Bannon's War Room - December 23, 2025


Episode 5016： President Trump Unveils The Golden Fleet


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 1 minute

Words per minute

172.12195

Word count

10,575

Sentence count

961

Harmful content

Misogyny

8

sentences flagged

Hate speech

13

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The Anthem of the Free is a tribute to those who lost their lives in the recent helicopter crash at the hands of a helicopter crash on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, and to the families who lost a loved one in the helicopter crash.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.880 My name is Shane Jenkins, Enrique Tarrio, Robert Morris, Daniel Caldwell, my name is Mickey, my name is Pete Schwartz, Barry Ramey, Brian Nichols, Debra Mamone, Olivia Pollock, John Nassif, Jordan Mack, George, White Wolf, Riley, Robert Gieswine, Kyle Fitzsimons, Adrienne Souther, Andrew Tocchi, Jessica Watkins, Timothy Hale, John McHugh, Billy Cruston.
00:00:16.560 This anthem means a lot to me because it's what held us together.
00:00:19.660 Against the odds, our faith that our days of this nation will be renewed is still there.
00:00:24.780 We've formed bonds that can never be broken.
00:00:27.060 I, along with my brothers and sisters, weather the storm.
00:00:29.920 We will never stop fighting for this country.
00:00:31.680 And my friends and my brothers have also helped me through this tough time.
00:00:35.560 Because we are what makes this country the greatest country on this planet.
00:00:38.640 And this moment, and this anthem, is living.
00:00:41.800 We sing for all the people who never made it home.
00:00:50.140 Through us their stories will be told.
00:00:53.500 We stand as one, united in this fight for liberty.
00:01:03.400 Justice for all our voices ring.
00:01:07.880 The anthem of the free.
00:01:10.880 Hey.
00:01:13.040 Freedom ain't free, no, it comes with a price.
00:01:16.100 Rest in peace, Charlie.
00:01:17.320 Can't believe they took your life.
00:01:19.340 Didn't make it back home to your children and wife.
00:01:22.320 By any means, we have to keep freedom of speech alive.
00:01:26.140 Hey.
00:01:26.560 Rest in peace, Cory.
00:01:27.800 All the fires that you fight.
00:01:29.540 To the cops and military that been fighting day and night.
00:01:32.700 So we can have liberty and our God giving rights.
00:01:36.020 To all the mothers and fathers that's just trying to protect their child.
00:01:39.460 Hey.
00:01:39.760 Freedom worth dying for.
00:01:41.560 Dreams worth fighting for.
00:01:43.260 God got us, I promise.
00:01:44.640 That's the reason I smile.
00:01:46.300 Protesting with our voice.
00:01:47.760 And our presence and our words.
00:01:49.300 We ain't killing people for disagreeing, man.
00:01:51.820 That's absurd.
00:01:52.880 Right there.
00:01:53.340 Welcome for the afternoon edition of the War.
00:01:55.840 It's Monday, 22 December, year of our Lord, 2025.
00:01:59.620 That is Anthem of the Free.
00:02:01.180 We're going to play that again later.
00:02:03.200 Went up to number one over the weekend.
00:02:05.400 Backed off a little bit.
00:02:06.720 We got it.
00:02:07.120 Everybody go to iTunes and download it.
00:02:09.320 We're trying to not just drive this to number one, as we've already done, but keep it up there.
00:02:13.620 Anthem of the Free.
00:02:14.820 Or you can hit the, what is it, the QR code?
00:02:18.220 Is that what it's called?
00:02:18.740 A QR code?
00:02:19.660 Hit the QR code on your set and send it there.
00:02:23.620 The President of the United States is coming out in a moment.
00:02:25.480 Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
00:02:27.760 Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
00:02:30.320 The Secretary of Navy, Phelan.
00:02:32.440 All there.
00:02:33.040 Talk about a massive shipbuilding program. 1.00
00:02:35.060 The Trump class, I guess, battleship?
00:02:38.600 Captain Fennell joins us.
00:02:40.000 Captain Fennell, can you give us a few moments before the President comes out at Mar-a-Lago?
00:02:45.460 The problems, you've been the number one advocate of this.
00:02:48.400 We have a big problem in the United States Navy about shipbuilding and the size of the fleet
00:02:53.160 and the composition of the fleet.
00:02:54.460 What is it?
00:02:55.140 What is it?
00:02:55.620 And what do you hope to hear from the President of the United States, sir?
00:02:59.740 Well, Steve, first of all, thanks for having me on and Merry Christmas.
00:03:02.780 I think for many of us that have been advocating for restoring America's maritime power that's
00:03:10.240 been basically gutted for the last 35 years, today is an early Christmas present because
00:03:16.460 I expect the President to come out with the members of the Cabinet you've mentioned, and
00:03:21.160 they're going to announce kind of a new shipbuilding program.
00:03:23.680 And they're going to lead off with the announcement of this new, what they're calling a battleship.
00:03:28.640 And it's going to be probably labeled the Trump class.
00:03:31.480 And the first ship of the class I've heard is going to be called the USS Defiant.
00:03:35.640 And it's based upon the Arleigh Burke destroyer class of ship that we have.
00:03:40.720 Currently, we've had since the 80s.
00:03:42.420 We have 74 of them.
00:03:43.800 But this is going to be, I think, substantially larger, more survivable.
00:03:47.800 And then there's going to be announcement of other ships that are going to join this.
00:03:51.300 And I think what's really important is that we're finally getting a President of the United
00:03:56.600 States to stand up and say, America is a maritime and naval power.
00:04:01.720 And we're going to focus on shipbuilding, shipyards, dry docks, and reversing the last 40 years of
00:04:09.940 degradation with the failures of the littoral combat ship class, the failure of the Zumwalt class,
00:04:16.060 the massive problems we've had with the Ford class carriers, the problem with the cancellation
00:04:21.280 of this recent Constellation class frigate here in the last two weeks.
00:04:26.440 We have had a severe problem in neglecting and balancing out America's national power
00:04:33.440 in the hard power arena with naval power and maritime power.
00:04:37.780 It's not just Navy warships, but it's the support ships that come with it.
00:04:41.740 It's our merchant fleets, and it's our industrial capacity to build ships.
00:04:46.660 And we are behind, woefully behind the PRC.
00:04:50.160 They have taken the lessons of Mahan and naval warfare for the centuries, and they have been
00:04:56.100 building and building and building.
00:04:58.180 And they have the largest Navy on the planet today.
00:05:01.220 They have the largest number of anti-ship cruise missiles, supersonic, hypersonic.
00:05:05.540 And they have built a force to defeat and sink the U.S. Pacific Fleet and the rest of the
00:05:11.320 U.S. Navy.
00:05:12.420 And this president, I expect, will come out and announce this new class and announce this
00:05:18.320 larger focus on our shipbuilding industry.
00:05:21.080 Now, he signed in when he took office here in January.
00:05:25.560 Within the first two months after the SECNAV was confirmed, they announced a White House
00:05:30.160 office of shipbuilding.
00:05:31.940 We haven't heard much from it, but they, from what I've been hearing, they've been working
00:05:36.160 behind the scenes and developing a new structure.
00:05:39.700 There's a lot going on.
00:05:41.740 I have some concerns.
00:05:42.880 The new chief of naval operations announced this week that he was going to establish a
00:05:47.560 new naval warfighting strategy called the HEDGE strategy, which is designed as an approach
00:05:52.720 that reduces operational risk by investing in tailored offsets and tailored forces.
00:05:57.500 And it talks about, he said, building a fleet to cover every possible threat is too expensive,
00:06:05.360 unrealistic, and sub-optimized.
00:06:07.960 I'm a little bit worried about that language, so I'm hoping to hear tonight the president
00:06:12.300 say, hey, we're not, we're building a fleet to do one thing, and that's to rule the seven
00:06:16.960 seas.
00:06:17.660 That doesn't mean we have to be everywhere around the seven seas.
00:06:20.560 But given the power of the PLA Navy, we have to build a Navy that can take on and defeat
00:06:27.720 the PLA Navy.
00:06:28.980 And if we can do that, then we can do everything else that's tasked to us.
00:06:33.220 And so there's a lot of debate going on about what kind of force structure we need.
00:06:38.360 But clearly what we need is warships, lots of warships, mostly manned in my opinion, but
00:06:45.240 I think there's going to be a big push for unmanned.
00:06:47.220 And we saw in the last month an announcement of an unmanned surface vessel that's going
00:06:53.720 to be released to the fleet.
00:06:55.040 It's only 24 feet long.
00:06:56.840 It only has 1,000 miles away.
