Pool Reports of October 8, 2025

WH In-town report # 1-- lunch lid

Good afternoon from the White House. The press office has called a lunch lid until 1:20 p.m. 

The only public event on President Trump's schedule is a 3 p.m. roundtable on Antifa.

WH in-town report #2 - Gathering for Antifa roundtable

The pool has been called to gather for President Trump's roundtable on Antifa.

WH in-town report #3 — Gaza quotes, roundtable underway

The pool was led into the Blue Room at 3:31 p.m.

President Trump is seated at the center of a large table flanked by several Cabinet secretaries, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. 

Also seated at the table are a group of people who, according to the administration, are independent journalists who were attacked by members of the anti-fascist group antifa during recent protests over federal immigration policy in Portland, Oregon.

Trump started by addressing the peace talks in Egypt between Israel and Hamas.

A deal is "very close," Trump said.

"I may go there" towards the end of the week "on Sunday" or Saturday evening, he said

The talks "seem to be going well," Trump said.

POTUS then turned to Antifa and protests in Portland. Those remakes are underway.

More to follow.

WH in-town report #4 — Bondi, Noem, Patel quotes

President Trump started the roundtable on antifa with opening remarks.

Please check all quotes against transcript.

Antifa has "been very threatening to people" but "we are going to be very threatening to them," Trump said.

"We are going to be looking very strongly at the people who fund these organizations," he said.

He then described some incidents of violence directed at the independent journalists seated around him at the table.

Trump also praised AG Bondi for exposing "fake senators" during her Senate hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill, and singled out Sen. Richard Blumenthal in particular.

POTUS also praised Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel, who are seated to his left, and asked them to give remarks. 

According to Trump, administration official remarks will be followed by remarks from the independent journalists at the roundtable, followed at the end by questions from the pool. 

"We are not going to let masked terrorists" terrorize communities, Bondi said. She also praised Trump for designating antifa as a terrorist  organization.

Antifa's agenda "is to destroy the American people and their way of life," DHS Sec. Noem said. She described ICE agents being "attacked" and "shot at" for carrying out immigration enforcement actions.

"I want to thank the new journalists here" for covering antifa, Noem added.

Next up was FBI Director Patel.

"What we are doing at the FBI is simple," Patel said. "We are following the money" to go after donors funding antifa, he said. 

Now Trump has asked the independent journalists seated at the table to speak. More to come.

WH in-town pool #5 — more Antifa roundtable quotes

The independent journalists at the roundtable took turns speaking about their experiences, with several saying they were attacked while covering Antifa in Portland.

The White House did not provide background information on the participants before the start of the event, but they do have name placards in front of their seats. 

"Much of the legacy media has been ignoring it or covering for antifa," said Nick Sortor. He identified the journalists at the roundtable as "conservative journalists."

Sortor produced an American flag that he said was burned by a protester in Portland, and Trump asked him to give it to Attorney General Bondi so the protesters who burned it could be prosecuted.

Democrats and the mainstream media "will never wake up to that fact" that antifa "is a real thing," said Brandi Kruse. She said she was a former "mainstream" journalist in Seattle and joked that she had recovered from a case of "Trump derangement syndrome."

POTUS largely listened, but he did interject at one point to say his administration was successfully reducing crime in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Memphis and other cities. He said D.C. is now safe after he sent National Guard troops to the city.

"We're having a great impact in Memphis," Trump added.

That was followed by comments from other roundtable participants.

"The media has been demonizing us for so long," said one person who identified as a member of Turning Point USA. Your pooler cannot see her name placard, apologies. She added, "for almost ten years we've been getting assaulted on the streets."

The roundtable is still ongoing. As a reminder POTUS said at the top that he would take questions from the pool at the end.

WH in-town pool #6 — Roundtable over

Near the end of the roundtable, Trump asked participants to rank the "worst" news networks. Several offered their views. 

Trump then gave his own ranking, saying he thought MSNBC was the worst, followed by CNN. He also criticized ABC, and said "we have hope for CBS" after a leadership change at the network.

"The problem is this is a very important meeting but" it won't get media coverage, Trump said. "They're very dishonest," Trump said.

At the conclusion of the roundtable, Trump took questions from the pool. 

On a potential Middle East visit, Trump was asked if it might include a visit to Gaza.

"I may do that," Trump said.

"I'll be going to Egypt" most likely, Trump said, and added that he would be "making the rounds."

At 4:52 p.m., Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered the room. He passed a note to Trump who said then said that "we are very close" to a peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

On the shutdown and extending ACA subsidies, Trump said: "Obamacare is a horrible mess," and added that "we want to make it better."

Trump closed the roundtable saying that he had to go to focus on the Middle East. 

Pool was ushered out of the room at 5:04 pm, as POTUS also exited with advisers.

WH in-town report #7 -- travel/photo lid

The press office called a travel/photo lid at 7:30 p.m. Have a good evening,