BREAKING NEWS: Trump, Macron Take Multiple Questions From The Press During Oval Office Meeting

well thank you very much we very much appreciate the attention uh today's a big day and that we had a G7 and uh president mcon who's very special man in my book uh we were together we did it together and I think a lot of progress has been made we've had some very good talks with Russia we've had some very good talks with others and we're trying to get the war ended with Russia and Ukraine and I think we've come a long way in a short period of weeks and the president's been very helpful also

and we're also talking about trade various trade deals that we uh will be doing with France and uh we'll be discussing a little bit further then we'll have a press conference later on you can ask some questions we'll be having a press conference in a little while we're going to have with the entire French staff and we look forward to it and again the relationship's been very special with France and very special with this gentleman on my right and we look forward to keeping that going for a long period of time thank you very much

thank you thank you Mr President thank you thank you thank you I want to thank Mr President for his Hospitality we had a a good discussion this morning for the G7 here and for the third year of of this war in Ukraine and I think uh our common objective clearly is to build peace and uh and a solid and long-standing peace and this is what we will discuss obviously because U I have great respect for bravery and the resistance of of Ukrainian people and uh we do share the objective of of Peace but we are

very aware of the necessity to to have guarantees and solid peace in order to to stabilize the situation I'm I'm here as a friend because um through centuries we've been friends and we are we are personal friends as you mentioned it because we work very well together and and I think um the US and France always stand on the same side the right side I would say of history and this is exactly what that take today and this is a very important moment for Europe as well and U I'm here as well after discussions with

all my colleagues to say that Europe is U is willing to step up to be a a stronger partner to do more in defense and security for the continent and as well to be a a reliable uh partner and to be engaged on trade economy investment in a lot of topics so I'm very excited by the discussion we will have and um and obviously we will follow up and I want to thank you again Mr President for your presence for notam the par meant a lot for French people and uh I I want to thank

you for that that's the the cathedral and they've done a fantastic job the president's done a great job and bringing it back that was a terrible thing like what five years ago yeah watching that burn was a very uh horrible horrible sight and you've done a fantastic job in bringing it back so I congratulate you thank you for being here thank you thank you anybody uh want to ask a question or two is that a foolish question thank you Mr President is mineral it looks like we're getting very close the deal is being worked on

where're I think getting very close to getting an agreement where where we get our money back over a period of time but it also gives us something where I think is very beneficial to their economy to their to them as a country but you know we're in for $350 billion how we got there I don't know but that's a lot of money a lot of lot of money invested and we had nothing nothing to show for it and it was the Biden administration's fault uh the uh Europeans are in for about a hundred billion dollar

and they do it as a form in the form of a loan and the Europeans have been great on this issue they understood it wasn't fair and we were able to work something out but with the ukrainians I think I can say uh that we're very close Scots around here someplace and I think we can say that we're very high Scott I think uh we're very close do you have something to say about that Scott we are very close good one all right Mr UK what would a mineral deal include a security guarantee for Ukraine

well it'll be uh Europe is going to make sure that nothing happens I don't think it's going to be much of a problem I think once we settle uh there's going to be no more war in Ukraine and you're not going to have it it's not going to be a very big problem that's going to be the least of it Mr President we're hearing from some Greek media reporting that the US has agreed to shut down military base in Greece that's been a logistical hub for NATO shut that who shut down uh that the US

has agreed to shut it down at the request of uh turkey and Russia is that at all true Marco do you have anything to say please that's enough that's enough Mr President Mr is it a no it's a no sir it's not a correct St thank you Mr President how do you react to uh people in Europe uh who said that you are abandoning Ukraine and that you are going to sacrify the security of Ukraine by making a deal with Vladimir Putin know we're uh helping Ukraine like nobody's ever helped Ukraine before and I can

say this if uh I didn't become president Ukraine would right now still be at a level where there would be no even thinking about a peace and it was uh it's a it's a sad thing that this happened this would have never happened this war if I were president zero chance and it has happened so uh my function is to get you out of the war get them out of the war let them live it's a bloody war it's a horrible war thousands of people are being killed a week and I would say Russia maybe

