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President Trump Holds News Conference in Egypt. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 13, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:00]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Food and medical equipment and other supplies, much of it paid for by people in this room.

Civilians are returning to their homes. The hostages are reuniting. I mean, it's beautiful. I'm just watching it backstage, backstage. The level of love and sorrow, I have never seen anything like it. It's amazing when you see they haven't seen their mother, their father. They haven't seen them in such a long time, and they lived in a tunnel, a very little tunnel, very deep.

And the level of love is just incredible. It's a beautiful thing to see. In one sense, it's so horrible that it could have taken place, but in another sense, it's so beautiful to see. A new and beautiful day is rising, and now the rebuilding begins.

The rebuilding is maybe going to be the easiest part. I think we have done a lot of the hardest part, because the rest comes together. We all know how to rebuild, and we know how to build better than anybody in the world.

I want to express my tremendous gratitude to the Arab and Muslim nations who helped make this incredible breakthrough possible. And you really did. To President El-Sisi of Egypt, who is so generously hosting us today, and I want to thank you for the outstanding job your country is doing in so many different ways and for helping us so much with this peace agreement.

I also want to thank the president for the escort of six fighter jets. Oh, we looked out the window. We said, I hope they're friendly, and they turned out to be very friendly. But we had three on each side, and they are beauties right out of the great American -- really American manufacturing hub.

We make the greatest military equipment in the world. We have the strongest military in the world by far. And I knew exactly what those planes were, and I knew exactly how much you paid for those planes too. You paid a lot, but you got a pretty good deal. And they are great planes, and we just appreciate it.

That was quite an escort in. It was very impressive. But Air Force One was really -- it was covered with Egyptian desert just a few months ago. If you think about it, just a few months ago, it was Egyptian desert, and now it was just a few feet off our window. And it was a spectacular sight, and I appreciate it very much. Really, that was pretty good.

You got our people by surprise. I don't know if they were thrilled right at the beginning, but they were thrilled as we sailed along very, very calmly and safely. And I'm deeply honored to receive from you Egypt's highest state honor, the Order of the Nile.

The Nile is so beautiful, so magnificent. It's such a beautiful title, the Order of the Nile. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Appreciate it.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Great honor.

I also want to give a very special thanks to the emir of Qatar, a man who's outstanding. He's been a friend of mine for a long time, long before politics, long before politics, and he's a fantastically respected man. His Highness Sheik Tamim is respected by everybody. He's respected by everybody and in the most positive way, not only because of power, but because of his heart.

He's got a tremendous heart, and he's a great leader and his country loves him.

Thank you very much for being here. It's an honor.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Let me also express our condolences to the Qataris on the tragic car crash that claimed the lives of your cherished diplomats, some of whom were known by our people and they were supposed to be incredible people. So please extend our sorrow and best wishes. It's -- that was tough. That was really tough.

On this extraordinary occasion, I also want to give our sincere thanks to President Erdogan of Turkey. He's always there when I need him. He's such a tough guy. He is tough as you can be, but we love him. And when they have a problem with you, they always call me to handle it. And usually I come through.

We just have a good relationship, but we have from the beginning. And so I want to thank you very much. And say hello to your wife, your beautiful wife. And it's great to be with you. Always there. When I need him, he's always there. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I also want to thank -- I just spoke to him on the phone, -- His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia, a special friend of mine. Boy, he's come so long and so far, and he's doing a fantastic job for his country.

And I want to just thank him. And his Highness Sheik Mohammed of the United Arab Emirates is here. Where? He's here someplace. Well, oh, he's not here, but he's here in spirit. I can tell you that. And he's been another one. He's been absolutely incredible. And we appreciate it very much.

[13:05:03]

And His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan, and thank you very much, King Abdullah of Jordan. He's here. Thank you. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you very much. And you really have been a great helper. We appreciate it. Appreciate it.

Prime Minister Sharif of Pakistan, and also, I have to say, my favorite field marshal from Pakistan, who's not here, but the prime minister is here, and you're going to give his regards. Where are you? There you go. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Do you want to say what you said to me the other day? Come. Would you like to say what you said the other day? I think it's -- it was so nice. Please.

