Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

President Launches Trump Accounts in Oval Office; Today, Trump Heads to Turkey for Critical NATO Summit; Belgium Appeals FIFA's Decision to Clear USA's Balogun to Play. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 06, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room. Pamela Brown is on assignment.

Now, we begin this morning with breaking news coming out of the White House. President Trump just wrapped up a celebration of sorts marking the opening of Trump Accounts. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So ring the bell, Mr. President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Today's opening bell occurred in the Oval Office of the White House. It's the first time this has actually happened.

I want to go live right now to CNN's Betsy Klein, our reporter over at the White House for us. Betsy, set the scene for us.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, President Trump trying to shift the focus back to the economy with the launch of these Trump accounts as he rang the New York Stock Exchange bell for the first time in the Oval Office. But his attention is going to shift abroad later tonight as he starts to travel to Turkey for the NATO Summit.

Now, President Trump has had a fraught relationship with many of the NATO leaders. This is going to be a very high-stakes moment, and his long-simmering feud with NATO dates back to his first term. At issue here is his belief that NATO allies are not spending their fair share on defense, that the U.S. is bearing a disproportional brunt of that defense spending.

But the war with Iran has really intensified that disconnect as European leaders have declined to directly engage in this conflict. And though there is that very fragile ceasefire that continues, they do expect to discuss security in the Strait of Hormuz, that critical oil thoroughfare.

Then separately, the war in Ukraine also likely to be a major topic of discussion as fighting has intensified in recent weeks. President Trump speaking over the weekend with both Russia's President Vladimir Putin and separately with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, whom he is expected to meet with on the sidelines of that summit on Wednesday. So, lots to look forward to there, Wolf.

BLITZER: As you know, Betsy, the president has stirred a lot of controversy, a lot of international anger indeed, after intervening on behalf of a star American player, Folarin Balogun, in the World Cup. Belgium just appealed FIFA's red card reversal. That game scheduled for tonight. What can you tell us?

KLEIN: Well, Wolf, I can tell you that there is no escaping politics, even and especially at the World Cup. FIFA making that stunning decision on Sunday to allow Balogun, the star striker for Team USA, to play in tonight's high-stakes match against Belgium.

And we are learning that President Trump may have played a role here. A source familiar with the matter telling me that he spoke by phone last week with Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, and asked him to review that decision to give Balogun a red card, which made him ineligible for this match.

Now, we also learned this morning, according to a U.S. official, that the U.S. government provided additional evidence that was used in the appeal process. That source declining to tell me what that additional evidence was.

But all of this has set off a political firestorm, and accusations of questions about political interference, the integrity of this tournament, but a reminder that Infantino has developed a very close relationship with Trump, whom he's known for years. He even bestowed him late last year with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.

President Trump weighing in on that decision to allow Balogun to play. He says that it reverses a great injustice. Of course, Belgium does not believe so. They have announced that they will be appealing that decision, saying that they have no choice.

But President Trump is going to be watching this game aboard Air Force One as he makes his way to Turkey for that NATO summit, as we just discussed. Belgium also, of course, a NATO member, so things could get a little dicey there. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Betsy Klein over at the White House, lots going on. Thank you very much.

I want to go back to the breaking news right now on the new Trump Accounts, as they're called. CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman is live in New York for us.

Who is eligible, David, for this $1,000 allotment for these kids? And how do these accounts actually wind up working?

[10:05:00]

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Right. The free money machine is open, Wolf. And so I think a lot of people have the same question that you do. There are already 6 million people have signed up for these Trump accounts, and more than a million have gotten that $1,000 federal contribution into an account that is for their children.

Now, if you have a child who has been born between 2025 and 2028, although that could get extended, you are eligible today to start putting contributions into those accounts. The government hands you $1,000 and then you can make contributions every year up to five --

BLITZER: I'm just going to interrupt for a moment, David. The president has now started answering some reporters' questions. I want to hear this.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: He wants to end it, and Ukraine wants to end it, and we're in talks, and we'll see if we can get it ended. It's a terrible thing. I ended eight wars, and this was, in my opinion, going to be an easier one because I know both heads. I didn't know most of the heads. I did India. I did Pakistan. I did others. That could've been a real bad one, nuclear. That was going to be nuclear. Could've been -- as the prime minister of Pakistan, could've been 40 million people would've been killed, maybe 50 million. They had shot down 11 planes. It was raging for four days, and I got it stopped, and I did that.

But this is one that I think we're getting much closer than people realize. And President Putin wants it to end, I will tell you that very strongly. We had a good call. And President Zelenskyy actually wants it to end now. And we're going to be going to NATO, and we're going to be talking about it, and I think we're going to get it -- I think we're going to get it ended.

