Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Upon Arrival in Allentown, Pennsylvania

The President. Okay. Thank you very much. We had a very good weekend in many respects. We're seeing phenomenal numbers in terms of the business we do with other countries and the business we do within our own country. I mean, really phenomenal numbers.

We'll be announcing a new statistician sometime over the next 3, 4 days. We had no confidence. I mean, the numbers were ridiculous what she announced, but that was just one negative number. All of the numbers seem to be great. And so, we'll see how that comes out. And if you remember, just before the election, this woman came out with these phenomenal numbers on Biden's economy—phenomenal numbers. And then right after the election, they announced that those numbers were wrong. And that's what they did the other day. So it's a scam, in my opinion. My opinion is just, it's just additional scam.

Russia/U.S. Military Deterrence Efforts

Q. On Russia, Mr. President. Can you say: Have those nuclear submarines been deployed yet to face Russia?

The President. I've already put out a statement, and the answer is they are in the region, yes, where they have to be to be.

Russia/Ukraine/The President's Foreign Policy

Q. [Inaudible]—Steve Witkoff's message will be to the Russians? Is there anything they can do to avoid sanctions at this point?

The President. Yes, get a deal where people stop getting killed. They had a number that just came out that a tremendous number of Russian soldiers are being killed and, likewise, Ukraine—a lower number but still thousands and thousands of people. And now we're adding towns where they're being hit by missiles. So it's a lot of people being killed in that ridiculous war.

And you know, we stopped a lot of countries from war. India and Pakistan. We stopped a lot of countries, and we're going to get that one stopped too. Somehow, we're going to get that one stopped. That's a really horrible war.

You heard about Cambodia and Thailand. We got that one done. We got the Congo, which was going on for 31 years. Rwanda, that one's done. We did—we stopped a lot of wars. This is the one we seem to be—this should be the easiest to stop, and it's not. I mean, Rwanda and Congo was going on 31 years, and I got it stopped. Eight million people dead, at least. That's what they have, but I think the number is much higher.

And the leaders of each country—Rwanda and the Congo—they were great. They were great. And they wanted it stopped. Thirty-one years it went on. We stopped a lot of wars. Serbia-Kosovo was going to be happening, and I don't believe it will now. So we stopped that one too.

Yes.

Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. You said you had more of an update to give us on Gaza—on the Gaza trip. Can you give us anything now?

The President. Only we want the people fed, and we're the only country that's really doing that. We're putting up money to get the people fed, and Steve Witkoff is doing a great job, and we want Israel to get them fed. We're giving some pretty big contributions, basically, to purchase food so the people can be fed. We don't want people going hungry, and we don't want people to starve. And there's some bad things happening.

Q. [Inaudible]—see evidence of a genocide in Gaza?

The President. I don't think it's that—look, they're in—they're in a war. There—some horrible things happened on October 7, as you know. It was a horrible, horrible thing—one of the worst I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of bad things since I'm President in terms of wars and potential wars. I mean, if you look at the one that we just stopped, we have thousands of people being dead already at the border, between Thailand and Cambodia. Thousands of people. And I've seen some bad things. But that October 7 was—with Hamas—was really, really bad.

Russia/U.S. Sanctions/U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven C. Witkoff

Q. Mr. President, can you give us an update on Steve Witkoff in Russia? And what happens on Friday if the deadline comes and Russia has not agreed to a cease-fire?

The President. Well, there'll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions. You know, they're wily characters, so they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions. So we'll see what happens.

But Steve is focused right now on the border, in terms of—we're talking about with Gaza, getting people fed. And he may be going—I think next week, Wednesday or Thursday—may be going to Russia. They would like to see him. They've asked that he meet. So we'll see what happens.

2026 Midterm Elections/Prescription Drug Prices

Q. Mr. President, what advice do you have for Republicans on Capitol Hill heading into midterms? What do they need to do—what can they do to, you know, hold both Chambers?

The President. Well, one of the things they're going to be talking about pretty soon are the tremendous drop in drug prices. You know, we've cut drug prices by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400 1,500 percent. I don't mean 50 percent, I mean 14-, 1,500 percent, because we're going favored nations. We want the same prices Europe gets. We want the same prices other country gets. And over the years—25, 30 years ago—it started where they were charging us much more. I put an end to it, you know, with a letter that you saw last week.

So I think that's going to be a point. I don't know how anybody could win an election if they're on the other side of that issue. So we'll be dropping drug prices—it'll start over the next 2 to 3 months—by 1,200, 1,300, and even 1,400 percent, and 500 percent. But not just 50 percent or 25 percent, which normally would be a lot, because the rest of the world pays much less for the identical drug. And we're going to be paying the same thing. We're going to have a favored nations. We will pay as low as the lowest nation in the world.

Tariff Revenue

Q. And then, Mr. President, I think it just came out: $29 billion in July, taken in in tariff revenue. You know, could we see a potential rebate here? And what would that look like and who would qualify?

The President. Well, we're going to pay down debt. We have a lot of money coming in, much more money than the country has ever seen by hundreds of billions of dollars. And there could be a distribution or dividend to the people of our country. I would say for people that would be middle-income people and lower-income people, we could do a dividend. But one of the things we're going to be doing is reducing debt.

