Pool Reports of October 5, 2025

In town pool #1 - departure and Q&A

Good morning from the White House. 

POTUS exited the residence at 11 am. 

He took questions on Israel-Gaza deal, the shutdown, Portland and the drug war. 

Said it "sounds like a good idea to me" when asked about Putin's proposal to extend the nuclear arms treaty one more year. 

He said Israel-Gaza is a "great deal" and negotiations "going very well." 

If he'll follow the Portland ruling: "we'll take a look at the order. We haven't seen the order today."

Asked about federal layoffs: "everybody that gets laid off is because of the Democrats."

Full quotes to come. 

At 11:07 am POTUS said "okay let's go."

FLOTUS - wearing jeans and a brown leather jacket - came out to joking him. 

Ahead of POTUS exiting the residence, about half dozen guests came out of the diplomatic room exit and lined up opposite the press. 

Marine One was wheels up at 11:11 am. 

Seen boarding: Susie Wiles, Walt Nauta, and Natalie Harp.

In town pool #2 - full Trump quotes

Here is the Q&A. As always please check against transcript and playback: 

Trump began with: "We're going to have a big day, one of the biggest. We're celebrating our Navy and our military. We have the greatest military anywhere in the world, not even close, as you probably noticed, and we rebuilt it largely during my first term, and now I get to see it in action."

He was asked about Putin's proposal to extend the nuclear arms treaty a year: "Sounds like a good idea to me."

Asked about Gaza: "Well, it's a great deal for Israel, and it's a great deal for everybody, and you want to get your hostages back, right? It's a great deal for Israel. It's a great deal for the entire Arab world, Muslim world, and world."

Asked when the hostages will be released: "They're in negotiations right now as we speak. They've started the negotiations in the last couple of days. We'll see how it turns out. But I'm hearing it's going very well.

On Obamacare subsidies: "We want to fix it so it works. Obamacare has been a disaster for the people, so we want to have it fixed so it works."

Asked if he'll follow the judge's order in Portland: "We're going to look at that. It was amazing. Portland is burning to the ground. It's insurrectionist all over the place. It's Antifa. And yet, the politicians who are petrified, look, the politicians are afraid for their lives. That's the only reason that they say like this, nothing happening, and you've seen it, the place is burning down, and they pretend like there's nothing happening. So we'll take a look at the order. We haven't seen the order today."

Asked about the drug war: "We're going to stop drug trafficking, and we've done a lot, there's nobody, there's nobody coming in on the water -
that I can tell you. The water is like, there's nobody. There's no drugs coming into the water. And we'll take a look at what phase two is. It made a big difference."

Asked about flexibility with the Hamas plan: "We don't need flexibility, because everybody has pretty much agreed to it. But there'll always be some changes. But the Hamas plan, I tell you, it's amazing. You're gonna have peace, if you think about it, peace in the Middle East for the first time. And they say, really 3000 years. So I'm very honored to be a big part of that. Look, they've been fighting for a plan for years. We get the hostages back almost immediately. Negotiations are going on right now - will probably take a couple of days, and people are very happy about it."

Asked more about Portland: "I wasn't served well if they put judges like that. I wasn't served well by the people that picked judges. I can tell you things like that are just too bad. I appointed the judge and he goes like that, so I wasn't served well. Obviously, I don't know the judge, but if he made that kind of a decision. Portland is burning to the ground. You have agitators, insurrectionists. All you have to do is look at that. Look at the television. Turn on your television, burning to the ground, the governor, the mayor, the politicians are petrified for their lives of the words the government. That judge ought  to be ashamed of himself."

