Remarks at a Document Signing Ceremony and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. Is this it?

White House Staff Secretary William O. Scharf. Yes, sir. First, we have a list of pardons and commutations relating to events that occurred on January 6, 2021.

The President. Okay. And how many people is this?

Staff Secretary Scharf. I think this order will apply to approximately 1,500 people, sir.

The President. So this is January 6. And these are the hostages—approximately 1,500—for a pardon.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Yes.

The President. Full pardon.

Q. Full pardon or commutations?

The President. Full pardon. We have about six commutations in there where we're doing further research.

Nice to see you again.

Q. And you, sir.

[At this point, the President signed a proclamation titled, "Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021."]

The President. So this is a big one. Anything you want to explain about this? We hope they get them—we hope they come out tonight, frankly. They're expecting it. Approximately 1,500 people——

Q. Were there any——

The President. Six——

Q. Were there——

The President. ——six commutations.

Pardons and Commutations

Q. Were there any cases you did not commute or pardon of people convicted——

The President. We're looking at different things. But the commutations would be the ones that we'll take a look, and maybe it will stay that way or it will go to, you know, full pardon.

Staff Secretary Scharf. And the order does require the Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons——

The President. Right.

Staff Secretary Scharf. ——and commutation orders.

Sir, this is an executive——

The President. Why don't we get that down so they can get them going right now?

Staff Secretary Scharf. Yes, sir.

The President. Is that okay?

Staff Secretary Scharf. Yes, absolutely.

This is a proclamation guaranteeing the States' protection against invasion based on the current crisis at the southern border. It invokes various executive powers relating to the ongoing invasion at the southern border.

[The President signed a proclamation titled, "Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion."]

The President. Okay.

The President's Executive Actions

Q. Mr. President, what makes you confident that those are not going to be blocked by the courts?

The President. I don't think they will. I don't think they can be. They're very straight up.

Why don't you take that and go over here? Can you get him over here, not on the side angle? Do you mind? Just go right over here with your friends. Okay.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this is an Executive order realigning the United States Refugee Admission Program to better align with American principles and American interests.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program."]

The President. Okay. Okay.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Thank you, sir.

This next Executive order is about protecting America from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats. Again, crisis at the border, but it goes beyond that. And it implicates other executive powers as well.

The President. Okay.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats."]

Transnational Criminal Organizations

Q. President Trump, if the cartels are now going to be seen as foreign terror organizations, would you think about ordering U.S. special forces into Mexico to take them out?

The President. Could happen. Stranger things have happened.

Venezuela

Q. Mr. President——

Staff Secretary Scharf. That was actually——

Q. ——how will you make sure that Maduro will accept Venezuelans?

The President. Say it?

Q. How will you make sure that Maduro will accept Venezuelans?

The President. Well, we're going to see on Venezuela. We're looking at Venezuela very strongly. It's a country I know very well for a lot of reasons. And it's—boy, it was a great country 20 years ago, and now it's a mess, right?

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement

Q. Sir, can we expect ICE raids starting tomorrow in major cities?

The President. What does that mean?

Q. Can we expect ICE raids in major cities tomorrow?

The President. I don't want to say when, but it's going to happen—has to happen or we're not going to have a country left.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is actually an Executive order designating the cartels and other organizations to be foreign terrorist organizations.

The President. That's a big one.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Yes, sir.

The President. People have wanted to do this for years.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists."]

So they are now designated as terrorist organizations—foreign. And Mexico probably doesn't want that, but we have to do what's right. They're killing our people. They're killing 250-, 300,000 American people a year—not 100 like has been reported for 15 years. It's probably 300,000.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is an Executive——

Transnational Criminal Organizations

Q. Sir, if the President of Mexico doesn't want that, how are you going to deal with this?

The President. I don't know. You'll have to ask them.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this is an Executive order entitled "Protecting the American People Against Invasion," which, again, deals with the southern border and the unprecedented admission of illegal aliens across the southern border.

The President. Okay.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Protecting the American People Against Invasion."]

The President's Foreign Policy Priorities

Q. What do you think the biggest national security threat to the U.S., Mr. President? What's going to be your priority on foreign policy?

The President. Say it.

Q. What's going to be your priority on foreign policy? What do you see as the biggest——

The President. Well, foreign policy——

Q. ——national security threat?

The President. ——is a big statement. I mean, my priority on foreign policy, it's going to keep—it's going to be to keep America safe. Very simple. It's a big question though. [Laughter] That's a very big question.

Q. Who is going to be the first foreign leader that you plan to meet, or who are you going to call tomorrow in your first day in office?

The President. I've already been meeting people. I've been meeting them. I've been talking to them. He's—I met with Prime Minister Trudeau. I call him "Governor Trudeau." I met with numerous foreign leaders.

Go ahead.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this——

Q. Sir, what might be your first trip?

Staff Secretary Scharf. This next order relates to the definition of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the United States.

The President. Good. That's a good one. Birthright. That's a big one.

U.S. Citizenship

Q. What about that one in the courts? That one is likely to be challenged.

The President. Could be. We think we have good grounds, but you could be right. I mean, you'll find out.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship."]

It's ridiculous. We're the only country in the world that does this with birthright, as you know, and it's just absolutely ridiculous. But you know, we'll see. We think it—we have very good grounds.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this——

The President. People have wanted to do this for decades.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this is a proclamation declaring a national emergency at the southern border of the United States.

The President. That's a big one. A lot of big ones, huh? You know what that means, right?

[The President signed a proclamation titled, "Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States."]