00:06:58.560 Let's talk about that.
00:07:01.240 In that transition after World War II, you had the Old Navy that wanted to have more battleships,
00:07:08.720 you know, more lead on target.
00:07:10.120 And you had Billy Mitchell and you had others that said, no, the future of naval warfare
00:07:15.280 is going to be air warfare and you need to build aircraft carriers.
00:07:18.760 And the way you dominate is by air.
00:07:20.860 And of course, Billy Mitchell was court-martialed and there was a huge fight.
00:07:24.500 In fact, it didn't really get worked out, I guess, to the late 1930s.
00:07:28.180 Aren't we in the same position?
00:07:29.380 Look, I say this as a surface warfare officer.
00:07:32.480 There's nothing I would like more than to build a series of destroyers or frigates, particularly
00:07:39.340 President Trump, to me, gets the joke.
00:07:41.880 It's the USS Defiant.
00:07:43.680 You know, you get too many things are named after, I think, individuals, even heroes.
00:07:47.360 You got to get back to the naming them after the virtues, particularly the warrior virtues.
00:07:52.220 And I know President Trump, I think, feels the same way.
00:07:54.380 That's why the first ship of the class won't be the Trump.
00:07:56.700 The first ship of the class will be the Defiant.
00:07:58.500 But aren't we in the same situation?
00:08:01.280 Having drones and unmanned vehicles and all of that, Captain Fennell, really made what
00:08:06.080 you're talking about just some fantasy from Victory at Sea, the great series done by Samuel
00:08:12.060 Elliott Morrison, sir?
00:08:14.400 Yeah, that's exactly the same fight that's going on today, which is what you just said.
00:08:19.100 My pushback is, is that the Pacific Ocean is 20 times the size of the continental United
00:08:25.020 States.
00:08:25.540 So when I hear somebody from Silicon Valley sell me a 24-foot outboard dinghy and said
00:08:32.520 it can go 1,000 miles and I can put a 1,000-pound warhead on it, I'm asking, well, how do you
00:08:37.800 get all those dinghies out to the Western Pacific to fight the PLA Navy?
00:08:42.620 When on an aircraft carrier, I can take one FNA-18 Hornet and I can load up eight 2,000-pound
00:08:48.780 bombs and put, you know, massive amounts of ordnance from just one aircraft.
00:08:53.700 And there's 50 of those fighters on that aircraft carrier.
00:08:57.520 And this notion that the Chinese hypersonic and supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and
00:09:02.400 ballistic missiles are going to find and target every carrier immediately is a fantasy.
00:09:08.040 And if that's true, then there's nothing safe in the Western Pacific.
00:09:12.480 None of our air bases, none of our HIMARS and other rocket systems that are being deployed
00:09:18.300 out there right now or any of our bases in CONUS or Honolulu in Hawaii and Pearl Harbor.
00:09:24.060 So the idea that stationary targets are somehow immune from anti-ship and anti-carrier ballistic
00:09:29.980 missiles, but carriers are the most vulnerable, is illogical.
00:09:34.400 And there's a lot of defensive systems that can be built into our carriers.
00:09:38.340 President Trump has announced the Golden Dome for the United States of America.
00:09:42.260 Well, why can't we build many Golden Domes for our carrier strike groups and expeditionary 0.95
00:09:47.220 strike groups?
00:09:48.220 We're Americans for crying out loud.
00:09:50.020 We know how to use technology.
00:09:52.020 And mobile platforms are still survivable.
00:09:54.440 And the carrier strike group and all the elements of it, submarines, surface ships, and the carrier,
00:10:00.800 they are the most survivable right now.
00:10:02.760 And before we, the old carpenter's, you know, motto, measure twice, cut once, if you start
00:10:09.820 cutting carriers before you have something that's going to replace it in concept, that's
00:10:14.660 very dangerous.
00:10:15.620 Back when Billy Mitchell was around, they were just fielding airplanes and they tried to prove
00:10:19.880 that the carriers back then were vulnerable to air power.
00:10:23.180 And they bombed a ship for like two days and it still didn't sink.
00:10:28.320 So there's a lot of survivability to platforms.
00:10:31.120 And I think what you're going to hear tonight from President Trump and his leadership is
00:10:35.020 survivability of naval platforms has not been a priority.
00:10:39.180 And I think that's going to be the new announcement.
00:10:41.300 And oh, by the way, he's naming this the Golden Fleet.
00:10:44.660 So I think this is going to be-
00:10:46.060 President Trump, President Trump's coming.
00:10:48.680 He's coming out right now.
00:10:50.040 Hang around, Captain.
00:10:50.720 I'm going to talk to you right afterwards.
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00:12:23.460 I'm President of the United States, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
00:12:26.240 It's beautiful.
00:12:27.140 It's the first renderings of what we're doing.
00:12:29.300 So I want to wish everybody a big hello and Merry Christmas, and welcome to Mar-a-Lago
00:12:36.960 for this exciting announcement of the new Golden Fleet.
00:12:41.200 We're calling it the Golden Fleet that we're building for the United States Navy.
00:12:45.700 As you know, we're desperately in need of ships.
00:12:47.640 Our ships are, some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete, and we're going to go
00:12:53.600 the exact opposite direction.
00:12:55.080 We're delighted to be joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who's doing a fantastic
00:13:00.560 job, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.
00:13:04.640 Marco Rubio is here, who gave a great few words toward the end of last week.
00:13:10.480 He spoke for a couple of hours on what a good job we're doing, which is true.
00:13:16.780 As Commander-in-Chief, it's my great honor to announce that I have approved a plan for the
00:13:22.180 Navy to begin the construction of two brand-new, very large, largest we've ever built battleships.
00:13:30.440 You know, you used to build the Iowa, the Missouri, the Wisconsin, the Alabama, and many others.
00:13:37.400 We had big battleships.
00:13:39.400 These are bigger.
00:13:40.040 But they will have 100 times the — there'll be 100 times the force, the power.
00:13:48.360 And there's never been anything like these ships.
00:13:53.040 These have been under design consideration for a long time.
00:13:57.760 And it started with me in my first term, because I said, why aren't we doing battleships like
00:14:02.780 we used to?
00:14:03.380 And the — these are the best in the world.
00:14:08.700 They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.
00:14:15.940 So if you look at the Iowa, the Missouri, Wisconsin, Alabama, and others, but they were similar in size,
00:14:23.260 some a little bit bigger than the others.
00:14:24.860 But if you take the biggest one, it's 100 times more powerful.
00:14:30.560 They're longer by a little bit.
00:14:34.880 But the — and they're bigger.
00:14:36.640 They're bigger ships, but they hold much more — they use the word lethality.
00:14:41.360 Battleships are the largest, sturdiest, and most heavily armed vessel built specifically for naval combat.
00:14:48.240 But while America has built many new warships over the years, they've been — they've tended
00:14:53.860 to be smaller, much smaller, and not conducive to where we are and where we're going, and
00:15:03.500 peace through strength.
00:15:05.460 But including — we've been building aircraft carriers.
00:15:09.200 We're going to be upping that also.
00:15:10.580 We're going to be going to a superior aircraft.
00:15:14.560 We have the Ford class.
00:15:16.360 We're going to be upping that to a different class of aircraft carrier.
00:15:21.880 And we haven't built a battleship since 1994.
00:15:27.200 These cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal surface warfare ships.
00:15:33.800 It will be actually the most ever built other than our submarines.
00:15:36.800 We have submarines which will have, in many ways, even more lethality.
00:15:42.240 And we have many of them under construction.
00:15:46.640 Each one of these will be the largest battleship in the history of our country, the largest
00:15:52.840 battleship in the history of the world ever built.
00:15:56.240 And again, it's 100 times more powerful than the previous Iowa class, it's called.
00:16:02.200 Those are the big ones that you'd see on a show.
00:16:04.280 Victory at Sea.
00:16:05.080 I don't know if anyone's seen Victory at Sea, but it was a classic.
00:16:09.200 They'll help maintain American military supremacy, revive the American shipbuilding industry, and
00:16:15.040 inspire fear in America's enemies all over the world.
00:16:18.480 We want respect.
00:16:19.920 We're going to have it.
00:16:20.640 We already have it.
00:16:21.520 We're more respected now than we ever were.
00:16:23.760 A year and a half ago, they laughed at us.
