Remarks Announcing the 2026 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup Draw Location and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. Thank you very much. We have a very big announcement to make today.

And you all know Gianni. He came all the way from Italy—the beautiful country of Italy—to be with us, and he just got off the plane. And he's a hard-working guy, does a phenomenal job with FIFA. Nobody like him.

I'm delighted to welcome FIFA President Gianni Infantino back to the White House for a major announcement about one of the most anticipated competitions in all of sports, the 2026—and this is a big deal, I'll tell you; I was so happy to get it—the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

And it's going to be the World Cup as we know it. It's the biggest—probably the biggest event in sports, I guess, Gianni, right?

FIFA President Giovanni V. Infantino. Yes. Very big.

The President. On December 5 of this year, the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw will take place at the Kennedy Center. Some people refer to it as the "Trump-Kennedy Center," but we're not prepared to do that quite yet. Maybe in a week or so. [Laughter] But right here in Washington, DC.

It's a tremendous honor to bring the global event and this incredible group of people and these unbelievable athletes—the best athletes in the world—to the cultural center of our nation's capital.

I just left the Kennedy Center. We're spending a lot of money wisely on making it really beautiful. It's going to be beautiful again.

It's like Washington, DC, we had—by the way, in Washington, DC, we have the lowest crime numbers they've had in years. Zero—it sounds like—it's a horrible thing to say, but I might as well say it: zero murders in the last week, since we've done this. That's the first time in memory that that's happened, if you can believe it—how pathetic that is to have to even say it.

And I'm tired of listening to these people say how safe it was before we got here. It was unsafe. It was horrible. And Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won't be Mayor very long, because we'll take it over with the Federal Government, run it like it's supposed to be run.

The numbers were horrible. It was a crime-infested rathole, and they do have a lot of rats. We're getting rid of them too. And we've made a lot of progress. And it was extremely unsafe, and now it's extremely safe. We had virtually no crime. The number was down 87 percent, and I'm trying to figure out where was the 13 percent, because I don't think it existed.

The National Guard has been unbelievable, and they're working with the police. And they have some very good people in there. They have some people that shouldn't be police, actually, but they have some great people there.

And the—Washington, DC, is a whole different place. And, Gianni, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that too, actually.

Mr. Infantino. Oh, yes.

The President. But it's a whole different place. People are excited again. They're going out to restaurants again.

That was the other thing. I saw numbers that restaurant business is down in the last week. No, no. Restaurant business—you can't get into a restaurant. Just really lying people, and that's why—people don't understand how bad and how dishonest the press is.

I saw one poll that had us at 19-percent favorable on what we're doing with Washington. Then I saw another one says that has us 94-percent favorable. And I can tell you, the 94 percent is correct. The others are fake—just fake news. They've got to get their act together. So bad for our country. So sick, actually.

So Washington, DC, is really doing unbelievably well. And the Kennedy Center that we're fixing—I was just there all morning with the contractors. We're making it unbelievable—it's going to be unbelievable. It's got great bones, but it needs a lot of work.

The World Cup draw will set up the group stage of competition. Forty-eight teams will play in 104 games across 16 North American cities, from Seattle to Vancouver to Atlanta to Miami. It's going to be so exciting for our country.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be one of the largest and most complex events. This will be one of the greatest events, one of the large—in a way, it's like—Gianni said it better. It's like having many Super Bowls——

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. ——in a short period of time.

Mr. Infantino. Correct.

The President. Because each one of these games, essentially, is a Super Bowl. Some of them are bigger than Super Bowls, actually.

Mr. Infantino. Yes. Yes.

The President. But they're—essentially, each one of these games is like a Super Bowl. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest, most complex set of events in sports history, and the Kennedy Center will give it a phenomenal kickoff. And we'll be involved, and they'll be working over there for quite a bit of time. We have it all set that they can stay there for the big events, the big press conferences, and everything else.

And they'll be in a very safe Capital. That will be nice. You don't have to worry about walking down the street, Gianni. Okay?

Mr. Infantino. Thank you.

The President. But you could handle yourself.

Mr. Infantino. I could. [Laughter]

The President. Already, FIFA is projecting 6 million loyal fans will attend the World Cup events next year, and 6 billion more are going to be watching back home. And they think the 6 billion dollars—number is going to be actually a low number. And this will drive more than $30 billion into the U.S. economy and create 185,000 American jobs—in a short period of time too.

No sporting event attracts more attention, more fans, more viewers, or more revenue than the FIFA World Cup. And, again, I'll just say, it's the World Cup, and it's the biggest thing there is in sports, and we have it. And I got it in my first administration, and I was really somewhat devastated, as devastated as I can be. I don't have time to get too devastated.

I was very happy that today, as you saw: The group that does this—a Government group, radical-left group—announced that Trump was right, took in 4 trillion dollars' worth of tariffs, that the $4 trillion are going to reduce the deficit by numbers far greater than they ever expected or heard of.

And by the way, the stock market went up a thousand points. That was as of 10 minutes ago. I can't tell you what happened. A lot of things happened, but the stock market's up almost a thousand points.

And it's basically on the news that the release that just came out from Government, that the tariffs that everybody was talking about, that the whole world respects us for—because of what we did. The tariffs are going to be at $4 trillion. They're going to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion, Mr. Vice President. What do you think, huh?

Vice President James D. "J.D." Vance. That's pretty good, sir.

The President. Too bad it's not 5, right?

Vice President Vance. That's right. [Laughter]

The President. It's had a huge impact, and the stock market is way up.

But this will drive more than $30 billion in U.S. economy and create 185,000 American jobs. No sporting event attracts more attention or more fans or anything else.

And I just look forward to the draw. So we're going to have the draw, essentially, Gianni, at the Kennedy Center.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. And by that time, it will be in even better shape. We're working on it. It will take—it's about a year project to make it—it will be great. It will be fantastic.

You see the way this is looking. Look. Nice.

I can't tell you how much that gold costs. A lot of money. There's nothing like gold, and there's nothing like solid gold. But with this—this beautiful office needed it. It had to be representative.

When we took it over, it was dirty, not clean. I immediately changed the chair and had the—this beautiful desk renovated, brought out by the White House people that do this. They did a great job to send it out. We have a craftsman who's great, but this was not appropriate for the Oval Office when I took over.