The President's Letter From Former President Joseph R. Biden, Jr./The President's Meeting With President Biden

Q. President Trump, did President Biden leave you a letter?

The President. He may have. Wait. Don't they leave it in the desk? [Laughter] I don't know.

Oh. [Laughter]

Q. What's in there?

The President. Thank you, Peter [Peter Doocy, Fox News]. It could have been years before we found this there.

[The President held up an envelope.]

Wow. Thank you.

Q. Can you read what it says on the outside?

The President. Maybe we should all read it together.

Q. Let's read it.

The President. Well, maybe I'll read it first and then make that determination.

Q. That sounds great.

The President. Peter, thank you very much. I may not have seen this for months.

Q. Happy to help with the passing of the torch.

The President. I did—I left him one in the desk just like this.

Q. What did you talk to him about in the limo?

The President. Unification of our country. You know, I didn't know that he gave a pardon to his family, because he did it during my speech.

Pardons and Commutations

Q. He didn't tell you in the limo?

The President. No, he didn't tell me. No, no. He did it—they released it during my speech—I mean, during my speech. So all I could do was say, "Excuse me, I'd like to come back and speak some more." So no, we were surprised by that. It's——

Q. Mr. President, what are——

The President. It's bad precedent, obviously.

Potential Tariffs on Cross-Border Imports/Drug Interdiction Efforts

Q. What are you thinking on tariffs on Mexico, given these actions you're signing on the border?

The President. Well, we're thinking in terms of 25 percent on Mexico and Canada, because they're allowing vast numbers of people. Canada is a very bad abuser, also vast numbers of people who come in and fentanyl to come in.

Q. When do you think you would enact those?

The President. I think February 1.

Q. Are you planning on giving notice of that when it——

The President. I think—I think we'll do it February 1.

Q. Twenty-five percent on both, sir?

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir——

The President. On each.

Q. On each, yes.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is an Executive order taking a large number of executive actions to secure our southern border.

The President. Okay, sounds reasonable.

[The President signed an Executive order.]

Foreign Policy Threats/North Korea

Q. President Trump, we remember 4 years ago, Barack Obama had told you that the top threat to the country was going to be North Korea. Did Joe Biden tell you what he thinks the top threat to the country is right now?

The President. No, no.

Q. What happened?

The President. I think we have a lot of them. Right now we really—I think we have a lot. I think North Korea turned out to be good. I was very friendly with him. He liked me. I liked him. We got along very well.

They thought that was a tremendous threat. Now, he is a nuclear power, but we got along. I think he'll be happy to see I'm coming back.

Q. And——

The President. I think he has tremendous condo capabilities. [Laughter] He's got a lot of shoreline.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Thank you, sir.

Immigration Reform/Potential Tariffs on Imports Into the U.S.

Q. Are you going to work with countries from South America to coordinate on immigration?

The President. About who?

Q. About immigration in general.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is an Executive order—sorry, sir.

The President. I'm fine with legal immigration. I like it. We need people, and I'm absolutely fine with it. We want to have it. We need it because we're going to have a lot of companies coming in to avoid tariffs.

You know, if you don't want tariffs, all you have to do is build your plant in the U.S., so we're going to have a lot of workers coming in, but we have to have legal immigration.

Tariffs on Chinese Imports Into the U.S.

Q. Do you have a date in mind for when you want to put in on the China tariffs that you've talked about?

The President. Which one?

Q. The 60 percent.

The President. No. You're talking about which? Say it again.

Q. The China—China tariffs, the broad——

The President. Oh, China.

Q. ——China tariffs.

The President. Well, you—as you know, I put on—large tariffs on China, and they've really been forced to leave them. And if we didn't leave them, you wouldn't have one steel mill that's open in this country, because they were dumping massive amounts of steel. We've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars from China because they—and they were unable to terminate the tariffs that I put on China because it was too much money and the budgets didn't work and other reasons too.

No. I mean, we're going to have meetings and calls with President Xi. I spoke to President Xi last week, as you know. Did you know that? I had a very good phone call. A long——

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Q. Where do you stand with NATO at this moment. Are you planning to meet with your NATO allies?

The President. No, NATO has to pay more money. NATO has to pay 5 percent. We are—we're into the Ukraine war by $200 billion more than NATO. It's ridiculous, because it affects them a lot more. We have an ocean in between, and we're—we've spent $200 billion more on Ukraine than NATO has spent, and they've got to equalize.

Ukraine/Russia/Brazil

Q. Did you talk to Xi about—did you talk to Xi about the Ukraine war?

The President. Yes.

Q. Because China and Brazil together has a proposal to bring Russia and Ukraine to talk.

The President. Well, that's good. That's fine. I'm ready. That's good.

Q. When are you going to talk with the Brazilian President?

The President. How did Brazil get involved?

Q. Brazil is involved.

The President. This is a new one.

Q. Yes. When are you going to talk to Lula?

The President. Are you from Brazil?

Q. I'm from Brazil.

The President. Ah.

Q. When are you talking——

The President. That's why they're involved, I guess.

Q. When are you going to talk with the Brazilian President? How do you see your relationship with Latin America and Brazil?

The President. Great. Should be great. They need us much more than we need them.

Q. Sir——

The President. We don't need them. They need us. Everybody needs us.

Q. Sir, are you going to go to China?

China-U.S. Trade

Q. Mr. President, it sounds like you will not proceed with additional China tariffs necessarily, depending on how talks go with President Xi. Is that correct?

[The President signed an Executive order.]

The President. What does——

Q. Things are on hold——

The President. What does that—define that.