00:16:27.040 Now they respect us again at levels that they've never respected us.
00:16:31.160 We envision that these two ships, we're talking about 10, but we're going to start with two.
00:16:36.800 And we're going to quickly morph into 10.
00:16:39.040 And ultimately, we think it's going to be anywhere from 20 to 25 of these.
00:16:42.760 But we're starting with the first two immediately, and we're going to then be very quickly involved
00:16:49.640 with, I think, we're going to do another eight.
00:16:52.540 And then we're going to ultimately and pretty quickly have a total of about 20 to 25.
00:16:59.080 We'll make that determination.
00:17:01.200 We envision that these ships will be the first of a whole new class of battleships to be produced
00:17:07.920 in the years to come.
00:17:08.900 From Theodore Roosevelt, the great white fleet, you remember that, the great white fleet,
00:17:16.340 to the legendary USS Missouri, whose massive guns helped win World War II, America's battleships
00:17:23.960 have always been unmistakable symbols of national power.
00:17:28.280 We stopped making them for whatever reason.
00:17:31.460 I don't know.
00:17:32.120 And I want to congratulate John Thalen, who is your secretary, Secretary of the Navy.
00:17:40.480 He came to me the first day we met.
00:17:42.740 He talked about battleships.
00:17:44.520 And I said, you're absolutely on the right track.
00:17:46.900 He said, why are we doing other things?
00:17:50.040 We have missiles, which are much more expensive.
00:17:52.500 By the way, these battleships have tremendous numbers of missiles, but they also have guns.
00:17:56.240 And in many ways, guns can do the trick just as well as missiles at a tiny fraction of the cost.
00:18:04.100 Once completed, these new 30,000 to 40,000 ton plus vessels will be the flagships of the American naval fleet.
00:18:14.340 And there has never been anything built like them.
00:18:18.800 And I just want to be very clear that we're building them here.
00:18:27.060 We're working with others, but we're building them here.
00:18:30.100 We have great Navy yards.
00:18:32.480 We'll be negotiating with some of the companies that are running those yards, taking over the yards.
00:18:38.660 We used to build a ship a day during World War II.
00:18:41.460 Now we don't do ships very much anymore.
00:18:43.720 We do military ships.
00:18:44.820 We do submarines.
00:18:45.960 By the way, we're 15 to 20 years advanced in our submarines over anybody else.
00:18:50.720 That was one of the things that I did in my first term.
00:18:54.480 We make the best submarines by far in the world.
00:18:56.920 We're at least 15 years advanced ahead of anybody else in submarine development.
00:19:02.660 Most powerful.
00:19:03.400 That's right.
00:19:03.920 The most powerful weapon anywhere in the world.
00:19:07.600 Undetectable.
00:19:08.080 So the battleships are going to be armed just in terms of guns and missiles at the highest level.
00:19:17.340 They'll also have hypersonic weapons, many hypersonic weapons, state-of-the-art electric rail guns, and even the high-powered lasers that you've been starting to read about.
00:19:28.660 We have lasers where you aim the laser at a target, and it just wipes it out.
00:19:33.440 We're going to have — there'll be the most sophisticated lasers in the world, and the most sophisticated laser in the world will be on the battleships that we're building.
00:19:43.620 They'll also carry the nuclear arms.
00:19:45.700 She launched cruise missiles currently under development, which will be instituted pretty quickly, but they're under development, and they've proven to be extremely lethal.
00:19:57.520 The U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships along with me, because I'm a very aesthetic person, alongside our partners in American industry.
00:20:06.340 And we're going to have Pete Hegseth and Marco and a lot of very talented people involved, but a lot of it's already been done.
00:20:14.940 We've been doing this for months.
00:20:17.400 The construction will create thousands of American jobs.
00:20:20.560 We're going to have the jobs be created. 0.96
00:20:23.160 I mean, already we have factories being built unrelated to this, although AI will be a big factor when it comes to these ships.
00:20:30.760 They'll be very AI-controlled.
00:20:34.120 Today's announcement is yet another step.
00:20:36.340 In our mission to make the United States Navy stronger than ever before.
00:20:40.880 Again, when you talk about 100 times the power of these massive ships that we had years ago, it's pretty amazing.
00:20:49.740 And next week, I'm going to meet with the defense prime contractors.
00:20:54.040 I'm going to meet with them here, Florida.
00:20:57.460 And we're going to be talking about production schedules, because they're too slow.
00:21:03.000 We have many countries, allies that are wanting to buy.
00:21:07.240 We make the greatest equipment in the world by far.
00:21:09.820 Nobody's even close, but they don't produce them fast enough.
00:21:12.860 So we're going to be meeting with them to talk about the production schedules.
00:21:19.320 We're going to have strong production schedules.
00:21:22.560 And the only way they're going to be able to do that is to build new plants, even with the F-35.
00:21:26.520 We have many people want the F-35 fighter jet.
00:21:29.000 And it takes too long to deliver them to allies or to ourselves.
00:21:33.240 It takes too long.
00:21:34.540 The only way they're going to be able to deliver them is if they build new plants.
00:21:38.340 They don't want to build new plants, because that's expensive.
00:21:41.000 So we're going to be discussing production schedules.
00:21:44.000 We're going to be discussing CapEx spending.
00:21:46.500 We'll be discussing the pay to executives, where they're making $45 and $50 million a year
00:21:55.660 and not being able to build quickly.
00:21:57.780 They're going to make that kind of money.
00:21:59.260 They have to build quickly.
00:22:01.000 Again, we make the best equipment in the world, but they don't make them fast enough.
00:22:05.420 And we're going to be also discussing dividends.
00:22:07.760 We want the dividends to go into the creation of production facilities.
00:22:14.200 So we'll be talking about all CapEx, dividends, and the pay.
00:22:20.040 We're also going to be talking about buybacks.
00:22:23.020 They spend so much money on buybacks.
00:22:24.660 They want to buy back their stock.
00:22:26.200 I don't want them to buy back their stock.
00:22:27.820 I want them to put the money in plant and equipment so they can build these planes fast, rapidly,
00:22:35.140 like, immediately.
00:22:38.220 I mean, I have sold more planes than any president, by far, times, probably 20.
00:22:44.920 Every time I go someplace, I sell 100 planes.
00:22:47.940 That includes commercial planes, Boeings, etc., but it also includes fighter jets.
00:22:53.340 And I'm always having to say five years, six years, seven years, helicopters, Apache helicopters,
00:22:58.120 many years.
00:22:59.120 India bought them.
00:23:00.440 They want to get them.
00:23:01.220 They don't want to wait a long time.
00:23:02.640 So we don't want to have executives making $50 million a year, issuing big dividends to
00:23:09.360 everybody, and also doing buybacks.
00:23:13.880 And then they say, well, we don't have the money to build the plant.
00:23:16.400 They've got to build plants. 1.00
00:23:17.680 Plans to make F-35s.
00:23:19.540 Plans to make helicopters.
00:23:21.860 Plans to make the F-47 new jet.
00:23:25.120 And that's it.
00:23:26.740 And that's what I'm going to be talking to them about.
00:23:28.700 They're going to start spending money on building airplanes and ships and the things that we
00:23:34.320 need, not in 10 years, in 15 years.
00:23:36.720 We need them now.
00:23:38.400 And we're strong about it.
00:23:40.140 Last week, the Navy announced a brand new class of frigate, and they're going to be working
00:23:46.060 with the South Korean company.
00:23:48.000 Hanwha, a good company, recently agreed to invest $5 billion in Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
00:23:53.400 We're opening up the Philadelphia Shipyard, once a great yard, now it was a long time
00:23:58.700 ago, decommissioned, but now it's reopening, working with the Navy and working with private
00:24:04.460 companies.
00:24:05.560 The record-setting defense bill I signed last week authorized $26 billion to build new
00:24:12.140 ships, including destroyers and various others.
00:24:16.020 We already have a lot of submarines, as you know, under construction.
00:24:19.620 We're building a lot of submarines, I tell you.
00:24:22.700 To be exact, we have right now 15 submarines under construction or ready to start.
00:24:31.360 And we have, again, the greatest submarine in the world with our technology, like they
00:24:35.280 talk about chips.
00:24:36.800 Well, I would say submarines are a bigger deal than chips.
00:24:43.120 We have, we're at least, at least 15 years ahead of any other competitor.
