Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Departure for Turnberry, Scotland

Q. Good morning. How are you? Can we ask you about the lawsuits that the DOJ just filed?

The President. Those young people, they just said: "Too much winning. Too much winning, sir." They know it, and it is a lot of winning. We had the best 6 months ever.

We're now heading to Scotland. I'm meeting with the Prime Minister of U.K. Some of you are going, I guess, and a lot of you aren't. Are you going? Huh?

Q. No—[inaudible].

The President. Well, you've got to get moving.

Q. I know. [Inaudible]

The President. That's a good one. That's going to be a good one.

So we have great numbers we just announced. I don't have to go over it because you've seen them, but we have great economic numbers. The deal with Japan is amazing. They're give us $550 billion, and we have totally open access into Japan. Those numbers are great.

I mean, the kids actually just said—very, very cute, actually—I walked over. They said, "Sir, there's too much winning." They picked up on a little routine, you know.

Go ahead.

Department of Justice/Immigration Enforcement Actions

Q. Mr. President, can I ask you about the DOJ lawsuits that you filed yesterday against New York City and Mayor Adams? In the lawsuit, they name the CBP officer that was off duty when he was shot. Your thoughts on that?

The President. Yes. Yes, that's DOJ going against New York, but we're going against a lot of other places too. We want to bring safety to our cities, but that's a pretty—that's going to be a pretty routine filing with other cities too.

As you know, we've started numerous lawsuits with other cities. We want to bring safety. We've got to get the criminals out, and we're doing it in record numbers.

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

Q. Mr. President, what are you hoping Todd Blanche gets——

Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. Is the U.S. giving up on Gaza and negotiations?

The President. Yes, Gaza—they pulled out of Gaza. They pulled out, in terms of negotiating. It was too bad. Hamas—didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very, very bad.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job. They really—they asked for things—don't forget, we got a lot of hostages out. So now we're down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically, because of that, they really didn't want to make a deal. I saw that.

So they pulled out, and they're going to have to fight, and they're going to have to clean it up. You're going to have to get rid of it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche/Deceased Convicted Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein

Q. What are you hoping Todd Blanche gets out of his meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell?

The President. Well, I don't know about the meeting. I know it's taking place, and he is a fantastic man. He's a great attorney. And people should really focus on how well the country is doing; or they should focus on the fact that Barack Hussein Obama led a coup; or they should focus on the fact that Larry Summers from Harvard, that Bill Clinton, who you know very well, and lots of other friends—really close friends of Jeffrey Summers—should be spoken about, because, you know—Jeffrey Epstein—should be spoken about, and they should speak about them because they don't talk about them. They talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. Easy. Easy.

United Kingdom

Q. Will you do any business deals with the U.K.?

The President. Yes, I'm going to meet with the Prime Minister right now. We're going to be over there in about 6 hours. We're meeting with the Prime Minister tonight. We're going to be talking about the trade deal that we made and maybe even improve it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Are you considering clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell, sir?

Homelessness in the District of Columbia

Q. I walked to the White House today. I saw homeless people sleeping right outside the gates of the White House. Are you concerned about that, sir?

The President. I think it's terrible, and we'll have them removed immediately. We do remove it. We've got to get the Mayor to run this city properly. This city has to be run—you know, I have the right to take it over, and I think it's terrible.

Where are they? Where did you see them?

Q. Just right out—right outside on the—on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The President. Right by the—near the Treasury?

Q. Right across from Lafayette Park near the Treasury.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Convicted Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell

Q. Mr. President, have you heard about Todd Blanche's interview with Ghislaine Maxwell?

The President. I have.

Q. And would you approve a pardon or clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell?

The President. Well, I don't want to talk about that. What I do want to say is that Todd is a great attorney, but you ought to be speaking about Larry Summers. You ought to be speaking about some of his friends that are hedge fund guys. They're all over the place. You ought to be speaking about Bill Clinton, who went to the island 28 times. I never went to the island—[inaudible].

