President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One, Nov. 25, 2025

Mr. President.

Okay. Hello, everybody. How are you? Hi, how are you?

Hi.

What would you like to know today?

Do you start off by telling us the latest with Russia and Ukraine? Are you expecting Zelensky to come visit you?

We're having good. I don't know he would like to come, but I think we should get a deal done first. We're having good talks. We started with Russia. We're having some talks with Russia. Ukraine is doing well. I think they're pretty happy about it. They'd like to see it end. And we won't know for a little while, but we'll. We're making progress.

You said, what are the things.

We settled eight wars. And I thought this would be one of the easier ones because of my relationship with President Putin. But this is probably one of the more difficult ones. There's a lot of hatred.

You said there were a few points of disagreement. There was still left to be.

Yeah, a few.

Can you tell us where those are?

Well, just in the standard things with. People are starting to realize it's a good deal for both parties if they got to stop the war. They're losing a lot of people, a lot of soldiers mostly. Well, that was an original proposal. And then from there we went back in.

So when it comes to ceding land to Russia, is that still on the twinkle or is that changed?

Well, they're talking about going land both ways and trying to clean up a border. You know, you can't go through the middle of a house, you can't go through the middle of a highway. So they're trying to work something. It's a complicated process. Doesn't go that quickly. Well, we're working that out with Europe. Europe will be largely involved in that. We're working that out with Europe. Europe really wants to see it end if possible.

There were a lot of Republicans who felt that the first plan, first 28 point plan, was too favorable to Russia.

Have you changed that? Well, that was just a map. All that was is a map. That was not a plan. It was a concept. And from there they take each one of the 28 points and then you get down to 22 points, a lot of. And actually very favorably. So. So we'll see how. We'll see what happens. Do you think.

Do you think that Russia, that Ukraine was being asked to give too much land back to Russia? I know at one point you said they shouldn't have to give any back.

It's really up. Look, the way it's going. If you look, it's just moving in one direction. So eventually, that's land that over the next couple of months might be gotten by Russia anyway. So do you want to fight and lose another 50, 60,000 people, or do you want to do something now? In some is the land is going in the other direction. So they're negotiating, they're trying to get it done. You want to have a border. You can't have a border that goes through a highway or border that goes through the middle of a town. So it doesn't work. So it's a long. It's a long, complicated process. Very sad because so many people are being killed.

What's the next step?

They're going to keep talking. They're talking to Russia now. Steve Witkoff is going over maybe with Jared. I'm not sure about Jared going, but he's involved in the process. Smart guy. And they're going to be meeting with President Putin, I believe, next week in Moscow.

Next week in Moscow?

I think so, yes.

What kinds of concessions are the Russians going to have to make?

Well, they're making concessions, their big concessions. They stop fighting and they don't take any more land again. It's a war that would have never happened if I was president. This was not anything that was going to happen. This happened because of stupidity. It's too bad.

Mr. President Wykoff is going to Russia next week. Does that mean that Thanksgiving deadline doesn't stand anymore for Ukraine to agree?

We're going to see what happens. They set up a date, and the date is going to be sometime in the very near future. I don't have a deadline. I just. You know what the deadline for me is when it's over. And I think everybody's tired of fighting at this moment. They're losing. They're losing too many people.

Have you heard this audio that Bloomberg has of Witkoff coaching the Russians on how to appeal to you?

Well, I haven't heard it, no, but that's a standard thing. Him, because he's got to sell this to Ukraine. He's going to sell Ukraine to Russia. That's what he's. That's what a dealmaker does. You've got to say, look, they want this. You've got to convince them with this. You know, that's a very standard form of negotiation. I haven't heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation. And I would imagine he's saying the same thing to Ukraine, because each party has to give and take.

So you're worried that he's too pro Russian?

No, I think, look, this War could go on for years and Russia's got a lot more people, a lot more soldiers. So I think if Ukraine can make a deal, it's a good thing. I think it's great for both, frankly. I think it's great for both. But Ukraine's got a much smaller. It's a much smaller group of people. They've lost a lot of people. Russia's lost a lot of people, but Russia has a much bigger pool of people.

Mr. President, are you planning to unveil a health care plan anytime soon in one?

