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U.S. President Donald Trump Speaks at NATO Summit; Trump Maintains Iranian Site "Obliterated" by U.S. Strikes; NATO Leaders Meet as Israel- Iran Ceasefire Appears to Hold. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired June 25, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I spoke to a few people. I guess that just sounded like the right name. It was a 12-day war. And we think it's over. I
don't think they're going to be going back at each other. I don't think so. Not only have we dealt decisively with the critical threat of Iran's
nuclear program, which was what I wanted, I said, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
I've said that for 15 years long before I decided to do the political thing. But we've also reasserted the credibility of American deterrence,
which is like no other, the people at NATO said this, never been anything.
You know, I rebuilt the entire military during my first term and we have a great military. We have great generals. I got to know the good ones and the
bad ones. We kept the good ones.
Over the past two days, I was honored to participate in the NATO leaders meeting and also had extremely good individual discussions with the king
and the queen, Secretary General Rutte and the prime minister, great discussions, very knowledgeable people.
Major focus of our conversations at the summit was the need for other NATO members to take up the burden of the defense of Europe and that include the
financial burden. As you know, it was 2 percent.
We got it up to 5 percent and they said, a couple of them came up to me. One in particular said, sir, we've been trying to get it up to 3 percent
for 20 years and we haven't been able and you got it up to 5 percent.
So they're going to be -- most of them, I guess almost all of them are going to be contributing now 5 percent, the number that -- people are
surprised that but you need it today.
The United States accounts for two-thirds of all NATO defense spending. And since I began pushing for additional commitments in 2017, believe it or
not, our allies have increased spending by $700 billion.
I said to people, you don't have any money and a lot of them weren't paying. And so I started the process and I picked it up as soon as I got
back, which is six months ago.
And following my election last November, almost all have accelerated plans to reach the 2 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent and then ultimately, very
quickly, 5 percent. And all of this is going to be done very quickly, almost immediately.
You probably know this, as well as I do. I'm sure they've been talking about it. It's really been a big focus in a very historic milestone this
week. The NATO allies committed to dramatically increase their defense spending to that 5 percent of GDP, something that no one really thought
possible.
And they said, you did it, sir. You did it. Well, I don't know if I did it but I think I did. This will be known as the Hague Defense Commitment,
which is pretty good, pretty appropriate.
When the allies reach this number, it will add more than $1 trillion a year. Think of that, $1 trillion per year to our common defense. And this
is a monument really to victory but it's a monumental win for the United States because we were carrying much more than our fair share.
It was quite unfair actually but this is a big win for Europe and for actually western civilization.
For years, past administrations failed to get most allies to contribute, even the 2 percent. I remember when I came here, we had four countries that
were up to 2 percent.
And I remember Poland was there, a couple of them were there but most of them were -- we had 28 at the time. As you know, it's increased a little
bit. And they've agreed now to more than double their budgets in all cases.
And Europe is stepping up to take more responsibility for its security will help prevent future disasters, like the horrible situation with Russia and
Ukraine. And hopefully we're going to get that solved. Last week they lost 7,000 soldiers, mostly soldiers but they're also getting hit in Kyiv.
They're getting hit in some of the towns also.
And that means life. Life is disappearing also in the cities and towns, should have never happened, would've never happened if I was president. I
said it a thousand times and it never did happen. It's never even thought about. But it's vital that this additional money be spent on very serious
military hardware, not bureaucracy.
And hopefully that hardware is going to be made in America because we have the best hardware in the world. You saw that where 14 missiles were shot at
us the other day. And they were very nice. They gave us warning. They said, we're going to shoot them. Is 1 o'clock OK?
They said, it's fine. And everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn't get hurt except for the gunners.
They call them the gunners. And out of 14 high-end missiles that were shot at the base in Qatar, all 14, as you know, were shot down by our equipment.
[10:05:07]
Amazing stuff, amazing what they can do. It's like shooting a bullet with a bullet.
It's the same thing if you think about it, 14 out of 14. And they weren't even that surprised. I said, you do that well often?
They say, we pretty much do, sir.
The Ukraine crisis has also highlighted the urgency of rebuilding our defense industrial base, both in the United States and among the allied
nations. We cannot afford to be dependent on foreign adversaries for critical minerals. And as you know, we made a deal with Ukraine to take a
vast amount of the land they have for minerals. We need it.
And once again, I want to thank all of the people in the Netherlands, incredible people, it's a great place and all of the NATO allies for the
tremendous summit that we just had a letter just came in and a statement came in from the Atomic Energy Commission of Israel.
And I just wondered, this is an official letter and they're very serious people. As you know, the devastating U.S. strike on Fordow destroyed the
site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable. It was devastated.
We assessed that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities has set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons for many years to come.
This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material, which it won't. It's so sad that the whole thing had to
go. But I just want to thank our pilots.
You know, they were maligned and treated very bad, demeaned by fake news CNN, which is back there, believe it or not, wasting time, wasting it.
Nobody's watching them.
So they're just wasting a lot of time, wasting my time. And "The New York Times," they put out a story that, well, maybe they were hit but it wasn't
bad. Well, it was so bad that they ended the war. It ended the war.
Somebody said in a certain way, you know, that it was so devastating. Actually, if you look at Hiroshima, if you look at Nagasaki, you know, that
ended a war too. This ended a war in a different way but it was so devastating.
Also, they have out of Dubai just came that Iran's foreign ministry spokesman but this is Iran's foreign minister, says it's near -- its
nuclear installations were very badly damaged by the American strike.