It's been a terrible situation. Think of this, 25,000 people, two months ago, 25,000 people were killed, one month, soldiers. Last month set the record 36,000 people were killed in one month. Young soldiers, they go off to war and they're dead before the first weekends.

It's drone technology. Michael, who would've thought that drones would've become such a factor? And they're killing machines. It's amazing. It's amazing. You hide behind a tree and it goes and gets you. And I've seen scenes that I don't want to see, I don't want you to see them on that battlefield. You know, you hear about the Civil War, you hear about all of these different terrible wars, but this is really horrible.

So, I had a very good call and I think we'll -- I think we're getting close to getting it done.

REPORTER: Mr. President, on the economy there's been a refocus it seems in June to talk about your economic policies. When do you think that message will change the perception of Americans related to the economy?

TRUMP: Well, I think people know. Look, oil is now at a level that it was -- I think it's even lower on a barrel basis than it was before we started. We've gotten concessions. Now, they have to hold those concessions, but there'll be no nuclear weapon. We're going to be getting the, as I call it, dust, the enriched material, nuclear dust, I call it. It seems to have taken off, but it's enriched material. We're getting it.

We're getting -- I went in for one reason very strongly that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I'm not looking for regime change, although this is regime change. The first regime is gone. The second regime is gone, and I think the third regime is more reasonable, but we'll find out.

But we've destroyed their -- as you know, completely destroyed 150 -- they had 159 ships. Every single ship is at the bottom of the sea. We've completely destroyed -- they don't have one airplane. They don't have radar.

You know, one of the reasons we kept the oil down, because a lot of people said, Kevin, and a lot of people were saying that oil could go to $300, $350 a barrel, but one of the reasons that prediction wasn't right is we were taking out on average of ten, but sometimes less, sometimes more. Three weeks ago we had a night, 22 ships came out of the strait. And the famous Strait of Hormuz that nobody ever heard of, but it's some, it is a -- That is some big money machine, I'll tell you what. When you look at the numbers, Michael, that makes everything look small.

No, wait. And we took out so much oil that people didn't know, and it was only took a month-and-a-half they finally found out. They had no radar because their radar was destroyed. So, we took them out late at night with no lights or no nothing, and our great Navy, which did the greatest blockade anyone's ever seen, not one ship got through in two months. And we then freed up the blockade because we're close to maybe making a deal.

I don't know. We'll make -- either -- look, we're going to win one way or the other. We're either going to make a deal or we're going to finish the job, okay? And it won't be tough to finish the job.

[10:10:00]

I'd rather make a deal because I don't want to affect 91 million people. We can knock down their bridges in one hour. We can knock out their energy supply, all of those big plants that they built, big, beautiful, modern plants. They had a lot of money. They don't have any money now. We haven't given them any money. But we can knock out their electricity and power-generating plants and, I would say, a small part of an afternoon, every plant will be gone, and they know that. They know that.

Please. Daniel, go ahead, please. Go ahead, please.

REPORTER: Thank you so much.

TRUMP: No, right behind you. You know why? He's a friendly voice. Go ahead.

REPORTER: I wanted to thank you first and foremost for the Trump Accounts.

TRUMP: You see? That's what I call a reporter. He's actually a great reporter.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) directly benefit from the accounts.

TRUMP: Good. Thank you.

REPORTER: Fast-forward 18 years from now, and a lot of these kids are 18, and they look at the Trump accounts, and they see hundreds of thousands of dollars in them, what lesson do you hope they'll walk away from and think about you regarding this program? Do you think this will go down as one of, if not the signature policy achievements of your presidency?

TRUMP: I hope so. I think it will. I really believe it's going to be one. I think we've done a lot of great things, but I think this will be one of the top. It's going to teach children to be entrepreneurial as opposed to the threat of communism that you're seeing a lot.

This is not social Democrats, by the way. That's a beautiful -- we're social Democrats, they say. They're not social, they're communists. They want to destroy our country. We're not going to let that happen. But this helps. Even from the parents' standpoint, you know, they see their child getting richer and richer as the market goes up. If it goes down, they don't lose anything. They make money. They have money. But if it goes up, they can become actually rich.

And the parents are going to be watching, and we're all going to be watching, and we're part of a very big and very beautiful game. It's going to bring them into the mainstream. It's going to bring them into recognizing, like Michael Dell. I said, how the hell did you start this thing? What he built is incredible. Now, his product is great. But as he said, he made them, I guess, laptops. He made a better laptop on his bed in a dorm than they sold in the store.