And now, you look at all those paintings—you're allowed to turn back—all of these were great presidents, and they were all in the vaults. They were in vaults for some—some cases, much more than a hundred years. And now, they're proudly hanging on the Oval Office walls, and I can't imagine anybody changing it. But they were buried in vaults for over a hundred years, many of them.

So it's very exciting. People come in; they really love it. They love what we're doing here. They love what we're doing in DC, and they love what we're doing, most importantly, in the country, in the world.

I'd like to ask Gianni to say a few words. He's the head of the whole thing. He's been there for a long time, probably the most respected man in sports. He's amazing, actually. Works very hard, and he's got the biggest event in the world coming right here to the United States. And a little—we did a little for Canada. We did a little for Mexico. We thought it would—see, I'm a good citizen. [Laughter] I said, "Let them have a little piece." So we gave a little to Canada. See how nice I am? And we gave a little bit to Mexico.

And, Gianni, please say a few words.

Mr. Infantino. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, President. Great honor for me to be here with you today.

President, Vice President, Excellencies, fantastic to announce what you said, which is the final draw of the FIFA World Cup on the 5th of December here in the capital, in the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, at 12 noon sharp. It will be broadcast live all over the world. One billion viewers will watch it, and it will determine, of course, the match schedule—the match schedule, which 48 participating teams will play.

You said it: 104 matches in 1 month—104 Super Bowls. This is not just the biggest——

The President. It's true.

Mr. Infantino. ——the greatest event—not just a sports event, it's a social event as well. A lot of emotion.

We are uniting the world, Mr. President—uniting the world here in America, and we are very proud of that.

And those teams—those national teams, who will come here to participate in this draw with their coaches, with their presidents, they will all be proud to be part of writing this history.

And that's why we brought as well this, which is the winner's trophy.

The President. Mm.

Mr. Infantino. It is the trophy that the winner of the FIFA World Cup wins. Only the FIFA president, Presidents of countries, and then those who win can touch it, because it's for winners only. [Laughter] And since you are a winner, of course you can as well——

The President. That's——

Mr. Infantino. ——touch it. It's pretty heavy.

The President. Yes.

Mr. Infantino. It's the winner trophy.

The last one who lifted that is Leo Messi—Lionel Messi of Argentina.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi L. Noem. Well, there you go.

Mr. Infantino. And here it is in the Oval Office, in the White House——

The President. Can I keep it? [Laughter]

Mr. Infantino. ——for you. Well, you can keep it until the World Cup——

The President. We're not giving it back. We're not giving it back. This is—that's serious—that——

Mr. Infantino. It fits well, no?

The President. Well, that goes very well on the wall right over there. We'll put it right below the angels.

Mr. Infantino. It fits well here, I think.

The President. That's beautiful, yes. Nice.

Mr. Infantino. You can keep it until we have to give it to the next winner.

The President. That's fine. [Laughter] That's a beautiful piece of gold, I will say.

Mr. Infantino. Absolutely.

The President. That's beautiful.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

So 6 billion viewers for the World Cup, 6 million coming to the matches, 30 billion economic impact, 185,000 jobs. This is—this will be absolutely fantastic. The biggest event ever, and everything will start here in Washington, DC, at the Kennedy Center—or the Trump-Kennedy Center; we'll see that—how it will be called—on the 5th of September at noon sharp. Fifth of December, noon sharp.

Then, if I may, Mr. President——

The President. Will they be doing most of the draws—all of the draws at the Kennedy—will—how are you going to do that there?

Mr. Infantino. Yes, we'll do that at the Kennedy Center. We'll do all the other meetings around it with the coaches, with the broadcasters, the sponsors.

The President. That's great.

Mr. Infantino. Everything at the Kennedy Center. The whole——

The President. You'll be very happy.

Mr. Infantino. ——World Cup starts—and everyone will be happy——

The President. Yes.

Mr. Infantino. ——because everyone has qualified for the World Cup, and they didn't yet play a game, so they didn't lose yet a game. And they are—they all think they can become world champion, right?

The President. Yes. They'll all be happy.

Mr. Infantino. Exactly. Now——

The President. By the way, an example, supposing we had—a week ago, when everybody was being killed and mugged and everything else, despite the phony numbers that were given out that it was getting better——

Brian [Brian Glenn, Real America's Voice], do you believe it was getting better or getting worse?

Q. Oh, the crime was getting worse.

The President. One hundred percent.

Q. I mean, I was robbed. [Laughter] It was getting way worse.

The President. They went after you?

Q. Yes.

The President. How did the other guy come out?

Q. Well, he came out with my briefcase, unfortunately.

The President. Yes, with your briefcase. [Laughter]

Q. Robber: one. Brian: zero. Right?

The President. No, but can you imagine, you do this, and then you start hearing that they had a 20-year reduction of crime? It's worse—it was worse during the Biden administration than anybody's ever imagined possible. And I guarantee you he wouldn't be here if those numbers continued. But now we have total safety. We have total security.

And for the border, in 3 months, zero people. These are done by liberal people that do these charts. Zero people came through our border in the last 90 days. Can you believe it? Zero.

Last year, we had millions of people coming in, and they came in from the wrong locations. They came in from—they came in, a lot of people that shouldn't be here.

So now, when we have this event in December, it's going to be very safe. Gianni——

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. ——you can walk down the street with your beautiful wife.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. You can take her to dinner if you can get a reservation, which I doubt. [Laughter]

Mr. Infantino. They're all full, the restaurants.

The President. But I'll help you.

I know. [Laughter] They're all full. I heard that too.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. The restaurants are too. The restaurants, since we are doing this, are doing great, and many new restaurants are going to open, because, as you know, many closed.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. Many restaurants closed because the crime was so bad. And this will be one of the safest places anywhere on Earth. So, you know, I really am honored that the National Guard has done such an incredible job, working with the police, and we haven't had to bring in the regular military, which we're willing to do if we have to.

And after we do this, we'll go to another location, and we'll make it safe also. We're going to make our country very safe. We're going to make our cities very, very safe.

Chicago is a mess. You have an incompetent mayor—grossly incompetent. And we'll straighten that one out probably next. That will be our next one after this, and it won't even be tough. And the people in Chicago, Mr. Vice President, are screaming for us to come.

Vice President Vance. Yes, they are, sir.

The President. They're wearing red hats, just like this one. [Laughter] But they're wearing red hats.

African American ladies, beautiful ladies, are saying, "Please, President Trump, come to Chicago. Please." I did great with the Black vote, as you know, and they want something happen.