So what bothered me about these reports are with fake reports put out by "The New York Times" failing -- I call it the failing New York Times
because it's doing terribly. Without me, it would be doing no business at all. But -- and by fake news CNN and MSDNC (sic), all of these terrible
people, you know, they have no credibility.
You know, when I started there were 94 percent credibility, the media. Now it's at 16 percent and I'm very proud of it because I've exposed it for
what it is. But when I saw them starting to question the caliber of the attack, was it bad?
Well, it was really bad. It was devastating. They were obliterated, like you can't get into the tunnels. They just put that over. That just came
out. They can't -- there's nothing. There's no way you can even get down. The whole thing has collapsed in a disaster. And I think all of the nuclear
stuff is down there because it's very hard to remove.
And we did it very quickly. When they heard we were coming -- it was, you know, you can't move it very hard, very dangerous actually to move too. And
they also knew we were coming.
So I don't think too many people want to be down there knowing we're coming with the bunker-busters, as we call them. We're the only ones that have
them. We have the best equipment, best nuclear equipment and we have the best equipment in the world.
And by the way, we can't forget our submarine, which was out there, submarines actually but submarine was out there. We shot 30 rockets into an
area, every single one of them.
I think it was almost 400 miles away, I think, Pete, right, 400 and long.
It was in the ocean, long ways away. And we shot a total of 30. Every single one of them hit within nine inches from where it was supposed to be.
It took it a lot. Because we didn't do just Fordow, we did two others in addition, which hadn't been completely destroyed.
So we hit them with a submarine from hundreds of miles away. Amazing, just amazing equipment, greatest submarines in the world, nobody's even close.
They're 20 years behind us when it comes to submarine technology.
[10:10:00]
So that's one. And the other was from the Atomic Energy Commission and they have about three or four of them now coming in from Atomic Energy
Commissions from various places.
But the one that we have that just came out, we released it a little while ago, was from. The Israeli Atomic Energy Commission but numerous of them
are getting to see the site and the site has been demolished.
And again, we had these brave patriots, these incredible flyers, these people that can fly a plane better than anybody can fly a plane, going into
very hostile territory, flying into the territory that's got more missiles and things pointed at it. But it was very stealth. They didn't get to see
it. It was dark.
That's the amazing thing about the shots. They hit the shots perfectly and yet it was dead dark. There was no moon, there was no light. It was
virtually moonless. It was very dark and they hit, the shots, were hit perfectly but when they get demeaned. And they were very upset about it
because they knew how strong it would be.
Back in Missouri, the pilots flew about 36 hours, two ways, far distance and those incredible B-2s. And we then had the F-22s and we had the F-35s
and we had other planes and we had I think a total of 52 tankers.
That means the big tankers because the refueling was a lot for all of the different planes that we sent, incredible operation. And I have to say
General Razin Caine was incredible. That's why he beat ISIS. And we beat ISIS in a matter of weeks.
I was told it would take four to five years. We did it in a few weeks. And he was great. That's why he's the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff right
now because I had a very good experience with him. He knocked out ISIS in a period of literally a few weeks, amazing. And it was supposed to take a few
years, five years to be exact.
So we had a great victory there. And we then came here and I think we had a great victory here. But this is an ongoing project. This is the safety of
Europe, the safety of the world. And they've raised it from 2 percent to 5 percent, something which nobody -- and you're talking about over $1
trillion a year.
So we're talking about a lot of money coming in from countries that we're not paying nearly enough to be effective.
So I have, as you know, Marco Rubio with me and Pete Hegseth, secretary of state and secretary of war. Should we say secretary -- you know, it used to
be called secretary of war, maybe for a couple of weeks, we'll call it that, because we feel like warriors.
It used to be called Secretary of War. In fact, if you looked at the old building next to the White House, you can see where it used to be secretary
of war. Then we became politically correct and they called it secretary of defense. I don't know, maybe we'll have to start thinking about changing it
but we feel that way.
Do we have any questions please?
Wow, that's a lot of questions. Who's a nice -- oh, you're not a nice person but I'll let you ask one. Go ahead. What's he going to ask?
He is not nice at all. I know him well.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Yes.
QUESTION: Thank you for taking the time before flying home. You just said you believe the conflict between Israel and Iran is over. What makes you so
confident it is?
And what do you do if it isn't?
TRUMP: Because I dealt with both and they're both tired, exhausted. They fought very, very hard and very viciously, very violently and they were
both satisfied to go home and get out. And can it start again?
I guess someday it can, it could maybe start soon. I think a big telltale sign was when, as you know, Iran somewhat, by not much, violated the
ceasefire and Israel had the planes going out that morning and there were a lot of them, 52 of them.
And I said, you got to get them back. And they brought them back. They didn't do anything. They brought them back. It was very good. I thought it
was amazing actually. They have fought a hell of a war. They fought very hard.
I think the war ended actually when we hit the various nuclear sites with the planes. And I just hope you people can give these pilots -- they're the
best pilots in the world. They're the best shots in the world. They call them shots. That's what they are.
And wait a minute and I just hope you can give them the respect they deserve, because they came home to fake news and like, oh, gee, there was
hardly any damage, the things had decimated.
But I think. No, I think they're very much finished. I think Israel's going to get back to doing what they do and I think that Iran's going to get
back. You know, Iran has a huge advantage. They have great oil and they can do things.
I don't see them getting back involved in the nuclear business anymore. I think they've had it. They've been at it for 20 years.
