Remarks on Signing a Proclamation Commemorating the 90th Anniversary of the Social Security Act and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. Thank you very much for being with us. It's good time for this country. We have the hottest country anywhere in the world. I think you're hearing it from a lot of people, not just from me. We're doing very well in so many ways.

And the gentleman on my right—we recruited him. We tried to get the best person. We got a man that, you'll hear in a second, has done an amazing job with respect to Social Security. He's running it, and he's running it like nobody ever even dreamt possible.

And it's the 90th anniversary, right now, of Social Security. So today we celebrate that 90th anniversary of one of the most significant pieces of legislation ever signed into law: the Social Security Act of 1935. And we're going to make it stronger, bigger, and better. Really doing a job.

In the campaign, I made a sacred pledge to our seniors that I would always protect Social Security. And under this administration, we're keeping that promise and strengthening Social Security for generations to come.

You keep hearing stories that in 6 years, 7 years, Social Security will be gone. And it will be if the Democrats ever get involved, because they don't know what they're doing. But it's going to be around a long time with us. Very much—you'll be surprised to hear some of the numbers.

I'm delighted to be joined by the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, who, in the world of business—in fact, I wrote some of the little things down that—he's had an amazing, amazing—he was chief operating officer of JPMorganChase. He worked for Jamie Dimon. And Jamie Dimon said that he was amazing. So, think of that: chief operating officer at JPMorganChase. Had a storied career.

Then he went to First Data—for those in the business, you'd know it's the largest payment company anywhere in the world—and worked for Henry Kravis. And it was in big trouble. He took it over as CEO. He made it incredible. They merged with Fiserv, and he became CEO of that. And that became extremely successful. That was in Milwaukee. I guess they have the Milwaukee arena and—where we had some good success and some good speeches.

But he's a really legendary guy, and he wanted to do this. I mean, he just wanted to straighten out Social Security because he loves our country. And what he's done in, you know, a few months is amazing.

Almost 60 million American seniors rely on Social Security for peace of mind and a life of dignity in retirement. These Americans paid into the system, and they deserve leaders in Washington who are going to protect the benefits they've had and protect Social Security.

Under Biden, Social Security went down like nobody has ever seen. It deteriorated. There's never been anything like it. The 4 years of Biden were very, very destructive. They would—it couldn't have gone on much longer. Social Security was going to be destroyed. It was being destroyed.

The average call wait time reached an alltime high of more than 42 minutes. Field office wait times were at 32 minutes, which is unheard of. And the disability claims backlog was the longest ever in recorded history.

In other words, it was run just like the country was run. It was run really badly.

But I'm pleased to report that under our leadership—and Frank, in particular, the changes he's made and what he's done is sort of a miracle. Sort of like what happened with the country as a whole.

Field office wait times are now down 30 percent since last year, and it looks like it's going to a total record number. And the record was set in—a long time ago when the world was a lot different place. And we're going to beat that record.

Call wait times are down 73 percent, while serving twice as many customers per day. The disability claims backlog is down 26 percent.

And seniors now have 24/7 online access to their accounts, which they never had before—whereas, under Biden, the website was down 29 hours a week for maintenance purposes. It was—it was essentially not open very much. They were always maintaining it, but they didn't know what the hell they were doing. They had a person running that that had no idea what they were doing.

Among my very first acts was to order all Government employees to return to the office or be removed from the job, which means our Social Security offices are now open for full business hours, 5 days a week.

So, unlike being shut down all the time, we're open at record levels also. We're making it really great for the people that want and demand Social Security. And they paid into the system. They deserve it.

Last month, I signed "One Big Beautiful Bill" and allowed no tax on Social Security for our great seniors. Okay? So how's that? Not bad, right? No tax on Social Security for our seniors.

And to protect our benefits, we've already kicked nearly 275,000 illegal aliens off of the Social Security system. These are people—many of them have already left the country. And yet, we were sending them checks all the time. And 275,000—and that number is now even larger than that, Frank. It's an unbelievable job.

And what that's doing is making the system strong. It's making it strong. Biden never kicked anybody off. Everybody joined. And we're carrying out historic deportations to remove many more illegals committing Social Security fraud. It's a Social Security fraud that was taking place at levels that nobody has ever seen.

We cleared 12.4 million names listed in the Social Security database over 120 years of age. Think of that. So we had 12.4 million names where they were over 120 years old. Is that right? That's a hell of a statement.