Q. Well, you—we are asking—you pledged in the campaign potentially—[inaudible]—10-percent tariff on China or as much as——

The President. Because of fentanyl.

Panama Canal

Q. Right. So I'm asking where your—where your——

The President. That's only because of fentanyl.

Q. ——thoughts are now.

The President. There are other things too.

Q. Are additional China tariffs——

The President. And the very big thing is the Panama Canal. China controls the Panama Canal. What's that all about? They're not supposed to be going—when Jimmy Carter gave it, which was a terrible mistake—a terrible mistake—he didn't do it. He didn't give it to China. He gave it to Panama, and China controls the Panama Canal.

Q. Are China tariffs still on the table, sir?

The President. And we're not going to allow that to happen.

Q. Are they still on the table or is that off the——

The President. We're not—no, we're not going to allow that to happen.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Thank you, sir.

European Defense Spending Levels/Spain

Q. What can we expect of the countries in NATO that spend the least amount of money, like Spain, France, below the 5 percent that you just mentioned?

The President. Spain is very low.

Q. How can you increase that?

The President. And yet aren't they a BRICS nation?

Q. What?

The President. They're a BRICS nation, Spain.

Q. How is that so?

The President. You know what a BRICS nation is? Well, you'll figure it out.

But—and if the BRICS nations want to do that, that's okay, but we're going to put at least a 100-percent tariff on the business they do with the United States. You know what the BRICS is, right?

Q. Yes.

The President. You guys know.

Q. Brazil, Russia——

The President. You know what I'm saying, right? You know what I'm saying.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this is a——

Q. But Spain is not in the BRICS.

The President. So it's not even a threat. In fact, since I made that statement, Biden said, "Well, they have us over a barrel." I said, "No, we have them over a barrel." And there's no way they're going to be able to do that.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is an Executive order relating to——

Q. They are risking hundred-percent tariffs, those countries, like Spain?

The President. As a BRICS nation, yes.

Q. But how is it a BRICS nation?

The President. They'll have a hundred-percent tariff if they so much as even thinking about doing what they thought.

Panama Canal

Q. Can you explain how Spain is——

The President. Which—which—and therefore, they'll give it up immediately. So will China give it up.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this is about reforming the system of hiring in the Federal Government to ensure that merit is the lodestar of hiring decisions as opposed to——

The President. Wow. As per the Supreme Court.

Staff Secretary Scharf. ——other matters. Yes, sir.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service."]

Q. Mr. President——

The President. This is a big deal: merit. Our country is going to be based on merit again. Can you—can you believe it?

Ukraine/Russia

Q. Mr. President, you had said you would end the Russia-Ukraine war on your first day in office. Where do things stand right now? And how do you intend to make that happen?

The President. Well, this is only half a day. I have another half a day left. We'll see. We want to get it done.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this is an order creating and implementing the "Department of Governmental Efficiency," known as DOGE.

The President. Okay, that's a big one.

Department of Government Efficiency/Participants in the Civil Unrest and Violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021

Q. Is Elon Musk going to get a West Wing office?

The President. No, he's getting an office for about 20 people that we're hiring to make sure that these get implemented. We have a problem in this country. You sign an Executive order, it doesn't get done for 6 months.

As an example, when we allow the J6 hostages to go out, it might not be approved in—under the old days, by—for 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 6 months. You know, they had a good ruling from the Supreme Court, and it's like nothing happened. That ruling was 6 months ago. You know that. And it was like they didn't have a ruling.

They've been treated very unfair. The judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. Nobody has ever treated people in this country like that.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Establishing and Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency.'"]

Pardons and Commutations

Q. Mr. President, are you commuting the sentences of anyone who assaulted a police officer on January 6?

The President. Well, we're looking at two police officers, actually. That Washington police officer who went after an illegal, and things happened, and they ended up putting them in jail. They got 5-year jail sentences. You know the case. And we're looking at that in order to give them a—we're going to give them a break.

Q. But is there clemency in your actions today——

The President. Well, it would be a pardon——

Q. ——for anybody who assaulted a police officer?

The President. That would be a pardon. The one I'm talking about would be a pardon.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Here you go, sir. This is a——

Civil Unrest and Violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021

Q. Should there be punishment for the people who assaulted law enforcement officers that day?

The President. Well, I will say this. They've been in jail for a long time already. I see murderers in this country get 2 years, 1 year, and maybe no time. So they've already been in jail for a long time.

These people have been destroyed. What they've done to these people is outrageous. There's rarely been anything like it in history—in the history of our country. And even people that were aggressive—and in many cases, I believe they happen to be outside agitators. But you know, what do I know, right? But I think they were—I think they were outside agitators—there were outside agitators involved.

And obviously, the FBI was involved because Wray admitted the FBI was involved. Didn't he say 23 people indirectly or directly were involved? And it was then 26. That's a lot of people.

No, we have—we're going to take care of this—these people have been treated so badly. It's never happened before. What happened in Seattle, where they took over a big portion of the city? What happened in Portland, where they burned down the city every day and people die? Nothing happened to anybody.

But they go after these people violently. I mean, they're still going after brandnew people. They found somebody else with a picture. There's never been anything like this.

And you know, it's almost a hundred percent—think of this—almost a hundred percent of the people are convicted. A hundred percent. It's Washington, DC. People go into a trial, and they say, "Oh, I have a wonderful lawyer, and I didn't do anything wrong," and they end up in shackles almost immediately and jail.

No. We're not going to let it happen.

Greenland

Q. About Greenland, you have shown interest in buying it, but is there any other option that would satisfy you?

The President. About what?

