Pool Reports of March 14, 2025

Print pool note #1: Checking in

Good morning,

Chris Kane here, your in-town print pooler today.

Flagging the president's Truth Social post this morning about his discussions yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We have the EO signing at noon, which is closed press. On the schedule for today is the president's departure for DOJ at 2:30. And from there he's scheduled to depart for JBA en route to Palm Beach.

Print pool note #2:

Karoline Leavitt spoke with reporters from 10:28 to 10:30. Otter recording TK

[On his remarks later today at DOJ]:

- AG will be there w FBI Director. Speech is about restoring law and order.

- under Biden DOJ was not focused on fighting crime or public safety.

- Fentanyl families and angel moms will also be there

[Russia]

- Yesterday was productive in terms of peace. It was Steve Witkoff spoke with Putin

[injunction to reinstate fired employees]

- we're fighting back by appealing. Injunction is unconstitutional. Usurps executive authority of POTUS. President has the ability to hire or fire.

- February there were 15 injunctions against the president. Activists in the judicial branch trying to usurp his executive authority.

Print pool note #3: Otter recording of Q&A with Karoline

Here's the link to my Otter recording the Q&A Karoline Leavitt had this morning at the stakeout location:
https://otter.ai/u/Kz7aAn15FKeCt2roMImholCdqfQ

Pool note #4: Sen Kennedy answers Qs at Stakeout location

Sen. John Kennedy answered questions at the stakeout location from about 11:47 to 11:55

He was at the WH for a bill signing, a CRA regulation.

Otter link:
https://otter.ai/u/phzJtx1lxPgALAQjbN_9_4Br5qo

Remarks:
Inflation was caused by Joe Biden

You'll never hear me say someone should defy a court order. Doesn't mean I agree with it. You can certainly appeal it and criticize it but you can't ignore it.

One of my colleagues threatened Supreme Court justices over the abortion case. It undermines the role of law.

Nobody knows if tariffs will lead to inflation

Canadian PM said Trump is interfering with free trade. If I were president I would reduce tariffs to 0 and have Canada reciprocate.

Trump makes a valid point about tariffs being inconsistent and uneven. US has 8x more people and 10x

My [Dem] friends who don't want to vote for the bill, that's fine. I tell them follow your heart but take your brain with you.

It would be stupid to shut the government down. Scares the hell out of the elderly.

Pool note #5: Karoline and 9-year-old Vivian hold mock press conference

At 1:41, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt introduced Vivian Sleeth, a 9-year-old Florida girl who is living with brain cancer.

In a mock press conference, Vivian took questions at the podium in the Brady Press Briefing room for about 5 minutes.

Reporters asked about subjects like Vivian's family and pets, her favorite foods, and what she would do as president. Her mother, Brittany, shared that Vivian has a giving spirit and when her last day of radiation was celebrated with cupcakes, she handed them out to others.

Pool note #6: Gather at 2:30 for motorcade to DOJ

We're instructed to gather at 2:30 at the Palm Room Doors for President Trump's departure to the DOJ where he will be delivering remarks about restoring the rule of law.

Pool note #7: Motorcade rolling

POTUS walked from the Oval to the Beast at 3:10, and the motorcade started rolling to DOJ.

Pool note #8: Arrival at DOJ (main Justice)

Protestors were gathered on the sidewalks opposite Main Justice when we arrived at 3:15

Pool note #9: POTUS and Bondi enter

President Trump and AG Bondi walked down the great hall at 3:25

Pool note #10: TK

AG Bondi started speaking at 3:30 and finished at 3:36.

Otter link TK

Remarks:

- commends US attorneys fighting crime and "getting the illegal aliens out of the country"
- thanks law enforcement officers keeping us safe
- commends Boston's DEA Strike Team, who got a standing ovation
- angel moms are here
- murder by illegal alien from El Salvador
- thanked "unsung hero Stephen Miller"
- discussion of
- senators in attendance were acknowledged/thanked
- Trump will continue righting cartels, deporting them or locking them up for the rest of their lives thanks to our US attorneys
- under Biden cartels walked in and out of the country with impunity
- so proud to work under directive of the best President in history

In my previous note, I mistakenly said POTUS and the AG were walking down the Great Hall. Meant to say it was a hallway outside the Great Hall

Pool note #11: POTUS remarks

President Trump started speaking from the podium in the Great Hall at 3:37 and finished at 4:30.