So I think Chicago will be our next, and then we'll help with New York. And we're going to help with——

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Executive Director and Board of Trustees President Richard A. Grenell. Los Angeles.

The President. And I think—really, I think a lot of—and a lot of these people that are—you see on television, they're—including the people in this audience, they'll say bad things about me, and then they'll say, "Thank God he's here," because half of them got mugged—[laughter]—and they don't want to get mugged again. But they're—you know, they work for lot of—they—they work for stupid people that are radical left, and they're made to do things and say things that they don't want to be saying. But the people right here are all happy, because you're not going to be mugged in Washington, DC, anymore.

I just want to say, Gianni has been my friend for a long time. He's an incredible guy, and we will lay out the red carpet.

Andrew, you're going to be fantastic. Ric is going to be—everything Ric ever touched is—has always worked out. And he's working with me on the Kennedy Center. And his very good friend was an actor on Broadway for 5 years, right? And I assume he's helping us a little bit, right?

Executive Director Grenell. He is, yes.

The President. And, Andrew, you're all excited about it?

White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026 Executive Director Andrew Giuliani. Absolutely. This is a great——

The President. Would you like to say something?

Executive Director Giuliani. This is a great opportunity, Mr. President, to show off the first 250 years of the United States of America, the greatness and then the hope and promise of the next 250 years, when you think this World Cup is going to be over our 250th birthday.

Mr. President, your leadership, obviously, with FIFA leading the way, this is the largest sporting event in the history of the world under the Trump——

Mr. Infantino. Ever.

Executive Director Giuliani. ——administration. So very excited.

The President. I just want to say one thing. Andrew Giuliani—so, his father is Rudy, the greatest mayor in the history of New York—I think by far. He was—he took a ravaged city, a city that was really under siege—probably most people thought it wasn't going to survive—he turned it around, and he was a great, great mayor. And then they treated him very, very unfairly.

You go back and tell your father all of the things that have come out over the last couple of months, through Tulsi and through all of the people—Kash, everybody. They've proven your father 100 percent correct.

His father was treated so unfairly. Your father has been 100-percent correct. And tell him we all love him. Okay?

Executive Director Giuliani. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. He was an amazing—what he had to go through was very, very unfair. Nasty. These are bad people.

Mr. Vice President, would you like to say something?

Vice President Vance. Well, sure, Mr. President.

Thank you, and thanks to Gianni for being here. We're very thrilled about the World Cup.

Just to echo something the president said about crime in Washington, DC: This is the national Capital of the greatest nation in the world. And we had murder rates, just a few weeks ago, that rivaled some of the worst third-world cities anywhere, even in very, very poor regions of the world. Why did we accept that? Why did we allow it to happen?

We allowed it to happen because we had broken leadership in Washington, DC, and, unfortunately, sitting behind the Resolute Desk. What we have shown in just under 2 weeks of taking law enforcement seriously is that the American people can have their streets back if their leadership is willing to put in the time and the resources.

Mr. President, you've shown in Washington, DC, that we can have safe streets again. We've just got to have the political willpower to focus on the bad guys and to give the American people back their communities. We are focused on doing that thanks to the President's leadership.

The President. Thank you.

And that's a really very small percentage. It's 2 percent, 3 percent. But that 2 percent and 3 percent wreaks just havoc throughout a community. People are petrified, and I notice a couple of the women in the back are shaking their head, "Yes, yes, yes." I won't report who you are, because you'll end up losing your jobs. [Laughter] But it's true. It's amazing.

And the police—and you look at the DC National Guard—I saw pictures of them last night getting off vans and all, and I saw some bad ones running. But they're not running so much anymore. They're not there. They're just not even trying. You're totally safe.

Now, there'll be something happening sometime. I don't know. Maybe it won't be for a long time. But this was every night, we'd get reports of people being mugged and killed—that—there was one woman on television last night. She had a badly busted-up nose. And she's—"Well, I like our streets the way they used to be." And she thinks it's going to happen, like, by doing nothing.

And they say, "What happened to your nose?" She got slugged by a guy walking down the street. Slugged. Her nose will never be the same, I guarantee you, unless it—unless it takes a pretty good turn. She wasn't—really for us. But she sort of said, "Well, maybe something has to happen before this happened to me." She got whacked. And I don't think she'll ever be the same.

She was—she almost became—she was a half a Trump fan, a woman that would have never been a Trump fan. But she was hit hard. It's not going to happen anymore. Not going to happen anymore.

But then we're going to beautify—beautify the city too. That's where I was today: at Kennedy Center. And we're going to beautify the city like it hasn't—and we're working with Clark Construction, the biggest construction company in Chicago and—in Chicago and New York—and Washington. And the head of Clark is great. He's all over the world, actually. But Washington, I would say, is their home. That's where they do the best work, their biggest work. And they're doing a—they've been doing a fantastic job.

So you're going to have a fantastic, clean, beautiful place. It's going to be better than it ever was before—literally better than it ever was before. We'll do—get it done very quickly. And I want to thank Clark, because they're doing a lot of work in a lot of different locations. But they've been fantastic for getting us the right contractors and the people that can really do the job right.

And, Gianni, did you want to say something? Please.

Mr. Infantino. Yes. I have one more thing, because, as you rightly say, you know, with—with security and beautifying cities and the whole country, we want people to come and enjoy and have fun. And that's why this is not just the most iconic trophy in the world of sport, but we start, on the 10th of September, the sale of tickets for the FIFA World Cup. And we have the first ticket here for the final——

The President. Good. Wow.

Mr. Infantino. ——for you.

The President. Oh, good. I'll stand up.

Vice President Vance. Oh, that's cool.

Secretary Noem. Yes.

[At this point, Mr. Infantino held up the ticket.]

Mr. Infantino. Huh?

The President. Wow.

Mr. Infantino. It's, of course, row one, seat one.

The President. Wow.

Mr. Infantino. It's ticket number 4547.

The President. I hope so. Good. [Laughter]

Mr. Infantino. And it's for the final in New York/New Jersey.

The President. That's great. Thank you, Gianni.

Mr. Infantino. And it—so you have your ticket already for the final.

The President. Thank you.

Mr. Infantino. All the others, 10th of September, start getting your tickets.

The President. That's beautiful. Yes.

Mr. Infantino. Six and a half, seven million tickets. Fans will enjoy——

The President. You'll do records.

