Pool Reports of July 14, 2025

In-town pool report #1: gathering for NATO meeting

Greetings,

The pool is gathering now for President Trump’s meeting with the NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. 

I’m told it will be live streamed.

In-town pool report #2: entered Oval Office for NATO meeting

The pool entered the Oval Office at 11:11amfor the meeting with NATO’s Mark Rutte, where POTUS is expected to announce a plan to sell Patriot air defense systems and other weapons to Ukraine.

Trump and Rutte are seated next to each other in front of an unlit fireplace. To Trump’s left: Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Sitting across from Trump in a chair is Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

The meeting is live streamed. Highlights TK.

In-town pool report #3: Trump's big announcement on Russia

POTUS called on Putin to end the war in Ukraine in 50 days or the U.S. will implement "secondary tariffs" at 100%.

He also announced that the US will send weapons to NATO, which Rutte said will be sent to Ukraine.

Trump: "I'm going to have Mark speak about it, but we've made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons and they're going to be paying for them. We the United States will not be having any payment made. We're not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they're going to be paying for it."

In-town pool report #4: pool gathering for faith lunch

Pool is holding in the East Room ahead of Trump's luncheon with the White House Faith Office in the State Dining Room.

The Oval spray ended at 11:46pm. As noted in my previous report, Trump opened by saying he was "very unhappy" with Russia and threatened "secondary tariffs" against Russia if it did not reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine in 50 days. It's unclear if he meant "secondary sanctions." Your pooler has asked the White House press office for clarification.

Trump also announced that European countries will buy U.S.-made weapons to help Ukraine: "In a nutshell, we're going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they'll be sent to NATO."

Rutte said: "This is really big"

Trump was asked how he told Putin this was coming: "I talk to him a lot.. about getting this done. My conversations with him are always very pleasant. Very lovely conversation. And then the missiles go off that night."

Asked if Putin escalates further, how far are you willing to go in response, Trump said "Don't ask me a question like that."

Trump: "Europe has a lot of spirit for this war. When I first got involved I really didn't think they did ... they're paying for everything. We're not paying anymore. We have an ocean separating us."

The spray was live-streamed.

In-town pool report #5: Lutnick clarification on sanctions

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified whether Trump meant to say "secondary sanctions" instead of "secondary tariffs" during his earlier announcement on Russia. 

"So it's economic sanction, not a sanction," he told reporters gathered in the State Dining Room. "You can also make an economic penalty: if I catch doing it, then you'll have to pay."

"You can do tariffs or you can do sanctions, those are both tools in his toolbox."

Here's the otter link from the Daily Mail's Geoff Earle: 
https://otter.ai/u/SC8gGLHO2w-ozf33gmOJcBe3p00

In-town pool report #6: Trump enters Faith Office lunch

Trump entered the State Dining Room at 12:34pm for a lunch with the White House Faith Office. He shook hands with a few attendees as he walked to the podium to deliver remarks.

A full list of attendees was not made available but your pooler can see Howard Lutnick, Scott Bessent, and Kelly Loeffler.

Trump began by talking about his Ukraine weapons deal: "We're going to supply weapons to NATO at a large amount. They're going to deliver the weapons, and they're going to pay for 100% of the weapons."

His remarks are live streamed.

In-town pool report #7: Trump remarks over

POTUS spoke for about 47 minutes at the lunch on a wide range of topics. He did not appear to be using a teleprompter and only briefly looked down at his prepared remarks. Some highlights:

On the "big beautiful bill" he signed: "The Senate was tougher than the House … Actually, amazingly, shouldn't have been. We had a slightly bigger margin than the Senate proportionally, but it was brutal. They said that, sir, we have 12 hard nos. You know, hard no is not recoverable, right?"

He singled out a few lawmakers: "Rand Paul, who always votes no. They call him just say no. I got him elected. I had to go to Kentucky twice to do rallies to get him elected. But they forget. A lot of politicians forget … Tillis was a no. They said he was brave. But he resigned the following morning." (Note: Tillis did not resign - he said he would not run for re-election).