00:24:48.620 China, Russia, nobody can come close.
00:24:51.600 We're also building right now three large aircraft carriers, in addition to the ones we have.
00:24:58.440 And we have, actually, interestingly, we have a lot of submarines.
00:25:02.200 How many submarines do we have now altogether, approximately?
00:25:05.740 I'm sorry, over 30.
00:25:07.200 We have over 30, but these are the super-duper subs, and there's nothing like them.
00:25:15.680 So we're going to be doing from 12 to 15 brand-new submarines.
00:25:19.960 We have a couple of other things going on.
00:25:27.360 We'll be building other elements of Navy.
00:25:31.760 We'll be fixing up headquarters.
00:25:34.320 We'll be fixing up places for our great sailors to live.
00:25:39.200 And we're going to be working very hard with companies, but we're also going to be penalizing
00:25:43.220 companies that aren't doing a good job.
00:25:45.060 For instance, when they built the Ford, Gerald Ford, the cost overruns were ridiculous.
00:25:51.020 That was done in Norfolk, Virginia.
00:25:53.140 We're going to be talking about that with that company.
00:25:55.300 The cost overruns were out of control.
00:25:57.860 In World War II, the United States built upwards of four ships per day.
00:26:02.200 Can you believe it?
00:26:02.880 Four ships a day, on average.
00:26:06.380 And it's, now, they weren't all big warships, but they were ships, freighters, tankers.
00:26:11.280 And it's a tragedy that we allowed this incredible capability to just go astray.
00:26:17.800 We don't do that much anymore.
00:26:20.800 We do build our warships, but that's about it.
00:26:23.140 But that's a lot.
00:26:24.580 We're going to restore America as a major shipbuilding power.
00:26:27.700 We're going to ensure the USA is the most powerful fleet anywhere in the world.
00:26:32.620 And long into the future, with battleships helping lead the way and the submarines.
00:26:37.120 And again, nobody competes with us on submarines.
00:26:40.260 So, I just want to thank everybody.
00:26:42.760 And I'd like to ask Secretary Hegseth to say a few words, followed by the secretary.
00:26:49.740 But if you would, Secretary of the Navy.
00:26:52.940 But Pete's doing a fantastic job.
00:26:56.240 By the way, we have drugs are down 96.2 percent coming into the United States.
00:27:04.120 92.6 percent coming into the United States.
00:27:06.620 92.6 percent coming into the United States.
00:27:07.460 92.6 percent coming into the United States.
00:27:08.460 And soon we'll be starting the same program on land.
00:27:10.860 The land is much easier.
00:27:13.280 But every one of those boats that we knocked out saved 25,000 lives.
00:27:20.500 So, we save 25,000 lives every time we knock out one of those boats with the drugs pouring in.
00:27:26.180 And you just have to see it.
00:27:27.700 I mean, people say, oh, gee, do you think, do you think it was really drugs?
00:27:31.100 Well, just take a look.
00:27:32.500 Bags all over the place.
00:27:34.260 That's not fishing equipment.
00:27:36.280 There's no fishing rods on those boats.
00:27:37.960 They move fast.
00:27:39.380 When you see a boat with four engines or five engines on, you know, going 40, 50 miles an hour, well, they get hit.
00:27:47.080 We save 25,000 lives every single time we knock out a boat.
00:27:52.540 And it's over 96 percent stopped by sea.
00:27:56.440 We're trying to figure out who the other 4 percent are, frankly.
00:27:59.840 And we're going to have the same success, but even quicker, because it's much easier on land.
00:28:07.060 If they want to come by land, they're going to end up having a big problem.
00:28:10.520 They're going to get blown to pieces, because we don't want our people poisoned.
00:28:15.300 300,000 people died, probably last year, 300,000.
00:28:19.440 A lot of people say it was 200.
00:28:21.260 Somebody said last night, it was only 175,000 people.
00:28:25.660 That's like three stadiums, big football stadiums filled up with people died.
00:28:30.060 But I think the real number is 300,000.
00:28:32.720 We're not going to have that anymore.
00:28:34.080 So we're doing a great job, and we enjoy doing it.
00:28:38.880 Our border is secure.
00:28:40.440 Our country is strong.
00:28:42.160 Trillions of dollars is coming into our country from other countries and companies.
00:28:46.680 They're building factories and plants, including auto plants, all over the United States of America.
00:28:52.620 Without tariffs, they wouldn't be doing anything, although they were very happy with the November 5th election.
00:28:57.180 But it's only because they want to avoid paying tariffs that they're all coming in.
00:29:01.500 And again, the biggest number was $3 trillion in history.
00:29:05.320 That was China many years ago. 0.78
00:29:07.520 Now it's $18 trillion, and that's just in 10 months.
00:29:11.520 We think we could hit $20 trillion.
00:29:13.800 That's investment in the United States, including plant and equipment.
00:29:17.620 So thank you very much.
00:29:19.400 And I'll ask Pete to say a few words, and then John, if you have any questions, we'll take them.
00:29:24.320 Thank you.
00:29:24.960 Thank you, Mr. President.
00:29:28.160 Well, Mr. President, you're exactly right.
00:29:30.580 There are no fishing poles, no fishermen, and no fishing boats.
00:29:35.840 Just drug dealers and narco-terrorists. 0.89
00:29:37.900 And with every strike, we're saving American lives.
00:29:41.500 No other president was willing to do real deterrence.
00:29:43.920 That's exactly what's happening.
00:29:46.580 It's an honor to be here, Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, Secretary Rubio, to talk about
00:29:52.100 what peace through strength really looks like.
00:29:54.200 You can talk about it, or you can invest in it, and you can build it.
00:29:57.980 And that's exactly what President Trump is doing.
00:30:00.760 At the Department of War, we're restoring the warrior ethos.
00:30:02.920 In fact, the president mentioned the NDAA.
00:30:04.960 We put into law merit-based.
00:30:06.900 We put into law getting rid of DEI and political correctness.
00:30:10.280 That's now part of how our military operates.
00:30:12.920 And you've seen it in record recruiting in the spirit of the Department of War.
00:30:16.180 We're rebuilding the military.
00:30:17.680 President Trump did it once.
00:30:18.820 He's doing it again with historic investments today in shipbuilding.
00:30:23.320 And we're reestablishing deterrence, whether that's at the border, whether it's through
00:30:26.860 Golden Dome, what happened with Midnight Hammer, and what Iran found out, those drug boats,
00:30:31.880 and, of course, the Houthis opening up the shipping lanes.
00:30:34.540 American strength is back on the world stage.
00:30:37.220 And the announcement of the Golden Fleet, anchored by new battleships, the biggest and most lethal
00:30:42.740 ever, accomplishes all three of those things and marks a generational commitment to American
00:30:48.700 sea power.
00:30:49.980 Across the entire department, we are developing new operational concepts, deploying cutting-edge
00:30:55.360 technologies, and making major investments, including in our Navy.
00:31:00.820 This is happening in all domains, including space, as the president has talked about before
00:31:06.060 anyone else.
00:31:07.180 So it's the highest of domains and the lowest of domains undersea, and especially today
00:31:12.740 in sea power, that always has to be decisive, has been in the history of America, and will
00:31:18.040 continue to be under the leadership of President Trump.
00:31:20.800 We will make sure that anything that flows from our country and with our allies flows freely
00:31:27.540 and uncontested.
00:31:29.480 New and better ships will provide that deterrent today and for generations to come.
00:31:34.800 This new class, these new investments, will be the types of things that for decades, for
00:31:39.900 centuries, the American people will look back and thank President Trump for having the vision
00:31:44.060 and the willingness to invest right now in capabilities we need today, tomorrow, and long into the future.
00:31:50.300 So, Mr. President, thank you for this investment, and I'll hand it over now to the Navy Secretary.
00:31:55.260 Thank you.
00:31:56.180 Thank you.
00:31:57.580 Mr. President, Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rubio, thank you for being here on a very consequential day.
00:32:07.940 From my very first conversation with President Trump about serving as the Secretary of the Navy,
00:32:13.660 he's talked about the great Iowa-class battleship and why America doesn't build ships anymore
00:32:19.020 with that kind of offensive firepower that takes the fight to the enemy.
00:32:24.580 During my time in the job, I've talked extensively with our combatant commanders,
00:32:29.400 like Admiral Paparo and Admiral Cooper, and our CNO, Admiral Cottle.
00:32:34.200 And what I've learned is, is that not only is the President's idea a good one,