I have a feeling, Dan, that's not really going to—that really didn't happen, did it?

So you have 12.4 million names listed in the Social Security database that was—that were over 120 years of age—meaning you were breaking records, because I've never heard of anybody at 125.

There were nearly 135,000 people listed who were over 160 years old and, in some cases, getting payments. So somebody is getting those payments, and we're after that.

We're also fighting the menace of inflation to make life more affordable for American seniors, and we've ended Biden's inflation nightmare.

So we had the worst inflation in the history of our country, and now our inflation is down to a perfect number—a beautiful number—hardly any at all. And yet our country is taking in tens of billions of dollars—and trillions of dollars, actually—trillions of dollars in tariffs. You know all about it. It's been amazing.

They say, "Why are we taking in so much money?" Last week, they found $29 billion, and they couldn't figure out where it came from. I said, "Check the tariff shelf." And they said, "How did you know that's where it came from?"

We're taking in billions and even trillions of dollars in tariffs paid by other countries who, frankly, were taking advantage of us for many, many years. And they were doing that to us, but our people didn't know it. We didn't have smart businesspeople.

We've ended Biden's inflation nightmare and came in below expectations. And yet again, this past month, we have—we set records. Gasoline prices are way down, and really dramatically, as everybody knows. And energy prices have been going down, other than in certain States where you have Democrat-run States where they put windmills all over the place.

Anytime you see a windmill, you'll say, "Well, they have bad energy costs." And it's happening in New Jersey. I saw that there's a revolution going on in New Jersey. They closed up a nuclear power plant, and they're raising electricity rates by 21, 22, and 28 percent—something like that.

And you're going to have a new Governor in New Jersey. I'll tell you what, you have a good man running the Republican Party. He'll get them down. But what they've done is, they've killed so many good sources of energy for very expensive windmills and lots of other things that don't work. Four-oh-one-k's and retirement accounts are soaring, and the stock market is setting record highs. Almost every day we're going record highs. And yet we're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs. So it's turned out that Trump was right and they were wrong.

There was—a few smart people knew what was going to happen. A few of us were right.

So we're going to keep the fighting going. We're going to make America's seniors—every single day, we're going to fight for them. We're going to make them richer, better, stronger in so many different ways. But Social Security is, like, pretty much the one that we think about. And we love it, and we love what's happening with it. And it's going to be good for 90 years and beyond.

Again, you were given only a short period of time. Social Security was supposed to be, like, done. Had they won the election, Social Security would have defaulted during Biden or Kamala's election, whoever they so chose. Two beauties.

And now what I'd like to do is ask Frank to say a few words. Again, this is a man who was a—with a really storied past. One of the most successful anywhere in the world. What he did at JPMorganChase and what he did for Henry Kravis and all of the others are, like, legendary stories. And he just wanted to do this. He's making about a tiny fraction, I would say—a tiny fraction of what you used to make. But he didn't care. He wanted to do it. He made a lot of money. And he said: "I want to run that system. I want to put it back on track." And he's got unbelievable talent over there, and it's like a different place.

So, Frank, would you say a few words, please?

Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano. Sure.

The President. Thank you.

Commissioner Bisignano. Is less than 1 percent a tiny fraction, sir?

The President. Is that what it is? Less than one? [Laughter]

Commissioner Bisignano. Yes.

The President. That's a tiny fraction——

Commissioner Bisignano. It's an honor.

The President. ——he's making.

Commissioner Bisignano. It's an honor. It is an honor. And I'd like to start off by thanking the president for his tireless effort in running the country and what he's done across the country, meeting every commitment. And, you know, I see it directly in the "Big Beautiful Bill," the opportunity that it's brought to seniors. But his effort on every commitment, delivering against it, and delivering on world peace tirelessly.

I'd like to also thank him for my opportunity. You know, he's teasing me, I'm teasing him about the economics of the job, but the reality is, to serve 300 million Americans, which is what Social Security serves, is a tremendous honor. And him putting that faith in me and building what I believe—what I believe, and I think I have a right to say it—is the best leadership team ever assembled in the White House and in the Cabinet. So that's my great honor.

[At this point, Commissioner Bisignano continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

My commitment to make this happen is as deep as the President's commitment to make the world a great place. And you see the fabulous job happening here, across America, and what he's doing in the world. You should expect Social Security——

Just like the President, I thank him for making America great again. It's happening. Social Security will be great again. You have my commitment.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Thank you very much, Frank.

