Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
October 7, 2026
The President. Well, thank you very much. This is a very big day because the Trump Accounts has turned out to be bigger than anyone ever thought even possible. And we had big dreams.
Today we celebrate our next historic—historic, and that's really what it is—step to ensure every American child has a fair shot at the American Dream.
Today I'm pleased to announce that every single eligible minor child in America has now been automatically enrolled in a Trump Account.
So, last summer, I signed the "Great Big Beautiful Bill," delivering the largest tax cuts in American history. And that included, in there—approved by Republicans. We had—I don't know if we had any Democrat votes. I think not. They don't vote for anything. But including the Trump Accounts.
And under this program, the U.S. Government is automatically creating a tax-free investment account for every child to grow over the course of their lives and to be used to their benefit and for their benefit after they turn 18.
So, if all goes well, which I think it will, they'll end up being quite rich by the time they're 18, and then 21, and as time goes by.
I want to thank Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent; Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and CEO of the Internal Revenue Service, Frank Bisignano; and Senator Ted Cruz. They've been fantastic, the three of them. Amazing.
I also want to express my gratitude to an exceptional couple—truly an extraordinary couple—Michael and Susan Dell, who made one of the largest private donations at any time, all time, for anything: 6 billion 250 million dollars into the Trump Accounts to take care of thousands and thousands of children all over our country.
And I want to thank also Brad Gerstner, who also donated tens of millions of dollars. Thank you, Brad. Susan, thank you. And, Michael, wherever you may be.
Susan Dell. He's right here.
Senator R. Edward "Ted" Cruz. Right here.
The President. Thank you, Michael.
I was missing you, Michael. I didn't like that. [Laughter]
But I just want to thank you. What a job. What a job you've done. And you started it. They started it before it was fashionable. Now it's very fashionable; everyone's saying good things.
I'm even hearing Democrat Senators stand up and say the Trump Accounts is fantastic. "I may not like Trump, but I like the Trump Accounts." I can't believe it. So that's good.
You hear your colleagues. I have not heard anybody speak badly of it. It's pretty amazing. Since launching in July, nearly 8 million accounts have been created in 3 months.
With today's announcement, we're building on that success by 70 million accounts for children across America, and they'll all be enrolled into the Trump Accounts.
And since July 4, over $4.5 billion have been deposited in Trump Accounts, and much of that has come from very generous Brad, Susan, Michael, and others. Some of the biggest companies in America are giving hundreds of millions of dollars.
I urge all parents to download the official Trump Account app, claim their children's account, and begin managing and contributing to it today. It's really amazing.
It also teaches people a little bit about entrepreneurship and watching your account grow. But very simply, this money is your child's future, and when your child—in the old days,
your child would hit 18, and there's nothing. They don't have any money. And now they'll be potentially very rich.
Loved ones, churches, and generous companies and individuals are all able to contribute funds to these accounts to help get children off to a strong start in life. More than 70 companies have also committed to Trump Accounts, and—and many for hundreds of millions of dollars, including Uber, Intel, Nvidia, Steak 'n Shake—many, many companies. Too many to name.
I'm calling on all employees all across America to follow their lead and make matching Trump Account contributions. It's a benefit for every American worker. It's been incredible.
Before launching Trump Accounts, 38 percent of Americans did not own a stock. Thirty-eight percent. Now every member of the next generation will have an investment account and will benefit from our booming economy.
If we started this when I first came into office, Michael, it would have been great because the markets have gone from—well, we're at an alltime high. In fact, yesterday we hit another alltime high. I think it's 84 times now. We're at 84 times since a little bit more than a year and a half. We have alltime high stock markets.
We should have started this 2 years ago. [Laughter] If we started it 2 years ago, that would have been great.
But now every member of the next generation will have an investment account and will benefit from this great economy—I guess the greatest economy we've ever had, definitely.
Since the election, U.S. stock markets have set alltime records, and they're going—and records in many different fashions.
Instead of Americans sharing in the misery of communism or whatever it is they're out there promoting, which is a—you know, I'm watching it all the time. They're Communists, but they say, "Well, we're really not Communists, really." But their policies are that of a Communist, Socialist. It won't work, and it's been proven over thousands of years by different names. It doesn't work.
I'd now like to ask Secretary Bessent to say a few words explaining how the claim and this incredible account works very quickly. And then, Frank, I'll ask you to say a few words. And Ted, Michael, and Susan and Brad. And we can go quickly because everyone knows what's happening with the Trump Accounts.
It's been written about so favorably, it's been so successful, and these beautiful, young children are extremely rich. They will—they are now and they will be in the future extremely rich. So they have something to look forward to.
But this has been a great—I think it's a passion of love. It's something that we all love doing, and we've done it well. And it's far—I think we can say, Brad, far greater than we ever had any dreams of because now we're talking about many, many millions of people, young people.
Thank you very much. Go ahead, please, Scott.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott K.H. Bessent. It's an honor to be here today and as we create the ownership account for every American family via the Trump Accounts. Every family, every child deserves to have a piece of the American dream, and these Trump Accounts are just that.
