Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Aboard Air Force One En Route to Morristown, New Jersey

The President. A lot of people back here. That's a lot of people.

Q. Hello, Mr. President.

The President. So we visited the military course just to see if we could fix it up and make it nice. The budgetary situation—it takes them years to get something approved, so we're going to take a look at that.

It's two courses. Very nice. But they need a lot of work. A lot of work. And if we can fix them up—they're military. They're for the military. If we can fix them up, we're going to do that.

Okay?

Return of Baltimore, MD, Resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia From Detention in El Salvador

Q. Mr. President, did you speak with Bukele directly to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia?

The President. I don't want to say that. But he's returned.

Q. Mr. President——

Q. Did you have any conversations with——

The President. And he should have been returned. He should have never—he should have never had to be returned. I mean, you take a look at what's happened with him, you take a look at what they found in the grand jury and everywhere else. I thought Pam Bondi did a great job today.

Q. Was this your call to bring him back to the United States?

The President. I don't want to say that.

Q. Mr. President, you posted yesterday——

The President. And by the way, either way, it's a disaster. He's a whole disaster, when you look at him with his antics. Not good. And for the Democrats who have backed him, this was not the man from Maryland—this wonderful father from Maryland. This is a pretty bad guy.

Former White House Senior Adviser Elon R. Musk

Q. Mr. President, you posted yesterday that a good way to save money would be to cancel some of Musk's contracts. How seriously are you considering that?

The President. Well, we'll take a look at everything. I look at everything. He's got a lot of money. He gets a lot of subsidy. So we'll take a look at that.

Q. But do you——

The President. Only if it's fair—only if it's fair for him and for the country. I would certainly think about it, yes. But it has to be fair.

[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Q. And, Mr. President, would you consider opening—reopening investigations into his companies? There are a bunch of investigations.

The President. I didn't know that they had any, but you know, if they had them, I would just let them speak for themselves. I had no idea.

Q. Mr. President, do you worry——

The President. Excuse me. I have no idea whether or not they had investigations.

Q. And what's your view on Elon Musk as of today? I mean, are—have you heard from him at all? Has your team heard——

The President. Honestly, I've been so busy working on China, working on Russia, working on Iran, working on so many—I'm not thinking about Elon.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

You know, I just wish him well, is—you know.

China-U.S. Trade

Q. On the China talks, sir.

The President. Yes.

Q. You had—we—there's a meeting coming up with Secretary Bessent——

The President. Right. Yes. On Monday.

Q. ——and Secretary Lutnick. What do you hope to see——

The President. Monday in London.

Q. What do you hope to see from those talks in London, sir, with China?

The President. Well, we're very far advanced on the China deal. We wanted clarification. We had to have clarification.

Little bumpy up here.

Q. Mr. President——

The President. We had to have—we had to have clarification. And that's what we're really having the meeting about. We had a very good talk. I talked to President Xi for, I guess, more than 2 hours. We had a very good talk.

It's a complicated deal, but it's a deal that's, you know, going to bring us a lot of money and a lot of everything else, and we get along very well with President Xi and with China.

Q. Mr. President, on the "One Big Beautiful Bill"——

Federal Contracts/Former White House Senior Adviser Elon R. Musk

Q. On his—on Mr. Musk's contracts. Do you feel like the U.S. can survive without them? Obviously, he contributes a lot when it comes to defense and space, and that relationship has been important for quite some time.

The President. Yes. Yes, they can. Sure. The U.S. can survive without almost anybody.

Q. And do you——

The President. Except me. [Laughter] No, I'm just——

Former White House Senior Adviser Elon R. Musk

Q. Did you have any concerns about his drug use when he was working for you?

The President. I don't want to comment on his drug use. I don't know—I don't know what his status is. I read an article in the New York Times. I thought it was—frankly, it sounded very unfair to me.

Q. Mr. President——

National Economy

Q. You said earlier today that Mr. Musk had "a problem." What did you mean by that? And did you misjudge him by bringing him——

The President. I don't want to talk about problems. I think that my—I think the United States had problems that, if you look at the numbers today, the numbers were unbelievable. The numbers were incredible, the numbers that came up today. The stock market went way up. The country is doing really well. Almost—I think in a very short period of time, you're going to be saying doing better than it's ever done before.

We have hundreds of plants coming in. Plants and a lot of jobs are being created. That's what happened this morning. You saw the jobs. And the nice part, they're not Government jobs. They're jobs of people coming in and doing other things, including the leisure—hotel and leisure. So, good stuff.

A lot of good things are happening with our country. We're taking in billions of dollars of tariff money. The money is pouring in, and it hasn't even started yet, really, relatively. It's—we're going to have a very successful country very soon, and the stock market is seeing that.