SHEHBAZ SHARIF, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, my dear President Trump. My dear brother President Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, Majesties, Highnesses, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, assalamu alaikum, and a very good evening.

Well, I would say today is one of the greatest day in contemporary history, because peace has been achieved after untiring efforts, efforts led by President Trump, who is genuinely a man of peace, who has relentlessly and untiringly worked throughout these months day in and day out to make this world a place to live with peace and prosperity.

I would say that Pakistan had nominated President Donald Trump for Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding, extraordinary contributions to the first stop war between India and Pakistan and then achieve cease- fire along with his very wonderful team.

And today, again, I would like to nominate this great president for Nobel Peace Prize, because I genuinely feel...

(LAUGHTER)

SHARIF: ... that he is the most genuine and most wonderful candidate for Peace Prize, because he has brought not only peace in South Asia, saved millions of people, their lives.And today here in Sharm el- Sheikh achieving peace in Gaza is saving millions of lives in the Middle East.

Mr. President, I would like to salute you...

TRUMP: Thank you. SHARIF: ... for your exemplary leadership, visionary leadership.

And I think that you're the man this world needed most at this point in time. World will always remember you as a man who did everything, went out of the way to stop seven and today eight wars.

I would like to thank my very dear brother Sheik Tamim. He's (INAUDIBLE) who has really worked very hard along with others to achieve peace in this region. My very dear brother, President Tayyip Erdogan, His Majesty King Abdullah, and, of course, my very dear brother, Mohammed bin Zayed of UAE, and, of course, my very dear brother crown prince of Saudi Arabia. And he has also been very, very helpful and contributed very valuably in this wonderful peace process.

Ladies and gentlemen, I wouldn't want to take more of your time. Suffice to say, had it not been for this gentleman, not only -- who knows. India and Pakistan are both nuclear powers. Had he not intervened, along with his wonderful team, during those four days, the war could have escalated to a level who would have lived to tell what happened?

[13:10:13]

And, similarly, here in this part of the world, in Middle East, Mr. President, your valuable contribution, along with President Sisi, I think history will remember in golden words. I wouldn't say more, except God bless you, God give you long life to serve like this for all time to come. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: That was so beautiful. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

SHARIF: Very kind of you.

TRUMP: Thank you.

Wow, I didn't expect that. Let's go home. There's nothing more I have to say. Goodbye, everybody. That was really beautiful and beautifully delivered. Wow, thank you very much.

Also with us is President Prabowo, a very incredible man of Indonesia.

President? Come on.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Great job.

President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. See, we have them all. We have them all.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Great. Great. It's good to have you.

And so many others. I really have a list here. This first three rows and what's standing behind me, I don't know why they chose to stand, but they -- that's there. They're going to be very famous tomorrow, all of them. We have -- the Arab League is represented by His Excellency.

And thank you very much for being here. Thank you very much.

We have Armenia, oh, and Azerbaijan. That's a little war that we stopped. That's a little war there. They are. Look at them. They're sitting. When I met with them, it was in the Oval Office. They fought for like 31 years or some crazy number. And they had one sitting on that side of the Oval Office, one sitting.

By the time we finished in one hour, they were both hugging each other. And now they're friends and they're getting along. Great. Look at it. So I want to thank you both. That's incredible, really incredible.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So you have Armenia and you have Bahrain. You have Canada. It's so great to have. In fact, the president called and he wanted to know if it's worthwhile. He knew exactly what it was. He knew the importance. Where is Canada, by the way? Where are you? Where are you?

He knew the importance of this. He said, I want to be there. So many people have done that. They called. I mean, they heard about it. And these are not people that can do that very easily. They have pretty big schedules, to put it mildly, the most powerful people. And I appreciate you being here very much, Mr. President. Fantastic. Fantastic.

And Cyprus, Egypt, the European Union, that's a lot of countries, France. Thank you very much, Emmanuel. I would imagine Emmanuel is standing someplace behind me. Where is he? I can't believe it. You're taking a low-key approach today.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: He's my friend. That's great. Good job. Thank you very much, Emmanuel.