So, he started selling them, I guess, probably during college. I don't know where the hell you started selling them, but you sold a lot of them, and it just cascaded. And then his greatest deal was he met Susan, and she probably guided him beautifully. That was probably his most important thing, but -- and they have great children, great everything.

But, you know, it's a beautiful story. Think of it. They gave $6.25 billion. And there's a rumor he's giving more. I don't know if it's true. I'm not holding him. I mean, it's hard to say, hey, how about doubling up, right? But, no, but think of that, and started with no money. Other -- he had a great brain, which is -- you know, that's better than money, I think.

But, you know, it's like an amazing story, and that can happen with other people, maybe not to that extent. Maybe there could be a few to that extent, but not to that extent. But that can happen with some of the people here. Some children living in poverty, it can happen. And now they have a real chance. It's a big thing. It's a big thing.

REPORTER: Mr. President.

TRUMP: Yes, please.

REPORTER: I wanted to ask you, can you describe your phone call with Gianni Infantino about the red card and the ultimate appealing the decision, which you were in favor of?

TRUMP: You're asking me about the whole soccer thing? So, yes, I did. I spoke to Gianni, who's highly respected, who's produced the most successful World Cup in history by, they say, four times. This isn't just a success. I actually said, Gianni, we've got all these games. Each one is turning out to be a Super Bowl, and we have all these games.

You know, when you think of it, every game is like a Super Bowl. Yes, I watched last night. What a game that was with Mexico and England. I mean, two countries, I don't know the players, although I think Kane is a great player. See, I played golf with him, and I like him a lot. He's a good golfer. But he's really great.

But I watched and no reason for me to watch, and you couldn't take your eyes off the game. Because I said, Gianni, you know, you have all these games, because they added games, in a country where really we don't -- it's not our main sport, to put it mildly, and this has been four times more success. Well, he told me last night the numbers are four times greater.

They think 50 or 60 million people are going to be watching the game tonight. I mean, this is getting to be Super Bowl numbers. But you have a game tonight, and I think they they're projecting a minimum of 50 million people watching a game.

We call it soccer. It's called football, I guess, but we can't really call it football because it gets a little -- there's a little confusion.

[10:15:04]

So, yes, you call it soccer. We're the only ones that do that, but we have football, and football's great. But I've never seen anything like it.

So, I saw the play, and I'm a person that loves sports and was a good athlete, and I understand sports really well, really well. And that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. Like you can't take your foot and properly place it on somebody else's foot when you're going -- no. These were two great athletes that got tangled up.

And this referee, who is a little bit suspect, if you check his past. I don't want to say that, because I don't like to create controversy, nut very suspect. If you'd like, I'll provide you with the past. He made a call that nobody could believe. You know, even people on the other side, they said, oh, we got lucky. Wow, that's -- and it's very interesting. They say they don't show them in slow motion. And I never realized that. I never heard of that before, that they're not allowed to review in slow motion, because it's so different. Because you'll take one little quarter of a second, and you'll see that a hand is touching a neck, or you'll see something. Whereas when you see it in fast motion it will look like two guys collided, which is really what happened. They got sort of entangled.

He didn't do anything wrong, and he's our best player, or one of our best players, a very vital player, and he gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't think it meant much. Then I started hearing that that means he can't play in the next game, at least the next game. I said, boy, that's a big -- you know, if it happened to another player, it would've been unfair.

But when they take your best player, or just about -- they have some great players, but -- and they say you can't play, that's very unfair. That's -- you know, it's one thing to penalize somebody for the game, but how do you penalize them for a game that hasn't been played yet? It's very unfair. You can't do that.

So, yes, I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who's highly respected, and, by the way, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold, and he was good before this started. But, you know, he really pushed it in this country. I'm the one that got them to do it. It was not Biden. Biden was asleep. I got them to do it. In fact, it was very sad, because I got them to do it, and if the progression was normal, I would've been retired.

Now, the Democrats are saying, man, we should've just let him have his way. We would've had him gone. But I said, you know, the saddest thing is I got the Olympics and I got the World Cup. I tried to claim 250 years too, but that didn't work. They said, that one is what it is. No, I tried, but it didn't work. But wait.

So, I got him. I'm so proud of it. And then I realized, you know, I wouldn't be president during the -- because I would've been out of office by that time. I felt badly. The beautiful thing about what I did is I ran, I never thought of it, and then all of a sudden I realized, you know, I just got the Olympics, and I totally got that myself, and I just got FIFA. I got that myself. We gave a little piece to Canada, gave a little piece to Mexico. I got that myself.