Q. Greenland, instead of buying it.

The President. Finland?

Q. Greenland.

The President. Oh, Greenland. Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security. And I'm sure that Denmark will come along. I think, you know, it's costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it. The people of Greenland are not happy with Denmark, as you know. I think they're happy with us.

We had representatives—my son and representatives went up there 2 weeks ago, and they like us. So we'll see what happens.

But Greenland is necessary—not for us, it's necessary for international security. You have Russian boats all over the place. You have China boats all over the place, warships. And they can't maintain it.

Q. When are you going to be talking to Vladimir Putin?

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Do you plan to meet President Putin, sir?

The President. Who?

Q. Do you plan to meet President Putin, sir?

The President. I'll be meeting with President Putin.

Q. When, do you think?

The President. I don't know. I can't—it's being set up.

The Presidents Travel Schedule/Saudi Arabia-U.S. Trade

Q. Do you know what your first trip—foreign trip might be, sir?

[The President signed an Executive order.]

The President. So first foreign trip, typically, has been with U.K., but we did it—I did it with Saudi Arabia last time because they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our product. I said, "I'll do it, but you have to buy American product." And they agreed to do that. They bought $450 billion. It was a—the least reported story I've ever been involved in.

Q. And now—where you are planning to go now?

The President. Well, I don't know. If Saudi Arabia wanted to buy another $450 or $500—we'll up it for all the inflation——

Ukraine/Russia

Q. Mr. President, you said you were going to——

The President. ——I think I'd probably go there.

Q. ——end the wars first day. How do you plan to end the Ukraine war?

The President. Well, we're going to try and get it done as quickly as possible.

Q. Do you want to push Israel and Saudi Arabia——

The President. It should have never started. You know, the war with Ukraine and Russia should have never started. It would have never started if I were president.

Israel/Saudi Arabia

Q. Will you push Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations?

The President. I don't think I have to push them. I think it's going to happen, but maybe not quite yet, but it will—they'll end up being in the Accords—the Abraham Accords.

Q. President Trump——

The President. I think Saudi Arabia will end up being in the Abraham Accords.

Q. This year?

The President. Could be. But—you know, soon. Not in a very long way.

Oh, look at that. It says "TikTok."

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. My, my, my. What is that all about?

Staff Secretary Scharf. First, we have Alaska, sir. This is an Executive order relating to unleashing Alaska's potential as an energy reservoir for the entire nation.

The President. And what about ANWR?

Staff Secretary Scharf. I believe that would be included in aspects of the order, sir.

The President. So we're opening up ANWR.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential."]

National Security Concerns Over TikTok Ownership

Q. On the TikTok piece, President Trump. You and your members of your team now used to warn about the dangers of TikTok spying on Americans. What changed that you're not worried about that anymore?

The President. Well, it depends on the deal. I mean, I may not do the deal, or I may do the deal. TikTok is worthless—worthless if I don't approve it. It has to close. I learned that from the people that own it.

If it—if I don't do the deal, it's worthless—worth nothing. If I do the deal, it's worth maybe a trillion dollars—a trillion. So, if I do the deal for the—I'm talking about doing it for the United States—if I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half.

Q. The TikTok CEO——

The President. In other words—wait—I think the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok. And congratulations, TikTok has a good partner. And that would be worth—you know, could be $500 billion or something. It's crazy. The numbers are crazy.

But it's worthless if I don't—if the President doesn't sign, then it's worthless. If the President does sign, it's worth maybe a trillion dollars.

So I think—like a joint venture, I think we would have a joint venture with the people from TikTok. We'll see what happens. I mean, that's one of many ideas I've had.

Q. The CEO is in town. Did he say that he's open to that idea?

The President. Who?

Q. The CEO of TikTok is around.

The President. Oh, I think he'd probably like it, because he's got nothing. They really have nothing. It—it's passed in Congress. It gives the President the right to make the—make a deal or to close it, and we have 90 days to make that decision.

But I could see making a deal where the U.S. gets 50 percent of TikTok, polices it a little bit or a lot, depends on them.

But remember, they make telephones in China. They make all sorts of things in China. Nobody ever complains about that. Here, they're complaining about this.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

There's so many different products made in China and nobody ever complained about it. The only one they complained about is TikTok. And TikTok is largely young people. I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok that I didn't have originally.

But you know, I went on TikTok, and I won young people by 36 percent, Peter. And Republicans typically don't do too well with young people, but it's a different Republican Party.

Potential U.S. Purchasers of the TikTok Application

Q. Would the U.S. Government buy a portion of TikTok then or how would it get that 50 percent?

The President. No, you'd take 50 percent of TikTok for the approval that TikTok could continue in business, and they'd have a great partner. The U.S. would be their partner. But the U.S. essentially would be paid for doing that half of the value of TikTok.

Q. Would there be a private-sector owner as well in the U.S.?

The President. Could be, yes. Could be a lot. Tell you what, every rich person has called me about TikTok.

National Security Concerns Over TikTok Ownership

Q. You wanted to block TikTok. Why did you change your mind?

The President. Because I got to use it. And remember, TikTok is largely about kids—young kids. If China is going to get information about young kids, I don't know.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Are you concerned about Chinese——

The President. I think—I think—to be honest with you, I think we have bigger problems than that.

Q. If you don't get——

But—but you know, when you take a look at telephones that are made in China and all the other things that are made in China, military equipment made in China, TikTok—I think TikTok is not their biggest problem, but there's big value in TikTok if it gets approved. If it doesn't get approved, there's no value.