700,000 people I think Ukraine probably a similar number and that's not talking about the towns and the cities that have been blown up that's talking about soldiers this has been a horrible bloody mess and we're going to get it solved we got to get it solved and you know we're not talking about America soldiers soldiers from this country we're talking about Russia and Ukraine but on a humanitarian basis we have to get this very very bloody Savage problem solved and I I will say this also it could lead to World War I if it's not

solved you know there'll be a point at which it's not going to stop at those two countries already there's such involvement from other countries and uh it could really lead to a very big War World War III and we're not going to let that happen NE would you support the idea to send European troops in Ukraine to back the European troops may go into Ukraine as peacemakers uh so when the agreement is done they can watch that everything's followed properly I don't think that's going to be a problem and a lot of the European countries

I think I I don't want to speak for France but I know that uh the president's talked about doing that also I think that'll be a very good day when we can go in as peacekeepers as opposed to what's going on right now with everybody being killed will they have us backing those troops going into Ukraine will they have us backing from US troops well we're going to have a backing of some kind and uh obviously the European countries are going to be involved and uh I don't think you're going to need much back and

I think that's not going to be a problem once an agreement is signed Russia is going to get back to its business and Ukraine and Europe are going to get back to their business I don't think it's going to be a problem you talk about what will you meet with President zinski soon I will be meeting with h president zalinski in fact he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement and which would be nice i' I'd love to meet him would meet at the Oval Office so the agreement's being worked

on now uh they're very close to a final deal it'll be a deal with rare Earths and various other things and uh he would like to come as I understand it here to sign it and that would be great with me I think they then have to get it approved by their Council or whoever might approve it but I'm sure that will [Music] happen meeting with President Putin also yes I don't know when uh we speak we're trying to get this thing worked out but uh yeah at some point I'll be meeting with President Putin

too I can say a few words in French no moment for pres already spoken about this this just a moment ago this is exactly what we want to do we want to build peace with Ukraine as president Trump mentioned there are already 1 million dead and wounded in Ukraine since the War Began we had a ceasefire in the past that was not respected this was under the Minsk agreements 1 and two president Trump as he said will be meeting with President D zilinski to sign a deal on rare Earths and we are pleased to see

this very strong American involvement Europe of course also stands ready to support Ukraine in various ways supporting its military and we don't want to preempt any sort of discussions that are currently underway but we do say share the same objective of building this lasting piece I just want to tell you a little story so we were at the Eiffel Tower having dinner with your wonderful wife and with my wonderful wife and we came out and he started speaking the French deal and we didn't have an interpreter and he was going on and on and on

and I was just nodding yes yes yes and he really sold me out cuz I got back the next day I read the papers I said that's not what we said he's just smart customer I will tell you that Mr President a dictator would you use the same words regarding ctin uh I don't use those words lightly I think that we're going to see how it all works out let's see what happens I think we have a chance of a really good settlement between various countries and you know you're talking about Europe and you're talking

about Ukraine as part of that whole situation uh the other side has a lot of a lot of Support also so let's see how it all works out it might work out look you can never make up lives the one thing you can't you can make up the money but you can't make up the lives a lot of lives lost I think probably a lot more lives than people are talking about it's been a it's been a rough War but I think we're close to getting ins solved question about Doge sir do you think that

Doge could benefit from more streamline Communications there was that email uh telling employees to give five things that they've done last week agency heads then told people to ignore it but about the last email that was sent where he wanted to know what you did this week you know why he wanted that by the way I thought it was great because we have people that don't show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government so by asking the question tell us what you did this week what he's doing is saying

are you actually working and then if you don't answer like you're sort of semi fired or you're fired because a lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist they're trying to find that's how badly various parts of our government were run by and especially by this last group so what they're doing is they're trying to find out who's working for the government are we paying other people that aren't working and you know where is all that where's the money going we have found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud so far and

we've just started we're actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there because maybe somebody stole the gold tons of gold some of the agencies so so I think it was actually there was a lot of Genius in sending it we're trying to find out if people are working and so we're sending a letter to people please tell us what you did last week if people don't respond it's very possible that there is no such person or they're not working some of the agency heads instructed their employees not to respond because they

