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Trump Takes Reporters' Questions at White House; Crowd, Federal Officials Face Off in Chicago After Car Crash. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 14, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... the person that operated the auto pen what to do. Those are the people that really were president, OK? So we're not going to stand for it in this country. And by the way, that auto pen thing is under serious investigation. Just this, I don't think you care because you're from Argentina, you couldn't care less about that. But I just want to say, because I do the weave, you know, the weave, cover a lot of different subjects.

But the people that are involved in that auto pen scam -- because he barely signed anything. I mean, this guy, I don't know how you can be president. He barely signed it. But the only thing we can find for sure is that he signed Hunter's Biden -- his pardon. Hunter's Biden. I like that. That's a combination.

So we're going to work very much with the president. We think he's going to win. He should win. And if he does win, we're going to be very helpful. And if he doesn't win, we're not going to waste our time. Because you have somebody whose philosophy has no chance of making Argentina great again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to check something, you said Hamas assured you that they would disarm. Was that a direct conversation or through Mr. Witkoff?

TRUMP: Through my people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

TRUMP: At the highest level.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your advice for President Milei and Argentina as a political leader?

TRUMP: My advice is to hold strong to his principles because he's right, and he's proving that he was right. He's got one problem. He's got people that are giving him tremendously bad press, even though they know it's wrong. He's got to hold true to his principles because he's going to win. He's going to win. He's doing the right thing. Everybody knows he's doing the right thing. But you have a radical left sick culture. That's a very dangerous

group of people, and they're trying to make him look bad. I believe he's going to win out.

(INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: China? Well, you have to be careful with China. Everybody deals with China. They have to deal with us, too. We have to be careful with China. Look, I have a great relationship with President Xi, but sometimes it gets testy because China likes to take advantage of people, and they can't take advantage of us. But we have a fair relationship with China, and I think it'll be fine. And if it's not, that's OK, too.

You have to do -- you have to do and go where the punches are thrown. You got to put up the blocks. We have a lot of punches being thrown, and we've been very successful.

Look, we have the most success. I think we're the the most successful we've ever been as a country. We have now close -- I've been saying 17 -- we have, I think, close to or maybe even exceeding $18 trillion going to be invested in the United States. That's more money than ever invested in any country before. Even countries with much bigger populations, like India or like China, nobody's ever had $18 trillion invested in the country. We have -- and that's because of November 5th election because I won.

Oh if if she won, you you'd be negative. You got people getting out of the country. this country would have been -- we would have been in a major depression. If she won we would have been 1929. They'd like to see that anyway that's why they keep the government closed. They have a shut down based on nonsense. They want to give away 1.5 -- think of it -- they want to give away $1.5 trillion to people that come into the country illegally.

And, as you know, the borders now are closed. But when they hear that they get the greatest healthcare package in the world and they have no money, but they're living OK in another country. They head up and they start forming caravans, and they try and come into our country.

But the big problem is they want to give -- they want to give healthcare to people that should not get healthcare. They want to give health care to illegal immigrants by the -- by the millions.

Look at Gavin Newsom, what he's done. He's ruined California, gives health care to anybody. And I guess they do it for votes. I actually think it's bad politics, but I guess they do it for votes.

So I'm with this man because his philosophy is correct. And he may win and he may not win, but I think he's going to win. And if he wins, we're staying with him, and if he doesn't win, we're gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How can Argentina can help to the peace process, to the Middle East, peace process?

TRUMP: They can help by doing well. If Argentina does well, that's helpful, because they know we help Argentina. So if Argentina is successful, that's great, because they view us as somebody that helped Argentina, and they did well. And the United States maybe will help them, and they're going to do well.

[14:35:00]

So the success of Argentina would be a great feather in the cap of the USA, because we're helping them. Right? You understand?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Please, behind you. Behind you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President. Last week you said that NATO should consider expelling Spain.

TRUMP: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that NATO should consider expelling Spain. Would you support that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should NATO consider expelling Spain?