I'm going to sign the new proclamation, please.

White House Staff Secretary William O. Scharf. Yes, sir.

The President. Please.

Staff Secretary Scharf. Sir, this is a proclamation both commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act—the signing of the Social Security Act—and also the incredible accomplishments of your administration, fixing and promoting and safeguarding Social Security. And it also obviously mentions the fact that as part of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," a vast majority of our senior citizens are no longer paying taxes on their Social Security benefits, as you promised in your campaign—

The President. Right.

Staff Secretary Scharf. ——and as you delivered for the American people.

The President. That's a big factor, isn't it, huh?

Staff Secretary Scharf. Yes, sir.

The President. That's great. I think they're very happy about it too. They're very happy about a lot of things.

Good job, Frank.

Commissioner Bisignano. Thank you, sir.

[The President signed the proclamation.]

The President. And Frank has brought with him some of the most talented people in business. And they were making—again, they were making a lot of money, but they made a lot of money. They had money; they didn't have to make any more. And they just want to do this. They want to have our country become strong and good, and that's what's happening. And we're doing that in a lot of locations, a lot of areas.

You deal with some of the people that are Commissioners, that are Secretaries of State, Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce—people that were really, really successful people, and they gave all that up to make a very small amount of money. They don't even consider it a fraction.

You say 1 percent, less than 1 percent?

Commissioner Bisignano. Less than 1.

The President. Right. [Laughter] That's pretty good. That's a big—pay cut.

But Frank is one of the most outstanding of all. His career has been incredible, and you just have to look at what happened at JPMorganChase and look at what happened with First Data. First Data was the biggest company of its kind in the world, at a—but it was not going to make it. He went in, and it became a tremendous success.

Commissioner Bisignano. Thank you, sir.

The President. It merged into another company, and he became the head of that company.

Then he said, "Let me go save Social Security," because as big as that stuff is, it's small potatoes compared—in terms of numbers, right? In terms of numbers, these are big numbers. Government numbers are big numbers.

So I want to thank everybody for being here, but I'm really proud of you, Frank.

Commissioner Bisignano. Thank you, sir.

The President. And here's your proclamation, and let's take a look at what that looks like.

[The President held up the proclamation.]

Signed by the human hand—[laughter]—for a change. That's good, right?

Do you have any questions for Frank?

[Several reporters began asking questions at once.]

The President. How about questions for Frank?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

For Frank?

Q. Mr. President——

The President. Yes.

Social Security Program

Q. On Social Security.

The President. Please.

Q. First and foremost, this was a major campaign promise that you had.

The President. Yes.

Q. In 2023, it was one of the first Agenda 47s that you put out. It was titled, "We must protect Medicare——

The President. Right.

Q. ——and Social Security." Why was this important for both of you to get done and—given the fact it will impact millions of lives?

The President. Well, it's—it was very important to me because I knew how Social Security—I've been hearing about it for years, long before I came to office, that it was really going to die very shortly. And I had to do—I had to put somebody outstanding in.

And we were talking—I was talking to him on a business sense once, and I said, "This guy's amazing." And he said, "I'd love to help you with Social Security," because it's sort of what he does. You know, he takes troubled entities and turns them around, and he did some of the biggest messes in the world.

And Social Security, in a certain way, I guess—you know, you reported it all the time, "In 4 or 5 years, it's going to go bust." But not anymore it's not.

And he's got it turned around so well. The proclamation helps. All of the things we've done help.

And he's finding such tremendous fraud, where we have illegal aliens—we have people that don't even exist on Social Security now. They don't exist. And what it does, it makes it totally secure and power for the people that are on it and need it.

And we're very proud of the job he's done. One of the best.

Democratic Party/Illegal Immigration/District of Columbia/Border Security

Q. Mr. President, Cara Castronuova from LindellTV. How are you today, sir?

Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren continue to peddle the lie and the claim that you're trying to cut Social Security despite your repeated promises to protect it. Why do you think they keep pushing this—misinformation and literally terrorizing the elderly in America that, sadly, keep watching——

The President. I love——

Q. ——the very misleading mainstream media?

The President. I love your question. I should have called you almost first, but I love his questions also, always. [Laughter] But it's such a good question.

