Remarks at a Swearing-in Ceremony for Mehmet Oz as Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. Congratulations. Well, thank you very much, everybody. This is a very important day. It's a day that we're delighted to swear in Dr. Mehmet Oz as the next Administrator of the Centers of—for Medicine [Medicare; White House correction] and Medicaid Services, which is a big deal.

Congratulations to Dr. Oz and his beautiful wife Lisa and their friends and family on this really incredible achievement.

Come a long way, huh? [Laughter] That's just amazing.

Dr. Oz comes to this position as one of the Nation's most talented and beloved medical professionals. He graduated from Harvard University. Ah, Harvard—[laughter]—wow, how convenient. Should we talk about Harvard? Before obtaining his MD at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, a great one. And really some amazing education, while also learning an MBA from the wonderful Wharton School of Business.

He completed his medical residency at the world-renowned NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Oz then had a sterling medical career in which he became an internationally acclaimed heart and lung surgeon, highly respected.

He served as director of the cardiovascular institute and integrative medical—medicine program at NewYork-Presbyterian and as a long-time professor at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Boy, oh boy. Doctor—I thought he just did a show. [Laughter]

I only know the show. You know why I know the show? Because he said I'm a little overweight. I should lose some weight. I did his show, and that's what I got out of it. [Laughter] That was not good. But I'm looking at all of this other—this is very impressive.

Dr. Oz authored more than 400 contributions to academic and scientific publications and holds several patents for technologies that revolutionized cardiovascular surgery.

And Dr. Oz later translated his experience into an extraordinary, successful television career, making him one of the most trusted voices on health care, and he also got very high ratings. I can tell you that. He did great with the television thing.

As CMS Administrator, Dr. Oz will work tirelessly to strengthen and protect Medicare for our Nation's seniors and Medicaid for the needy. Just as I promised, there will be no cuts. We're not going to have any cuts. We're going to have only help.

Dr. Oz will work to improve the quality of care for decades to come, and he'll ensure that criminals, fraudsters, and illegal aliens are not permitted to rob America's seniors. They are trying, but they're not going to get away with it.

He will also work alongside Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I've heard of him. He's a pretty famous guy. He's doing a great job, too—to address the crisis of chronic illness and to make America healthy again.

So I want to just thank Dr. Oz and—because this is a big commitment he's making. He has a lot of options, and this is a big, big commitment. And I want to congratulate you and your family on, really, an amazing life, and I think this is going to be, by far, the most important part of an already incredible life.

So thank you very much.

Administrator Oz. God bless you.

The President. Thank you, my friend. Thank you very much. Take care of yourself.

Administrator Oz. Thank you so much.

The President. Congratulations. It's amazing.

Oliver Oz. Thank you very much.

Daphne Oz. Thank you.

Zoe Oz. Thank you.

Arabella Oz. Thank you so much.

The President. Congratulations. Wow. What a job, huh?

Zoe Oz. Yes.

The President. Are you ready, Bobby?

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I sure am.

The President. Let's do it.

Secretary Kennedy. You put your hand on the Bible—your left hand—and raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I, Mehmet Oz, do solemnly swear.

Administrator Oz. I, Mehmet Oz, do solemnly swear.

Secretary Kennedy. That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Administrator Oz. That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Secretary Kennedy. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Administrator Oz. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Secretary Kennedy. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

Administrator Oz. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

Secretary Kennedy. That I take this obligation freely.

Administrator Oz. That I take this obligation freely.

Secretary Kennedy. Without any mental reservation.

Administrator Oz. Without any mental reservation.

Secretary Kennedy. Or purpose of evasion.

Administrator Oz. Or purpose of evasion.

Secretary Kennedy. And that I will well and faithfully.

Administrator Oz. And that I will well and faithfully.

Secretary Kennedy. Discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

Administrator Oz. Discharge the duties of the office upon—I'm about to enter.

Secretary Kennedy. So help me God.

Administrator Oz. So help me God.

God bless you.

Secretary Kennedy. Congratulations.

Administrator Oz. Thank you, Bobby.

I've got to start off by thanking three people. Mr. President, thank you very much. God bless you for leading our Nation, but also courageously leading the MAHA movement—really earnestly, in your heart, wanting to get America to be healthy again—and for giving me an opportunity to help with that mission.

Secretary Kennedy has been leading the charge at Health and Human Services, a dear friend, like a brother, has done unbelievably courageous work because he's curious, and he's started answering a lot of important questions, and I will treasure for the rest of my days your trust in me to help you with this progress.

Thank you.

Secretary Kennedy. Thank you, Mehmet.

