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Trump Speaks After Ringing Opening Bell in the Oval Office; FIFA's Red Card Reversal Controversy; Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 06, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: Thirty-eight percent of American families do not have any exposure to our great equity markets. But with Trump Accounts, over time we can get that number to zero.

Already, six million American children have signed up, 86 percent of them with families earning less than $200,000. U.S. Treasury, 1.4 million of those accounts will receive $1,000 from the U.S. Treasury to seed the accounts. When the markets open in just a few minutes --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now. Right now.

BESSENT: Oh, Trump accounts will benefit. So, ring the bell, Mr. President.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: (INAUDIBLE).

BESSENT: So, I will just finish by saying, on the eve the -- of our -- on the heels of our 250th anniversary, that this will be one of the president's most enduring legacies and the great bounty of this will go for generations to come. It is my privilege to invite President Trump to the speak after we had two firsts today, first time we've ever had the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, they do a joint opening and first time that we've ever had the opening bell run in the Oval Office.

So, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Well, this is very exciting. An amazing achievement. People, we don't know this, Michael, but people have been trying to do this for 30 years. And they were so generous. He put up, and she put up, I think she more than him maybe, both very much involved. But Michael and Susan put up $6,250,000,000. And I'm sure if I make a phone call they'll do it again. The job they've done is incredible in life. So, we want to thank you very much. Amazing. Really amazing.

And our friend from Micron, by the way, called me on Friday and he said, Micron's putting in $250 million. And he's done a phenomenal job. And $250 million. And many other companies and people are putting up tremendous amounts of money. And it's something I'm very proud of. Some people think it's going to be -- go down as one of the most important things we've done during the administration. So, after a truly historic weekend celebrating the 250th anniversary

of America, today we're thrilled to officially launch the Trump Accounts. And we had some beautiful people and speeches and tremendous crowds. We had the biggest crowd anyone's ever seen that, unfortunately, lightning caused it to leave and everybody said, well, we'll do it another time. When I heard that, I said, no, we won't. Everybody had left. I said, we're not doing it another time. We're doing it on the Fourth of July.

And we actually started the speech on the Fourth of July. We had to wait a little while, like a couple of hours, let the lightning pass. And everyone had left. And we came back and they had 150,000 people came back from the -- they took their car. They're going back home to Texas. They turned their car around and came back. You wouldn't believe it, 150. I think the 150 was more impressive than the 425 or whatever it was. It was pretty amazing. And Mount Rushmore, likewise, was so incredible. So, people love our country.

Our country is doing incredibly well. Strongest military in the world has been displayed with Venezuela, who we're getting along with fantastically now. We've taken hundreds of billions of dollars of oil and given them hundreds of billions. They have more money than they've ever made. And we're doing very well. Paid for the war many times over. And then Iran, we're doing actually equally as well. We're just not getting the kind of coverage that we should. But we have eviscerated them military.

And the bottom line is, our country is strong. We have the greatest military anywhere in the world. I was with President Xi three weeks ago, and I said that and there was no argument. Nobody's arguing. We built it during my first term and we're using it now for very good reasons, because, in this case, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. We can never let that happen.

On Saturday, July 4th, our administration deposited one-time seed contributions, $1,000 each, into the Trump Accounts of over 500,000 American children. It's a lot.

[09:35:00]

And millions more will be getting additional contributions from generous donors, like, as I mentioned, Michael and Susan Dell. They are truly incredible people. Go out and buy a Dell computer. He's not doing it for that. But I'll bet his business brand has gotten even bigger. I have a son that loves their -- he loves their laptop, I have to tell you. You know, I want a Dell. We're going to get him that money back one way or the other. And then I'll ask for another six billion, 250. We'll start the whole process all over again. No, he makes an incredible product. And right from the beginning.

