Pool Reports of October 30, 2025

Travel pool report #1: RON departure

Gyeongju

Motorcade is rolling at 935 am to the landing zone. It is very close. We saw The Beast pull out of the RON and POTUS was looking at his phone.

From the WH: "We will not capture Marine One departure from the Hilton Gyeongju LZ en route Gimhae International Airport."

Travel report #2: M1 landed at airport

M1 landed at 10:16 am. Pool was ushered to a tent out of view before we could see him disembark.

Stephen Miller and Jamieson Greer are among the aides spotted on ground in Busan. Thanks to Nancy Cordes of CBS for the spot.

We are holding.

Travel pool report #2a - Air China plane arrival, color

Marine One is on the ground at the airport in Busan.

Trump climbed into The Beast and his motorcade rolled a very short distance across the tarmac to the meeting location in a building with a sign outside that says Base Operations.

Pool saw an Air China plane arrive that appears to be Xi's.

Pool had moved forward to get a shot but was herded back out of view before we saw him emerge.

Travel pool report 2b: Notable post on Truth

Right before we arrived the president sent this social media post about nuclear testing.

https://x.com/TrumpTruthOnX/status/1983708485499154657

Travel pool #2c: A note about where we are

A note about where we are: The building where the two leaders are meeting is part of the Gimhae Air Base, a South Korean air base that sits at the edge of the Gimhae International Airport.

Travel report #3: Trump/Xi official greet

After a fair amount of heated squabbling and hectic negotiations between the Chinese and US delegations, both leaders entered the room where they had an official greeting at 11:08 am. 

"We're going to have a very successful meeting I have no doubt," POTUS said. "But he's a very tough negotiator that's not good." 

"We'll have a great understanding we've always had a great relationship," Trump said.

Xi was silent except at the top when he appeared to say "me too" through a translator after Trump greeted him.  

Did not answer the following questions: 
Will you start buying US soybeans again 
Will you discuss Taiwan. 

Moving to Bilat.

Travel pool report #4: Bilat - no answer on nuclear testing

Pool was ushered into the room. 

"It's a great honor to be with a friend of mine really for a long time now if you think about it," POTUS said. 

"We've already agreed to a lot of things and we'll agree to some more right now," he said. 

"It's an honor to have you here with us thank you very much," said. 

Xi spoke quietly and his message was translated into earpieces held by the delegation. He spoke for several minutes.   

Susie Wiles seemed to be changing the channel on her headset as Xi was speaking before she put her headset on. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio  was looking around the room, including at the media. 

Trump kept his attention on Xi. 

Trump was flanked by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Rubio. 

Also there: David Perdue, ambassador to China, Howard Lutnick, Greer. 

Asked by Nancy Cordes about why he changed his nuclear testing, Trump paused and replied: "Thank you very much everybody." 

Pool ushered out 11:17 am. We will now hold.

Travel pool report #5: Meeting end

The meeting lasted about one hour and forty minutes. 

Trump and Xi came out of the building where they met at 12:55 pm, exchanging what looked like pleasantries and a handshake. 

Trump said something into Xi's ear before both leaders departed. Xi got into his motorcade, which turned and drove down the tarmac. 

A flurry of Trump aides then left the building, striding toward AF1, and the president climbed into The Beast. 

Your pooler has asked for a readout of the meeting. 

From the WH, a list of departure salutations: 

Jina Kim - Second Vice Minister, Republic of Korea

Wonwoo Yi - Deputy Director General for North American Affairs

Brigadier General Kunshin Kang - Commander of the Republic of Korea Air Force, 5th Air Mobility

Wing

Kevin Kim - Chargé d'Affaires ad Interim, U.S. Embassy to the Republic of Korea

Travel pool report #6: POTUS departure

The Beast drove a very short distance to the area where POTUS boards AF1. 

The limo blocked our view of him walking down a red carpet flanked by aides and military officials. 

He boarded the stairs and turned around and waved and pumped his fists, then waved again. He boarded at 1:03 pm. 

We are taxiing and wheels up shortly, bound for the US of A. Pool will be out of range until a refuel but I have asked about the possibility of a gaggle and a readout.

Travel pool report #7: Refuel & Gaggle quotes

Air Force One landed at 3:09 am AKDT, to refuel at Joint Base Elmendorf near Anchorage. 

POTUS gaggled for 14 minutes shortly after we took off and rated the summit a 12 out of 10. Since much of the gaggle news has been out for hours, I will stick to highlights. 

During the flight, which was pretty bumpy during the gaggle and at several other points, Steven Cheung came back to distribute a printout of POTUS's Truth Social post about the meeting. 

Some quotes: 

Meeting recap: 

"I thought it was an amazing meeting"

"He's a great leader of a very powerful, very strong country, China"  

"It was an outstanding group of decisions I think that was made." 

"We are in agreement on so many elements. Large amounts, tremendous amounts of soybeans, and other farm products, are going to be purchased immediately." 

Fentanyl/tariffs: 

"I put a 20% tariff on China because of fentanyl coming in. Based on his statements today I reduced it by 10 percent." 

"I believe he's going to work very hard to stop the death."

Chips: 

"They're going to be talking to Nvidia and others about making chips." 

[Jamieson Greer, USTR: "There's so many chips we already send to China. Nvidia will talk to China and see what's possible. We focused on export controls on rare earths."]

On rare earths: 

"We have a deal. Now in a year we'll renegotiate the deal but I think the deal will go on for a long time." 

"We continue to produce rare earths and mine the rare earths." 

"China, that whole situation, that roadblock is gone now, there's no roadblock at all on rare earth."

"It will hopefully disappear from our vocabulary." 

[Jermaine Greer: "They're not going to impose the rare earth controls that they proposed."] 

