Remarks in an Exchange With Reporters Aboard Air Force One En Route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland

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

Q. Mr. President.

The President. Well, I hope you had a good time, everybody. We had a good—I think it was a really good day and a half. Very intensive.

Any questions?

The President's State Visit to the United Kingdom

Q. What was the best part? What was the best part of the trip?

The President. I don't know. It's just—I think, being with King Charles. He's a wonderful guy. Got to know him very well. I knew him before, but now I know him a lot better.

The artwork. I saw more paintings than any human being has ever saw—[laughter]—and statues. But they treated us great. They treated our country great.

Q. Mr. President——

The President. And that—you know, I view that as being, really, respect for our country—the way they did it—because last night was beautiful. And you know, you had the biggest businesspeople in the world there. That was respect for our country.

Yes.

Venezuela

Q. Mr. President, have you had conversations with Secretary—sorry, let me—I'm trying to stand——

The President. Go ahead.

Q. Have you had conversations with Secretary Rubio or any of your military leaders——

The President. About what?

Q. ——about possible regime change in Venezuela?

The President. No, I haven't. No.

Q. You haven't had any discussions about plans or how to make it happen?

The President. No, I haven't.

Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan

Q. Mr. President, you mentioned in your remarks at the press conference something about Bagram and bringing it back to the U.S.

The President. Yes, Bagram—I'd like to get Bagram back.

Q. Do you know how you plan to do that, sir?

The President. They need a lot from us, and I'd like to get it back. It should have never been given—Bagram. It should have never been given, the air base. That was gross incompetence to give that up.

You know, it's one of the most powerful bases in the world in terms of runway, strength, and length. The strength and length—you could land anything on there. You could land a planet on top of it.

Can you imagine? They gave it up for nothing. Just "Oh, let's leave." And it's an hour away from where they make their missiles—China.

Q. Mr. President——

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

Russia-U.S. Relations

Mr. President, it's been a month since your meeting with Putin. Is it time to call for a ceasefire?

The President. Say it louder.

Q. It's been a month since your meeting with President Putin. Is it time for a cease-fire to come?

The President. Doesn't feel like it. But, at the right time, if I have to do it, it will be harsh.

"Antifa" Organization/Domestic Terrorist Designation

Q. Mr. President, can I ask you a question about something you said earlier this week. You said——

The President. Yes, go ahead please.

Q. Mr. President, regarding antifa—regarding antifa, what you posted——

The President. Who are you with?

Q. NPR, sir.

The President. NPR?

Q. When it—regarding——

The President. I thought they were gone.

Q. Regarding designating ——

The President. Are they still here?

Q. We are.

The President. Are they still here? Oh, good. Congratulations.

Q. Yeah. Regarding designating——

The President. Won't be for long.

Q. Regarding designating them a terrorist organization, when they don't have defined leadership or membership, how do you target them?

The President. When who doesn't?

Q. Antifa.

The President. We're going to find out, right? We're going to see. People have been talking about it for a long time. We're going to see.

Did they have anything to do with your network—antifa?

Q. No.

The President. Okay.

Q. Mr.——

The President. But we're going to find out.

Yes, go ahead.

Political Protest Activity

Q. Mr. President, you said earlier this week that the women who yelled at you, who were protesting you were at Joe's Stone Crab should be in jail. Do you actually think that that is an offense that deserves jail time?

The President. Well, I don't know. I don't know how they got in there. But certainly, I thought it was very inappropriate. And they said things that were very—and it was a question of—when you take a look at the way they acted, the way they behaved—yes, I think they were a threat.

Q. And you—and you think that deserves jail, sir?

Q. What should——

The President. Do you agree with me?

Q. I think they're——

The President. They were a threat.

Q. I think they're a nasty organization, when they were—when you were——

The President. Yes.

Q. But you think they deserve jail?

The President. Go ahead.