Germany, the new chancellor of Germany is -- he is easy to spot because he's very tall and he's very smart and he's doing a fantastic job for his country. Appreciate it very much. And congratulations, a big election. That was a big one that was going to change things.

Greece, we have Greece. We have Hungary. Oh, Viktor. Where is Viktor? Viktor, Viktor. We love Viktor. Viktor, I call him. I put the little accent on it. You are fantastic, all right? I know a lot of people don't agree with me, but I'm the only one that matters when it comes -- you are fantastic. He's a great leader. I endorsed him the last election he had, and he won by 28 points. So

you're going to do even better this time if you have another election. And you're going to do great. And we appreciate it. And we're behind you 100 percent. That's Hungary.

India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top and he has just done a fantastic job. And I think that Pakistan and India are going to live very nicely together, right? That's not a very -- that's -- they are. They are. And they're two great, I tell you, leaders, the great leaders, as far as I'm concerned.

Indonesia, we covered, and I just want to say that it's a big -- that's a big country, a powerful country. It does unbelievably well, and it's great to have you. Iraq. We have Iraq with lots of oil. They have so much oil, they don't know what to do with it. That's a big problem when you have so much you have no idea what to do with it. So thank you very much for -- thank you very much.

[13:15:21]

Italy, we have a woman, a young woman who's -- I'm not allowed to say it, because usually it's the end of your political career if you say it. She's a beautiful young woman. Now, if you use the word beautiful in the United States about a woman, that's the end of your political career. But I will take my chances.

Where is she? There she is. You don't mind being called beautiful, right? Because you are. Thank you very much for coming. We appreciate it. She wanted to be here, and she's incredible. And they really respect her in Italy. She's a very successful, very successful politician.

We have Norway. Oh, Norway. How are you? Norway. What happened, Norway? What happened? Where is Norway? Where is he? We have Johnny. We're going to the World Cup. I can tell you that. Where's Norway? I don't think he wants to stand out. He's back there. There we have Norway.

Oman again. We have Paraguay. We have a really fantastic representative from Saudi Arabia. Thank you very much. I will tell you what. And, this time, we will get you to the best seat. He always gets the best seat. He deserves the best seat, but what a great place it is. Spain. Where's Spain? Are you guys working on him with respect to the GDP?

We will get close. We will get close, but fantastic job you're doing. And UAE, which is great. United Kingdom. Where's United Kingdom? Where's our friend? Come here. Is everything going good?

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Very good.

TRUMP: That's very nice of you here.

These people all came on like 20-minute notice. And I think it's fantastic. And we have so many others, and just so many others. And it's such a compliment to what we're doing, because what we have done is something very unique and very special.

So it's perhaps the wealthiest and most powerful group of nations ever assembled at one time, which is a big thing. We have achieved together in recent days a change that really is historic, and it's going to be remembered forever. And I want to thank the American team for their amazing work.

And I want to thank -- I think he will go down as the greatest secretary of state in the history of our country. I really believe that, Marco, or I wouldn't say it, Marco Rubio, or I wouldn't say it. Maybe I would.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: You're doing a great job. I will tell you, he's on course to do -- and he's -- we've done a lot of work in nine months. We have done a lot of work.

I say that, one year ago, a little more, but one year ago, America, the United States of America was in -- I say it was a dead country. The king told me, and I use that. He said, sir, one year ago, it was a dead country. Today, you have the hottest country anywhere in the world, and it is. It's the hottest country. So many investors are here.

We have over $17 trillion being invested in the United States, which is a record that nobody has ever beaten. I don't think anybody will. And we still have four months to go before it's a year. So, in eight months, we have over $17 trillion. We're actually very close to $18 trillion.

There's never been -- as an example, the previous administration that less than $1 trillion over four years, we have close to 18. We're close to breaking $18 trillion in eight months. That's pretty amazing. No country has ever done that.