Deceased Convicted Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein

Q. Do you maintain you did not write a letter for Jeffrey Epstein's birthday book?

The President. I don't even know what they're talking about. Now, somebody could have written a letter and used my name. But that's happened a lot. All you have to do is take a look at the dossier—the fake dossier. Everything's fake with that administration. Everything's fake with the Democrats. Take a look at what they just found about the dossier. Everything is fake. They're a bunch of sick people.

Where did you see the people laying outside exactly?

Q. Right across the street from Lafayette Park, sir, towards 15——

The President. We'll take care of it.

Q. Will your administration end homelessness?

Q. Are you hoping to meet with President Putin?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Hostages Held in Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. What are you plans for bringing hostages home? What are the alternative methods to bring hostages home from Gaza?

The President. Well, we got a lot of them out. And it's always—I've always said those last 10 or 20 are going to be the toughest, because Hamas knows what happens when they don't have any bargaining chips. And they really broke a deal. They broke a deal, and you're going to have to do what you have to do right now. It's a terrible thing.

Q. What about on Russia?

The President. And I always knew that. I said, "When you get down to the last one, they're not going to be able to make a deal."

Convicted Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell

Q. And would you consider—would you consider a pardon or a commutation for Ghislaine Maxwell if she cooperated with——

The President. It's something I haven't thought about. It's really something——

Q. It's been recommended—[inaudible].

The President. It's—I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.

Q. But you're not—but you wouldn't rule it out, sir?

Strength of the U.S. Dollar/Inflation/Foreign Currency Exchange

Q. Mr. President, why has the dollar—why has the dollar fallen so much, and are you concerned about that?

The President. Well, you know, I'm a person that likes a strong dollar, but a weak dollar makes you a hell of a lot more money. Hate to tell you. I don't know if you study it, but I study it.

Q. I went to the same school as you, Mr. President.

The President. And if you look at the yen——

Q. I went to Penn and Wharton, so I know this.

The President. You understand.

Q. Absolutely.

The President. Oh, you did go to Penn?

Q. I went to Wharton. Yes, sir.

The President. Well, that means you're a smarter guy than I even thought, and I know you're smart.

So, when we have a strong dollar, one thing happens: It sounds good. But you don't do any tourism. You can't sell tractors. You can't sell trucks. You can't sell anything.

It is good for inflation. That's about it. And we have no inflation. We wiped out inflation.

But it's an interesting question. So I will never say I like a low currency, but you remember the battles I had with the yuan, with China and with Japan—Japan being the yen. They always wanted a weak currency. They're trying to get a weak currency now.

Now, it doesn't sound good, but you make a hell of lot more money with a weaker dollar—not a weak dollar, but a weaker dollar—than you do with a strong dollar. And the first people that are going to notice it are the manufacturers of trucks and various other things. Like, look at Caterpillar, how well they're doing now. When you have a strong dollar, you can't sell anything.

It's only good for inflation, and it's good psychologically. It makes you feel good. But with that being said, I love strong dollars, but you make your money with a currency—and I had so many different fights with President Xi, with—I mean, with—between Japan and China, all they want to do is have a weak currency. They're always fighting for a weak currency, and that's how they really dominated over the years.

So when I see it down there, I don't lose sleep over it. Let's put it that way. In fact, sometimes I go to sleep very happy. You understand?

Q. I do.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. Do you agree with me?

Tariffs

Q. I agree with a lot—with a lot of what you said, Mr. President. Do you think it makes it any easier to impose your tariffs with that lower dollar? Because the——

The President. I think it makes it easier, even for tariffs, yes. And it makes the tariffs worth much more. And it's easier to pay off debt. And it's easier to get a low interest rate too. There are a lot of good things.

It's hard to explain to people. The headline: "Oh, Trump wants a weak dollar." It's not a weak dollar. I—we—you take a look at the history of China over the last 20 years. All they do is fight for a weak currency. Look at Japan when they were really doing well. They had a very weak currency.

So, to me, I just say: "Thank you very much. It is what it is."

Q. Mr. President, what's your comment on——

Cease-Fire and Hostage-Release Deal Between Israel and Hamas

Q. [Inaudible]—cease-fire? Have you given up on a Gaza cease-fire?

The President. Yes. Well, the Gaza—and I said this was going to happen when you get down to your last 10 or 20. We got a lot of hostages out. We took them out in numbers that nobody believed—a lot of them. And I said, "When you get down to 10 or 20, I don't think Hamas is going to make a deal," because that means they have no protection. And basically, that's what happened. Hamas didn't want to make a deal.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. What happens now?