But we have hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into our country now. We should have done this many years ago. And I did it in my first term with China. We didn't get to the rest because COVID hit, and you couldn't really go to France and Spain and Italy and say, "Let's—you know, let's start talking about some tariffs." But China was paying us hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we did it then. Then Biden screwed it all up. He screwed—everything he touched, he screwed up.

So thank you.

Virginia Gubernatorial Race

Q. Mr. President, will you endorse Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia Governor's race?

The President. Yes, I would. I mean, I would. I think probably she's got a tough race. She shouldn't have, but—because the candidate she's running against is not very good—but I think she's got a tough race. But I would, yes.

U.S. District Attorney Jeanine Pirro of the District of Columbia

Q. When will you swear in Jeanine Pirro to be the U.S. attorney for DC?

The President. I will happily swear in Jeanine Pirro, who's going to be fantastic at what she does in D.C. over the next very short period of time. I think she's going to be fantastic.

Don't forget, Jeanine Pirro was a great judge and a great prosecutor. And because she was so good—I was there. She was an amazing prosecutor and judge. And because she was so good, they drafted her into show business, and she did fantastic. You know, "The Five" was the number one show, et cetera, et cetera. Jeanine Pirro was also really good at that. But her real love is exactly what she's doing, and that's what made her such a success in show business.

So Jeanine Pirro is going to be amazing, and I'll swear her in as soon as we can swear her in. We need her. She's going to be amazing.

Rose Garden Renovations

Q. Are you happy with how the Rose Garden turned out? And will you have some kind of event—the Rose Garden, are you happy with how it turned out?

The President. Yes, we're getting great reviews on the Rose Garden, and we had to do it. As an example, when we had a press conference, you'd sink into the mud, and it was grass, and it was very wet—always wet—damp, but wet. And if it rained, it would take 3, 4, 5 days for it to dry out. And we couldn't use it for, really, the intended purpose. So, whether they had events or they had news conferences, we couldn't use it.

And it's a beautiful white stone. And it's a stone that's the same color as the White House itself. And because it's very white, it's going to reflect the heat. It's not going to be very hot, like if you had a dark stone. So, yes, we've gotten great reviews on the Rose Garden.

Federal Reserve System Board of Governors

Q. Do you have any update on the search for the Federal Reserve Board? And have you been interviewing candidates?

The President. Yes, no, I have a couple of people in mind. I'll be announcing somebody for the filling of the person that left. A woman left, as you know, who is a—I guess, a Biden appointment—either Biden or Obama, but I think a Biden appointment. And she left early, and I think she left because she agreed with me on interest rates, and yet they were on the other side of the ballpark, right? So I'll be announcing that probably over the next couple of days.

Tariffs/Trade Negotiations/Prescription Drug Prices

Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, one more on tariffs here. As you continue to, you know, pile up these trade deals, are you kind of gaining more leverage over countries that haven't come out, you know, made a deal with you?

The President. Yes, I'm not looking for leverage. I'm looking for fairness. We want reciprocal as much as possible. Sometimes reciprocal would be too much for them to handle, because it's—it would be a much bigger number. But we want to see some reciprocity. We want to see reciprocal wherever we can. And all I can say is this: Our country will be taking in hundreds of billions of dollars. You just said it. Already, we're taking in, you know, billions and billions of dollars.

And it was very unfair. The world treated us very unfair. But the next big move is going to be the price of drugs, because you could buy something in London or in Germany—someplace in Germany—or many countries where it's one-tenth, one-third, one-fourth, sometimes one-tenth the price of what it costs to buy it in New York or some other place. And we're not doing that anymore. We're not allowing that anymore.

That started many years ago when people were asleep at the wheel in this country, and they allowed that to happen. And I'm stopping it.

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations

Q. On the U.N. Ambassador. Will that still be a Cabinet-level decision, sir, or not?

The President. I don't know. I haven't determined that yet. I'll—that's a good question. I'll make a decision. He's a very good guy, but I'll make a decision.

Social Media Influencer and Conservative Activist Laura Loomer

Q. Mr. President, what is your relationship with Laura Loomer? What kind of influence——

The President. With who?

Q. With Laura Loomer. What kind of influence does she have in the White House?

The President. I think she's very nice. I mean, I know she's known as a radical right, but I think Laura Loomer is a very nice person. I've known her for a long time. And you know, personally, I think she's a patriot and she gets excited because of the fact that she's a patriot and she doesn't like things going on that she thinks are bad for the country. I like her.

Okay?

Actor Sydney Sweeney

Q. Mr. President, actress Sydney Sweeney, it came out this weekend that she was a registered Republican. Any thoughts on that?

The President. That who was?

Q. Sydney Sweeney. She's, like, a very hot actress right now.

The President. She's a registered Republican?

Q. Yes.

The President. Oh, now I love her ad. Is that right? Is Sydney Sweeney—[laughter]—you'd be surprised at how many people are Republicans. That's one I wouldn't have known, but I'm glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.

Okay. Thank you very much, everybody.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President.