- 5/30/2025
President Trump held an Oval Office event on Friday with Elon Musk, who is stepping down from his role in the Trump administration.
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00:00Well, thank you very much, everybody, for being here.
00:07It's an honor to be with Elon, who's my friend,
00:11and he's done a fantastic job.
00:13He didn't need this. He didn't need it.
00:15And we find that government's a little nasty on occasion.
00:19Hello, Peter.
00:20President Trump.
00:21The government's a little bit nasty.
00:22Peter, you haven't noticed that.
00:24You've had a charmed life, right?
00:26President Trump, you tell me.
00:27Very charmed. I think you've had a charmed life.
00:29I think what I'll do, if you don't mind,
00:32numbers have just come out, which are rather extraordinary,
00:34and I thought I'd play a tape of one of the people
00:37who I've respected over the years,
00:40from, you know, Joe Kiernan and Rick Santelli.
00:44This just came out, and we'll just play that for a second.
00:47Personal income is up eight-tenths, up eight-tenths of a percent.
00:51That is almost triple the expectations.
00:54I'll tell you, the income, the income numbers,
00:58really, for the first four months of the year,
00:59they're stellar.
01:00They're really stellar.
01:01I mean, I could go back and look at the first four months
01:04of many different years,
01:05really very strong numbers, and you're right.
01:08This administration is criticized for just about everything
01:11under the sun.
01:12I've never ever in my lifetime had glimpses into the politics
01:17of an administration in the form of transparency like this one.
01:21Why don't we be, you know, give credit where credit is due,
01:25income really shooting over.
01:27Rick, I also thought everybody was going to get one last order
01:32of imports that were going to be tariffed,
01:35and they were loading up on things.
01:36How the hell did they already fix the trade, or not fix it,
01:40but to cut it in half, that's crazy.
01:44So there wasn't a lot of front-loading of things that they needed
01:47before the tariffs hit?
01:50Yeah, I'll tell you what.
01:51It really does call into question some of the conventional
01:53wisdoms, and, you know, it's going to be interesting to see
01:56what happens next month when we get this number,
01:59or we see some of the other numbers like current accounts,
02:03see how they fared, because I don't know.
02:05I've been watching these numbers a long time.
02:07I don't think I've ever seen the trade deficit cut in half
02:10in one month.
02:12Not bad.
02:13Not bad.
02:14Come on, guys.
02:15I see Howard and Scott are here, so it's great.
02:24If you guys want to stand over here, you might as well.
02:26You're the ones that help reduce those numbers,
02:29and it'll only get better.
02:30The tariffs are so important, and that's why we were so happy
02:33with the decision yesterday where the tariffs continue,
02:38because without the tariffs, our nation would be imperiled.
02:41We would really be imperiled.
02:43I think I can say that with great charity, Scott and Howard.
02:46And so we were very happy to get that decision,
02:48that big decision yesterday.
02:50And today it's about a man named Elon, and he's one of the greatest
02:57business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced.
03:01He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation,
03:06and we appreciate it, and I just want to say that Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead
03:12the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.
03:17And you know the kinds of things that he's found and his people have found.
03:22He's brought a group of very smart people in, and they found things that are pretty unbelievable.
03:27I have to say that the numbers that we're talking about are substantial,
03:33but they're going to be very much more substantial with time,
03:35because many of the things that we're working on right now,
03:38we're going to have to remember Elon as we find them.
03:41But the numbers could double and triple,
03:43because many, many things we don't want to go out with them until we're sure.
03:48But we've said we've found things that are unbelievably stupid and unbelievably bad.
03:54With the Department of Government efficiency,
03:56Elon has delivered a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington.
04:01Doge has installed geniuses with an engineering mindset
04:06and unbelievably talented people and computers.
04:09I actually asked Elon one time, what's what's their primary thing?
04:12And they have a lot of primary things all having to do with being smart.
04:16But he said the thing that they're really the best at is working with computers
04:20so that they can't be outsmarted by somebody that's not so honest
04:24that happens to also be good with computers, but not as good as these people.
04:28But the mindset and the senior ranks of every federal department and it's really changed.
04:34And with Elon's guidance, they're helping to detect fraud slash waste
04:38and modernize broken and outdated systems.
04:41So, as you know, we're talking about various systems and changing systems.
04:45And, you know, sadly, it takes a long time to do that.
04:48You'll change, let's say, a system at IRS and computerize it properly
04:54where the job can be done in one tenth of time.
04:56But it takes it takes sometimes years to rebuild those systems.
05:01But we've started in many cases.
05:03We've started.
05:04I will say that this has less to do with Elon.
05:06But the air traffic control systems were bidding
05:10out to the best companies in the world those systems right now.
05:13They were hard.
05:15The previous administration was horrible what they did.
05:18They spent billions and billions of dollars.
05:21And in the end, it didn't even come close to working.
05:24They they tried to hook up wire to copper and it can't be done.
05:28And they just spent billions of dollars and just wasted money actually made the system
05:33much worse.
05:34So we're going to get a brand new modern system.
05:36Congress is working with us on that.
05:38And we're going to get it done as quickly as we can.
05:40But it's it's in the works.
05:42And once it's done, it'll be good for 30 years.
05:45But we have a system that's 48 years old and would have a modern computer hooked into
05:50a very outdated computer.
05:53And they don't hook up.
05:54I mean, they didn't hook up.
05:55So after spending billions of dollars, they turned on the system.
05:59And it in never any cases from local to countrywide, they never worked more than 75,000 bureaucrats
06:08have voluntarily left their taxpayer funded jobs to come out and really do the do the
06:15job.
06:16Countless wasteful and unnecessary contracts have been terminated.
06:19And you know that we have terminated many, many contracts and many contracts, Elon, are
06:26right now being looked at.
06:27And it may be six months.
06:30It may be almost a year in some cases.
06:32We're going through procedures.
06:33We're going through courts.
06:35And we'll remember you as we announce billions of dollars of extra waste, fraud and abuse.
06:42Just as an example, Doge canceled 101 million dollars for DEI contracts at the Department
06:49of Education, 101 million dollars.