The President. I think what's going to happen is, they're going to be hunted down.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Russia

Q. [Inaudible]—secondary sanctions sooner? On Russia, are you closer today to secondary sanctions?

The President. We're looking at that whole situation. It could be that we'll have to put secondary sanctions on. Yes.

Q. Sooner than 50 days?

The President. Maybe, yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. Who are you with? Who are you with?

Q. Scripps News.

The President. Oh, good.

President Emmanuel Macron of France

Q. Do you think it was counterproductive to France—for France to say that they would recognize a Palestinian state? Macron said that yesterday.

The President. Look, he's a different kind of a guy. He's okay. He's a team player, pretty much. But here's the good news: What he says doesn't matter. [Laughter] You know?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

It's not going to change anything.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. On the Palestinian state, though, do you think that impedes progress?

The President. Well, they made a statement—France, Macron. His statement doesn't carry any weight. He's a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

European Union/Japan

Q. Sir, how hardy is the trade deal with the EU?

The President. I would say that we have a 50/50 chance—maybe less than that—but a 50/50 chance of making a deal with the EU. And it will be a deal where they have to buy down their tariffs, because they're right now at 30 percent, and they'll have to buy them down—maybe—or they could leave them the way they are. But they want to make a deal very badly.

I would have said we have a 25-percent chance with Japan, and they kept coming back, and we made a deal. And the deal is—don't forget, Japan is putting up $550 billion.

Q. Yes, sir.

The President. That's a lot of money. And also paying tariffs.

The biggest part of the Japan deal—and maybe we get this with EU; maybe we don't—is that we have the right to go in and trade. We have the right—they've totally opened Japan to the U-—just to the U.S. That's, to me, the biggest part of the deal.

Q. What level tariff are you looking for, sir?

Nuclear Arms Reduction Efforts

Q. Mr. President, on nuclear disarmament. You said repeatedly you would like to see further nuclear arms reduction between the United States and Russia.

The President. I would like to see that.

Q. But the New START treaty is expiring in about 6 months, and it cannot be legally extended. Will you——

The President. That's a problem for the world.

Q. Will you attempt to negotiate a new one?

The President. It's a problem for the world.

You know, we have restrictions, and they have restrictions, as you know, on nuclear. That's not an agreement you want expiring. We're starting to work on that. But that is a——

Q. [Inaudible]—a new one?

The President. ——that is a big problem for the world. When you take off nuclear restrictions, that's a big problem.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Chairman of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Jerome H. Powell

Q. Did you try to convince Jerome Powell to lower interest rates yesterday?

The President. I think that Jerome Powell—I think we had a very good meeting—forgetting about the building. That's out of control and all that. But I think we had a very good meeting on interest rates. And he said to me—now I don't know if he's going to say this on Thursday or whenever he speaks—but he said to me very strongly, "The country is doing well." He said: "Congratulations. The country is doing really well." And I got that to mean that I think he's going to start recommending lower rates.

Q. Because of that conversation?

Q. How do you think that the Supreme Court——

The President. The country really is doing well too.

Q. Mr. President, how do you think that the Supreme——

The President. Record business.

Q. Did you speak to Netanyahu——

The President. Wait 1 second. Let him go.

Former President Barack Obama

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. How do you think that the Supreme Court's ruling that benefited you on Presidential immunity would apply to former President Barack Obama and what you're accusing him of doing?

The President. It probably helps him a lot. Probably helps him a lot—the immunity ruling—but it doesn't help the people around him at all. But it probably helps him a lot. Oh, he's done criminal acts. There's no question about it, but he has immunity, and it probably helps him a lot.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. He owes me big. Obama owes me big.

United Kingdom/Trade With U.S.