Administrator Oz. And of course, Lisa—the family, but Lisa, in particular, who's had an uncanny ability to identify opportunities and to always keep a clear North Star to keep our family grounded. God bless you, my beautiful wife.

[At this point, Administrator Oz continued his remarks.]

So I'm going to give you four bullet points to remember. Bullet point number one—and they're all numbered in order for a reason.

Medicaid is the number-one budget item for many States, and it is crowding out education and other important social programs. The States are having a big problem, and that's with the Federal Government paying most of the bill.

Item number two. Health care expenditures are increasing at 2 percent higher than the economy is growing. And because of that, we spend more than two times per person on health care than any other country on the planet, and we're not getting value for that.

Because number three is that we are, in America, experiencing an unfortunate problem, which is medical errors are the number three cause of death. Did you know that, Mr. President?

The President. I didn't know that.

Administrator Oz. It's surprising, with that much money invested, we're still having problems.

And number four, our life expectancy, despite all this investment, is continuing to slip back, and we're now more than 4 years shorter in our life expectancy than countries that we used to be equal to.

[Administrator Oz continued his remarks.]

Tens of millions of dollars, Mr. President, are being spent on illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid in California, and they're pushing the bill to us. Should we stop that?

The President. Yes.

Administrator Oz. I think so. That will not continue.

[Administrator Oz continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

Together, we're going to make the care better. We're going to make it—the outcomes improve, and we're going to make sure that America can actually be the healthiest country that it could ever possibly be. We'll make America healthy again.

God bless you both, sir.

[Administrator Oz shook hands with the President and Secretary Kennedy.]

The President. Any questions for Oz? Any questions for Oz? [Laughter]

The President. Okay. Any questions?

[Several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Q. Mr. President, Marco Rubio says——

The President. Wait. Easy, easy, easy. [Laughter]

Go ahead.

Q. Sir——

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Secretary Rubio said that the U.S. will have to figure out whether a deal can be done between Russia and Ukraine in a matter of days or you will just move on.

The President. Yes, very shortly.

Q. How many days is that?

The President. No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done. We're talking about here people dying. And we're talking about, over there, people are dying also, like, on average, 2,500 young people, soldiers.

They're not from America, they're not from anywhere else other than Ukraine and Russia, but we want to save these lives. So it's 2,500 a week are being killed in battle. It's a vicious battle with the best equipment, the best everything, and it is brutal. Two thousand five hundred young people a week. Some of them not so young, actually. They're getting older. They're getting older by the month. But 2,500 a week, and we're going to get it stopped, ideally.

Now if, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say: "You're foolish. You're fools. You're horrible people," and we're going to just take a pass. But hopefully, we won't have to do that.

Q. What——

Q. When you say, "Take a pass"——

The President. And Marco is right in saying it. We're getting—we want to see it end. Think of it. Every day, a lot of people are being killed as we talk about, you know—as they play games. So we're not going to take that, and we will see. I think we have a good chance of solving the problem, however.

Yes.

[Several reporters began asking questions at once.]

U.S. Diplomatic Efforts

Q. Are you prepared to walk away completely from these efforts and these talks?

The President. Well, I don't want to say that, but we want to see it end. We want to see it end.

Yes.

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia/The President's Foreign Policy/Inflation

Q. Is Vladimir Putin stalling, in your view, Mr. President?

The President. I hope not. I'm going to let you know about that soon, if he is, but I hope not. He's got a big force out there. A big force.

It's a war that should have never happened. It would have never happened if I was President. That's a war—and it didn't happen for 4 years. That's a war that should have never happened.

October 7, Israel, would have never happened. Iran was broke. And now we'll see what happens with Iran. We have a lot of them out there. We have a lot of things that we're working on right now that shouldn't have happened. None of it. Ukraine would have never happened with Russia. October 7 would have never happened, so you wouldn't have had all the problems in the Middle East. The Afghanistan embarrassment—probably the most embarrassing day in the history of our country—would have never happened. Inflation would have never happened.

By the way, prices are down. Groceries are down. Eggs, which they—you hit me so hard, I'll never forget. The first day—first week in office, they were screaming at me about eggs. I said, "What's going on with eggs?" They were doubling and tripling. I said, "I just got here." [Laughter] They were up, like, double, triple, and you couldn't get any. And they said, "You won't have eggs for Easter."

Well, you can have all the eggs you want.

Q. Sir——

The President. I'll tell you, Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, did a great job, and the egg prices are down 87 percent.

But nobody talks about that. You can have all the eggs you want. We have too many eggs. In fact, if anything, the prices are getting too low.

Q. On Iran——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. So I just want to let you know: Prices are down. Gasoline yesterday at—in three States, hit $1.98 a gallon, and it looks like it's at a level that it hasn't seen since my days, my 4 years. So it's about $2—I'd say maybe—I think we're going to average—we're going to be averaging $2.25 very soon.