A child born during President Trump's Presidency, Treasury will seed the accounts with
$1,000. For children 18 and under, we have great philanthropists, like Susan and Michael, the—Brad and many others, who are putting in substantial gifts. Many corporations—as the President said, many corporations, many foundations. And we think that this is the beginning of the ownership society.
I was talking to these great young people earlier. They already know about compounding.
They understand how the stock market works. They are excited to do it. I think this is going to be a real-time financial literacy project.
It is the culmination of a lot of hard work for a lot of people. The—Senator Cruz, Brad, the Dells, the President, Frank, and Kevin have been great partners. And we are looking forward to administering this at Treasury and to watch these accounts grow.
The President. And by the way, I didn't introduce the man here, most important person. [Laughter] He's been predicting this great economy. I'm very—I apologize to you, Kevin. I didn't introduce you. I could—say a couple of words before Frank. Go ahead.
National Economic Council Director Kevin A. Hassett. Sir, I just want to say that this is something that this team and you prioritized from the beginning, because these kids—we were just talking, and they're so excited about—to—and to learn that each one of them owns a share in one of the biggest 500 companies in America means that they understand that, you know, when the U.S. wins, they win too. And that's something that hasn't always been obvious to our political opponents.
Thank you.
The President. That's great. Thanks. You're doing a great job, Kevin.
Director Hassett. Thank you.
The President. Frank.
Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano. Thank you, sir. And thank you, President, for giving us the opportunity to serve here. I'm blessed and honored with people we're around who made this happen. These are founders.
And right now, to give America an understanding of where we are, as we speak, more than 10 million accounts out of 70 million are already funded with $4½ billion. By this weekend, you will see that move to $7 billion, with more than 25 million. That's 25 million American children who now have a piece of capitalism.
One of the ground-breaking startups of all time. This is a startup that will have 70 million children in it, all receiving money, right? And we will communicate with every one of them, right? We have access to every family in America, and we'll make sure they know the piece that they have of capitalism that many would have never seen before without the great work of the president, the great work of the secretary.
The—my friend for a super long time, and it's an unbelievable honor to be here with him, Michael Dell and Susan, who have—have founded this as seed money for this startup. Brad, as an innovator here. Kevin driving it. Senator Cruz.
But I think it's really important for people to understand that every American child will hear from us to ensure they see their account. If you want to go look at it right now, you could go to the app store and see it there. Right? It is right now, in the app store, outperforming everything.
This is the—President Trump's innovation at work, fighting for American children, as he always had, and we're winning.
God bless. Thank you.
The President. Thank you, Frank.
And I have to say that Frank took the biggest salary cut, perhaps, of all time. [Laughter] He ran one of the very big, great companies, and he was paid, like, $35 million a year, and now we're paying him $175,000 a year. Would you say that's good, Peter [Peter Doocy, Fox News]?
Q. It's good for you.
The President. He—but he wanted the job. You know why? Because he loves the country. But he may have—well, I don't know. Maybe there's somebody out there. But, to the best of my knowledge, you took the biggest salary cut in history.
Commissioner Bisignano. I thought I made more than 200——
The President. Huh?
Commissioner Bisignano. I thought I made more than $200,000. [Laughter]
The President. Yes. I wanted to keep it below the 200 because a lot of people think 200 is a lot still.
Commissioner Bisignano. Oh, okay. $199-.
The President. I wanted to keep it a little bit below. [Laughter] Anyway. Ted, please.
Sen. Cruz. Mr. President, congratulations. This is, unquestionably, going to be one of the biggest parts of your legacy as president. And on July 4, the Trump Accounts were launched, our Nation's 250th birthday. It's a big, big deal.
And today it is a massive day that—that your administration is opening a personal investment account for every single kid in America—over 70 million kids. Every mom and dad out there, your child now has a personal investment account the Treasury Department has set up for you. And that personal investment account—if you have a newborn baby, $1,000 has already been invested in that account that goes straight to the stock market.
And we also have incredibly generous philanthropists: Michael and Susan, six and a quarter billion dollars. They've given $250 to 25 million kids across America. We have these kids here, sixth and seventh graders. You guys now—each of you has an investment account, and you're going to be owners. You guys now own part of Apple. You own part of Dell computers. You own part of McDonald's. Next time you go order a Big Mac, you should walk in and say, "Look, I own the place." [Laughter]
That is powerful. And what's amazing is that you start investing, and if you keep investing and it grows and you leave it in there and keep investing and your family keeps investing, as you
get older, you will get hundreds of thousands, and if you keep investing, literally millions of dollars in these accounts. You are owners, which is a big, big deal.
And I'll tell you what's cool. Your administration designed the app. It's a beautiful app you can download from—from the Trump Account store, but it makes it really easy for anyone to contribute to your account. You have a little QR code that you can send. Your next birthday party, you know, your Aunt Susie might get you an ugly sweater, and you might say to Aunt Susie, "Instead of the ugly sweater, how about put 50 bucks in my Trump Account?" And you can pull it up on your phone and look at it and see it growing.
