Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Aug. 12, 2025

Good afternoon, everybody. Good to see all of you here again today. On Friday morning, President Trump will travel across the country to Anchorage, Alaska for a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The brutal war between Russia and Ukraine broke out under Joe Biden's incompetent leadership. But President Trump is determined to try and end this war and stop the killing. As the President has said over and over again, his strong preference will always be for peace and partnership whenever those outcomes can possibly be achieved. There is no leader in the world right now who has been more committed to preventing wars or ending them than President Donald Trump. Just look at what took place here at the White House last Friday when President Trump hosted the Azerbaijani President and Armenian Prime Minister and got the two leaders to sign a historic joint declaration for peace, ending a decades long conflict that disrupted the region and claimed countless lives. In other news, we continue to see positive economic reports across the board. Today's CPI report revealed that inflation beat market expectations once again and inflation remains slow stable. Overall inflation has run at a 1.9 average annual pace in President Trump's first six months in office. Prices for everyday goods continue to decline. Energy prices fell in July, including gasoline which is down nearly 10% over last year and propane which is down 2.5% over last year as well. Egg prices fell once again in July and are down 20% since President Trump took office. Shelter inflation, the largest contributor to overall inflation is at its lowest level since October of 2021. Wage growth for American workers is beating inflation once again. As inflation declines, this administration continues to be wholeheartedly committed to putting more money back into the American people's pockets. American real wages are up 1.3% over last year and have increased each month since since President Trump took office and small business optimism, according to this morning's report, has also reached a five month high. Ignore the pannikins and trust in President Trump. That is our motto here at the White House. The America first economic agenda is working on another matter. Yesterday, President Trump took bold action to finally restore law and order right here in our nation's capital. The President declared a crime emergency in the District of Columbia. The federalized the D.C. police Department and mobilized the D.C. national Guard to end violent crime in our nation's capital. As part of the President's massive law enforcement surge last night, approximately 850 officers and agents were surged across the city. They made a total of 23 arrests including multiple other contacts last night. These arrests consisted of homicide, felon firearms offenses, possession with intent to distribute, narcotics, fair evasion lewd acts, stalking, possession of a high capacity magazine, fleeing to a lewd in a vehicle, no permits, driving under the influence, reckless driving and a bench warrant. A total of six illegal handguns were seized off of District of Columbia streets as part of last night's effort. This is only the beginning. Over the course of the next month, the Trump administration will relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the District who breaks the law, undermines public safety and endangers law abiding Americans. President Trump will not be deterred by soft on crime Democrats and media activists who refuse to acknowledge this rampant violence on our streets. He is going to make our nation's capital the most beautiful and safe city on earth, just as he promised on the campaign trail. Staying on the topic of public safety, the Trump administration continues to shatter records on border security. According to brand new numbers released this morning from Customs and Border Patrol, illegal crossings have fallen to all time lows once again. Here were the records set in July. Again, these numbers were released this morning. The lowest monthly nationwide encounters ever, down nearly 90% from the monthly average under the Biden administration. The lowest monthly Border Patrol apprehensions nationwide ever, smashing the previous record set the prior month in June. The lowest monthly Southwest border apprehensions ever. The lowest daily apprehension average ever. The lowest single day apprehensions ever. And for the third straight month, there were zero illegal aliens released into the country. Let me repeat that remarkable statistic. For the third month in a row, not a single illegal alien was released by the Trump administration into the United States of America. America. This is historic. Under President Trump, this border is the most secure it has ever been. When you fortify the border, when you restore deterrence, and when you empower Border Patrol agents and our brave men and women in uniform to actually do their jobs to enforce our laws like this president has, this is the incredible result. And in the interior of our country, criminal illegal aliens continue to be arrested and removed. Here are some of the criminals arrested by ICE in just the last few days. ICE Buffalo arrested an illegal alien from Jamaica, convicted of attempted murder. ICE Buffalo also arrested an illegal alien from Ecuador, convicted of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. ICE Houston, arrested an illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of manslaughter. ICE Newark arrested an illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of the sexual assault of a minor. ICE Dallas arrested an illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of assault causing bodily injury. And already, the Trump administration has arrested more than 300,000 illegal aliens. In 2025, again, more than 300,000 illegal alien criminals have been arrested in the interior of our country in the first six months of this administration. And despite many false reports in the media, nearly 70% of these arrests have been criminal aliens with criminal charges or prior convictions. This is success all around. This is removing the most dangerous public safety threats from America's communities and returning these individuals to their home countries. So there's been success all around. I'm sure you have a lot of questions today. I'm happy to get to them. So let's get started. And as always, we'll start with our new media seat. Who is our podcast host today? Benny Johnson. Benny, why don't you kick us off? And thanks for being here.

