Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
May 8, 2026
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement
Q. Mr. President, have you heard from Iran?
Q. Have you received a response from Iran?
The President. I'll be receiving a letter supposedly tonight. So, we'll see how that goes.
Q. Do you think they're slow-rolling it? Do you think they're intentionally slow-rolling the process?
The President. I don't know. Don't know. We'll find out soon enough.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil
Q. Mr. President, yesterday you met the Brazilian leader. Did you—are you willing to cancel the tariffs with Brazil? And did you discuss Iran with them?
The President. Well, we had a good meeting. We had a great meeting with the President of Brazil. And we'll see what happens. They want to do business with the United States. Everybody does. But we had a—we had a very good meeting.
Commissioner of Food and Drugs Martin A. Makary
Q. Are you planning to fire Marty Makary?
Q. What's going on with Marty Makary?
The President. Nothing much. I mean, fine.
Q. Will he be staying on?
Q. Are you going to fire him?
The President. I've been reading about it, but I know nothing about it.
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement
Q. Are you optimistic about Iranian response to you tonight?
The President. What about it?
Q. Are you optimistic about the Iranian response to your proposal?
The President. Well, we'll see what happens. Look, they have no military. They have not a lot left. We'll see what happens.
Yes, go ahead.
Q. Mr. President, when you—if you decide to pull your—oh, I'm sorry.
Ukraine/Russia
Q. Mr. President, you announced a 3-day ceasefire in the Ukraine-Russia war.
The President. Yes.
Q. Do you anticipate that that will be any longer than 3 days?
The President. Could be. I mean, it could be. It'd be nice. I'd like to see it stopped. Russia-Ukraine—it's the worst thing since World War II in terms of life. Twenty-five thousand young soldiers every month. It's crazy. So, it could very well be.
U.S. Troop Deployments/Poland
Q. If you—if you—Mr. President, if you decide to pull troops from Germany, will you move them to Poland or maybe some other countries on the eastern flank?
The President. Well, Poland would like that. We have a great relationship with Poland. I have a great relationship with the President. If you remember, I endorsed him, and he won. And he came from way behind, and he won. He's a great fighter. He's a great guy. I like him a lot. So, that's possible.
Q. But will you—will you do it? He's asking you for more troops.
The President. I might. I might.
Iraq Elections/Virginia
Q. Mr. President, you seem happy about the election of new Prime Minister of Iraq. How is important Kurdistan regional government, Iraqi federal government, and United States of America working together and reduce militia's influence on the region and especially in Iraq?
The President. Well, we had a great election in Iraq. We had somebody that I very strongly endorsed. He won by a lot, and I wasn't happy with the person who was there previously, so it was a great victory. We had a lot of great victories.
We had a big—we had a big victory today in Virginia, as you know, and we have a lot of victories, but the victory in Iraq was really great.
Food and Drug Administration
Q. Mr. President, are you bringing on a new FDA Commissioner?
The President. FDA Commissioner?
Q. Are you bringing someone new in to lead the FDA?
The President. No. No.
United Kingdom/National Economy
Q. How did you feel about the U.K. election results last night?
The President. I sort of leave that to them. I'm happy about everything. Our country is doing well. We just have new stock market records. Everybody's 401(k) is hitting a record. The numbers are absolutely incredible—the job numbers. We have more people working today than we ever had working in this country. The job numbers today were incredible.
Thank you.
Q. Mr. President, would you like a new Prime Minister, sir?
France/Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. The French sent an aircraft carrier toward the Strait of Hormuz. Do you have any reaction?
The President. Say it?
Q. The French sent an aircraft carrier toward the Strait of Hormuz. The French sent. Any reaction?
The President. No, I have no reaction to that. No. Not at all.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Do you think it's a good move?
The President. I think we're doing very well. Iran is seeming to be coming along very well.
Militarily, very good. We'll see whether or not they can get there.
Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters], go ahead.
Hantavirus Outbreak
Q. Have you gotten the—have you gotten an update on the hantavirus? The hantavirus.
The President. We have it. We have very good people looking at it. It seems to be okay.
They know the virus very well. They've worked with it for a long time. They know it very well. Not easy to pass on, so we hope that's true.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil
Q. President, from—from all topics that you discussed with the President of Brazil, it was a long meeting, right? Which——
The President. Yes, we had a great meeting.
Q. Which topic got your main attention?
The President. We discussed everything. President of Brazil—we discussed everything. We had a very good meeting. We have a very good relationship with him and with Brazil.