And we are creating a whole new generation of capitalists. And I want to say your team, Scott and Frank and Kevin, have done an extraordinary job bird-dogging this, and today is an historic moment of legacy for every kid in America.
The President. Well, you know, I wanted to ride with Social Security being fully invested in the stock market in the first month of my first year, so 2016. Had we done that, Social Security would right now be the richest entity anywhere in the world. Had we done that.
But I was met with tremendous criticism by the Democrats and some Republicans because, you know, they felt it was risky.
But had we done that—because, literally, if you look back, you'll see—I wanted to do it so badly. I just felt the country had such upward potential. And we didn't do that. Can you imagine if we did? People wouldn't be talking about Social Security difficulty. But it's—would have been great.
But what we're doing, in a way, is we're doing a version of it with children
Sen. Cruz. Yes.
The President. With young children. And they're going to be riding the markets. And it's going to be a great thing for them to watch.
So it's great.
Michael and Susan, please.
Dell Technologies Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael S. Dell. Well, thank you, Mr. President. It's a great honor for us to be back here in the White House.
You know, I started a company, Dell Technologies, with $1,000. And in America, small beginnings can become extraordinary things, and that's why we came here last year and we committed to children in America that we were going to contribute $6.25 billion—$250 to 25 million Trump Accounts for children in America.
And I'm very pleased to let you know today that we have funded 10 million of those accounts as of this morning. And by the end of this week, we will have funded 25 million of those accounts, fulfilling the promise that we made to American children late last year.
Now, $250 is just the beginning. If you have a child under 18 with a Social Security number, you should claim their account. If you can add to the account, you should add to the account, and you should teach your children about compounding, about investing, and about the benefits of capitalism.
These children will grow up as owners. They will also be the generation that creates the next great companies and innovations in our country.
And now we have 25 million children as owners. We've invested in their future, and we've invested in America's future. And we are so excited to see what they build.
Thank you.
The President. Thank you, Michael. Susan, do you have anything to say?
Mrs. Dell. Over the past month, as our contribution has reached millions of children's accounts, Michael and I have heard from so many parents and kids and grandparents with these beautiful letters that have truly moved us.
Children have told us that they want to become entrepreneurs. They want to become nurses, doctors, engineers. They want to build their own companies someday.
We've heard from parents and grandparents who've shared what it means to them to know that there is an investment in their child's future.
These things are so wonderful and so important. It's—you know, it's not just the money that matters. That does matter. But knowing that someone believes in you, in your future, that matters just as much.
So, to every child across the country, these accounts are for you. We believe in you, and we want you to dream big because we know you can make your dreams come true.
So, parents and grandparents, please claim your child's account. These accounts are ready.
They're waiting for you, and they have money in them.
So claim your child's accounts and start adding money to their accounts and preserving a wonderful future for them.
The President. What a good job that—Michael, is she thinking about running for office? [Laughter] Huh?
Mr. Dell. No. [Laughter]
The President. Because I'll endorse her immediately. She has my complete and total endorsement. [Laughter]
Good job. Thank you both. Appreciate it very much. Brad, please.
Altimeter Capital Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bradley T. Gerstner. Well, sir, what an extraordinary day for the country. I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this is the biggest transformation in the social contract and the social fabric of America for these kids since 1935, when Social Security was passed.
Every single child in this country forevermore—not for the next 4 years; forevermore—will start off life with an investment account, and they are going to compound as shareholders in the upside of America. Every Republican district in the country, every Democrat district in the country, every State, city block, rural road—I grew up in rural Indiana—every one of those kids who felt left out and left behind by the prosperity of America.
[At this point, Mr. Gerstner continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]
And the list of philanthropists who want to adopt Zip Codes across America, in Texas, in Indiana, you know, in California, is extraordinarily long, adopting cities and Zip Codes.
Today is the day every child forevermore will be a shareholder in this country. It would not have happened without your leadership. So thank you very much.
The President. Thank you very much. Thank you all.
Mrs. Dell. Thank you.
The President. It's a great honor. It's a great——[The President addressed child participants.]
Do you have coins yet? Did you get a coin? Come on up. [Laughter]
Come on over here. I'll show you. This is what everybody wants. They want this. Unless you don't want it. Would you like that?
Mrs. Dell. Collector's item. [Laughter] You need that.
The President. Would you like it?
Child. I would.
The President. Take a pen too. [Laughter]
Child. Thank you so much.
The President. All right? Thank you so much. Such a gentleman. Come on over. How do you like that?
Child. I like it.
The President. You know what that is? An eagle.
Child. Yes. [Laughter]
Child. Thank you so much.
The President. Okay? You take that too.
Child. Thank you.
The President. Come on over here, everybody. Come on over here. I think that's a great—right?
Child. Thank you so much. Thank you.
The President. Come on over, whoever didn't get one. Okay?
Child. Thank you.
The President. Enjoy it.
Come on over. Nice to see you. That's good, right?
Child. Thank you.