It's so vicious, what they do. Elizabeth Warren said she was an Indian. We call her "Pocahontas." She's a liar. She lied her whole career. Based on the fact that she was an Indian, she was able to get into certain colleges, get certain jobs, get into certain universities to work there. She's a liar and a mean person. She's a nutjob.

I watched her the other night. She's all hopped up endorsing a Communist in New York City, and she was all excited and jumping up and down. She's got to take a drug test. She really does. She's got to take a drug test. There's no way somebody can act that way and be normal.

What she's done to our financial institutions—she destroys people. Do you know that you had a lot of great banks in the Midwest and banks that loaned to farmers and others, and they went out of business. She put them out of business. Stone-cold mean. Banks that were open 150 years—family banks that supplied the farmers and manufacturers and others, and she put them out of business. She's a mean, horrible human being.

Bernie Sanders is Bernie Sanders. I don't mind him so much. He's just a liberal guy—very liberal guy. He's a wacky guy. He's still sharp, I got to tell you. You know, he's 86 or 87 or something. He's still sharp. You compare that to Joe Biden. It's, you know, sort of what happened.

So I don't mind Bernie Sanders. With him, you know what you're getting. You're getting a guy—he's a nasty guy, but he's somebody that—I don't know if I call it a fastball, but he's able to throw the ball pretty well. He's okay.

I watched him the other day. He was totally on the opposite side of things. I will say this: The biggest issue right now and an issue that's really taken hold is crime—stopping crime in the cities. And the Democrats are fighting the stopping of crime.

So I think that's like men playing in women's sports is okay or transgender for everybody okay. But this is a bigger issue. This is the biggest of all issues. Crime is rampant in DC. It's rampant in our, generally, blue-run cities. And they've got to do something about it, or they're never going to win another election.

And instead of calling me a dictator—they like to say: "Trump is a dictator. Trump is a dictator." Well, I had calls from many, many friends, including Democrats—I have a lot of Democrat friends, but they're normal people—and they were thanking me so much for what I'm doing in DC. They feel so safe already.

And you know, at the border, we had—Frank, we had zero people come in. And this is done by a liberal group. They're the people that do it. I have nothing to do with it. Zero people in 3 months. We had zero, zero, and zero for 3 months.

And last year, we had millions of people pouring in from all countries, from jails, from—drug addicts, gang members, drug dealers by the thousands and thousands; 11,888 murderers, half of whom committed more than one murder. They flowed into our country. And for the last 3 months, we had none.

And I didn't get—remember when Joe Biden used to always go: "I need legislation. I need"—I had no legislation. I just said, "We're closing the borders." And the whole world understood it, because they respect your country again. They really respect this country again. They didn't respect it. When he said it, it didn't mean anything. But now they know it meant a lot.

And Mexico does what we tell them to do, and Canada does what we tell them to do. Because we had the two borders. We had the northern border, southern border. And they were both horrible, but now it's—some people say it's a miracle.

Well, what Frank has done with Social Security also is something very special. But what we're doing with crime—which will be your next question, I guess. That's because everyone's —they're afraid.

Half of the people here—maybe all of the people here—most of you live in DC—you are petrified to go out. And you're liberal. And if you're liberal, you're going to have to change—you're Democrats, you're going to have to change your ways.

So we will have crime under control very shortly in DC. But they're record numbers.

And sadly, what, I guess, the Mayor did—but whoever it was, they asked the numbers to be fudged so that it would show less crime than the fact.

The fact is, it's worse than it's ever been. And we will have it in—just like we did at the border, where with—borders are totally in great shape right now—the best ever, record-setting shape—we'll have the crime situation solved in DC very soon.

And we're also going to beautify the city. We have a beautiful city, but you can't have graffiti, and you can't have roads with potholes, and you can't have the medians—the dividers in the roads falling down on the—on the street.

We're going to be beautifying the city, making it really beautiful. We're going to be getting the criminals the hell out of here. We don't want the criminals in Washington, DC.

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia/Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance/The President's Foreign Policy

Q. Mr. President, one on your Putin meeting and then one on DC crime. Are you prepared to offer Vladimir Putin access to rare minerals to incentivize him to end the war?

The President. We're going to see what happens with our meeting. We have a big meeting. It's going to be, I think, very important for Russia, and it's going to be very important for us, and important for us only in that we're going to save a lot of lives.