06:52And that was just a small section of the Department of Education, 59 million dollars for illegal alien
06:58hotel rooms in New York City.
07:00And the landlord never made the kind of money that he made in the last short period of time.
07:0659 million dollars to a hotel in New York City.
07:0945 million dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma.
07:14In Burma.
07:15Does anyone know about Burma?
07:1742 million dollars for social and behavioral change in Uganda.
07:2240 million dollars to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants.
07:28I can say it's two billion dollars to Stacey Abrams and her environmental movement.
07:35And it was a hundred dollars in the account.
07:37And all of a sudden they found two billion dollars in the account.
07:41And I assume that's being looked at.
07:43I don't know.
07:44I'm not sure.
07:45But I assume that's being looked at.
07:46Think of that.
07:47Two billion dollars.
07:48And then Lee will tell you there's another one over there for 20 billion dollars being
07:55spent on another environmental.
07:5720 billion.
07:58Not 20 million.
07:59A lot.
08:00Not 200,000, which is a lot.
08:02So think of it.
08:03In her case, you have a hundred dollars.
08:06And now all of a sudden she gets hit with an infusion of two billion dollars just before
08:11I take office.
08:1220 million dollars for Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East.
08:19Nobody knows what that's all about.
08:20Nobody's been able to find it.
08:21Eight million dollars for making mice transgenders.
08:25So they spent eight million dollars on making mice transgender.
08:30And those are better than many of the others.
08:33I could sit here all day and read things just like that.
08:36But we have other things to do.
08:38So it's much, much more than just that.
08:40We're totally committed to making the doge cuts permanent and stopping much more of the
08:44waste in the months that come.
08:46We want to get our great, big, beautiful bill finished and done.
08:50After that, we're going to be we put some of this into the bill, but most of it's going
08:55to come later.
08:56We're going to have it categorized by Congress, affirmed by Congress.
09:02In some cases, we'll make cuts.
09:04In some cases, we'll just use it in a different layer to save the money.
09:08But it's hundreds of billions of dollars.
09:11Doge has also fully modernized the federal retirement process and continues to work very
09:16hard on the IRS modernization.
09:18But we're taking that over with Doge.
09:21Many of the Doge people, Elon, are staying behind, too, so they're not leaving.
09:25And Elon's really not leaving.
09:28He's going to be back and forth.
09:29I think I have a feeling it's it's his baby.
09:32And I think he's going to be doing a lot of things.
09:34But Elon's service to America has been without comparison in modern history is already running
09:40one of the most innovative car companies in the world.
09:43You look at his factories and compare them with some of the old factories we have.
09:46And it's a big difference and the most successful space company and I guess in history, you
09:52would have to say the largest free speech platform on the Internet, et cetera.
09:56Yet, Elon willingly with all of the success, he willingly accepted the outrageous abuse and
10:04slander and lies and attacks because he does love our country.
10:08I know that very much, you know, loves our country, comes from another country, country
10:12that's going through trials and tribulations, I would say.
10:17But he's all about the USA and Americans owe him a great debt of gratitude.
10:24So I just want to thank Elon for his time as special government employee.
10:28Can you imagine and call him an employee?
10:31But it's a special government employee and for coming and helping us.
10:36And he really has changed the mindset of a lot of people.
10:39A lot of people thought, you know, maybe we'll cut 1 percent or 2 percent or 3 percent.
10:43Then they said, well, we can cut a lot more than that.
10:46And we're going to do it very surgically.
10:48We're going to continue on a on the march.
10:51We're making America great again.
10:53When I was in Saudi Arabia, we were in, as you know, three really great countries predominantly
11:01the three Qatar was great.
11:05UAE was great.
11:06Saudi Arabia.
11:07Incredible.
11:08What is like such an incredible experience to be in those three countries.
11:12But the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
11:15And I must tell you, the leaders, the great leaders of the other two that we just mentioned,
11:21they all said the same thing that the United States is the hottest country right now anywhere in the world.
11:26And six months ago, we thought it was dead.
11:28It was like a dead country.
11:30And it would have been a dead country if we didn't have the right result on November 5th.
11:33It would have been a horrible, horrible situation was going on with the borders, with transgender for everyone,
11:42men playing in women's sports and so much more.
11:45But they were saying the hottest country anywhere in the world.
11:49And then I played that little clip because that was one person who's respected.
11:52But there were two people because Joe was in that one, too.
11:55Joe is a good man.
11:56But that was one group of people saying something about the success of what we've done over the last four months.
12:04They cannot believe it.
12:05In the one case, they said they've never seen anything like it as long as they've been doing what they've been doing.
12:10They've been doing it for a long time.
12:12So I just I want to thank Elon for helping.
12:16And again, you know, the United States right now is the hottest country anywhere in the world.
12:21There's no country as hot.
12:23And we're doing really well where we came.
12:26When I left, we had no wars.
12:28We had no problems.
12:29We defeated ISIS.
12:30We rebuilt our military and we had no inflation.
12:34And when I came back, we had a lot of inflation.
12:38We had wars all over the place.
12:40We had the embarrassment in Afghanistan where we gave up billions and billions of dollars of military equipment.
12:47The most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, I believe.
12:50I believe that strongly.
12:52We have Russia with Ukraine.
12:54We had the attack on Israel in October.
12:58The horrible attack, October 7th.
13:01Horrible, horrible attack.
13:03Nobody's ever seen anything like it.
13:05And now we have something where we're really healing a lot of that.
13:10We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting.
13:15I believe that could have turned out into a nuclear disaster.
13:18And I want to thank the leaders of India, the leaders of Pakistan.
13:22And I want to thank my people also.
13:25We talked trade.
13:26And we said, we can't trade with people that are shooting at each other and potentially using nuclear weapons.
13:34And they were great leaders in those countries.
13:37And they understood and they agreed.
13:41Agreed.
13:42And that all stopped.
13:44And we're stopping others from fighting also.
13:46Because ultimately, we can fight better than anybody.
13:48We have the greatest military in the world.
13:50We have the greatest leaders in the world.
13:53We put one of them in charge of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as you know, General Raisin Kane.
13:58And we wiped out ISIS, completely wiped out ISIS in three weeks.
14:03They said it would take five years.