TRUMP: Oh. I'm very unhappy with Spain. They're the only country that didn't raise up their number to 5 percent. Every other country in NATO raised up to 5 percent, and Spain is doing very well off our backs. So I'm not happy with Spain. Spain gets protection and they know, you know, look, they're sort of in the semi middle of it. So they're going to get protected automatically. Even if you don't want to protect him, you're protecting him because of the way they're located.

And I think what Spain did is a very bad thing for NATO. I think it's very unfair to NATO. It wouldn't matter if you said you're not going to protect him because they're pretty much protected. You know, what are you going to do? Go through the other countries and let's go attack Spain, right?

So I think what they did is not nice. I think it's very disrespectful to NATO. In fact, I was thinking about giving them trade punishment through tariffs because of what they did. And I may do that. I think unbelievably disrespectful, Spain. The only one out of all the countries in NATO, the only one that said that is Spain. And I think that's -- I think they should be punished for that. Yes, I do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the government shutdown, you have the money to pay the troops on October 15th. OK.

TRUMP: How -- I actually have a man who is a very wealthy person -- you'll know that when I tell you this -- who called a donor, a great gentleman, and he said, If there's any money necessary, shortfall, for the paying of the troops, then I will pay -- meaning he will pay it. How about that?

I said, Look, we're not going to need it. We're going to take care of our troops. But this was a position that's being forced upon us by Democrats. And all they have to do is just sign a piece of paper saying we're going to keep it going the way -- you know, there's nothing. It's not like -- it shouldn't even be an argument. They've signed it many times before.

I don't want to bore you with the fact that Schumer said 100 times. You should never close up government. But Schumer's a weakened politician. I mean, he's going to finish his career as a failed politician. He's a failed politician. He's allowed the radical left to take over the Democrat Party.

So if they write books about that, if they write books about him, they're going to have to say that his career ended by allowing the radical left to take over the party. I mean, I won an election in a landslide because people are not into the radical left, and the Democrat Party is.

People didn't want to see men playing in women's sports. They didn't want to see transgender for everybody. They didn't want to see all of the different things that they do that's so crazy. Open borders. I mean, the biggest -- the worst thing that he did to us -- not inflation, because we fixed inflation. Prices are way down.

I don't know if you saw that gasoline went to 58 just now for -- did you see what's going on with gasoline?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tracked that.

TRUMP: No, $58 a barrel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we track that.

TRUMP: Nobody can believe it. I'm very proud of it. You know why? Because we're pumping like we've never pumped before. Because with -- if you get the gas price down, everything else comes down. It's very simple. And he went away from my policies, and you had the greatest -- the last administration had the greatest inflation in the history of our country. And now, as you know, groceries are down. It's all down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But on the shutdown, are you settling in for a long -- is this going to be a long term? Are we looking at months?

TRUMP: It's up to them. All they have to do is just vote to extend. We don't need it. We're not saying we want money. What we need is a right to extend. They want a right to extend, but they want $1.5 trillion so they can give it away to illegal immigrants, the people that are invading your cities.

And many of these people, for whatever reason -- I mean, I understood this. I called it a long time ago. These countries are run by people I know, friends of mine. Like, I know this gentleman. I hope you haven't sent -- he probably did, too. Why not? They send up their worst people. They send up people that are criminals. They send up people from jails. And at best, the best ones they send up are people that don't work very hard and that are on a social form of welfare.

And they're sending those people into the United States. I don't blame them. I'm angry at them, but I don't blame them. [14:40:00]

But I'm really angry at Biden and Kamala and that group of lunatics for allowing it to happen, because it's the hardest thing. Now, you know where sending them out is -- it's incredible, the job Kristi and Tom Homan and the whole group is doing.

But we shouldn't have to be doing that. We're doing we're doing a lot of work on getting people out of here. Tren De Aragua has caused tremendous damage, and our soldiers are great. You know, our soldiers are now based on merit. They're not based on woke because we won the case in the Supreme Court, which was the bravest case. I have such respect for the Supreme Court because of what they with merit because our country was built on merit. Countries are destroyed on woke.