The President. Thank you very much, honey. Come on. It's a nice one, right?
Child. Thank you.
The President. Thank you very much.
Even the grown-ups that are back there, they want a—Frank is saying, "Where's my coin?" [Laughter]
Got a couple of 'em.
Commissioner Bisignano. Another day.
The President. Got a couple of 'em.
Commissioner Bisignano. Another day, another coin. [Laughter]
The President. Here you go. Here you go, darling.
Child. Thank you.
The President. Okay. Anybody I didn't get? You got 'em?
Okay, that's great. Thank you all very much. You stand up or—stay there. You're so good-looking. Stay there. The press will—they can admire you. It's the way they used to look. [Laughter]
Department of Justice Under the Administration of Former President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Q. President Trump, congratulations on setting these—kids like these up for the future. And I would love to ask them a question, but I wanted to ask you a serious one first. I'm sorry you kids have to listen to this, but, President Trump, do you have further comments on Merrick Garland's FBI tracking of First Lady Melania and your then-minor son Barron, as well as Susan Wiles?
The President. Yes.
Q. What does that say about the DOJ under Biden and Merrick Garland?
The President. Terrible. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. It was weaponization of government. I thank you for the question, actually. It's a disgrace.
Merrick Garland and that whole group of thugs that preceded us, they weaponized government. Yes, they were tracking my wife; my son, who was a minor—a very young minor and a very good person.
Nobody's ever seen anything like it. They did a raid on Mar-a-Lago. They did things to people that were associated with us that nobody should have been able to do.
And it all came out just recently in the files, and it's great that it came out. But—so now people understand what we went through. These were bad people. These are bad—sick people, actually. Very sick people.
Deranged Jack Smith. He's a sick guy. He lied before Congress. He lied all over the place. His whole life is a lie. And so many others. They were just a very bad—it was a very bad group of people, and they were being led by a man that didn't lead. He didn't know what was—he didn't know. He possibly didn't know what was going on. I think he did. I think he had a mean streak. But—not smart but mean.
So it's a shame. Thank you for the question. But it's a shame.
[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
Pneumonic Plague Concerns in Russia/Coronavirus Pandemic
Q. President Trump, is the plague in Russia a bioweapon?
The President. Well, we don't think so. We're going to find out soon enough, but we don't think so. And if you listen to them, it's under control. But you know, people have said that before about other things. So we hope it is. They're very sophisticated, very smart, and they're saying it's very much under control. So we hope not, Peter.
Q. We've heard this before.
The President. Yes.
Q. A couple years ago during your first term.
The President. Well, yes.
Q. Are you getting the same vibe?
The President. Many times before on many different things. Yes.
Q. Are you getting the same vibe right now from Russia that you got from China at the start of COVID?
The President. Well, China didn't say much, and Russia's not saying much either. But they do say they have it very much under control.
Q. Thank you, Mr. President. On Trump Accounts.
The President. Yes.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Trump Accounts
Q. So, now with nearly 70 million accounts created, how do you expect this to impact Americans' perception of and involvement in capitalism? And also, do expect it to diminish the appeal of socialist policies, especially in our children's generation?
The President. What a nice question and what a good question. I think it's going to be fantastic. Nobody's ever seen—these young children. They are children. I guess I can use that term. You have to be careful. Sometimes you call somebody a child who's about 6 months too old to be called, and you suffer the wrath of the press.
But these young, beautiful children are going to be watching their accounts. They're going to be seeing what's going on. They're going to be, as Senator Cruz said, they'll be eating a McDonald's hamburger, saying: "I own a part of this. I want good service. I own a part of this company."
But I think it's great, and I think it does have an impact. There are those that say this is one of the most important things that I will have done, that this administration, with these incredible people, will have done. We've done some amazing things, but this is really something we're very proud of.
And yes, I mean, it should really—long term, I think it'll have a huge effect on exactly what you said. Socialism, communism—this is really the alternative, and it's a great alternative.
Q. And just a follow-up for Mr. and Mrs. Dell, if you're fine with that.
The President. Yes, please.
Q. So, first of all, thank you for the 250 bucks on behalf of our 10-month-old. So can you talk to us about what personally motivated you in the first place to work with the Trump administration? And what's your message to other entrepreneurs and philanthropists who might be considering whether they should put their wealth into these Trump Accounts for our children?
Mr. Dell. Well, you know, Brad called me in 2021 and told me about this idea. I talked to Susan about it. We immediately thought it was a fabulous idea. And, to be clear, it's not a red idea or a blue idea, or—you know, it's a red, white, and blue idea. And what we believe is that the
most important investment you can make is in children, and that's why we set up a foundation focused on children back in 1999.
And when we heard about this idea, we thought, wow, this would be not only great for newborns, but it would be a platform for families and employers and philanthropists to immediately and directly impact the futures for these children.
And Brad and I and Susan, we've had many discussions with other philanthropists. I think there will be a number of additional announcements coming in the weeks and months to come.
And you know, ultimately, we couldn't be more excited about what this will become over time as children start to understand the power of compounding and what all of this means for their futures.
