Remarks by the Vice President in an Exchange with Reporters

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. Obviously, I -- I'm here to talk about my friend Bridge Colby. I think he'll make a great, great policy lead at the Department of Defense. It's why the president nominated him. And I just wanted to be here to give a word of encouragement, a word of approval, and -- and just lend my reputation to Bridge's confirmation, because I think he's a really, really, really important person for us to have at the Department of Defense.

We have gone for too long letting our industrial base get degraded, allowing our troops to not even have the munitions that they need to fight the wars of the future. President Trump really believes in peace through strength, but a core part of peace through strength is ensuring that our troops have the weapons that they need in order to fight the next war if, God forbid, it necessarily comes.

So, Bridge is an important part of that defense policy. I think the Senate will confirm him, and I'm glad to be here and speak on his behalf.

I'm happy to take a few questions if you guys have them.

Q: Does pausing aid for Ukraine leave Ukraine vulnerable right now and give Russia an advantage?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Look, what the president has said very clearly about our Ukraine policy is that he wants the Ukrainians to come to the negotiating table. We want the Ukrainians to have a sovereign and an independent country. We think the Ukrainian troops have fought very bravely, but we're at a point here where neither Europe nor the United States nor the Ukrainians can continue this war indefinitely, so it's important that everybody come to the table. And the president is trying to send a very explicit message: The Ukrainians have got to come to the table and start negotiating with President Trump.

Q: Do you still have hope for the mineral deal? Do you believe that the mineral deal can still be reached with Ukraine?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I -- I certainly do. And I think the president is still committed to the mineral deal. I think we've heard some positive things but not yet, of course, the signature from our friends in Ukraine.

But look, the mineral deal is a really important part of the president's policy. Number one, the American people have got to get some payback for the incredible financial investment we've made in this country. A lot of the aid that the Europeans have sent has come in the form of money that is getting repaid to them. Well, it's really ridiculous and, frankly, an insult to the American people that the Europeans are getting a better deal than the American people.

The president is just trying to assure that the American people get a fair deal while simultaneously incurring we have access to some minerals and resources that are very important for the economy of the future.

Q: What if -- if Zelenskyy changes his posture, his focus, his gratefulness, as you guys have talked about, would there be a consideration of bringing the aid back on? Or is that an indefinite pause, a long-term pause, do you see it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, look, the president has been very clear. He wants the Ukrainians to come to the negotiating table. I think when the Ukrainians come to the negotiating table, everything is on the table.

Q: What about the pressure on Russia?

Q: What do you need to see from President Zelenskyy?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Look, I -- I think the most important thing -- a lot of people have made this about public statements: President Zelenskyy needs to say that he's committed to the peace or President Zelenskyy needs to apologize to the president. The public stuff doesn't matter nearly as much as what are the Ukrainians doing to meaningfully engage on what a peaceful settlement would look like. We need the Ukrainians privately to come to us and say, "This is what we need. This is what we want. This is how we're going to participate in the process to end this conflict." That is the most important thing, and that lack of private engagement is what is most concerning to us.

Q: So far it looks like a lot of pressure on Ukraine, but not much pressure on Russia. Do you expect to do maybe more Ru- -- sanctions on Russia or any other steps to pressure both sides if you want to have them on a negotiation table?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I -- I don't think that's right, actually. I mean, we still have a number of sanctions that are placed on the Russians. We do believe that the Russians, economically, are struggling because of this conflict. We do believe that it's in Russia's best interest but also Ukraine and the United States' best interest to bring this conflict to a close.

So, we believe in applying pressure to -- to everybody to stop the killing, because that's what the president's policy is, and that's what's in the best interest of the American people.

Q: The president characterized it as -- as a deal being a "long way away." You just said if the Ukrainians came privately to the negotiating table that can get things moving. What are we talking about timeline here? Like, how fast (inaudible).

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You said President Trump said that or President Zelenskyy said that?

Q: President -- I believe that President Trump had said -- characterized it as being -- a deal being a long way away.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, I -- I know that President Zelenskyy said that, but what I think the president has said is that we -- we can make a deal. The Russians can't continue this thing forever. The Ukrainians can't continue it forever. And most importantly, the United States can't continue it forever.

Look, there are a lot of details to be worked out. There are a lot of questions about territory, about everything else. We want to have that conversation. We're not saying that we're committed to one pathway or another. We're just saying you can't even bring the peace to the forefront if the Ukrainians aren't willing to negotiate in good faith. And right now, they haven't been able to, haven't been willing to. Hopefully, that changes.

Q: Do you think that European peacekeepers are a nonstarter for the Kremlin? Do you think that could realistically pa- -- be part of the solution or no?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I -- I won't speak for the Kremlin. I don't know what is a nonstarter or not for the Kremlin. I know that, obviously -- and we appreciate this -- the British and the French have offered to step up in a big way. That's very, very important. But fundamentally, the -- the question of what's a nonstarter for this or that party, that's part of the negotiated settlement we have to come to. We can't even really start that negotiated process in earnest until the Ukrainians, led by President Zelenskyy, come to the table.

Q: What do you need to see from Canada in terms of --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Go -- go ahead, man. Yeah.

Q: Mr. Colby has said in the past that the U.S. could tolerate or contain a nuclear-armed Iran. How is that consistent with the President's maximum-pressure policy?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, number one, the president has been very clear he doesn't want to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. And I don't know what Mr. Colby has written in the past, but I'll say that every single person that we nominate to a position is going to have at least one thing that they disagree with the president about. That's okay, but the president's policy is extremely clear: We cannot tolerate nuclear proliferation, especially in Iran. That will be the policy of the administration. It has been, and it was during the first Trump Administration.

Q: What do you need to see from Canada to roll back these tariffs?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Look, the president is going to have conversations with the Canadians. We need to see real engagement on the fentanyl issue, on the drug issue. That is fundamentally the underlying element of these tariffs is we think the -- that the Canadians have not been serious about stra- -- stopping the drug trade.

Now, people will sometimes say," Well, if you look at the numbers, the Mexicans send way more fentanyl into the United States than the Canadians do." The Canadians have allowed a lot of fentanyl to come into the country. It's not a defense to say more has come from Mexico, because way too much has come from Mexico too.

Great. Thank you all.