Pool Reports of October 22, 2025

In Town Pool #1 Checking in

Greetings one and all from a blue sky day at the White House. The crisp bite of autumn in the air, along with the faint patter of a jack hammer from the ongoing East Wing demolition project.

Not looking too exciting at the moment, but that could certainly change.

Weather: Sunny, High: 62°F, Low: 48°F

THE PRESIDENT has no public events scheduled.

In-town poll #2 Lunch lid until 2 p.m.

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

In-town pool #3

Treasury Secretary Bessent walking to the sticks at 318 pm.

In town pool #3a NEWS: Bessent on new Russian sanctions, etc.

The Treasury secretary took questions on new Russia sanctions, the shutdown, rare earth negotiations. He declined to answer a question about proposed pasta tariffs on the EU.

On Russia, he said, "We are going to announce either after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning a substantial pickup in Russia sanctions."

In town pool #3b More Bessent quotes...

The China question was "Are you considering software curbs on Chinese exports?"

Bessent said: "I will confirm that everything is on the table, that we are going into the negotiations with good intentions with great respect. The Chinese have put these rare earth export controls not only on the U.S. but on the whole world, and if these export controls, whether it is software, engines or other things happen, it will likely be in coordination with our G7 allies."

Asked about beef negotiations with Argentina, Bessent said he has not spoken with the president on that.

On the shutdown back and forth with Warren, "Senator Warren is welcome to come to the Treasury's economic literacy classes to understand what we are doing."

He suggested that the shutdown was delaying help for American farmers. "The Argentinian government is open, and they are running so we are able to negotiate with them. There are many things we wanted to do. We want to get money out to our farmers, especially our soy farmers but the government has been shut down. So I think the Democratic senators--I would say to the moderate Democratic senators, You can be heroes, reopen the government."

In town pool 4

Pool gathering to head inside.

In town pool 5 Oval with Rutte

Pool entered Oval at 510.

Hegseth, Rubio present. Should be streaming.

In-town pool 6: Oval Gaggle

Pool left the Oval at 5:49 p.m. The video is available, so this is just a quick summary of highlights. A lot of ground covered.

--Trump said Russia sanctions involved "two big oil companies." On Putin "Everytime I speak with Vladimir I have good conversations and then they don't go anywhere. They just don't go anywhere."
--Trump had a model of the new ballroom on the coffee table. He also showed a number of print outs of what the ballroom will look like, a lot of gold and white, like in Mar-a-Lago. He was excited to share, and angrily rejected the idea that he had not been transparent about their plans.
--Trump said the strikes of alleged drug boats had reduced the number of boats on the water. "So now they will come in by land to a lesser extent and they will be hit on land also." Asked if he had the legal authority to strike drug traffickers in U.S. with the military, he suggested he did, then added, "If we do by land we may go back to Congress." "We will hit them very hard if they come in by land... we will probably go back to congress and explain what we are doing when we come to the land. we don't have to do that, but I think marco we would like to do that." When asked if he could do a military strike inside the U.S. on drug traffickers, Rubio said, "You are talking about a law enforcement matter. In this particular case there are people travelling in international waters heading towards the United States with hostilities in mind."
--Trump called the Fed chair "terrible" and "a fool"
--He expressed optimism about striking a deal with Xi and China. "I think we will make a deal," he said. And suggested that rare earths are less leverage than U.S. tariffs. "There is a lot of rare earth around." He blamed Biden for making Russia and China closer and praised Modi in India for agreeing to wind down oil imports from Russia.
--He said that he had spoken with Putin about nuclear deescalation, and suggested that he would try to involve China in those conversations.
--On Tomahawks for Ukraine, he said the problem was that it would take months to train Ukrainians to operate them, and the U.S. would not be involved in operating them against Russia. Rutte said he had no opinion on whether the U.S. should send tomahawks.
--He said he would like to attend Supreme Court arguments on the case over whether he has unilateral tariff power. He said the U.S. would become a "third-world country" if the court ruled against him.
--On Colombia's president, he said, "He's a thug and he's a bad guy." He also said, "He better watch it or we will take very serious action against him and his country."
--Asked about the possibility that rhetoric from the governor of California and other Democrats might play a role in creating public resistance to ICE enforcement, Trump said "Gavin has to be careful."

There is of course more so would suggest watching the whole thing. Trump wore what looked like diamond cuff links with an emerald-green stone in the center.