00:32:37.980 it's something that Navy desperately needs and now has a formal requirement for.
00:32:43.080 The future Trump-class battleship, the USS Defiant, will be the largest, deadliest, and most versatile
00:32:51.320 and best-looking warship anywhere on the world's oceans.
00:32:55.900 I want to thank the President for his vision to make this game-changing capability for the United States Navy.
00:33:02.620 The Iowa was designed to go on the attack with the biggest guns.
00:33:08.040 And that's exactly what will define the Trump-class battleships.
00:33:11.800 Offensive firepower from the biggest guns of our era.
00:33:15.740 This ship isn't just to swat the arrows.
00:33:18.780 It is going to reach out and kill the archers.
00:33:21.120 And for the first time in generations, we'll have a new leg in America's nuclear deterrence
00:33:26.700 because the Trump-class battleship will carry the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile.
00:33:33.640 Striking dominance isn't all that the Trump-class battleship brings to the fight at sea.
00:33:39.580 It has the size and capacity to serve as a flagship for our fleet commanders
00:33:44.280 so that they can command and control naval forces far out to sea.
00:33:49.020 As shown in the series, and the President mentioned it, victory at sea,
00:33:54.060 Admirals Bull Halsey and Raymond Spurance commanded the war in the Pacific
00:33:58.640 from their battleship flagships during World War II.
00:34:02.260 Now this new battleship will command everything from warships to drones and everything in between.
00:34:09.140 We're going to make battle groups great again.
00:34:12.780 And this is just one piece of the President's golden fleet
00:34:15.920 that we're going to build with the investments he talked about.
00:34:19.080 A new frigate, the right frigate, the one our warfighters have told us they need.
00:34:24.880 More amphibious power for our Marines with new capabilities like the medium landing ship.
00:34:31.440 As part of the Navy's high-low mix, we're moving out aggressively on unmanned vessels
00:34:36.500 with funding from the President's one big, beautiful bill
00:34:39.520 to bring options to the fight and pull new, non-traditional defense partners
00:34:45.380 into the American shipbuilding ecosystem.
00:34:48.840 And we're making a generational investment in support ships.
00:34:52.720 Logistics wins wars.
00:34:54.700 And that kind of shipbuilding is the spark that will ignite the industrial base
00:34:58.880 and help power the commercial shipbuilding that the President has called for.
00:35:04.120 Under your leadership, Mr. President, we will have more tonnage and firepower
00:35:08.860 under construction than ever before in our history.
00:35:12.880 Building the President's golden fleet means jobs across the United States now.
00:35:18.160 There will be work for shipyards everywhere, from Philadelphia to San Diego,
00:35:22.940 from Maine to Mississippi, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast.
00:35:26.860 And for manufacturers that will build components for this battleship in every state.
00:35:33.060 The President has been clear.
00:35:35.200 We must bring back our American maritime industrial might.
00:35:39.040 And he has told me many times that as Secretary of the Navy,
00:35:42.480 it is my job to equip our sailors to win the fight at sea
00:35:46.080 with the finest ships in our history.
00:35:48.780 To conclude, the USS Defiant battleship will inspire awe and reverence for the American flag
00:35:55.580 whenever it pulls into a foreign port.
00:35:57.900 It will be a source of pride for every American when it brings home our brave sailors
00:36:03.180 who will sail Defiant, raise their fists, and say,
00:36:07.720 we are peace through strength.
00:36:09.800 And our adversaries will know when the Trump-class USS Defiant appears on the horizon,
00:36:15.840 American victory at sea is inevitable. 0.97
00:36:18.860 Thank you, Mr. President.
00:36:20.060 I just want to mention that John Phelan is one of the most successful businessmen in the country,
00:36:38.800 in our country.
00:36:40.100 It's been a tremendous success.
00:36:41.340 And he wanted to do this and for nothing.
00:36:46.040 He's taken probably the largest salary cut in history.
00:36:49.760 But he wanted to do it.
00:36:50.940 He wants to rebuild our Navy.
00:36:52.260 And you needed that kind of a brain to do it properly.
00:36:55.520 So I just wanted to give you a little information on him, which is probably enough.
00:36:59.920 But one of the most successful men in the country.
00:37:02.160 And he's that because he understands it.
00:37:05.060 And he understands finance in addition to what we're talking about.
00:37:07.980 And somebody who's doing a fantastic job is Marco Rubio, Secretary of State.
00:37:12.880 And Marco, maybe say a few words and then we'll answer some questions.
00:37:16.540 Thank you.
00:37:18.340 Thank you, Mr. President.
00:37:19.640 And I don't have much to add.
00:37:20.860 This is a phenomenal presentation.
00:37:22.240 Thank you, Mr. President.
00:37:23.340 This is American industrial power returning.
00:37:26.080 This is the ability, once again, to rebuild, to have industry in the United States.
00:37:31.160 This is generational in the change, not just in terms of applying American war power,
00:37:35.920 increasing our ability to protect the seas.
00:37:37.920 The U.S. Navy is the single biggest source of peace in the world of all of our forces
00:37:42.660 because it gives us a global footprint.
00:37:44.740 But it rebuilds American industrial capacity.
00:37:47.020 The ability to make things again in our country has been critical to what the President's agenda
00:37:51.520 has been all about.
00:37:52.280 And this is a tangible reminder of it.
00:37:54.020 And I know the country is grateful for it.
00:37:55.800 And generations of Americans will be grateful for it.
00:37:57.780 So thank you.
00:37:58.560 Thank you, Marco.
00:37:59.220 By the way, I think I'd just like to point out that these ships are made of steel as
00:38:04.740 opposed to aluminum.
00:38:06.280 It's a big difference, as you know.
00:38:08.320 Battleships, the great battleships at six and seven inch steel hulls.
00:38:12.780 And these are going to be likewise made out of very powerful steel.
00:38:17.520 Our steel industry is coming back very strongly, by the way.
00:38:20.620 It's coming back at record numbers.
00:38:22.660 And we're going to be using them for the steel, but as opposed to an aluminum side,
00:38:27.820 which, in all fairness, is not the same.
00:38:31.200 So, John, we're going with all steel, I understand.
00:38:34.580 And that's going to be something that people are surprised.
00:38:38.320 More expensive, but not even comparable in terms of the importance and the strength.
00:38:44.600 Yeah, please.
00:38:45.140 What's your timetable for these first two ships?
00:38:47.480 And do you see them as a counter to China?
00:38:49.620 We're going to start almost immediately, and we'll probably talk in about two and a half years.
00:38:55.060 And in terms of the mission, do you see it as a counter to China?
00:38:59.120 It's a counter to everybody.
00:39:00.760 It's not China. 0.85
00:39:01.740 We get along great with China.
00:39:03.120 I have a great relationship with President Xi.
00:39:05.800 And not China.
00:39:06.640 It's just everybody.
00:39:08.340 You don't know who comes along.
00:39:10.400 But we just wanted peace through strength.
00:39:12.880 Hopefully, we never have to use them.
00:39:14.600 But there will never be anything built like these.
00:39:17.260 Think of it.
00:39:17.760 Those battleships are incredible.
00:39:19.920 These have 100 times the power.
00:39:23.220 Think of that.
00:39:23.880 And they were big and they were powerful.
00:39:27.060 You know, I thought about taking some that are in dry dock and changing them.
00:39:32.700 And then when I said that, you know, if we did, it would be about, we could increase,
00:39:37.540 if we doubled them, they'd be at like just a tiny fraction of what one of these was.
00:39:42.640 This is the new technology, which is incredible.
00:39:46.060 So we decided pretty early on not to do that.
00:39:48.640 Yeah, please.
00:39:49.160 Mr. President, Kuli Rosas with Most Peaceful Without Media.
00:39:52.280 You just referenced the lower amount of illegal drugs that are coming by sea.
00:39:57.200 And you just said that you're going to start that same program on land soon.
00:40:00.640 Are you just referring to Venezuela?
00:40:02.340 Or are you referring to other countries of Latin America?
00:40:04.940 Anywhere drugs are pouring in.
00:40:06.820 Anywhere.
00:40:07.180 Not just Venezuela.
00:40:08.540 Yes.
00:40:09.380 Speaking of Venezuela, oil.
00:40:11.180 What are we going to do with the oil that we have?
00:40:13.340 Going to do with what?
00:40:14.260 The oil that has been seized.
00:40:15.560 The United States seized 1.9 million barrels of oil on December 10th.