Mr. Infantino. We'll enjoy the security here. It will be fantastic.

The President. You're going to do record business, I think.

Mr. Infantino. Hundred percent.

The President. Kristi, would you like to say something?

Secretary Noem. Yes. Mr. President, millions of people will come to this country, and we'll make sure they get their travel documents, their visas, that they want to come here and spend their money and enjoy the sporting event. It will be the largest event in the world.

And, sir, you're reminding me of something that my dad used to say all the time when I was growing up. He would say, "Kristi, you kids need to look like you respect yourself before anybody's going to respect you." And in this country, when people look at our streets, when they look at our capital, you're bringing respect back to this city, and people will respect our country more because it's safe, it's clean, it's beautiful.

And what you're doing is transforming this Nation by making sure that our laws are upheld. And millions of people are going to come and be able to enjoy it next year, and I'm excited about that. Thank you for doing that for us.

The President. Well, our country is respected again. And a year ago, we had a dead country. I'm telling you, it was a dead country. It was a country that was going—that had lost its way. It was a country that was going to fail.

Look, even today, where they say $4 trillion in reductions of deficits. And this was totally unexpected. They didn't expect——

Vice President Vance. Yes.

The President. I mean, I don't know where they've been, the people that do this stuff, but it's terrible.

I want to thank Kristi for another reason. I said to her 2 weeks ago—I said, "Kristi, do me a favor." I built hundreds of miles of wall. I built the same wall that the Border Patrol asked me to build. It wasn't my first choice. I wanted to do concrete plank and everything nice. But you wouldn't have been able to see through it.

So I had Border Patrol in, and they tested everything else. And we gave them steel wall—high-grade steel, very hard to cut. Then we gave—inside that is 9,000-pound concrete, which is a very tough concrete. Inside that is rebar, a big fat piece of rebar.

Secretary Noem. Mm-hmm. That's right.

The President. So you have all different materials that are very hard to cut, and you need different instruments to cut each one. And I said, "Kristi, we've got to get a coat of paint on it." And I didn't know she was listening, but I said, "We've got to get a coat of paint, and it should be black, because black makes the steel very hot." It's untouchable. You could fry an egg on it. And if you got a good black, flat paint, it would look beautiful. It will preserve it from rust.

And that was it. And I gave it to her, along with 30 other things. And she's done such a good job on the border with Tom Homan and the group. Tom Homan is a fantastic guy, what—the job he does and the way they work together.

So I turn on last night and I see Kristi is painting the wall. And it looked beautiful, by the way, when that paint——

Secretary Noem. It is beautiful.

The President. ——went over there.

Secretary Noem. And it's hot.

The President. It's hot. [Laughter]

Secretary Noem. Yes, it is. It is.

The President. It's hot. If it's white, it's not hot. If it's black, it's going to be very hard to climb that sucker. You're going—it's going—it's not going to be easy. But it's black, and a high-quality black.

Secretary Noem. It is.

The President. You know, it really looked good.

Secretary Noem. Yes. We got the paint you told us to.

The President. Is that going to be a two-coat job or a one-coat?

Secretary Noem. No, just one coat.

The President. One coat. Good.

Secretary Noem. We used the paint you told me to buy.

The President. Yes.

Secretary Noem. Yes.

The President. The two-coat will take place in 3 years from now, right?

Secretary Noem. That's right. [Laughter]

The President. We'll do the second coat.

But it looks beautiful. But thank you very much. I didn't know you were listening to that.

Secretary Noem. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I'm always listening.

The President. Because we talked about seven different subjects, and all of a sudden, I see her out there painting with a lot of painters and everything else. But it was—it was a beautiful thing to see.

Secretary Noem. Yes.

The President. Would you like to say something? You've been such a big part of this. Please.

FIFA Senior Adviser Carlos Cordeiro. Well, just—Mr. President, we're delighted to be here today for this announcement, but we're also looking forward to having you at the final——

The President. Oh, yes.

Mr. Cordeiro. ——on July 19——

The President. Oh, yes. No, we'll be there.

Mr. Cordeiro. ——in New York, New Jersey.

The President. We're going to be there. A lot of people are going to be there.

Mr. Cordeiro. Thank you.

Mr. Infantino. Yes, a lot of people are going to be there.

The President. I'd like to thank you all.

Do you have any questions on FIFA, first of all?

2026 World Cup Draw

Q. Mr. President, it's going to be a big event at the Kennedy Center. Do you intend to take part in it? Will you have a part to play in—on December 5——

The President. I might play. [Laughter]

Q. ——like hosting?

The President. No, I mean, I see the money that these soccer players—you know, the soccer—we call it soccer, but I see the money that these soccer players are making. I may try and play. I'm a very good athlete. [Laughter]

My son is a very good athlete, and he's a good soccer player. He's on the tall side for soccer.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. He's 6'9". That's pretty tall, but——

Mr. Infantino. Tall. That's pretty tall.

The President. That's on the tall side.

Mr. Infantino. But that's good.

The President. That's on the tall side, but he's good. But no, I may—

Mr. Infantino. And he loves the game.

The President. ——I may put on shorts. I look extremely good in shorts and—[laughter]—and join the play. You know?

No, it's going to be a lot of fun. It's got to be great.

U.S. Visa Policy/President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Many foreigners who want to come to U.S. to attend the event are concerned about the visa situation. Can you reassure them?

The President. Yes, they're going to have a very easy time getting in. Certain countries are going to be very, very easy, and other countries are going to be, obviously, a little bit more difficult.

Secretary Noem. Mm-hmm.

The President. Would you like to explain that, Kristi?

Secretary Noem. Yes, absolutely. We have a process set up that we'll be implementing on getting visas approved. Everybody will be thoroughly vetted, but they'll be welcomed to this country. It will happen quickly, and we're excited for them to come. So——

The President. [Inaudible]

Secretary Noem. ——I would hope that, around the world, people know that the United States is excited to bring their family here to enjoy this event.

Mr. Infantino. America welcomes the world.

Secretary Noem. Yes.

Mr. Infantino. And I can really, from the collaboration that we have, testify for that, absolutely.

Q. Thank you.

The President. And I was just sent a picture from somebody that wants to be there very badly. He's been very respectful of me and of our country but not so respectful of others. But he'll—I'm going to sign this for him. But I was sent one, and I thought you'd all like to see it.

[The President held up a photograph.]