Look, we have—you know, we're not paying any money, as you know, to Ukraine. We're supplying equipment. We're being paid 100 percent plus for that equipment by NATO. And I got NATO up from 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP. They now have billions of dollars. NATO is a very rich group of countries, and we make the best military equipment anywhere in the world, by far.

And they're buying our equipment, and they're paying a hundred percent for the equipment, a hundred percent. In fact, they owe us about $2 billion now. They're going to send a check. Another one was sent recently for a billion dollars.

So we don't—we're not spending any money anymore. Biden gave them $350 billion. Got nothing for it. And if you look—and by the way, we also signed a rare earth deal where we get, you know, years of rare earth to get our money back—the money we spent.

But what I'm really doing this for is to save thousands of soldiers a week. You have Russian soldiers, you have Ukrainian soldiers, and then you'll have missiles dropped into various cities and towns in Ukraine. And they're losing seven—last week, they lost 7,251 people—mostly soldiers, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. I'm doing it for that reason.

We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along. Maybe not.

It's—I don't know that—it's going to be very important. We're going to see what happens.

And I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelenskyy will make peace. We'll see if they can get along. And if they can, it'll be great.

You know, I've solved six wars in the last 6 months—a little more than 6 months now—and I'm very proud of it. I thought the easiest one would be this one. It's actually the most difficult.

We had one war raging, as you know, for 37 years. One in the Congo, with Rwanda, was raging for 31 years. We solved six of them. Made peace. Not just solved them, we made peace.

If you look at Pakistan and India, that was—planes were being knocked out of the air. Six or seven planes came down. They were ready to go maybe nuclear, and we solved that.

I thought this would be maybe an easier one. It never made sense, this war. It would have never happened when I was President. If I were President, this war would have never happened. But millions of people have been killed, and I'm there for one reason: to see if I can solve—this was Biden's war. This isn't my war. I want to see if I can stop the killing.

Yes.

Ukraine/Critical Minerals Supply

Q. But rare earths, are you—do you plan to offer him access to that at all?

The President. We are—we have great rare earth. We made that as payment for all of the money that we've spent so foolishly in Ukraine. We spent $350 billion. Now, Europe spent a billion. That's a lot of money. They spent $100 billion. That's a lot of money. But we shouldn't be spending a lot more money than them, and they understand that, and I think that's maybe why we're not spending money anymore.

We're not spending any money. They're paying us for everything. So it's pretty—it's—people are shocked when they hear it. They don't even understand. They don't even write about it.

But we're not spending money, but we are spending a lot of time trying to get the war solved. If we can get the war solved, we'll be very happy.

As far as rare earth, that's very unimportant relative to—I'm—trying to save lives.

Q. On DC crime—on DC crime, sir—on DC crime——

District of Columbia/National Guard Deployment to U.S. Cities/2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California

Q. Mr. President, on DC crime. Do you have a message for the Democrat lawmakers like Nancy Pelosi or media who are saying, after living here for many years, that there is no crime and you're trying to start a new news cycle or something like that?

The President. It's another reason why the Democrats lost the election in a landslide. They lie. It a lie. Look, the crime is very bad. I think they'd be much better off saying: "We want to help President Trump with the crime because it's an epidemic. It's a tragic situation, it's the worst it's ever been, and we want to help President Trump with the crime," as opposed to: "He's a dictator. He's a dictator."

People are so happy to see our military going into DC and getting these thugs out. As you know, we arrested a lot of people yesterday. We arrested a lot of people today. We're getting people that have arrest records that you wouldn't believe. Twenty-eight arrests. Fifteen arrests. Brutal, brutal people. And we're going to have to do something about this cashless bail. Because people shoot somebody, they kill somebody, and they're out on the street in less than an hour.

Now, that's when the—that's when this all started, in New York, in Chicago, Los Angeles. You take a look.

If we didn't go to Los Angeles to help this incompetent Governor, and a mayor that doesn't know what the hell she's doing—if we didn't go to Los Angeles, you wouldn't have—A big part of it burned down; the other part of it would have burned down too. You would have not had—you—I don't think you would have been able to—have the Olympics.

We have the Olympics. I have a lot at stake with that. Because I'm the one that got the Olympics. I got it in my first term, and I didn't—I was saddened because I got it for what would be my third term—okay?—which turned out to be second term. And the Olympics, it's a great honor, but I felt badly because I said, "I won't be President when the Olympics came."

