

Steve Witkoff and Mike Waltz gaggled at 1:15. They talked exclusively about the situation in Gaza, including the challenge of moving Palestinians back into such a devastated area, and the efforts to negotiate phase 2 of the cease-fire deal.

Here is the audio.

In town Travel Pool Report #4 — EOs / oval comments

Some news :

POTUS sighed two EOs.

1. Reimposing maximum pressure on Iran. "It's very tough on Iran." POTUS said he's "torn" on signing it. "Hopefully we are not going to have to use it very much"

"I'm unhappy to do it."

2. An EO withdrawing the US from UNRWA and the UN human rights council.

More to come

In-town Travel Pool Report #5 - Oval spray ongoing

POTUS is still talking with reporters. Other topics including the future of Gaza, Elon Musk, and concerns about the high speed train connecting San Francisco and LA.

Will provide more details and quotes

In Town Travel Pool Report #6 — Gaza comment

I will follow up with other comments / quotes, but here are some comments POTUS made in the Oval in answer to several different questions about the future of Gaza:

I would like to see Jordan. I'd like to see Egypt take some. Look the Gaza thing has not worked. It's never worked. And I feel very differently about Gaza than a lot of people. I think they should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land, and we get some people to put up the money to build it and make it nice and make it habitable and enjoyable.

I don't know how they could want to stay. It's a demolition site. It's a pure demolition site. If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places with plenty of money in the area, that's for sure. I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza

If they had the opportunity. They have no alternative right now. I mean, they're there because they have no alternative. What do they have? It is a big pile of rubble right now. I mean, have you seen the pictures of it? Have you been there? It's terrible to live. Who can live like that? And very dangerous. There's shooting all over the place. There's bombing all over the place — on both sides. No, I would think if they had an option of moving, either in a large group or various smaller groups, to take care of the close to 2 million people, I would think that they would be thrilled to do. They — you say about the Gaza Strip, they don't have an option.

I think they'd love to leave Gaza if they had an option. Right now, they don't have an option. What are they going to do? They have to go back to Gaza.

In-town travel pool report #7 — more Oval quotes

Other POTUS quotes from the Oval (as always, check against official transcript)

• On the UN: "So I've always felt that the UN has tremendous potential. It's not living up to that potential right now. It really isn't. Hasn't for a long time, it has. There are great hopes for it, but it's not being well run, to be honest, and not doing the job."
• On the "maximum pressure" EO on Iran: "So this is one that I'm torn about. Everybody wants me to sign it. I'll do that. It's very tough on Iran … So I'm signing this, and I'm unhappy to do it, but I really have not so much choice, because we have to be strong and firm, and I hope that it's not going to have to be used in any great measure at all. It'd be great if we could have a Middle East and maybe a world at total peace."
• On making a deal with Iran: "I mean, we're going to see they cannot have a nuclear weapon with me. It's very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon."
• On what would happen if Iran tried to kill him: "It would be called total obliteration. And I can't imagine they do the it should have been stated by Biden, but he didn't state it because he had no clue."
• On speaking with President Xi: "at the appropriate time. Im in no rush."
• On Elon Musk: "Look, he's done a great job. Look at all the fraud that he's found in this. USAID. It's a disaster. What the people, radical left lunatics, they have things that nobody would have even believed."
• On investigating the construction of high-speed rail in California: "We're going to start a big investigation on that, because it's, I've never seen anything like it. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. The worst overruns that there have ever been in the history of our country. And it wasn't even necessary, I would have said, you don't buy it. You take an airplane."
• On ending the Ed department: "I told Linda, Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. … So we're ranked number 40 out of 40 schools, right? We're ranked number one in cost per pupil, so we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we're ranked at the bottom of the list. We're ranked very badly. And what I want to do is let the states run schools."
• On sending American citizens who commit crimes to prisons in other countries: "These are sick people. If we could get them out of our country, we have other countries that would take them. They could. It's no different than a prison system, except it would be a lot less expensive and it would be a great deterrent send them to other countries."
• On whether that's legal: "If we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don't know if we do or not. We're looking at that right now, but we could make deals where we'd get these animals out of our country."
• On the superbowl: "There's a certain quarterback that seems to be a pretty good winner."
• On biden being represented by a talent agency: "You gotta be kidding. He signed up with a talent agency…. I think he's got bigger problems in there. I think he's got much bigger problems in that. But I wish him well we inherited a mess. This place is a mess, but it's quickly being solved."

In-town Travel Pool Report #8 — Oval spray with Netanyahu / some news

Hi all,

POTUS took more questions from the press during a photo spray in the Oval. I will get a more full report in a bit, but in the meantime, POTUS made this news:

POTUS expanded on his desire to have Palestinians relocated out of the Gaza Strip, and this time said he thought it would be a permanent relocation, that he did not think they would want to go back even after it was rebuilt.

"It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn't want to return. Why would they want to return? The place has been hell."

"You take certain areas and you build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like some place where they can live and not die, because Gaza is a guarantee that they're going to end up dying. The same thing is going to happen again. It's happened over and over again, and it's going to happen again as sure as you're standing there, Peter. So I hope that we can do something where they wouldn't want to go back, who wouldn't want to go back, they experienced nothing but death and destruction."

More to come.

In-town Travel Pool Report #9 - more Oval quotes

Here are a few other tidbits from the Oval spray. (Note, this is all even before we get to the news conference.)