Q. What are the details in the U.K. trade agreement you're hoping to fine-tune with the Prime Minister this weekend?

The President. Just we want to talk about certain aspects which are going to be good for both countries. More fine-tuning. And also, we're going to do a little celebrating together, because, you know, we got along very well. U.K. has been trying to make a deal with us for, like, 12 years and haven't been able to do it.

We got it done. He's doing a very good job. Good Prime Minister, good guy. We really get along very well. So we're going to see. We're going to meet at Turnberry, and we're going to meet at Aberdeen. So two beautiful places.

Digital Services Taxes

Q. Is there wiggle room on steel and aluminum if they were to budge on digital services tax?

The President. Say it.

Q. Is there any wiggle room on steel and aluminum in exchange for any budge on digital services tax?

The President. Not a lot. Because if I do it for one, I have to do it for all. So, on that—steel and aluminum—not a lot.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Mr. President, did you speak to Netanyahu about aid drops?

Q. Sorry, Michelle [Michelle L. Price, Associated Press], go ahead.

Hostages Held in Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. Mr. President, did you speak to Netanyahu about allowing aid drops in Gaza from Arab countries?

The President. Yes, I speak to him, but I can't tell you what I spoke to him about. But it was sort of disappointing. Although, I told you—I mean, I told you, I told you—when you get down to those last 20 hostages—you get down to that last 10 or 20, it's going to be very hard for Hamas to make a deal, because they lose their shield, they lose their cover. We got a lot of them out—a lot of them. We took a lot of bodies out too.

You know, so many of the parents said, "Please get my son's body back." And we were able to do that. We got a lot of people out—live and people that are not alive. But it was very important to the parents to get their son back, even though they knew their son was dead.

Professional Golf

Q. Are you going to be able to get the Open Championship back to Turnberry?

The President. I think they will do that, yes. They want—Turnberry is rated is the number one course in the world. I think they'll do that. Yes.

Q. And you going to talk to anybody about that over there?

The President. No, I'm not going to—it's not about that. I'm going to see it for the first time in years. You were there the last time we went. That's pretty good, right? No, it's the best resort in the world, I think—at Turnberry. And it's one of the greatest courses in the world.

We're going to see it. We're going to have, I believe, dinner at Turnberry with the Prime Minister. Then we're going to go to the oil capital of Europe, which is Aberdeen, and we're going to have lunches there. We're going to have a good time. I think—the Prime Minister and I get along very well.

The President's Schedule

Q. And are you—you're going to see the Scottish leader, too, right? Swinney—John Swinney?

The President. I am. I am.

Q. What's that about?

The President. Well, we have a lot of things in Scotland. I have a lot of love—my mother was born in Scotland.

And he's a good man. The Scottish leader is a good man. So I look forward to meeting him. That's all set up, right?

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Yes, sir.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Implementation of Tariffs/Trade Negotiations

Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, Tariff Day—Tariff Day is exactly 1 week from today: August the 1st. What do you expect between now and next Friday, as it relates to your deadline?

The President. When you say—you say "tariff," not "Paris"?

Q. Tariff.

The President. Tariff.

Q. Tariff. Paris, no.

The President. I thought you said—I thought you said, "Paris Day."

Q. No, Tariff Day.

The President. Well, most of the deals are finished right now. They're finished because we're just going to charge a certain tariff, a lower tariff than I could get. I don't want to hurt countries. But we're going to send a letter out sometime during the week, and it's basically going to say: "You're going to pay 10 percent. You're going to pay 15 percent. You're going to pay"—maybe less, I don't know.

But Australia was great. They opened up beef yesterday for the first time ever. And they did it—we didn't know about—we asked them to do it, and all of a sudden, we got a word that they wanted—so, obviously, they're looking to do something. But—Australia.

So August 1 is going to come, and we will have most of our deals finished, if not all.

We haven't really had a lot of luck with Canada. I think Canada could be one where they'll just pay tariffs—not really a negotiation. We're working very diligently with Europe, the EU, which covers a lot of —you know, a lot of territory, a lot of countries, and that's the big one right now. We have the confines of a deal with China.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

But we haven't really—we don't have a deal with Canada. We haven't been focused on it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Tariff Rates/Trade Negotiations

Q. Mr. President, when you send out those letters, do you believe that will bring some certainty to the financial markets, because then——

The President. Oh, yes. No, no, when those letters——

Q. ——they will know what everyone's paying?

The President. When those letters go out—they're a page and a half—that means they have a deal. It's done. They pay that tariff. And that is a contract, essentially. And they can come into the country; they're going to pay a tariff. I'm going to keep it minimal. I'm going to keep it—you know, I'm not looking to hurt countries.

