Pool Reports of June 24, 2025

In-town pool note 1: south lawn departure/gaggle

On a hot and muggy summer morning, POTUS emerged from the south portico of WH at 6:37am. Wearing blue suit, white shirt, no tie. Gaggled for 6 minutes.

He gaggled with press, expressed displeasure with continued attack post ceasefire by both sides.

"I'm gonna see if I can stop it"

Complained about Tv network coverage.

Can Iran rebuild its nuclear program?
"Absolutely not"

"CNN is a gutless group of people."

Re Israelis and Iranians: "They don't know what the fuck they're dong"

Walked to Marine One at 6:43, staff followed into the helo, including Steven Cheung.

Will effort more quotes tho usual challenge with difficulty hearing over roar of M1.

M1 lifted from south lawn at 6:48.

Handing off to travel pool at JBA.

In-town pool note 2: fuller quotes from gaggle

Fuller quotes from POTUS gaggle before he boarded M1. He seemed more unhappy with Israel than Iran over ceasefire violations. Big thanks to pJohn Bennett of CQRollCall for the assist in getting quotes, and to Fox News (TV pool) for providing good audio. Questions are paraphrased.

Otter link: https://otter.ai/u/Ua0pXwBi17-ilbVV5htkpSmcCkw?tab=chat&view=transcript

Q. reax to fighting after ceasefire

"I'm not happy that Israel is going out. Now, there was one rocket that I guess was fired overboard. It was after the time limit, and it missed its target, and now Israel is going out. These guys got to calm down. Ridiculous."

"I didn't like plenty of things I saw yesterday. I didn't like the fact that Israel unloaded right after we made the deal. They didn't have to unload, and I didn't like the fact that the retaliation was very strong. But in all fairness, Israel unloaded a lot, and now I hear Israel just went out because they felt it was violated by one rocket that didn't land anywhere. That's not what we want. I'll tell you, and I'm telling you I'm not happy about that Israel either."

"All I do is play both sides. I'm going now, as you know, to NATO, some of you are going with me, and I think it's going to be successful. We'll see, I'll let you know."

Q. women in the Middle East.

"It's getting a lot better. Things are happening at a high level. And you know, Saudi Arabia has done a really good job. It's coming out far, far faster than I thought. So we're very happy about what's happening with women in the Middle East."

"We have to have Israel calm down because they went on a mission this morning. I gotta get Israel to calm down now."

Q. you urged both sides not to violate the ceasefire.

I think they both violated it. I don't think, I'm not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn't rein people back. I don't like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all, and I'm going to see if I can stop it. So as soon as I get away from you, I'm going to see if I can stop it.

Q. re reports that Iran nuclear facilities weren't fully destroyed

"I think it's been completely demolished. I think the reason we're here is because those pilots, those B-2 pilots, did an unbelievable job. And you know, the fake news like CNN in particular, they're trying to, you know, they're trying to say, Well, I agree that it was destroyed, but maybe not that destroyed.

"You Know what they're doing, They're really hurting great pilots who put their lives on the line."

"CNN is scum, and so is MSDNC. They're all, and frankly, the networks aren't much better. It's all fake news. They should not have done that. These pilots hit their targets, those targets were obliterated, and the pilots should be given credit."

"They're not after the pilots, they're after me, they wanna try and demean."

Q. can Iran rebuild?

"Iran will never rebuild its nuclear… From there? Absolutely not. That place is under rock. That place is demolished. The b-2 pilots did their job. They did it better than anybody could even imagine. They hit, late in the evening, it was dark with no moon, and they hit that target with every one of those things, and that place is gone. But when I see CNN, all that move is obviously, well, maybe it wasn't really as demolished as we thought. … That place is gone."

"If you take a look at the pinprick, then you see that place is gone. And I say, I think CNN ought to apologize to the pilots of the B-2s. I think that MSDNC ought to apologize. I think that these guys, and these cable networks, are real losers. You really are."

"They're gutless losers. I say that to CNN because I watch it, I have no choice. I've got to watch this garbage. It's all garbage, it's all fake news. But I think CNNis a gutless group of people. And the people that run it, no one even knows this because it's been sold so many times, but the people that run it ought to be ashamed."