We have—and I've been saying it—we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. The hottest country. And if you think about it, 6 months ago, we had the coldest country. We had a country that was a disaster. And we've done it very quickly.

Okay. Go ahead.

Q. Mr. President——

The President's Legislative Agenda

Q. Mr. President, on the "One Big Beautiful Bill." So your critics of—often your critics——

The President. I don't have too many critics, because, you know, honestly, I don't know of anybody that's going to vote against it. Maybe Rand Paul or somebody, but you know, they always vote against it.

But I actually think that over the last 24 hours, it's even solidified. We have tremendous support——

Q. So just the critics that——

The President. ——for the bill.

Q. ——that want to talk about the bill, they fail to—often fail to mention that your tariffs are actually offsetting a lot—you know, the debt in itself.

The President. Yes.

Q. I believe the CBO said $2.8 trillion over the next 10 years.

The President. Yes.

Q. So what do you have to say to that?

The President. Well, we've got tremendous reviews. And CBO, who never gives good—basically, it's a Democrat group—and we're getting tremendous reviews on the bill. We cut $1.6 trillion—trillion, not billion—trillion—out of the budget, and yet we haven't affected anybody.

We're going to save and totally cherish Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The Democrats are going to destroy it. They'll destroy it. We're going to save it and make it stronger than ever before. So Medicare and Medicaid.

They just make statements. "Oh, he's going to"—we're not touching it, other than waste, fraud, and abuse.

Q. That was my next question, Mr.——

Ukraine/Russia/India/Pakistan

Q. Mr. President, on Russia-Ukraine. Did the Ukraine drone strikes against the—bombers inside Russia, the airfields, did that change your view at all of what Zelenskyy—the cards he has, what he's capable of?

The President. Well, they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. That's the thing I didn't like about it. When I saw it, I said: "Here we go. Now it's going to be a strike."

You know, I did something that people don't talk about and I don't talk about very much, but we solved a big problem—a nuclear problem, potentially—with India and with Pakistan. And I spoke to Pakistan. I spoke to India. They have really great leaders. And—but they were going at it, and they could have gone at it nuclear. Both nuclear countries. Strong nuclear countries.

And I talked about trade, and I said, "We're not doing trade if you guys are going to be throwing bombs at each other." And they both stopped. And I stopped that war immediately.

That was going—as you know, that was going much further, and hopefully, not to nuclear, but it might have gone to nuclear. In fact, it might have gone to nuclear in the next round, but we stopped it. And I just—I'd like to commend the leaders of both countries, Pakistan and India.

Ukraine/Russia

Q. Are you worried that there might be a nuclear breakout with Russia-Ukraine? Are you worried that that could——

The President. I don't—I hope not. I hope not. I think it's a war that would have never happened. If I were President, that wouldn't have happened. I certainly hope not.

Q. And where are you at with the——

The President's Legislative Agenda

Q. Mr. President, Senator Hawley said he had spoken with you——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——about potentially removing cuts that were in the House-passed bill to Medicaid that would hurt Trump voters in rural areas. What are your thoughts about that?

The President. Well, we did speak about that. We're really talking about waste, fraud, and abuse. And Senator Hawley is a great Senator. He's a good guy. And I did speak to him, and we want to make sure that doesn't hurt anybody, you know, because it is—about waste, fraud, and abuse. That's the only thing. And everybody wants that.

Russia/Ukraine

Q. On Russia-Ukraine. Where are you at today with the Senate sanction bill? There's been some reporting that the White House is, you know, consider——

The President. Well, I know the bill.

Q. ——trying to water it down.

The President. I've studied the bill. We're going to see. I mean, if we're—if I think there's—if I think Russia will not be making a deal or stopping the bloodshed—five and six even—I've been saying five and six—and now it's more—thousand a week, soldiers being killed. And people being killed, not just soldiers. People being killed, but largely soldiers being killed.

Yes, I'd use it, if it's necessary.

Q. But are you trying to——

The President. And they've really given me that option.

Q. Are you trying to get the Senate to water it down though——

The President. No. No, I haven't——

Q. ——from its current version?

The President. I haven't spoken to them about it. They have a bill. It's going to be up to me. It's my option. They've made it that way. And it would save a lot of time, if that happened.

So I'm okay with it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

I haven't decided to use it. It's a very strong bill.

Former White House Senior Adviser Elon R. Musk/U.S. DOGE Service

Q. Mr. President, you gave Elon Musk, when he left the White House, a key, symbolically, to the White House, to the administration at large. I think that's what it was.

The President. Yes.

Q. Would you like him to give that back, at this point?

The President. No, I don't take things back. No, I——

Q. What about the Tesla?

The President. ——I gave him a key. He tried very hard.

The Tesla, I haven't thought about it.