Q. Well, I don't know.

Q. [Inaudible]

The President's Legislative Agenda/The President's Foreign Policy

Q. What should Congress focus on? What are your top priorities with Congress?

The President. We're going to finish the wars. We have a couple of them going, as you know. You look at Gaza, you look at Russia-Ukraine. We're working on that, and I'm working with Congress all of—but I think—I think we'll get it.

You know, we did do seven. We actually did more than seven, which people don't like to talk about. But I say that and the economy—always the economy specially bringing down the oil further. We get the oil down, the wars—that war ends.

Commercial Truck Drivers

Q. Here's a subject that I don't think a lot of people talk about. I've been talking to a lot of American truck drivers——

The President. Right.

Q. ——the last couple of weeks, and they're—and I'm asking them what their biggest concern is.

The President. Right.

Q. They tell me it's some of these foreign truck drivers. They come to schools here in America—Utah and California, to be specific.

The President. Right.

Q. They get fast-tracked through the system. A lot of them don't speak English, which I know you did a EO about speaking English.

The President. They have to speak English.

Q. But they're danger—they're causing a dangerous situation on the road.

The President. Yes, I don't like that.

Q. That's what they're telling me. I don't know what we can do about it.

The President. No, I don't like it. I see the one—you know, he had the accident. He couldn't read a sign, didn't know what was happening. Yes, no, I'm not in favor of that at all. Got to speak English.

New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran K. Mamdani

Q. Mr. President, Zohran Mamdani said that he would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to New York City because of the ICC warrant. Would you——

The President. I think that's inappropriate.

Q. Would you intervene if that came up?

The President. Yes.

Q. You would?

The President. Yes. It's inappropriate.

The President's Position on British Energy Policy/Renewable Energy Sources

Q. Mr. President, we asked the GB News——

The President. Hello.

Q. We asked GB News viewers the questions they would like to ask of you and the Prime Minister today. The main question was: Would you please swap jobs with him? [Laughter]

And the second question behind that was, really: Why are we, in the U.K., moving towards Europe when Europe is failing and America is flying?

The President. Well, look, I think the U.K. has a tremendous asset known as the North Sea, and it's loaded up with oil. You know, they like to say, "Well, it's really diminished." It's not, and there are lots of areas out there that haven't been found. Look at Norway. You know, it's the same kind of a thing.

Q. Yes.

The President. They've become so rich. And for U.K. or other parts of Europe to take—I mean, especially U.K.—to buying oil from Norway. And they have it, but they don't want to do it. If they would drill in the North Sea, if they would let them—you know, they've made it impossible for people to—[inaudible].

Q. Do you think it starts with energy?

The President. It's a tremendous asset.

Q. Yes.

The President. And it's tremendously valuable. And there's a lot of oil left. They've been drilling there for a long time, but there's a lot of oil, and there's a lot of oil out there that hasn't been found yet. And with new drilling techniques—when they think a well is closed, the new drilling techniques, you can drill for another 50 years. It's crazy.

It's such a valuable asset. And instead, they're putting these stupid windmills all over the place. And every time you put up a windmill, it costs the country millions of dollars a year to have that horrible thing turn. It's ugly. It's bad for the environment. It kills the birds. And beyond that, it costs a fortune.

And you know, you should make money with energy; you shouldn't lose money. With windmills, you lose. Including those massive solar fields, you know, that take up all the farmland. And you know what they are? Black plastic from China.

You ever see what happens to a bird when the birds land? They get fried because it's hot. So it's a—[laughter]—you don't need a sauce on it. You don't need to—you don't need a stove. No, a bird lands on it, it's over.

Q. Yes.

The President. And then they say it's great for the environment. You know they're——

Q. Mr. President——

The President. ——they're lunatics.

Go ahead.

Representative Ilhan A. Omar/Somalia

Q. I was going to ask: Last week in the Oval Office, I asked you about if Ilhan Omar should be censured. Congress censured her, and I just want to get your reaction to that.

The President. They did censure her?