Asked about Chicago and Gov. Pritzker: "Number one, he's wrong. Number two, I really believe he's afraid for his life. Somehow, when you can have 40 or 50 people killed over the last couple of months, hundreds of people wounded. There's no place like that in the world. Hundreds of people wounded, 50, 55 people shot and killed. And Pritzker gets up and says what a wonderful place it is. They need help. Washington DC is now a safe place. You're not going to get mugged or hit, you're not going to get raped, you're not going to get anything. Washington, DC went from a hell hole to a safe place. I love the way you nod. Is it true, though? A lot of the people right here were - wait: A lot of the people right here were mugged, reporters, and you know what? You're safe now, nothing. We got no crime. It took 12 days to solve the problem, 12 days. And we're going to do that in Chicago. We're going to do that in Portland. Now, Portland is different. That's a bunch of paid insurrectionists. We do have a lot of paid people in Chicago too. I believe the politicians are under threat, because there's no way somebody can say that things are wonderful in Chicago. Almost 55 - I think it was 55 people over a short period of time have been murdered in Chicago. Have been shot. 222 people over a short period of time, have been hit, have been wounded, not died, but 55 people died over a short period of time. You're telling me, there's no city in the world like that. We're going to straighten it out. And I think that Pritzker, he's not a stupid person. I think that Pritzker is afraid for his life."

On Obamacare subsidies: "We want to make it better."

On federal layoffs: "I call them Democrat layoffs. They're Democrat layoffs. They're causing it. We're ready to go back. You know, we have a record setting economy. We have a record setting country. Prices are way down. We're doing better than the country has ever done, and the Democrats hate seeing that. It's up to them. Anybody laid off that's because of the Democrats. Thank you."

In town pool report #3 - WH arrival and Q&A

Marine One touched down at the White House at 6:19 pm. 

POTUS and FLOTUS exited the chopper at 6:22 pm. POTUS is still wearing his red USA hat.  

He and FLOTUS said goodbye at chopper steps. She went into residence. He went to Oval but first came over and took a few questions. 

On the Hamas deadline: "We'll wait for a little while to see how it's going to go."

On Democrats: "It's their shutdown not our shutdown."

More and fuller quotes to come….

In town pool #4 - more quotes and a lid

A travel photo lid was called at 6:28 pm. 

Here are the POTUS quotes. As always please check against transcript and playback. 

Flagging this newsy quote at the top:

On when he will begin firing federal employees: "It'a taking place right now. It's all because of the Democrats. The Democrats are causing the loss of a lot of jobs with their - it's a shutdown. It's their shutdown, not our shutdown."

POTUS began by talking about what a great day he had: "We rebuilt the Navy in my first term, we're doing it even beyond so thank you all for being here. That was a great celebration today, right?"

On the Hamas deadline: "We had some very good meetings. The countries of the world. A lot of the countries surrounding Israel, frankly, Muslim, Arab and many others have had great meetings with Hamas, and it looks like it's working. So we'll wait for a little while see how it all turns out - very, very quickly. I think it's going to go very quickly. The meetings seem to be very good. We'll find out. We'll let you know soon."

Asked to clarify what he said in his speech about another drug boat attack last night: "My people will give you those details."

Travel pool report 1: Marine One arrival at JBA

Happy Sunday y'all,

Marine One touched down at JBA at 11:19 am
The president and First Lady exited Marine One at 11:23 am and entered Air Force One at 11:24 am. 

He did not gaggle. But he did give a raised fist to the pool twice. 
Consider this your wheels up notice.

Travel pool report 2: Arrival

Air Force One landed at Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field at 11:58 am (AF1 officially left JBA at 11:34 am so roughly 24 minute ride) 

Pool will likely not see President Trump board Marine One. 

Pool will board Nighthawk 4 and head to USSS George H.W. Bush. 

Wi-Fi may be spotty moving forward so apologies in advance for delayed pool reports. 

Also traveling with POTUS and FLOTUS are:

Secretary Doug Collins 
Susie Wiles
Representative Ronny Jackson
Vince Haley
Amb Monica Crowley

Travel pool report 3: POTUS exits AF1

President Trump and the First Lady exited Air Force One at 12:15 pm and boarded Marine One at 12:17 pm

Captain Matt Schlarmann, naval station Norfolk commanding officer, greeted the president as he exited AF1. The two men shook hands. Schlarmann also shook hands with the First Lady.

Travel pool report 4: president lands

Marine One touched down on the USSS George H.W.  Bush at 12:52 pm. The president and First Lady exited Marine One at 12:56 pm. President Trump was spotted wearing a red USA hat. 