So, if we create that value, why aren't we entitled to, like, half?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Sir—[inaudible]—will you shut them down?

Does Biden ever do news conferences like this? How many news conferences, Peter, has he done like this?

Q. Like this?

The President. None.

Q. Zero. [Laughter]

The President. And it would be zero for the next—infinity. For infinity, it would be zero.

Q. Mr. President, when do you plan to talk to President——

Entrepreneur Elon R. Musk

Q. Is Elon Musk going to help implement the Executive orders? I think you mentioned with implementation——

The President. No, no, no. No. Elon, no.

Q. ——in your previous answer.

The President. He's—Elon is very busy sending rocket ships up to various places with lots of satellites on them.

Senate Vote on the Confirmation of Marco A. Rubio as Secretary of State

Q. What is your reaction to the confirmation of Marco Rubio? And what does it mean for Latin America?

The President. Which one?

Q. Marco Rubio, tonight.

Q. Marco Rubio as the Secretary of State.

The President. Marco Rubio?

Q. Mm-hmm.

The President. You said "Maco." "Maco." Marco.

Q. Marco.

Q. Marco Rubio.

The President. Yes, he's—I think he's great. I think Marco is doing a fantastic job. I think he's going to get a lot of votes. I think he's going to be at 90 percent or something. I mean, I'm hearing very good—people know him. They know him in the Senate. They know he's good. He's doing a good job.

I don't know. I can't tell you. I don't know what's going to happen with that. He's got—he's got some very strong ideas though, Marco.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Application of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok."]

Q. You signed the TikTok order, right? Did you sign the TikTok order?

The President. Yes.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Yes, that was just signed.

Venezuela

Q. One of Marco Rubio's ideas is——

The President. Just signed it.

Q. ——still changing Venezuela—changing power. Are you still committed with Maduro leaving power in Venezuela?

The President. Well, we're going to going to find out about that too, because we're going to probably stop buying oil from Venezuela. We don't need their oil.

Q. Another embargo, like the first term?

The President. Well, it could be, but we don't want to buy it—we don't have to buy their oil. We have plenty of oil for ourselves, so——

Q. President Trump——

The President. That will change Venezuela quite a bit.

2024 Presidential Election

Q. President Trump, there was a lot of concern about this during the campaign. A question that only works today: Are you a dictator on day one?

The President. No. No. [Laughter] I can't imagine even being called that. No, I believe in the sanctity of the vote. The Democrats didn't, because they cheated like dogs, but I believe in the sanctity. And this was too big to rig. This last election was just too big to rig.

But no, really the opposite.

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia/Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, when do you think you'll speak to—when do you plan to speak to President Putin?

The President. Could be very soon.

Q. And you talked a bit about Ukraine and Russia, but how long do you think it would take to end that conflict and——

The President. I have to speak to President Putin. We're going to have to find out. He's not—he can't be thrilled. He's not doing so well. I mean, he's grinding it out, but most people thought that war would have been over in about 1 week, and now you're into 3 years. Right? So he can't be—he can't be thrilled. It's not making him look very good.

Now, eventually, you know, I mean, it's a big machine, so things will happen. But I think he would be very well off to end that war. We have numbers that—almost a million Russian soldiers have been killed. About 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers are killed. Russia is bigger. They have more soldiers to lose. But that's no way to run a country.

Executive Action on the TikTok Application

Q. What did your TikTok order do, Mr. President?

The President. It just gave me the right to sell it or close it. Essentially, with TikTok, I have the right to either sell it or close it, and we'll make that determination.

And we may have to get an approval from China too. I'm not sure, but I'm sure they'll approve it. And if they don't approve it, it would be somewhat of a hostile act, I think. But it's good for China if it gets approved.

Continued Availability of the TikTok Application

Q. Mr. President, so you're not guaranteeing that TikTok will be around after 90 days from today?

The President. No, but it could very well be. It makes sense for it to be because it's got tremendous value. But if we create the value by approving—you know, in other words, that approval gives it tremendous value. If that's the case, then we should be entitled to 50 percent as a country.

You understand? You haven't heard that one before, right? That's called a "joint venture." And nobody ever thought that way before.

Q. Who would be your partner?

The President. Well, I don't know. I think it's—I think you have a lot of people that would be interested in TikTok with the United States as a partner.

The President's First Day in Office

Q. Mr. President, what was it like walking into the Oval Office this evening for the first time?

The President. Oh, what a great feeling, one of the better feelings I've ever had.

The President's Second Term in Office

Q. Do you like this time better now than in 2017?

The President. Well, we're very experienced now. You would say nobody has ever had experience like I have. I've dealt with some very good people. I've dealt with some very bad people. And I know who the bad ones are and the good ones are.

You know, don't forget, I was very successful in, primarily, the real estate business. And people used to say, "Who's worse: a politician or a vicious real estate developer?" And I would always say, "Real"—you know, the real estate developer is far worse." But after about 3 months and getting to know scum like Adam Schiff and other people like that, I said, "No, actually, real estate people are quite nice by comparison."

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine/Russia

Q. You said you plan to speak with President Putin soon. What about President Zelenskyy? And what's your message to him?

The President. Yes, I—would. But he has told me he wants to make a deal.

Q. Zelenskyy told you that?

The President. He wants—Zelenskyy wants to make a deal.

[The President signed an Executive order.]

Q. What kind of a deal?

The President. I don't know if Putin does. He might not. I don't know.

He should make a deal. I think he's destroying Russia by not making a deal. I think Russia is going to be in big trouble—you take a look at their economy, you take a look at the inflation in Russia.