Quotes from POTUS:

• On how many Palestinians should be relocated: "All of them. Probably a million seven people, seven, maybe a million eight. But I think all of them. They would be resettled where they can live a beautiful life."
• On getting to a final, permanent cease-fire: "We are dealing with a lot of people, and we have steps to go yet, as you know, and maybe those steps go forward, and maybe they don't. We're dealing with a very complex group of people, situation and people, but we have the right man. We have the right leader of Israel. He's done a great job."
• On whether Saudis are demanding a Palestinian state: "They are demanding one thing. You know what it is? Peace."
• On Egypt and Joran taking Palestinians in : "I think Jordan and Egypt will. I know they've spoken about it with you, and they say they're not going to accept. I say they will. But I think other countries will accept also. I think that Gaza maybe is a demolition site right now."
• On whether people should live in Gaza: "I don't think people should be going back to Gaza. I heard that Gaza has been very unlucky for them. They live like hell. They live like they're living in hell. Gaza is not a place for people to be living, and the only reason they want to go back, and I believe this strongly, is because they have no alternative. What's the alternative? Go where there's no other alternative? If they had an alternative, they'd much rather not go back to Gaza and live in a beautiful alternative that's safe."

Quotes from Netanyahu:

• On whether he supports getting all the hostages out: "I support getting all the hostages and meeting all our war goals."
• On chances for a phase 2 deal: " You know, when Israel and the United States work together, and President Trump and I work together, the chances go up a lot. When we don'twork together that creates problems when the other side sees daylight between us and occasionally, in the last few years."

In-town Travel Pool Report #9b — POTUS Nobel comment

I forgot to add this:

POTUS was asked whether he should get the Nobel Peace Prize. He said: "They will never give me a nobel peace prize. It's too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me."

In-town Travel Pool Report #11 — press conference

reporters have been letting the East Room ahead of the press conference, which is running behind schedule.

I will attempt to give a 2 minute warning if I get one. But since this is an open press event I will not be sending a lengthy pool report.

The press conference should be streamed on the White House you tube channel and other places.

Mike.

In-town Travel Pool Report #13 — travel / photo lid

The White House calls a travel / photo lid at 7:50 pm

Foreign pool report #1: Background Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit to the White House

Below please find some background for today's visit:

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump at the White House today. The purpose of the trip is to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as well as broader plans in the Middle East, including expanding the Abraham Accords and relations with Iran.

The Israeli premier is the first foreign dignitary to meet Mr Trump since he took office on January 20.

The "official working visit" will include a one-on-one bilateral meeting between the two leaders, an expanded bilateral meeting with senior officials from both countries and a dinner.

Context

On January 19, a three-phased ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began, ending 15 months of war.

The deal was mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt.

The war began on October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and reduced much of the Strip to rubble.

We are currently in stage one of the agreement, which is meant to last for six weeks. Hamas and Israel have already begun exchanging hostages for prisoners and displaced Palestinians have been allowed to return to the neighborhoods in the north of Gaza.

Phase two and three are meant to see the remaining hostages released, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

Negotiations for the second phase have begun, and Mr Netanyahu's office said Israel would send a delegation to Doha to participate.

But there are signs that the agreement is fragile. Mr Netanyahu has said he wants to retain the right to return to fighting" against Hamas, should the need arise, and on Monday Mr Trump said: "I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold."

Mr Trump said that Gaza is "uninhabitable" and has called for the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring Egypt and Jordan. Leaders of both Arab nations have rejected the proposal. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League have since also said they reject the idea.

Mr Trump maintains that it is inhumane to allow people to continue to live in Gaza amid the destruction and unexploded ordnance, and that it would take 10-15 years to rebuild it.

Other issues

The leaders are expected to discuss the prospects of a Israel-Saudi normalization deal, an effort which stalled when the Gaza war broke out. Saudi officials have said they would only agree to normalize relations with Israel if the war in Gaza ends and there is a credible pathway to a Palestinian state, that includes the West Bank and Gaza. Members of Mr Netanyahu's right wing government are adamantly against the creation of a Palestinian state.

Mr Netanyahu has also said that he wants to discuss "the Iranian terror axis". It is unclear if the two leaders will see eye to eye on Israel launching a military strike on a weakened Iran.

Schedule

Mr Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday, and was initially set to leave on Tuesday. He has reportedly extended his trip through Saturday.

On Monday, he met Steve Witkoff, the White House Middle East envoy, who has been widely credited with helping broker the ceasefire deal and recently went to Israel and Gaza to oversee its implementation.

In a statement, Mr Netanyahu said that his meeting with Mr Witkoff and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz was "positive and friendly."

On Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu is expected to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and with members of Congress including the Senate majority leader and House speaker on Thursday.

Foreign pool report #2 - Netanyahu quotes Oval Office

Pool was ushered in the Oval Office at 4:30pm, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and POTUS were gathered around a fire. Vice President JD Vance was present. The spray lasted for about 16 minutes.

Mr Netanyahu on who should take credit for ceasefire deal:

"I think President Trump added great force and leadership to this effort, I appreciate it. He's helped a lot. And I just tell you I'm happy to be here and I'm sure the President will tell you that he's happy. And I think that's about enough."

On whether he supports getting all hostages out:

"I support getting all the hostages out and include destroying Hamas' military and government capabilities and ensuring that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again."

On visit overall:

"I have my own views, and I have not one, not two but three goals, and I will meet all three and I think the President can help meet them."