00:40:20.460 We're going to keep it.
00:40:22.060 We're keeping it.
00:40:23.000 Are we going to sell it or put it in the strategic oil?
00:40:25.180 Maybe we'll sell it.
00:40:26.140 Maybe we'll keep it.
00:40:27.400 Maybe we'll use it in the strategic reserves.
00:40:30.280 We're keeping it.
00:40:31.120 We're keeping the ships also.
00:40:33.140 Yeah, please.
00:40:37.100 About Venezuela, sir, have you spoken to American oil companies that have had their assets seized
00:40:41.920 about what a post-Maduro Venezuela would mean for them?
00:40:44.680 But coming back and restarting the operations.
00:40:46.540 The big ones, yeah.
00:40:47.780 I have.
00:40:48.580 Yeah, please.
00:40:49.540 Why do you feel like this initiative was neglected for so many years?
00:40:52.700 And does this come amidst the rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela?
00:40:55.920 We're talking about with Venezuela?
00:40:57.340 Yes.
00:40:58.920 Well, you had a different kind of a president before me.
00:41:01.600 They didn't mind being ripped off.
00:41:03.020 They didn't mind being robbed.
00:41:04.020 They didn't mind drugs pouring into our country. 0.69
00:41:06.360 They didn't mind the jails of Venezuela and Tren de Aragua being emptied into the U.S. 0.54
00:41:11.500 where they take over Colorado and other places. 0.69
00:41:13.640 I do mind.
00:41:15.880 So you had a different kind of a president.
00:41:17.860 I hope people are enjoying it because we've never been respected more than we are now.
00:41:22.060 Yeah, please.
00:41:22.500 Thank you.
00:41:27.620 Thank you, Mr. President.
00:41:29.120 Were you surprised by the number of photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files?
00:41:32.900 And can you commit to their full...
00:41:34.460 By what?
00:41:35.700 Were you surprised by the number of photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files?
00:41:39.460 And can you commit to their full release by the end of the year?
00:41:42.160 Some of the victims were protesting that too many of them were redacted.
00:41:45.320 I know there are a lot of people that are angry about all of the pictures of other people,
00:41:50.460 you know, but I think it's terrible.
00:41:52.040 Look, I don't like the...
00:41:54.320 I like Bill Clinton.
00:41:55.160 I've always gotten along with Bill Clinton.
00:41:56.780 I've been nice to him.
00:41:57.540 He's been nice to me.
00:41:58.420 We've always gotten along.
00:41:59.420 We respect him.
00:42:00.680 I hate to see photos come out of him.
00:42:02.680 But this is what the Democrats, mostly Democrats, and a couple of bad Republicans are asking for.
00:42:08.020 So they're giving their photos of me too.
00:42:10.120 Everybody was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly.
00:42:13.580 But, you know, he was around.
00:42:14.660 He was all over Palm Beach and other places.
00:42:16.660 The head of Harvard was his best friend, Larry Summers.
00:42:20.260 And Bill Clinton was a friend of his.
00:42:21.780 But everybody was.
00:42:23.220 I actually threw him out of Mar-a-Lago.
00:42:24.840 And as a, you know, as a person that was in Mar-a-Lago, I threw him out.
00:42:30.020 Mar-a-Lago, this is Mar-a-Lago.
00:42:31.680 It's the hottest place in...
00:42:33.340 I think it's the hottest place in the world, but it's the hottest place in Florida.
00:42:37.400 And everybody would come here.
00:42:38.800 He'd come here.
00:42:39.440 We actually threw him out.
00:42:41.040 But, no, I don't like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown.
00:42:44.480 I don't like the pictures of other people being shown.
00:42:46.580 I think it's a terrible thing.
00:42:48.340 I think Bill Clinton's a big boy.
00:42:51.520 He can handle it.
00:42:52.180 But you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey
00:42:58.100 Epstein years ago, many years ago.
00:43:00.600 And they're, you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others.
00:43:05.380 And they'll end up, because of guys like Massey, who's a real lowlife, whose polls are down
00:43:10.820 to about 9%, by the way, in the great state of Kentucky.
00:43:14.160 If you look at Kentucky, Kentucky is such a great place.
00:43:18.720 But, I don't know, they've got a couple of people in there that are very strange in terms
00:43:23.300 of leadership.
00:43:24.640 But Massey's a loser. 1.00
00:43:26.720 And he likes it.
00:43:27.700 And he works with the Democrats.
00:43:29.200 He's just being used by the Democrats.
00:43:31.680 Because what this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous
00:43:36.680 success that the Republican Party has.
00:43:38.700 Like, for instance, today, we're building the biggest ships in the world, most powerful
00:43:42.740 ships in the world.
00:43:43.740 And they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein.
00:43:46.900 I thought that was finished.
00:43:48.500 I believe they gave over 100,000 pages of documents.
00:43:51.680 And there is tremendous backlash.
00:43:54.940 It's an interesting question.
00:43:56.020 Because a lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people
00:44:00.940 that really had nothing to do with Epstein.
00:44:02.560 But they're in a picture with him because he was at a party.
00:44:05.320 And you ruin a reputation of somebody.
00:44:08.380 So a lot of people are very angry that this continues.
00:44:12.060 A lot of Republicans are angry because of the fact that it's just used to deflect against
00:44:16.840 a tremendous success.
00:44:17.940 Look, we have $18 trillion coming into our country.
00:44:20.500 We have, I believe, we're going to have the most successful economy in history.
00:44:24.940 We inherited a mess.
00:44:26.360 Now prices are coming way down.
00:44:28.060 Gasoline is less than $2 in some states.
00:44:31.020 $199, $197, $195.
00:44:34.620 A gallon.
00:44:36.300 $1.95.
00:44:38.580 Think of that.
00:44:39.820 A gallon.
00:44:40.560 Nobody ever thought they'd see that.
00:44:42.480 They don't want to talk about that.
00:44:43.840 They want to talk about Epstein.
00:44:46.500 And the problem is a lot of Democrats are being caught up in the web.
00:44:50.160 Like Larry Summers.
00:44:51.340 Larry Summers was the head of Harvard.
00:44:54.240 He's now been forced to resign from every board he's on.
00:44:57.040 And he was thrown off the Harvard board.
00:45:00.340 Now he was, you know, he was at Epstein's Island a lot.
00:45:03.660 I wasn't.
00:45:04.260 I never went there, by the way.
00:45:06.180 But fortunately, it's nice.
00:45:08.900 But I never went there.
00:45:09.940 But a lot of people did go there.
00:45:11.960 But instead of talking about the battleships, or instead of talking about most favored nations,
00:45:17.540 drugs, we're bringing down drug prices, like at a level that has never even been thought of.
00:45:23.780 But by thousands, think of it, by 1,000 percent, by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400 percent in some cases.
00:45:32.400 A drug that sells for $10 in London is costing $130 in New York.
00:45:39.720 We're bringing it down to $20, and they're going to go up to $20.
00:45:43.460 So they're going from $10 to $20, which is a doubling.
00:45:47.020 It's a doubling.
00:45:48.200 That's a lot.
00:45:49.420 But it's a doubling.
00:45:50.500 But we're going down to $20.
00:45:52.340 So we're going down, if you can do your own math, but it's 2,000 percent, 3,000 percent.
00:46:01.240 It's pretty amazing.
00:46:02.420 And, you know, the New York Times had a story about it, a small story, way in the back of the paper.
00:46:06.840 It's the single biggest thing to happen in, with respect to drugs, probably in 50 years.
00:46:14.280 It's never been anything like this.
00:46:16.600 In my first term, I was able to get drug prices down one quarter of one percent.
00:46:21.780 It's the first time in 28 years that they went down.
00:46:24.060 One quarter of one percent.
00:46:25.320 I was so proud of myself.
00:46:27.180 Now we're doing them 2,000 percent, 1,500 percent, 1,200 percent.
00:46:32.080 That pill that sold for $130 will now be selling, as an example, for $20, because the rest of the world took advantage of us.
00:46:45.860 Without tariffs, I could have never done it.
00:46:48.160 I called up the heads of the countries, as an example, France.
00:46:52.300 I spoke to a very good man, President Macron of France, and I said, Emmanuel, you have to raise your drug prices.
00:47:01.180 He said, no, no, no, we will not do that.
00:47:03.500 I said, you have to.
00:47:04.760 He said, no, I don't want to do that.
00:47:06.160 Look, you ask me if we go to $10 to $20, you're going to come way down to $20.
00:47:10.960 We don't want to do that.
00:47:11.960 Now, in all fairness, no other president even tried.
00:47:14.640 But if they did try, there was actually a fake story in stupid USA Today.
00:47:20.360 I didn't even think they'd make it anymore.
00:47:22.080 I haven't.
00:47:22.620 But I saw a story where Biden was trying to do this.
00:47:26.680 Biden never tried to do it.