Well, through circumstance, I am President. I want to make sure the Olympics is great, the World Cup is great, and the 250—maybe the most important of all—is the 250-year celebration is great.

So what's happening is, we will work very hard. You would not have had—I don't believe that—if I—didn't send in the troops, I don't think you would have had Los Angeles in condition to have the Olympics. I think you would have had to tell them, "I'm sorry, you're going to have to go someplace else."

And if you look at the police commissioner or the sheriff, he said: "We really needed them. Thank God they were here. We really needed them." That was the first 2 or 3 days. After we solved their problems, then he said, "Well, I think we could have maybe done it." No, he was told what to say.

He said—you go back to your files and see what he said. He said, "Thank goodness they came." If I didn't go and put our military there—or National Guard, in that case—and we'll go military if we have to. But the National Guard were there. They were very effective.

If we didn't do that, I don't think you would have had the Olympics in Los Angeles. The place would have been just like the 25,000 houses that burned down, where, by the way, the Governor ought to focus on getting their permits.

You know, the Federal permits are given. Those are the hard ones, and they were given a long time ago. People can't rebuild their house because they can't get permits from the State and the city. And they ought to focus on that, because it's very upsetting.

I went there right after the fires. I walked the streets, and I met a lot of great people that want to rebuild their homes. We took care of it, from the Federal standpoint. But they're not taking care of it from the city standpoint—the mayor and the Governor. They're not getting their permits. They can't build their houses.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. [Inaudible] Go ahead, please.

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Mr. President—thank you. Do you think this summit and the incentives for peace you were putting on the table could end up rewarding Putin for his invasion of Ukraine? And what kind of signal do you think that could potentially send to other aggressors, in the end?

The President. No, I don't think it's a reward. I think that what we have is a situation that should never have started. Should have never started. It didn't start under me. And for 4 years, it wasn't even discussed. And I could see it was going to happen after I left. I could see what was happening.

Everything that we did was wrong. Everything that was done was wrong. Everybody's to blame. Putin is to blame. They're all to blame. This is a war that would have never happened.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

District of Columbia Law Enforcement

Q. The other question on L.A., Mr. President. Earlier today a Washington, DC, police chief issued an executive order allowing Metropolitan Police officers conducting traffic stops to notify Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement about undocumented immigrants they encounter, yet the city has a longstanding pro-immigration policy, including allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections——

The President. Which is—ridiculous, by the way.

Q. ——and limiting cooperation with Federal immigration——

The President. Right.

Q. ——agencies. Did your administration pressure the DC police chief to review and repeal these policies? And will you require other cities to roll back similar policies to avoid possible Federal takeover of local law enforcement?

The President. Yes, so what you're saying is that it was a very positive thing. When they stop people, they find they're illegal, they report them, they give them to us, et cetera. That's a very positive thing. I have heard that. It just happened. That's a great step. That's a great step if they're doing that.

Yes, I think that's going to happen all over the country. We want to stop crime.

I think if the Democrats aren't strong on this issue, they won't be able to do it. I think this is a bigger issue than all of the other ridiculous things that they—like open borders. Well, open borders is bad. Open borders has caused a lot of this problem, allowing millions and millions—I think 24 million people were allowed to come into our country, many of these people from prisons, from jails, from mental institutions.

This was the Biden policy. And I don't believe it was him. He was never there before. It was the people that encircled this very beautiful desk—the Resolute Desk: radical-left lunatics, who were smart, but radical left.

And I'm very happy to hear what you just said, because I've heard that.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Law Enforcement in Los Angeles, California/Governor Westley W.O. "Wes" Moore of Maryland

Q. And, Mr. President, on L.A., if I may. The mother of a 15-year-old California boy was briefly detained at gunpoint in a case of mistaken identity. The LAUSD superintendent says that surveillance video shows armed agents wearing police and Border Patrol insignia.

Given the National Guard, the Border Patrol, ICE agents—they're not trained in local policing. What specific steps are you taking to ensure that young people are not put in harm's way with these types of operations?