Otter link TK

[Apologies if any of the names below are misspelled, I didn't have cell service so was unable to check]

Remarks:

- congratulations to people leading these historic reforms, starting with extraordinary AG Bondi
- I watched her for a long time in FL. Phenomenal AG.
- new FBI Director Kash Patel. Very proud of him. Went after corrupt judges. These guys never wilted, were not shy, they fought and were not afraid.
- Chad Meisel, respected CoS
- next DEA admin, Terry Kohl
- counsel for OCR, Leo Terrell
- antitrust AAG Gail Slater, terrific reputation, going to do an outstanding job
- General Flynn thank you for being here.
He went through hell and he's a patriot.
- Sen Chuck Grassley
- House Majority Whip Tom Emmer
- State AG Paxton (Texas)
- WH Deputy CoS Stephen Miller. He has been something very special
- men and women of DOJ brought down the mafia, tore down corrupt political machines, commanded the respect of the world
-lies and abuses that have come from within these walls. Obliterated trust and goodwill built up over generations.
- 51 intel agents who said Hunter Biden's laptop came from Russia. They knew better, they'd lied
- persecuted my staff and family and supporters. Did everything possible to prevent me
- radicals like Mark Elias, Mark Pomerantz. So many others, these are really bad people.
- thugs failed and freedom, justice, democracy won.
- there is no more heinous betrayal of American values
- it's what you saw from Biden, Garland and their cronies
- they targeted patriotic parents at school board meetings while dropping charges against Antifa and supporters of Hamas terrorists
- predecessors turned DOJ into the department of injustice
- we will expel rogue actors and corrupt forces from our gov't. We will expose their misconduct. It will be legendary.
- we will restore scapes of justice in America. That's why on day 1 I signed EO prohibiting gov't censorship and stripped security clearances of intel agents who lied about Hunter's laptop
- Alvin Bragg, Letitia James - state and city courts where the corruption is unbelievable
- revoked security clearances of Biden and his family. Biden was found guilty but let off because of his age/condition
- it was a great honor to fire James Comey. He persecuted people. He wasn't an angel.
- created task force to handle anti-Christian bias.
- FBI headquarters hours away in liberal state of Maryland
- FBI and DOJ work together so they should be close by.
- Patel proposed taking the old Commerce Building, said we don't need more space than that
- cleaning up our cities.i
- if the administration (DC City government) doesn't do what they need to do well manage it with the federal government. Mayor Bowser is doing ok so far.
- crime fee capital where people won't be mugged or shot or raped when they visit DC
- violent vicious lawyers playing the ref
- [remarks about Bobby Knight]
- we have a real big shot at making this country so great.
- condemned what Biden did with the border, with Ukraine, Oct. 7, inflation
- prices are coming down, gasoline has come down. Everything else is coming down. We want bacon, groceries to come down
- thanks to Susie Wiles, most powerful woman in the world
- it was a perfect 90 days. Great result which we want to put to good use by doing a phenomenal job
- we had amazing judge in FL, Aileen Canon, I don't know her, never met her though I appointed her.
I don't think it's legal for the lawyers to do what they did speaking out against her; calling her biased, questioning her intelligence and qualifications. She's the absolute model of what a judge should be. She was strong and tough.
- how do you stop it if you're a judge? And WSJ, ABC, NYT, WaPo, etc will report whatever these lawyers say about these judges?
- she was very courageous. It made [Canon] angry. Had no impact on the case against me.
- I promised my wife I wouldn't use bad language. But the case against me was bullshit.
- lawyers are doing it to SCOTUS justices too. The way they treated the conservative justices who are treated unbelievably badly.
- they can't really fight back very well. Sometimes they get weak. Perhaps most of the time. Which is why I'm so proud of Aileen Canon. Sad what they do to other judges.
- bad publicity is interference and it might be illegal, should be illegal in some form.
- bad guys. Scum. Like Norm Eisen
- cases where you can't allow yourselves to be deflected. We have such a higher calling,
- CNN, MSDNC - 99% of their coverage of me and Republicans is negative.

