Remarks in an Exchange With Reporters Upon Arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Club World Cup Final Match Between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain/National Economy/Tariffs

Q. Did you have fun?

The President. Hi, everybody. We had a great time at the big soccer match today at the Meadowlands. It was phenomenal. It was a little bit of an upset, I guess they would say, but it was a great, great match—very well-played, tremendous crowd.

And that's sort of a pre–World Cup. We have World Cup coming, we have Olympics coming, and we have 250 years coming. That's going to be a big one, maybe the biggest one of all.

So that was great.

We had some tremendous financial numbers released on Friday, as you probably heard, that our country made $25 billion last month—$25 billion. It hasn't done that in a long time, and a lot of that's done because of good management, and—number one—and maybe even more importantly, the tariffs that are pouring in. We have tariffs pouring in at levels that we have never seen before, and they've only just started. That's really a small portion, and it's mostly from cars and aluminum and steel, a little bit of lumber.

But they'll really start in about another week, and then, in about a month, they'll come in at levels that are extremely strong. And our country is making a lot of money—a lot of money.

We're dealing with other countries and certain countries that would rather have a deal than a regular tariff, and we're willing, if they're willing to open up. These are countries that have been shut to us, but we've been open to them. In other words, they wouldn't let us do business there, but they would do business in our country. Not a fair deal.

So the European Union is talking to us. They want to open up their country. I would say Japan—to a much lesser extent, in terms of opening up their country, Japan, as you know—and we're very close to Japan, but they sell us millions and millions of cars a year. We sell them no cars because they won't accept our cars, and they won't accept much of our agriculture either.

So—but they're all changing their ways very, very rapidly. South Korea wants to make a deal, other than tariffs. Right now, as you know, they're paying a substantial tariff, but they want to make it different.

So some of these deals, maybe I'll change them, and maybe I won't. But our country is making a lot of money—a lot of money—for the first time in a long time, in decades, and that's the way it should be. We have a country that's—and I said it the other day to you people: We have a country that was dead. It was dead. It was a goner 1 year ago, and now we have the hottest country in the world.

Okay. Questions?

Q. Mr. President——

Reducing Government Waste/Entitlement Programs

Q. Mr. President, it seems like we've taken off about $40 billion that would go to illegal benefits. What does that mean to the bottom line, that we're taking away a lot of the fraud and abuse to illegals?

The President. We're getting rid of a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse—one of the reasons, I think, that you'll see the numbers start to be very good for the country. But I think more than anything else, we have tariffs coming in in the will-be hundreds of billions of dollars.

Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. What's the status on Gaza, Mr. President? Do you still have the talks——

The President. Gaza—we are talking, and hopefully, we're going to get that straightened out over the next week. Let's see what happens.

Governor Gavin C. Newsom of California

Q. Governor Gavin Newsom—Gavin Newsom is fighting—Gavin Newsom is fighting to keep men in women's sports. He's fighting with Bondi, McMahon. As a father, as a husband, does he hate women? Why does he want men in women's sports so badly?

The President. No, I don't know if he hates women, but look, he thinks it's good politically, I guess.

He's just saying Gavin Newsom wants to keep men in women's sports. Nobody understands it. Very few. I say it's a 3-percent issue. You know, they say it's 80/20. It's not 80/20. I think it's 97/3.

Go ahead.

Actor and Comedian Rosie O'Donnell

Q. One follow-up. So, Rosie O'Donnell, she went on Chris Cuomo's show recently. She blames you for the fact that she's overweight, depressed, and drunk. What do you say to that? Do you think TDS is going to ever be a DSM–5 diagnosis?

The President. I don't know about Rosie. I watched Rosie. Rosie is a mess. She's a mess. But she left our country, which is a good thing, not a bad thing.

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

North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Ukraine/International Military Aid

Q. Mr. President, on your NATO deal, can you talk to us about the details of the deal and what you struck?

The President. Yes. Yes. Well, I'm going to have a meeting with the Secretary General, who is coming in tomorrow. But we basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military—and they're going to pay us a hundred percent for them. And that's the way we want it.

And we've been trying to get that again—Biden—I don't think Biden ever asked for it. We're in for about $350 billion. Europe is in for $100 billion. That's a lot of money—100—but they should be in, actually, for more than us.

So, as we send equipment, they're going to reimburse us for that equipment. Doesn't that sound good? That's the way it should have been a long time ago.

Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance

Q. Just a follow-up. Are you still going to send 10 Patriot missiles to Ukraine?

The President. I haven't agreed on the number yet, but they're going to have some, because they do need protection. But the European Union is paying for it. We're not paying anything for it, but we will send it. It will be business for us, and we will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice, and then he bombs everybody in the evening. So there's a little bit of a problem there, and I don't like it.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Daniel J. Bongino

Q. Mr. President, is Dan Bongino still your Deputy FBI Director? Have you spoken with him recently?

The President. Oh, I think so. I did. I spoke to him today. Dan Bongino, a very good guy. I've known him a long time. I've done his show many, many times, and he sounded terrific, actually. No, I think he's in good shape.

Anniversary of the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald J. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania/U.S. Airstrikes on Iranian Nuclear Facilities

Q. I was going to ask you: On this 1-year anniversary of Butler, what was going through your mind this morning, Mr. President, as you woke up to start this new day?

The President. Will you repeat that question?

Q. Yes. I was going to ask you: On this 1-year anniversary of Butler, what was going through your mind this morning when you woke up? I know that you're praising God you're alive, but a lot of people want to know how you're taking this day on this 1-year anniversary.

The President. God was protecting me, maybe because God wanted to see our country do better or do really well—make American great again. But God was protecting me, Brian [Brian Glenn, Real America's Voice], I'll tell you it's—the more you think about it, the more you see it.

But no, I just—I don't like to think about it much. You know, I have a job to do, so I don't like to think about it much. It's a little bit of a dangerous profession, being President.

Q. I'd say that.

The President. But I really don't like to think about it too much.

Q. You were able to accomplish——

The President. I think you're better off not thinking about it.

Q. Yes. And you were able to accomplish 20 promises so far——

The President. Yes. No, I think it we've——

Q. ——and you've——

The President. ——we've more than delivered. Thank you for saying that.

But you know, we made a lot of promises, and we've actually given a lot more promises than we even made.

Q. Yes.

The President. And you add on that a tremendous success with the strike that we had getting rid of nuclear weapons in Iran. That was a big, big strike.

And you know, when the pilots came to my office—they were there, as you know—with some of the other people having to do with that strike, they said something very interesting. They said, "You know, we've been practicing this for 22 years, but no President had the guts to tell us to do it."

But this has been on our minds for many, many years, and we did it. And I would say from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best, that attack was a 15.

Capital Gains Taxes

Q. What do you think about this new bill that's going to basically eliminate—no capital gains tax on home sales to be able to free up the money? People who have owned a house——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——for a long time who can't afford to pay the capital gains. This will——

The President. Yes. Well, we're looking at that, and it's going to be—it could be a very big positive since—for—I don't think for you, because you make so much money, it doesn't matter.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

But I think it's going to be a great—you know, a great incentive for a lot of people that really need money.

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

Q. So, between that and Jerome Powell stepping down, that could really boost home sales.

The President. Well, I think if Jerome Powell stepped down, it would be a great thing. I don't know that he's going to, but he should.

Jerome Powell has been very bad for our country. We should have the lowest interest rate on Earth, and we don't. He just refuses to do it, and yet he's spending 2½ billion dollars rebuilding the Fed—the Federal Reserve building. And I don't know what he knows about building, but you talk about cost overrun.

So he got this approved, and he started the work during the Biden administration. And he doesn't look like the kind of a guy, frankly, that wants to spend 2½ billion dollars.

And it's very interesting, because out of 71 economists, one person—me—and then one other person, I think, from Wharton, got it right, and the others were all wrong in terms of the success of our country this quickly. We have no inflation. We have cash pouring in. It was me and somebody else.

And I can tell you, I don't need 5,000 people working for me behind the scenes, like Jerome Powell, to tell him what he should say once a month, because they got it wrong. The Fed got it wrong. I call him "Too Late." He's always too late.

Every point costs us $360 billion. Think of that. And we should be 3 points. That's almost a trillion dollars. Approximately a trillion dollars less we should be, just with the signing of a piece of paper.

So we'll see what happens. I mean, you're telling me he's going to quit. I hope he quits. I don't know that he's going to quit, but he should quit, because he's been very bad for the country.

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. And on Russia. Are you going to be announcing sanctions on Russia tomorrow?

The President. We're going to see what we will see tomorrow. Okay? And we have the Secretary General. As you know, Europe has announced sanctions.

But I am very disappointed with President Putin. You know, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said. And he'll talk so beautifully, and then he'll bomb people at night. We don't like that.

Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

Q. Thank you.

Q. We're glad you're alive, Mr. President.