"MSDNC, a guy named Brian Roberts, he heads it, he's a disgrace. He's a weak, pathetic disgrace."

Q Did Iran violate the ceasefire?

"I do. They violated it. But Israel violated it, too. … Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I'd never seen before. The biggest load that we've seen. I'm not happy with Israel."

"When I say, 'Okay, now you have 12 hours, you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran, either. But I'm really unhappy if Israel's going out this morning because of one rocket that didn't land, that was shot perhaps by mistake, that didn't land. I'm not happy about that."

Q: Multiple reporters, shouting. Inaudible questions.

"We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing. Do you understand that?"

POTUS then turned and walked to Marine One. He ignored more shouted questions.

In-town pool note 3: POTUS gaggling on AF1

From the WH press office:

POTUS is gaggling on AF1 now, it should be played in the Press Briefing Room shortly.

In-town pool note 4: transcript of AF1 gaggle

Please see attached doc w/transcript of POTUS gaggle on AF1.

Many thanks to Darlene Superville of AP for sharing!

Trump - en route to NATO

Speaker 1 [08:17:11] They were entitled to, but nobody thought that would have happened. But they had a very hard time that should have happened. And then, as you know, Iran hit them very hard last night because I don't think they would have, except for the first hard hit. And, I guess a missile was launched a couple of minutes afterwards, which went nowhere, did nothing, and there was going to be a retaliation this morning by Israel. And,, I said, you got to go back two planes. It's enough is enough. And, they did, which I respect very greatly. So nobody was killed.

[08:17:45] That was a that was see, sorry for that.

Speaker 1 [08:17:48] A lot of planes going in the wrong direction. You know that, right? Do you want any consequences for Israel or Iran for breaking or anything? No, I didn't do anything they would have if they I put out a statement of truth and they didn't do anything.

[08:18:03] And this might not happen again. They in a couple weeks they got tired of it. I think they don't want it to happen again.

Speaker 1 [08:18:12] And Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon. By the way, I think it's the last thing on their mind right now.

Speaker 2 [08:18:17] It's a question did Ron make any commitments yesterday about uranium enrichment of uranium enrichment?

[08:18:24] They're not going to have enrichment and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

Speaker 1 [08:18:27] And they know that they're going to get on to being a great trading nation. You know, they're very good traders, and they're going to be a great trading nation. And they have a lot of oil.

[08:18:37] They're going to do well.
Speaker 1 [08:18:38] They're not they're not going to have a nuclear weapon to do so. [08:18:42] They promise on Iran's mind right now, there's no clear weapons.

Speaker 1 [08:18:47] Can you clarify what you meant when you mentioned the regime change in your truth social post the other night? Which regime change do you want to see? Regime change in Iran? If there was, there was. But no, I don't want to read like that and see everything calmed down as quickly as possible., regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don't want to see someone scared, so we'll see how it does. You know, the Iranians are very good traders, very good business people, and they got a lot of oil. They should they should be fine. They they should be able to rebuild and do a good job. They're never going to have nuclear. But other than that, they should do a great job, which is exactly what I've been saying for years. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, but we're going to be with where's Marco? I think Marco's here. So, you know, I agree with Secretary of State, but we cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. They won't have a nuclear weapon. And I will tell you, the last thing on their minds is if their weapons. They don't even want to think about nuclear. And our B-2 pilots made this all possible. They had a magnificent hit in the dark of night with no moon, no light, no nothing. They hit the target

perfectly, wiped it out, and, the press is very disrespectful. I saw to CNN fake news going, oh, well, maybe it wasn't a perfect kill.

[08:20:05] It was perfect.

Speaker 1 [08:20:06] They said maybe it did destroy it. We agree it did destroy it, but maybe it could have destroyed it more. No, no, it could just destroy everyone. It. And it's very disrespectful to those great geniuses and patriots that flew those planes through tremendous danger. So CNN and MSM, DNC are disgrace and so are the others. I mean, they're pretty much all in for sports, but, it's,, it's an amazing period of time. Now we're going to narrow and we'll get a new set of problems. We'll solve a new set of problems.

[08:20:40] Do you think you'll meet with Zelensky when you're there?

Speaker 1 [08:20:43] Yeah, probably, I say. Yeah, you seem to have a lot to say.