So I would—I would hope—I got along with him great. And you know, I would hope he wants to make a deal.

Russia/Iran

Q. Mr. President, are you keeping U.S. sanctions on Russia until he makes a deal?

The President. Well, sanctions or tariffs. I think the word "tariff" is much better because it keeps your dollar stronger. I think tariffs are more effective.

I mean, I used sanctions on Iran. Iran—Iran was broke. When I left office, Iran was broke. They had no money for Hamas or Hizballah. None. They were flat broke. And October 7 would have never happened, and I think you all know that. It would have never happened. They had no money.

Now they're rich, but you know, they're weakened in a different way. I would say that the one attack by Israel really set them back. It really set them back—the pagers—the pagers and others. You know, the attack on air defense was a—that was a bad attack for Iran.

Q. What are you signing now, sir?

Staff Secretary Scharf. It's an Executive order relating to reforms to the Federal workforce, including to the Senior Executive Service.

[The President signed a memorandum titled, "Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives."]

The President. We're getting rid of all of the cancer—I call it "cancer"—the cancer caused by the Biden administration.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Thank you, sir.

Cease-Fire and Hostage-Release Deal Between Israel and Hamas/Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. How confident are you, Mr. President, that you can keep the cease-fire in Gaza and conclude the three phases of the deal?

The President. I'm not confident. That's not our war. It's their war. But——

Staff Secretary Scharf. I apologize, sir.

The President. ——I'm not confident. But I think they're very weakened on the other side.

Q. Do you support the two-state solution?

The President. Gaza—boy, I looked at a picture of Gaza. Gaza is—is like a massive demolition site. That place is—it's really got to be rebuilt in a different way.

Gaza Reconstruction/Hamas

Q. Will you plan to help with rebuilding Gaza?

The President. I might. You know, Gaza is interesting. It's a phenomenal location—on the sea, the best weather. You know, everything is good. It's like—some beautiful things could be done with it, but it's very interesting. But some fantastic things could be done with Gaza.

Q. How do you see the future in governance for Gaza?

The President. Well, that depends. I can't imagine you could have—well, you certainly can't have the people that were there. Most of them are dead, by the way. Right? Most of them are dead, but they didn't exactly run it well. Run viciously and badly. You can't have that.

Executive Action on the TikTok Application/China

Q. Mr. President, on TikTok, sir. Will you pause any decision on Chinese tariffs until you know what the resolution on TikTok will be? Are those things connected at all?

[The President signed an Executive order.]

The President. No. No, if China didn't approve it, we could put tariffs on China.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Thank you, sir.

The President. Don't forget, China charges us tariffs, and we charge them very little, except for what I did. I put a lot on them. We took in hundreds of billions of dollars. But until I came along, China never paid 10 cents to this country. They ripped us off, and they never paid anything.

But, like, if we wanted to make a deal with TikTok and it was a good deal and China wouldn't approve it, then—I think, ultimately, they'd approve it, because we would put tariffs on China. Maybe. I'm not saying I would, but you certainly could do that.

And if we said, "Well, if you're not going to approve it, then that's a certain hostility, and we'll put tariffs of 25, 30, 40, 50 percent, even 100 percent." And if we did that, I think they'd approve it.

Former President William J. Clinton

Q. President Trump, you've seen the other living Presidents a couple times in the last few months. If you ever had to call on one of them for advice about anything that's going on here, which one would you call?

The President. That's an interesting—well, I thought Bill Clinton was a very good politician. I don't think he was used properly. I think they disrespected him.

When Hillary was running, he came back, and he said, "You know, you'd better get up to Michigan and Wisconsin." You remember that, Peter. "Every house has a Trump sign on it."

And they all laughed at him because the Republicans hadn't won Michigan or Wisconsin for decades—a long time. And they all laughed at Bill Clinton like, "The hell does he know?" And he turned out to be right, because I won both of them.

And then we just won both in this election too. We won Wisconsin and Michigan and every other swing State. We won all the swing States, all seven. They talked about "seven swing States." We won them all, so——

But I—Bill Clinton was—he had a great political sense, I think.

Former President Barack Obama

Q. You looked like you were having a good conversation with President Obama at President Carter's funeral.

The President. I was. And you'd like to know what it was?

Q. I would.

The President. Ooh. [Laughter]

Q. Will you talk about it? Everybody wants to know.

The President. Everybody wants to know. I know. I wouldn't want to—[inaudible]. But we were having some crazy conversation.

Q. About?

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information."]

The President. Why do you—asking a question like that. You don't—I don't think you want to know. You might not like——

Q. Can you tell us what you just signed?

The President. You might be insulted.

Staff Secretary Scharf. It's an Executive order relating to holding former Government account—Government officials accountable for unlawful disclosure of sensitive information.

This next one, sir, is a declaration of a national energy emergency.

Q. Sir, you also had several——

The President. That's a big one. You know what that allows you to do? That means you can do whatever you have to do to get out of that problem. And we do have that kind of an emergency.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Declaring a National Energy Emergency."]

Reported Drone Sightings in New Jersey Airspace

Q. President Trump, at some point, will you use your powers of the Presidency to tell Americans who are concerned about drones——

The President. Yes. Oh, good. Yes. I will.

Q. ——a few weeks ago what exactly was happening? Can you tell us now?

The President. In fact, I'd like—no, because I just got here. [Laughter]

Q. What do you think happened?

The President. I've got—I just came here. [Laughter] I've been here for—what?—15 minutes. No.