Q. They did.

The President. Good.

When did this happen?

Q. Was it—yesterday.

The President. Yes, good.

Q. Yes.

The President. I think she's terrible. I think she should be impeached. I think she's terrible.

Is she originally from Somalia?

Q. Yes, sir.

The President. So how are they doing—is—how is their Government? Do they have a President? Do they have a council? Do they have anything? Do they have police?

I love these people. They come from a place with nothing—with nothing, no anything—and then they tell us how to run our country. No, I think she—if she got—if she got censured, that's great. If she got impeached, that's even better.

They impeached me twice for nothing, and they impeached me, knowing the Republicans are on my side. So they knew it was just—but they impeached me twice.

She should be impeached, and it should happen fast. And what she says is out of line.

Yes, go ahead. Anybody else?

Q. Mr. President, who would you like to see——

The President. Go ahead, Maggie [Maggie Haberman, New York Times].

Network Television Licensing/Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr

Q. Mr. President, are you going to ask Brendan Carr to weigh in on other late-night hosts that you have—said——

The President. Well, you know, when——

Q. ——said should be off the air?

The President. ——a late-night host is on network television, there is a licensing.

I'll give you an example. I read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me. I got 97 percent negative. And yet I won in—easily, I won all seven swing States, popular vote, won everything. And if they're 97 percent against, they give me only bad publicity or press.

I mean, they're getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. I—it would be up to Brendan Carr.

I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He's a patriot, he loves our country, and he's a tough guy.

Q. Sir, why is that not——

The President. So we'll have to see. We're going to——

Q. Why is that not a free speech issue?

The President. Well, when you think about this, 97 percent of the stories are opposed to me, and yet I win easily the election. It's pretty amazing, when you think of it. That shows they have no credibility.

Go ahead.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

News Media/Federal Communications Commission

Q. Yes, I was going to agree with—I mean, could—could you use that same logic with news? To have someone's——

The President. You know, in the old days—I remember the old days that every 4 or 5 years a network would reapply for its license, and their license is free. You know, they get this valuable thing for free. And they'd reapply for a license, and if they did something wrong—well, I beat George Stephanopoulos. Slopadopoulos, I call him—George Slopadopoulos—they had to pay me $15 million for what he said.

I beat CBS for much more money than that, including advertising and other things—much more money—because they totally changed the answer that Kamala gave on a question. I mean, they didn't change it. They took it out and put a different answer in, and they didn't want to go to court for that. That's a tough one to go to court with.

So, no, I think that—if you remember—years ago, I remember, as a kid, they would file—it was a big deal—every 4 or 5 years. And I don't know, you—don't hold me exact, but it was, like, four or five years. They'd have to file for a license extension. I don't hear about that.

The only one that I've heard even bring it up is Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is doing a great job, and I think he's a great patriot.

Q. Do you agree with Brian about the news though?

Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, United Kingdom

Q. And what do you think about the fact that you attend an event in England, a state visit—it was spectacular——

The President. Right.

Q. ——and yet the mayor of London can't be there? You're——

The President. Well, I didn't want him there. I asked that he not be there. I don't want—I think the mayor of London, Khan, is among the worst mayors in the world, and we have some bad ones. If you look at Chicago, if you look at—but I think he's the equivalent of the mayor of Chicago. I think he's done a terrible job. Crime in London is through the roof. The mayor of London—Khan, Mayor Khan—has done a terrible job. And on immigration, he's a disaster.

No, I asked that he not be there. He wanted to be there, as I understand. I didn't want him. I've not liked him for a long time. I just think—you know, I have a certain pride in London and the U.K. My mother was born in Scotland, as you know. And when I see Mayor Khan do a bad job—the stabbings and the dirt and the filth—it's not the same.

Q. Yes.

The President. No, I didn't want him there.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom

Q. And the Prime Minister said to you—when I asked about are we a Christian country, his answer was that he's—he was christened. But he's quoted in newspaper——

The President. What—who was—who was—[inaudible]?