[08:20:46] How you doing? Tough.

Speaker 1 [08:20:50] Is it a tough situation? Should have never been there days ago.

Speaker 2 [08:20:54] That you didn't think the U.S. should have to agree to a 5% increase in GDP on defense?

Speaker 1 [08:21:00] Well, do you think I was the one that said that what they should be paying is, you know, no, I, I should do something. And they're having a problem with Spain. No, there's a problem with Spain. Spain is not agree. Which is very unfair to the rest of the people.

Speaker 2 [08:21:16] The U.S. will be increasing our GDP to 5%.

Speaker 1 [08:21:19] We should pay what everyone else, you know, there in Europe, when, you know, a lot of that money goes to rebuilding their bridges, their roads, so it can take heavy equipment. And, you know, we don't have any roads in Europe. We don't have any bridges in Europe. So, no, I wouldn't be quite the same thing for us, but we're with them.

[08:21:36] Are you. So I think it's article five of NATO.

Speaker 1 [08:21:39] Depends on your definition. There's numerous definitions of article five. You know that, right? But I'm committed to, being their friends. You know, I've become friends with many of those leaders, and I'm committed to helping them. What do you want the role of leader to be going forward? Once these other countries are standing by having a unified system? I think we're going to have stronger peace, better peace. And I think we have that. You know, when I went to NATO, they were broke. When I first started this whole thing seems like a long time ago, nine years. But they were broke. I knew it immediately. I see you guys tomorrow. They weren't paying their dues. Seven of the 28 countries at the time, who's 28, were paying their dues, but they weren't paying very much. NATO was broke and I said, you're going to have to pay.

[08:22:28] And we did the whole thing, and now they're paying a lot.

Speaker 1 [08:22:31] Then I said, you're going to have to lift it to 4% or 5%. That 5% is better. And they just I guess they're voting on that today, but they're going to be lifting it to 5%. That's good. It gives them much more power.

Speaker 2 [08:22:43] Mr. president, if there's language in the final summit declaration about aggression by Russia, would you be okay with that kind of language? I'll have to take a look at it.

Speaker 1 [08:22:52] But, you know, I'd like to see a deal with Russia. As you know, Vladimir called me up. He said, can I help you with Iran? I said, no, I don't need help with Iran. I need help with you. And, I hope we're going to be getting a deal done with Russia. It's a shame 6000 soldiers died last week. More 6500 soldiers died last week. Russia, Ukraine. A war that never would have happened if I was president. So enjoy your play. I'm asking one more.

Speaker 3 [08:23:20] Follow up is in your comments just now about article five. That will probably make some people in Europe concerned. Can you clarify what you mean? Are you still committed to mutual defense?

Speaker 1 [08:23:31] I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety. And I'm going to give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don't want to do it on the back of an airplane.

Speaker 3 [08:23:42] And one other question on energy. What's your take on the oil price situation right now? And are you concerned?

Speaker 1 [08:23:48] I love that it dropped almost $10 yesterday. I put out a statement, get it down. Because a lot of people are able to do things when the energy goes down. You're gonna have a lot less conflict. So it came down and our energy Department's doing a great job. We're. We're drilling like we've never drilled before. We're keeping it down. We're gonna keep it down until all these wars are settled. Thank you very much, everybody. Sleeper cells in the United States. I think that a lot of invaders, an incompetent president, had no idea what he was doing. He hardly ever signed a document. Other people signed documents for him. When the European. There was gross incompetence. And among everything else, he let a lot of super cells in. Many from Iran, but hopefully will take care of what Biden did to this country should never be forgotten. You'll get the Nobel Peace Prize now, sir.

[08:24:53] For full protection. A lot of it is going out now. There was one, right?

In-town pool note 5: link to audio of AF1 gaggle

From WH press office:

Link to audio of the AF1 gaggle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG9148Ljrco

Travel pool report #1: Departing JBA

Good morning from Joint Base Andrews, where President Donald Trump exited Marine One at 6:59 a.m.

POTUS walked toward Air Force One holding his white ball cap by his side.

He did not stop to talk to the out of town pool. He made a fist and waved at press when he reached the top of the stairs, before stepping onto Air Force One at 7 a.m.