The President. Yes, what they are trained in is common sense, and they're very tough people. And they have great common sense, and they're—and they are highly trained. I heard the mayor of L.A. was saying, "Oh, they're not trained this way." I heard this character from—where was he from? They talk about him as a candidate. He's got no chance, the Governor of Maryland. I watched him this morning saying that——

Q. Wes Moore.

The President. ——saying that—the Governor of Maryland, yes. They say, "Maybe he'll be a"—he's not Presidential timber at all. But I heard him today talking about how the National Guard or the military is not trained in police, but they're trained in common sense, and they're trained in not allowing people to burn down buildings and bomb buildings and shoot people and all of the things. They're—they've done a great job.

Again, if we didn't send them—and very importantly, if we didn't send them into Los Angeles, Los Angeles—the rest of Los Angeles would have been burned down to the ground.

When you look at Minnesota—Minneapolis—I sent them into Minneapolis because the Governor wouldn't make a call. If I didn't do that, you wouldn't have a Minneapolis. There wouldn't be—I don't think it would be existent today.

You remember the famous scene burning over the CNN anchor's shoulder? He said, "Everything seems to be very peaceful," and behind him, the whole city is burning down.

So you had the whack job Governor, who is—who ran for Vice President and made a fool out of himself. You would've had—I saved that city. I'll tell you, I saved that city.

So the bottom line is, these are very tough people that are trained in a thing called common sense, and they're also trained in doing what we're talking about right now. And you watch crime stop.

But you wouldn't have Los Angeles. It wouldn't be existent today. We would have had to cancel the Olympics if I let that go on.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please. Please.

Gaza, Palestinian Territories/Humanitarian Situation

Q. Yes. Will you pressure Israel to allow journalists into Gaza to cover the humanitarian efforts the U.S. is pursuing and the——

The President. I'd like to see that happen, sure. I'd like to see it.

Q. Yes? Will you pressure Netanyahu?

The President. I would like to see it happen. I would be very fine with journalists going in. It's a very dangerous position to be in if you're a—as you know, if you're a journalist, but I would like to see it.

Tariffs/Brazil-U.S. Trade/Former President Jair Messias Bolsonaro of Brazil

Q. And on tariffs. Brazil, Mexico, and Latin America are getting closer to China, and they say it's partly because of the tariffs you're imposing those countries. Do you—are you concerned the—them getting closer to China and——

The President. No, not at all. I'm not concerned at all.

Q. ——the U.S. losing business?

The President. They can do what they want.

You know, none of them are doing very well. And what we're doing in terms of economics, we're blowing everyone away, including China. We're doing better than any other country in the world right now.

Brazil has been a horrible trading partner in terms of tariffs. As you know, they charge us tremendous tariffs—far, far more than we were charging them. We weren't charging anything, essentially.

And Brazil has some very bad laws happening, where they took a President and they put him in jail, or they're trying to jail him. And I happen to know the man, and I will tell you, like, I'm pretty good at people. I think he's an honest man. I think what they've done—this is an electric—this is really a political execution that they're trying to do with Bolsonaro. I think that's terrible.

But they also treated us very badly as trading partners for many, many years. One of the worst countries on Earth for that. They charge tremendous tariffs, and they made it very difficult to do anything. So now they're being charged 50-percent tariffs. And they're not happy, but that's the way it goes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

District of Columbia/Crime and Law Enforcement

Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, on DC crime, sir. On DC crime. Are you concerned at all that some Federal officers that are helping DC police might be being pulled away from other high-priority assignments they've been doing?

The President. Like what? Like what?

Q. Terrorism, for example.

The President. Oh, really, terrorism? They'll stop terrorism as part of what they're doing right now. No.

The soldiers that we have—first of all, we have plenty of them, long beyond what they—that you have here. We're just using a very small force.

You know, in Washington, DC, they have thousands of police. They have a lot of police, but the police weren't allowed to do their job. We have a lot of great ones. And you have some that weren't so good, to be honest, but they weren't allowed to do their job. But now they are allowed to do their job.

And essentially, we've—it's only 2 days, but you look at the numbers. Already, they're dropping.

And no, they're not being pulled off for anything.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

District of Columbia Crime Statistics

Q. Mr. President, as you know, there were some very concerning reports about crime statistics. Police are manipulating crime data to downplay crime in DC. Will the administration release its own crime statistics to counter their——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——misinformation?

And will those individuals who are intentionally—misrepresenting crime data and fudging the books, like you said, be penalized for endangering the public?

