Press gaggle aboard Air Force One (May 14, 2025) where President Trump answers reporters on several topics: Israel and recent hostage releases (claims credit for U.S. role; cites specific numbers of hostages alive and deceased and names one released, 'Edan'), lifting sanctions on Syria after discussions with regional leaders (Erdogan, UAE leader), secondary sanctions on Iran and possible sanctions related to Russia, and an asserted $2 billion Emirati deal involving 'Trump digital coins'. The tone is informal, promotional, and geopolitical.
Chapters
Did the PGA Tour or Liv Golf come up at all in your conversations with the Crown Prince? No. No. Do you mean they live? No. We didn't discuss.
The Saudi intelligence agent. The 911 families want the Saudi intelligence agent to be extradited to the United States to face charges for 9 11. Did that come up in conversation?
No, but I. I know all about it.
But it didn't come up on Israel. You're not going to Israel.
Is.
Does this trip sideline is.
No, not at all. No. This is good for Israel, having a relationship like I have with these countries, the Middle Eastern countries, essentially all of them. Well, I think it's very good for Israel.
Can I ask you again on Israel, on the hostage deal, did you, did any of your people speak with Israel about the release of the American hostage? I'm sorry. On the sanctions lifting of Syria? Let me ask an first, what credit does Israel deserve, if any full that release of the hostage?
Well, they've been fighting a long time. They're warring, and I think they deserve a lot of credit. I think my people deserve a lot of credit. Maybe the most credit. Look, he wouldn't be there, but were it for us, he wouldn't be living right now. Probably none of the hostages would be living right now. And we probably have 20 that are living that will be getting out step by step. A lot of progress. You know, we've gotten a lot of them out. And last time, a couple of weeks ago, 10 people walked into my office, the Oval Office, and they said they had a 59 on their shirt, on their front. And I said, what does that represent, the number of hostages? I said, wow, that's a lot. They said, well, 24 are living. And now it's 20. The number is 20 are living. Four have died. And the young people, young people don't die. You know, young people are killed. They don't die. So the 24 living of the 59, 24 living is now down to 20. And we got Edan out. It was great. His family was so thankful. We did a good job with that. We'll continue to do it.
What happens on Thursday if President Putin doesn't show up in Turkey for the talks with Ukraine? What will you do?
Well, I don't know if he's showing up. I know he would like me to be there, and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that. Now. Tomorrow we're all booked out. You understand that? We're all set. UAE tomorrow. And so we have a very Full situation. Now, that doesn't mean I wouldn't do it to save a lot of lives and come back. But yeah, I think they're thinking about something. I don't know that he would be there if I'm not there. We're going to find out. Marco's going and Marco's been very effective.
How are you feeling about how Putin is handling this? I know you had said a few weeks ago you thought maybe how Putin is mishandling this. You said a few weeks ago you thought maybe he was tapping you a little.
I'll let you know in a few days.
Mr. President, on Israel again, has any of your team been in touch with Israel, you, your team, about lifting the sanctions on Syria? What's their reaction?
Well, in touch, I mean, we told them we're doing it. The reason I did it, and I think it's been very popular, actually, certainly in the Middle east. It's been popular with virtually everybody. But the reason I did it is because I spoke with President Erdogan, who I get along with very well, and I spoke to Mohammad, as you know, I was with him. And they thought it was very important to do it gives. It gives them a much better chance of survival as a country.
Can you show what Netanyahu thinks about it?
Well, I think what's happened is Turkey feels we should do it. Other countries, if you looked at my speech last night, which I assume most of you were at, I think the biggest applause was when I said that we're lifting these sanctions on Syria, and that's because they want to give Syria a chance to live and to be great, you know, et cetera. An Emirati government backed Firm did a $2 billion deal An Emirati government backed firm did a $2 billion deal using the Trump digital coins. How did that deal come about? I don't know anything about it. I really don't know anything about it. But I'm a big crypto fan. I will tell you. I've been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I'm a believer in crypto. And if we're not going to do it, China's going to. The way I look at it's like I. I'm a believer in AI because we have to have it. We're leading China by a lot. And in crypto, we're leading China by a lot. So I'm a big crypto fan.
Senator Schumer said he wants to block your Justice Department political appointees until he gets answers about questions.
Now, Schumer is Schumer's you know, he's become a Palestinian. Something wrong with him? I don't know. I've known him a long time and there's something wrong. He's lost his confidence totally, and it's just wrong with him. I don't know what it is with Schumer. Yeah. Did you have a question? Go ahead.
I've got two questions on Iran and Russia. Are you still considering secondary sanctions on Iran's oil exports?
Let's see what happens over the next week. I don't really want to answer it because I want to see what happens over the next week. Go ahead.
Iran and Russia. Are you considering sanctions on Russia for supporting Iran and for the continued war in Ukraine?
Well, again, I don't want to talk about it, but I'm always considering the secondary sanctions. I had the secondary sanctions on Iran and drove them into bankruptcy and there would have been no October 7th. There would have been no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or anybody else. So I'm always. And as you know, I put secondary sanctions on Iran again. And hopefully they're going to make the right decision because something's going to happen one way or the other. Very simple. It's going to happen one way or the other. They can't have a nuclear weapon. So we'll either do it friendly or we'll do it very unfriendly, and that won't pleasant. Thank you very much, Everybody.