Thank you, Caroline. As a D.C. resident of 15 years, I lived on Capitol Hill. I witnessed so many muggings and so much theft, I lost track. I was carjacked. I have murders on my ring camera and mass shootings. I witnessed a woman on my block get held up at gunpoint for $20. And my house was set AB in an arson with my infant child inside. And so, to any reporter that says and lies that DC Is a safe place to live and work, let me just say this. Thank you. Thank you for making the city safe. Because no parent should have to go through what my family went through, having the fire department rip open their door to save their infant child. And so thank you for your work on securing this city. My question to you is Nancy Pelosi has attacked the President for deploying the National Guard to the city, saying that it is to cover for his incompetence. Hillary Clinton has also attacked the President for securing the city of Washington, D.C. i'd like to get your response to Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.

Sure. Well, first of all, Benny, I'm so sorry that happened to you and your family. There have been, unfortunately, far too many victims of crime in this city. And I know the majority of residents in the District of Columbia agree with you. In fact, a new poll from the Washington Post, I was reading this morning, this was released in May of 2024. So it's quite funny how many of you in the media agreed with what the President was saying yesterday. But now, once the President says it, many of you are disagreeing with him. But this poll released by the Washington Post found that 65% of district residents think crime is an extremely serious or a very serious problem. And this was up from 56% last year. So the concern that you share with so many other residents in the District of Columbia is real. And that's why this president is taking action to address it. To get to the heart of your question, I think it's despicable that Democrats cannot agree that we need more law and order in a city that has been ravaged by violence, crime, murders, property theft. This should be a win, winning issue for all Americans. I don't understand. It's just anything President Trump does the Democrats want to disagree with. I think the president would love to work with Democrats on this issue to bring law and order to America's cities, but unfortunately, they have failed and that's why he's taken this historic action to federalize the National Guard. And as you're seeing from last night's numbers, we already have seen success. We are removing violent offenders, we are arresting criminals, and we are removing drugs and firearms off of the streets of the city to make it safer for all of its residents.

Just a very quick follow up to that. Given the heroic actions of a member of this administration just a few blocks from this building, will the president consider giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Big?

I haven't spoken to him about that, but perhaps it's something he would consider. I'll ask him and get back to you. Benny. Thanks for being here.

Gabe.

Thank you, Caroline. Regarding the President Trump Summit on Friday, why not invite Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to that summit? I know the president said yesterday that he's planning to speak with him right after the summit and even before, but why not invite Zelensky? And whose decision was it to not invite him? Was it the president or was it President Putin?

Ms. Well, this meeting came about because the president of Russia asked of the United States to meet through his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who, as you all know, traveled to Russia to have a conversation with Putin at his request. And so the president is agreeing to this meeting at the request of President Putin. And the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war. And the president said at this podium yesterday when he joined all of you in the room that he hopes in the future there can be a trilateral meeting with these three leaders to finally bring this conflict to an end. But this administration has really used every lever, has taken every measure to achieve peace through a diplomatic solution. And I think the president of the United States getting in the room with the president of Russia sitting face to face rather than speaking over the telephone will give this president the best indication of of how to end this war and where this is headed.

