President Donald Trump participates in the swearing-in ceremony for Interim USAO for the DC office, Jeanine Pirro. The media question segment begins at 8:45 of the video below and there is a lot of news within the press portion.
The first question surrounds Russia and the recent statements from the Kremlin. President Trump says he is not able to give opinion on the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the moment and will await approximately two weeks until the “terms” are received from Russia. President Trump directed attention to Emissary Steve Witkoff who is coordinating with both Russia and Hamas in Gaza on both issues.
When pushed on the terminology being used by himself and the Russians, President Trump deferred larger more detailed opinion.
Regarding the Big Beautiful Bill and the public criticism from Elon Musk, President Trump notes the bill contains some aspects he does not like, but it required some give and take to get through the House. The Senate priorities may be different from the House priorities and those details are being worked on. There is “zero democrat support” and that makes things more challenging for Majority Leader Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson.
On the subject of tariffs, President Trump states the negotiations with China and Europe continue with abundant leverage to ensure the best interests of the USA are contained within the results. As noted by Trump “it takes a number” to begin the discussion and from that point things progress.
Back to Ukraine, President Trump is willing to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Geneva, but “it takes two” and Russian participation is needed in order to get to a ceasefire. Further discussions with Zelenskyy are possible, but ultimately President Trump needs Vladimir Putin. As far as sanctions against Russia are concerned, President Trump will only consider them as part of a negotiation point if he reaches the conclusion that no other options are possible.
The second important revelation question surrounds Iran, when President Trump was asked if he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against taking “some sort of [military] actions against Iran.” President Trump said he would be honest and that yes, he did tell Netanyahu it would be “inappropriate” at this point of the negotiations to attack or do something provocative because he is confident a deal with Iran could be made. This will make the Israeli lobby very unhappy.
Currently there is a war of influence within the online conservative media space between the influencers who receive funding from Qatar and the influencers who receive funding from Israel. This is creating division within the base MAGA movement.