[10:15:00]
And I don't see that happening either. Now if it does, we're always there. It won't be me, it'll be somebody else but we're there. We'll have to do
something about it.
Yes. Please go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, fake news, CNN?
Oh yes. Yes. Here we go. Wait until you hear this question.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for --
TRUMP: You should really say how great our soldiers and our warriors are.
COLLINS: I think everyone appreciates our soldiers and our warriors. I do have two questions for you, Mr. President. You just cited Israeli
intelligence on these attacks. Earlier, you said U.S. intelligence was inconclusive. Are you relying on Israeli intelligence for your assessment
of the impact of the strikes?
TRUMP: No. This is also -- Iran made the statement. And it's also -- if you read the document that was given that Pete can talk about if you'd
like, the document said it could be very severe damage but they didn't take that.
They said it could be limited or it could be very severe. They really didn't know other than to say it could be limited or it could be very, very
severe. And you didn't choose to put that because it was very early after.
Since then, we've collected additional intelligence. We've also spoken to people who have seen the site and the site is obliterated and we think
everything nuclear is down there. They didn't take it out, OK?
Question, please go ahead. Go ahead. Yes, blue dress.
QUESTION: Thank you so much, Mr. President. Yesterday, you said China can now continue to purchase oil from Iran.
TRUMP: Yes.
QUESTION: Are you giving up on your maximum pressure campaign?
TRUMP: With who?
QUESTION: Because there's sanctions right now.
TRUMP: With who?
QUESTION: On Iran.
TRUMP: No. Look, they just had a war. The war was fought. They fought it bravely. I'm not giving up. They're in the oil business. I mean, I could
stop it if I wanted. I could sell China the oil myself. I don't want to do that. They're going to need money to put that country back into shape. We
want to see that happen. Would they?
No. If they're going to sell oil, they're going to sell oil. We're not taking over the oil. We could have, you know?
I used to say with Iraq, keep the oil. I could say it here too. We could have kept the oil. Now China's going to want to buy oil. They can buy it
from us, they can buy it from other people. But you're going to have to put that country back into shape. It desperately needs money. Yes?
QUESTION: Mr. President?
TRUMP: Yes, please. Here we go. I'm picking the beauties today. Go ahead.
QUESTION: Mr. President, Secretary General Rutte has described President Putin as an adversary, a threat, an enemy. Do you view him the same way?
And in addition to that, you mentioned General Caine, your chief of staff, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
TRUMP: General Caine.
QUESTION: Yes. He has said that Mr. Putin has territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine. Do you view that in the same way?
TRUMP: It's possible. I mean, it's possible. I know one thing he'd like to settle. He'd like to get out of this thing. It's a mess for him. He called
the other day. He said, can I help you with Iran?
I said, no, you can help me with Russia. Because, you know, in the last few weeks we took care of India and Pakistan, Kosovo, Serbia. I think on
Friday, we have coming in -- the Congo is coming in and Rwanda is coming in.
That was a vicious war that went, on a machete war, heads chopped off all over Africa. They're coming in. We did two others in addition to that.
Nobody's ever done anything like this.
No, I consider him a person that's I think been misguided. I'm very surprised, actually. I thought we would've had that settled easy. I've
settled four of them in the meantime but he did call up and he said, you know, he's close to Iran.
He'd like to help us get a settlement. I said, no. You help me get a settlement with you, with Russia and I think we're going to be doing that
too.
Yes, please?
Go ahead, please.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. You've made clear your position on what impact the strikes had. I wanted to ask you, what is next with Iran.
For instance, is there any indication from U.S. intelligence Iran was able to move any material?
TRUMP: No, just the opposite. We think we hit them so hard and so fast they didn't get to move. And if you knew about that material, it's very
hard and very dangerous to move. It's called and many people they call it dust but it's very, very heavy. It's very, very hard to move.
And they were way down, you know, they. 30 stories down. They're literally 30, 35 stories down underground. Oh, yes, we think we got it. We think it's
covered with granite, concrete and steel.
QUESTION: Can I ask you, are you interested in restarting negotiations with Iran?
And if so, have they --
TRUMP: So our people -- Marco could -- answers this -- but our people are not -- I'm not.
[10:20:04]
The way I look at it, they fought the war is done and you know, I could get a statement that they're not going to go nuclear.
We're probably going to ask for that but they're not going to be doing it but they're not going to be doing it anyway. They've had it. They've had
it.
Now maybe someday in the future, we'll want that. But I've asked Marco, do you want to draw -- I just asked him the question as we were walking on the
stage, you want to draw up a little agreement for them to sign?
Because I think we can get them to sign it. I don't think it's necessary. Marco, do you want to talk about that, please?
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, Mr. President, I think you, President Trump has shown a willingness to meet and talk to anybody in the
world who's interested in peace. I don't know of any president that's been as willing as he has to meet with anyone and talk about peace.
We'd love to have peaceful relations with any country in the world. And so, obviously, that'll depend on Iran's willingness, not just to engage in
peace but to negotiate directly with the United States, not through some third country or fourth country process.
But I know of no president probably in our modern history that's sought peace more than President Trump has.
QUESTION: It sounds like the door is open, because you're in no rush. Is that right?
It sounds like the door's open.
TRUMP: I'll tell you what, look, we're going to talk to them next week with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know. To me, I don't think
it's that necessary. I mean, they had a war, they fought.
Now they're going back to their world. I don't care if I have an agreement or not. The only thing we'd be asking for is what we were asking for before
about we want no nuclear but we destroyed the nuclear. In other words, that's destroyed.