14:04And we did it in three weeks.
14:06And that's the way it is.
14:07But we don't want to have to use our military.
14:09We want to be peace through strength when we can.
14:13And that's the way we're going to have it.
14:15So I just want to thank Elon and all of his people.
14:18Most of those people are staying.
14:19Almost all of them are staying.
14:20And they're going to be with us.
14:21And you're going to see the results coming long into the future.
14:25Even a year and two years later, you're going to see a lot of the results.
14:28And those hundreds of billions of dollars are going to be adding up.
14:31And they're going to continue to add.
14:33It'll be interesting.
14:34It's really interesting to see what the final number is going to be.
14:38But again, Elon gave an incredible service.
14:41Nobody liked him.
14:42And he had to go through the slings and the arrows, which is a shame.
14:48Because he's an incredible patriot.
14:51The good news is that 90 percent of the country knows that.
14:54And they appreciate it.
14:55And they really appreciate what he did.
14:57And I gave him a little special something we have here.
15:01A very special that I give to very special people.
15:05I have given it to some, but it goes to very special people.
15:09And I thought I'd give it to Elon as a presentation from our country.
15:15Thank you, Elon.
15:18You can see the luck.
15:20The luck of this is amazing.
15:24Large luck.
15:25Well, let me say perhaps a few words.
15:30That this is not the end of Doge, but really the beginning.
15:34My time as a special government employee necessarily had to end.
15:37It was a limited time thing.
15:38It's 134 days, I believe, which ends in a few days.
15:41So that, you know, it comes with a time limit.
15:46But the Doge team will only grow stronger over time.
15:50The Doge influence will only grow stronger.
15:52I liken it to sort of Buddhism.
15:54It's like a way of life.
15:56So it is permeating throughout the government.
15:59And I'm confident that over time we'll see a trillion dollars of savings
16:03and reduction in a trillion dollars of waste and fraud reduction.
16:08The calculations of the Doge team thus far in terms of an FY25 to FY26 delta
16:15are over $160 billion, and that's climbing.
16:18We expect that number will probably go over $200 billion soon.
16:22So I think the Doge team is doing an incredible job.
16:26They're going to continue doing an incredible job.
16:28And I'll be — and I'll continue to be visiting here and be a friend and advisor to the President.
16:37And I look forward to, you know, times being back in this amazing room.
16:40By the way, isn't this incredible?
16:42Look at this incredible.
16:44I mean, it's stunning, I think, the way that the Oval Office —
16:49how the President has just completely redone the Oval Office.
16:53It's beautiful.
16:54I love the gold on the ceiling.
16:56It's pretty nice.
16:57Yeah.
16:58That's been there a long time.
17:00That was plastered.
17:01Nobody ever really saw it.
17:02Yeah.
17:03They didn't know the Eagle was up there.
17:04And we highlighted — it's a — essentially, it's a landmark, a great landmark.
17:09And that's 24-karat gold.
17:11And everybody loved it.
17:12And now they all see it when they come in.
17:14So it's been — it's been good.
17:16The Oval Office has — you know, finally has the majesty that it deserves, thanks to the President.
17:20So I look forward to continuing to be a friend and advisor to the President, continuing to support the Doge team.
17:27And we are relentlessly pursuing a trillion dollars in waste and fraud reductions, which will benefit the American taxpayer.
17:38So that's — that's it, really.
17:44Thank you, Mr. President.
17:46Great job.
17:50Thank you, President Trump.
17:51The President mentioned that you had to deal with all the slings and arrows during your time at Doge.
17:55There's this —
17:56Well, some of the people — you know, some of the media organizations in this room were the slingers.
18:00Well, so —
18:01There is a New York Times report today that accuses you of blurring the line between —
18:06Oh, wait, wait.
18:07Is the New York Times — is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate?
18:16Is it the same organization?
18:18I gotta check my Pulitzer —
18:19I think it is.
18:20I think it is.
18:21It is.
18:22I think the judge just ruled against the New York Times for their lies about the Russiagate hoax,
18:28and that they might have to give back that Pulitzer Prize.
18:31That, New York Times?
18:32Let's move on.
18:33Okay, then —
18:34Next question.
18:35I got one for you.
18:36I got one for President Trump.
18:37So, President Trump, Biden aides, who used to work here, are in talks with Republicans in Congress
18:45to go and testify about what they did or didn't do to possibly conceal President Biden's decline.
18:52Do you think that Dr. Jill Biden should also have to come in and testify about what she did or didn't do?
19:00Well, I hate the concept of it.
19:03It's the wife of a man who was going through a lot of problems, and everybody that dealt with him understood that.
19:11And I guess it came out during the debate loud and clear.
19:14That was the big — that was the biggest signal of all.
19:17They have to do what's right.
19:19The country was — there was a lot of dishonesty in the election, as you know, of 2020.
19:25That's been now caught.
19:26People understand it.
19:27It was a rigged election.
19:28And when you go further out, when you see the auto pen —
19:32I mean, I think the auto pen is going to become one of the great scandals of all time,
19:36because you have somebody operating it or a number of people operating.
19:40Because I knew Joe Biden.
19:41Joe Biden wasn't in favor of opening up orders, letting 21 million people into this,
19:46from prisons and mental institutions and gang members.
19:49He wasn't into that at all.
19:51And, you know, who signed the — who signed these orders, proclamations,
19:55and all of the different things that he signed that set our country so far back,
20:00that was — that was so bad for our country.
20:02The President.
20:03With the auto pen, how would it work?
20:04Like, we're in the Oval Office right now.
20:05If there was a group of rogue staffers that worked for you,
20:09who wanted to advance a bill or an executive order without your knowledge,
20:14how could they do it?
20:16How — how do they —
20:17Well, it's very hard because I'd read your newspapers or your media the next day,
20:21and I'd say, well, I didn't approve that, and I would find it.
20:24I mean, they wouldn't get away with it for long because I'd say,
20:27I never signed that.
20:28Who the hell signed that?
20:29Auto pens, to me, are used to sign letters to people because we get —
20:35I think they said 20,000 letters a week.
20:37And you like to be able — when somebody takes the time to write a letter,
20:41it's nice to sort of write back.