There are unconfirmed rumors of Rutte coming out to driveway after meeting. So may be more to come.

In town pool #7

Travel photo lid called at 6:13 pm. But people still gathered in driveway in hopes of Rutte coming to the sticks. He appears to be doing a hit on Fox.

In-town pool #8

NATO's Mark Rutte gaggled for about 8 minutes, repeatedly praising President Trump and covering the talking points he has been using all day. All was open press.

He left at 6:41 p.m. to catch a plane home.

Thank you for letting me be your pooler. I bid farewell with a photo from the Oval showing Trump's model of the new ballroom. I am sure the still photographers got much better shots.

Onward.

Foreign Pool Report #1 Good moning, and Backgrounder on Rutte

Good morning from a quiet White House briefing room! I am Maria Luisa Rossi-Hawkins and I will be your foreign pooler for the day. The President has a scheduled meeting with Nato's Secretary Genaral Marik Rutte, this aftenoon at 4.00 pm that is closed press so far. Below please find a brief backgrounder about Mark Rutte in the context of his visit today at the White House.

Nato's Secretary General Mark Rutte will visit the White House today for the fourth time during US President Donald Trump's second term.

His surprise visit today comes after the White House put on hold a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest following a conversation between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov earlier this week. The conversation did not yield sufficient progress toward a second Trump-Putin meeting. A meeting Trump had announced after a phone call with Putin last Thursday, one day before Zelensky's visit to the White House on Friday Oct. 17.

Rutte last visited the White House on August 18, with Ukrainian president Volodymir Zelensky, and other European leaders.

Today's Agenda:
In the context of heightened military tensions between Russia and European Nato members, according to a Nato Official, Rutte will discuss issues related to Nato's support for Ukraine and US-led efforts for a lasting peace.

Rutte is set to promote a 12 point peace plan to President Trump. The plan, crafted by Europe and Ukraine, calls for a cease fire based on current battle lines, return of the deported children and prisoner exchange. It includes security guarantees for Ukraine, a war-recovery fund and a clear pathway for Ukraine to join the EU along with the strengthening of economic pressures on Russia and increased military aid to Kiev.

Rutte, Secretary General of NATO:
A staunch supporter of Ukraine, Rutte has served as NATO' s Secretary General since October 1, 2024 succeeding the tenure of Jens Stoltenberg. Rutte, a visceral opponent of Vladimir Putin has been a driving force behind Europe's military support for Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion.

Delivering on Trump's request, at the Nato's Summit in the Hague in June 2025, Rutte was instrumental in securing a new alliance members commitment to increase military and security spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. This represented a significant increase from the previous 2% target, which all NATO members were expected to meet for the first time in 2025. An achievement Rutte credited Donald Trump for in a congratulatory private message along with praise for the then recent "extraordinary Iran strikes". Trump posted a screen shot of the message on Truth social before the June meeting.

Rutte as Prime Minister of the Netherlands:
Serving from 2010 to 2024 as leader of the center right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) Rutte remains the longest serving prime minister in the history of the Netherlands supporting progressive social policies and balancing economic conservatism with social liberalism. Teflon-Mark, as he is referred to in Europe, was able to rebound from the political crisis and he is known for his ability to broker unlikely alliances.

Foreing Pool Report #2

After an uncharacteristic uneventful morning we have a lunch lid untill 2.00 pm

Foreign Pool report #3 Bessent with Fox
[APP Note: This is the first of two reports numbered '3'.]

Sesecretary Bessent speaking with fox news

Foreign pool report # 3 Treasury Secretary Bessent takes questions
[APP Note: This is the second of two reports numbered '3'.]

Secretary Bessant took quetions after speaking to FOX news today

1 .Sofware curbs on china export:
We are going to the negotianting table with good intentions and great respct. The chinese have put these rare exports control not only to the US but on the whole world. Weather its sofware, engines or other things it will likely be in cordination with our key seven alllies.

2. 107 percent tax on Pasta: " I will not get into that"

3. Argentina bail out duriing shut down: "the Argentinian goverment is open and they are running So we are able to negotiate with them. We want to get money out to our farmers especially our soy farmers but the goverment has been shut down. So I can say to the moderate Democratic senators you can be heroes. Reopen the government.

4.. Sanctions on Russian oil: "We are going to announce either after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning a substantial pick up in Russian sanctions"

Foreign pool note 4 Oval opened

waiting to get into oval at 4.55 pm