Pool Reports of June 6, 2025

In-town pool report #1 -- lunch lid

The White House press office has called a lunch lid until 1 p.m.

The only open press event on the president's schedule as of now is his departure from the White House, which is scheduled for 3 p.m.

In-town pool report #2 -- gathered for departure

The press has been called to gather for President Trump's departure from the White House.

In-town pool report #3 — M1 liftoff

President Trump exited the Oval Office at 3:28 p.m. 

POTUS waved to the press but did not respond to shouted questions or stop to speak. 

Trump waved to a group of supporters gathered in front of the South Portico as he crossed the lawn to Marine One. He boarded the helicopter at 3:30 p.m.

M1 lifted off at 3:33 p.m.

Handing off to the travel pool.

Out-of-town pool report 1: JBA arrival and rolling

Hello, from JBA on this hot and slightly breezy afternoon. I'll be your out-of-town print pooler for the president's weekend in Bedminster. Marine One touched down at 3:42 pm, and POTUS descended soon after. From Marine One, POTUS, wearing a white hat with "USA" on it and a blue tie, he gave a thumbs up to the press and immediately entered the vehicle.

For planning purposes, POTUS is not scheduled to depart JBA until 5 pm, but pool is rolling as of 3:49 for an OTR stop. I'll provide more info as I have it.

Out-of-town pool report 2: JBA golf course

From the White House: Before taking off for Bedminster, President Trump will check out the golf course at Joint Base Andrews.

Motorcade arrived at the golf course at 3:53 pm. Pool could not see POTUS exiting his vehicle and is holding in the vans.

Out-of-town pool report 3: golf course color

Pool is still holding in vans but caught a few glimpses of POTUS. He exited a building here at The Courses at Andrews around 4:05 pm, and then walked to a golf cart. POTUS was driving his own cart, trailed by at least a dozen others as he turned onto the green. He's out of sight again.

Out-of-town pool report 4: more color & rolling

At 4:24 pm, pool saw the pack of golf carts, with POTUS leading the way, driving down the back to the JBA course building. 

Pool then lost sight of the president until he got in the Beast at 4:40 pm. We're rolling again for JBA departure.

Out-of-town pool report 5: Departure

POTUS boarded Air Force One at 4:46 and did not speak with press. He appeared to say he would see us on the plane.

We're on the smaller plane today, so I will lose WiFi as soon as I step on. Will follow up when we touch down, and will be sure to fill you in on any in-flight gaggles.

Departing shortly.

Out-of-town pool report 6: Arrival / POTUS gaggle

AF1 touched down at Morristown Municipal Airport at 5:44 pm. 

POTUS came back to gaggle on the plane at 5:23 pm and fielded questions on Elon Musk, Abrego-Garcia (deferred to DOJ), the mega bill, Russia-Ukraine, Iran, China and the fed chair for about 12 mins. 

Your poolers are working quickly to transcribe and will send fuller quotes. Will also try to load audio into otter and share a file. 

Because of a bad weather call, POTUS is now motorcading to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. POTUS descended from AF1 at 5:53 pm and entered his vehicle. Motorcade will be rolling shortly.

Out-of-town pool report 7: quotes from gaggle

Sorry for slightly different formatting, team effort over here. Please check against transcript. Big thanks to co-poolers Jonathan Swan and Brian Schwartz for the assist:

"It's a lot of people here.. 
It's a lot of people. " 

"We visited  the military  courses we want to fix it up… it takes years to get something approved… two courses were very nice… they need a lot of work… we can fix them up good" 

Reporter 
Did you speak with bukelli to facilitate  the  transfer of Alberto Garcia? 

"I don't want to say that but he's been returned … he should have  been returned… he should've never had to be returned… "

"Either way it's a total disaster - this is a pretty bad guy … and for the democrats to back him … "

Reporter:
On musk's contracts and how seriously is he considering cutting musk contracts 

"We'll take look at everything… it's a lot of money…  it's a lot of subsidy … so we'll take a look… only if it's fair… only if it's to be fair for him and the country… "

Reopening investigation into musk's company? 

"I had no idea there were any… I'll let them speak for themselves … I have no idea "

What's his opinion on musk as of today? 

"Honestly I've been so busy working on China… working on Russia… working on Iran.. I'm not thinking about Elon musk .. I just wish him well "

What does he hope to see 
"We are very far advanced in the China deal… we wanted clarification … we had to have clarification 
We had a very good talk with President Xi… 
It's a complicated deal but it's a deal that will bring us a lot of money…"

Can u.s. survive without the contracts? 