20:43And auto pens are meant for that.
20:45Auto pens are not meant to sign major proclamations or tax cuts or borders —
20:50anything having to do with the border, which is so important.
20:53And if it happened on my watch, I would be able to see it because the next day or sooner,
20:58I'd be reading about something that I knew nothing about and who the hell signed this.
21:03So I almost never used the auto pen.
21:05In fact, yesterday I was signing about 81 — I think it was 81 proclamations and statements to people that I think should be signed by us.
21:16I think when you write letters to foreign dignitaries or presidents or prime ministers,
21:22you should be signing those letters, not done with auto pens.
21:25I understand he signed almost everything with an auto pen.
21:28It's a very dangerous thing.
21:30It really means you're not president.
21:32Whoever operated the auto pen — and we think we know who that is —
21:35and it was actually more than one person.
21:38But that's not what the presidency is all about.
21:42I hardly used to know that.
21:44On China —
21:45Are you willing to state the tariffs on China?
21:48You said that they violated the agreement with the U.S.
21:50Well, they did.
21:51They were — they violated a big part of the agreement we made.
21:55You know, if you read that whole statement, I was very nice to them.
21:58I helped them because they were in trouble with the stoppage of a massive amount of business.
22:03But I'm sure that I'll speak to President Xi and hopefully we'll work that out.
22:08But yeah, that's — it's a violation of the agreement.
22:10Yeah, please.
22:11Mr. President, can you give us an update to the latest ceasefire agreement
22:14that Israel has — has agreed to but Hamas still considering?
22:18Well, they're very close to an agreement on Gaza.
22:21And we'll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow.
22:24And we have a chance of that.
22:25And I think we have a chance of making a deal with Iran also.
22:28They don't want to be blown up.
22:30They would rather make a deal.
22:31And I think that could happen in the not-too-distant future.
22:34That would be a great thing.
22:35If we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East,
22:40that would be a very good thing.
22:42They can't have a nuclear weapon.
22:44We want them — we want them to be safe.
22:46We want them to have a very, very successful nation.
22:49Let it be a great nation.
22:50But we can't have — they cannot have a nuclear weapon.
22:53It's very simple.
22:54And I think we're fairly close to a deal with Iran.
22:57President Trump, I have a question for Elon.
23:00Yeah, please.
23:01You said just now that you look forward to being a friend and advisor to the president.
23:04So do you expect —
23:05Well, I am.
23:06— to continue advising the president and Doge informally?
23:09Or are you going to sort of shift your focus entirely to your companies?
23:14Well, I expect to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like.
23:19Advice for people —
23:20I hope so.
23:21I mean, I'm, yeah, it's, I expect to remain a friend and an advisor, and certainly if there's anything the president wants me to do, I'm at the president's service.
23:34Mr. Moss, on Doge, you said that there was a trillion dollar promise for cuts from Doge.
23:39Yes, I think we do expect over time to achieve the trillion dollars.
23:42But what have you found in your time here was the biggest roadblock to getting those cuts?
23:47Was it the cabinet or was it Congress or something else?
23:50What was the biggest roadblock from your work?
23:53It's mostly just a lot of hard work.
23:55It's really not any one personal Congress.
23:59It's going through really millions of line items and saying just each one of them makes sense or does not make sense.
24:08Obviously, at times when you cut expenses, those who are receiving the money, whether they're receiving that money legitimately or not, they do complain.
24:15And you're not going to hear someone confessing that they received money inappropriately, never.
24:22They're going to always say that they received money appropriately for an important cause, naturally.
24:26That's what you'd expect.
24:27But so we're just going to have to, it's just a lot of work going through the vast expenses of the federal government and just really asking questions.
24:38What's this money for?
24:40Are you sure it's actually being used well?
24:42Well, many times we can't even find anyone who defends it.
24:48So for a lot of the expenses, there is actually no defender at all.
24:52And then we have to just work through the process of stopping the spending where there's often literally no defender.
24:57Nobody even knows why the money is being spent.
24:59It's truly absurd.
25:00I mean, we find situations where there are millions of software licenses with zero people using them.
25:08Zero.
25:10Exactly.
25:11This is the quizzical expression.
25:12You're like, surely, if there's millions of software licenses, someone should be using them.
25:16No.
25:17And then we just, we've got to go through the process of saying, okay, look, if no one's using the software, we need to terminate this software license agreement.
25:24That's everywhere.
25:26Mr. Musk, what do you think would be easier, colonizing Mars or making the government efficient?
25:34It's a tough call.
25:36But I think colonizing Mars and making life multi-planatory is harder.
25:41And as I said, we do expect to achieve over time the trillion dollars of savings.
25:47We can't do it in like a few months.
25:48But if you say by the, I think the official end of Doe, which the president may choose to extend, is the middle of next year.
25:55Say, by the middle of next year, with the support of the president and Congress, could we achieve $20 of savings?
26:01I think so.
26:02We're on track to do so.
26:03Do you have faith that Congress is going to do it?
26:05Mr. Musk, Mr. Musk, Mr. Musk, Mr. Musk, go ahead.
26:07Thank you, Mr. President.
26:09You had mentioned earlier in the week that Doe should become a whipping boy.
26:13And as the president mentioned, you went through a lot to go through this process.
26:17Was it worth it for you?
26:18And what would you change?
26:19Yes, so what we found was happening was that if there were any cuts anywhere, then people would assume that was done by Doe.
26:31And so we became essentially the Doe boogeyman, where if any cut anywhere would be ascribed to Doe.
26:41You know, a friend of mine's daughter, who's at law school in Georgetown, thought that Doe had cut the Senate, you know, the internships, the legal internships for the Senate.
26:52And we have nothing to do with that.
26:54So if they have been cut, there's nothing to do with us, just as an example.
26:56So, you know, it just became a bit ridiculous where anything, any cut anywhere was Sinha Doe, including things that made no sense.
27:07And we would agree it made no sense.
27:09So there are many things that occur in the government because it's the banal evil of bureaucracy.
27:17It's sort of the, frankly, largely uncaring nature of bureaucracy.
27:25As the great Walton Friedman said, money is spent most poorly when it is someone else's money being spent on people you don't know.