Q. To people listening—because this is going out live——

The President. And I've got to read this letter too. [Laughter]

Q. You can read it right now.

The President. Because of you, I found this letter. [Laughter]

Q. I can read it for you.

The President. It's interesting.

Oh, yeah, I know you would. [Laughter] Your father would too.

Q. But I—is it anything—these drones, is there anything that people need to be worried about?

The President. No, I think it's—I think it's terrible. I would like to find out what it is and tell the people.

Q. And can you commit to some kind of an order——

The President. In fact, I'd like to—could we find out what that was, Susie?

Chief of Staff Susan Wiles. Yes, sir.

The President. Okay? Yes, why don't we find out immediately. I mean, I can't imagine it's an enemy or there would have been—you know, people would have gotten blown up. Although, maybe they were testing things. I don't know why they wouldn't have said what it was. They had a lot of them flying over Bedminster, which is interesting. Right?

Inaugural Events at the U.S. Capitol

Q. And with the events today and yesterday, was everything moved inside just for cold weather or was there some kind of a security concern that forced everything inside?

The President. No, no, no. No security, because they had everything shut down to drones. You know, you can shut that down pretty easily if you're sophisticated. They're very sophisticated, these people.

No, it was just cold weather. And we made a good move, because—first of all, I thought it was incredible at the Capitol today.

You know why I liked it? Because I got great reviews on that speech. I got great reviews. Can you believe it? They actually were fair.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is unleashing——

The President. Maybe the "fake news" is changing. But——

Staff Secretary Scharf. ——unleashing energy production, sir.

The President. Yes, unleashing energy production.

But I thought it was—I think having it in the Capitol is great. Obviously, you can take care of the people you have to take care of. The city was booming.

And if we would have done it outside, people would have been hurt because it was really cold. You know, it was, like—looked sunny, but when you stood outside for 10 minutes, people were running back in. It was really cold and really windy. The wind brings it down a lot. So we made the right decision.

You couldn't have stayed—I don't think you could've had it out—you—you know how cold it was today. It was—people went out for a little while just to test it. They couldn't stay out more than 10 minutes. They all came back in.

So we would have had a disaster if we did that, and people would have been hurt.

Disclosure of Sensitive Government Information/Pardons and Commutations

Q. Mr. President, the unlawful disclosure EO. Is that related to the Hunter Biden situation?

The President. Which one?

Q. The one on unlawful disclosures by Federal officials. Is that related to the letter? What prompted that one?

The President. It should—no, I think it's just more general than that. It's not Hunter Biden.

I was surprised that President Biden would go and pardon his whole family, because that makes him look very guilty.

You know, I could have pardoned my family. I could have pardoned myself and my family. And I said, "If I do that, it's going to make me look very guilty." I don't think I'd be sitting here, frankly. If I did that, I don't think I'd be sitting here right now, because I would have—it would have shown that you're guilty.

But by pardoning his brother—or brothers—by pardoning all of those people that he pardoned, by pardoning J6—the "Unselect Committee," they destroyed all of the documents. They deleted all of the information. There's no information.

And a lot of the information pertains to Nancy Pelosi because she was given one hundred—I mean, you know this. It's on tape, with her daughter. Nancy Pelosi was responsible for not taking advantage of 10,000 soldiers—or 1,000. You wouldn't have need—you could have used 400. It was a relatively small crowd. It wasn't the crowd that was at the Mall. It was a small crowd.

So I was a little bit surprised that he did it, because it makes him look guilty. I mean, he's going to have to live with it.

Now, with that being said, it's unbelievable precedent it creates for a President. But the precedent is unbelievable. Now, maybe every President that leaves office, they're going to pardon every person they ever met so they don't have some lunatic, like a deranged Jack Smith—who's a total lunatic, by the way.

Not a smart guy. He's a dummy. But we beat the hell out of him. And I helped my reputation.

Pardons and Commutations/House Select Committee To Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol

Q. Do you think you'd have to do the same thing at the end of this term?

The President. Well, I guess now I have precedent to do it. I don't—I wouldn't want to do that.

No, I think it makes you look very guilty. I think it makes Biden look very bad, very weak, and very guilty.

And, I mean, he pardoned everybody. How about this J6 committee? How do you—why is he pardoning them? The reason is because if you delete and destroy documentation, everything—they have nothing, because they were guilty as hell. They rigged it. It was a rigged deal. And when you do that, they look very bad.

But I was a little surprised he did it.

Liz Cheney, I mean, she's a lunatic. And she lost by the greatest margin in the history of a politician running for Congress—like 40 points. The reason it was the greatest is because anybody losing that badly is going to drop out, but she's a nutjob. She doesn't drop out. You know, she just keeps chugging forward, and she lost by almost 40 points. That's the biggest number anybody's ever lost by.

But why would Biden do that? He pardoned her and pardoned everybody. The reason is that they destroyed documents. And if you're even in a civil case—which this wouldn't be—I mean, people go to jail for a long time for doing that.

What's this one?

Staff Secretary Scharf. That's unleashing energy—American energy, sir. It relates to easing permitting processes and other regulatory systems to ensure that we can produce energy efficiently to drive the American economy forward.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Unleashing American Energy."]

The President. All right.

Changes in White House Decorations/World Health Organization

Q. President Trump, looking around the office, we noticed some changes from the way that Biden had it set up. Can you confirm that you have added back the Diet Coke button? [Laughter]

The President. I think this—we—first of all, I just got here. So my people came in—they have extraordinary decorator sense. Right? Let me just see some of the pictures there.

[The President gestured toward the portraits hanging on the walls around the room.]