You know, I made a statement and I hated to make it because it sounded bad. But everything turns to you know what -- when it goes woke. You remember the term. I don't like to use it because you might have some children listening, but it turns bad.

And no, we have a we have the hottest country right now anywhere in the world. That's why he's here. That's why every other country wants to meet here, too. But we only have so many hours in the day and days in the week. But we've got the hottest country. Think of it. We were a dead country a year and a half ago, and now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. It's pretty good. Did a good job.

OK. Any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like to visit Argentina soon? There is an invitation for that.

TRUMP: What does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you like to visit Argentina soon?

TRUMP: I do. I would love to. I'm just a little busy. I'd love to go to Argentina. I'd like to be like Biden. I'd like to go to the beach. You know? My legs are not quite as thin as his. My legs are slightly heavier. My arms are slightly larger. My body is a little bit larger than his. I'm not sure it would be appreciated on the beach, but I'm not going to take a chance.

You won't see me in a bathing suit sitting on a beach in Argentina, falling down, not being able to lift a three-ounce chair. Meant for old people to lift, and he couldn't lift it, so he had a problem. He spent too much time in a beach. Somebody told him that he looked good in a bathing suit. And you'd see this guy on the beach all the time. I never quite understood.

Steve, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you preview your meeting with Ukraine President Zelenskyy on Friday? You expect to talk about weapons? Is there going to be a package? TRUMP: Interesting meeting going. Look, I'm very disappointed because

Vladimir and I had a very good relationship. Probably still do. I don't know why he continues with this war. This war has been so bad for him. He's going into four years of a war that should have beaten -- he should have won that war in one week.

He's now going to soon be into his fourth year. He's lost a million and a half soldiers, probably close. Certainly in terms of wounded and no legs and no arms and all the things that happened in horrible wars. It's a horrible war. That's the biggest thing that's happened since World War II in terms of death. It's bigger than any of them. I settled eight of them. The biggest is, is that in terms of death, Incredible.

I think India, Pakistan had great potential. We did a great job of that one.

But he's got to really settle this war. And you know, they have long lines waiting for gasoline in Russia right now, right? They have long lines. Who thought that was going to happen? And all of a sudden, his economy is going to collapse.

And I'd like to see him do well. I mean, I had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin. But he just doesn't want to end that war. And I think it's making him look very bad. He could end it. He could end it quickly. And I have to tell you, I give credit because who would think that Ukraine could have fought Russia for four years to essentially a standstill?

Now, there has been some early, early, you know, before they knew what the hell was happening because it happened quick. Biden should have never let that happen. That's a war that should have never happened, but it did. But it's not making Russia look good, I will tell you that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you send Tomahawks to Ukraine?

TRUMP: We'll be talking about Ukraine. Yes, I mean, I have the president coming in on Friday, and we'll -- I know what he has to say. He wants weapons. He would like to have Tomahawks. Everyone else wants to. And we have a lot of Tomahawks. Tomahawk is a -- do you need any tomahawks in Argentina?

You need them for your opposition, I guess, because see, in this country, they'd use Tomahawks for the opposition. I don't do that. I'm much nicer. The Democrats would use them if they had the chance. They're sick people. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried that this plan with Argentina can fail?

TRUMP: Anything can fail.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: So we're just listening to the president there taking questions. The president of Argentina, President Milei, is there with him at the White House. [14:45:00]

A lot of talk about this plan to bail out, in many ways, Argentina.

But I think some of the more substantive questions came when we talked about when he was asked about the situation in the Middle East, specifically how would Hamas be disarmed?

He was also asked about what would happen at this upcoming meeting on Friday with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House covering this as well. The question about Hamas, he was asked specifically about how and when Hamas would be disarmed. Kristen, what did he tell us?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it first appear appeared. He said that he spoke to Hamas and then he backtracked and said that his people, his highest level of people had spoken to them and that essentially they knew that they would have to disarm or the United States would disarm them. That that had been communicated to Hamas and that they expect -- the United States expects Hamas to disarm.