27:35And that's how federal spending is.
27:38And then you can't really even blame the individuals because the way the government works is complaint minimization.
27:45So when you do try to, when someone within the government tries to stop that money being spent, there's usually someone that complains.
27:52And then their manager will say, it's not worth the trouble.
27:57Just pay it anyway.
27:59That happens over and over again.
28:00So what's the first thing?
28:01Mr. President?
28:01Mr. President, I think it was an important thing.
28:04I think it was a necessary thing.
28:05And I think we'll have a good effect in the future.
28:07Thank you, President Trump.
28:08This week, there was a video on board a plane that showed the First Lady of France slapping her husband, Emmanuel Macron.
28:16Do you have any world leader-to-world leader marital advice on his own?
28:23Make sure the door remains closed.
28:28That was not good.
28:29No, I spoke to him.
28:30And he's fine.
28:33They're fine.
28:34They're two really good people.
28:35I know them very well.
28:37And I don't know what that was all about.
28:40But I know them very well.
28:42And they're fine.
28:43What do you think about this Democratic Party plan to avoid being swept in every battleground state again
28:51by spending $20 million to study how to speak to American men?
28:58Well, you know, they spent $2.8 billion.
29:02We spent $1.5.
29:03We spent much less.
29:04We spent about half of what they spent.
29:07And at the end, they were $28 million short.
29:12They had to be, they spent $2.8 billion.
29:15It's a lot.
29:15But they couldn't get $28 million at the end.
29:18And now they want to spend, I read that, they want to spend money to learn how to talk.
29:22That's fake.
29:23You don't want to be fake.
29:24You shouldn't have to hire consultants to say what America needs.
29:28Because, you know, then they should be, the consultants should be running the deal, not them.
29:32But I read that they want to spend a lot of money in each state.
29:34So we want all seven swing states, seven out of seven.
29:37We want a lot more than that.
29:39We want the popular vote.
29:40We want everything.
29:41And they want to spend money to find out what they did wrong.
29:44And, I mean, I can tell you what they did wrong.
29:46I can tell you every one of their programs when they say men playing in women's sports,
29:51I would say that's not a winner.
29:53When they say transgender for everybody, I think that's not a winner.
29:57When they say open borders so the entire world population of criminals can pour into our country,
30:04I don't think that's a winner.
30:05I mean, I can, I just gave them that for free.
30:08But I don't know if they'll change their ways.
30:10I see them all the time.
30:12I see people that I know in Congress, Democrats, they're trying to justify some of the things I just said.
30:18You can't justify them.
30:19They're, you know, I always hear they're 80-20 issues.
30:22I say they're not 80-20, they're 97-3.
30:25They might be 99-1.
30:27They're not 80-20.
30:28They wish they were 80-20.
30:30And they're wasting a lot of money if they're going to continue with that nonsense.
30:34And this one's a little bit more of a page-six question.
30:37But back when you hosted The Apprentice, you mentioned once in 2012 that Diddy was a good friend of yours back then.
30:43He has since found himself in some very serious legal trouble.
30:46Yeah, that's true.
30:47Would you ever consider pardoning him?
30:49Well, nobody's asked.
30:53You had to be the one to ask, Peter.
30:54But nobody's asked.
30:55But I know people are thinking about it.
30:57I know they're thinking about it.
30:59I think people have been very close to asking.
31:02First of all, I'd look at what's happening.
31:05And I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage.
31:09I haven't seen him.
31:10I haven't spoken to him in years.
31:13He used to really like me a lot.
31:15But I think when I ran for politics, he sort of that relationship busted up from what I read.
31:21I don't know.
31:21He didn't tell me that.
31:22But I'd read some little bit nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden.
31:26You know, it's different.
31:28You become a much different person when you run for politics and you do what's right.
31:33I could do other things, and I'm sure he'd like me, and I'm sure other people would like me.
31:37But it wouldn't be as good for our country.
31:38As we said, our country is doing really well because of what we're doing.
31:42So I can't.
31:43It's not a popularity contest.
31:45So, I don't know.
31:46I would certainly look at the facts.
31:48If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me, it wouldn't have any impact on me.
31:54Mr. President, on the Big Beautiful Bill, would you like to see the Senate build in some support for your tariffs on the Big Beautiful Bill?
32:00Or should that be a standalone bill?
32:02Mr. I have great support on the tariffs.
32:05I mean, I was so honored that we got that ridiculous stay lifted because that would have taken away presidential power.
32:12It would have taken away everything that was granted by the founders.
32:15It would have been a terrible thing.
32:17And it would have, most importantly, it would have left us vulnerable.
32:20We have a lot of countries that use tariffs on us and use them viciously, actually, viciously.
32:26And if we didn't have the power to use tariffs on them, and instantly, not when you go back to Congress and try and get hundreds of people to agree on something that would take months to get just one simple proclamation.
32:38If we didn't have the power to counteract their powers, you wouldn't have a country left.
32:44We have to act fast.
32:46We have to be fast and nimble, as they say.
32:49And that was a really great moment, I think, yesterday when that stay was lifted.
32:54And hopefully now we'll go to court and just win that battle.
32:58Because if we don't have the power to do what they're doing to us, we are going to be a great nation no longer.
33:05Mr. President, Elon Musk was once idolized by folks on the left in this country before joining your administration.
33:11Now he's considered a hero by conservatives.
33:14Why do you think this man, what he's done in American life, has been so politicized?
33:18Does it all have to do with you?
33:19Well, his life has been amazing.
33:21When I look at so many different things, I look at that rocket being, you know, guided back into position.
33:27I've never seen that before.
33:28I thought it was a space movie.
33:29I thought it was a movie.
33:31You look at what he's done in terms of communication.
33:34It's been unbelievable.
33:36So many different, even tunnels going underground, not having to go through all the process of going, you know, he's got a company that does that.
33:43He's got so many different companies.
33:45Starlink, as an example, he saved a lot of lives, probably hundreds of lives in North Carolina.
33:51I don't even know if you remember, but I called you.
33:53They needed Starlink in North Carolina.
33:57And I didn't know what the hell Starlink was.