Poolers collectively spotted Steven Miller Taylor Budowich, Steven Cheung, and Walt Nauta exiting M1 and boarding behind Trump.

Susie Wiles and Monica Crowley boarded ahead of M1 arrival. Photographers spotted Pete Hegseth boarding earlier.

We’ll be taking off shortly for Amsterdam. Tot ziens.

Travel pool report #1a: Rubio

Pool has been advised by the White House that Secretary of State (etc.) Marco Rubio is also aboard Air Force One as it heads to NATO.

Travel pool report #2: Landed in Amsterdam

Air Force One landed at Amsterdam Schipol airport at 7:36 p.m. local time after a 6 hour and 20 minute flight.

President Trump came back to the press cabin an hour after takeoff, gaggling with the pool for about eight minutes. Quotes are below. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood behind him but did not speak.

The president credited Israel backing off from further retaliation on Iran to his conversation with Netanyahu today and Truth Social post instructing him to turn planes around.

He said Iran won't have a nuclear weapon, but declined when asked multiple times to say whether they've made a commitment about uranium enrichment. POTUS seemed to back away from supporting regime change in Iran, saying it would require "chaos," which he wants to avoid.

Trump said he expects to speak to Zelensky while at the NATO summit, and said he needed to look at the final declaration language surrounding Russia before determining whether he is OK with it.

He declined to say whether he is committed to Article 5 of NATO, but said he is committed to "saving lives." He also said he is committed to helping European leaders, many of whom have become his friends.

Trump said he is concerned about Iranian sleeper cells in the U.S., accusing Biden of letting them in. He said "hopefully" the US will "take care of them."

Unrelated, your pooler accidentally misspelled Stephen Miller's first name in the earlier report, and regrets the error.

Quotes from the gaggle are below. Transcribed as best as your pooler could from audio taken phone mic audio, which picked up lots of background roaring.

"The ceasefire is very much in effect, and I think we're going to keep it there for a long time."

Q: have you spoken to Netanyahu today?

"Yeah. I said, you've got to turn back the planes. They hit him very hard after we made the deal yesterday … it shouldn't have happened."

"There as going to be a retaliation this morning from Israel, and I said 'You've got to hold back the planes. That's enough.' And they did, which I respect very greatly."

Q: Do you want any consequences for Israel or Iran?

(Seemed to be answering only the Israel part)
"No, because they didn't do anything. They would have if" Trump didn't "put out a statement on Truth."

Q: How are you confident this won't happen again?

"I think they're both tired of it. I don't think they want it to happen again. And Iran's not going to have a nuclear weapon. I think it's the last thing on their mind right now."

Q: Did Iran make and commitments yesterday about uranium enrichment?

"They're not going to have enrichment, and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. They're going to get on to being the great trading nation. They have a lot of oil. They're going to do well, and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

Q: Did they promise?

"The last thing on Iran's mind right now is nuclear weapons."

Q: Do you want to see regime change in Iran?

"No. If there was, there was. But no. I want to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don't want to see much chaos. You know, the Iranians are very good traders, very good business people."

Other quotes on US strikes:

"Our B-2 pilots made this all possible. Has a magnificent hit in the dark of night, with no moon, no light, no nothing. They hit the target perfectly, wiped it out. And the press is very disrespectful. I saw CNN fake news going 'Well maybe it wasn't a perfect hit.' It was perfect.

"It was very disrespectful to those great geniuses and patriots that flew those planes through tremendous danger. So CNN and MSDNC are a disgrace, and so are the others. Pretty much all are a disgrace. It's an amazing period of time."

On NATO:

"Now we're going to NATO. We'll get a new set of problems. We'll solve a new set of problems."

Q: Will you meet with Zelensky there?

"Yeah, probably I'll see him."

Q: What will you say?

"I'll say, 'How you doing?' He's in a tough situation. Should have never been there."

Q: Should the US have to agree to the NATO 5% defense spending requirement?

"No, I don't think so. I was the one that said they should be paying. They're having a problem with Spain. Spain's not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them. I don't think we should pay what everyone else (does). They're in Europe. A lot of that money goes to rebuilding their bridges, their roads, so it can take heavy equipment. We don't have any roads in Europe, we don't have any bridges in Europe. So no, it wouldn't be quite the same thing for us. But we're with them."