And another question on something that happened yesterday, but I wanted to get the White HOUSE response. A judge ruled that the grand jury transcripts in Ghislaine Maxwell's case should not be released. What's the White House's response to that and do you plan to appeal and what do you tell President Trump's supporters who want that information released?

Ms. We think that decision is unfortunate. Of course, we moved to unseal that information because the president has said he wants to see credible evidence released. As for the appeal process, I would defer you to the Department of Justice for that. Rachel, thanks so much, Caroline. We are learning that President Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Zelensky. I was curious if you can share any more details about their call. And did Zelensky give President Trump any red lines, any non starters ahead of this summit on Friday? Ms. Look, I don't want to reveal the private conversations between the president and President Zelensky, but what I can tell you is that the president has deep respect for all parties that are involved in this conflict and are trying to bring this conflict to an end. After Special Envoy Witkoff returned from his meeting with President Putin in Russia, his first phone call was to President Trump and President Trump's first phone call was to President Zelensky and to our friends in Europe to keep everybody in the loop about where the United States can see moving the ball forward to end this conflict. And so we continue to be very much engaged with President Zelensky and the Ukrainians, but also our allies in Europe as well. And then just one more for you. How does the president measure success coming out of this meeting? The president at times has suggested that Putin might be tapping him along. Is he prepared to walk out of this meeting if he senses that Putin is not serious about ending this war? Ms. I think I just answered that question for you and what the goal and the expectation of the meeting is. And I won't jump ahead of any hypotheticals. And I'll leave it to the president to speak to all of you after the meeting, which I'm very confident he will.

Steve, are you optimistic that a deal will emerge from this meeting or is he simply going to listen?

Ms. I think this is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present. And so this is for the president to go and to get, again a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.

Caroline, how did you settle on Alaska as the site for this? There were some other sites being discussed. Is this like it was a midpoint between the two leaders.

Ms. There were many sites discussed, but of course, Alaska is a state within the United States of America, so the president is very honored and looks forward to hosting President Putin on American soil.

Last thing, is there a joint news conference plan or will the President have a solo one? What sort of scheduling?

Ms. Yeah, the mechanics and the scheduling, Steve, are still being ironed out for Friday. We're working with our Russian counterparts to put those plans into action. And of course, we'll keep you all apprised on the logistical details of Friday as soon as we get them. Charlie, the President said at the podium.

Yesterday twice that he was planning to go to Russia.

Was that a verbal slip up or.

Does he actually plan to go to Russia?

Ms. Perhaps there are plans in the future to travel to Russia. And on Friday, the president will be meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska.

As you know, Phil, last week the President said the CEO of Intel was highly conflicted, seeming to cite his past investment with Chinese companies that were doing business with the Chinese military. Yesterday he called his meeting with that CEO a success. So what can you tell us about what the Intel CEO said to President Trump that changed his mind?

Ms. The President put out a statement that you cited, Phil. I will leave it at that. He shared his thoughts on that meeting and how it went. And for any further comment on that, I'll leave it to him to make.

Will the Bureau of Labor Statistics continue to put out monthly jobs reports?

Well, look what I'll tell you about the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I believe that is the plan and that's the hope and that these monthly reports will be data that the American people can trust. As you know, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has made massive revisions after the last several points reports that they have put out. And there has certainly been a decline in the quality and the reliability of data coming from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and there's been an increase in revisions and this president and the administration is finally tackling this problem that so many have talked about and the President is actually doing something about it. We need to restore new leadership that we can trust. As you know, the President has appointed someone new to take over the bls. And so we need to look at the means and the methods of how the United States is acquiring this very important data. And all of that is going to be done. And the goal, of course, is to provide honest and good data for the American people to make very important economic decisions on Michael thank you.