33:59I said, what is it?
34:00Who owns it?
34:01He said, do you know Elon Musk?
34:02I said, yeah, I happen to know the gentleman.
34:04This was before his government stay.
34:06And they said, we really need it because North Carolina was literally became an island.
34:11It was people who had no communication.
34:14They had no access to anything and they were dying.
34:17And I called up Elon and you can't get it because it's so successful.
34:21It's very hard to get.
34:22And he had so much of it brought over there and they told me it was unbelievable.
34:26It saved a lot of lives.
34:27So, you know, he's just done a lot of things.
34:29He I don't think frankly, I don't think he gets credit for what he said.
34:33But he's and he's a very good person, too.
34:35You know what, if he wasn't a good person, if he wasn't, but he did the same things,
34:41you know, I'd probably maybe speak differently.
34:43He happens to be a really good person who loves the country.
34:46One big, beautiful bill.
34:49You had indicated this week that there were some things you didn't like about what had passed in the House.
34:54What changes do you want to see the Senate make?
34:56And you had also indicated there were things you didn't like about the bill.
34:59What would you be suggesting he pushed senators to change in their version?
35:04Well, I'll tell you, I'll go first.
35:06It's an unbelievable bill.
35:08It cuts your deficits.
35:09It cuts, you know, it's a huge cutting.
35:11But there's the things I'd like to see maybe cut a little bit more.
35:14I'd like to see a bigger cut in taxes.
35:17It's going to be the largest tax decrease or cut in the history of our country.
35:22I'd like to see it get down to an even lower number.
35:25I was shooting for a slightly lower number.
35:28I would have liked to have done that.
35:31But with all of that being said, when you look at the tax cut and the fact that the original tax cut, which made us so successful,
35:39we had the most successful four years in the history of our country, the economy.
35:43And this is going to be even better.
35:45And you see that by the reports that came out just yesterday or tonight.
35:49I guess they were released this morning at 8 o'clock.
35:51You see the kind of numbers where somebody that's a pro is like,
35:54whoa, I haven't seen numbers like this since I've been doing this.
35:57You know, these are human emotions of professionals that have never seen numbers like,
36:03and we've just, we've just started.
36:06The bill is a great bill.
36:08It's going to be jiggered around a little bit.
36:11It's going to be negotiated with the Senate, with the House.
36:14But the end result is it extends the Trump tax cuts.
36:19If it doesn't get approved, you'll have a 68% tax increase.
36:24You're going to go up 68%.
36:27That's a number that nobody's ever heard of before.
36:30You'll have a massive tax increase.
36:33If it does get approved, you'll have a large tax cut, the largest we've ever had.
36:39When you add the past tax cuts that we got you, the Trump tax, they call them the Trump tax cuts.
36:44It's an amazing bill.
36:48It does amazing things.
36:49With all of that, it's going to be adjusted a little bit over the next coming weeks,
36:52and I think it's going to be passed.
36:54The Republicans want to pass it.
36:56With all of the great things it does, including an extension of debt,
37:00it's the extension.
37:01We have to extend the debt.
37:03If we don't extend debt, we're in default.
37:05Now, the Democrats might like our country to be in default,
37:08but in 250 years, we've never been in default.
37:11That was handed to them by a very well-meaning man
37:14that gave it to them because he thought it was the right thing to do.
37:19It could have been their problem before the election,
37:21but this man thought it was the right thing to do, and he was well-meaning.
37:25I don't hold anything against him for that,
37:27but that was put on our plate when it should have been on the Democrats.
37:31September 28th, a famous date.
37:34It should have been taken care of by the Democrats,
37:36but this person, a man of power, gave it to us so that in June that comes due.
37:44Well, we have to take care of that because if we don't take care of it,
37:47we have a country in default, and we don't ever want to have a country in default.
37:51You know, I'll tell you, a certain senator, Elizabeth Warren,
37:58said that she would never, ever allow a default on our debt.
38:05She would never let it happen,
38:08and she would like to get rid of the debt ceiling,
38:10what's called the debt ceiling.
38:11I call it the debt extension because we really need an extension.
38:14That she'd like to see that gotten rid of,
38:16and there are many people that agree.
38:18Many Democrats agree with that,
38:19but we gave that through,
38:24and, you know, I don't want to say an error.
38:25He did it well, meaning they gave that to us.
38:28It was a Democrat problem just before the election.
38:32Would have had a huge impact on the election,
38:34and to our benefit.
38:35We won anyway, but to our benefit.
38:38But felt that really for the good of the country,
38:41we should extend that.
38:42But Elizabeth Warren and various other people would like to see that.
38:46Her whole career, she wanted to see it terminated,
38:50gotten rid of, not being voted on every five years or ten years.
38:55And the reason was because it's so catastrophic for our country.
39:00And I always agreed with her.
39:02That was one thing I agreed with her on.
39:04Now, I haven't spoken to her,
39:05but I would say that if you asked her that question now,
39:08she'd say, no, no, it's their problem.
39:10But it's a very unfortunate situation.
39:13It's a very unfair situation.
39:15And she happened to be right on that.
39:16It should be gotten rid of,
39:17or it should simply be extended.
39:19But that's one of the things that gets taken care of in this bill.
39:22That automatically gets extended for a four-year period.
39:26And it should be.
39:27But I agree with Elizabeth Warren on that.
39:29I think you should get rid of it.
39:30It's too catastrophic.
39:32Mr. Musk, I don't have it.
39:33Yeah, please. Go ahead.
39:34What message do you like to send to international students?
39:38Are they still welcomed to study in the United States?
39:41And one question for Mr. Musk.
39:43The President.
39:43Well, we want to have great students here.
39:45We just don't want students that are causing trouble.
39:47We want to have students.
39:48I want to have foreign students.
39:49I think Harvard, you know, it's close to 31%.
39:52That's a lot.
39:53Our country has given $5 billion plus to Harvard over a short period of time.
40:01Nobody knew that.
40:02We found that out.
40:03I wouldn't say that was a doge thing,
40:05but we found that out over a period of time.
40:07That was sort of a Trump thing.
40:09We ended up in litigation for other reasons,
40:11because they're very anti-Semitic.