Well, we're looking at different alternatives. I mean, I like my plan the best. Don't give any money to the insurance companies. Give it to the people directly. Let them go out, buy their own health care plan. And we're looking at that. If that can work. We're looking at that. That's sort of taken off. That's what I like. Don't give the money to the insurance companies. They go out. They go out and buy their own plan. You give the money to the people. I like it the best.

Are you planning to extend those subsidies?

I'd rather not. Somebody said, I want to extend them for two years. They don't want to extend them for two years. I'd rather not extend them at all. And maybe some kind of an extension may be necessary to get something else done because the Unaffordable Care act has been a disaster. It's a disaster. And I said it was when it first got put in. Unfortunately, we lost a couple of Republican votes and the Democrats voted for it. It's a Democrat plan and the premiums are going up and it's the Democrats fault. But, you know, they are negotiating with me. It's very interesting. They want to see something happen.

Who are you talking to on the campaign?

But we have a lot of Democrats want this plan to happen. They would love to see the money go to the people and the people go out and get their own health care and there would be nothing like it.

Are you planning to replace Kash Patel as a.

No, he's doing a good job. Cash Patel? No, he's doing a great job.

I think this week we saw those cases against James Comey and Letitia James tossed out. Do you still have faith in Lindsey Halligan as.

Oh, she's great. I think she's great. They got out on a technicality and you'll see what happens from here on. But if you look at the actual charges, I think anybody that looks at it very fairly would say, boy, are they guilty. So let's see what happens over the next week. You know, the court didn't say you couldn't bring the case re bring the case or appeal the case. So they have a lot of options. They're going to call the shot. I'm not calling the shot, but Lindsey's a very talented lawyer, actually on Venezuela. Sir, are you planning to talk to Nico Maz Matur? I might talk to him. We'll see. But we're discussing that with the different staffs. We might talk on Venezuelan.

Interesting enough, the US this week did of course name him the leader of a foreign terrorist organization. So why do you want to talk to him? Maduro, the US Designated and the leader of this foreign terrorist organization. Why do you want to talk to him?

If he's the leader, we can save lives. If we can do things the easy way, that's fine. And if we have to do it the hard way, that's fine, too.

Mr. President, do you have any reaction?

I'm not going to tell you what the goal is. You should probably know what the goal is. But they've caused a lot of problem and they've sent millions of people into our country. They had. I mean, they were probably the biggest abuser with Trent, Nicaragua and all the others that they sent in, the drug dealers and drug lords. The people that they sent in the jail burnt. They opened their jails and prisons and dumped them into the United States. And we're not happy about it.

Do you want to have any reaction to Mayor Bowser announcing she's not running.

For re election in D.C. well, I got along with her very well. I liked her. We worked together. D.C. is now a safe community. It's a great community. You people know it better than I do because you live there. But D.C. is now safe. The restaurants are booming. The place is booming. We have no crime. And we did that all in a period of three or four weeks and then made it better and better and better. And now we're setting new records. I mean, literally, it's as safe as there is anywhere in the country now. And if you go back a year, it was very unsafe, safe place. Before I got here, D.C. was a very unsafe. And it's our capital. We have to make it safe. We're doing really well in Memphis, Tennessee, and we're doing well in other places. The one that is really troubling is what's happening in Chicago, the crime. It's a potentially great city again, but the governor has totally lost control as we had the young lady burned. It's where you had a lot of killings over the last very short period of time. Killings. The governor has totally lost control of the state and the mayor is grossly incompetent.

How was your call with the Japanese prime minister?

Right. It was. Right. I had a great talk. I have a very good relationship with her. I also had a very good talk with President Xi of China, and I think that part of the world is doing fine.

Can you tell us about the content of your talks?

Mostly trade. I spoke to President Xi about a lot of things, but trade and buying our farm products. And he said he agreed with me. He's going to. I think he's going to very much surprise you. On the upside, I think he's going to. I asked him, I'd like you to buy it a little faster. I'd like you to buy more. And he's more or less agreed to do that. I think we will be pleasantly surprised by the actions of President Xi. I have a good relationship, great relationship with him. I like him. He likes me. I'm going to be going there in April. I guess you'll only go with me, but I'm going to be going to China in April with Japan. Likewise. I just came back from Japan and we have a great relationship. The new prime minister myself, she's very smart, very strong, and she's going to be a great leader. Thank you very much, everybody.