And Brad Gerstner has been pushing this. So, he's a very successful man. Not quite as famous as the Dell family, right, as Michael? But you are -- he's an amazingly successful guy. And he's put up a tremendous amount of money. And again, I want to thank Micron and all of the companies that have already called me. And they're putting up a lot of money. This is nothing -- this is not me. And putting the name on it was not

my idea. That was a whole group of people that passed legislation, because this is all made possible only by the passage of the great big, beautiful bill. And I knew that this was happening, but I didn't know. All of a sudden I see my name on it in the bill. But I'm very proud to have my name. They think it would sell. They said, it'll sell better if your name's on it. I said, look, leave it on. But I did not -- I just want you to know, I did not ask for it.

Michael, is that a correct statement? Did I ever go to you, say, Michael, don't put up the money unless they use my name? No. But I have done that in other cases, I will tell you. In certain -- in certain other cases, I've done that, right, Scott? But not in this case.

This is a very special kind of a thing that took place. It's a -- in a way it's a miracle. Nobody thought it was possible. Think of it. Children that are born without money, without any money, great parents, they can have everything, can be great, but they have no money. They can become very wealthy children at 18 and they can flip it over, or their people can flip it over into other vehicles at a certain age so that they don't take it out. I would recommend they probably don't take it out. But they can have a lot of money, especially if the market continues.

Can you imagine if you did this during Trump a year ago, a year and a half ago, where the market's gone up at levels. As an example, everybody said when I got elected, there's no way that during the four year period we'll ever hit 50,000 on the Dow. And we hit 50,000 on the Dow I would say in the first year in records, we had records. What Nasdaq has done, what the New York Stock Exchange, all the stock exchanges, 7,000 on the S&P was impossible during the first year, but they really thought it was impossible in four years. And we hit it before the first year.

So, if you had -- if the children had invested the money a year and a half ago, we should have acted faster, actually. It's too bad. But it's going to go up. We have a hot country. It's going to go up. I think the market's going to go through the roof. When all those factories open, they're being built all over the country at record numbers. We have never built, in the history of our country, what we're building now. We have $19.2 trillion.

And much of that money is going toward building factories, plants, A.I., automobile. We've never built as many automobile plants. They're all over. And they're coming from all over the world. You know why? Because they don't want to pay tariffs. If they build their cars here, they pay no tariffs. So, Japan, instead of making them in Japan or South Korea, instead of making them in Germany, with Volkswagen and Mercedes and BMW and -- they're all building plants here now. They're coming out of Canada. They're coming out of Mexico. Mexico took a lot of our business. So did Canada. They're all coming back. I don't know what the countries are going to do, but they're all coming back.

So, today, with the ringing of the opening bell for the stock market, those accounts will now begin to grow right along with our booming economy. And I really believe we're going to have the biggest boom of all right now. You haven't seen anything yet. Between individual contributions and the seed funds, $800 million in new capital will be invested in the stock market for America's children this week. And I also think that we're going to be putting numbers in the budget, which will be really spectacular, because it's really not costing us anything. We're giving this money to children so they can have a good life very early on. They can have a good life.

And we're going to be doing also something we're working on later on. And it will be also, I think, very popular. And I guess the best definition is they have a plan in Australia, which people really like. It's really worked out very well, incredibly well, and very respected. And we're going to be talking about that with Congress and see if we can implement it. And that would be more for grownups as opposed to children. But it's something that's going to be great, I think, if we can get it done. And we're going to try very hard.

[09:40:02]

But again, I want to thank Michael and Susan, Brad and his son Lincoln, as well as secretary of the treasury, Scott, who is really -- Scott Bessent, who has really been an incredible -- if you're -- if you're casting a movie, you put him as the secretary of the treasury because he's central casting. Do we agree? Wouldn't you say? He's done -- more importantly, he's done a great job. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, who's been phenomenal. chairman of the SEC, Paul Atkins. Paul, thank you. What a job you do. You know, there's always been a problem there. And with you, everything goes smoothly. Although, I have to say, Jay did a very good job also, right, during my first term. But Paul's been incredible. Everybody wanted Paul and he's exceeded expectations, I will say. And everybody knows it. Thank you, Paul. Great job you're doing.

Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. I didn't want to lose Kevin. I said, Kevin, you're at a huge disadvantage because, selfishly, for a certain other position. And we have another Kevin -- we had the two Kevins, and they're both great. And a friend of mine, Ted Cruz. We fought each other for a while. And he's a very tough competitor. And we became friends. We were actually great friends before the campaign. And everybody said, will this ever end? In fact, he was doing a rally. He said, could we do a joint rally? That's like you people doing a joint bell ringing. It's like crazy, right?

But he said, remember, we did the joint rally outside in Washington. We had a big crowd. And the media was saying, will it ever end? I said, it will, but not yet. But it ended. But then it came together better than I think -- better than ever before. He's done a wonderful job as a senator. Highly respected.

In fact, somebody said, would you ever appoint him to the United States Supreme Court because he's a brilliant lawyer, Ted. I said, well, he's the only one I can think of that's going to get 100 votes. All Republicans will vote for him, all Democrats will vote for him, because they want to get him the hell out of the Senate. No, if I was having a -- if I was having a hard time with getting the votes, I would appoint Ted Cruz. I'd get 100 percent. A guarantee.

But, when you look at all of the different things that have taken place and you look at the international nature of what we're doing, because these are all international companies. So many I can't mention because they're too big to mention, the kind of money that's being invested is, is really, really incredible.

So, again, I want to just, because they're friends of mine, but the exchange CEO, Jeffrey Sprecher, is here today. We -- he's an amazing man. Amazing success. His wife has done a fantastic job at small business. They call it small business. But when you add it all up, it's probably the biggest, the biggest business in the world, right? But Kelly has been incredible. And Jeff, thank you very much.

New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin, we want to thank. And Nasdaq chair and CEO Adena Friedman. And Nasdaq president Nelson Griggs. We have all of them. This is a -- this is a fantastic group of people.

Thank you very much. We've got them all. Did you ever think you'd be in the same -- well, this is a great room.

I always -- when people walk in, the biggest people in the world, people that are in many cases on your exchanges, right, they walk in and they look around, they go, oh my God, I can't believe it. I must -- I don't want to use names. Larry Ellison walked in and he said, what? Where am I? This is so -- it takes a while. Actually, if you're negotiating, you have people at a great disadvantage because they're all screwed up, you know. It's a great place. I think it's the most important room anywhere in the world. So, I thought it would be good to do this here, right? We don't -- we seldom do that.

But this was the first ever joint bell ringing between the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. And hopefully it won't be the last. I think it's, you know, there are a lot of things you could do together that would be good. It's amazing the way you came together. And it was really easy. And their competitors. But it's -- it's a great tribute, I think, to all of you that you're able to do this. It's -- people are talking about it.

The SEC chair, let me ask you, are you shocked that they came? This makes your job -- doesn't this -- Paul, doesn't this make your job a little bit easier? Isn't it nice?

PAUL ATKINS, CHAIR, SEC: Well, yes it does.

TRUMP: Why can't we do that with Democrats and Republicans? Maybe that's a tougher one. I think that's -- that might be tougher. We like -- we like borders. We like things that they don't like. But if parents have not done so already, and they are doing so in record numbers, they should go right away to trumpaccounts.gov and sign their child up for a free investment savings account. And again, a lot of people are -- people that are uninvolved in terms of, they don't have the children, but -- or their children are older, but they're putting millions and millions of dollars into the accounts of poor children, financially poor children. [09:45:13]

And the parents can't even believe what's happening. So, it's -- it's an amazing thing. But parents, loved ones, churches and generous companies and individuals will be able to contribute funds to these accounts to grow throughout the child's life. And again, if we have a good market, like we do now, they're going to become actually very rich. They'll have hundreds of thousands of dollars. Think of that. Think of it, a child that has no money can have hundreds of thousands of dollars at a very, very young age. Accounts could grow to be worth numbers that nobody ever thought even possible just six months ago, before we did this.

And again, I have to thank Michael and Susan, because they were so proactive. It was -- actually, it was really amazing. And I just think they're amazing people.