The President. They are under investigation right now. They are giving us phony crime stats, just like they gave other stats in the financial world. But they're phony crime stats. And Washington, DC, is at its worst point, and it will soon be at its best point. You're going to have a very safe—you're going to have a crime-free city. I mean, I say that—you're going to have virtually a crime-free city.

And these are strong men and—but the criminals are strong men and women, but they're strong men. And these are people that don't play games. We're not playing games. These are criminals we're dealing with, and they treated people—they took one of the people that worked for us the other day—you saw the beating, the pounding. Ten against one, and they pounded the hell out of him. He's lucky to be alive. He's barely—almost killed.

Q. Mr.——

The President. And we're not going to have that happening.

Please.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard/Release of Documents Related to Previous Intelligence Community Investigation Into Russian Election Interference

Q. Mr.—Tulsi Gabbard declassified more documents last night related to the Russiagate hoax.

The President. Good. She's doing a great job, by the way. That was another fake story. She's—I'm very happy with the job she doing.

That's right. They declassified some terrible documents talking about Democrats and what they did.

Q. It——

The President. Radical-left lunatics.

Q. It showed that then-DNI James Clapper sent out emails to IC officials saying that it would be a "team sport" to push, then, the debunked 2017 ICA report and that it might need them to compromise on their normal modalities. What's your reaction to the latest declassification? And in your view, sir, what does real accountability look like for the players involved?

The President. It's incredible what we're finding. Absolute proof of guilt. And we'll see what happens.

But Clapper and Comey and that whole group of criminals—they're criminals, and they made it very tough. You know, they did the fake "Russia, Russia, Russia" witch hunt that lasted for 2 years. And I got totally exonerated. There was no doubt about it. They should have done it in one day, not 2 years. But that was a whole scheme to try and demean Trump so that I couldn't win an election.

And that is a criminal group of people. They're sick people, and they're criminals, and they should be taken care of.

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Mr. President——

Q. Mr. President——

Q. ——does Putin have a strong hand tomorrow?

The President. Well, he came to our country, and I heard CNN fake news talking about that that was a big win for him. Normally, you would say the opposite. But they said, "Oh, it's a big win that he came here." Normally, we'd say the opposite—you know, he came here.

I think that President Putin would like to see a deal. I think if I weren't President, he would take over all of Ukraine.

It's a war that should have never happened.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

If I weren't President, in my opinion, he would much rather take off—take over all of Ukraine. But I am President, and he's not going to mess around with me.

Russia/Ukraine

Q. On Russia, Mr. President. Would you support or agree to reducing NATO troops in Europe, in countries like Poland, in order to get Russia to agree to a peace deal?

The President. That hasn't been put before me. And I'll think about that for later, but it has not been put before me.

Go ahead.

The President's Meeting With President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Is anything less than an unconditional and immediate cease-fire a victory for the U.S.?

The President. Tomorrow?

Q. Yes.

The President. Well, tomorrow, we'll see. I say—you know, I don't know where that comes from. It's sort of a—not a good question.

I would say that tomorrow, all I want to do is set the table for the next meeting, which should happen shortly. I'd like to see it happen very quickly, very shortly after this meeting. I'd like to see it actually happen maybe in Alaska, where we just stay, because it's so much easier.

But I think that—I think it's going to be very interesting. We're going to find out where everybody stands, and I'll know within the first 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, or 5 minutes—like, we tend to find out whether or not we're going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting.

And if it's a bad meeting, it will end very quickly. And if it's a good meeting, we're going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.

Okay? How about one more?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please.

Smithsonian Institution

Q. Mr. President—thank you, Mr. President. On the Smithsonian. I know that your administration is seeking to weed out a lot of this left-wing spin——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——that's in the museums, but we're seeing from people like Brian Stelter or other commentators that they're insinuating that you are trying to change history according to your narrative.

What's your response to that? And is there anything you'd particularly like to take a look at?

The President. Well, we want the museums to treat our country fairly. We want the museums to talk about the history of our country in a fair manner, not in a woke manner or in a racist manner, which is what many of them—not all of them, but many of them are doing.

Our museums have an obligation to represent what happened in our country over the years, good and bad—but what happened over the years in an accurate way.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Video Showing a Protester Throwing a Sandwich at a Law Enforcement Officer

Q. Mr. President, did you see the video of the sandwich? Did you see the video of the sandwich thrown at the officer?

The President. I did. I did.

Q. You did? What did you think of that?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. Thank you very much, everybody.