"The U.S. can survive without almost anybody…except me "

Were you concerned about his drug use when he worked for you? 
"I don't want to comment on that… frankly it sounded very unfair? "

What did he mean when he said musk had a problem? 
"I don't want to talk about the problems… think the United States had problem… but if you look at the numbers today the numbers were unbelievable. Incredible. "

"The stock market went way up… the country is doing very well. A lot of jobs… a lot of good things are happening."

"we have the hottest country in the world "

Q: Unclear what the question was going to be — because Trump interjected —  but it related to the Big Beautiful Bill.
A: "I don't know of anybody who's going to vote against it… maybe Rand Paul… we have tremendous support…

Q: On Russia-Ukraine, did Ukraine's drone strikes on the bombers inside Russia change your view of the cards that Zelensky has?
A: "Well they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. That's the thing I didn't like about it. When I saw it I said, 'Here we go, now it's going to be a strike'."

Then Trump talked about India and Pakistan and claimed that he "stopped that war" and that he thought it might have gotten to a nuclear war.

Q: Are you worried that Russia-Ukraine could spiral into a nuclear conflict?
A: "I don't… I hope not. I hope not."
And then he talked about how the war would never have happened if he was president.

Q: Couldn't quite make out the question but it related to the House-passed Big Beautiful Bill and a conversation he had with Josh Hawley about Medicaid cuts potentially hurting Trump voters in rural areas: 

A: "We're really talking about waste, fraud and abuse. And Senator Hawley's a great senator, good guy, and I did speak to him, and we want to make sure that doesn't hurt anybody. Because it is about waste, fraud and abuse, that's the only thing. And everybody wants that."

Q: where he stands on the Senate sanctions bill:

"We're going to see. I think Russia will not be making a deal stopping …. Thousand a week soldiers being killed and people being killed, not just soldiers. People being killed…I'll use it if it's necessary. "

Q: Is he talking to the senate about watering it down? 

A: No, I haven't spoken to them about it. They have the bill, it's going to be up to me. It's my option. They made it that way….its a very  strong bill.

Q: On Elon's key, and if he'll ask him to return it:

A: "No I don't take things back?"

Q: how about the Tesla? 

A Trump said he hasn't thought about it

"I hope he does well with Tesla"

Q: on DOGE post-Musk:

"It's not finished at all, we're basically taking over….Many of those people remain. It's terrific. We saved hundreds of billions of dollars."

Says much of it is "out into the future"

Said he has no plans to talk with him 

Q: On efforts to bring POTUS and Elon back together:

"There are efforts…but I'm not really interested in that. I'm really interested in the country solving problems, including problems in very faraway lands."

Went on to say he would've prevented conflict in the Middle East, Russia-Ukraine inflation, etc

"We have no inflation now … we would have lower interest rates if this guy would lower rates. Get a lower interest rate….It's unbelievable. And he's worried about inflation….all he has to do is get the lower rate, let us borrow at a much lower rate, a much lower rate."

Q: On next fed chair

"It's coming out very soon," but wouldn't say who he is considering. Said he has a "pretty good idea."

Q: What do you make of the Ayatollah saying that Iran has to be able to enrich uranium?

A: "Well they won't be enriching. If they enrich, then we're going to have to do it the other way. And I don't really want to do it the other way but we're going to have no choice. There's not going to be enrichment."

Q: on Abrego Garcia, and why the administration's decision shifted 

"DOJ made a decision, and I think their decisions have been very very good. And maybe they just said, look all of these people, all of these judges trying to run the country … a local judge trying to run the country. The man has a horrible past, and I can see a decision being made…bring him back, show everybody how horrible this guy is, and frankly we have to do something because the judges are trying to take place of a president who won in a landslide and that's not supposed to be the way it is. So I can see bringing him back. I could see it either way, bringing him back or not bringing him back but bringing him back you can show how bad he is. He's a bad guy."

Q: On china, "did president Xi agree to restart the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets": 

"yes, he did."

Out-of-town pool report 8: arrival and lid

Motorcade arrived to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster at 6:26 pm. Your pooler did not see POTUS exit his vehicle. Pool is now rolling to our RON in Somerset, NJ.  

We also have a lid. 

I'll have one more follow-up note with an otter file.

Out-of-town pool report 9: Otter/ color

Otter file: https://otter.ai/u/7Rd2aDm4g1HV-_cwrbx2yAycY0Q

One note from the gaggle some of our recordings didn't catch. After POTUS was asked about the fed chair, he was specifically asked about Kevin Warsh, to which he responded: "He's very highly thought of."

And a bit of color from the plane: While the pool was waiting for POTUS to come back, the door to the front cabin was open. CNN was playing on the TV, displaying a chyron about POTUS calling reporters to "gossip" about Elon Musk. The channel was then changed to Fox, which was also covering the subject -- with a "BROKEN BROMANCE" chyron. Staff closed the door after a few minutes. 

That should be it for tonight. Thanks everyone.