I said, Iran will not have nuclear. Well, we blew it up. It's blown up to kingdom come. And so I don't feel very strongly about it.
If we got a document, it wouldn't be bad. We're going to meet with them, actually. We're going to meet with him. Yes.
Yes, go ahead, please.
QUESTION: Mr. President, Netherlands TV thank you for visiting our country.
TRUMP: Good, thank you.
QUESTION: , of course, I'd like to know how you slept last night at the house of the king.
TRUMP: Oh, I slept beautifully.
QUESTION: But probably more serious question. I think you just had a meeting with President Zelenskyy. Did you discuss any ceasefire in this
Russo-Ukrainian war?
TRUMP: No. No. I just, I wanted to know how he's doing. It was very nice actually. You know, we had little rough times. Sometimes he was -- couldn't
have been nicer. I think I'd like to see an end to this.
I do. I think I -- what I took from the meeting couldn't have been nicer actually but I took from the meeting that he'd like to see it end. I think
it's a great time to end it.
I'm going to speak to Vladimir Putin and see if we can get it ended. But look, these are brave people. They're fighting these wars all over the
place. You know, last week they had, I guess close I told you, close to 7,000 young soldiers, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were killed, 7,000 in
one week.
It's crazy. It's crazy. So I'll be speaking to Putin. No, I had a good meeting with Zelenskyy. And I had a lot of good meetings. I had a lot of
good meetings with a lot of people, a lot of great leaders. But he's fighting a brave battle. It's a tough battle. Yes.
Go ahead, white dress.
QUESTION: Thank you. (INAUDIBLE) from Finland (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Good.
QUESTION: You have played golf with President Alexander Stubb.
How do you see Finland as a NATO ally and partner?
And how would you describe your relationship with our president?
TRUMP: Well, he's a very good golfer, OK?
In fact, he was on his college golf team. He went to a good college in the south, as you know, a very good college and he was a good golfer. We had a
good time. I think my relationship's great. I want to buy icebreakers, you know, you're very good at icebreakers.
And I actually made him an offer. I didn't go to Congress until they try and impeach me for this but there's an old -- it's not old, it's fairly new
but it's used icebreaker and I offered him about one third of what he asked for.
But we're negotiating. We need icebreakers in the U.S. and if we can get some inexpensively, I'd like to do that. Actually, they'll fix it up, make
it good.
Also, we may buy some icebreakers. You know, you make -- you're the king of icebreakers, that particular country. They make them good. They make them
really good and they know what they're doing.
And so we're negotiating with them for about 15 different icebreakers but one of them is available now. It's old and it's, you know, old, it's like
five, six years old now. We're trying to buy it. I'm trying to make a good deal. All I do my whole life. My whole, that's all I do, is make deals.
Yes, please. Go ahead. Sir, go ahead.
QUESTION: Yes. Question for Nieuwsuur Dutch TV First of all, on Article 5, on your way here, you spoke about the commitment of the U.S. to Article 5,
saying, I'll give you my definition once we're here.
[10:25:03]
Is your definition and may the U.S. commitment to Article 5 change in case some of the NATO members do not reach the threshold that was discussed
today?
My second question is following up on a colleague on Iran, what intel reports do say that everything over there was obliterated?
TRUMP: Yes. Well, there are numerous of those reports and they're coming out fast and furious but the most respected ones we've already seen. And I
will say that on a very confidential basis, they're looking at the reports, like numerous reports and including people going to the site and checking
the site.
And they're going to be having -- I guess you're going to be having over the next couple of days a full. You're going to encapsulate it. But no, the
site was obliterated, just like I said it was and just like the pilots should be given credit for.
As far as Article 5, look, when I came here, I came here because it was something I'm supposed to be doing but I left here a little bit
differently. I said -- I watched the heads of these countries get up.
And the love and the passion that they showed for their country was unbelievable. I've never seen quite anything like it. They want to protect
their country and they need the United States. And without the United States, it's not going to be the same.
And you can ask Mark or you can ask any of the people that were there. It was really moving to see it. They loved their country. They were so
respectful of me because I'm the head of the United States.
And I made -- you know, the king of Saudi Arabia, when I was in the Middle East, so I was in Qatar for a different reason, not a reason to get shot
at, we were in there for economic development reasons, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia, all three leaders of those countries and we took back $5.1 trillion
into the United States.
All three leaders said, you know, you're presiding over the hottest country in the world. The United States right now is the hottest. Everybody wants
to be there. Everybody wants a piece of it.
He said a year ago, your country was dead. You had a deadhead running it. You had a country that was dead and it was dead. You had people pouring
through the borders. You had inflation. You had everything. He said, you've made it in five months, at that time, you've made it the hottest country.
This is the hottest country in the world.
United States right now is the hottest country in the world. And when I was around that table, it was a nice group of people, many of whom I knew from
previous. When I saw the passion they had for the country, almost everyone and you probably have the tapes, it was very public but almost every one of
them said, thank God for the United States.
Without the United States, we couldn't -- they couldn't really have -- NATO wouldn't work. It wouldn't work. It will in the future because now they're
paying much more money. But it wouldn't work. It was great.
And I left here differently. I left here saying that these people really love their countries. It's not a rip-off. And we are here to help them
protect their country.
OK. We'll do one or two more.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Yes. A question on Spain. Are you satisfied with today --
TRUMP: Oh, I think Spain's terrible what they've done. No, I do. They're the only country that won't pay the full up. They want to stay at 2
percent. I think it's terrible and you know, they're doing very well.
