Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
October 6, 2026
Q. Mr. President——
Q. Mr. President——
The President. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So we'll be going to a very special place. We're opening a big shipyard today. We're opening it a—really, a lot of shipyards over the next year.
Our military is building like we've never built before. We have 17 different factories being built—and munitions factories.
And we're doing very well. Iran is doing very poorly. Their economy is gone. They have inflation of almost 300 percent. Their Oil Minister just quit. He said: "We have no economy. We have no oil. We have nothing."
The Hormuz Strait, tremendous amounts—millions of barrels of oil has been delivered just over the last couple of days. We're getting it through at levels that were now even and sometimes exceeding prior to the war. And we've done very well.
[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
Q. Why was Wes Moore uninvited to the——
Federal Gasoline Tax
Q. Mr. President—thank you, Mr. President. Should the Fed Chair—after yesterday's diesel announcement, should the Federal gas tax be suspended?
The President. Well, we're thinking about that. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Funding for Administration Advertisements
Q. Mr. President, why did you change your mind, sir, on the taxpayer-funded ads? And will you reimburse the Government for the millions of dollars——
The President. Well, the ads——
Q. ——already spent?
The President. The ads were really good. They were promotion for the country. Done by many presidents before. So we'll decide.
Q. Mr. President, why did you reverse course——
Gold Star Families
Q. Your meeting with—your meeting with the Gold Star families today, how did that go, may I ask, please?
The President. It was great. In fact, there they are. There they are.
[At this point, the President addressed Gold Star families gathered on the South Portico.] Hello, everybody.
That was the most beautiful meeting. These are the most incredible people. So I invited them out to check out the new helipad, check out the new ballroom, and check out the new helicopter.
Thank you, everybody.
That meeting——
[Several reporters began asking questions at once.] That meeting went fantastic.
Q. Why was Wes Moore uninvited to the event?
Strength of the U.S. Dollar
Q. Mr. President, has the dollar strengthened too much versus the euro right now?
The President. No, we have a very strong dollar. That's because we're doing well. You know, a strong dollar is good in many ways. In certain ways, you can make a case that it slows things down, but a strong dollar gives you a lot of life.
And by the way, you know what a strong dollar does? Gives you no inflation. So——[Several reporters spoke at once.]
2026 Midterm Elections
Q. Mr. President, how confident you are that you could prove the poll results wrong? On the midterm elections, how confident you are——
The President. I think we're going to do very well. I think that the rallies I'm doing are—really changed it around. I think the Republican—all I'm doing is saying what we've done. But the rallies that we've—that we're having—I mean, I'm doing them every night.
This is the opening of a shipyard, but the rallies have changed things around. We're letting people know what the Republicans have done, and it's incredible.
And prices are now coming way down. And oil, as soon as the war is over—which will be soon—will be coming way down.
Q. Mr. President, Mr. President——
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Renovation Work
Q. Mr. President, are you—the Reflecting Pool is going to get refilled this week. I'm Emily Miller [Running Reporter]. Thank you for your Truth Social.
The President. Oh, good. Hi, Emily.
Q. Hi. Nice to see you, sir.
The President. Good. You're fantastic.
Q. Thank you.
And the Reflecting Pool is going to be refilled this week. Are you worried about vandalism in the future, and are you going to go see it?
The President. Yes, well, we had vandalism there, and we have it about as vandal-proof as you can get. But only sick people do that. And we have their pictures, we have their—but sick people do that.
Yes, it's starting—I think they're going to fill it up this week.
Q. Yes. Are you going to go visit?
The President. The Reflecting Pool is totally complete. And we changed the old pipes. We wanted to get open for July 4, and now we went and got rid of all of the old pipes, which we were going to do later, during the winter. We did it. And I think it's almost complete, from what I understand.
Q. Are you going to go visit? Can you go visit again?
The President. I'm going to visit, yes.
Q. Okay, good.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
The President. And they also—the grass, which they destroyed—you know, they destroyed——
Q. Right.
The President. ——the brandnew, beautiful grass at the Reflecting Pool.
Q. Yes.
The President. The grass was destroyed with the letters—the famous letters, and that's been just about completed too. We put all new grass in again.
And this is brandnew grass.
Q. It's beautiful.
The President. This is all new, with about 200 loads of brandnew topsoil. So, this is going to be very healthy grass.
Q. What did you mean when you said, "Let them take out Los Angeles and San Diego"?
Skydance Paramount's Acquisition of Warner Bros. Media Company
Q. The Supreme Court allowed the merge of——
Q. What were you talking about?
Q. ——Paramount and Warner. Your reaction or—on that?
The President. What about it?
Q. The Supreme Court today allowed today the merge of Paramount and Warner. Your reaction on that?
The President. It allowed the——
Q. The merge of the two companies, yes.
The President. The merger?
Q. Yes, the merger.
The President. Yes. Oh, I'm happy about—I didn't know that. You're telling me that.
Q. Yes.
The President. That's great. It's a great—it's going to be a great company. They're terrific people, and it's going to be a great company.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. Mr. President, what did you mean when you said——
The President. You know, we're doing—we're doing so well economically. We have numbers the likes of which our country has never had anything like we have right now. We're building hundreds of factories and plants all over.
That's a great merger. I'm glad they let it go through. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. What did you mean when you said, "Let them take out Los Angeles and San Diego"?
Nobel Prize for Peace
Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, what about the Nobel Prize?
[The President waved and gave a thumbs up to the Gold Star families.] The President. The Nobel Prize. You're right about that.
[The President briefly addressed the gathered Gold Star families; no transcript was provided.]
NOTE: The President spoke at 3:09 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White House prior to boarding Marine One. In his remarks, he referred to former Minister of Petroleum Mohsen Pak-nejad of Iran. A reporter referred to Gov. Westley W.O. "Wes" Moore of Maryland.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, White House. Locations: Washington, DC.
Names: Pak-nejad, Mohsen
Subjects: 2026 midterm elections; Economic improvement; Gasoline costs; Inflation; Iran, commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iran, Minister of Petroleum; Iran, U.S. military operations; Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, renovation work; Military families; News media, Presidential interviews; Nobel Prize for Peace; Oil markets and prices; Skydance Paramount, acquisition of Warner Bros. media; U.S. munitions supply, improvement efforts; White House Ballroom construction project; White House renovation projects.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600679.