I want to also thank special envoy Steve Witkoff and my son-in-law and a great guy, Jared Kushner.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I even have my daughter here, Ivanka. Ivanka, please stand up. Ivanka is here. Wow.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you, Ivanka. We have a great team, and we have, as you know, General Razin Caine. We have John Ratcliffe. We have Tom Barrack. We have really a lot of good talent. We have Pete Hegseth, who's now Department of War, as opposed to Department of Defense. We made a little change.

Somehow, I like the name better. So do you. So do a lot of people. But the momentous breakthrough that we're here to celebrate tonight is more than the end of the war in Gaza. It's -- with God's help, it'll be the new beginning for an entire beautiful Middle East. From this moment forward, we can build a region that's strong and

stable and prosperous and united in rejecting the path of terror once and for all. We want to get rid of the terror and get onto other things. There are many other things in life that are so good.

[13:20:10]

The final sprint to this deal began less than three weeks ago on the sidelines of the United Nations in New York. I met with many of the people in this room, and it all just started coming together. I have known so many of you for so long. You're friends are mine. You're great people. I have a couple I don't like in particular, but I won't tell you who. I have actually a few of them I don't like at all.

But you will never find out who they are. Well, maybe you will come to think of it. But I have most of you who I like a lot, and I respect a lot. Maybe that's more important. We listened and we exchanged ideas, and we kept pushing forward until the job was done, and the first steps to peace are always the hardest.

And, today, we have taken them and we have put them all together, and we have come up with this beautiful mix, like nobody thought was possible. And, as you know, I have just come from Israel. It was an amazing day to watch the hostages come in and to watch all of the other things and do all of the other things that we did.

And like all of us here this evening, the Israeli people are overjoyed that the war has ended. Many of you have had dancing in the streets. They had dancing in the streets, and they have been dancing for weeks now, once they heard about this, and they heard that it was even a possibility.

They're elated at the arrival of the hostages and excited to begin this new chapter for the entire region, and it's going to be that. And they are going to be great partners. And I hope everybody is going to join the Abraham Accord. I like to say the Abraham. I love Abraham, but somehow it doesn't sound as good when I say it as it does when some of my other friends say it who are from the region.

But we're going to get a lot of people joining the Abraham Accords. We have the four great nations that did it early on, and they stayed with it. And then you had the Biden administration, which is the worst administration in the history of our country. And, obviously, they did nothing on that and anything else.

And so it stayed at four. And now a lot of people, even today, they're talking about all joining up. So, so many people have talked to me about that. And it's going to be a great tribute to really the United States. I mean, the United States has worked very hard in the Middle East, so it would be a tribute to us and to Jared and to Steve and to all of the people, Marco, all of the people that have worked so hard on that.

And it really is going to bring -- it's going to guarantee that it all stays together. You're going to -- and you're going to do well, because the four nations do very well. I mean, they do extremely -- they're wealthy, but they're a lot wealthier because of it. So I hope everybody is now joining up. Now we have no excuses.

We don't have a Gaza and we don't have an Iran as an excuse. That was a good excuse, but we don't have that anymore. All the momentum now is toward a great, glorious and lasting peace. And our commitment to fulfilling the 20-point plan we developed together will be the crucial foundation for achieving that bright future. And it's being worked on right now as we speak.

And we're actually in stage three and four. It's not going to be just divided down so simply. We can be long advanced on some of the things that we say we're going to do. We can take them out of order in a positive way. And we have shown how it can be done with responsible nations like the people in this room. There's incredible people in this room setting aside their differences, seeking common ground and pursuing a better world for all of us.

And that spirits my dream that we all get together and enjoy our life. And we're going to put some of you on the Board of Peace. Everybody wants to be on the Board of Peace. They said, would you be the chairman? I said, I'm pretty busy too. But whatever we can do to have peace in the Middle East, it's worth it.

But everybody wants to go on the Board of Peace, so we're probably going to enlarge it. We're going to get -- and the leaders, the top people, the top leaders, they want to be on the Board of Peace, a beautiful term.