Caroline. Two questions, if I may. The President has talked about land swaps between Russia and Ukraine. Vladimir Putin says he wants Russia to hold on to Russian occupied territory in eastern Ukraine. Is the White House at all concerned about the messaging that potentially giving over or allowing for Russia to maintain its occupied territory in eastern Ukraine, what that might say to other US Adversaries like China?

Look, right now the president of the United States has done more to end this war than his predecessor, Joe Biden, who allowed this war to take place. This war, don't forget, happened as a result of the weakness and the incompetence of the previous administration. And so the president inherited this conflict and he is determined to end it. And it's a very complex and complicated situation. As for the details of the plans that have been kind of toss back and forth, I won't get into those and I will let the president of the United States discuss those plans with the president of Russia, with our European allies, and the president of Ukraine, Zelensky himself as well? Sure, go ahead. In the green. Thank you, Carolyn. As far as the policing and security operations, speak up, is there a timeline? Do we know what success looks like? Is it going to last longer than 30 days? And also, is there going to be an immigration enforcement aspect to this? So can you speak up a little bit? The air conditioning is bumping in here for all of you today after yesterday's heater, so we've got to stock up. You're welcome. Go ahead. Is there a timeline for the security operations here in D.C. and also, is there going to be an immigration component to this, and what would that look like? Ms. Look, if law enforcement officers encounter a criminal in the city and they are an illegal alien, of course the appropriate measures to detain and deport that individual will be taken as they should. No city should be a sanctuary for anyone other than law abiding American citizens. And that's been the that has been the position of this administration since day one. As for the timing, we will reevaluate and reassess and make further decisions after this 30 day period is up. But within these 30 days, our entire focus is making sure that this is the most efficient operation possible and that we are removing as many criminals from the streets and we are cleaning up DC as best as we can and working with the Metropolitan Police Department to do that. I know the mayor just spoke several minutes ago. I was watching her on television and she said that an increase of law enforcement officers on the streets will be helpful to deter crime in this city and we look forward to working with these brave men and women of the Metropolitan Police department to remove criminals off of our streets and to keep law abiding citizens in the District safe.

Josh, thank you. The president weighed in on Jay Powell again today. You might have seen he said that he's considering allowing a major lawsuit against Powell to proceed because of the horrible and grossly incompetent job he is laid. Can you tell us about that? What lawsuit is he talking about?

Ms. He's considering a lawsuit and I won't say speak or on it any further. I will allow the president to do that himself.

Is it fair to say the administration is considering suing the Fed chair over this reservation?

Ms. That's what the president is saying.

Has he had discussions with it about with anyone about this or is this just like how advanced is this right now?

Ms. At this moment in time, the president is considering a lawsuit against the Fed and I will leave it to him to comment further on it. Tamara, thank you.

We talked about the story very quickly yesterday. We talked about the Nvidia chips deal. The president has struck him as well, the AMD, the 15% stake that will go to the government. Do you have any detail on how that came about? The president said he asked for 20% from Nvidia. Did he make the same 20% ask to AMD and or is this something the administration is looking to do with other either chips or products going forward? Is this a model it wants to build on?

Ms. Well, look, right now it stands with these two companies. Perhaps it could expand in the future to other companies. I think it's a creative idea and solution. The legality of it, the mechanics of it is still being ironed out by the Department of Commerce and I would defer you to them for any further details on how it will actually be implemented. But again, this was another idea of the president and his brain trust on his trade team to try to get good deals for the American people and the American taxpayer.

Did you see the report that China is disperging use of the H20 to some companies since this were reporting that overnight there was private guidance said to companies not banning the chip and urging them to steer away from it. I wonder if you have any response to that.

Ms. I haven't read the report. I will and we'll get you a comment on it. Tamara, thank you.

Last week the meeting with Putin was sort of described potentially as an opportunity for a deal. Now it's a feeling out. Has there been a shift in expectations within the White House or an effort to temper expectations about what success looks.