That's a man named Vladimir Putin, who I believe will be coming, depending on what happens. He may be coming, and he may not, depending on what happens. We have a lot of things happening over——

Vice President Vance. Yes, sir.

The President. ——the next couple of weeks.

So—but I thought it was a nice picture of him. Okay of me, but nice of him. So that was very nice that it was sent to me. Okay?

Q. Mr. President, on——

Q. Mr. President——

The President. Yes.

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. On that subject. Have you talked to Vladimir Putin about the fact that, yesterday, a big U.S. factory was hit in a Russian air strike in Ukraine? What's your reaction to that? And—

The President. I told him I'm not happy about it, and I'm not happy about anything having to do with that war. I settled nine—seven wars. And actually, if you think about pre-wars, add three more, so it would be ten. I thought this would be in the middle of the pack in terms of difficulty.

No, I'm not happy about anything about that war. Nothing. Not happy at all.

We'll see what happens. I think, over the next 2 weeks, we're going to find out which way it's going to go, and I better be very happy.

[Several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada/Trade Negotiations

Q. You had, apparently, a very good call with Prime Minister Carney of Canada yesterday morning.

The President. Yes.

Q. Actually, Canada is taking away some retaliatory tariffs on——

The President. He's removing his tariffs, yes.

Q. Exactly.

The President. He's removing his retaliatory tariffs, which I thought was nice. And we're going to have another call soon.

Q. Okay.

The President. Yes, we had a very good call.

Q. You're getting closer in—towards an agreement——

The President. Well, I like him.

Q. ——on trade?

The President. I like him. You know, look, I'm fighting for the United States. Canada and Mexico take a lot of our business over the years—over 25, 30 years. Especially during the Biden years, they took a lot of our business. And it's basically all coming back into the United States now. We're hot as a pistol, and it's coming back in. Because of tariffs and the incentives we give, it's coming back.

And it's impossible, I think, for another country to stop it. And we are working on something. We want to be very good to Canada.

I like Carney a lot. I think he's a good—good person, and we had a very good talk yesterday. So I think it will be good.

Q. Thank you.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton

Q. Mr. President, I have a question about the search of Ambassador Bolton's home. I—the Vice President recently just did an interview saying that it's about classified documents but that there's also broad concern about him. What are the concerns that you have?

The President. Well, I haven't spoken to Pam and the group yet, but I will be. I saw that, just like everybody else. I try and stay out of this stuff. I'm allowed to be in. I'm chief law enforcement officer, believe it or not. You know, I don't like to go around saying that, but I am. That's the position. But I purposely don't want to really get involved in it.

I'm not a fan of John Bolton. I thought he was a sleazebag, actually, and he's a—suffers major Trump derangement syndrome, but so do a lot of people, and they're not being affected by anything we do.

I don't know anything about it. I saw it—just saw that. I'll find out about it. But if you believe the news, which I do, I guess his house was raided today.

But my house was raided also—called Mar-a-Lago. They went through everything they could, including my young son's room and my wife's area. They went through her drawers, as the expression goes. They went through everything you can imagine.

And when she came back, she looked, she said—she's very neat, you know. She's meticulous. And she looked, and she said, "Whoa, this wasn't"—this wasn't the way that she had it. So, you know—so I know the feeling; it's not a good feeling.

Thank you.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Russia/Ukraine/The President's Foreign Policy

Q. Mr. President, on Ukraine, how long will you give Putin and Zelenskyy——

The President. A couple of weeks. We're going to figure it out. We'll find it.

Q. Do you think you'll have to intervene at some point?

The President. Look, it takes two to tango. You understand that. I wanted to have a meeting with those two. I could have been at the meeting, but—and a lot of people think that nothing's going to come out of that meeting. You have to be there. Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. But we're going to see.

In the meantime, people continue to die.

But I've solved seven of them where they were in wars for 31, 35, and 37 years. We had three of them that were for more than 30 years, Gianni. And I got them solved.

Mr. Infantino. I know.

The President. And we solved one that could have been a nuclear war with India and Pakistan. That was getting ready to be a nuclear war. I solved them all.

And this one, I thought we would have had it done by now, but it's a—it's more different—there's a lot of anger, a lot of hatred. There's a tremendous amount of hatred there, so—but we'll see what happens. I think, in 2 weeks, we'll know which way I'm going, because I'm going to go one way or the other, and they'll learn which way I'm going.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Wildfires in Los Angeles, California/Political Protests in Los Angeles

Q. Mr. President, if I—I've got two questions for you, one on FIFA, the other one on DC Let's talk—can you talk about the economic impact——

The President. Yes

Q. ——that FIFA will have in these cities? And what's your message to the mayors to get their cities prepared—not only the beautification process, but also the safety aspect?

The President. Well, Los Angeles is an example. You know, it's poorly run. We have a mayor there that can't even get permits to the people that lost their houses.

Lee Zeldin got every permit. The hardest permit is the Federal permit. Within 20 days, every single permit was there for the people to build their houses. But people are writing us, and they're saying, "They won't give us"—the mayor is incompetent. The Governor is incompetent. You know, Gavin—I know Gavin very well. He's an incompetent guy with a good line of bullshit, and he doesn't get the job done.

And frankly, those people want to build their houses. It's terrible. They could have been built. Some of them could have been built already. But think of it, the Federal Government that has the most complex part—and it's the most complex environmental thing to do—we got it—everybody had it within 30 days.

And they're not even close to getting their permits, and now they're talking about taking some of those sites and building low-income housing on them. These are high-end neighborhoods. And I'm all for low-income housing. I built a lot of low-income housing. I know all about 236. I know every program that there is in the Government. I used every one of them. I know more about low-income housing than probably almost anybody.

And it's great. It's fine. It's wonderful. But you don't build it in Pacific Palisades. You don't build it there. And you don't build it in the other areas that burned down.

So they're talking about putting up low-income housing, and you talk about riots. They're going to have riots if that happens, because you're taking the people's property away. They want to build their houses, and they're unable to get permits from the mayor and from the Governor, and that's a terrible thing.

But—and let me tell you, if I didn't send in the troops in Los Angeles, Gianni wouldn't be in Los Angeles. You wouldn't be having your World Cup there. I sent in the troops, and we kept it.

And even the police commissioner—the sheriff and the police commissioner—they all said the same thing. They said, "We could have never handled what was happening." You saw that. You were there. He said, "We could have never handled what was"—and then you hear Gavin Newsom—after it's all quelled, you hear Newsom get up and say, "We could have done this by themselves." No, they couldn't have. And if they could have, I wouldn't have taken the chance either.

