Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2025
December 31, 2025
The President. So nicely dressed. Everybody looks so nice.
Q. Mr. President——
The President. How are you?
Q. Do you have a New Year's resolution?
The President. I have. Peace——
Q. Let's hear it.
The President. Peace on Earth. Peace on Earth. You can come in, if you'd like.
Q. Mr. President, I have a question about—[inaudible]——
Q. Mr.——
Q. President Zelenskyy said that you were considering putting U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine. Is that true?
The President. Thank you.
Q. The CIA assessment—[inaudible]—the CIA assessment——
[At this point, the President and Mrs. Trump proceeded down the red carpet and entered the event site. The press remained on the red carpet. The press then later joined the President's in progress as follows.]
The President. We have more investment coming into our country than any country ever in the history of the world by a lot. By—it's not even close. And that means a lot of good things.
Factories are being built right now, as we speak, all over the country, and it's really exciting to see. So I think we're going to do well.
You saw 4.3. They were predicting 1.9, 4.3. We've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs.
We gave the military—the entire military—$1,776. Seventeen hundred and seventy-six dollars. That's not bad. They were extremely happy.
But we're doing great as a country. We're back. We're strong. I didn't think it could happen this fast. It's happening a lot faster than anybody would have thought possible.
We have a lot of leaders here. Great leaders like Tom Emmer. I watched him on television.
He was talking about Somalia today. Where's Tom?
Participant. Right here.
The President. He was talking about the Somalian population and not very nicely. He was not nice, but that's okay. It isn't my—where is Tom?
Participant. Right here.
The President. He's great. What a great leader he is. We need you in Minnesota. We need you in Minnesota.
He's actually a Washington—big, powerful Congressman. But you did a great job today, Tom. Thank you very much. We all appreciate it because we want to take back our country.
Can you imagine? They stole $18 billion. That's just what we're learning about. That's peanuts. And California is worse. Illinois is worse. And sadly, New York is worse. A lot of other places.
So we're going to get to the bottom of all of it. It was a giant scam. Other than that, we're going to have a great new year. [Laughter]
Actually, I view that as a reason for a good new year because we're going to get to the bottom of—we're going to get that money back. It's all coming back.
So I want to just do something very special. This is very different. There's a young lady named Vanessa who's one of the greatest artists anywhere in the world. To me, she's one of the greatest.
In fact, she did something last night that was incredible. She can paint, slowly, a beautiful portrait for the White House, or she can paint the most incredible painting in literally 10 minutes. And she's a speed painter, and she's a great painter. But I think she's one of the great living artists.
And I said: "Do you think you'd be able to stay and interrupt the music for a couple of minutes and show them something special and draw something really special? I don't know what it is, but draw something really special."
And if it's really good, what I thought I'd do is come back up and I'll auction it off, and I'll start with a certain number. But we have money in this room. It's ridiculous. [Laughter] It's ridiculous. So we'll maybe auction it off afterwards.
But I think you're not going to really believe what you're going to see, because it's—I've never seen anything like it. So, if you could, just pay a little attention, because it's very different. It's entertainment, but really what it's—it's—[inaudible]—she's one of the greatest artists anywhere in the world.
Vanessa, would you please come up? Thank you. Thank you.
[Artist Vanessa Horabuena began a "speed worship" painting demonstration.]
Announcer. And at this time, ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to have everybody take their seats.
[Ms. Horabuena continued painting.]
Announcer. As the President says, do not take your seats. Come back to the middle everybody.
[Ms. Horabuena concluded the speed worship painting demonstration.] The President. Is that amazing? Is that amazing?
Great job. I don't know how you do that. It's 10 minutes. She's done portraits of me in the White House, and they're the best. I've replaced a lot of people with those portraits.
We've had—I've had the greatest painters. You know, the White House recommends a list of 10 painters. And honestly, we use them, but this is the one that did the best painting. So I tell you that because these people are loaded with cash, just so you know. If you want to get a portrait, I would call Vanessa.
So I'm going to start off—you know what we'll do? Eric Trump, do you have a favorite charity? Yes. What would you like to give it to? [Inaudible] So we're going to do it on behalf of Eric Trump.
Don, do you have a favorite charity? These were their—[inaudible]. They've been good—that was a smart thing. That's good. St. Jude's is great. And we'll do also half to the sheriff's department. Is that okay?
We're going to auction it off. And I'll start at $100,000. Okay?
And honestly, just—you know, if you want, but I actually think it's worth much more than
that.
MCI Founder and Chief Executive Officer Anthony Marlowe. Two fifty.
The President. And she's the hottest—how much?
Mr. Marlowe. Two fifty.
The President. Two—who is that?
