Pool Reports of January 30, 2025

WH In-Town Pool Report #1 – POTUS in briefing room at 11:00 am ET

Good morning. POTUS will deliver remarks from the White House briefing room at 11:00 am ET this morning. His other events today are closed press.

WH In-Town Pool Report #3 – POTUS begins

The President entered the briefing room at 11:20 am ET and has taken the podium, opening with a moment of silence for the victims of the tragedy at DCA. You can follow his engagement with the press live on the White House YouTube channel.

WH In-Town Pool Report #4 – POTUS briefing ends

POTUS left the podium at 11:56 am ET.

WH In-Town Pool Report #5 – Lunch lid

The White House called a lunch lid until 1:15 pm ET.

WH In-Town Pool Report #6 – Gathering

Your pool was called to gather at the briefing room doors at 3:18 pm ET.

WH In-Town Pool Report #7 – Oval Office

Your pool was ushered into the Oval Office at 3:31 pm ET. POTUS is at the Resolute Desk, preparing to sign executive orders.

"Thank you very much for seeing me twice today," he said.

The first executive order is a formal commission to appoint the deputy administrator for the FAA.

Second is a memorandum ordering an immediate assessment of aviation safety and ordering an elevation of "competence" over "DEI."

More to come.

WH In-Town Pool Report #8 – Talking from Oval

The president said he doesn't know if DEI factored in to the DCA tragedy, but that incompetence likely played a role, and that an investigation was required.

He said he'd be putting a 25% tariff on Canada 25% tariff on Mexico but seemed to condition that later in the gaggle.

He said that a new facility to detain migrants in Cuba would be constructed cheaply and quickly.

He said of Egypt and Jordan taking in Gaza citizens, "they will do it."

He would not comment on whether he had spoken to with the families of victims. 

He thinks there are five votes on the Supreme Court to uphold his administration's position on birthright citizenship.

Back on the DCA crash, he emphasized that competence was the core issue of concern.

"I don't like that the helicopter was at the exact same level as the airplane," he said. "The plane was on a schedule."

More to come, with full quotes.

WH In-Town Pool Report #9 – End of Oval gaggle

Pool was ushered out at 3:47 pm ET. Other highlights:

"We're not involved in Syria," he said, calling it a "mess."

He said he would decide tonight on the details of tariffs on Canada and Mexico. 

He said a manifest of victims from the DCA crash would be released "at the appropriate time."

Getting full quotes now.

WH In-Town Pool Report #10 – Fuller quotes from Oval Office

The first executive order is a "formal commission appointing Chris Rochelau to be the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and since the administrator position is currently vacant, he will act as the administrator since he's now been appointed deputy," said Will Scharf, the president's staff secretary.

The second executive action is a memorandum titled "Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety." "In light of the damage done to aviation safety by the Biden administration's DEI and woke policies, what this presidential memorandum orders is your secretary of transportation and FAA administrator" to "basically ensure that we are actively undoing all of that damage."

POTUS on DEI's role in the DCA tragedy: "We want the most competent people. We don't care what race they are. We want the most competent people, especially in those positions. You're talking about extremely complex things, and if they don't have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they're not going to be very good at what they do and bad things will happen."

"All I'm talking about is competence. And we want, in that particular position, we have to have th most competent people in our country, because we're talking about lives. Now, it may or may not have to do, but I don't like that the helicopter was at the exact same level as the airplane. The helicopter should've been 1,000 feet or 500 feet above it, or something below it. The plane was at 300-400 feet."

"The plane was on a schedule, you know, a track – they call it a track." ...  "It was going down and landing, and the helicopter got in its way."

"A tragic, tragic story. So I don't know. Do you blame it on the air traffic controller too in addition to the pilots? They should've seen it. I would've thought they should've seen it."

On whether DCA should limit traffic: No, I think we need very smart people running the flights and doing it.

On whether military flights in the area are acceptable: "My view is fine if they're at the right locations and if they're not at the same levels."

On whether the accident was preventable: "Oh, absolutely. And obviously that was something that should not have happened, and we're not going to allow it to happen again."

On tariffs: "We'll be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons." ... "I'll be putting the tariff of 25% percent on Canada, and separately, 25% on Mexico, and we'll really have to do that." ... "It may or may not rise with time." ... "Oil has nothing to do with it, as far as I'm concerned."

On whether capacity at Guantanamo detention facility could increase: "It could increase, yes. It depends." ... will not cost "very much." ... "A lot of the structure is already there, as you know."

On Egypt and Jordan accepting displaced Palestinians in Gaza: "They will do it. They will do it. They're gonna do it, okay? We do a lot for them, and they're gonna do it."

On demand for people to report to work potentially resulting in FAA employee departures: "If people aren't coming to work, if they're not going to come into the office and report as to the date... everybody knows what the date is, it's been very well documented... then they're going to be terminated." ... "Then they'll be replaced by very competent people. We have a lot of competent people in this country."

On whether he plans to visit the site of the DCA tragedy: "What's the site, the water?" "I'll be meeting with some of the families, yes."

On birthright citizenship: "Birthright citizenship was, if you look back when this was passed, that was meant for the children of slaves. This was not meant for the whole world to come in and pile into the United States of America, everybody coming in – and totally unqualified people, with perhaps unqualified children." ... "It wasn't meant for the entire world to occupy the United States." "I just think we'll end up winning at the court, the Supreme Court."

More to come.

WH In-Town Pool Report #11 – Fuller quotes from Oval Office, Pt. II

More on the role of DEI in the DCA crash: "All I want is the most competent people to be air traffic controllers." ... "They have to be brilliant with computers, brilliant with graphics. They have to be psychologically really, really smart. And you know, there are a lot of people who wouldn't be able to do that."

More on tariffs: "That's coming on the 1st, Sunday." 

On whether oil will be included in the tariffs: "We may or may not. We're going to make that determination probably tonight on oil." ... "They send us oil – we'll see. It depends on what the price is. If the oil is properly priced, if they treat us properly – which they don't."

"With China, I'm also thinking about something, because they're sending fentanyl into this country, and because of that they're causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. So China's gonna end up paying a tariff also for that. And we're in the process of doing that." ... "China has to stop sending fentanyl into our country and killing our people."

On Syria: "I don't know who said that. I don't know who said that. But we'll make a determination on that. We're not involved in Syria. Syria's its own mess." ... "They don't need us involved."

As always, please check all quotes against the official transcript.

In-Town Pool Report #12 – Travel/photo lid

The White House called a lid at 6:00 pm ET. Have a good evening.