Like for this meeting? Ms. Well, I mean, look, I think both can be true. Right? The President has always said he wants a peace deal, he wants to see this war come to an end. But this bilateral meeting is a bilateral meeting between one party in this two party war. Right? You need both countries to agree to a deal. The President is accepting this bilateral meeting with Putin on Friday, and I will let him speak further to it after it concludes about, you know, how he felt it went.

And also, completely unrelated topic regarding the President's efforts in Washington D.C. do you have any specifics about how homeless people will be dealt with, where they would be moved to? What does this look like?

I do, yes. And it's an important question, so thank you for raising it. The Metropolitan Police Department, with the support of the new federal agencies who have been surging on the streets of the District of Columbia, are going to enforce the laws that are already on the books here in Washington D.C. for far too long, these laws have been completely ignored and the homelessness problem has ravaged the city. So D.C. code 22, 1307 and D.C. municipal Regulation 24100 give the Metropolitan Police Department the authority to take action when it comes to homeless encampments. So homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services. And if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time. Again, these are pre existing laws that are already on the books. They have not been enforced, which is part of the reason for this nationalizing of the federalizing of the National Guard to bring in this assistance for law enforcement. While we are targeting criminals and trying to remove criminals off of the streets, we also want to make D.C. safe and beautiful. And that involves removing mentally disturbed individuals and homeless encampments as well. So we will be using these regulations and code that already exists to clean up our streets. And we've already had great success. Not many of you picked up on this, but the United States Park Police has actually done remarkable work in terms of removing homeless encampments from the city. Since the President signed this executive order in March, 70 homeless encampments have been removed by the U.S. park Police. There are only two homeless encampments remaining in D.C. federal parks under the National Park Service's jurisdiction. And the removal of those two remaining camps is scheduled for this week. So the US Park Police will be leading this effort alongside mpd.

Just very quickly, he had talked in one of his social media posts about moving them very far outside of the city. Is that off?

No, it's not off. We're exploring how we could do that. But again, homeless shelters offered addiction and mental health services or jail if they refuse are the options on the table right now. And we'll continue to explore that option. Sure.

Thank you so much, Caroline. President Zelensky said moments ago that he thinks Russia is preparing for a new offensive on at least three different areas of the front line. Is this something that you could confirm based on US Intelligence? And if the president sees that Putin is indeed planning major new offensive or moving troops, would he call off the meeting on Friday?

Ms. I'm not in a position to confirm or deny or comment on that intel at this time. Monica.

Thanks, Caroline.

My question involves Russiagate. A whistleblower alleges that then Congressman Adam Schiff approved leaking classified information to smear President Trump's image during the Russia scandal. Does the president plan to investigate Adam Schiff and what would accountability look like if more Information confirms the. Ms. The President has already said he wants to see Adam Schiff held accountable for the countless lies he told the American people in relation to the Russiagate scandal. I brought Tulsi Gabbard out to this podium to talk to you about all of that, and this administration is taking accountability very seriously. As for this new FBI whistleblower report, I understand Cash Patel last night declassified a 302 FBI document showing that a whistleblower who is a Democrat, a career intelligence officer who worked for Democrats on the House Intel Committee for more than a decade, repeatedly warned the FBI in 2017 that then Rep. Adam Schiff had approved leaking classified information to smear then President Donald Trump over the Russiagate scandal. This is obviously a bombshell whistleblower report. Hopefully more people in this room will cover it as such. And I have a quote from the FBI director for all of you. He has said this for years. Certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives. It was all done with one purpose, to weaponize intelligence in law enforcement for political gain. Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions. The FBI will now lead the charge with our partners at doj, and Congress will have the chance to uncover how political power may have been weaponized and to restore accountability. That's what the administration is focused on, and hopefully we'll see some more media reports on this whistleblower allegation. If this were reversed, if this were allegations against the president or any of these cabinet officials, I'm sure everyone in this room would cover it as such. Elizabeth, go ahead.

Thanks, Caroline.