The president is expected to observe a Naval Sea Power Demonstration on the USSS George H.W. Bush

Travel pool report 5: president meets with service members

President Trump and the First Lady shook hands with War Secretary Pete Hegseth on the USSS George H.W. Bush at 1:13 pm. 

They were greeted with applause at 1:15 pm. Pool could not hear the brief remarks  that the president made. 

At 1:16 pm they posed for photos with sailors who gathered for the occasion before they shook hands with more sailors. 

"Everybody having a good time," your pooler heard Trump say.

Travel report 6: Navy demonstrations

President Trump and the First Lady saw a demonstration of the USSS Iowa, which pool missed the beginning of.

The display then moved on to several destroyers to the side of the aircraft carrier, including an electric "close in weapon system", or CWIS, and larger caliber cannons. The destroyers also shot about five missiles which arced into the sky before descending downward in the distance. 

Navy SEALs also conducted a landing on one of the ships, using ropes from a helicopter. They then simulated clearing the ship as one helicopter hovered and another flew in large circles. 

Directly after they, two F-18 Hornets took off from the deck of the carrier, and eventually landed. Other aircraft, including F-35s, conducted flybys, at one point conducting a simulated bomb drop. One F-18 conducted a sonic boom at low altitude

The demonstration ended at 2:36 pm and  lasted roughly about an hour. Thank you to copooler Bernd Debusmann for the help!

Pool spotted Susie Wiles and Pete Hegseth watching the demonstrations together, aside from potus and flotus. 

Side note: Trump was also previously joined by John phelan, secretary of the navy, while meeting with sailors.

Travel report 7 POTUS departure

POTUS and flotus shook hands and spoke with more sailors before they then boarded Marine One at 3:00 pm. 

Sailors on board clapped for the first couple as they waved and pumped their fists.

Marine One took off at 3:05 pm.

Travel report 8: landing at USS Truman

Pool did not see the president and First Lady land at USS Harry S. Truman.

We are getting in place for the president's speech.

Travel report 9: Trump speech

Wi-Fi is still spotty but the speech is being live-streamed so will not send verbatim quotes.

Travel report 10 Trump begins speech

Trump appeared onstage at 4:14 pm after the First Lady introduced him onstage at 4:12 pm.

Travel report 11 Trump suggests UFC fight at White House could happen

Several thousand sailors are in attendance for Trump's speech at the USS Harry S Truman. Many family members, children, and navy veterans are also in attendance. 

There was a flyover as President Trump started speaking. 

During the president's speech, Trump said there would be "a big ufc fight" on the White House lawn on June 14, 2026, which is also his birthday. It's unclear if he meant July 4, 2026.

Travel report 12: Trump comments on shutdown

Trump said he would call for pay raises for sailors after blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. 

"Do not worry about it," Trump said as he promised to get sailors they're money back when the government reopens. Sailors in attendance cheered and clapped.

Travel report 13: pool headed back

We're leaving before President Trump has finished speaking. We left at 4:58 pm about 41 minutes into his speech.

Travel pool report 14 POTUS leaving

Pool spotted potus and flotus in the beast leaving at 5:04 pm. President Trump raised a fist to sailors who watched him drive by.

Travel report 15: POTUS arrival

The president arrived at Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field at 5:13 pm. 

He and the First Lady entered Air Force one at 5:15 pm. 

He waved at the pool and did not take questions. 

Consider this your wheels up notice.

Travel pool report 16: POTUS lands at JBA

Air Force One landed at JBA at 5:55 pm. AF1 was wheels up officially at 5:24 pm, so roughly 31 minute ride)

The president did not gaggle with us.

Travel report 17 POTUS heads back to White House

President Trump and Melania Trump exited Air Force One at 6:04 pm. 

The president waved to the pool but did not take any questions.

The first couple entered Marine One at 6:05 pm. 

Marine One took off at 6:10 pm for the White House.

Flagging a recent Truth Social note from potus on Hamas 
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115323790604734426

Handing over to in town pool. Y'all have a happy Sunday!