Tariff rate: 

"It was 57, now it's 47 - we reduced it by the fentanyl because I really believe they are taking strong action." 

[November 1 deadline to raise tariffs is gone] 

China visit: 

"I'll be going to China in April. And he'll be coming here sometime after that. Whether it's in Florida, Palm Beach, or in Washington DC." 

Ukraine: 

"Ukraine came up very strongly. We talked about it for a long time and we're both going to work together. The sides are locked in and fighting. Sometimes you have to let them fight, I guess, it's crazy." 

Russian oil exports: 

"He's been buying oil from Russia for a long time." 

"India's been very good on that front." 

"We really didn't discuss the oil, we discussed working together to see if we could get this war finished." 

Tawain: 

"Taiwan never came up." 

Posting about nuclear testing: 

"It had nothing to do with them, it had to do with others." 

"They seem to all be doing nuclear testing." 

"We halted it many years ago but with others doing testing I think it is appropriate we do also." 

Israel: 

"It's a ceasefire. It is." 

"One of their soldiers was killed and they did retribution."  

"It's back to ceasefire." 

Meeting rating: 

"On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12." 

Kim Jong Un

"We were never able to talk because we were so busy." 

"I think it would've been disrespectful to the importance of this meeting if we did that" 

"I'd come back" [to Asia] 

What does he want to talk about with Kim? 

"I had a great relationship with Kim Jong Un." 

"He doesn't like too many people other than me if you know the truth." 

A new era of riskiness on nuclear issues? 

"I think we have it pretty well locked up." 

"I say well if they're going to test I guess we have to test." 

"I'd like to see a denuclearization." 

"We are actually talking to Russia about that and China will be added to that if we do something." 

On Xi: 

"He's a tremendous leader of a very powerful county and I give great respect to him and we appreciate the fact that he came." 

On Carney:

"We had a very nice conversation with him."

Travel pool report #8: Departing Alaska

AF1 taxiing at 4:25 am. 

Next stop dc

Travel pool report #9: Arrival at JBA

Air Force One was wheels down at 2:37 pm ET. No visitors and uneventful but bumpy throughout. 

He is taking a motorcade back to the White House.  M1 can't lift due to Halloween event. 

Wearing a red MAGA hat, Trump came off the plane, pumped his fist, and then slowly came down the stairs. He mouthed "thank you" but did not stop for questions about the shutdown. 

He's rolling at 2:49 pm. 

The pilot said that they'd traveled for 41 hours total on this trip, covering 20,027 miles as the plane circumnavigated the globe. 

That's a wrap on this trip. Handing off to in-town pool.

In-Town Pool Report #1 - Heading for JBA

Good afternoon from the White House!

In-town pool is now heading to JBA for POTUS arrival from his Asia trip.

In-Town Pool Report #2 - Vance/Duffy Gaggle

In-town pool is now at JBA, however, the White House sends the following:

"The Vice President and Secretary Duffy will be gaggling at the sticks in 5 minutes."

In-Town Pool Report #3 - Motorcade rolling

AF1 landed at JBA at approximately 2:40pm.

POTUS disembarked at 2:47pm. Motorcade began rolling at 2:49pm.

We are heading back to the White House.

In-Town Pool Report #4 - WH arrival

The president's motorcade entered the North Lawn at 3:07 pm. 

Your pooler spotted POTUS enter from the North entrance shortly after. 

The ride was uneventful aside from many onlookers along the sidewalks of DC on what is a beautifully sunny afternoon.

In-Town Pool Report #5 - Halloween event

Pool entered the South Lawn, which is decorated with a ton of carved pumpkins and floating fall "leaves" hanging from the balcony as what appears to be an Air Force string quartet played tunes, including what your pooler recognized as the theme song to "Game of Thrones."

Children in costumes with their guardians are lined up  with trick-or-treat bags.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are expected to come out and greet the trick or treaters shortly (expected time was 5:30 p.m.)

Pool spotted Stephen Miller with wife Kacie Miller with their children, as well as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with husband Nicholas Riccio and son. 

The families of administration officials, law enforcement, military, as well as adoptive and foster families are among the invited guests. 

This event is being live streamed by the White House and C-SPAN, so your pooler will only provide color or stand out moments.

In-Town Pool Report #6 - POTUS and FLOTUS enter South Lawn

POTUS and FLOTUS walked out to the South Lawn at 5:49pm with a group of children in costumes.

They are now handing out hands to tick or treaters. 

As a reminder, this is being live streamed.

In-Town Pool Report #7 - Event color

It's been over 35 minutes as President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump continue to hand out candy.

Dozens upon dozens of trick or treaters were greeted and handed giant size Hershey bars with the presidential seal.

Some stand out moments include President Trump signing what appeared to be a golf ball for what looked like a young teen trick or treater. 

POTUS notably took a look at the long line of guests and yelled to the press, "It's a long line. It's almost as big as the ballroom."

Trump especially enjoyed the costumes of three trick or treaters dressed as him (sporting his signature red cap), the First Lady and "security" (or Secret Service). He gave the young "POTUS" a high five and signaled for them to turn around so the press could see them.

In-Town Pool Report #8 - POTUS remarks/Halloween event concludes

At 6:40, POTUS briefly walked over to the press—however, it was incredibly hard to hear him. 

Pool believes he said he was going inside to participate in a tele-town hall with the Virginia Attorney General. But again, given how far he was, it's not clear. Pool for sure heard him say "tele-town hall" and "Virginia AG."

He and FLOTUS walked back inside the residence immediately after. 

Another stand out moment from the event was POTUS, having a little fun by placing a Hershey bar on the head of a kid dressed as EDM DJ, Marshmello.

In-Town Pool Report #9 - Travel / photo lid

Pool received a travel/photo lid at 6:50 pm.

Have a great night, all.