After yesterday's action to federalize the D.C. police. Is the president still interested in working with Congress to end the Home Rule act, something he's talked about in the past? Senator Mike Lee has a bill on it. Is that something he's still interested in? Ms. The President is very much still interested in working with Congress to address many of the issues that have plagued Washington, D.C. such as the cashless bail policy, which has been a complete disaster for the city. Juvenile delinquency is another major problem in the city that Congress can address. So I know Congress is on recess right now. When they get back to work to Washington. This president looks forward to having these conversations with our friends on Capitol Hill so we can work with them to make DC Safe and beautiful again and again. We encourage Democrats to join us in this effort. Perhaps their approval ratings would move up a little bit if they did. I saw a new poll today. Democrat approval rating is at an all time low 32%. If they could just stand by the basic notion of law and order, perhaps they would see that tick up a bit and we welcome them to do that.

Dasha, thanks, Caroline. President Trump yesterday at this podium indicated this so has NATO Secretary General Mark routed that in order for peace to happen, it is very likely that Ukraine will have to cede some land to Russia. Zelensky has repeatedly said no land for peace. That's not going to happen. Has this administration communicated to Zelensky that he's going to have to change that position?

Look, I appreciate your asking that question in a different way than your colleague Michael in the back. I don't want to get into the details of these negotiations and these discussions that have taken place out of respect for where we are right now, and I'll let the president speak on it further if he wishes to.

Just one more about Israel. I know the president has had a call with Prime Minister Netanyahu recently. Netanyahu is planning to seize the remainder of Gaza City. What is the administration's position on this move by Israel's government?

Ms. Look, this is an incredibly complex and complicated war that again was inherited by this president by his predecessor, Joe Biden. October 7th was one of the worst days in history. We saw innocent people slaughtered, murdered, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. This administration has taken extensive time and effort and resources since Inauguration Day in January to end this conflict. We have given many flexible arrangements backed by Israel to Hamas and unfortunately, Hamas has never agreed. Looking ahead, I will let the president speak on where he sees this going, but this is, of course, an incredibly complex and complicated situation. The administration has made our goal clear. We want to see this conflict end. We want to see the hostages released. And we've tried. The president and his national security team have given extensive effort and time to.

Doing that with how Israel has used those resources and the assistance that you've provided.

Ms. Look, I'll let the president speak on the further actions that Israel may or may not be taking. Good to see you. Good to see you as well, Caroline. Thank you. The Kremlin is expressing interest that Friday's meeting will move beyond just terms to end the war into improving bilateral relations. There's talk over how they're interested in potentially restoring direct flights between Russia and the United States. Is President Trump open to those kind of peripheral conversations, or is this directly focused on ending the war in Ukraine? Ms. I think this conversation on Friday is focused on ending the war in Ukraine. As far as the president's perspective goes, those conversations I think the president is interested in having, but his main priority right now is ending this war and to stop the killing that has gone on for far too long. You're welcome, Carolyn, in the back. Go ahead.

Two questions on the economy. So first, we've had small businesses tell us that it's not foreign exporters who are eating the tariffs, it's them. And they've held off on raising prices, but soon they're going to have to raise prices. What is the White House's message to them?

Ms. The White House's message to our small business owners across the country is you have never had a better ally or friend or supporter in this White House than President Donald Trump, who is a businessman himself, who understands your concerns and who wants to restore wealth back to our country through the powerful use of tariffs. And that's what he's focused on doing while simultaneously driving down costs. You have to remember, we are six months into this administration and we had a president who had no business experience, had no idea what he was doing, and who funneled billions of wasteful spending dollars into our economy, which created the worst inflation crisis in a generation. Now this president is focused on tackling inflation, deregulating, cutting costs, cutting red tape to make it easier for small business owners to thrive. And again, the economic indicators show that we are moving in the right direction. In January, when this president showed up to the White House, the six month annualized core inflation rate was 3.7%. Today, six months later, the six month annualized core Inflation rate is 2.4%. So we are trending in the right direction moving forward. Since President Trump took office for another six months. Inflation will be tracking at 1.9% at this trajectory. You look at grocery prices, they fell. Energy prices fell, Fuel oil fell, ship fares fell, propane fell, butter, margarine, eggs, non prescription drugs. You go through the list of items that are falling. And then I would also point to that report this morning showing that small business optimism has reached a five month high. So, look, we inherited an economic mess from the previous administration, but this administration is focused on fixing it every day. And part of that is signing the largest tax cuts into law to put more money back into the pockets of these small business owners.