- these networks and newspapers are no diff from highly paid political operatives and it has to
Stop; has to be illegal. It's influencing judges,
Changing law. And I don't believe it's legal.
- elections were totally rigged.
- We need honest elections and courts and law that's fair.
- Biden got us into a mess with Russia.
- maybe the things Biden signed aren't valid because he didn't know what he was signing.
- we're doing well with Ukraine, Russia.
- speaking w President Putin we want to get the war over
- on average 2k young people killed every day. Not Americans but they're young and they have families. 2k, maybe 2.5k people killed per week
- looking for ceasefire with Russia and we've had good talks, good responses.
- we've had some very good results.
- just before I came here I got some really good news
- Russia has large group of Ukrainian soldiers surrounded and they're in grave danger
- you don't wanna pick a fight with someone much bigger than you, not even with all the money we gave them
- the withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden probably emboldened Putin
- God bless America
- these people (Biden's people) were focused on persecuting Republicans
- women can't ride the subway without worrying try at a hoodlum will shove them into the train tracks
- I have no higher mission as POTUS than making America safe again
- we're joined by dozens of police officers, sheriffs and deputies. My message: you have a president who will always have your back.
- Day 1 EO about death penalty for people who kill police officers
- Biden's Marxist prosecutors were working to put police officers in handcuffs
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is doing a fantastic job
- other countries emptied out prisoners and psych hospital inmates and under Biden we welcomed them into our country
-[angel families asked to stand and take a bow]
- working every day to expel these savages from our country
- day 1 of my admin I declared emergency on the southern border and we got the lowest level of border crossings ever reported
- we don't need legislation to handle immigration.
I proved it during my first term.
- Fire departments don't get spoken about enough. They are incredible, unbelievable. And they voted for me like 94%.
- ending migrant occupation of America. Seeing a big difference in our cities and towns.
- last month we designated MS13 and [Venezuelan gang] as foreign terrorist organizations. We caught hundreds of them. They took over areas of Colorado
- Mexico handed over 29 of the biggest cartel leaders
- placed large tariffs on Canada China and Mexico to stop these drugs from flowing into our country. They weren't happy about it but they weren't working he to hard to end it before

Angel mom spoke from 4:30 to 4:33

- my son loved President trump. In 2022 Westin lost his life as a 15 year old high school freshman when he took a single pill that was laced with fentanyl
- we knew only one person could save us from this devastation, President Donald J. Trump
- he labeled cartels terrorist orgs. Instilled tariffs because there's no price on human life.
- thank you President Trump and Pam

Pool note #11: POTUS remarks cont'd

Pool was escorted out after the angel mom spoke. We were then brought back to the Great Hall as the president had returned to the podium to give additional remarks, below:

- Many people don't take fentanyl intentionally. A little bit can kill the strongest person in the room.
- we're going to defend
- law ends where tyranny begins
- I was attacked by a political opponents. Probably more than anyone
- return of and order people are witnessing the triumph of American justice and freedom
- Rudy Giuliani suffered greatly. Greatest mayor in the history of our country
- we will rebuild pride in our institutions and bring back faith in our justice system
- this has been a great honor. I was asked to do it and wondered if it was appropriate but I think it's a good thing and it's a great honor

Pool note #12: departure back to the WH

Motorcade was rolling at 4:47. Per the updated guidance, we're headed back to the WH ahead of the president's South Lawn departure to JBA en route to Palm Beach.

Pool note #13: Arrival at the WH

We pulled up to the south portico at 4:50 pm.