40:13And in finding out and in going through the books,
40:16we found out that the country gave them $5 billion plus,
40:20much more than that, actually.
40:22And we're having it out with them, and let's see what happens.
40:25I think we have a very good, well, it's a very sad case.
40:30It's a case we win.
40:31We can't lose that case, because we have the right to make grants.
40:34We're not going to make any grants like that.
40:36But I don't think Harvard's been acting very nicely.
40:41I think Columbia wants to get to the bottom of the problem.
40:43They've acted very well.
40:44And there are other institutions, too, that are acting.
40:46But Harvard's trying to be a big shot.
40:49And all that happens is every three days,
40:53we find another $100 million that was given.
40:56Last two days ago, we found $200 million more.
40:59The money's given to them like gravy.
41:01I'd like to see the money go to trade schools,
41:04where people learn how to fix motors and engines,
41:06where people learn how to build rocket ships.
41:08Because, you know, somebody has to build those rocket ships.
41:11And I'd like to see trade schools set up,
41:13because you could take $5 billion plus hundreds of billions more,
41:18which is what's spent.
41:19And you could have the greatest trade school system anywhere in the world.
41:23And that's what we need, to build his rockets and robots
41:25and things that he's doing, and to build lots of other things.
41:29And, you know, I went to school with people.
41:32In some cases, they weren't good students.
41:34But they could fix the engine of a car better than anybody I've ever seen.
41:38They could take it apart blindfolded.
41:40They had an ability at that.
41:41And they did very well.
41:42They made a lot of money.
41:43You know, it's a very skilled job.
41:45It's great.
41:46But I'd like to see a lot of money going into trade schools.
41:48I've always felt that.
41:49And we probably found our pot of gold.
41:52And that's what's been wasted at places like Harvard.
41:56And the money's been wasted.
41:57Yeah, please.
41:58The Pressure.
41:58I wanted to ask quickly, Mr. Musk, is your eye okay?
42:01What happened to your eye?
42:02I noticed there was a bruise there.
42:03Well, it wasn't anywhere near France.
42:05So, but.
42:10What does that mean?
42:12I didn't notice.
42:14First lady of France.
42:16I didn't notice.
42:17So, yeah, no, I was just forcing around with little X.
42:20And I said, go ahead, punch me in the face.
42:23And he did.
42:23It turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face, actually.
42:26That was X that did?
42:27Yeah.
42:28X could do it.
42:30If you knew X, he could do it.
42:31I saw his mom right now.
42:31But I didn't feel, I didn't really feel much at the time.
42:35And then it, I guess it bruises up.
42:37But I just watched him around with the kids basically.
42:38I didn't notice it, actually.
42:40I know that you tried to stay pretty neutral because not your war.
42:45But as you.
42:46And by the way, not my war.
42:48I just want to solve the problem for people.
42:50This was not a war that was going to happen if I were president.
42:53Right, and so, not your war, but as you try to fix it, and as you survey this hellscape
42:58of the Ukrainian front lines.
43:00It's horrible.
43:01And you guys, you and your team deal with a very stubborn Vladimir Putin.
43:05Yeah.
43:05Do you look.
43:06And Zelensky.
43:07Yeah.
43:07But do you look at this conflict.
43:08Very stubborn Zelensky, too.
43:09Any differently now?
43:11Like, do you look at this and see Putin as the good guy or the bad guy?
43:15So, I've known him very well, and I went through a lot of things with him because Russia was,
43:23you know, the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax turned out to be a total hoax.
43:27New York Times, they got a Pulitzer Prize.
43:29They have to give back the Pulitzer Prize.
43:31That's my lawsuit, and they're doing very poorly in that lawsuit.
43:34But, you know, they wrote stories about how it was true, and it was false.
43:38And, you know, a lot of Washington Post also.
43:40So, I have gotten to see things that I was very surprised at.
43:48Rockets being shot into cities like Kiev during a negotiation that I felt was maybe very close
43:56to ending.
43:57We were going to solve a problem, and then all of a sudden rockets got shot into a couple
44:03of cities, and people died.
44:06I saw things that I was surprised at.
44:07So, and I don't like being surprised.
44:11So, I'm very disappointed in that way.
44:13With that being said, I'd like to see it end.
44:155,000 people, I think the number is even more than that, but 5,000 people a week are being
44:21killed.
44:22Mostly soldiers, but also people that live in little cities and towns throughout Ukraine.
44:29And I'd like to see that stop.
44:31And I asked Caroline this yesterday, but I want to ask you directly.
44:35So many of the things that you're trying to do are held up in court right now.
44:39If the courts are going to have so much influence over U.S. policy, do you wish you would have
44:44just become a judge instead?
44:46Yeah, well, look, it wasn't meant to be that way.
44:50If you look at the founders, the president had certain powers.
44:53And you have your three groups, and they all had supposed to be equal, pretty equal powers.
44:58But you can't have a judge in Boston running foreign policy in places all over the country
45:06because he's got a liberal bent or he's a radical left person.
45:12That's what the executive branch is for.
45:14And you have checks and balances.
45:16But we had millions of people pour into our country.
45:19Many, many criminals poured into our country.
45:21Murderers, murderers, mental institutions from all over the world being emptied out into our country.
45:27And if we don't get them out and get them out quickly, we're going to lose your country very easily.
45:32These are, this is a bad, that anybody would allow this to happen to our country.
45:37You know, with all of the things, we took over inflation, we took over some wars,
45:40we took over a lot of problems that didn't exist when I was president.
45:44None of it existed.
45:45We wiped out ISIS.
45:46Other than that, we had no wars.
45:49Putin was never going to hit Ukraine.
45:52Israel would have never been attacked.
45:54That attack, that attack, as you know, Iran had no money.
45:59They didn't have money for Hamas.
46:01They didn't have money for Hezbollah.
46:02They had no money whatsoever.
46:04That wasn't going to happen.
46:05All of these things that happened weren't going to happen.
46:07You wouldn't have had inflation.
46:10So it's very sad when I came back.
46:12But the thing that is the hardest is that they allowed 21 million people into our country.
46:19And many of those people are stone-cold criminals.
46:24They moved their criminal population into the United States.