At first, I wasn't sure, and then I realized how beautiful it is. And for the people of Gaza, the focus now must be on restoring the basics of a good life. We're going to have a lot of money coming into Gaza and a lot of rebuilding and building. It's not so much rebuilding, it's really building, cleaning up and building.

And I'm pleased to announce that numerous countries of great wealth and power and dignity have come forward to me just today and over the last week to say they want to help in the reconstruction of Gaza, putting up whatever money is necessary. And the money is -- of course, it's a lot of money, but it's not much compared to the value or the wealth of these tremendous countries.

And they are ensuring stability and success in the Middle East. So when you think about it, it's a very, very small amount of money is necessary, relatively speaking.

[13:25:00]

And as those commitments are made, I'm going to let the world know who is doing it because they really deserve great credit for doing it. And they're going to do something that's really monumental. This is a monumental day. This is a monumental moment in the history of the world beyond the Middle East.

We have all agreed that supporting Gaza must be done to lift up the people themselves. But we don't want to fund anything having to do with the bloodshed, hatred or terror, as has happened in the past. And for the same reason, we're also agreed that Gaza's reconstruction requires that it be demilitarized and that a new, honest civilian police force must be allowed to create a safe condition for the people in Gaza.

As I said earlier, I intend to be a partner in securing a better future. We're going to be working -- you're going to be working with the United States, and we're going to make sure that the Middle East is going to be a safe and secure place. It's a very important place in the world, means so much.

It was so many people who said the Middle East -- and this has been going for many, many decades, I have read it many times -- that World War III will begin in the Middle East. It's not going to happen. That's not going to happen. There was a time that you would have thought it could have, but it's not going to happen. There won't be World War III, hopefully at all, but it's not going to start in the Middle East.

We're not going to have a World War III if we're smart. There will never be a World War III. Our work begins right here and right now. From ancient times, this region has been extraordinarily mixed with respect to people, culture, religions, all of the different elements of national characters, unlike maybe anywhere else on Earth.

And for 3,000 years, there's been conflict. For whatever reason, there's been tremendous conflict, always conflict. But, today, for the first time anyone can remember, we have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put the old feuds and bitter hatreds behind us, and that's why so many people in this room, they didn't get along.

Some did, some didn't, but they're getting along now. This has brought the people together. This is the first time the Middle East crisis has brought people together, as opposed to driving them apart and to declare that our future will not be ruled by the fights of the generations past, which is foolish.

So, together, let us continue in the spirit of cooperation and good will that has finally brought us to this incredible, historic breakthrough. If we do, together, we will reach the Middle East's incredible destiny, a safe and prosperous and beautiful crossroads of culture and commerce, faith in humanity and geographic center.

This will be the geographic center of the world. So I just want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank you all for what you have done and for this quick, quick notice. It all came together just at one little period. It just came together. It's -- the greatest deals happen that way. If you know anything about deals, that's all I have done all my life is deals.

The greatest deals just sort of happen. And that's what happened right here. And maybe this is going to be the greatest deal of them all, not just nation-building, not just having to do with this or the political whims. This will be maybe the greatest deal of them all, period.

And I want to thank all of you and all of these great nations and this region for what it's gone through and all of the fights it's had, life over death and hope over strife and harmony over hatred. That's what we want. We want it to be that way, because, together, we're going to forge a magnificent, great, and enduring peace.

I want to just end by saying God bless you all. God bless the Middle East. God bless your countries. And God bless you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

So if we could ask the media to leave, and we're going to have a little conversation with all of these great leaders. This will take five minutes. And we will just talk for a couple of minutes. But if we could ask the media to leave, it would be great.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: An historic day in Egypt for this historic cease-fire deal, and I do want to go ahead.

Let's bring in Kaitlan Collins, who is there for us in Tel Aviv watching all of this happen. We heard from the president, Kaitlan. We heard the Pakistani P.M. saying he's nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. There are a lot of people appreciative for what President Trump has done here.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yes, that has been a recurring theme ever since it's been very clear that President Trump was seeking the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts here in brokering a cease-fire in the war in Gaza.

[13:30:00]