Mrs. Dell. I just want to add, I think that this is clearly the most important, impactful initiative that America's children and America really has ever—has ever known. I mean, this is going to affect everyone's lives—not just children's lives but parents and grandparents who worry about these children and work hard to take care of these children.
So this is something that's going to touch everyone. Thank you. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Texas Republican Senatorial Candidate State Attorney General W. Kenneth Paxton, Jr.
Q. Thank you. After this week's leaked recordings from Ken Paxton, do you have any regrets about endorsing his campaign for Senate?
The President. No, no, no. Not at all. He was a great attorney general. I think he'll be a great Senator. Ken Paxton was a great—he was considered the best, or certainly one of the few best, but the best attorney general in the whole country.
And no, I would have no regrets at all. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Overlap Between White House Senior Staff and Campaign Advisers
Q. And will you plan to speak with James Blair and Chris LaCivita about their potential conflicts of interest with some of their outside work?
The President. Well, they don't have a conflict because they're independent people. You know, they don't work for me. They are consultants, and they—I assume they have a lot of clients. So I don't know who their clients are.
If I thought they had a conflict with here, I would terminate. But all they are is consultants. They're—you know, they're—they don't work in the White House. They're not sitting around a Cabinet table or anything like that.
They're consultants, and I'm sure they have other clients. I'm sure they have many clients.
But that would be true with everybody in Washington.
Q. Will you ask for their client list and——The President. I would ask them, sure. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
France/Political Demonstrations/Illegal Immigration
Q. Mr. President, thank you. Mr. President, we've been seeing chaos play out in France. You posted online, what's happening in France is "out-of-control mass migration." Could that happen here in the United States?
The President. Well, we stopped it. We had the worst—you could call it migration, but we had the—we had 25 million people pour into our country illegally. They should not have been allowed.
And they were from places you don't want to know about. And they committed, many of them, very, very bad crimes. They were drug dealers. They were—many prisons released into our country, where countries like Venezuela and others would release a hundred percent of their prisoners, and they'd bus them over to our border, and they'd just walk into our country. This is what we had.
Twenty-five million. We've gotten most of them out. We've gotten the bad ones—the worst of the worst, as we call them—we've gotten them out. But that was a terrible thing. It was a—that something like that could be allowed to happen.
And now we have a totally—we went from the worst border in the country's history to the best. We've had—as you know, the people that make the list are bureaucrat people. I don't know if they're Democrats, Republicans. But for the last 17 months, zero people have crossed the border. Now, it's almost impossible to believe, but we've had zero people illegally coming into our country from the border.
So we went from the worst border in the history, I think, of the world. I don't think there's any country—third-world country; I don't care—where 25 million people could cross. But we had 25 million people come in, and now we have nobody coming in, except if they come in legally.
They do come in legally. They have to go and take tests and all the—they have to show they can love our country.
But you see the numbers. They come in—we just had the next—last month, and it was zero.
So it's 17 months in a row: zero. The caravans are no longer. We had caravans of people, 25-, 30,000 people in a caravan coming up from various South American countries, but it was really from the world. They'd just form, and they'd walk right into our country. And we didn't know if they were good or they were bad. Many were very bad.
Yes, please.
Gulf Coast/Hurricane Preparedness Efforts
Q. Mr. President, a hurricane is forecast to hit the Gulf Coast this weekend. Are you still planning to visit Alabama and go to the football game on Saturday?
The President. Well, hurricane and football. I love Alabama. I've got to go to a game. [Laughter] I can't—it'd be awfully hard. Look, I mean, if there's an emergency or if there's a hurricane, I don't want to do anything to take the focus of all of the great people that work on those things. You know, they have some tremendously great people. I don't want to take the focus off.
But—so we'll have to see. I hadn't heard about a hurricane. A hurricane is going in the vicinity of Alabama?
Q. It's close.
The President. That's not good. [Laughter] Certainly, I'm going to let the hurricane determine. I want people to be safe. That's all.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Nobel Prize for Peace
Q. The Nobel Peace Prize is due to be awarded on Friday. Do you have any regrets about how you've used your time behind that desk that might have——
The President. The Nobel Peace Prize will be Friday? Well, last time, they gave it to a young lady who's a fabulous person, and she said she didn't deserve it, that I deserved it. And she gave it to me, and I said, "Wow, what an honor."
I settled eight wars. Another one is coming. I got all the hostages back. I did things that nobody else has ever done. I'm not bragging; I'm just telling you the facts. No President probably has settled any wars. I settled eight wars and big ones. Big ones. Saved millions and millions of lives.
And when María gave me that Nobel Prize, she said, "Not only should he get it for this year, but there's never been anybody in the history of the Nobel Prize that deserves it more."
I did. I settled eight wars. And I've stopped maybe the total obliteration of the world because I—Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and that's a positive thing—a very positive thing. And other presidents should have done it before me, or somebody should have done it.