Firearm Rights/District of Columbia

Q. Okay. My second question is on crime prevention. Would you be open to expanding the national concealed carry to apply to DC like it does in other States, like Texas?

The President. Yes. Well, they have it in some States, and they feel strongly about it. I—you know, as you know, I'm in favor of it. People have to protect themselves—I'm a Second Amendment person, very simply. People have to be able to protect themselves.

Especially like, in Washington, you walk down the street, a guy comes up and slugs you. He's got a pistol in his hand. You could be tough. You're going to be in great shape. You could be a powerful person. Or you can be a guy that weighs 100 pounds with a gun in your hand.

Q. Right.

The President. And I'll bet on the guy with a gun 100 percent of the time, right?

And so you need protection. So I'm a Second Amendment person all the way.

Yes, please.

District of Columbia Funding/Funding for Public Safety Improvement Efforts

Q. President Trump, you said this morning that you're working with Congress to get $2 billion to help clean up DC. Have you had any conversations with Mike Johnson and John Thune about where they're going to get that money from?

The President. Which money?

Q. You said this morning that you're going to get $2 billion from Congress to help clean up DC.

The President. Yes, I've spoken to Mike Johnson; I've spoken to John Thune—the Senate, the House. And I think it's going to be very easy to get. It's going to be not a lot of money. I wouldn't even know where to spend the number that you mentioned, but it's going to be money to beautify the city, yes. They're ready.

Everybody wants to save DC. In one way, it's the easiest. The violence was more than any other city in the country, actually, by far. It may have been more than any other city in the world, if you can think. You know, we looked at some of the worst cities in the world. It was worse.

And that's why it angers me to see the Mayor saying about how they have it on the slide—not on the slide. It was worse than ever.

Yes, we have no problem getting that money. That money will come out of Congress. I think it will be even bipartisan.

Q. And is the plan to get it——

The President. I mean, I would imagine Democrats would vote for that one.

Q. Is the plan to get it before the September 30 spending deadline on the Hill?

The President. Well, I don't know if there is a headline, yes—a deadline, because if I declare a national emergency, which this was, that ends the deadline.

So, I mean, I keep seeing about a 30-day deadline, of which we have 22 days left or something. But if I think we're in great shape here, that's one thing. But if I don't, I'm going to just say it's a national emergency. And if I have a national emergency, I can keep the troops here as long as I want.

People are not going to want to have the troops out—in 30 days—you know, it's one thing to get them out. It's another thing to keep them out for a long period of time.

You've got to train people. "You can't do this. You can't bop people over the head." And a lot of those people are in courts right now, going to court. They're going to go to jail for a long time. So that's going to take more than 30 days. But if I have to, I'll declare a national emergency, which I don't think I'll have to do.

Yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, on Ukraine and Russia. You said in 2 weeks you'll know whether you'll go one way or the other.

The President. Yes, I think I'll know—I think I'll know the attitude of Russia and, frankly, of Ukraine. It takes two.

Q. What are the two ways you can go at the end of 2 weeks then?

The President. Well, then I'm going to make a decision as to what we do.

Q. Our economic——

The President. And it's going to be a very important decision, and that's whether or not it's massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both. Or do we do nothing and say, "It's your fight"?

Look, I would have never been in this war if I were President. You wouldn't have—you wouldn't have had this war. It was never going to happen. This was caused by stupid people that fought.

And you know, people say, "Well, how do we know?" Because for 4 years, it was never even a subject. And Vladimir knew—and you see his picture right here. It was nice that he sent. But Vladimir knew, very strongly, he—we wouldn't have stood for it. It wouldn't have happened. A hundred percent wouldn't have happened.

But it did happen, and now they're losing from five to seven young kids.

Think of it. You're a parent, and your son is leaving. He's Russian, or he's Ukrainian, and he's leaving, and they're waving goodbye. A nice, beautiful kid, nice crew cut. All said, he wants to be a soldier, and he goes there. The first week, he has his head blown off. And he's no different than you people, me.

And it doesn't matter where. I mean, I solved a problem in the Congo that was vicious—Rwanda and the Congo—the Republic of the Congo. And they were fighting for 31 years, and it was machetes. People were getting their heads chopped off. That was going on for 31 years. I got it solved.

You saw it. They came to the White House, and we signed an agreement. It was amazing. People can't believe we got it done.

I love to stop killing. I really do. People——

Q. Have you——

The President. ——people thought it would be just the opposite. Hillary Clinton said, "Oh, he'll get us into a war." No, I'm getting everybody else out of wars.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Are you saying there's a real possibility, then, that you do nothing if Putin doesn't come to the table for a ceasefire to try to end the war?

The President. I'll see whose fault it is. If there are reasons why, I'll understand that. I know exactly what I'm doing.

We're going to see whether or not they have a meeting. That will be interesting to see. And if they don't, why didn't they have a meeting? Because I told them to have a meeting. But I'll know in 2 weeks what I'm going to do. Yes, I have a pretty good idea already.

Department of Justice Files Concerning Deceased Convicted Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein

Q. Your Justice Department is also sending some of the Epstein files over to the House Oversight Committee today.

The President. That's okay.

Q. Are you in support of them releasing all of them——

The President. I'm in support of keeping it open.

Q. ——if they wanted to release?

The President. Innocent people shouldn't be hurt, but I'm in support of keeping it totally open. I couldn't care less. You've got a lot of people that could be mentioned in those files that don't deserve to be. You know, people—because he knew everybody in Palm Beach.

I don't know anything about that, but I have said to Pam and everybody else, "Give them everything you can give them," because it's a Democrat hoax. It's just a hoax. The whole Epstein thing is a Democrat hoax.

So we had the greatest 6 months, 7 months in the history of the Presidency. And the Democrats don't know what to do, so they keep bringing up that stuff, but it affected them.

The—Bill Clinton was on his plane and went to the island, supposedly, 28 times. I don't want to bring that up, frankly.

You have Larry—whatever his name is—Summers, the head of Harvard, who was Jeffrey Epstein's best friend. Nobody ever talks about that. I mean, I—but I don't want to hurt Larry Summers, but he was best friends with Jeffrey Epstein.

No, this is a Democratic hoax to try and get the significance of what we've done over the past seven months. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. They say it's number one in history, what we've done, including stopping seven wars. I mean, just include that.