So I just want to let you know, though, because I keep hearing about fraud—prices and inflation. Prices are coming down, not going up. Only the fake news says they're going up.

The only thing that's even are interest rates. And if we had a Fed Chairman that understood what he was doing, interest rates would be coming down too. He should bring them down.

Yes, please.

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, what do you need to see from both sides in order to keep negotiations going? What do you want to see from Russia and Ukraine?

The President. I have to see—my whole life has been one big negotiation, and I know when people are playing us, and I know when they're not. And I have to see an enthusiasm to want to end it. And I think I see that enthusiasm. I think I see it from both sides.

Q. Do you think Russia is playing you?

The President. But you're going to know soon.

U.S. Diplomatic Efforts/Ukraine

Q. Do you think Russia is playing you?

The President. No. Nobody is playing me. I'm trying to help.

You know, this was Biden's war. By the way, by me getting involved, you know, they'll say, "Oh, it's Trump." This is not Trump's war. This is Biden. This is a war that should have never happened. Okay?

Think of it. Those cities are crushed and crashed. And all those beautiful steeples, the most beautiful in the world—actually, the—considered the most beautiful in the world—most of them are now smashed to smithereens, as they say, and lying on the ground in a million pieces. Those towns are crushed. The whole place—it's so horrible. And millions of people are dead, far more than you think.

That's one thing you're going to get out of this war. You're going to find out that your estimates are far lower than—it's far worse than people think.

Nobody is playing anybody. We are going to see if we can get it done. I think we have a really good chance of getting it done, and it's coming to a head right now.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Ukraine

Q. If you do—[inaudible]—would you continue to support Ukraine militarily? If you do——

The President. Say it.

Q. If you do decide to move on or take a pass, Mr. President, would you then continue to support Ukraine militarily?

The President. Well, I'm not going to say that, because I think we're going to get it done.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Immigration Enforcement Actions/2024 Presidential Election

Q. There's a group of Venezuelan men down in Texas who have been alerted that they are soon going to be deported under the Alien Enemies Act. Have you authorized that operation, and where are they going to go?

The President. I don't know about the group you're talking about, but if they're bad people, I would certainly authorize it, yes.

You know, I won an election in a landslide. We won all 7 swing States. We won by millions of votes. We won 2,750 districts to 505 districts. Two thousand seven hundred and fifty to five-oh-—that's why the map, when you look at it, is all red.

And one of the biggest reason—I think the biggest single reason, actually—I'd like to say it's because of this, because I think they're going to come up with things that are incredible. But probably the biggest reason was because of the border and because of illegal immigration, and the people of this country want those people out.

Because what Biden did and his—I don't know if he did it. I'm not even sure he knows what the hell he was doing—[laughter]—but what his people did, representing him, was allow millions and millions of people from jails, from prisons all over the world, people from mental institutions and insane asylums, gang members, drug dealers, pouring into our place.

And you know what? Our people voted for me to get them out. They want them out. They want them out. And we've done a hell of a job.

And by the way, Ecuador and various places—but El Salvador—we've been helped by a lot of other States where they're helping us, actually, because you couldn't—look, what this man was thinking when they allowed open borders and people to come in—if you look at Venezuela, their crime is down by 72 percent. You know why? They took all their criminals off the street. They took all their prisoners from jail. They took murderers—11,088 murderers were released into our country. Bad things are going to happen. Bad things. And we're getting them out. And that's why I was elected.

A judge wasn't elected to do that. I was elected to do that, and we're doing it in record fashion. We have the safest border, the most secure border we've ever had.

See the Declaration of Independence? You should all read that before you leave. That's the real deal. You should all read it before you leave.

Yes. Sir, go ahead, please.

Immigration Enforcement Actions

Q. Mr. President, photos have emerged of Senator Van Hollen sipping what appears to be margaritas——

The President. Yes.

Q. ——with Abrego Garcia down in El Salvador.

The President. Yes.

Q. Do you encourage other Democrats to fly down to El Salvador to meet with this illegal alien, who's an accused wife beater?

The President. I like this guy. See, now this is—[laughter]—this is the kind of a reporter we like. There aren't enough of them. We've got to get some more of them. But no, I appreciate that question.

No, look, he's a fake. I know him. I know them all. They're all fake, and they have no interest in that prisoner.

That prisoner's record is unbelievably bad. If you would go into the room, you might—if you would, Karoline, maybe go into the room and see if you can find that little slip. I wrote some things down. I don't know why you'd want to keep him. But I just—we've got a little biography of him.

Q. Did you help set up that meeting?

The President. Not a very innocent guy.