That's a good one. I could live with him. I can live with George Washington, I can tell you. I can live with Thomas Jefferson. I can live with most of them. They took a very safe route. They didn't have—they don't have any bad ones up there.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is withdrawing from the——

The President. What is this one?

Staff Secretary Scharf. Withdrawing from the World Health Organization, sir.

The President. Ooh. That's a big one.

So we paid $500 million to World Health when I was here. And I terminated it.

China with 1.4 billion people. We have 350 [million; White House correction], depending—we have—nobody knows what we have, because so many people came in illegally. But let's say we have 325 [million; White House correction]. They had 1.4 billion. They were paying $39 million. We were paying $500 million. It seemed a little unfair to me.

So that wasn't the reason, but I dropped out. They offered me to come back for $39 million. In theory, it should be less than that, but you know——

And when Biden came back, they came back for $500 million. He knew that you could have come back for $39 million. They wanted us back so badly.

So we'll see what happens.

Q. Mr. President, you spoke about——

The President. Pretty sad though. Think of it. China pays $39 million, and we pay $500 million, and China is a bigger country.

Domestic Energy Production/European Union-U.S. Trade

Q. Mr. President, you spoke about inflation today in your remarks. What actions are you taking today that will have a direct impact for Americans on their everyday costs to bring the cost down?

The President. Well, the biggest thing and factor for inflation is energy. They screwed up my energy policy, and then they went back to it. You know, they hurt it really badly, and then they went back to it, and they started drilling more. But by that time, it was too late.

Many of these things that we're signing and that Doug Burgum is going to be signing and Chris Wright—who's phenomenal with, you know, energy—Department of Energy—we're going to be taking a lot—we're going to make a lot of money from energy. We have a—we have more than anybody else. We're going to make a lot of money from energy.

We're going to make a lot of money from tariffs.

You know, European Union charges us—they have a VAT tax of 20 percent—but it's really much higher than that—and that's the equivalent—almost the equivalent of a tariff. And they're tough. They're very tough. And they don't take our cars. They don't take our farm product. They don't take almost anything.

And yet, we take their cars. And we take their farm product. We take a lot from them.

So, you know, we have, like, a $300 billion deficit with the European Union. So we'll straighten that out with either tariffs, or they have to buy our oil. The one thing they can do—or oil or gas. The one thing they can do to catch up quickly: buy our oil or gas.

Q. Will you travel this year?

The President. And they should do that.

The President's Travel Schedule

Q. Will you travel to China this year?

The President. Yes, I could be. I've had the invite.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

I would do it. Yes, I would go. I would do it.

U.S. Trade Relationships

Q. Talking about the European Union and the tariffs. Like, what do you mean when you say that a European Union country like Spain is part of BRICS?

The President. That it what?

Q. BRICS. You said, "BRICS."

The President. Oh, BRICS. No, I was talking about BRICS. BRICS is six nations—I think it's seven nations—and they were looking to do a number on the United States. And if they do that, I'm—they won't be happy about what's going to happen to them.

[The President signed an Executive order.]

Potential Tariff Adjustments on Imports Into the U.S.

Q. Are you still considering a universal tariff, Mr. President, on all countries?

The President. I may, yes, but we're not ready for that yet. We may put it—wrap it. Because, essentially, all countries take advantage of the U.S. We don't make any good deals in the U.S. It's amazing, in the way, that we exist. We don't make good deals. We don't have any good deals.

We have a deficit with almost—not all. There are a couple—I won't tell you their names because I don't want them to find out about it because they'll feel stupid. But there are a couple of countries that—there are a couple of countries that actually don't make money with us, but I don't want to let you know because they'll immediately change that.

Q. Mr. President——

The President. But we're going to—we're going to do—I tell you what, we have—our country has an amazing economic future. I really believe that.

Q. What kind of universal tariff? If you did do one, what would you do?

The President. Well, you'd put a universal tariff on anybody doing business in the United States, because they're coming in and they're stealing our wealth, they're stealing our jobs, they're stealing our companies. They're hurting our companies. So you put a——

Q. So you're not putting—[inaudible]?

The President. You put a tariff on to keep them from doing that.

Former President Joseph R. Biden, Jr./China

Q. Mr. President, you surrounded yourself with a whole bunch of billionaires today. President Biden, as he—in his farewell address, warned about an oligarchy. I was wondering if you can respond to that.

The President. Well, he was—he had a lot of guys.

[The President signed an Executive order.]

And then they found out that he didn't know what the hell he was talking about, and I think they deserted him. They deserted him, those same guys.

Look, I don't make pretenses—smart guys—but there are a lot of smart people around. But they did desert him. They were all with him, every one of them. Now they're all with me. I don't know.

They're not going to get anything from me. I don't need money, but I do want the Nation to do well. And they're smart people. And they have—you know, they create a lot of jobs.

And if they don't do it, China is going to do it. You know, what they've done is, they've taken industries, and they've taken it away. They outsmarted China. And you know, we sort of like that. It's okay. They've done a great job, a lot of them—not all of them.

Staff Secretary Scharf. This is protecting women from radical gender ideologies.

The President. Ooh.

[The President signed an Executive order titled, "Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government."]

World Health Organization

Q. Mr. President, going back to the World Health Organization. You were the President during COVID. Don't you see the importance of an organization like that to coordinate a global response in case——

The President. Sure. I do, but not when you're being ripped off, like we are by the World Health.

World Health ripped us off. Everybody rips off the United States. And that's it. It's not going to happen anymore.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

Staff Secretary Scharf. One last one, sir. This is your Martin Luther King Day proclamation.

The President. Thank you.