And now you look—and now you look at the stock market today. It's way up, to start off with, from where I took it. And this market was going to crash. If Joe Biden or Kamala were President, this market would—we would had a crash like in 1929. You're not going to have that. It's only a question of how high is it going to go.

You know, I had the strongest economy in the history of our country. And despite COVID, we had the strongest economy in the history of our country, and we're going to blow it away this time.

I was always good at making a lot of money, and whether it was for myself or whether it was—I like doing it this way better. I mean, I like—I like making it for the country. Our country has been ripped off by friend and foe. Nations all over the world ripped off, and the friends have been much worse than the foes, for the most part. And they're not ripping us off.

We just signed a deal with the European Union. They're paying us, essentially, $950 billion—like a signing fee. They're going to buy 750 billion dollars' worth of energy. They weren't buying much of our energy there. And they're being—they're very smart in doing.

And, as you know, Ursula was here a couple of days ago, having to do with the people—the leaders that we—we had a great—I—people said they've never seen anything like it, where we had the leaders of Europe right here in the Oval Office. And she's so happy that she has an agreement.

But people aren't ripping us anymore. They're—we're run by—this country is run by smart people now.

Q. Mr. President, in Israel——

Intel Corporation/Semiconductor Manufacturing

Q. Mr. President, can I ask you two questions? One is that Intel—there've been reports that you're considering taking stake in Intel. Can you tell us about——

The President. About the 10 percent?

Q. ——about the 10 percent, yes.

The President. Yes, I met a man—he was a very nice man, and I called for his removal because I saw something by a man named Tom Cotton, a Senator from Arkansas, who's a great guy, friend of mine—supporter of mine. Big supporter—I'm a supporter of his too. And he wrote a pretty nasty story about the head of Intel.

And I said, "Well, if that's right, he should resign." And he came in, he saw me. We talked for a while. I liked him a lot. I thought he was very good. I thought he was somewhat a victim. But you know, nobody's a total victim, I guess. And I said: "You know what? I think the United States should be given 10 percent of Intel." And he said, "I would consider that."

I said, "Well, I'd like you to do that," because Intel has been left behind, as you know, compared to Jensen and some of our friends—Nvidia, some of the people, and the people in—because Intel should have never been—Intel was the biggest, most powerful chip company in the world, and then they started leaving, and they started going to foreign countries—in particular Taiwan—and if we had a president would've said, "Okay, you can go to Taiwan, but we're going to put a 100-percent tariff, or 200-, or 300-, or a 500-percent tariff—anybody that sells into the United States has to pay." They wouldn't have left. They would have never left. And we wouldn't have—so, in the meantime, we had people that were, in some cases good politicians, that weren't good on trade.

I loved that man, but he was not good on trade. I totally disagreed. He allowed the car industry to be taken out of this country. We lost 50 percent of our car industry. But that's all coming back. It's all coming back. But if somebody would have said that with Intel, we'd be a giant right now. Now with that, they've had some bad management over the years and—and they got a loss.

And I said, "I think you should pay us 10 percent of your company." And they said, "Yes." That's about $10 billion for the—I don't get it. This comes to the United States of America. And I said, "I think it would be good having the United States as your partner." He agreed, and they've agreed to do it, and I think it's a great deal for them. And I think it's a great deal.

He walked in wanting to keep his job, and he ended up giving us $10 billion for the United States. So we picked up $10 billion. And we do a lot of deals like that. I'll do more of them, if somebody has—like, we have restrictive covenants with Jensen.

We have—it's Nvidia—and to unrestrict the covenant—nothing to do with losing our powers or military or anything, because that I wouldn't do. But there are things you can do that don't affect us, that actually help us. And if we're going to give somebody a free out, a restricted covenant—we have a strong restrictive covenant on certain industries—and I will absolutely give somebody a opening on a restrict to do a lot of business, which is good for us, as long as it doesn't hurt us in a security or military way.

And if I do that, I think the country should be paid because anybody else—I have it in real estate where I'll have a deal with somebody, and I'll have them—a restrictive covenant, then they'll come back, and they'll say, "I'd love to be able to build over here, but I'm not allowed to, because you have me covered. You have me restricted." I say, "I'll let you build over there, but pay me a lot of money." No different. But the company—the country never did it because the country was run by foolish people.

Chairman of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Jerome H. Powell/National Guard Deployment to U.S. Cities

Q. Mr. President, on crime. On DC crime. You said Chicago might be next——

Q. [Inaudible]—so Jerome Powell spoke to you?

The President. Yes, Chicago might be next.

Q. Are you making—have there been concrete steps that the administration is taking to do that?

The President. No, I haven't spoken——

Q. Or what are other cities as well?

The President. I haven't spoken with him. He's grossly incompetent. I haven't spoken to the man. No, when we're ready, we'll go in and we'll straighten out Chicago, just like we did DC.

Chicago is very dangerous. Great place. I built great stuff there. I have a—I have the most beautiful building in Chicago, I think. But I hate to see what's happened to Chicago.

Chicago was our greatest city, actually. Bob Tisch, a great friend of mine, passed away—used to own the Giants and—very successful—Loews. He said, "Chicago"—I think they had their main office in Chicago. He said, "Chicago and San Francisco are the two greatest cities in the world." Now you look at what the Democrats have done to San Francisco, they've destroyed it.

I own a big chunk of the Bank of America building in San Francisco. And you know, it's just different. We can clean that up too. We'll clean that one up too.

No, if we—if everything works out—and we've already had calls from other cities—quiet calls, calls from Democrats—"We'd love you to come here"—because they've lost control of——

Q. Like who?

The President. ——their cities.

Q. Who called?

The President. I'm not going to say because I don't want them to lose their elections. But we've had calls from Democrats and calls from people generally. "We'd love you to come here," because we'll straighten out the problem.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Gaza, Palestinian Territories/Hostages Held in Gaza, Palestinian Territories/2024 Presidential Election

Q. On Israel—on Israel, the families of hostages are——

The President. Say it.

Q. The—in Israel, the families of hostages are opposed to the reoccupying of Gaza. Why is the U.S. still supporting——

The President. Well, not all of them. And you have to understand, I'm the one that got all of the hostages out. You got a lot of people out. If it wasn't for me, they wouldn't be out. I worked with Bibi, and I worked with Steve Witkoff. But if it wasn't for me, you would have—all these hostages would most likely be dead right now. Every one of them.