And a lot of people helped, like that man right there, Kevin, a lot of people. You know that. We worked hard on that, and we got it. And but what we didn't know is how successful it was going to be. I thought -- I didn't know. I said, Johnny, is anyone going to show up? Because, you know, we're not -- again, we're not really -- I think soccer's doing much better, but I couldn't imagine. If you would have said to any very smart of these -- like people like this, that the numbers they're doing now would be happening, they've never seen anything like it.

Think of it. Take the most successful Olympics or the most successful FIFA, and you look at what's -- you look at the numbers for this in the United States, just compared to FIFA, and it's numerous times more. It's not like 10 percent more, 2 percent more, 5 percent more, which is more expected. It's like four times more successful than anything they've ever done.

In fact, I said to Johnny, let's do it again next time. And he said, that would be hard. I said no. You do it again, but at the same time, you give it to somebody else for the next one. I don't know. It's a little crazy idea.

But all I did, I asked for a review, because I didn't think it was a foul. And, you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that, you know, would be different.

[10:20:02]

And I think it's a terrible -- if they wouldn't allow, you know, a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best players on the team to play, I think it would've had a big stain. And I related just that feel. I didn't tell him what to do. I can't tell him what to do. But -- and I don't believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision because, number one, it wasn't a foul.

And you want to see a game with your best players. You don't want to say, how would you feel if I took -- you know, we take Messi out, look, you know, he ran into somebody, or we took Ronaldo, Ronaldo, you bumped into somebody, we're going to take you out of a game, he's great, or Harry Kane, Harry Kane, we're going to take you out of the game, Harry, because you happened to hit somebody a little bit harder than -- you can't do that. If you would've taken him out, I think it would've really stained this incredible -- we got to have our best players, and they've got -- Belgium's got a great team, by the way. We got to have our best players, and they have to have their best. And if we win or we lose, it's fair. Otherwise, let's say we lost him and we lose the game, it would be a terrible thing.

So, I think they made a really brilliant decision. I think the referee's call was horrible, and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine. Nobody talks -- the referee's decision to red card -- I didn't know what the hell a red card was. When I found out, I said, you got to be kidding. This guy just hands up, okay, your best player's not going to play next week or in the next game. I said, wow, that's a lot of power. That's terrible. But then I looked at his past, and it wasn't so great. Okay.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) would you talk to the Belgian prime minister before the game?

TRUMP: I didn't think of it, but I would. He's a good man.

I will tell you this. The people in Belgium, if they win the game, they can be very proud. If they would win the game with a player missing, it would have been a different feeling. You can't do that. And I'm very glad, All I did was ask for a review. I didn't say, you have to do this. This man is a smart, tough man, Gianni Infantino. He's a smart, tough man, and his stock has gone through the roof because the job he's done has been great. And I feel we have to have all the best players in the field. You can't take the best players.

Yes, please, in the back.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) what is your plan to facilitate broad adoption of these? And you mentioned, you know, the communist issue, particularly that crowd, to get them to participate in this. Since I see Anthony (INAUDIBLE) here, and he's probably going to ask, is Bitcoin in any way going to be related to this in the future? Are there plans to put Bitcoin into Trump Accounts?

TRUMP: Well, I'm a big crypto -- I've become a big crypto guy only for one reason. If we don't have it, China's going to have it, and they would like to have it. But now they're not even trying that hard because we've taken over crypto.

But I'm a fan. I wasn't initially. I didn't know much about it. But for some of my first term, I wasn't really. I wasn't much involved, but I'd watch. And I watched it grow, and it's a huge industry. And I got involved in a little bit for politics, you know, because I realized that a lot of people love crypto. And even me as a businessman, I'd see a lot of money starting to come in with Bitcoin and, you know, the different forms. And I said, this thing's got a lot of life.

And then I hear China was going to make a heavy move on it, just like they do for A.I. By the way, we're leading China substantially in A.I., by substantial. And one of the reasons is I allow, when they build these big plants, I allow them to build their electric- generating units, whether they use nuclear or oil and gas, whatever they want to use, they can use, except wind. We don't allow wind. Wind is terrible. It just doesn't work. It's too expensive, no good, bad for the environment.

But -- and they're building their own plants with some of the greatest electric-producing plants that you've ever seen. I mean, they're teaching the companies that produce electricity, they're teaching them how to do a plant. So, that was my decision. That was my idea, because we have an old grid. It's tired. It's old. You can't -- it would take years to fix it. And now we're actually taking the excess energy that they make.

