Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
September 26, 2026
Q. Good morning, Mr. President.
Iran/U.S. Diplomatic Engagement
Q. Mr. President, how did you look into the latest Iranian proposal?
The President. I reject their proposal. Yes. They made a proposal, but I've rejected it.
New Media/White House Press Access
Q. Sir, do you only want outlets that support you to be a part of the press pool?
The President. Say it?
Q. Do you only want outlets that support you to be a part of the press pool?
The President. No, no. I want real news, not fake news like you. I want—listen, I want real news. I love an open, free press. What I don't like is the fake press, where a group like CNN, a few people watching, or MSDNC, which they changed, I guess, to NOW—but you know why they changed it? Because their ratings were so bad.
What I don't like——
Q. Mr. President——
Q. Do you not want tough questions?
The President. Wait, wait. Quiet. What I don't like is fake news, and they're fake news, a hundred percent.
In 2 years, I doubt they did one good story, and I won the election in a landslide. [At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
So what we don't want is, we don't want fake news. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
U.S. Military Operations in Iran/U.S. Naval Blockade of Sanctioned Commercial Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz
Q. Mr. President, any plans to strike Iran after midterms?
The President. Well, I'm rejecting their deal. They want to make a deal where they open the Strait immediately because they're losing so badly. You know, you don't read that or you don't see that in the fake news. But we're winning tremendously. We have total control of the Hormuz Strait. Massive amounts of oil are coming out of the Hormuz Strait.
Last night we had 29 ships come out. They want to make a deal, and I think that's fine. I like making a deal too. But I'm not—that deal would not be acceptable.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
And what they want to do is immediately open the Hormuz Strait. You know why? Because they're dying. You know why they're dying? Because they have no money coming in, because
they get their money from the Hormuz Strait. So they outsmarted themselves. They said, "Let's close it and cause a problem for the world."
And then I came along, and we put up the greatest blockade ever in military history. It's a wall of steel. I would put it up, and guess what? They don't have any money now because they wanted to close the Strait, and I said: "That's fine. We're going to close it on you, but everybody else is able to use it."
Taiwan/China
Q. What about Taiwan, sir? Did Taiwan come up with President Xi?
The President. It did. It did. We didn't talk about it too much. Right now it's, you know, fine.
It's just moving along.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
But we didn't spend a lot of time talking about Taiwan. He understands very much how I
feel.
Q. Mr. President, right here——
Artificial Intelligence
Q. Mr. President, on artificial intelligence, why is it important to call it "super intelligence" versus just AI? Why is it important for you to call it that?
The President. Well, I say this: that super intelligence, SI—I don't call it AI anymore; I call it SI because it's a much better name. It's a much more accurate name, because when you say the other, it means it's fake. Artificial means it's fake, and it's not fake. It's just—it's very strong intelligence.
Q. Mr. President——
The President. So I think a lot of people are doing that now. I call it SI.
So we had a big talk on SI, and he likes the idea of changing the name to SI too because it's much more accurate. It's actually much more elegant, but it's much more accurate.
And this country is going to do it a hundred percent. We had a lot of talk about it. The United States of America is not going to be putting on brakes. When they want to put on brakes, it's just like everybody is going to be dead. You're all supposed to be dead now because of global warming. It's like Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. All of these different hoaxes.
Well, what they want to do is, they want to stop our progress because we're leading China by a lot, and we're going to keep it that way. We didn't spend that much time talking about it. I would rather not integrate because we're leading by a lot. When you're leading, you don't open it up to each other. We're leading by at least a year and maybe a year and a half. Some people say 2 years.
I'm not looking to open it up, and we really didn't talk much about it. We did talk about the name "super intelligence."
Q. Mr. President, quick question. Mr. President.
Q. Did you talk to Zelenskyy about Patriot missiles? What was the decision there?
Women in Leadership
Q. Mr. President, Barack Obama just said if you put women in charge of every Government for 2 years, things would be better. Do you buy that?
The President. That's a ridiculous—I love women, I think they're great, but what a ridiculous statement that is. Right? Even you would say that.
Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance/Russian Conflict
Q. Did you speak with Zelenskyy about Patriot missiles? And what was the——
The President. I did. I spoke to him a lot. And he's going along, and Putin is going along, and someday, hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, maybe before the heavy winter, they'll make a deal.
Q. Mr. President, did you agree with Zelenskyy that Ukraine could work toward Patriot missiles?
The President. I agreed with Zelenskyy that—we talked about a lot of different subjects, and many of those subjects have very strong agreement. But you know what I want him to do? Make a deal. I want him to settle with Putin, and I want Putin to settle with him.
Last month, 25,000 people died in the Ukraine-Russia war. Okay? Twenty-five thousand. The month before that, 32,000 people died. They're mostly soldiers, 97 percent soldiers. But whether they're soldiers or civilians, think of it: 32,000. Two months ago, 33,000 people. This month, 25,000 people died. What a shame.
Cuba
Q. Any military action plan for Cuba? There's been reports that some Reserves have been activated potentially towards Cuba. Anything you can share?
The President. I would say that Cuba and us will make a deal. I don't think we'll need the military. Cuba is failing very badly. We want to help Cuba. We want to open Cuba up to our people. We have great Cuban Americans that want to go back. We want to open Cuba up to our people.
Okay? Thank you very much, everybody. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Venezuela/Elections
Q. Did you speak about elections with the President of Venezuela?
The President. I did. I spoke about elections. By the way, she was very nice, very terrific.
We're spending a lot of money. They are spending—the oil companies are all going into Venezuela now, and very shortly—I mean, Venezuela is making a lot of money now for its people. Really, a great thing to see it.
Prime Minister Ali Falih Kadhim al-Zaydi of Iraq
Q. Mr. President, how did your meeting go with the Iraqi Prime Minister at UNGA?
The President. It went great. He's a fantastic man. He's a friend of mine. I endorsed him, right? I mean, I endorsed him. The Iraqi Prime Minister, he's a fantastic guy.
Thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 9:45 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White House prior to boarding Marine One. In his remarks, he referred to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; and Acting President Delcy Rodriguez Gomez of Venezuela. A reporter referred to former President Barack Obama.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, White House. Locations: Washington, DC.
Names: Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Rodriguez Gomez, Delcy; Zaydi, Ali Falih Kadhim al-; Zelenskyy, Volodymyr.
Subjects: Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies; Cuba, economic and political stability; Iran, commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iran, diplomatic engagement with U.S.; Iraq, Prime Minister; News media, fairness and accuracy; News media, Presidential interviews; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Russia, President; Taiwan, political status with respect to China; Ukraine, President; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Venezuela, Acting President; Venezuela, investment by foreign oil companies.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600643.