Q. The Prime Minister said, "I was christened"—he said today and this afternoon——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——as though that's explained whether we were a Christian country.

The President. Yes. Oh, I see.

Q. But he's actually been quoted as saying—2 years ago—saying he was an atheist. He's a committed atheist. Is he the kind of guy that says something when you're there and then——

The President. I—no, I don't think—look, I think he's a nice—a very nice man. I really do. And his wife is nice.

And, you know, I'm with him for a day and a half. And, you know, the thing I most disagree—I guess I disagree with him on two things: immigration—which is very rough for the U.K., very rough—and energy. As I said, you know, the North Sea, if I had that, they'd make a fortune with it.

Q. Yes.

The President. Look at Norway's accounts. Look at the cash Norway has. And they have the same thing we're talking about. I don't even know if they have as much. But that's a tremendous asset.

So those two things. But——

Q. But you got the feeling——

The President. I mean, I get along with him great. I think he's a really fine person.

United Kingdom

Q. You got the feeling today that business is keen to invest in the U.K.? Because it doesn't feel like that when you live there.

The President. Well, we made a deal with the U.K., and some of those companies have made a deal with U.K., but there's always strings to the U.S.

You know, I help them. I mean, I help them. I want to help them. I want them to be strong as a country. I think it's important that the U.K. be strong.

Q. Mr. President——

The President. And we're so strong financially that we can get people to do other things.

Ukraine/European Purchases of Russian Oil and Gas

Q. Did Starmer try to talk to you about Ukraine? Did the Prime Minister talk to you about Ukraine?

The President. He did, yes.

Q. He indicated he did. What were his arguments——

The President. He did.

Q. ——for what you should do?

The President. Well, he was really a little bit embarrassed that he—rightfully—that I caught Europe—you know, NATO countries, EU countries—you could call it either way, because they're very similar—but that I caught them buying oil from Russia. And he said that's not good. I mean, I appreciated that he said that. He said, "That's not good."

How about that? We're supposed to do all this stuff, and they're buying oil from Russia. That's not good. Do you agree?

Q. Yes.

Q. I agree.

The President. That's about pretty much all we talked about.

Q. Did he say that he would be open to——

The President. They'd like to have me do something. But he also agrees they have to stop buying oil from Russia.

Q. Did he say that they would also be willing to do sanctions? That he would be willing to do sanctions on them?

The President. He said he would do sanctions, yes. And he's not one of the culprits in terms of the oil from Russia.

Political Violence/District of Columbia/Crime in U.S. Cities/Illegal Immigration

Q. Mr. President, Governor Josh Shapiro said that your administration is cherry-picking violence that is okay and violence that is not okay. What is your response to that?

The President. There's just violence, and it's violence that you don't have to have.

Look, in DC, we took one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and you can walk down—you can take your husband, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, whoever you want to take—you can take them out to dinner tonight in DC, and you're going to be safe. It's really safe. We did a great job.

We're going to do the same job in Memphis, and we're going to Chicago. And I told you, the head of the Union Pacific, who's a great gentleman, a great businessman—he started as a low-level railroader—he calls himself a railroader. It's a cool story. Forty-five years later, he's the chairman of the Union Pacific. He said: "Sir, you have to save Chicago. It's a great city. You can't let it go." And when he said that, I said, "I don't really have time to wait a couple of months."

Last weekend, they lost—11 people were murdered, and 28 people were shot. That's not "shot at." That means actually hit. A hundred were shot at and missed. That's what I call dangerous.

And Pritzker is going out and saying, "We've got crime under control." Now, it went down a little bit because for 4 months—5 months ago, I put the FBI there, and they've done a good job. But that's limited, what they can do. What you really need is our big, strong soldiers to get them into shape.

We're not going to get—we're not letting Chicago fail. And we're going to get started in Memphis. We'll be very successful, just like we were in DC. And we're going to have to stay in DC for a while, because, you know, you leave, people have a tendency to come back.