The economy is very well and that economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening. You know, Spain is the only country
that -- are you from Spain?
Yes. Good. Congratulations. You're the only country that is not paying. I don't know what the problem is. I think it's too bad.
So we'll make it up. You know what we're going to do?
We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We're going to make them pay twice as much. And I'm actually serious about that. We're going to make
Spain -- I like Spain. I have so many people from Spain that it's a great place and they're great people. But Spain is the only country out of all of
the countries that refuses to pay.
And you know, so they want a little bit of a free ride but they'll have to pay it back to us on trade because I'm not going to let that happen. It's
unfair. It's unfair.
All right, sir, please, go ahead, right in the back. Yes, you, tall one, the tall man.
QUESTION: Mr. President, Johannes Petra (ph) from Austria National Television.
TRUMP: How are you?
QUESTION: He once said that you would end the Ukraine war in 24 hours. You later said, you said that sarcastically.
TRUMP: Well, of course, it was sarcastic.
QUESTION: But you've now been in office for five months and five days. Why have you not been able to end the Ukraine war?
TRUMP: Because it's more difficult than people would have any idea. Vladimir Putin has been more difficult.
[10:30:00]
Frankly, I had some problems with Zelenskyy. You may have read about them. And it's been more difficult than other wars.
I mean, look, we just ended a war in 12 days that was simmering for 30 years, frankly. We ended, Rwanda and the Congo, it's coming to sign the
documents. We've already signed basic documents but they're coming, I think, to the White House on Friday. We ended Serbia, was going to go at
it.
But maybe the most important of all India and Pakistan. And that wasn't whether or not they may someday have nukes, like we're talking about in the
Middle East, like we're talking about with Israel and Iran.
This is the half nuclear weapons. I ended that with a series of phone calls on trade. I said, look, if you're going to go fighting each other, it's
going to -- it was getting very bad. You know how bad that last attack was. It was really bad.
If you're going to go fighting each other, we're not doing any trade deal. No, no, no. You have to do a trade deal. I said, we're not doing any trade
deal.
And in fact, I had the general who really was very impressive. The general from Pakistan was in my office last week. You know, Prime Minister Modi is
a great friend of mine. He's a great gentleman. He's a great man. And I got them to reason.
I said, we're not doing a trade deal if you're going to fight. And if you're going to fight each other, we're not doing a trade deal. And you
know what?
They said, no, I want to do the trade deal. We stopped the nuclear work. Go ahead. Go ahead, Jeff. Here's another beauty, Jeff. He is our beauty. All
right. Go ahead.
QUESTION: Mr. President, follow up on Ukraine. Will the United States contribute any more money to Ukraine's defense this year to the 5 billion
that allies are giving?
And one question. You had another meeting with the Dutch opposition leader, Mr. Wilders. Can you tell us about that meeting and are you upset about his
anti-Muslim stance?
TRUMP: I'm not upset about it. It's just his view. He's unhappy with the way things are going in this country and various countries. He was an
opposition leader. And I was asked to meet with the opposition leader by the people that are running.
I think they have some deal where if you have a meeting, he's supposed to meet with an opposition leader. I said, that's strange. That's -- that. But
I met the -- I don't -- I didn't know him. He seemed like a very nice guy.
But he's in opposition to the current people and that was set up by the current people. So I assume when I met with the prime minister, you're
supposed to meet with the opposition. We'll have to try that sometime in our country. Let's not do it.
But he was -- I thought he was very good as far as money going, we'll see what happens. There's a lot of spirit. Look, Vladimir Putin really has to
end that war. People are dying at levels that people haven't seen before for a long time. Go ahead. Go ahead. White shirt. Oh, she's all excited.
QUESTION: BBC News Ukraine.
TRUMP: Where are you from?
QUESTION: I'm from Ukraine. So my question to you is whether or not the U.S. is ready to sell anti-air missile systems, Patriot, to Ukraine. We
know that Russia has been pound in Ukraine really heavily right now.
TRUMP: Are you living yourself now in Ukraine?
QUESTION: My husband is there.
TRUMP: Wow. I can see you very -- you know, it's amazing.
QUESTION: And me with the kids. I mean, also, actually, because he wanted me to be --
TRUMP: Is your husband a soldier?
No?
QUESTION: He is.
TRUMP: He's there now.
QUESTION: Yes.
TRUMP: Wow. That's rough stuff, right?
That's tough. And you're living here?
QUESTION: In (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: And you're a reporter?
QUESTION: I am.
TRUMP: Good. So let me just tell you, they do want to have the anti- missile missiles OK. As they call them. The Patriots. And we're going to
see if we can make some available. You know, they're very hard to get.
We need them, too. We were supplying them to Israel. And they're very effective, 100 percent effective. Hard to believe how effective. And they
do want that more than any other thing, as you probably know. That's a very good question and I wish you a lot of luck. I mean, I can see it's very
upsetting to you. So say hello to your husband.
OK. Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. You were criticizing --
TRUMP: Where are you from?
QUESTION: Bloomberg News.
TRUMP: Oh, Bloomberg.
QUESTION: You were --
TRUMP: That's wonderful.
QUESTION: You were criticizing the Federal Reserve chair before coming to this summit.
TRUMP: Yes, I think he's terrible.
QUESTION: I was wondering if you've begun interviewing different candidates for the Fed pick?
TRUMP: Yes, I know. Within three or four people who all going to pick. I mean, he goes up pretty soon, fortunately because I think he's terrible. We
have no inflation. We have a tremendous economy.