were waiting on further guidance but Elon musk's tweet said a failure to respond would be taken as a resignation so there's been a disconnect in Communications yeah are you concerned at all about that only no no no that was done in a friendly manner only things such as uh perhaps Marco at State Department where they have very confidential things or the FBI where they're working on confidential things uh and they don't mean that in any way combatively with Elon they're just saying there are some people that you don't want to really have them tell you

what they're working on last week uh but other than that uh I think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea we have to find out where these people are who are they and we said if you don't respond we assume you're not around and that holds that stands and you're not getting paid anymore too so you know we're doing a real job and we just had a poll come out I guess the Harvard poll saying that it's massively popular what we're doing so Mr President do you still believe in nato in the alliance between

uh Europe and America in NATO NATO is very much involved in this when I first got elected at the very beginning first term I got hundreds of billions of dollars put into NATO the NATO had no money because they hadn't paid for years and I said look if you don't pay and we're not going to be a part of NATO we're not going to protect we're not going to do what we're supposed to do and we took in hundreds of billions of dollars into NATO no NATO is a good thing if it's done properly and

if it's used properly Mr President in this days you speak these days you speak a a lot about tariff in Canada Mexico and Europe I want to know if what is your idea about Italy if you want to make the same thing what can you talk up a little louder in this in this days no louder can you talk a little louder you have a beautiful voice but you're not in this place you speak where are you from Italy from Italy oh I love it go ahead I want to make I want to know if

you have the same idea well look I love Italy and Italy is a very important Nation we have a wonderful woman as your leader and she was on the conversation today one that we had the G7 and uh no I think ital is doing very well I think I think Italy's got very strong leadership with Georgia uh any other questions over here yes ma'am clarify what you meant in your trth today on the major Economic Development transactions between the US and Russia more with respect to what Russia in soling a said there be major Economic

Development transactions which will take place between the United States and Russia yeah we're trying to do some economic development Deals they have a lot of things that we want and we'll see I mean I don't know if that will come to fruition but we'd love to be able to do that if we could you know they have massive Rare Earth it's a large it's actually the largest in terms of land it's by far the largest country and they have very valuable things that we could use and we have things that they could use and it

would be very good if we could do that I think it would be a very good thing for world peace and Lasting peace uh well I mean our F our first by far our first thing that we want to do the first element of of the overall transaction is ending the war but if uh just as with doing with Ukraine if we could do some economic development in terms of Russia and getting things that we want uh something like that would be possible yes can you expl the r sir in in the US go ahead

please can you explain the rationale in having us vote against the UN resolutions that Ukraine proposed and also the US proposed uh I would rather not explain it now but it's sort of self-evident I think Mr President first talked about increasing the tariffs on product from the European Union is that still something want to do today well it's not it's increasing it's reciprocal so whatever they judge us we're judging them so it's not a question of increasing if they charge us 20% we charge them 20% if they charge us 30 or 40% then we do

that too so that would be on European Union but that really would be respect with respect everybody uh it's reciprocity so reciprocal whatever they charge us we charge them nobody has a problem even you I see you don't have a problem problem anymore right Mr President are you thinking of going to Moscow uh soon maybe in May for the 9th of May for the anniversary I mean not soon but I would be certainly uh if this all gets settled out which I think it will sure I would go there and he'd come here too on

the 9th of May for the on the Red Square I don't know the 9th of May no I don't I think that's pretty that's pretty soon but no at the appropriate time I would go to MOS I think soon how soon uh within weeks weeks yeah don't you think so I'd like to ask have you I think we could end it within weeks if we're smart if we're not smart it'll keep going and we'll keep losing uh young beautiful people that shouldn't be dying and we don't want that and remember what I said this could

escalate into a third world war and we don't want that there Mr President your Steve whof suggested a temporary ceasefire in the conflict but the Russian government has denied that out of hand do you worri that they're not feeling in good faith no I think they uh at some point will agree to that I think they probably wanted to and I think once you have a ceasefire it's going to end because they're not going from a ceasefire back to War I think people have had their full I'm just glad I was able to help because

there was no communication with Russia until I came along Biden didn't communicate he couldn't communicate with his own child so Biden didn't communicate he couldn't it was terrible he hadn't spoken to Putin in three years you're trying to end a war people are being killed every week thousands of people are being killed soldiers in this case mostly also towns you know as missiles go in and back and forth uh no it's it's a shame this should have never happened this is a very sad this is going to go down to the history books this is