There was also an interesting moment there where it seemed as though he was saying that some of the hostages were not returned because Hamas did not know where they were. These would be the nonliving, the dead hostages. He said that they told him a number. But now that number seems to be shifting, which is not something that we had heard before.

I do quickly want to talk about that bailout as well, because there had been a lot of questions about what does this mean? Is this -- how is this America first, which you actually heard one of the reporters asking, particularly given the fact that we're in a federal shutdown. He said it was all about financial philosophy. But also made it very clear that the money only goes to Argentina if Milei wins in the midterms. That this money was predicate on several policies of Milei's and that we would not be bailing out Argentina if Milei was not to win in that election.

And then just two other pieces of foreign policy news. Interestingly, he was asked about China purchasing these soybeans from Argentina instead of the U.S., and he said that he thought it was likely that China was trying to cause a wedge or drive a wedge between Argentina and the United States. But also mentioned that he didn't think Argentina should be doing specific kinds of business with China, particularly military business.

So we'll wait to see what comes out of this meeting, but that's clearly something that's on President Trump's mind.

And I do just while we're here, want to give you the latest breaking news that we have that on the international front that happened right before we went into this press conference. Which was the announcement from President Trump that another boat has been struck off the coast of Venezuela. Six people killed. A similar Truth Social post about this strike, linking it to a

designated terrorist organization, but not saying which one. President Trump saying that they were narco-terrorists on board. Narco- traffickers on board that boat. So you see the video right there that was posted by President Trump. This, again, is just the latest in this escalation. I believe this takes us up to five, at least five, of these known strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: President Trump there making his foreign policy views clear. Explosives for alleged drug traffickers off the coast of Venezuela, which he described as a socialist dictatorship. And a bailout for an economic philosophy that he touts with President Milei of Argentina in the room.

Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for your reporting from the White House.

Still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, we have the latest from Chicago. Protesters there facing off with federal agents in the Windy City at the scene of an apparent crash. We have more details when we come back.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: A tense scene playing out in Chicago in the last hour as a large crowd faced off with federal agents. Our affiliate, WLS, says rocks were thrown and a chemical agent was eventually deployed. The crowd had gathered after a car crash, reportedly involving federal agency.

CNN's Whitney Wild is following this story for us. So, Whitney, what more do we know about how all of this unfolded?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's very little official information coming in right now. We have not been able to, you know, independently verify any of the witness accounts that were collected by our affiliate ABC7 here in Chicago, that's WLS.

But they say the witnesses told them that this crowd gathered after what they believe were federal agents, they believe that they were ICE agents, got into a car crash in an area called -- the neighborhood is called East Side Chicago, this is on the far south side. There is, again, very little information.

We've reached out to the federal agencies who are involved here. We've reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, of course. We've reached out to the FBI, who in past incidents where there are incidents involving ICE agents that the FBI has, you know, for example, on shootings, has swooped in to do an investigation. We've reached out to them to find out if we can learn any more information from them.

We've also reached out to the Chicago Police Department. We are still waiting for everybody to gather their facts and tell us on the record exactly what happened. But what is significant here, Jess, is that what it shows is that, you

know, these flashpoints between federal agents from DHS and the public flare up, you know, unpredictably, but they do flare up. And what we saw was a significantly-sized crowd. We were talking, you know, dozens of people who gathered from that area and appeared to face off with dozens of federal agents in this area.

[14:55:00]

Again, this neighborhood is East Side Chicago. We don't know what prompted it. We don't know what federal agents were hoping to accomplish. We don't know the nature of their operation. there are many open questions here. But the point, Jess, is that, you know, that ICE is being watched by people here in Chicago. I mean, that much is clear. And so when incidents do happen, you see these crowds form. And this was just another example of that. And what is, you know, a long list of times that that has happened here in the city, Jess?

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Appreciate it, Whitney. Thank you. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts after a quick break.

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