So I don't know what their decision is going to be. They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me. But I—whether I get it or not, I have done far more. And I think it would be a great discredit to them. And I'm not saying that out of scorn. I'm saying that when you settle eight wars, and nobody's ever—I'll bet you, if you look at the Nobel Prize—look, Obama got it, and he didn't do anything. He still doesn't know what he got it for. He got it when he got elected, right at the beginning, and he had no idea why he got it.
Well, in my case, I said—I didn't know that they're doing it. But you're right, it is about that time.
But I was very honored to receive it indirectly last time by the recipient, who said, "Nobody in history deserves it more than President Trump." And since then, we've done a lot. Since then, I've settled—think of it—eight wars and got all the hostages back and stopped a lot of wars from happening by using the powers of tariffs and lots of other things as a threat against certain countries so that they did not partake in killing people. So I don't know.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida
Q. President Trump. President Trump, we have heard—we have heard that you want to turn part of your golf club in West Palm into a retreat for future Presidents——
The President. Yes.
Q. ——similar to Camp David. Are you going to call it Camp Donald? [Laughter]
The President. Well, I'm—it's already called Trump International. It's one of the best golf courses in the world. So it's built. It's all built. It's been in operation for over 20 years. Been very successful, and everybody wants to go there.
And the advantages—this was suggested to me by the military and Secret Service—there are no high buildings looming over it. There are no houses on it, so you don't have houses, where you have to inspect rooms.
Seems that all Presidents play golf. And it was asked—I was asked by Secret Service and the military, who got used to it because it's—if I go there, they'll see that's—it's about as safe as they
could possibly get. It's only about 2 minutes away from the airport, so they literally would be at that site. And they could spend a weekend there, like a retreat, like sort of a Camp David retreat.
And they asked if I'd be willing to do it, and I said I would be.
This wouldn't be for me. This would be for all future Presidents. And I—if they want to do that, I'd be certainly willing.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
It has the—it has a couple of advantages.
Number one, it doesn't have houses, which is a real luxury when you can do something and you don't have houses. You know, down the fairways, you have hundreds of houses all over the place. So you don't have houses with people hiding behind windows.
You don't have high buildings looming over it. There's no high building looming over it, which is no good either. And they can get maximum safety.
It's a very—it's a great idea, and it will be used a lot. And the other advantage is it's right next to the airport.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
2026 Midterm Elections
Q. You've started—you've started telling—you've started telling midterm voters that if Democrats win control of Congress, they will impeach you. For what?
The President. They don't know, because they were asked that question. Two—I saw two Congressmen and a Senator so far asked that question. They said, "Well, President Trump has created the greatest economy."
When you see the real economy, what's happening with factories being built all over the country, it was—today, it came out there's—there's never been a time like this ever, where $21 trillion—that's even a lot of money for Brad and Michael and Susan—[laughter]—$21 trillion is being invested—this year into our country.
They said, "So President Trump has done a lot." You could add the eight wars to it. You could add the biggest tax cuts in history. All these things. "What would you impeach him for?" And all three didn't know. They said: "We don't know. I don't know." One of them was just dumbfounded by the question.
He said, "Yes, we would impeach him." "And what would you exactly impeach him for?" "Well, I don't know. Let's see. Let's think." That's it.
So it's—that's as far as they get. They're—with that being said, I could have done very bad things to Hillary Clinton. I could have done very, very bad things to Joe Biden. I could have done very bad things to Barack Hussein Obama. I thought it was inappropriate to do so because you have to treat the office of the Presidency with respect.
Then I found out that they impeached me twice, and I certainly—even to this moment, I have—I can do whatever I want, if I want.
They've done some very bad things. You just mentioned it. It was just mentioned in the form of a question. What they did—it's very illegal, what they did. Many illegal things.
But I view the Presidency as a very sacred position. Very sacred position. Very important.
Very sacred. A position where it has to be treated properly.
They talk about the word "impeachment." It was a very seldom-used word. With all of the years, it's happened very seldom.
They went after me twice. I won overwhelmingly. It was thrown out. Both of them were thrown out overwhelmingly. I was never even worried about it. But—and you—oftentimes, you have that one lunatic who starts screaming. "Impeach him. Impeach him." He—I think he lost his—he lost for Congressman. Green. Congressman Green. He's a lunatic. He's a low-IQ person.
But you can't treat the Presidency with disrespect. And, again, I've had my shot and still do at Biden, at Hillary Clinton, and Barack Hussein Obama. And I've had plenty of people say, "Let's go get them." And I said, "No, you can't do that to the Presidency."
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia
Q. Have you spoken with Putin yet? Have you spoken with Vladimir Putin yet about the—
—
The President. I have a call set up—today is his birthday. Today is Vladimir Putin's birthday.
I'm sure you're going to celebrate it. [Laughter] Are you going to celebrate his birthday?
No, I have a call set up. I will be talking. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Yes.
2026 Midterm Elections
Q. On election integrity before the midterms, a lot of Americans are very concerned, and they also believe that activist judges and Democrats are trying to make it impossible to get that integrity before the midterms.