One more just on the bls. They collect the inflation data. Obviously, if the jobs data is not reliable, should Americans trust the inflation data?

Well, look, the jobs data has had massive revisions. We want to ensure that all of the data, the inflation data, the jobs data, any data point that is coming out of the BLS is trustworthy and is accurate, which is why the President has restored new leadership at the bls. Sure, go ahead. Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

So Gavin Newsom has said that California is going to sue in response to the government's demand for a billion dollars from ucla over the DOJ's anti Semitism findings. Newsom has called this extortion and ransom.

So I'm wondering what the White House's.

Response is to Newsom on UCLA. Ms. Bring it on, Gavin. This administration is well within its legal right to do this, and we want to ensure that our colleges and our universities are respecting the First Amendment rights and the religious liberties of students on their campuses. And UCLA has failed to do that. And I have a whole list of examples that I will forward to Gavin Newsom's press office if he hasn't seen them himself. Brett. Thanks, Caroline.

What was the reason that President Trump chose to move on from Billy Long as IRS commissioner?

Ms. Look, I think the President wants to see Billy Long as the ambassador to Iceland. As you know, that is where he will be headed. And the President loves Billy Long and he thinks that he can serve the administration well in this position. For now, Secretary Scott Bessen will be the acting IRS commissioner.

I'm worried that you're announcing a new pick.

Oh, Ed, go ahead. But then in the back.

Go in the back first.

Okay, sure.

Thanks, Caroline. One foreign policy and then one domestic question, if I may. There are roughly 30,000 children from Ukraine who have reportedly been abducted and are.

Kind of dispersed around Russia.

They've been showing up on these websites for adoption. Is their return a red line for the President in any deal ending the war.

Ms. The administration is aware of these reports. I don't want to set red lines for the president on his behalf from this podium. However, the President did encourage Ukraine and Russia to speak directly to one another in terms of these humanitarian issues, and we have seen progress you have seen prisoners of war swapped between these two countries as a result of these direct talks, as well as children, and that remains a concern. But it's one that Russia and Ukraine need to iron out together, which is why this president has encouraged them to speak.

And then if I the DC Action real quick. The President said yesterday that this is a model federalizing the National Guard that could be used to combat really high rates of crime in other cities like Chicago, Louisiana, Baltimore. What sort of authority would he have to deploy forces like that absence the Home Rule Act?

Ms. Look, the President is speaking about what he'd like to see take place in other cities around the country. Right now, this is administration is focused on making D.C. safe and beautiful again. When the time comes, we'll talk about that. But I will note that the president wants to see all of our nation's cities be safe, but I think starting with our nation's capital is a great place to begin and it should serve as a model for the rest of the country.

Ed, just to bind up a few of the D.C. things, because a lot of them have been asked. But in talking with Congress about potential changes to the home rule, whatever else, would he also push the House to finally pass DC's budget so that it has access to all that money that it does need for policing for schools and for other services here in the city?

Ms. Yes, and as you know, he has done that. He put out a statement calling on the House to take up the Senate's legislation, and he stands by that position.

Let me take you back to something from last month. You guys announced the President was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency after his legs were seen swelling. How is he being treated for for that? And while you were upfront about those health issues, I'm curious if the White House would be willing to let us speak with his physician directly about those health issues. I know there were a lot of concerns about the last White House not making the physician available. Would the physician be available in this case?