I could do that too, but I'm not looking to do that. But when that letter goes out, that's a deal. And we'll be sending maybe close to 200 of those letters out. Don't forget: We have a lot of countries. So we're going to be sending out almost 200 of those letters.

But once those letters go out, they're—we have a deal. Now, we sent some to—we sent one to Japan, we sent one to EU, and they came back and negotiated a deal.

I think EU has got a pretty good chance of making a deal.

Q. With all of that revenue coming in, Mr. President, do you think——

The President. Yes, a lot of money.

Q. A lot of money.

The President. Our country was a dead country. It was a dead country 1 year ago. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. And don't you feel it?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Tariff Revenue

Q. Mr. President, with all of that revenue coming in—tens and tens of billions of dollars—do you think there is the possibility of a rebate to the American public, in terms of all of that money?

The President. We're thinking about that, actually. We have so much money coming in, we're thinking about a little rebate. But the big thing we want to do is pay down debt. But we're thinking about a rebate. That's a very good question.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

You just made a lot of news. We're thinking about a rebate because we have so much money coming in from tariffs that—tariffs—that a little rebate for people of a certain income level might be very nice. Okay?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Gaza, Palestinian Territories/Humanitarian Situation

Q. Is Israel allowing enough humanitarian aid into Gaza? Do you think Israel is allowing enough humanitarian——

The President. Well, I—you know, they're having—they're being blocked by Hamas. They're being blocked by a lot of people. People don't know this—and we didn't certainly get any acknowledgement or thank you—but we contributed $60 million to food and supplies and everything else. We hope the money gets there, because, you know, that money gets taken—the food gets taken.

We're going to do more. But we gave a lot of money. We gave a majority of the money. And the sad part is that no other country other than us gives anything.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

North Carolina Senate Race

Q. Have you spoken to Michael Whatley about running for that North Carolina Senate seat——

The President. I have, yes.

Q. ——and will he run, do you think?

The President. I think he will.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Are you from North Carolina?

Q. My father lives there.

The President. Ah. He'll be a good candidate.

Teachers/Education Improvement Efforts

Q. Sir, what can be done to bring more teachers, more educators into the classroom to alleviate the teacher shortage across the country?

The President. We're doing that, and we're doing it strongly. What we're doing is moving education back to the States. The States will run education. When they do it, you're going to have the best education in the world. We'll have 35 or 40 States where it will be as good as Sweden, Norway, Denmark—you know, the top five or six countries.

Q. How do you attract the top talent—the top talent—top teachers to get them to the classrooms?

The President. We're going to get them. We already have them. When we bring—when we go back to the States with education, you're going to see a big difference.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Convicted Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell/Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche

Q. Mr. President, would you consider clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell? Is that on the table?

The President. What is that?

Q. Would you consider clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell? Is that on the table?

The President. I can't talk about that now because, you know, it's a very sensitive interview going on.

Q. Do you trust——

The President. Todd Blanche is a great gentleman. He's a great——

Q. Do you trust what she's telling him?

The President. He's a great man who's a great lawyer, and he's got a great heart. But he's over there now. I don't know exactly what's happening, but I certainly can't talk about pardons now.

Q. Can you trust what she's telling him? She's a convicted trafficker who's eager to get out of prison.

The President. Well, you know, he's a professional lawyer. I think he's been through things like this before.

But you know, you should focus on Clinton. You should focus on the president of Harvard—the former president of Harvard. You should focus on some of the hedge fund guys. I'll give you a list. These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein. I sure as hell didn't.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Interest Rates

Q. After the fight with the Fed Chair, do you think—[inaudible]?

The President. All I want him to do is lower interest rates, you know? We have the hottest country in the world. We had a dead country 1 year ago. Now we have the hottest country in the world.

