Pool Reports of October 16, 2025

In-town pool report #1

Hi,

Good morning. I'm your in-town pool reporter today.

President Trump just live-posted on Truth Social about currently having a phone conversation with Russian President Putin.

Here's what it said:
"I am speaking to President Putin now. The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts.....

In-town pool report #2 (lunch lid)

A lunch lid has been called until 12:45 pm.

In-town pool report #3

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is gaggles and answered a number of questions. 

She said President Trump will be meeting President Putin in Hungary soon. 

Will send quotes soon and recording soon.

In-town pool report #4

Here are some details from WH Press secretary Karoline Leavitt's gaggle including the Trump-Putin call, the judge's ruling on RIFs. Other topics included the situation in Venezuela and IRS appointments. (A recording is attached at the bottom) 

The POTUS call with Putin included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and VP JD Vance.

"It was a very good, productive call," Leavitt said. "President Putin congratulated President Trump for solving the conflict on Israela nd Gaza and brining peace back to the Middle East."

"He also thanked the first lady for her efforts to bring back children and save children in this brutal conflict."

"The president feels  great progress was made on this call."
High level staff from the US and Russia might convene as early as next week.

"They talked about Budapest as being a  location for the meeting (between Trump and Putin.) "

Asked if there was a possibility of Putin and Ukrainian president Zelenskyy meeting, she said "I think he thinks it's possible."

On court case that prevented RIFs.
"I have a very strong response. This is another far left judge who was smacked down by the Supreme Court in July for ruling on this exact same thing. In May, this judge tried to say that the president of the United States does not have the executive authority to hire and fire in the executive branch. Literally, nobody would ever try to make that argument except for someone who is extremely partisan. And of course the Supreme Court rejected that ruling in July and they said no, the president does have the ability and the legal authority to fire people from the federal government."

Here's a link to the recording: https://www.temi.com

Here's a Truth Social Post by POTUS, sent at
" I have just concluded my telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, and it was a very productive one. President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East, something that, he said, has been dreamed of for centuries. I actually believe that the Success in the Middle East will help in our negotiation in attaining an end to the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin thanked the First Lady, Melania, for her involvement with children. He was very appreciative, and said that this will continue. We also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over. At the conclusion of the call, we agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week. The United States' initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated. A meeting location is to be determined. President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this "inglorious" War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end. President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more. I believe great progress was made with today's telephone conversation."
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts...

In-town pool report #5

Pool is gathering to go into Oval Office for the announcement. 

The announcement will be streamed

In-town pool report #6

Trump just announced that one of the most popular fertility drug prices will come down through the most favored nation program. EMD Serono will be slashing prices on the drug, says Trump.

In-town pool report #7

Sen. Katie Britt, CDC head Dr. Oz, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, FDA head Marty Makary are camping those in the room. 

Britt is now speaking.

In-town pool report #8

After the announcement on lowering price of a fertility drug, the president took many questions. The whole event about an hour and ended about 4:40 p.m. He answered questions on John Bolton, his former national security adviser who was just indicted on classified documents charges; if Putin had tried to dissuade him from selling Tomahawks to Ukraine; on Senate Majority Leader John Thune wanting to move ahead with a bill imposing sanctions on Russia and about how some in Christian conservatives who may not like the focus on IVF.

Here's a recording :  https://www.temi.com/editor/....

Will send fuller quotes on some of the questions in the next report.

In-town pool report #9 Fuller quotes from Q&A

Q: Do you have a timeline or date set for meeting with Putin in Hungary?

"Yeah, I would say within two weeks or so. Pretty quick. Marco Rubio's going to be meeting with his counterpart as you know. And they'll be meeting pretty soon. They're going to set up a, a time and a place very shortly, maybe. It's already set up. They've already spoken. And I thought it was a very good phone call."
"I thought it was very productive. But I'll be meeting with President Putin and uh, we'll make a determination. Tomorrow I'm meeting with President Zelensky and I'll be telling him about the call."
"I thought this would be quick (ending Russian war on Ukraine) because of my relationship with President Putin. I thought this would be very quick. Who would think I did Middle East before I did this. We did a total of eight (ending wars). And, we're going to make this number nine."

Q: What did you tell him about the Tomahawks?

Well, we talked about it a little bit. Didn't say much, but I do say to you, you know, we need Tomahawks for the United States of America, too. A lot of them. But we need them. I mean, we can't deplete for our country. So, you know, they're very vital. They're very powerful. They're very accurate. They're very good. But we need them, too. So I don't know what we can do about that.

Q: Did President Putin try to dissuade you from selling Tomahawk missiles?
I did actually say, would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand Tomahawks to your opposition? I did say that.

Q What was your response?
He didn't like the idea. He didn't like that. No, I said it. But that way, you have to be a little bit lighthearted sometimes, but, he doesn't want to. Tomahawk is a vicious weapon. It's a vicious offensive, incredibly destructive weapon. Nobody wants Tomahawks.

Q: Senate Majority Leader John Thune today said he'd like to proceed with the bill, which would put sanctions on Russia. What's your thought on that?

Well, we're going to see. He doesn't know about the call yet. I'm going to speak to him later. And it was subject to what I wanted to do. And so we'll see what happens. We want to get peace. We want to stop the killing 7,000 people a week. Can you believe it? We want to stop the killing. So, uh, I'm going to speak to him and the speaker Mike Johnson. I'll speak to them a little bit later and I'll tell them about this and we'll make the right determination. I'm not against anything."

Q: On John Bolton indictment:
I didn't know that you told me for the first time, but I think he's a bad person. I think he's a bad guy.

Q: Have you reviewed the case against him?
No, I haven't

Recording sent in earlier report