So they all come up here. They all—they come in groups of 10, 12, 13, and—many of them, and I've gotten to know a lot of them. They're great people. What they had to go through is incredible. But—so now they have 20, but the 20 is actually probably not 20, because a couple maybe aren't around any longer. It's a terrible thing.

No, I like—I don't like anymore—I said, "You know, when you get down to 20, they're not going to make deals anymore." And they didn't, and then I put out a statement, as you know. That was a tough statement: "Go in and get them." And they said: "We'll give you 10. We'll give you 10." I don't know what Israel is doing, but they were willing now, immediately, to give us another 10.

The situation has to end. It's extortion, and it has to end. And we'll see what happens. I actually think they're safer in many ways, if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it.

And people can't forget October 7. Remember that. I'm friendly with all groups. I—I won the Arab vote. In Michigan, I did so great with the Arab vote. Remember? I started off at zero. I ended up winning. I wouldn't say the candidate was the greatest, but I would have won against anybody. [Laughter] They—they're great people.

But we have to do things properly. And, you know, I'm very proud to say I got the hostages out. You have hundreds of people that are living now because of me. And now we have that final little group of people, and Hamas knows that if they give them, that's probably the end of their lives, so it's not easy to get.

And I know, if you're a parent, you just don't care. You want to—"I want my baby back." They want their babies back. They want their kids back. And I understand it.

But I got them out and did a good job, and we'll—we're doing everything we can to get the hostages out.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Thank you all very much.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President.

Chairman of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Jerome H. Powell/Afghanistan/Withdrawal of U.S. Military Forces

Q. Mr. President, on the Fed.

The President. Yes.

Q. On the Fed. So, Jackson Hole—Jay Powell today said he, you know, suggested that they might cut interest rates, but they'd have to proceed very carefully.

The President. Well, we call him "Too Late" for a reason. He should have cut them a year ago. He's too late.

You know, we have a stock market that's up a thousand points today. I better be careful, because I go out there now, see it's down a thousand, right? But it's up a thousand points when I came in here. We have a country that the market is the hottest it's ever been. The country is better than it's ever been.

We have a military that I rebuilt, largely, in my first term. We had a great, successful first term, but this is going to be even better. But we rebuilt it. We gave a lot of it away to Afghanistan, but relatively small compared to the overall.

But I think it was the most embarrassing day and period in the history of our country, that they allowed those 13 wonderful people—but it's really hundreds of people were killed. And they don't talk about the 48 that was so severely wounded, with no legs, no arms, no—nobody ever mentions them, except me. But that was the worst day, the most—it just showed how incompetent.

Frankly, if that didn't happen, I really believe that you might not have had the problem with Russia. I think Putin was sitting there watching these stupid people running our country and said: "This is a time to invade. It's—you know, this is the time." And then Biden made the statement, "Well, he can do a small incursion." When he said that, it was off to the races, right? When he said, "He can do a small incursion," remember that? I was surprised he knew the word "incursion." [Laughter] I didn't think he had that good of a vocabulary.

I want to thank everybody. It's very important to me and to everybody up here—the World Cup. And Gianni has been so incredible. I mean, he's really a great leader. I mean, to think—I said: "Gianni, do it by phone. You don't have to come." "No," he said, "I'll come. I'll come." And he flew all night long to be here and listen to this about how great we're doing in DC. [Laughter]

But he's a fantastic leader, and this will be your most successful World Cup ever.

Mr. Infantino. A hundred percent.

The President. Thank you, Gianni.

Mr. Infantino. Thank you so much.

2026 FIFA World Cup

Q. Can America win?

Q. Yeah, can we win it, Mr. President?

The President. I don't know. That's a tough—[laughter]. I watch——

Q. We've got an automatic bid.

The President. I watch some of those teams go around each other—[laughter]—they go down that field. I don't know.

But let me ask you: Can—what chance does America have of winning?

Mr. Infantino. Well, the home team always has a good chance to win, and it depends how it starts.

The President. See, he's a good diplomat. [Laughter]

Mr. Infantino. No, but it has some good players. Huh?

The President. But we have a shot. We have a——

Mr. Infantino. Yes, yes, of course.

The President. ——we have a good team, right?

Mr. Infantino. Of course, you have a chance. You have a chance.

The President's Son Barron/FIFA Club World Cup

Q. Will Barron be going to any of the games, Mr. President?

The President. I'd love to have him. He'd love to. Very tall. [Laughter] Maybe we can make him a goalie, right? [Laughter] The goalies are very tall now, right? I noticed——

Mr. Infantino. Yes, goalies are very tall.

The President. ——the goalies. Well, he'd be a perfect goalie at his——

Mr. Infantino. A hundred percent.

The President. At his height, he'll be a great goalie.

Mr. Infantino. Yes, exactly.

The President. So we'll put him on the American team. [Laughter]

Mr. Infantino. Yes, on goal.

The President. No, but do the Americans have a chance of, like, getting into the quarter finals? Yes, right?

Mr. Infantino. Yes, definitely. No, the quarter final, definitely. But then, you know, as the tournament goes on, with the public, 250 years of United States—let's not forget—they will all feel——

The President. Yes.

Mr. Infantino. ——energized about that.

The President. You know, it's amazing. The talent is really great when you watch these things.

The President. I went to——

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. ——the game 2 weeks ago, and it was a big upset. But you look at these people, they're so—the way they pass.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. It's amazing. Really amazing.

Mr. Infantino. Yes.

The President. It's a great art, right?

Mr. Infantino. Yes. It is.

The President. It's a great talent.

Mr. Infantino. It is incredible.

The President. You know the expression——

2026 FIFA World Cup Draw

Q. Will you draw the names out of the hat?

The President. It's incredible—what?

Q. Will you draw the names——

Mr. Infantino. Ah, that's——

Q. ——the matches? Will you——

The President. I don't know. That's up to him.

Q. ——physically pull——

The President. He's the boss.

Mr. Infantino. Ah, that's an interesting—that's an interesting proposal.

The President. He's the boss. Well——

Mr. Infantino. We'll discuss that. [Laughter]

The President. It's going to be great, and I think the American team is going to do well. I mean, I hear it's a very good team.

Good luck, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President's Photograph of Himself With President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Do you keep a lot of those photos in this?

The President. No, I just got one. This was sent to me. I thought it was a nice photo.

Thank you very much, everybody.