46:28And of all the things that, you know, are bad, I solved inflation, I believe, already.
46:35I got the fuel prices down.
46:36The fuel prices came down.
46:37That's one of the reasons they screwed up the energy.
46:41They screwed up the cost of gasoline and oil and gas.
46:45And you had tremendous inflation.
46:47And the greatest inflation probably in the history of our country under Biden.
46:51And when people said, oh, but the economy was out.
46:54No, the economy was terrible for the people because they couldn't afford the energy.
46:57And the energy brought everything else up.
46:59Energy is the big deal.
47:00But with all of that, we solved that already.
47:04In four months, we solved it.
47:05$1.99, $1.98 gasoline.
47:08First time people have seen that in a long time, since my term.
47:12But the hardest thing to solve is millions of people pouring into our country, many of whom are criminals.
47:19Because remember, these countries are smart.
47:21Their leaders are very street smart.
47:24They're sending the people that they don't want.
47:25They don't want the people that are there, that are law-abiding, that are productive, that are working hard.
47:32They want people that are in jails.
47:35We have them.
47:37They allow them to come in.
47:38And I always look to the other side, like, why would somebody do something?
47:42You know, in business, I try and study why would they want to do this?
47:45Why would they want to sell it?
47:46Why would they want to buy it?
47:47One thing I can't figure out is, what would an administration, what were they thinking when they allowed millions of people from prisons all over the world,
47:59not just from South America, Venezuela, all over the world, from the Congo in Africa?
48:05Hundreds of people, thousands of people from the Congo, rough, rough prisoners, from Asia, from Europe, rough parts of Europe.
48:17Why would they allow them to come into our country?
48:20Why would they do that?
48:22It's the one thing I can't figure out.
48:25And I don't believe it was Joe Biden.
48:27I really don't.
48:28I mean, he's been a sort of a moderate person over his lifetime.
48:32Not a smart person, but a somewhat vicious person, I will say.
48:38If you feel sorry for him, don't feel so sorry because he's vicious.
48:41What he did with his political opponent and all of the people that he hurt, he hurt a lot of people, Biden.
48:47And so I really don't feel sorry for him.
48:49But he wasn't a person that would allow murderers to come into our country.
48:54He wasn't a person that was in favor of transgender for anybody that wanted it.
49:00Take kids out of families, et cetera, et cetera.
49:03So I just don't understand why a thing like this, how a thing like this could have been allowed to happen.
49:09Very sad.
49:10It's very sad for our country.
49:13I think the fundamental moral flaw of the left is empathy for the criminals
49:23and not empathy for the victims.
49:26Empathy for the criminals, but not empathy for the victims.
49:29And there's been way too much of that.
49:31That needs to stop.
49:32To the president's point, there's been immense judicial overreach that is unconstitutional.
49:38That was never intended.
49:40And it's undermining the people's faith in the legal system.
49:44It needs to stop.
49:45It's gone too far.
49:47Mr. Martin, just today, we had, just a couple of hours ago,
49:52we had a great decision from the Supreme Court, thank goodness,
49:57that was very important.
49:59We had two important decisions yesterday on the tariffs
50:02because, again, we have to be able to fight a fair fight with other countries.
50:07Howard, would you say we have to be able to use tariffs
50:10to fight people that use tariffs on us?
50:12I mean, if we didn't have that power of tariffs,
50:15we would economically be destroyed as a country
50:18because they will destroy us.
50:19Other countries will destroy us with unchecked tariffs.
50:24We can check them when we have the use.
50:26They tried to take that power away from us.
50:28And if you take that power away, we're not going to have a country.
50:31We won't have an economically viable country.
50:34But it's very important on immigration
50:37that we be able to get people out without having to go through a long court case.
50:42I mean, it was up to some of these judges.
50:43Every single one of these millions of people, millions of people,
50:49criminals, prisoners that were let go from jails
50:52because they save a fortune when they do,
50:54they brought them into the United States.
50:56You know what they're saving, the money they're saving?
50:59But some of the murders, it's very important
51:01that we're able to get those people out of here fast,
51:03bring them back to their country where they belong.
51:06And those countries take them
51:07because if they don't take them,
51:09they have to go through the wrath of the United States,
51:11and they take them.
51:12But we have judges that don't want that to happen.
51:15And it would be, it's a terrible thing.
51:19That's going through the court system right now,
51:21that whole situation.
51:23But when ICE and with Border Patrol,
51:26they've done an incredible job.
51:28When they do this incredible job
51:29and they capture 100 killers and drug dealers,
51:36we can't keep them for years here as we go through trials.
51:40We have to get them out rapidly.
51:42And we know who they are.
51:44We know who they are.
51:46And we're very careful about who they are.
51:48But we have to get them out rapidly.
51:49Or, again, we're not going to have a country.
51:51Okay?
51:52Maybe one or two more.
51:54Go ahead.
51:55The Pressure is concerned that tariff
51:57may also affect companies like Tesla,
51:59which have parts manufactured abroad.
52:02And this is also to you, Mr. Musk.
52:04Well, he's going to end up building his whole car here.
52:06I mean, I thought he built his whole car.
52:08Pretty much he does.
52:09He's got incredible factories.
52:11And, like, I looked at one in Texas.
52:13It's unbelievable.
52:14I know all of the manufacturers
52:17will build their parts here, too.
52:19I mean, it used to bother me.
52:21They make a part in Canada, a part in Mexico,
52:24a part in Europe, and it's sent all over the place.
52:27And nobody knew what the hell was happening.
52:28I think it's ridiculous.
52:29You build a car, make it in America.
52:31And I gave them a little leeway on that.
52:34You know, I gave them some leeway.
52:36But over the next year,
52:37they've got to have the whole thing built in America.
52:39That's what we want.
52:40We want America to buy American-built cars.
52:44Thank you very much, everybody.
52:46Thank you, Chris.
52:47Thanks, guys.
52:47Thank you, guys.
52:48How was your view with your real power?
52:50Thanks, guys.
52:51Good meeting.
52:51Thank you, guys.
52:52It was a good meeting.
52:53Are you considering...
52:54Thanks, guys.
52:54Let's keep going.
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