Q. But what made you more interested, you know?
The President. We discussed everything, including tariffs.
Russia/Ukraine
Q. Was it—Mr. President, was it Putin that asked for the ceasefire? Was it Putin that asked for the ceasefire? Did he ask you?
The President. No, no. I asked, and President Putin agreed, President Zelenskyy agreed—both readily. And we have a little period of time where they're not going to be killing people. That's very good.
Q. Do you hope it lasts?
The President. And they also agreed to give a thousand—on each side, a thousand prisoners back. So, they're going to be transferring, almost immediately, a thousand prisoners from each side. That's very good. Russia-Ukraine.
Q. Do you plan to talk to them again to try to get this to continue?
The President. Yes, I will. I'd like to. I'd like to see a big extension. Okay?
Hantavirus Outbreak
Q. Mr. President, on the hantavirus. On the hantavirus. Is it making you reconsider leaving the World Health Organization because of the outbreak of hantavirus?
The President. No, we seem to have things under very good control. They know that virus very well. It's been around a long time. Not easily transferrable, unlike COVID. But we'll see. We're studying it very close—we have very good people studying it very closely.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, we're at a point almost 10 weeks after a missile hit a girls school in Iran. Who fired that missile?
The President. So, that's under study right now, and we'll give you a report as soon as we have it.
Russia/U.S. Diplomatic Efforts/Ukraine Conflict
Q. Mr. President, will you—will you send your team to Moscow now that you brokered the ceasefire in the Ukraine war, to negotiate further?
The President. What?
Q. Will you send your team to Moscow to negotiate further now that you brokered the ceasefire?
The President. Well, I would do it. If I thought it would help, I'd do it. I'd love to see that war end. I've settled 8 wars and, actually, 9, and now it looks like we could have 10. But I would love to make that the 10th, I will tell you. I would love to see—I would love to see an end between Russia-Ukraine, that war.
Twenty-five thousand young soldiers were killed last month, and it's, on average, 25- to 30,000 soldiers a month. It's a terrible war. Terrible.
South Korea/Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. Mr. President, South Korea—you said that South Korean ship was attacked by Iran, but Iran denied they did this. Do you share with the South——
The President. I love South Korea.
Q. Do you plan to resume Project Freedom? Do you think you need to resume the Project Freedom?
The President. I don't think so. We might do it, but I don't think so. I think we'd go a different route if everything doesn't get signed up and buttoned up. We—so, Project Freedom is good. We were asked not to do that by Pakistan, who's our friend—as you know, the Prime Minister and the field marshal.
But I think Project Freedom is good, but I think we have other ways of doing it also. We may go back to Project Freedom if things don't happen, but it would be Project Freedom plus, meaning Project Freedom plus other things.
Ukraine/Russia
Q. Why did you ask—why did you ask—why did you ask Zelenskyy for a ceasefire that Putin wanted?
The President. So, we have a ceasefire, and I think everyone is happy. President Zelenskyy, President Putin—I think they're happy to have it. And we'll see what happens.
U.S. Military Operations in Iran
Q. Mr. President, ceasefire—it is important ceasefire include Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan? Because, after ceasefire with Iran, several times Iranian regime and proxies targeting Iraqi Kurdistan as your ally.
The President. We want to get the whole thing ended, not just individual movements. We want to get the whole thing ended, and we will.
Thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 6:36 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White House prior to boarding Marine One. In his remarks, he referred to President Karol Nawrocki of Poland; Prime Minister–designate Ali Falih Kadhim al-Zaydi and former Prime Minister Prime Minister Muhammed Shia' al-Sudani of Iraq; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine; and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defense Forces Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah of Pakistan.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, White House. Locations: Washington, DC
Names: Lula da Silva, Luiz Inácio; Munir Ahmed Shah, Syed Asim; Nawrocki, Karol; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Sharif, Shehbaz; Sudani, Muhammad Shia' al-; Zaydi, Ali Falih Kadhim al-; Zelenskyy, Volodymyr.
Subjects: Brazil, President; Brazil, trade with U.S.; Diseases, hantavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Iran, diplomatic engagement with U.S.; Iran, restriction of commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iraq, elections; Iraq, Prime Minister; Job creation and growth; News media, Presidential interviews; Pakistan, Chief of Defense Forces; Pakistan, Prime Minister; Poland, elections; Poland, President; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Russia, President; Stock market; Ukraine, President; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; United Kingdom, elections.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600329.