Wearing just a MAGA hat and an overcoat to keep himself dry, President Donald Trump capped a long day by talking to reporters for over six minutes in the pouring rain without an umbrella Friday night as he returned to D.C. from a trip to Pittsburgh where he held a rally with steel workers to celebrate his deal to save U.S. Steel. Earlier in the day, Trump, who turns 79 on June 14, held a lengthy Oval Office press conference with outgoing DOGE chief Elon Musk.
Upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland just outside of Washington, D.C., Trump walked over to reporters and took over a dozen questions covering U.S. Steel, Elon Musk, sanctions on Russia, Gaza ceasefire negotiations, trade deals, the G7 summit in Canada next month, Susie Wiles hacked phone impersonations and Chinese college students’ visa worries. Trump also commented on the administration’s fight with Harvard and brokering peace between India and Pakistan.
Trump liked the questions by Real America’s Voice reporter Steve Gruber. At the end of the gaggle, Trump asked him who he was with. Gruber shook Trump’s hand and gave him a pat on the back as Trump headed to the waiting Beast.
Trump landed around 9 p.m. after a line of strong thunderstorms that spawned several tornado warnings had moved through the D.C. area. The temperature was around 60 degrees.
Transcript via pool reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs with the New York Times.
POTUS started by saying he thinks the U.S. Steel/Nippon deal will be “a fantastic deal.” He said $17 billion is being invested for new steel mills.
Q: Can Pennsylvania be the steel capital of the world?
“I think it’s going to happen. I think it’s going to happen.”
Q: What’s it going to take?
“Not much. We just had $17 billion given. And again, we’re going to have control in the U.S. It’s going to be a U.S.A. deal, the board is controlled. More importantly the money is built and spent on facilities. You can’t take them and leave.”
“The money is invested in brick and mortar, you can’t lift it up and take it,” Trump said. “But I think much more importantly it’s going to be a great partnership. And the company Nippon is coming in with $17 billion plus.”
Q: But is it an acquisition? Is Nippon acquiring U.S. Steel?
“This is an investment. It’s controlled by the United States and more importantly they’re spending the money on brick and mortar. You can’t take it. What are you going to do, pick it up and move it to Japan? That’s not going to happen.
Q: But they will own U.S. Steel?
“I rejected this about four times now and when they finally got it right I liked it a lot,” Trump said, adding the unions loved it.
Q: It will be thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania right?
“Thousands….I like this guy.”
Q: Were you aware of Elon Musk’s regular drug use?
“No, I wasn’t. I think he’s fantastic. I think Elon is a fantastic guy.”
Q: Are you troubled by these reports?
“I’m not troubled by anything with Elon. I think he’s fantastic. He did a great job. And you know DOGE continues. And by the time it’s finished, we’ll have numbers that knock your socks off. It’s going to be a — he did a fantastic job. And he didn’t need to do it.”
Q How do you replace him?
He’s not easy to replace.
Q: Is the Nippon deal finalized?
“No, I have to approve the final deal.”
Q: How will it stay in U.S. ownership?
“Well you’ll see but I have to approve the final deal with Nippon and we haven’t seen that final deal yet. But they’ve made a very big commitment. And it’s a very big investment. It’s the largest investment in the history of Pennsylvania in any deal, not just steel…”
Q: Do you support the Lindsey Graham/Blumenthal bill that would levy sanctions on Russia?
“I don’t know. I have to see it. We’ll take a look at it.”
Q: Are you confident that your proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that was just submitted this week will get approved by Hamas?
“I think they want to, they want to get out of that mess. They’re in a big mess. I think they want to get out of it.”
Q: Can we anticipate any trade deals next week? And does this deal today with Nippon help your overall talks with Japan?
“Well Japan very much wants to make a trade deal, I don’t think this has much to do with it but it certainly won’t hurt… I think the deal I’m most proud of is the fact that we’re dealing with India, we’re dealing with Pakistan and we were able to stop potentially a nuclear war through trade, as opposed to bullets. Normally they do it through bullets. We do it through trade. So I’m very proud of that. Nobody talks about it but we had a very nasty potential war going on between Pakistan and India. And now if you look they’re doing fine.”
Trump noted Pakistan representatives are coming to Washington next week and the administration is very close to making a deal with India.
“I wouldn’t have any interest in making a deal with either if they were going to war with each other,” Trump said.
Trump was asked for his message for the G7 in a couple weeks
“Well, it’s in Canada and he’s a very nice guy by the way, Mark Carney, I think he’s a very nice guy. And we had some good talks. We’ll see what happens.
Q: There’s reports that Susie Wiles’s phone was breached and someone is impersonating her.
“I heard that, yeah.”
Q: Are you concerned about that?
“No, she’s an amazing woman. She can handle it. But I’ve heard they breached her phone and tried to impersonate her. Nobody can impersonate Susie. There’s only one Susie.”
Q: What’s your message to Chinese college students in the United States that want to stay in the United States and don’t want their visa revoked?
“They’re going to be okay. It’s going to work out fine. We just want to check out the individual students. We have to and that’s true with all colleges,” Trump said.
He then criticized Harvard for allegedly not providing the government with enough information.
“We want people that can love our country and take care of our country and cherish our country and for some reason Harvard doesn’t want to give us a list,” Trump said.
Trump ended the gaggle by saying it was time to get out the rain, “I would suggest you all get out of the rain now. Goodbye everyone, have a good night.”
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