Ms.

I don't want to make that commitment on behalf of the physician, but it's certainly something we can look into and explore out of the effort of transparency because unlike the the previous White House, there is nothing to hide. You guys see this president working around the clock literally 247 all of the time. And I will be happy to look into that request.

Can we at least get an update on how he's being treated for the swelling legs and for the hams and the other issues?

Ms. Look, you see the president every day. He's moving, he's working, he's continuing. There have been no adjustments made to his lifestyle. Thanks, Caroline. I have two questions, one on D.C. but on the Putin meeting on Friday. Does the president plan to meet with Putin one on one? Ms. Yes, that's part of the plan. And as for the other mechanics and logistics, I will let our team speak to that when they're ironed out. And on what's happening in D.C. with the federal takeover, what we've heard from the mayor and the police chief is that their understanding is there has been no change in the leadership structure, in the White House's view, who is in charge of the MPD right now? Ms. If you read the executive order, it will tell you the leadership structure is as we plan to work with the Metropolitan District Police Department, but ultimately the chain of command is as the president of the United States, the attorney general of the United States, our DEA administrator, Terry Cole, who is now serving ahead of the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. They will be working together, no, Terry Cole, as you heard from this briefing room yesterday, is in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department, and he's working with the chief to ensure that law enforcement officers are allowed to do their jobs in this city.

Caroline?

Joe yes, thanks, Caroline. I know you said earlier the hope is to maintain monthly job reports, but the president's new nominee For BLS Commissioner, E.J. antoni, recently told FOX Business that the BLS should suspend issuing monthly job reports and only issue quarterly reports until the jobs data methodology is corrected. So does the president disagree with that assessment that his nominee is said there, or suspending these monthly job reports a real option?

I think he floated the idea of possibly suspending until they can get the data and the methodology in order. And this president wants to ensure that the BLS again is putting out accurate and honest data that the American people can trust. Since you brought up the new commissioner, he holds a master's and doctor's degree in economics from Northern Illinois University. He's the chief economist in the Heritage Foundation's center for the Federal Budget. And in addition to his work at Heritage, he has multiple other roles. He's been widely renowned for his work on economic issues. He's been called before Congress to testify as an economic expert. So he's a qualified individual and the president trusts him to lead this important department. I take a couple more questions. Sure, go ahead. Given that the administration now has jurisdiction over mpd, can we expect does that mean like personnel changes, hiring, firing? Can we expect leadership changes internally in the Metropolitan Police Department? I just walked through what the leadership structure looks like right now within the uniformed police department. Right. I mean, does that mean that the Attorney general, others kind of have the ability to make those personnel decisions? I would imagine it means they have the ability. As for any changes, I'm not tracking any. Again, we, we look forward to working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department, and we did that last night successfully and we hope we can do that for the next 29 nights. Go ahead. Yes. In light of reports that ICE agents.

Detained a 15 year old student with.

Disabilities outside an LA high school, even leaving bullets on the sidewalk, how does the Trump administration plan to ensure parents.

That their children can return to school.

Without fear of being wrongfully detained or endangered? Endangered by federal agents. Where did you see that report? LA Times. Ms. Okay, well, I'll have to look into the veracity of that report. I read the LA Times almost every single day and they are notorious for misleading the public. I'm sure there's more to that story than the way that you just characterized it. This administration wants to ensure that all school children across the country, in every city from Los Angeles to D.C. can go to school safely. And that's part of this administration's effort to federalize the National Guard in Washington to ensure that ICE is removing child predators. I just read you a list of a handful, just a handful of the hundreds of thousands of child predators that this administration is removing off of the streets of Los Angeles and every other community across this country because we want to ensure this is a country where American school children can be safe, where they can prosper, and where they are not threatened by violent criminals, whether they are illegal or whether they are American citizen homegrown criminals, as this president calls them. So I will gladly go check on that report and I'll get you the facts. Thank you.