All I want him to do is lower interest rates because that'll take care of the housing. The housing is a little bit slower than everything else. Everything, we're a 100 percent on. But the housing—because his rate is too high. If he lowers it, you're going to see a housing boom on top of everything. We've got the hottest country in the world.

Thank you.

Q. Mr. President, have you seen the——

The President. We'll see what happens.

"South Park" Television Program

Q. Mr. President, have you seen the new "South Park" episode making fun of you?

The President. The what?

Q. The "South Park" episode making fun of you.

The President. I haven't.

Q. They put you in bed with the devil.

The President. I've never watched "South Park." I don't know anything about "South Park." I never watched it, "South Park."

Q. Mr. President, look at my shoe.

The President. Hey, Brian [Brian Glenn, Real America's Voice].

Q. Hey. How are you doing, Mr. President?

The President. Good.

FireAid Benefit Concerts in California

Q. I've got a couple of questions for you. One is about FireAid. That's the benefit concert they had in Pacific Palisades.

The President. Oh, that's horrible.

Q. Raised $100 million, but some reports indicate that the majority of that money has never made it to the——

The President. All of it. All of it. It's horrible.

I saw it last night, and I referred it to the Attorney General. And I think they're going to look at it, and I think they're going to act very strongly. I think it's very swift.

A hundred million—more than a hundred million dollars, and nobody—they just walked away with the money, it would seem. Right?

Q. Yes.

The President. So that was a horrible thing.

Death of Former Professional Wrestler Terry G. "Hulk Hogan" Bollea

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. Well, the whole—[inaudible]—he was incredible. [Inaudible] And he was very proud. You know, he told me, "I wish I came out stronger, but I didn't want to be"—[inaudible]. And he really overdid it. [Inaudible] He was an unbelievable showman. [Inaudible] He was a physical specimen. Because you could be a good showman, but if you're not a physical specimen, it's not going to work.

Q. That's true.

The President. You've got to go into another line. But I've watched him lift 350-pound men over his head and throw them out of the ring.

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. No, he was a—he was the real deal. He was MAGA all the way. He said, "I wish I got"—he said, "I've always loved you." You know, we've always been friends, but he wasn't a political guy. And in the last 3 years, I'd say, he became really political. And he said, "I'm so angry at myself for not doing it earlier." He was happy. But you know, he took a beating.

When you look at the—the life that they live. He would wrestle, sometimes, 200 times a year. Think of that. I'd say, "What do you wrestle every weekend?" "No," he said, "sometimes we wrestle every night." And it's hard to believe.

But being a friend, I got to see his life a little bit. And his knees were in trouble. His back was in trouble. He was in such trouble. But he was a great man. He was an incredible showman, and he was really a great friend, and he was a great friend of MAGA.

Homelessness is the District of Columbia

Q. Mr. President, you signed an Executive order to help clean up the streets of America yesterday, help get the homeless people into treatment. Can you talk about why this is a commonsense approach to help make everybody safer?

The President. Well, it is. And right outside, we have some tents. I'm getting rid of them right now. You can't do that, especially in Washington, DC. I talk to the Mayor about it all the time. I said: "You've got to get rid of the tents. You can't have it." When leaders come to see me to make a trade deal for billions and billions and even trillions of dollars, and they come in and there's tents outside of the White House, we can't have that. It doesn't sound nice, but you can't have it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Ukraine/Russia

Q. Sir, you want to see peace in Ukraine. What would it take to force them to sit down together, maybe with you?

The President. It's going to happen, but it should have happened 3 months ago.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

It's going to happen.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Harvard University/Columbia University

Q. What is your message to Harvard now that Columbia has agreed to pay $200 million?

The President. Well, Harvard wants to settle. But I think Columbia handled it better. Harvard wants to settle. But you know, they have a very good judge—they have a judge who will almost absolutely rule in their favor, even though it's our case all the way. But they have a very good Obama-appointed judge, and so they'll get a little kick out of that. But ultimately, we win that case.

And the bottom line is: We're not going to give any more money to Harvard. We're not giving any more money. They were getting $5 billion and $6 billion, $7.2 billion. We want to spread the wealth to other schools.