Q. What's your impression of—on his work, then, as of this point, for the administration? How do you think his DOGE did, at the end of the day, with the savings that he——

The President. Oh, I think it helped us a lot. I think it helped, I think, and it's not finished at all. We are take—we've basically taken it over, and we're doing a job. Many of those people remain with us, and they're going to remain with us. They're very good.

It's terrific. We saved, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars. It's terrific. And it's going further. I mean, I'd give you the answer, actually, at the end of 2 years, because a lot of it is out into the future. But it was a big saving and a good mindset.

Q. And what are you going to do about the Tesla? Are you going to keep it, or are you going to——

The President. I haven't thought about it. You know——

Q. Do you have any plans to contact——

The President. I mean, I hope he does well with Tesla.

Former White House Senior Adviser Elon R. Musk

Q. Do you have any plans to speak with Mr. Musk? This was one of your closest advisers for months.

The President. Yes. No, I don't have any plans. Somebody made a mistake. I—a lot of reporters have been calling me. I didn't call any reporter. A lot of reporters, they asked me the same question.

Q. There apparently——

The President. No, I don't—I'm not even thinking about that.

Former White House Senior Adviser Elon R. Musk/The President's Foreign Policy/Inflation/Interest Rates

Q. There apparently were these efforts—this is what I read—to bring you guys, you and Elon, back together. So those efforts are—where are they, in your——

The President. No, no, there are efforts. I mean, I've been asked about it. But I'm not really interested in that. I'm really interested in the country and solving problems, including war problems in very faraway lands. A lot of people being killed.

You know, when I left, we had no problem. We didn't have wars. We defeated ISIS a hundred percent. Iran was broke. There was no Hamas problem. There was no Hizballah problem. Israel wouldn't have happened, in other words. Russia-Ukraine wouldn't have happened. We had no inflation.

And by the way, we have no inflation now. And if we had a good Fed Chairman, you would lower rates. And you know what? If inflation happened in a year from now or 2 years, let him raise the rates.

But we're going out for long-term debt or short-term debt. We have a lot of debt coming due because Biden had all short-term debt, mostly. And we would get a lower rate—a lower interest rate if this guy would lower rates. We'd get a lower interest rate. It's unbelievable.

And he's worried about inflation. If he worries about inflation any longer—all he has to do is get the lower rate, let us go out, borrow at a much lower rate—much lower. You could go down a point or two. We'll go out, borrow at a—and if, in 2 years, inflation comes back, he raises rates.

Q. Yes. Are you——

The President. But he keeps them the same. It's just—it's insane.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Federal Reserve System

Q. Are you already thinking about your next Fed Chair at this——

The President. Say it.

Q. Are you already thinking about who your next Fed Chair would be? I know it's 2026 when his term expires.

The President. Yes.

Q. Who—so you're already thinking about it?

The President. Oh, yes. Sure.

Q. Who are you—who are you——

The President. It's coming out very soon.

Q. And who are you thinking about for that role?

The President. I could tell you, but I don't think I'll do it.

Q. What do you make of——

The President. I have a pretty good idea who it might be.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Kevin Warsh—Kevin Warsh, one of those——

The President. He's very highly thought of.

Q. What do you make of the Ayatollah saying that they have to enrich, they have to be able to enrich?

The President. No, they won't be enriching. If they enrich, then we're going to have to do it the other way, and I don't really want to do it the other way, but we're going to have no choice.

Q. What's your latest thinking——

The President. There's not going to be enrichment.

Return of Baltimore, MD, Resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia From Detention in El Salvador/Judicial Review

Q. And just one more on Abrego Garcia, sir, because this is the big news for today.

The President. Yes.

Q. Just months ago, it seemed like, from El Salvador to even your administration, that there was no chances that he would be returned. So can you just explain to the American people what sort of happened to facilitate his return——

The President. Well——

Q. ——in the last few weeks.

The President. ——DOJ made a decision. I think their decisions have been very, very good. And maybe they just said—look, all of these people, these judges, they want to try and run the country. The judges are trying to—a local judge trying to run the country.

The man has a horrible past, and I could see a decision being made: "Bring him back. Show everybody how horrible this guy is." And frankly, we have to do something, because the judges are trying to take the place of a President that won in a landslide, and that's not supposed to be the way it is.

And so I could see bringing him back. I could see it either way: bringing him back or not bringing him back. But by bringing him back, you show how bad he is. He's a bad guy.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. On China, sir.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung. Sir, we're about to land.

China-U.S. Trade

Q. Did President Xi agree to restart——

The President. We're landing right now. I'm sorry.

Q. ——the flow of——

The President. We're landing right now.

Q. ——rare-earth minerals and magnets?

The President. Say it. What?

Q. Did President Xi agree to restart the flow of rare-earth minerals and magnets?

The President. Yes, he did.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for coming back.