Q: Are you still committed to Article 5 of NATO?

"It depends on your definition. There's numerous definitions of Article 5. But I'm committed to being their friends. You know, I've become friends with many of those leaders, and I'm committed to helping them."

Q: Can you clarify on Article 5? Are you committed to mutual defense?

"I'm committed to saving lives, I'm committed to life and safety. And I'm going to give you an exact definition when I get there. Just don't want to do it in the back of an airplane."

Q: If there's language in the NATO summit declaration about aggression by Russia, are you OK with that?

"I'll have to take a look at it. I'd like to see a deal with Russia. As you know, Vladimir called me up and said 'Can I help you with Iran?' I said, 'No, I don't need help with Iran. I need help with you.' I hope we're going to be getting a deal. It's a shame. 6,000 soldiers died last week. More. 6,500 soldiers died last week, Russia-Ukraine. A war that would have never happened if I was president."

Q: What's your take on oil prices?

"I think it's great. It dropped almost $10 yesterday. I put out a statement, 'Get it down.' Our energy department is doing a great job. They're drilling like they've never drilled before. We're going to keep it down until all these wars are settled."

Q: Are you concerned about Iranian sleeper cells in the United States?

"Yeah, Biden let a lot of super cells in. Biden was an incompetent president, had no idea what he was doing. Hardly ever signed a document. Other people signed documents for him with the autopen. It was gross incompetence.

"And among everything else he let a lot of super cells in, many from Iran. But hopefully, we'll take care of them. What Biden did to this country should never be forgotten."

Travel pool report #3: Welcome at airport

President Trump exited Air Force One at 7:50 p.m., and put his white "USA" cap on before descending the stairs. He was greeted by a line of officials standing at the foot of the stairs. Among them was Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO.

The White House said it could provide a full list later.

Other press wearing neon orange vests were staged on risers to capture Trump's arrival.

It's 30 degrees cooler here than in Washington. Blue skies.

Motorcade is headed to The Hague. Up next on the White House guidance for the evening is the president greeting the king and queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Travel pool report #4: Paleis Huis ten Bosch

At 8:34 p.m., the motorcade arrived at Paleis Huis ten Bosch in The Hague, where the president is attending a social dinner tonight. According to NATO guidance, it is being hosted by King Williem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

After briefly holding, POTUS exited his limousine at 8:37 p.m. and walked alone up a red carpet to enter the palace.

The motorcade traveled down an otherwise closed highway to The Hague, passing fields, grazing cattle and neighborhoods along the way. As the motorcade entered populated areas, crowds of people behind barriers clustered roadside with their phones held up. Inside of apartments as we approached The Hague, families and individuals could be seen standing in their windows looking out.

Some people looked like they were having a lot of fun watching, including a group that had set up a table and were holding glasses of wine as the motorcade went by.

Travel pool report #5: "Family photo"

At 8:58 p.m., the president came back outside Huis ten Bosch with other NATO leaders to pose for what the organizers of these summits refer to as the family photo.

Other countries' leaders began trickling out of the palace several minutes earlier to line up for the photo. Prior to Trump coming out, the red carpet briefly blew up in a gust of wind, prompting everyone else to shout "Woah!"

The president was brought down the steps to be at the front of the photo. He shook Emmanuel Macron's hand, and the French president could be heard saying "How are you?" POTUS stood between the king and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

During the photo, there was some brief laughter by other officials. Some bells rang in the distance, presumably 2100 ones.

Queen Máxima's chartreuse colored jumpsuit and cape stand out in the sea of dark suits. POTUS appeared to gently tap both the queen and king as they all walked back up the stairs.

The president returned inside the palace with the others at 9:01 p.m.

Only four members of the White House press pool were permitted to remain outside the palace for this (print pooler, TV producer and camera, still photographer); the rest of the pool was required by what appear to be Dutch officials to hold on a bus out of sight.

Large potted arrangements of pink flowers have been placed on the steps of the palace. Men in tactical clothing with scopes and binoculars are perched on the roof of the palace.

Pool is now being taken back to the buses to hold.

Travel pool report #6: Lid

The White House called a travel and photo lid at 9:15 p.m.

It was a pleasure being your print pooler today. Stay cool in DC, everyone! Goedenacht.