Hundreds of billions of dollars of tariff money is pouring in, factories are being built because they don't want to pay the tariffs. So they're
building them all over the country.
[10:35:00]
I think we're close to $15 trillion. I told you, $5.1 trillion from the Middle East alone but of investment money coming in. There's never been
anything like that in the history of our country. But we have no inflation and we have borrowing, because Biden stupidly, they did short-term debt. So
we have borrowing coming up.
And you know, we'll go 10 years, maybe longer, maybe shorter but we'll go a long period of time when we do the debt. And because of him, because of
this guy, we will have to pay four years. We'll be paying for him. And I said to him, listen, there's no inflation.
He says but maybe there'll be some. That's true. I said, if there is some, what you do is raise the rate. I'm OK with that. You raise the rate in two
years from now or a year from now.
But because the rate's high, we have to pay more for debt. It's pretty equal. In other words, if it's 4 percent, it's 4 percent. If you drop at a
point, you'll pay 3 percent. So it's fairly equal, not necessarily but fairly equal.
So we're going to end up paying maybe two points or three points more. Three points would be about $900 billion a year because of this very
average mentally person. He's an average mentally person. I'd say low in terms of what he does. Low. Low IQ for what he does. OK.
Wait. So instead of paying $900 billion, we don't want to pay 900 just because he doesn't want to lower the rate.
I said, if there's inflation in two years or three years or one year from now, you raise the rate and you take care of the inflation among other
things. But he's probably a very political guy, I guess. I don't know. I think he's a very stupid person actually.
All right. one more. Let's go. How about you. Go ahead. She looks so happy and everything.
QUESTION: Thank you.
TRUMP: So I picked her.
QUESTION: I'm from Spain too. I'm Ana Book (ph) from LaGuardia (ph). I wanted to know if --
TRUMP: You're where?
QUESTION: From Spain. I wanted to know if you want to --
TRUMP: That's the Spain corner right there. Shouldn't have said that. That's OK. I do like Spain by the way. I think it's unfair that they're not
paying. But go ahead.
QUESTION: Are you going to negotiate directly with Spain about --
TRUMP: I'm going to negotiate directly with Spain. I'm going to do it myself. They're going to pay. They'll pay more money this way. Hey, you
should tell them to go back and pay. You're a reporter?
You tell them to go back. They ought to join all of those countries that are paying 5 percent. Spain's going to be just about the only one that's
not. They were the most hostile toward doing it. It just doesn't make sense to me.
OK. All right. Kelly, go ahead. Here we go. There's another one.
QUESTION: Thank you very --
TRUMP: We got them all today.
QUESTION: OK. So Mr. President, you talked about expecting some on the ground assessments at Fordow and other sites.
TRUMP: Yes. Now here -- again.
QUESTION: Is that Israeli and U.S.?
TRUMP: It's been obliterated. Kelly. It's been --
QUESTION: What is your message then, sir, to the Intelligence Community when they present reports?
You're not disputing the DIA report, you're just --
TRUMP: They presented a report that wasn't finished. We're talking about something that took place three days ago.
QUESTION: I understand that's -- TRUMP: The report was done days ago. Wait a minute.
QUESTION: Yes.
TRUMP: They didn't see it. All they can do is take a guess. Now if you take a look at the pictures, if you take a look how it's all blackened, you
know the fire in brimstone is all underground because it's granite and it's all underground. You don't show it.
But even there, with all of that being said, the whole area for 75 yards around the hole where it hit is black with fire.
The group that's run by this gentleman, in fact, he may want to talk about it for a second because we're going to issue a report. And I think it's not
even a very exciting report at this point. It's been obliterated, totally obliterated. And they did a report but it was like, if you look at the
dates, it's just a few days after it happened.
QUESTION: Understood, sir.
TRUMP: So they didn't see it. They said it may be very severe ahead.
QUESTION: Understood. Do you have a message for the Intelligence Community though in terms of unvarnished information getting to you that it's not --
TRUMP: I don't really have a message. I would say issue the report when you know what happened. I wouldn't say that it could be severe or maybe
not. They used the word severe. It could be severe or maybe it's not. So people like you picked up and said, oh, it's not severe. No, the report was
not a complete report.
Yes. The message was probably wait until you know the answer before you -- go ahead.
QUESTION: It's (INAUDIBLE) Zelenskyy meeting for a tactical reason with President Putin?
TRUMP: Let him answer this question.
QUESTION: Hello, Mr. Secretary.
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Yes. There's a reason the president calls out fake news for what it is.
These pilots, these refuelers, these fighters, these air defenders, the skill and the courage it took to go into enemy territory, flying 36 hours
on behalf of the American people in the world to take out a nuclear program is beyond what anyone in this audience can fathom.
[10:40:04]
And then, the instinct of CNN, the instinct of "The New York Times" is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons to try to hurt
President Trump or our country. They don't care what the troops think. They don't care what the world thinks.
They want to spin it to try to make him look bad based on a leak. Of course, we've all seen plenty of leakers. And what do leakers do?
They have agendas and what do they do?
Do they share the whole information or just the part that they want to introduce?
And when they introduce that preliminary a preliminary report that's deemed to be low -- a low assessment. You know what a low assessment means?
Low confidence in the data in that report. And why is there low confidence?
Because all of the evidence of what was just bombed by 12 30,000-pound bombs is buried under a mountain, devastated and obliterated.
So if you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordow, you better get a big shovel and go really deep, because Iran's nuclear program is
obliterated.