Trump also joked: "I said to one guy, he's a very, very unattractive man, but he's smart and he's rich and I said, you better hope we get this thing passed because your wife will be gone within about two minutes."

He criticized policies that allow transgender athletes to compete in women's sports: "As you probably know, we ended the woke stuff"

On Fed chair Powell: "We have a bad fed chairman, really bad… I tried being nice to the guy. It doesn't help. He's like a knucklehead. No, he's a knucklehead. Stupid guy. He really is."

On faith: "We have to bring religion back into the country, and we're starting to do that, I think, at a very high level."

He added that "We're getting rid of the Johnson Amendment that didn't let the pastors speak."

"We're going to continue the fight for Judeo Christian values of our founding fathers."

On Democrats: "They're evil people in many ways, but they stick together.. you don't have a Mitt Romney in the midst who makes you suffer."

He spoke about his past indictments: "I was under investigation more than the late, great Alphonse Capone … I got indicted five times and impeached two times. All bullshit, right?"

On the attempted assassination in Butler, Pa. on July 13, 2024: "It's remarkable to think that it was only one year ago this week that my time on Earth nearly ended… I do believe that my life was saved by God to really Make America Great Again." The crowd stood up and clapped.

Trump's remarks were live streamed.

In-town pool report #8: Trump exits faith lunch

Trump exited the lunch at 1:27pm.

In-town pool report #9: lid until 2:45p

White House Press Office has called a lunch lid until 2:45pm.

In-town pool report #10: lid until 5:45p

White House Press Office has called a dinner lid until 5:45pm.

In-town pool report #11: gathered for departure

The pool is gathered in a press van for President Trump's departure from the White House to an undisclosed location. I will provide an update upon arrival.

In-town pool report #12: motorcade rolling

The motorcade departed the White House at 7:35pm. We are rolling to an undisclosed location.

Your pooler did not lay eyes on POTUS. The rain has slowed down significantly.

In-town pool report #13: arrival at Lutnick’s residence for birthday dinner

Motorcade arrived at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's house in the Foxhall neighborhood for a private dinner, per a White House official. Today is Lutnick’s 64th birthday.

Pool could not see Trump depart the motorcade and enter Lutnick’s home. A guest list was not provided. 

It is unclear how long he plans to be at Lutnick's house. The pool will be holding in the press van.

In-town pool report #14: motorcade rolling to WH

Motorcade is rolling from Lutnick’s residence back to the White House at 10:08pm. Pool did not see Trump enter the presidential limo.

In-town pool report #15: White House / lid

President Trump’s motorcade rolled onto the White House grounds at 10:15pm after a short, uneventful ride from Lutnick’s house in Foxhall.

We now have a lid. Good night all.

Foreign pool report #1: Rutte visit background

Good morning everyone, 

It is a warm, humid day in Washington, DC.  

I will be your foreign pooler today on Monday, July 14, 2025 for Nato's Secretary General Mark Rutte visit to the White House. A meeting with President Donald Trump is scheduled for 10am in the Oval Office. That meeting is so far closed to the press.  
The meeting is expected to focus on Ukraine, trade and defense spending, and is likely to include a "major statement" on Russia, which Mr Trump said would take place today.
The engagement comes after Mr Trump announced on Sunday that the US would send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine and Nato would pay for them. 
He had also hinted at possible new sanctions on Russia, after reiterating displeasure with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
On Sunday evening, he told reporters that Ukraine "desperately" needs those Patriot missile defense batteries and that Mr Putin, "talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening." 

He also said that Nato member countries will pay for them. 
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina has meanwhile cosponsored a bipartisan bill that would put additional sanctions on Russia's economy. It is unclear if today's announcement will touch on this bill. 
Mr Rutte last visited the White House on March 13. At the time, officials voiced optimism that a 30-day ceasefire could be reached between Ukraine and Russia. 

The two leaders later met during the Nato's June summit in the Hague that led to an alliance-wide defense spending commitment, after Mr Rutte secured a pledge from members to reach 5 percent of GDP by 2035. 