00:47:27.800 Biden didn't know he was alive.
00:47:30.040 He never tried to do it.
00:47:31.720 But they're taking it from $10 to $20.
00:47:35.720 So he would say, and the other leader said the same thing.
00:47:38.600 No, no, we won't do it.
00:47:39.920 I said, no, no, you're going to do it 100 percent.
00:47:42.780 They said, nope, we're not doing it.
00:47:44.600 We're not going to double our price.
00:47:45.880 Because, again, if you go from $10 to $20, they're doubling their price.
00:47:50.340 We're coming down, though, from $130 to $20.
00:47:53.100 Because we're going to get the lowest drug prices in the world.
00:47:56.300 Whatever the lowest price is called favored nations.
00:47:58.980 We're going to have the lowest price.
00:48:00.960 So I said, no, no, you're going to.
00:48:02.520 No, no, I will not do this.
00:48:05.460 Politically, it's unacceptable.
00:48:07.460 I said, Emmanuel, you're going to do it 100 percent.
00:48:10.420 Please accept it now.
00:48:11.800 Be nice.
00:48:13.180 You're going to do it 100 percent.
00:48:14.540 No, no, no, I will not.
00:48:15.700 I said, yes, you are.
00:48:17.080 He said, why do you keep telling me I am when I'm not?
00:48:20.120 Because if you don't do it, I'm going to put a 25 percent tariff on everything France sells
00:48:24.300 into the United States of America.
00:48:26.780 And that's approximately 20 times more than I'm asking for with respect to drug prices.
00:48:32.940 He said, ah, I see.
00:48:35.240 I agree to do it.
00:48:36.880 Every other country said the exact same thing.
00:48:39.220 They all said, no, I will not do it.
00:48:41.660 I said, all right.
00:48:42.260 On Monday morning, you'll have the 25 percent tariff.
00:48:45.460 Everything you sell in the case of France, it was wine, champagne, cars, everything they
00:48:51.600 sell.
00:48:51.840 It's 25 to 30 times the price of what we're talking about at 25 percent.
00:48:58.220 Every single country agreed.
00:48:59.880 And that was a big problem.
00:49:01.080 The drug companies were difficult, but fine, because we have a certain control over the
00:49:06.860 drug companies.
00:49:07.500 We had no control over these foreign nations. 0.97
00:49:10.400 So every single country has agreed to do this.
00:49:13.460 So we will take that pill price down as an example, talking about not just pills, we're
00:49:19.880 talking about everything.
00:49:20.860 We'll take it down from $130 a pill down to $20 a pill.
00:49:27.080 And the rest of the world will take it from $10 a pill up to $20.
00:49:32.800 It's the biggest thing ever to happen.
00:49:34.520 And it's covered, barely covered in the New York Times because it's a fake newspaper.
00:49:38.820 Yeah.
00:49:39.360 Mr. President, on shipbuilding, how is the administration plan to ensure that there
00:49:44.220 is sufficient workforce availability as you're producing these ships?
00:49:47.760 Could you speak up?
00:49:48.620 How is the administration plan to ensure there is sufficient workforce availability as you're
00:49:53.340 producing these ships?
00:49:54.500 We're going to have tremendous workforce availability.
00:49:58.580 We're also going to have robots helping us.
00:50:00.760 We're going to have a lot of robots helping us because we need it.
00:50:04.020 And because we're going to town, we're building a lot between the AI and the auto plants.
00:50:08.360 So we're going to need robots.
00:50:09.980 We're going to have robots, but that's going to help us.
00:50:12.520 We're going to have tremendous workforce.
00:50:14.160 And in order to operate, you're always going to need people.
00:50:17.880 You know, you could have robots, but you're going to have to get somebody to start those
00:50:21.720 robots and you're going to have to improve the robots.
00:50:24.860 But we're going to have robotic factories plus manpower. 0.67
00:50:29.240 So we're going to have enough.
00:50:30.440 We're going to need the help of robots and other forms of, I guess you could say employment.
00:50:37.380 We're going to be employing a lot of artificial things.
00:50:41.840 But the beauty is we're going to have more jobs than we've ever had.
00:50:44.800 Just so you know, a number came out the other day.
00:50:47.840 We have more jobs right now in the United States.
00:50:51.160 More people are working right now in the United States than at any time in the history of our country.
00:50:56.380 Think of that.
00:50:57.760 Pretty amazing.
00:50:58.960 So we'll have the help of, you know, mechanical help, if you want to call it that.
00:51:03.020 But we'll have tremendous employment.
00:51:06.560 They'll be paid a lot of money.
00:51:08.580 They'll make they'll do better than they ever did.
00:51:11.300 OK, Mr. President, some may have been expecting a different kind of announcement today,
00:51:16.520 hearing your secretary of war and secretary of state here.
00:51:19.220 You mentioned strikes on land in Venezuela more than 15 times, even now, just in your recent remarks.
00:51:25.660 Why should Maduro take your threats serious, seriously?
00:51:28.960 And he can do whatever he wants.
00:51:30.540 What's your end?
00:51:31.060 Maduro.
00:51:31.880 What's your end?
00:51:32.380 He can do.
00:51:33.860 There's no answer.
00:51:35.100 He can do whatever he wants.
00:51:36.320 I mean, we have a massive armada formed, the biggest we've ever had and by far the biggest
00:51:43.920 we've ever had in South America.
00:51:46.980 He could do whatever he wants.
00:51:48.500 It's all right.
00:51:49.020 Whatever he wants to do.
00:51:50.000 If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it'll be the last time he's ever able to play
00:51:54.780 tough.
00:51:55.940 But they sent their prisoners into us. 0.95
00:52:00.120 They sent people from jails and prisons.
00:52:03.020 They sent people from mental institutions and insane asylums into the United States, just 0.96
00:52:08.340 walked right in because Biden had an open border policy.
00:52:12.620 What the Biden administration did to our country can never be forgotten.
00:52:16.280 They took in millions and millions, 25 million people over the course of four years.
00:52:21.960 Many of those people were murderers and drug dealers, prisoners, rough prisoners, 11,888
00:52:30.940 murderers.
00:52:32.040 More than half of them killed more than one person.
00:52:34.660 They came into our country. 1.00
00:52:35.700 Now, I spoke to Kristi Noem today.
00:52:39.100 I spoke to Tom Holman today.
00:52:40.660 He came down to see me.
00:52:42.380 And we had a great meeting.
00:52:43.520 They've done an amazing job.
00:52:44.700 We're getting them out.
00:52:45.360 We're getting them out very fast.
00:52:47.220 But this should have never happened.
00:52:48.880 But Venezuela was one of the...
00:52:50.460 Venezuela took advantage of the open borders that Biden created more than any other country.
00:52:56.780 Trend de Aragua.
00:52:57.640 We had gangs all over.
00:52:59.520 Look, I mean, you have a very weak governor in Colorado.
00:53:02.020 Look what happened in Colorado, where they would occupy apartment houses.
00:53:06.260 And he didn't want to do anything about it because he was scared.
00:53:09.860 Any other questions?
00:53:12.400 Yeah, go ahead, please.
00:53:14.100 So in response to the United States taking sanctioned oil from Venezuela,
00:53:18.560 Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized the United States by saying,
00:53:22.700 well, the Southwest has stolen land and that it should be returned to Latin America.
00:53:26.220 I just wanted to know what your response to that is.
00:53:27.800 Well, he has to watch because, you know, he's got drug factories.
00:53:30.480 They make cocaine in Colombia.
00:53:33.840 And he's no friend of the United States.
00:53:36.720 He's a very bad, very bad guy.
00:53:39.080 And he's got to watch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States of America from Colombia.
00:53:45.800 We love the Colombian people.
00:53:48.720 I love the Colombian people.
00:53:50.240 They're great people.
00:53:51.100 Energetic, smart, great.
00:53:52.380 But their new leader is a troublemaker.
00:53:56.740 And he better watch it.
00:53:57.780 He better close up those cocaine factories.
00:54:00.100 They have at least three major cocaine factories.
00:54:03.040 We know where they are.
00:54:04.300 He better close them up fast.
00:54:05.740 Yeah.
00:54:07.200 By the way, it's made and sold into the United States.
00:54:09.940 It comes through Mexico.
00:54:10.780 Thank you, sir.
00:54:11.800 You've named Governor Landry to be a new special envoy to Greenland.
00:54:14.720 How do you what do you see that role entailing?
00:54:16.560 And is it still your intention that Greenland become part of the U.S.?
00:54:19.080 Well, he called me and, you know, he viewed Louisiana, the Louisiana Purchase.
00:54:22.520 He said, I'm governor of Louisiana.
00:54:24.500 And he said, I would love I didn't call him.
00:54:26.360 He called me.
00:54:26.940 He's very proactive.
00:54:29.320 He's a great guy.