And somebody somewhere is trying to leak something to say, oh, with low confidence, we think maybe it's moderate. Those that dropped the bombs
precisely in the right place know exactly what happened when that exploded. And you know, who else knows Iran?
That's why they came to the table right away because their nuclear capabilities have been set back beyond what they thought were possible
because of the courage of a commander in chief who led our troops, despite what the fake news wants to say.
QUESTION: But you're not disputing the report said what it said even though it was initial?
TRUMP: The report said what it said and it was fine. It was severe, they think but they had no idea. They shouldn't have issued a report until they
did. But we've gotten the information and I think Pete said it better than you can say it.
And you know, you should be proud. You, especially you. You should be proud of those pilots and you shouldn't be trying to demean them.
QUESTION: No.
TRUMP: Those pilots flew at great risk, of big chance that they've never come back home and see their husbands or their wives. Let me just tell, you
and NBC fake news, which is one of the worst and CNN, "The New York Times," they're all bad. They're sick. There's something wrong with them.
But you know what?
You should be praising those people instead of trying to find some -- by getting me, by trying to go and get me, you're hurting those people. They
were devastated.
You know, I got a call from Missouri, great state that I won three times by a lot and I got a call that the pilots and the people on the plane were
devastated because they were trying to minimize the attack.
And they all said it was hit but oh but we don't think it was really, maybe hit that badly. And they were devastated. They put their lives on the line
and then they have -- and I'm not referring to you but real scum, real scum come out and write reports that are as negative as they could possibly be.
It should be the opposite. You should make them heroes and heroines. You should make them really people that -- they were so devastated when they
heard this news. And you know what they said?
One of them I spoke to, one of them, he said, sir, we hit the site. It was perfect. It was dead on. Because they don't understand fake news because
they have a normal life, except they have to fly very big, very fast planes. But it's a shame. You should be making them heroes.
All right. In the back. Go ahead. Back white. Yes. White jacket. Yes. Go ahead. Give a mic. Hello.
QUESTION: Deborah Haynes from Sky News. Mark Rutte, the NATO chief, who is your friend. He called you daddy earlier.
Do you regard your NATO allies as kind of children?
TRUMP: No, he likes me. I think he likes me. If he doesn't, I'll let you know. I'll come back and I'll hit him hard. OK. He did it very
affectionate. He -- daddy, you're my daddy.
QUESTION: Do you regard your NATO allies though as kind of like children and they're obviously listening to you and they're spending more and you
are obviously appreciative of that?
But do you hope that actually they're going to be able to defend themselves, defend Europe on their own without being --
TRUMP: I think they need help a little bit at the beginning and I think they'll be able to and I think they're going to remember this day. And this
was a big day for NATO. You know, this was a very big day. They took it.
One of the gentlemen said, you know what, we've been trying to raise money for -- raise the rate for 30 years, he said, 20 years -- from almost the
beginning. And he is been there for a long time. He said, until you came along, it never happened. What you did is amazing. It's been an amazing
day.
QUESTION: But do you think --
TRUMP: For a lot of reasons but also for that. Yes, go ahead.
QUESTION: Do you think they can do it without you though in the future?
Can they do it without the United States?
TRUMP: We'll ask Mark. I mean, you have to ask Mark. OK. So we're heading back. We're heading back. I want to thank these two gentlemen behind me.
They're incredible people, both of them.
[10:45:00]
They're really -- they've done a fantastic job.
And then Susie's in the front and she's done great. And Monica, thank you very much. That was quite an exciting time. And we're going to be heading
back. We'll be back soon and we'll see you in Washington, D.C.
Remember this, we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you.
QUESTION: Do you trust American intelligence?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit, holding a news conference there, repeating his assertion that the U.S.
strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, quote, "obliterated" the program.
He said the enriched uranium in Fordow is deep underground, covered with granite and steel. He said the strikes paved the way for peace and an
historic agreement, reasserting American deterrence, he said.
And he quoted the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, which describes, he says, Iran's nuclear program as "totally inoperable," setting the country's
nuclear program back for many years to come.
When asked by Kaitlan Collins, my colleague, whether he's actually relying on that intel, he didn't really have a decent answer for that. He said he,
to all intents and purposes, he said he isn't.
But he also quoted Iran's foreign ministry, who he said has described the site as very badly damaged by U.S. and Israeli strikes. He talked about --
it's a pretty wide-ranging discussion, to be honest, between Donald Trump and the gathered reporters and journalists in the room.
And I want to bring in our panel. Joining us is Brett Bruen, who has worked in the U.S. National Security Council and State Department, is now the
president of the Global Situation Room.
Lina Khatib is the visiting scholar with the Harvard Kennedy School's Middle East initiative.
And it's good to have you both. Thank you.
Brett, let me start with you on national security angles here and intelligence.
What insight did you get from the president there?
There is a massive battle of narratives out there at the moment but I just want to get your perspective.
BRETT BRUEN, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM: No, there was. And look, let's start with Trump taking the victory lap on the 5 percent commitment
by NATO allies. That is unprecedented and quite significant.
I remember in the Obama administration, we, you know, pushed and really had to make an extraordinary effort just to get the commitment to go to 2
percent. So Trump rightly should be trumpeting that as a big accomplishment.
The other issue, which you heard brought up during that press conference several times, was this question of the Article 5 commitment of the United
States.
Will Donald Trump be there in the event that a NATO ally gets attacked?
And he did paint a rosier picture than perhaps he has in times before?
But one of the real challenges with Trumpian diplomacy is you can't take it to the bank. You don't know whether or not he's going to see something on
FOX News and all of a sudden he's going to change his commitment.
