Pool Reports of September 4, 2025

WH in-town pool report #1 - Lunch lid

The press office called a lunch lid until 12:30 pm.

Some color from the White House this am: At 10:20 am, pool spotted four workers on the roof of the West Wing. Theater style lights have been installed on top of the roof of the briefing room, pointing down toward the Rose Garden.

The workers were walking back and forth along the roof area. At one point one worker stood above the entrance of the West Wing and took photos with his phone down the West Wing drive. They were there between 5-10 minutes.

Delivery trucks were seen coming into Executive Drive. Large white tents have been erected on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the East Wing.

Note the president is scheduled to host a dinner tonight at 7:30 pm in the Rose Garden. 

Also Director of the U.S. Marshals Service Gadyaces Serralta had a TV hit but did not stop for questions.

No updates to the president's public schedule.

WH in-town pool report #2 - Amazon VP gaggle

Kim Jajerus, the VP of global education at Amazon, gaggled with reporters at the sticks.

On helping educators use AI: "When we think about the opportunity that they have is to manage students throughout the course of the day. It's a heavy load for an educator. So what we like to think about is, what are we doing to help support them before? What are we helping them do during class? And how are we helping those students after?"

On AI and the workforce: "I think AI is being integrated into everything that we do. And we think about the workforce again, think about how we're all using it today, when I think about how Amazon is enabling, not only the workforce of today, but the workforce of the future, is making sure they understand how to use those tools, ensuring academic integrity, which is so important in leveraging AI. But at the end of the day, this is about creating the workforce of the future, and when you have the tools of AI, it allows you to think and innovate and think bigger."

Is AI a useful tool for students or a distraction: "There's appropriate times and places, and we depend on the local, state and the counties to make those determinations on how and where they're going to use the technology to the best of what that community needs."

Here is a link to the otter of her Q&A: https://otter.ai/u/f0RuPfiiesRYqQn0Pk6dfOQLs1Q?utm_source=copy_url

WH in-town note #3 - Dinner lid

The press office called a dinner lid until 6:30 pm.

More color from the White House today: 

At approximately 4:15 pm, Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sacks of the All-In Podcast were spotted walking out of the press briefing room to the outside and then entering the White House through the West Wing entrance. They had a camera crew with them.

Also flagging this tweet from the White House that POTUS signed an executive order officially implementing the U.S.-Japan trade agreement: https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1963706723350491350

WH in-town note #4 - holding for dinner

Pool has gathered to hold in the Red Room. 

The State Dining Room is set up for tonight's dinner as DC experienced heavy rain all afternoon. 

"Against All Odds" was blaring from the Rose Garden as pool went into the White House. Guests are milling around the grand foyer ahead of the dinner seating. 

Pool could see one long table in the state dining room with microphones and place sittings before the doors were closed. 

Pool waiting in Red Room to be brought into the dining room. 

More tk…

WH in-town note #5 - dinner starting

Pool entered dining room at 7:08 pm. 

All guests are seated. POTUS is in center flanked by FLOTUS and Mark Zuckerberg. 

POTUS opened with: "I know all of them indirectly, and I know some of them very well, but I know everybody at the table indirectly through reading about you and studying, knowing a lot about your business, actually making it very easy for you in terms of electric capacity and getting it for you, getting your permits."

Every place setting has a mic and POTUS has invited people to speak. 

More tk…

WH in-town #6 - more dinner details

Mark Zuckerberg spoke first: "Well, thanks for hosting this. And this is quite a group to get together. And I think you know all the companies here are building huge investments in the country in order to build their data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation."

POTUS then invited Google founder Sergey Brin to speak next and praised "his really wonderful MAGA girlfriend."

Brin is across from POTUS with his girlfriend Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto  on one side and Sundar Pichai on his other. 

Also spotted around the table: Bill Gates next to FLOTUS, Tim Cook, Sam Altman, Susie Wiles, Satya Nadella.

Gates: "So the work being done by the people at this table is changing the world. It's coming fast, so it's great we all get to get there and talk about how the US can lead in this key area and apply it, even to the course outside the US, as well as to our great citizens. So thank you for incredible leadership, including getting this group together. Thank you."

Cook: "I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing, advanced manufacturing here. I think that says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation. I also want to thank you for helping companies around the world. This is a very key, key thing, and I really enjoy working the administration on those topics as well, because I think they're so important to the country. I want to thank the First Lady focusing on education."

A few others also spoke. More details on that to come. POTUS now taking questions.

More tk…

WH in-town pool #7 - POTUS Q&A

POTUS took questions. 

As always please check against transcript and playback. 

Asked about tomorrow's job numbers: "They come out tomorrow, but the real numbers that I'm talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now on, these monsters, huge, beautiful places, the palaces of genius. And when they start opening up, you're seeing, I think you'll see job numbers that are going to be absolutely incredible. Right now, it's a lot of construction numbers, but you're gonna see job numbers like our country has never seen."

POTUS said he "will be" speaking with Putin soon: "I settled seven wars, the one that I thought would be maybe one of the easiest, you know, that feeling you think one thing is going to be, turns out to be a little bit tougher."

Asked about RFK Jr's hearing today: "I didn't get to watch the hearings today, but he's a very good person, he said, and he needs very well, and he's got some different ideas. I guarantee a lot of the people at this table, like RFK JR and I do, but he's he's going to different take and we want to listen to all of those things, but I heard he did very well today."

More tariffs: "I've discussed with people here, chips and semiconductors that will be putting tariffs on companies that aren't coming in, putting a tariff. Very shortly, you probably are hearing, will be putting a fairly substantial tariff. Well, not that fairly substantial tariff, with the understanding that if they come into the country, if they're coming in, building planning to come in, there will not be a tariff."

Asked if he's trying to get a candidate out of NYC mayor race: "No, I don't like to see a communist become mayor. I won't tell you that. And I don't think you can win, unless you have one on one. … I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one. And I think that's a race."

Pool was pulled at 7:33 pm. 

WH in-town pool #8 - lid and more dinner details

We have a travel photo lid at 7:35 pm. 

There were 33 seats around the table. 

Also seen David Sacks and his podcast cohost Chamath Palihapitiya, Lisa Su, Safra Catz, David Limp, and Alexandr Wang. 

Pool has requested a guest list. 

Here is the otter of the event: https://otter.ai/u/TCql8iixh-1qP9x_5ufok2q_2B8

And CSPAN posted footage: https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-hosts-tech-leaders-for-white-house-dinner/665202