a very sad moment because that should have been stopped that should have never started and if it did start it should have stopped the first week not three years later for for for that is the most beautiful language I have no idea what he's saying but that is the most elegant beautiful language go ahead please this is a question that was asked by several what we need to do is make sure that we are building peace we have deterr cap we have deterrence capabilities that have been res restored as president Trump said there won't be

any more problems we've seen the US re-engagement and the message that that sends to Mr Putin we have deterrence which will allow a truce to take place verification of that truce and then peace agreement can be put in place so that we can start rebuilding Ukraine with security guarantees and we have a role to play in that again I'm not preempting any discussions but we've spoken about Ukraine's sovereignty and that has been a subject of discussion between the US and Ukraine we have also been working closely with our British Partners this week we've shared this

information with other European countries and we are ready and willing to provide those security guarantees which could perhaps include troops but they would be there to maintain peace they would not be along the front lines they would not be part of any conflict they would be there to ensure that the peace is respected our assistance may include other capacity building perhaps for the military we see us credibility here we each have our role to play but it will be done in a United fashion that Ukraine should give up in part of his territory well we're

going to see it's a negotiation that's just starting and you know they've been fighting and there's been a lot of land that's been taken so we'll have to see how that works up that's part of the negotiation uh I will say there was great unity in that room today you know we were via Skype or whatever but it was great uh tremendous Unity today in that room with the other countries was very impressed back can they take it back what they lost in the past few years it's not an easy thing to do is it

right it's not an easy you asking whether or not uh you could take back the land that they lost and I I say that uh yeah perhaps some of it yeah I hope so but that's not an easy thing to Doon on the fro it's going to be something we're talking about will you convince to accept the European troops as Peacekeeper would you think yeah he will accept that he will accept I've asked him that question you talk to me I've asked him that question is France going to lift the block on the 3lion not

look if we do this deal he's not looking for more war doesn't mind but I've specifically asked him that question he has no problem with it is France going to lift the block on the 300 billion and Frozen Russian Assets in Belgium France has opposed unfreezing it to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support is France going to lift its opposition to that this is I mean we speak about frozen assets we already used them to back for the loans negotiated at the G7 and it's part of the sanctions so it will depend

on the followup of the discussions but clearly we respect international law it's just frozen assets now you can take the proceeds of the frozen assets but you cannot take the assets themselves because it's not respecting international law and we want to respect International how is one different than the other you can take the proceeds from it how can you not keep because it's very different you keep the assets you take the proceed because they are paralized in a certain way you take the proceeds during the war time but you keep the asset and it's part

of the negotiation at the end of the war because I mean this work costed all us a lot of money and this is the responsibility of Russia because the aggressor is Russia should the US be compensated so at the end of the day this Frozen asset should be part of the negotiation all in all will France support the us being compensated I I support the idea to have Ukraine first being compensated because they are the one who have lose a lot of their fellow Citizen and being destroyed by these attacks second all of those who

who paid for could be compensated but not by Ukraine by Russia because they was the one to agress again just so you just so you understand Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine they get their money back no in fact to be to be frank uh we paid we paid 60% of the total effort and it was through like the US loans guarantee grants and we we provided real money to be clear we have 230 billion frozen assets in Europe Russian assets but this is not as a collateral of a loan because this is not

our belonging so they are frozen if at the end of the day in the negotiation we will have with Russia they're ready to give to give it to us super it would be loan at the end of the day and Russia would have paid for that if you believe that it's okay with me Mr President they get their money back we don't and now we do but you know that's only fair Mr Russia should be the one that pays everybody back are they the aggressives well we're all we're negotiating everything and everything's on the table

and we'll see if we can get some land back and we'll see about a lot of different things and we're going to be making a little speech and uh say a few words and a little while we're going to have another meeting a luncheon meeting and we'll see you in about two hours okay thank you very much every thank you thank you let's go let's go Ming thank you very much thank you thanks guys all right headed out this door right here right here we're coming out the thank you let's move thank you thank you

thank you thank you