Pool report #14: Recordings and correction/clarification on pool's exit/return to the Great Hall

Hi folks,

First, to clarify my note with the SL "POTUS remarks, cont'd," the pool was escorted out of the room overlooking the Great Hall prematurely. It appears the president did not spontaneously decide to return to the podium, but rather planned for the angel mom to speak toward the end of his planned remarks and then finished the speech. So, pool missed a few minutes of Trump's remarks while we were escorted away and then back to the Great Hall (this time on the main floor).

Below are the links to my Otter recordings
1. AG Bondi:
https://otter.ai/u/J_SnwAcTa_oiDYWyOOfjNHvyxCY
2. President Trump & angel mom:
https://otter.ai/u/TG5Lcd_Q6lermTMifgGguA6ruGg
3. President Trump cont'd:
https://otter.ai/u/3z4SYYrskFAJc1qbqv0wRW_CFm0

Pool note #15: gather for departure

At the Palm room doors

Pool note #16: POTUS departs from the South Lawn

The president walked out of the Oval at 5:39 with Elon Musk's son, X. He waved at the press and drew an "X" in the air with his hand but declined to take questions from reporters.

He was followed by Musk and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and others who had all boarded Marine 1 at 5:42, without taking questions.

They were wheels up at 5:45.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Out-of-town note #1 - JBA arrival

Hello! I'll be your out-of-town pooler this weekend.

Marine One touched down around 5:52pm.

POTUS stepped off at 5:58pm wearing a red tie and overcoat. He walked towards the press and spoke for about 3 minutes.

When a mic accidentally hit his face he joked about it making tv.

Steven Cheung, Howard Lutnick, Elon Musk were also spotted.

More TK on quotes here is otter for now

https://otter.ai/u/PKVMLjOex4fGHCMI8R-OaZo00XY

Consider this your wheels up at 6:07pm.

Out-of-town note #2 - wheels down in Palm Beach

We are wheels down at PBI at 7:53pm.

Fox News was on the tv for the duration of the flight. There was some turbulence but nothing spilled. No one came back to chat.

Here are best quotes from POTUS gaggle:

On Russia:

"We've had some pretty good news coming out of Russia. We're hearing good things. Who knows? We're hearing good things."

"They're in a very strong position militarily, with quite a few Ukrainian soldiers, but hopefully nothing will happen with that. I've asked them not to let anything happen, and I think, I hope, that nothing happens, but I feel that Russia is going to take a deal with us."

"We've spoken with President Putin, we've spoken with a lot of people and Ukraine is waiting. I'm very concerned about the field."

On the CR:

"I appreciate Senator Schumer and I think he did the right thing. Really, I'm very impressed by that."

On Israel/Gaza:

"We're very much into negotiations with regard to the hostages in Israel and we're going to have to see what happens."

"Hopefully it'll work out. Very complex situation. There's tremendous hatred at levels that nobody's ever seen before."

On tariffs:

"It's going to bring tremendous wealth back. And it was tariffs used in reverse that really brought our country to a position that we don't ever want to be in again. And when somebody is treating us badly, we're going to put tariffs on. They're going to be very fair. They're going to be fair and reciprocal and our country is going to come back very, very strong. I think our country is going to come roaring back."

"The tariffs are a big deal, and frankly, that's how China does it. That's how a lot of other people do it, and we do it better than them, but we never had a president that knew how to do it."

Out-of-town note #3 - PBI departure

POTUS walked out of AF1 at 8:09pm. He pumped his fist at press and said thank you. He was followed by Elon Musk and little X.

We are heading to Mar-a-Lago. Much warmer here than Washington.

Out-of-town note #4 - MAL arrival

Motorcade made its way to MAL, arriving at 8:21pm.

Lots of people lined the streets to get a look at POTUS's motorcade. Some were waving with big TRUMP flags. Some dressed up for St. Paddy's Day and waved excitedly.

There were others with more negative flags and signs. Some with expletives and POTUS's name.

"No to the nerd reich" was one. "Drill baby drill" was another. Some anti-DOGE signs as well.

Plenty of American flags were spotted, along with a few Ukraine flags.

Pool is holding as POTUS and team heads in.

Out-of-town note #5 - lid

Travel/photo lid called at 8:23 pm. Have a great rest of your Friday night!