You know, we need more than double the energy. If you take all of the electric that we have now, you need more than double it to power that industry, which is so shocking. When I first heard that, I said, no, you mean like a little -- I couldn't believe that, Jeff. I heard more than double.

So, all the electric -- we make for everything to power that one industry. Now, with that being said, it's a massive industry, and it's going to be for good. I mean, look, we're going to have guardrails. We have guardrails.

[10:25:00] You know, you saw that a couple of weeks ago. We were able to stop something that we didn't like. And, by the way, the company was very good. They were very good. You know that. But it can be used for tremendous good, and mostly good and some bad, and the bad we have to stop. But it's a massive industry, and I think things are going to happen. You know, what you're seeing here with the kids, I think something could happen in that regard, too, with a contribution to the people of our country.

I'll give you a little inside information. Am I allowed to do that -- well, we have Paul. Am I allowed to do that? That's a little inside information. You want to say it? Scott, you know what I'm talking about. No, I think you're going to see a contribution made by those because they're making tremendous amounts of money. They're also creating tremendous -- the medical. The medical, the things that are happening in the world of medicine because of A.I. is not even believed.

I'm friends with many doctors because of, you know, what I'm doing as president, and I've become very friendly with a lot of them. They're great. They're great as long as they tell me I'm healthy, okay? When they tell me I'm healthy, so far so good. Where's a piece of wood? There it is. But a couple of them got together last week and they said, we can't believe the progress that's been made in disease. Things that they didn't think would happen for ten years happened in a matter of minutes, a matter of seconds. So, this is going to be used for good.

But we're leading China by a lot. We're leading everybody. Crypto's the same thing. If we didn't do it, China would do it. It's a massive industry. And, frankly, when I went very pro-crypto, as you know, Biden was totally against it, but he has no idea what crypto is. He had no -- he didn't have a clue, but they were very violently against it. They were putting people in jail. What they were doing to the crypto was horrible. It's amazing it survived that onslaught. It was a weaponization of government.

So, when I went very much for it, and I must have gotten, I think, I got 100 percent of the vote, but what happened is, I think it was 100 million people. That's a big industry, and that means some pretty good things. But what happened is Biden then, after he was getting killed, he was down so much, all of a sudden they became pro-crypto. And their head of the SEC was horrible, unlike Paul, who's really good. No, I mean, he's the best man for the job. Everybody wanted him.

But he was horrible. What he was doing to the -- they were putting people in jail. Oh, you know that better than anybody. Good people, great, prestigious people, they were putting them in jail. And I said, you got to be kidding. And they were trying to destroy the industry.

Okay, ready? So, now I'm killing Biden. I'm winning by so much, and all of a sudden he becomes totally pro-crypto. They dropped all investigations of everybody. They allowed people to come out of jail. And every time I see a crypto guy that -- where they dropped an investigation, I said, you're lucky I'm president, because they -- you know, I don't know if you know, the Biden administration became totally pro-crypto that last couple of months because they were getting killed, because crypto has a tremendous audience.

So, yes, I'm very much for crypto because it's -- I don't -- it's not a question of a personal thing. Because I let my kids do whatever the hell they do, they can do. I don't talk to them, ever talk to them about it. I'm allowed to, I think. I'm allowed to, but I don't bother because this is a much higher -- this office is a much higher calling.

So, I make, as president, the president of the United States get essentially $2.5 million for four years, right? Wait a minute. It's spread out over a period of four years. It's about $2.5 million dollars. I waived my salary. Now, I figured, because we've had other wealthy presidents. We've had Kennedy, and we've had -- FDR was very wealthy. Teddy Roosevelt was wealthy.

And one of the wealthiest, believe it or not, was George Washington, who wasn't in the White House, but there are pictures of him surveying this ground. He's the one that sort of picked the location. He picked a -- I think he made a good choice. He picked a good location. But George Washington had two desks in his pre-White House. One was for -- and they were right next to each other. One was for business, and one was for the presidency. He had two desks in the same room.

And so you're allowed to, but I choose not to. I don't talk to my kids about, you know, this stuff. But I will say this. To me, cryptos are very powerful. A lot of people are using it, Bitcoin. They're using it at levels that nobody -- I don't think anybody understands really how -- and if we didn't do it, China would do it in a minute.

And if we let our guard down on A.I., if I didn't come up with the idea for electric plants, producing plants, they become a utility. Basically, these guys producing, you might as well put them down -- Paul, I think you should mark them down as utilities because frankly, in many ways I'm more impressed by their -

[10:30:00]