So, Trump Accounts are about giving every American child a stake in America's future and getting some of the upside. And nobody's seen anything like it. And senators like Ted Cruz were at the forefront. And they should be really commended. People have to remember it in the future.

It's like so many things I did were so good, and that's only got a two-year life. Like, as an example, Kevin, I closed the border. We have nobody coming into our country illegally anymore. And I want to make it in my speeches. And they say, sir, nobody cares about that. You've solved the problem. I said, I'd like to talk about it. They said, nobody cares about the border. You've solved that problem. I said, what kind of a business, you solve a problem, you're not even allowed to talk about it. Nobody even wants to hear about it. It's pretty tough.

But this is something they're going to be talking about for a long time, because this is going to grow to levels that I think people have no idea. I already see the numbers. So, there could be no better way to begin our 250th year.

It is so appropriate. Think of that. We're doing it just at this time, this special time. It's pretty amazing.

So, I'd like to maybe ask Michael Dell to come up and say a few words, followed by Lynn Martin and Adina Friedman and Jeff and some of the people that had so much to do. I'd like to have our great senator, Ted Cruz, say a few remarks, and anybody else that wants to. This is a big celebration. This is a much bigger situation than anybody can imagine. And then we'll take a few questions, OK?

Thank you very much.

Go ahead. Michael, please, why don't you start it off.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you've been listening to President Trump as he is boasting about something that can have a big effect on a lot of Americans. Any child born between January 1, 20 25 and December 31, 2028 can get $1,000 in their account that will go into the market and grow. This is something that Donald Trump has -- is touting today. He's talking about the fact that for the first time ever the Nasdaq and the Dow ringing the opening bells together, that he's done this from the Oval Office. You would notice the bell that he rang was a replica of the Liberty Bell. And for all the things that people feel about the president, this is something that young people can really benefit from. And to the parents, it is free.

So, you have to sign up. You have to go on the website to sign up if you have a child that is born between those years that I mentioned, '25 and '28. And you heard that a lot of philanthropy is happening here. For example, Michael Dell, from the Dell Industries, speaking now about his gift and many other gifts from multi-millionaires.

We are going to take a quick break. This is available now. You can go online and take part in this if you want $1,000 for your child that will be in that account until they are 18.

We'll have much more, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:36]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have this camera in the Oval office.

President Trump may take questions soon. If he does, we expect he will be asked about the decision by FIFA to unsuspend star American striker Folarin Balogun for tonight's game against Belgium in the round of 16 at the World Cup. Balogun received a red card in the last game, which meant he was suspended for this one. President Trump called the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and said, hey, review that call. And apparently he did. And Balogun is unsuspended. Belgium has appealed the unsuspension. So, what happens now?

With us is the senior writer for "The Athletic," Paul Tenorio, who will be there tonight at the game. Also with us, soccer columnist for "The Guardian U.S." Leander Schaerlaeckens.

Paul, I just want to start with you, and we're so glad you're with us from there this morning. The Belgian appeal, like, what are the chances that that FIFA un-reverses its reversal?

PAUL TENORIO, SENIOR WRITER, "THE ATHLETIC": Well, I can't imagine that it's great considering that they were -- just isn't that much time before this game starts. And, you know, the feeling has to be in Belgium that the clock was run down a little bit on this. The fact that the announcement wasn't made until yesterday as the U.S. was arriving at training, just a little bit more than 24 hours before kickoff, it limits the option for the Belgian Federation, not just to go to FIFA with an appeal, but to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport with an appeal.

[09:55:02]

There just isn't enough turnaround time to really feel like you can get any sort of appeal done effectively.

So, I'm -- you know, there's been a lot of frustration. We've heard from the Belgian Federation, from the Belgium coach yesterday in the press conference that this has been handled the way it has by FIFA.

BERMAN: Leander, how surprised were you yesterday? I know where I was the moment that I heard that this call had been made to reverse the suspension. I was driving back from Boston to New York there. I got a text from my son. And my response was, whoa. What was your response?

LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS, SOCCER COLUMNIST, "GUARDIAN U.S.": Oh, the whole thing is just fairly shocking. I mean, there is some precedent here. Cristiano Ronaldo was supposed to be suspended for the first two games of this World Cup. And after a visit to the White House with his employer in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, suddenly that was undone. And we were told, no, actually, he's perfectly fine to play at this World Cup. So, this has happened before.

For someone like Ronaldo, it's fairly shocking the way this has gone down. On the one hand, a wrong has been righted because it wasn't a red card by any sensible reading of the rules or of the play. But now a new wrong has been enacted in doing this.

And, you know, the Norwegian coach, after the Brazil-Norway game that I was at yesterday, he made the point that, you know, however, this game turns out, even if the U.S. wins, there's going to be this cloud over that win, which would be a fairly historic run for the U.S. If they make the quarterfinal, it's going to have an asterisk behind it. And that's unfortunate.

BERMAN: It really does create this odd situation because I think many, if not most people think the original call was not a great one, even a bad one on the field. It was certainly harsh. Maybe overly harsh, Paul. So, you know, this might be ultimately getting it right. But what kind of moral hazard, Paul, does this create going forward? I think about the English defender who was -- who was sent off last night. Why doesn't King Charles call FIFA and say, hey, I want him playing in the next game?

TENORIO: Yes, there's no doubt that this sets a dangerous precedent for FIFA. And I think just the -- what it looks like. The fact that the president did make a phone call to Gianni Infantino, what -- they can say it didn't influence the decision at all. It doesn't matter. The appearance of that phone call, the appearance that it did influence the decision is enough.

And I agree with what the Norway coach said. You know, the story of this World Cup, one of the stories of this World Cup has been this U.S. team, the way they're playing, the way the country is getting behind them, the way Balogun came out after the red card and said, hey, I knew I was setting an example for young kids who are watching me. You have to handle things with grace. Even if you disagree with them, even if you think they're unjust, we have to accept it and move on.

And the U.S. Federation, the U.S. government, didn't accept it and move on the way their player had. And it does create maybe a new narrative around this U.S. team. No matter what happens tonight here in Seattle and going forward, that's not such a fun story for people to grab ahold of.

BERMAN: And again, if the president does take a question on this, I'm going to jump to that immediately. So, that warning there.

But let's talk a little bit about tonight's game. I'm super excited. It's hard to know how to process this new development into it. But, Leander, just talk to me about your expectations for the game and whether this might seep into the thinking of the U.S. players as they take the field.

SCHAERLAECKENS: So, the U.S. is already on the deepest run, in a sense, at the World Cup that they've ever had, because going into their round of 32 game with Bosnia and Herzegovina, they'd only ever won one knockout stage game. That was back in 2002 against Mexico, their neighbors, who they obviously knew very, very well. So, if they win again against Belgium, that'll make it two. That'll triple the all-time number of knockout games that the U.S. has won. They'll get to the quarterfinal, matching the high water mark. But the last time they made that quarterfinal, it was a 32-team tournament. It is now 48. So, they are very much doing what we would hope -- had hoped that this generation of players who are unprecedented in their pedigree and their talent could ultimately put together.

I think they're very happy to have Balogun back. I mean he's been really instrumental to the way that they play, not just with the goals he scored, but with the pressing that he does and all these sort of things that he adds to the team when he doesn't have the ball at his feet. So, they're pleased. They're kind of caught in the middle here. I don't know that they really are too sure how they're supposed to respond to this. But, you know, you'd rather have your best striker than not, right?

BERMAN: It's just a massive difference having him on the field tonight, just the way the U.S. has been playing and does play and the way Belgium plays. Having him there versus not having him there is night and day.

Paul, last word to you, 30 seconds or less, predictions for tonight.

TENORIO: Oof, that's a tough one. I -- look, I think one interesting angle to this is that Belgium has not looked its best in this tournament. They look more fractured than they do united. They really haven't been playing well.

[10:00:00]

And I think this gives Belgium something to unite together in the locker room about.

BERMAN: Yes.

TENORIO: To say we're playing against the U.S., but we're also fighting against FIFA and a now feeling that.