In terms of accounting for the election machines, are there any new updates on measures that DHS will take to hold the States accountable if they don't comply with the new paper ballot and photo requirements?
The President. Well, we're going to be watching very carefully, the election, because we need honest elections, we need fair reporting, we need borders. You know, there are certain things our country needs. One of them is honest elections. It's a big deal. We're going to be watching very, very closely.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Chairman Kevin J. Warsh/Interest Rates
Q. Mr. President, the mortgage rates today rose to 7.49 percent. That's the highest of your second term. I want you to—is there anything you can do about that, if there's a message to the youth?
The President. Well, I have a—you know, a Fed that I hope is—I think Kevin is great, but Kevin's one vote out of a Board with numerous people that were put on by Obama and Biden and a couple by me.
Q. When did you speak with Warsh last?
The President. So the—you have a board that would like to see the country do badly, in my opinion, because I think interest rates should come down.
Michael and Brad would understand this—and Susan. We have a country that makes other countries very rich. If we didn't make them rich, we would have a country that would be the greatest AAA credit in history. There are numerous countries where we have deficits with them—they have big surpluses; we don't—that we don't need to do that.
I mean, if you look at Canada, if you look at Mexico, if you look at Switzerland—big, big, beautiful deficit. And yet they're considered "superprime." They're considered elite. Well, if we decided not to buy watches from Switzerland, they wouldn't be elite anymore, and we would save about $40 billion. We can all—do all of that, but I like to keep things on an even keel. And we're doing so well that I don't want to do that.
But our interest rate should be the lowest. We should pay lower than any other country. The lowest rate right now is Switzerland, and as I said, we have a—we contribute to Switzerland billions and billions of dollars, and we don't have to. We don't have to. We contribute billions and billions of dollars to Mexico, to Canada, to many countries. I don't like to name them.
But you know, we don't need anything that they have. We have all the fuel we need. We have all the energy. We have all the lumber. We have all the everything. We don't need anything from many of these countries. There are some countries we need, but in a little while, we won't need anything from anybody.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
As an example, we're building right now—right now we're building—we have building Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, hundreds of billions of dollars of plants to make our pharmaceuticals and our products. And on top of favored nations, which is going to be lowering the drug prices by numbers that nobody ever heard of before. So we have——
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
So we have—we have a situation where we should have the lowest—we should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world because we have companies that would—we have countries that would be losing a fortune if it weren't for the United States. And they are considered elite, and they're paying a half a point, and we're paying much more than that.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Oil Markets and Prices
Q. Secretary Bessent, what is your—Secretary Bessent, can you address the current rise in borrowing costs, in particular the 10-year, which, of course, closely tracks mortgage rates? What is your message to markets? They seem not to be responding to the calls of the administration.
Secretary Bessent. Well, first of all, it's a global phenomenon. And since President Trump came in, the U.S. has been the best performing bond market in the 10-year space. And you know, we can see that for the U.S., unlike the other countries, it's a real-rate issue. So it's because of growth. Growth here is strong.
What we are seeing is headline inflation is high because of the energy shock. The core inflation actually dropped last month and is approaching the Fed's target. So, once we get on the other side of this Iran conflict, the energy market is going to be well supplied and we will move down towards the Fed's target, and mortgage rates and the 10-year will come back down.
The President. Oil will drop like a rock as soon as we're finished with the war, which will be very soon. It's going to be very soon. One way or the other, we'll be finished with it. But oil will come down to levels that were, I think, maybe even lower than they were before the war started.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Daniel [Daniel Baldwin, One America News Network].
Trump Accounts
Q. Mr. President, on the Trump Accounts, sir. Every single parent is concerned about their kids' long-term financial security. The Council of Economic Advisers says that for babies born in 2026, if you make the maximum contribution, the baby could have about $1.1 million by the time they're 28.
The President. That's right.
Q. Would—you were the ones that got this done for young parents. What message should that send to young parents as they head to the ballot box this November?
The President. Well, very simple. We love your children. We take care of your children like no President has ever done, like no people have ever done.
Ted, do you want to address that, please?
Sen. Cruz. Look, this is the future for kids, and it is transformational.
And to give a sense of the broadness of the impact, a little over a month ago, Gavin Newsom had a press conference celebrating the Trump Accounts. And Gavin Newsom praised you.
Miracles can happen. Brad Gerstner was standing right next to him when Gavin Newsom said nice things about you and nice things about me, and lightning did not strike anything. That's an indication of just how powerful this is.
And, 10, 20, 30 years ago, the impact for kids having a stake, an ownership stake, in the future, and—and, Mr. President, you referenced personal investment accounts. This is going to move all of us towards personal investment accounts and having a stake in the future, and that is transformational.
The President. We even had Adam Shifty Schiff. Have you heard of him? [Laughter] He said phenomenal things. I said—I said: "Replay that. I don't believe it." But he said incredible things about this. So that's nice.
Q. Mr. President, Mr. President——
National Economy/Tariffs
Q. Mr. President, sir. Over the last few weeks, you've announced some $500 checks going out to ACA enrollees——
The President. Yes.