Now, remember, we took 1,500 people out of there—pretty permanently out of there. We took career criminals—really bad murderers and other things—we took them out of DC. They're not coming back. You don't take them—if they come back, you're just wasting your time.

So we took them out and they're not coming back. We brought many of them back to the country from which they came.

What Biden did to our country is not even—it's not believable. And to me, that's worse than the inflation he caused. It's worse—what he did to our country by allowing 25 million people—which is the real number—to come in, many of whom should never be here, by emptying jails into our country and emptying mental institutions into our country—what Biden and his people—because I don't even think it was him. I think he didn't know what was happening. But what that radical-left group of people did to our country will never be forgotten.

Okay, have a good trip, everybody.

Q. Mr. President——

Q. One more.

Q. ——just one—just one last question.

ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Program Host Jimmy Kimmel/Network Television Licensing

Q. Who would you like to see replace Kimmel?

The President. Who?

Q. Who would you like to see replace Kimmel on late night?

The President. Well, a lot of people. Anybody could replace him. Guy had no talent. Kimmel had—look, he was fired. He had no talent. He's a whack job, but he had no talent.

And more importantly than talent, he had no—because a lot of people have no talent and they get ratings, but he had no ratings. His ratings were worse than Colbert, I think. They got rid of Colbert, which was a good thing to do.

And look, that's something that should be talked about for licensing too. When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump. That's all they do. If you go back—I guess they haven't had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said—but when you go back and you take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They're licensed. They're not allowed to do that. They're an arm of the Democrat Party.

Thank you, everybody.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Have a good flight.

The President. Fly safely. You know why I say that? Because I'm on the flight.

Q. I want to get home too.

The President. Otherwise, I wouldn't care. [Laughter]

State Banquet at Windsor Castle

Q. Can we just have one word on how beautiful all the women looked last night? Karoline and your wife and Catherine. Just wonder——

The President. Well, I'm not allowed to say that politically——

Q. You are.

The President. ——because it could be the end of my career.

Q. We're giving you permission to say it.

The President. However——

Q. However.

The President. ——I'll say it anyway. The women looked beautiful. You looked beautiful.

Q. Thank you.

The President. The women looked really beautiful. You're right. Our superstar over here looked great.

Q. You looked beautiful, too.

The President. That's Karoline.

Q. Yes, amazing team.

The President. Has she done a good job?

Q. Yes, amazing.

State Banquet at Windsor Castle

Q. What did you eat, by the way?

The President. Everybody was great. Even the men looked beautiful. Okay? [Laughter]

It's hard not to look beautiful in that room. That was one of the coolest rooms. I—that room was built for a table, but the table happened to carry 200 people. You know, it's like——

Q. What did you eat?

The President. Huh?

Q. What did you eat?

The President. Whatever the hell they served. I don't know. [Laughter] Whatever they served, I had.

Q. Did you have a Diet Coke?

Princess Catherine of Wales/Prince William of Wales

Q. Did Melania enjoy her time with Princess Kate? Did Melania enjoy her time with Princess Kate today?

The President. She did. She thought she was great. I did too. I sat with her last night. Melania went with her today. She thought she was great. A very wonderful person.

She went through a lot too. But hopefully, that's all gone. You know, that's—she was great. William is wonderful. I've known him before—from before. And I knew Charles as a Prince, and I now know him as a king, and he's doing very well.

Really—it was a great—it was a lovely trip. And I thought the press was really nice. It was beautiful. You know, I watched this morning. I watched a little bit last night. It looked so beautiful. Like from a different age, right?

Q. Yes, exactly.

The President. Not an age of trouble, but we're getting rid of the trouble.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Q. Thank you.

The President. Have a good flight.

Q. Thank you so much.

The President. Thank you.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Thank you very much.

Q. Appreciate it. Thank you.

The President. Have a good time. Thanks.