And so that, I think, remains a worry in this whole as to whether or not the United States would be there if we see a Russian incursion somewhere
else along the NATO border.
ANDERSON: Thank you. Two key points that were raised in that NATO summit. And let's remind ourselves that is where he is in The Hague at this NATO
summit. And they are very specific to how we should -- how we should see what is being achieved at that summit.
Lina, this summit is also included much talk about the Israel-Iran conflict. Donald Trump again touting the ceasefire that he -- that he got
to end what he calls the 12-day war. He also said that the U.S. is going to talk to Iran next week.
He said, and I quote him here, "We may or may not sign an agreement but we've already blown up their nuclear," as he describes it.
And he said he'd blown it up to kingdom come.
What did you gather from that about the U.S. commitment -- or lack thereof -- of diplomacy moving forward?
After all, the U.S. was in the middle of talks with Iran on its nuclear program.
LINA KHATIB, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, what I gather from this very long press conference is
two key things.
One is president Trump is emphasizing once more that it is the U.S. that is the most dominant actor in this conflict. He has persistently put the U.S.
above Iran and Israel.
And this is important because this is countering the narrative that some have been peddling about Israel having dragged the U.S. into a war.
[10:50:03]
I think president Trump is showing that that is not the situation at all, that the U.S. is the agenda setter.
The second thing that he's doing is that he is now putting the ball in Iran's court. He's basically saying, we've done our job, basically, as the
U.S. And now it is up to Iran to play by the rules that we have set, meaning that Washington has set.
And this is why he is not willing to show that the U.S. is in any rush to make an agreement with Iran. He wants Iran to be the one to make the next
move.
ANDERSON: Very good points and we can explore those further. I just want to get back to Brett for a moment.
He -- because I want to make sure that we've gone over the hurdles of what was discussed here.
He also just met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said he couldn't be nicer and described the meeting as good. And he said he took
from the meeting that Zelenskyy -- and as he describes it -- "wants to see the war end."
And he said, "I'll be speaking to Putin. We're going to see if we can. We can do that."
He also, when asked about Patriot missile defense systems by a young Ukrainian reporter, said he is going to make some of those available to
Ukraine. He dodged a question, though, about whether he was prepared to further commit financial support to Ukraine.
What did you make of what he said very specifically on that?
BRUEN: No, I do think, Becky, that this was a gesture in the right direction.
Zelenskyy put out a post after the meeting, which also sounded upbeat. And the fact that Trump responded to that Ukrainian reporter both with empathy
but also with some concrete commitments on missile defense, I think, is going to be one of the big takeaways for Kyiv from this summit.
And if, I think, you can get that momentum going, if you can get Trump to focus on -- because it is an interesting contrast. On the one hand, you
have the intervention of the U.S. in the case of Iran.
What are you going to do to defend an equally, if not even more vulnerable Ukraine?
That has been certainly a topic of conversation in the halls here in The Hague. I think that will hopefully help Zelenskyy as he heads back and
we'll see if this time, because he's said it before, you know, I'm going to take Putin to task if he doesn't within two weeks show up and make some
concessions.
This time, perhaps, with now 5 percent defense spending on the table, Putin may want to take him up on that opportunity.
ANDERSON: Yes, fascinating.
Lina, finally to you, Donald Trump said that both Israel and Iran are tired of fighting.
Do you buy that?
Do you see this ceasefire holding at this stage?
And is this the end of it as far as you can tell?
I mean, where do you see this going?
KHATIB: Fortunately, there are many issues that are still on the table, which are unresolved. And for as long as they're not resolved, I don't
think this is the end of the standoff between Iran and Israel.
Now how the standoff may play out may not necessarily be through another hot war. However, I don't think that this is the end of the Israeli-Iranian
adversary kind of context that that has been dominating the Middle East for almost half a century. I don't think you can reverse that with just a
ceasefire after 12 days.
ANDERSON: Lina, while I have you, I talked to the Qatari government spokesperson earlier today. He told me that the Israel-Iran ceasefire,
which the emir of Qatar helped to mediate, is creating momentum for the Gaza talks.
And Donald Trump very specifically spoke to that earlier today. He said he can see those talks coming soon.
What does Trump need to do to make these talks happen at this point?
Obviously, Steve Witkoff is his key asset there.
And do you believe he is prepared to put more pressure on Israel at this point to get to an agreement with Hamas and get the Gaza conflict finished
permanently?
KHATIB: This is one of the issues at the table that remains unresolved and that is deeply connected to the Israel-Iran standoff, because, without a
resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, we cannot, as an international community, expect Iran and Israel to coexist peacefully with one another.
And I think president Trump is keen to move on to this next big conflict, which is Israel-Palestine, which I think only Washington can really
influence positively.
[10:55:11]
And I think now that he has supported prime minister Netanyahu in Israel throughout this campaign against Iran, now is the time for Netanyahu to, in
a way, give something back to Washington by either being on board with restarting the peace process and, therefore, ending this situation in Gaza.
Or if Netanyahu does not basically follow what Washington wants, then perhaps the mood in Israel will change. And, you know, there will be
elections at some point. And maybe new leaders will come, who will be more amenable to working in tandem with Washington about this issue.
ANDERSON: Understood. Maybe. All right.
Well, thank you both for what was a wide-ranging discussion about what was a wide-ranging news conference just held by Donald Trump at the NATO
summit.
Well, that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Stay with CNN. "ONE WORLD" is up next.
END