In a brief statement on Sunday, Nato said Mr Rutte would meet Mr Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, as well as members of Congress. Nato has not provided additional details to your pooler regarding his schedule in Washington. 

Will keep you all posted as more information becomes available today.

Foreign pool note #2: Trump-Rutte Oval

Dear colleagues,

Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke for several minutes in the Oval Office after President Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine in 50 days or the US would implement "secondary tariffs" at 100 percent. He also announced that the US will send weapons to Nato.

Mr Rutte later said weapons systems would be delivered to Ukraine through Nato, and Europe would be paying for them. He said effort would be made to find out what Ukrainians need in the field. He said he had met with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Pentagon in the morning where they discussed possible packages for Ukraine. He said it was made "absolutely clear" that the US will keep the stockpiles necessary to defend itself.

He said it means that Ukraine can soon get its hands on "really massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defense, but also missiles, ammunition."

"This is really big, this is really big," Mr Rutte said adding that Mr Trump had called him on Thursday saying he had reached a decision.

"And the decision is that you want Ukraine what it needs to have, to maintain, to be able to defend itself against Russia, but you do want Europeans to pay for it, which is totally logical," he said.

He said the approach builds on the "tremendous success of the NATO Summit," which included the 5% GDP pledge as well as the decision to support Ukraine and increase Europe's defense industrial production.

"That was Europe stepping up. This is again, Europeans stepping up," he said.

He said Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada had all said they want to be involved, though this was "only the first wave" and there would be more.

"So if I was Vladimir Putin today, and are you speaking about what you were planning to do in 50 days, and this announcement, I would reconsider whether I should not take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously than I was doing at the moment, if I was Vladimir Putin. But when I'm Ukraine, I think this is really great news for them," he said.

Additional info/background on Mark Rutte:

Mark Rutte became head of Nato on October 1, 2024, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg. He previously served as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for 14 years. He has known Mr Trump for many years, and their relationship seems to have evolved over the years.

During Mr Trump's first term, Mr Rutte who was then Dutch Prime Minister was one of the few European leaders who challenged Mr Trump publicly, particularly on NATO burden-sharing and trade issues.
But their relationship appears to have notably improved, coming on display during the Nato summit in the Hague last month, when Mr Trump called Mr Rutte a "very strong leader and a good man," and Mr Rutte later called the US President a "man of strength and peace".

He even likened him to a global affairs "daddy", in a perhaps playful comment.

Foreign pool note #3: Faith lunch

Dear colleagues, 

President Trump spoke for about 50 minutes at a lunch with the White House Faith Office in the East Room of the White House.

Mr Trump began speaking after 12:30pm, mentioning Ukraine right at the top of his remarks.

"We're going to supply weapons to NATO, and a large amount, they're going to deliver the weapons, and they're going to pay for 100% of the weapons," drawing applause from the crowd.

"It's a big thing, and we thought we had four deals, Howard, right? With Putin," referring to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick who in attendance.

"We're going to be doing that with NATO and fully approved, fully done, and sending a lot of weapons of all kinds. And they're going to deliver those weapons immediately to the site, to the site of the war, different sites of the war, and they're going to pay for 100% of them."

He said the effort was made possible by increasing member contribution from 2% to 5% a month ago now.

He reiterated that if a deal is not reached in 50 days, the US would impose secondary tariffs on Russia.

"Hopefully that will come to an end at the end of 50 days. If we don't have a deal, then we're going to have to do, we have no choice but to do secondary tariffs. You call it secondary tariffs, which are pretty tough, which we don't want to have to do. But let's see what happens."

Earlier Mr Lutnick spoke to us journalists gathered and told us it was his birthday.

He also clarified some confusion over Mr Trump's earlier mention of "secondary sanctions" rather than "secondary tariffs".

"So it's economic sanction, not a sanction," he said. "You can also make an economic penalty: if I catch doing it, then you'll have to pay."

"You can do tariffs or you can do sanctions, those are both tools in his toolbox," he said.