Yes, please.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador

Q. Did you help set up that meeting, sir?

Q. Mr. President, in the spirt of Easter Sunday and it being Good Friday——

[White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt handed the President a piece of paper.]

The President. But while we're on the subject, right?

Q. Yes, of course.

The President. So you're talking about Abrego Garcia. Is that the one?

Q. Yes.

The President. Yes?

Is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, and foreign terrorist. This comes out of the State Department and very legitimate sources—I mean, I assume. I'm reading—I'm just giving you what they handed to me, but this was supposed to be certified stuff.

In 2019, Garcia was issued a deportation order. Two separate judges affirmed Garcia was a member of MS-13, which is a gang that may be even worse than Tren de Aragua. It may be worse. They kill people with knives because it's more painful. Very famous for the knifing and killing of two young 16-year-old girls walking to school one day, and they sliced them up into little pieces and killed them. That's MS-13. And two separate judges affirmed Garcia was a member of MS-13.

When Garcia was originally arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls of money pouring out, an MS—and an MS-13 gang symbol; that he was driving with two other known, violent MS-13 gang members—two of the most violent members that we know of in the MS-13 gang of thugs.

In 2022, Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. He was found to be transporting seven people from Texas to Maryland, and he had no driver's license. He was driving violently.

In 2020 and 2021, Garcia's wife filed for a protective order from him and said he was violent and abusive and really scary, including allegations that he punched and scratched her on the eye, left her bleeding after throwing her laptop on the floor at her, ripped her shirt, and ripped off her shorts. He then grabbed her arm, leaving very severe marks.

Garcia's wife also wrote in court: "At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I just don't want to be close. I have multiple photos and videos how violent he can be and all of the bruises that he's left on me." She just didn't want to—couldn't get anywhere near him.

This is the man that the Democrats are wanting us to fly back from El Salvador to be a happily ensconced member of the U.S.A. family. Isn't it a shame?

And by the way, I've been hit pretty hard by fake shows, fake news—MSDNC, in particular—where they talk about how evil I am that this man would be thrown out of our country—this man is according to certified statements that we get, is a very violent person. And they want this man to be brought back into our country where he can be free and to stay as a happily Maryland—you know, happily—they call him the "Maryland man." "He's a Maryland father." No, this is a violent person.

Who they don't talk about is that wonderful "Angel mom" who lost her daughter who had five beautiful children and she was killed violently. Killed violently. And, you know, she spoke, and she spoke unbelievably. I saw it. And the fake news didn't pick it up. She spoke. She was in tears. She's devastated. Her life is, you know, essentially—she's told me her life is, like, over.

But there was, like, I think, no stories. Isn't that true? No stories.

Press Secretary Leavitt. Yes, sir.

The President. Zero stories.

Press Secretary Leavitt. CNN did not——

The President. It was the most emotional thing. Everybody that watched it, they couldn't believe it. The fake news refused to put it up.

Press Secretary Leavitt. That's right.

The President. So it's very sad. And yet they talk about this guy like he's an angel. See the angel up there? They think he's like that. Like a little angel.

Q. Sir, on Iran. Would you be open——

Q. Do you encourage other Democrats to visit?

Q. Would you be open to letting Iran——

The President. You know, it has no impact, the way she—like, look at her. No impact. It's just, like, unbalanced, "Would you do this?"

Well, go ahead. What of it?

Iran/Nuclear Weapons Development

Q. Sir, on Iran, would you be open to letting Iran——

The President. See that?

Q. ——keep some kind of civil nuclear program——

The President. No impact whatsoever.

Q. ——or would the entire program need to be dismantled?

The President. I'm for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can't have a nuclear weapon.

Q. So the entire program dismantled?

The President. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific. I stopped them once. They were broke, and they didn't have any money for Hamas. They didn't have any money for Hizballah. There wouldn't have been an October 7 disaster. They were broke. They had no money, and they weren't spending it to terrorist organizations because they had none.

When Biden came in, he took all the sanctions off. China wasn't allowed to buy. I said, "You buy—if you buy"´—because they're the big customer. I said, "You buy one barrel of oil, just one barrel of oil from Iran, and you can't do business in the United States."

And, by the way, we have nice conversations going with China, just to intercede. You know, it's like really very good.

Q. Have you spoken with Xi?

The President. But with Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. And if they have a nuclear weapon, you'll all be very unhappy. You'll all be very unhappy.

Q. Have you spoken with Xi?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President. Because your life will be in great danger.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Who is leading those trade talks?

Participant. Oh, my God.

[A participant fainted.]

Q. Mr. President——

The President. Yes. Yes.

[The event ended in order to provide medical care to a participant.]