Q. ——$90 checks going to seniors. You want to give $5,000 to people if Republicans keep control of Congress. Now this announcement. What would you say to people who would suggest that you're just throwing money at people before the election in hopes they vote for Republicans?
The President. Well, what we're doing is, we have tremendous growth. We have the greatest growth of any country maybe ever in history, and you're going to see that now. You're already seeing it, but you're going to see growth numbers the likes of which nobody's ever seen before.
And we're able to do things that the Democrats can't because they would have not been able to use tariffs so wisely like we did.
You know, the tariffs are what's bringing all of this business in because, as an example, you make a chip. We used to just let them make their chip in Taiwan or wherever it is—mostly in Taiwan, by the way—and they'll send it right in and make a fortune on it. Now these companies are building massive plants, all because of tariffs. They're building massive plants in all parts of
our country. I mean, you have to see. The biggest plants anyone's ever seen, because they're all coming back because they don't want to pay tariffs of 100 percent, 200 percent, 300 percent on a chip.
And we give them a certain period of time, no tariff. But in a year from now or in a half a year from now—and what they're doing is they're all building. We're going to be very, very self-sufficient very soon. We were subsidizing all of these places all over the world. Not going to happen anymore.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Please.
Pneumonic Plague Concerns in Russia
Q. Mr.—thank you, Mr. President. Has Russia been sharing enough information on the situation in Siberia? And has the U.S. requested more transparency?
The President. They're sharing it a little bit with our people. We expect them to share it a lot with our people. We have—I just met with our people. We have brilliant experts. They knew everything about what's going on, and all of that information is going through them.
Canada-U.S. Trade
Q. Mike Rogers called for an end with trade war with Canada. Did he speak to you before he made that announcement?
The President. That who did?
Q. Mike Rogers called for an end to the——
The President. Well, I viewed it as though he wanted Canada to make a deal, not—I viewed him as saying that he thinks Canada should make a deal.
Look, Canada has been ripping off our country for many, many years. Tremendously ripping off. They've been charging tremendous tariffs. There's one-way tariffs—400 percent on dairy products and other things. They're not ripping us off. We don't need Canada for anything. You know, they do 95 percent of their business with us. We do very little with them, by comparison. And Canada has been very difficult to deal with. And I think we're doing very well with Canada. Canada would like to make a deal, but we're not satisfied with their—
Canada has been—we've been losing, on average, 80 to 90 billion dollars a year with Canada in order for them to trade with us. Why are we doing that? That's—you know, it goes back to the thing I said before about—whether it's Switzerland or another country. We're losing $90 billion a year doing business with Canada. Why?
We want to make our own cars. We don't want them to make cars for us. Because if they make a car, we're not making a car. We don't need them to make cars, et cetera, et cetera. It's a long story.
But they've been ripping us—Canada has been ripping us off for many, many years, and they're not going to rip us off anymore.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 1:02 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to former Attorney General Merrick B. Garland; former Department of Justice Special Counsel John L. "Jack" Smith; former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political, and Public Affairs James Blair; Chris LaCivita, a political consultant with Michael Best
Strategies, campaign manager, 2024 Donald J. Trump Presidential campaign; Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado; former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her capacity as the 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee; Sen. Adam B. Schiff; and former Rep. Michael D. Rogers, in his capacity as a Michigan Republican senatorial candidate. He also referred to his son Barron. Sen. Cruz referred to Gov.
Gavin C. Newsom of California. A reporter referred to White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Trump Accounts children's savings program; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, White House.
Locations: Washington, DC.
Names: Bessent, Scott K.H.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Bisignano, Frank J.; Blair, James; Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Cruz, R. Edward "Ted"; Dell, Michael S.; Dell, Susan; Garland, Merrick B.; Gerstner, Bradley T.; Green, Alexander N.; Hassett, Kevin A.; LaCivita, Chris; Machado, María Corina; Obama, Barack; Paxton, W. Kenneth, Jr.; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Rogers, Michael D.; Schiff, Adam B.; Smith, John L "Jack"; Trump, Barron W.; Trump, Melania; Warsh, Kevin M.
Subjects: 2026 midterm elections; Border security; Canada, trade with U.S.; Economic improvement; Federal Reserve System; Florida, Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach in West Palm Beach; Foreign nations, investment and business ventures in U.S.; Gaza, hostages held by Hamas; Illegal immigration; Interest rates; Iran, nuclear weapons program; Iran, U.S. military operations; Manufacturing industry, domestic investment; Mexico, trade with U.S.; National Economic Council; News media, Presidential interviews; Nobel Prize for Peace; Oil markets and prices; Pharmaceutical supply chains, improvement efforts; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Russia, biological laboratory incident in Irkutsk; Russia, President; Secretary of the Treasury; Semiconductor manufacturing; Social Security Administration; Stock market; Switzerland, trade with U.S.; Tariffs; Tax Code reform; Trump Accounts children's savings program; U.S. diplomatic efforts, expansion; Undocumented immigrants, deportation of criminals.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600683.