00:54:30.500 He's a deal guy.
00:54:31.380 He's a deal maker type guy.
00:54:34.000 And we need it for national protection.
00:54:36.680 We need Greenland for national protection.
00:54:38.480 They have a very small population and I don't know.
00:54:41.940 They say Denmark, but Denmark has spent no money.
00:54:44.820 They have no military protection.
00:54:47.120 They say that Denmark was there 300 years ago or something with a boat.
00:54:50.500 Well, we were there with boats, too, I'm sure.
00:54:53.100 So we'll have to work it all out.
00:54:56.080 But he he felt very strongly.
00:54:59.180 We needed financials.
00:55:00.580 We need Greenland for national security, not for minerals.
00:55:04.260 We had some we have so many sites for minerals and oil and everything.
00:55:07.160 We have more oil than any other country in the world.
00:55:09.780 We need Greenland for national security.
00:55:12.740 And if you take a look at Greenland, you look up and down the coast, you have Russian and
00:55:16.140 Chinese ships all over the place.
00:55:18.520 We need it for national security.
00:55:20.620 We have to have it.
00:55:21.960 And he wanted to lead the charge.
00:55:23.960 So we're making him, Marco, today a special envoy to Greenland.
00:55:29.460 Greenland's a big deal.
00:55:30.380 On Ukraine, can you give an update on the talks that took place this past weekend and could
00:55:35.620 a trilateral discussion of sort be the next step for Ukrainian, U.S. and Russian delegation?
00:55:40.360 So the talks on Ukraine, Russia are going along.
00:55:42.940 They lost, as you know, 27,000 soldiers last month.
00:55:46.140 Mostly soldiers.
00:55:46.960 Some people.
00:55:47.680 But some people in Kiev, et cetera.
00:55:50.480 But mostly soldiers.
00:55:51.480 And the talks are going along.
00:55:54.700 And I say that, you know, there's tremendous hatred between these two leaders.
00:55:58.360 Between President Putin, President Zelensky, tremendous hatred.
00:56:02.640 And I hope we can get it done.
00:56:03.980 We are talking.
00:56:04.960 Talks are going okay.
00:56:06.920 But, you know, I've solved eight wars.
00:56:10.200 And Thailand is starting to ship up.
00:56:12.240 You know, they started with Cambodia.
00:56:14.260 They started up again.
00:56:15.260 But I think, Marco, we have that in pretty good shape to have that stopped.
00:56:18.680 So we stopped eight wars.
00:56:21.180 And I thought this would be in the middle of the pack.
00:56:23.460 But maybe easy, but in the middle of the pack.
00:56:25.960 But there's a lot of hatred between those two people.
00:56:28.580 And when there's hatred, there's, you know.
00:56:30.660 But we stopped one war 38 years.
00:56:33.080 One war 35 years.
00:56:34.620 One war was going on for 32 years.
00:56:37.840 And we stopped.
00:56:39.540 Think of it.
00:56:40.180 We stopped a potential nuclear war between Pakistan and India.
00:56:44.160 And the head of Pakistan, highly respected general.
00:56:50.400 He's a field marshal.
00:56:52.320 And also the prime minister of Pakistan said President Trump saved 10 million lives, maybe more, by getting that war.
00:56:59.560 You know, eight planes were shot down.
00:57:01.160 That war was starting to rage.
00:57:02.400 And he actually said the other day that President Trump saved 10 million lives, maybe more.
00:57:09.540 So we solved all these wars.
00:57:11.060 The only one I haven't solved yet is Russia and Ukraine.
00:57:14.740 Are you still working for the Christmas Day deadline with Russia and Ukraine?
00:57:18.600 And have you spoken with Putin or Zelensky or plan to push the deal?
00:57:21.560 Well, I'll do whatever I have to do.
00:57:22.280 I mean, I'd like to see it stop.
00:57:24.000 Look, we don't lose any money in that war anymore.
00:57:26.280 You know, Biden gave $350 billion.
00:57:28.500 And who knows what happened to it?
00:57:29.840 We now sell missiles, planes, all of the best military equipment.
00:57:34.800 We sell it to NATO.
00:57:36.080 We got NATO to go from 2 percent GDP to 5 percent.
00:57:39.980 Nobody believed that to this day.
00:57:41.720 Nobody's going to write that, but nobody believed it.
00:57:44.480 And they take that money and they pay it to the United States for weapons.
00:57:48.060 So we sell weapons to NATO.
00:57:50.400 We sell full price.
00:57:52.460 We sell weapons to NATO.
00:57:53.700 And NATO takes those weapons and probably distributes them, but gives a lot of them to Ukraine.
00:58:01.000 So we're not, we don't lose any money like we did with Biden.
00:58:04.140 He was spending money like a, like a fool.
00:58:07.040 He was a fool.
00:58:08.240 What he did to our country is so horrible.
00:58:10.580 But he gave it $350 billion between cash.
00:58:13.240 He gave a lot of cash.
00:58:14.060 $350 billion between cash and weapons.
00:58:17.820 You remember at the beginning of that whole thing, I gave them javelins.
00:58:21.280 Javelins are the anti-tank busters. 0.95
00:58:24.220 And President Obama at the time gave them sheets.
00:58:29.060 I gave them javelins.
00:58:30.980 They gave them sheets.
00:58:31.880 But you know, the bottom line, it's time for, I think they're all tired of that war.
00:58:36.360 Everyone's tired of that war.
00:58:38.280 It's got to stop.
00:58:39.100 Yeah, please.
00:58:39.500 The U.S. was in active pursuit of a sanctioned oil tanker yesterday.
00:58:43.380 Are you able to share what became of that tanker?
00:58:45.260 Was the U.S. able to seize it?
00:58:46.340 No, it's moving along and we'll end up getting it.
00:58:49.340 Yeah, we're actually pursuing it.
00:58:50.940 Can you imagine?
00:58:52.380 Because it came from the wrong location.
00:58:54.440 It came out of Venezuela and it was sanctioned.
00:58:57.420 Yeah, please.
00:58:58.040 Is it a goal in Venezuela to force Maduro from power?
00:59:01.780 Well, I think it probably would.
00:59:03.180 I can't tell.
00:59:03.920 That's up to him what he wants to do.
00:59:06.040 I think it would be smart for him to do that.
00:59:07.900 But again, we're going to find out.
00:59:10.240 Look, Venezuela did terrible things to the United States.
00:59:15.320 They sent hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people into our open border. 0.62
00:59:21.100 They sent their criminals.
00:59:22.840 They sent their prisoners.
00:59:24.040 They sent their drug dealers.
00:59:26.220 They sent their mentally insane and incompetent people into our country more than any other country. 0.99
00:59:32.080 Others did too.
00:59:32.880 The Congo did. 0.99
00:59:34.400 Others did too.
00:59:35.260 And we just let them come right in because we were run by a stupid president.
00:59:39.960 But you don't have a stupid president anymore.
00:59:43.280 Mr. President, have you set up the meeting with the health care insurers just yet?
00:59:46.920 And what are you hoping to get?
00:59:48.060 How are you hoping to lower costs?
00:59:48.360 I'll be setting it up.
00:59:49.020 I think we're going to meet with health care, the health care insurers, the insurance companies.
00:59:54.260 So what I'm asking for in health care is very simple.
00:59:57.600 Obamacare is a disaster.
00:59:58.960 I call it the Unaffordable Care Act.
01:00:01.260 Unaffordable as opposed to it.
01:00:02.380 It's unaffordable.
01:00:03.780 They're going to have a tremendous increase in premiums, which is Obamacare, which is them, the Democrats' fault.
01:00:09.180 They'll try and blame Republicans.
01:00:10.240 It has nothing to do with us.
01:00:11.260 It's the Democrats' fault.
01:00:12.300 So what I want to do is we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year that go to insurance companies.
01:00:19.760 I want that money to go to the people and let the people buy their own health care.
01:00:24.900 And everybody loves it.
01:00:27.060 It's become our issue.
01:00:29.300 Now, before I do that, I'll meet with the insurance companies, just as I met with the drug companies, as you know.
01:00:35.960 We're meeting with four other drug companies, Johnson & Johnson, but they've all agreed.
01:00:40.380 Okay, this is War Room.
01:00:41.840 We're passing the baton over on RAV to John Solomon and Justin News.
01:00:45.620 We're going to continue on the War Room channel here.
01:00:49.180 We're going to continue the press conference, and Captain Fennell, Natalie Winters, will join us immediately after the president answers questions.
01:00:56.420 Nobody thought that was possible.
01:00:58.900 I don't think any other president ever tried to get it because they never thought they could.
01:01:02.840 But with respect to the insurance companies, I want to meet.
01:01:06.880 There's essentially 14 of them, 10 big, but there's a total of 14 pretty much, oh, pretty big.
01:01:13.060 And I want to meet with them, and I want to say, I want you to cut your rates way down, way, way down.
01:01:17.480 And maybe if they do that, we'll be able to not cut them out.
01:01:21.540 We'll be able to continue to deal with them, which is probably a little easier process.