Mr. Marlowe. Anthony Marlowe!
The President. Oh, Anthony. The man started off with one truck. He ended up selling his
company for $4 billion. He had 5,000 trucks.
How long did it take you to make $4 billion, Anthony? About 50 years? So $250,000 is peanuts to him, but that's okay.
Participant. Three. Three.
The President. Anthony, we love you. How much?
Participant. Three.
The President. Three hundred thousand. Thank you very much.
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. Five hundred thousand. Wow. You're a good artist. Five hundred thousand. Hussain.
DAMAC Properties Founder Hussain Sajwani. [Inaudible]
The President. What?
Mr. Sajwani. [Inaudible]
The President. Five fifty. Hussain. Thank you very much.
Participant. Six fifty.
The President. Six fifty. Thank you very much. Mr. Wertheim?
Physician and philanthropist Herbert A. Wertheim. [Inaudible]
The President. What?
Mr. Wertheim. [Inaudible]
The President. One million. Whoa.
That is—he's the biggest guy on Wall Street. So it's peanuts. He's the biggest guy on Wall Street. He—don't let that red hat fool you. He wears that so that he sort of takes people by surprise before he plucks the money out of their wallets, right, Wertheim?
So, anyway, thank you very much. One million.
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. Two million? Two million, whoa. Two million. Two million. Wow. Do you see what I mean? Did I tell you these people—and yet, that's peanuts.
Anybody else?
Ms. Horabuena. [Inaudible]
The President. Huh?
Ms. Horabuena. [Inaudible]
The President. I'll sign it if you'll give more. Okay? [Laughter] Are there any—any other bids? Any other bids?
Yes, ma'am.
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. Two—two million——
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. Two million five. Two million five? Five million? Five million or two million five?
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. Two million five. That's it. That's—her husband looked at her and said, "What the hell is that all about—$5 million?"
Any bid—we have two million five. Two million five. Anybody upping it?
You see what happens here, John? How about that for entertainment—how is that as entertainment? You never—we're going to have great musicians, everything else. But I saw this.
She did something for us last night. She created a work of art. It was so incredible. I said, "Could you come and do it again?" Right, John? And she was a hit. Do you notice, I said: "No, let him stand on the floor if they want." Not one person left the floor. You noticed that, John, right? He's the one putting on this big shindig tonight. It's going to be amazing tonight. And you're invited to stay with us, Vanessa. Okay?
All right. We're at two million five. Anybody else?
Going once. Two million seven fifty. Who is that? Oh, I know who that guy is. He's got plenty of cash. [Laughter]
Vanessa, you don't want to know about some of these guys. [Laughter]
Two million seven fifty. Do I hear a $3 million? Do I hear $3 million? It's going to St.
Jude's. It's going to the sheriff's office—sheriff's department.
Huh? Yes, who? What?
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. Yes? Yes? Don't do it if it's too much. Don't do it if we have to see a chapter filing tomorrow morning. [Laughter]
Ladies and gentlemen, one of our outstanding Palm Beachers had to file for chapter. He bid too much. No, don't bid.
So we have $2 million—we have two million seven fifty. Do we have anything else? Any other bid?
I want to thank you. Come on up on the stage. Do—come on up here. Come on up. I think you made a good deal, actually. Come on up. That's great. How about that?
Did you ever sell one of your paintings for that?
Ms. Horabuena. [Inaudible]
The President. No?
Whoa, look at this guy. This guy is good. He's a good man. A very successful guy too. I want to thank you very much. That's a very nice outfit. I love this outfit. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Look at your new—it's amazing. It's actually even more beautiful up close. So you were just amazed by that, right?
Participant. I was.
The President. That's great. Well, thank you very much. And the charity thanks you very much.
Vanessa, thank you very much.
You have a good time tonight. We appreciate it. Participant. Thank you. Thank you very much. The President. Get this guy's number.
Participant. It was her idea.
The President. He's a very—oh, she's got——
Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. That's true. Wow. Well, how many years? Participant. [Inaudible]
The President. Six years? Congratulations—it's a beautiful couple. Beautiful couple, right? Thank you, everybody, very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 8:44 p.m. at the Mar-a-Lago Club. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on January 2, 2026.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : New Year's Eve party in Palm Beach, FL; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, Palm Beach, FL.
Locations: Palm Beach, FL.
Names: Emmer, Thomas E., Jr.; Horabuena, Vanessa; Marlowe, Anthony; Sajwani, Hussain; Trump, Donald J., Jr.; Trump, Eric F.; Wertheim, Herbert A.
Subjects: Economic improvement; Florida, President's visit; Minnesota, Somali immigrants; New Year's Eve; Tariffs.
DCPD Number: DCPD202501230.