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The Situation Room

President Trump Answers Questions at NATO Summit; Interview With Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). Aired 10:30a-11a ET

Aired July 08, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Someone like that could potentially kind of bridge that gap. But you got a little bit of a process ahead to try to get there.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Susan, I got to cut this short. The president is answering reporters' questions at a bilateral meeting he's having with the Syrian President, Ahmed al-Sharaa. Let's listen in.

QUESTION: New data from the Energy Information Administration revealed that U.S. crude oil production set a new record in the month of April under your leadership.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's right.

QUESTION: Why is it important to keep hitting numbers like this at this moment in time? Why is it important that you were able to get this done and keep it on this trajectory?

TRUMP: Yes.

Well, we -- when we decided to do this, it's called the denuclearization of Iran. We have to do it. We have to have -- they're not -- they're never going to have a nuclear weapon. And they admit they're never going to have it, but they behave badly, always behave badly.

There's something wrong with them. But when we did this, we thought oil would go much higher. And it didn't go very high, and now it's coming way down, and you're going to see oil drop very low. Now, maybe we'll do some other things that could lift it a little bit, but I don't think it's going to lift it a lot at all.

I think oil is coming down. There's tremendous amounts of oil. Scott, what would you say about that?

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Yes, so record production under President Trump in his first term, now in his second term. The U.S. is an energy superpower. It's why we weathered the conflict better than anyone else.

And there -- just this weekend, Bloomberg wrote that there is an oil glut out there. And we think that safe, secure American oil maybe even should trade at a premium to the rest of the world. TRUMP: So we have -- if you add it up, you take Saudi Arabia and take

Russia, two big oil producers, we do more than twice as much. We do more than -- think of it.

Saudi Arabia, Russia put together, we do more oil. And that's not including Venezuela. That's pretty amazing. And this all happened during my term. We started it at the first term. Biden blew it, because he had no idea what he was doing. But we are making -- we are producing more oil right now than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined by almost double.

OK, any other questions?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes. Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: You said that dealing with the Iranians is a waste of time. How do you plan to get the nuclear material and the nuclear assurances that you want?

TRUMP: Well, we have already got the nuclear material because it's so far underground, nobody's going to be able to get it except us because we have the equipment that can get it.

But the -- I call it the nuclear dust. The nuclear material is so far down underneath a mountain, and now it's -- that's been determined -- that it would take massive machinery that we have that no other country has. They can't get it.

QUESTION: Mr. President, so you have you have no plans to go in, boots on the ground?

TRUMP: Why would I go in now? I go in when they're completely either eliminated or whatever happened or an agreement's made.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: ... if you cut off trade with Spain, does that mean that you're going to have to renegotiate trade agreement with the E.U.?

TRUMP: With who?

QUESTION: With the E.U. With the E.U. Any (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: We're going to see what happens with the E.U. They have treated us very badly for years, and they took advantage of us.

Look, we're very close to those countries, right, and to everybody in the E.U. The problem is, they took advantage of the United States for years. It's like him. They took advantage of Syria. He's bringing it back. And I'm bringing the United States back.

We have the greatest economy we have ever had. We have the biggest investment; $19.2 trillion is being invested right now in the United States. And $3 trillion was the number, the record. Under Biden and under the past administration, they had less than a trillion for four years.

We have $19.2 trillion in 12 months. Think of that. We have the largest amount of money being invested in the country in history, pretty amazing, $19.2 trillion with a T. So -- and they're building factories all over the country. I think yesterday Toyota announced they're leaving Mexico to. And they're coming.

Not that Mexico's thrilled about it, but they're leaving Mexico and they're coming to the United States to build what will be, I believe, the largest automobile plant either in the world or at least in this country.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Quick domestic question. You announced on TRUTH Social a couple of days ago that Walmart was cutting the price...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: ... by 15 percent. How big of a deal is that for American customers this summer?

TRUMP: So Walmart has agreed to cut their prices very substantially because things are going down. We're getting it down. We inherited very high prices. We inherited the highest prices in the history of our country, or 48 years, to be exact, but I don't believe that. I think it's in history.

[10:35:00]

So, under Biden, they had tremendous inflation. Under the Dumocrats, we had tremendous inflation, record-setting inflation. And now inflation is way down. Everything is great. We have -- the prices are coming down. But we inherited -- they talk about different -- they use different words to describe it.

They had very high prices. The prices are coming down. And when the oil comes -- the oil is coming way down. The oil dropped by 50 percent in the last month. And when that comes down, it brings everything else down. It's affordability. And they came up with the word affordability.

Like, I take over, I'm there for one day, and they say affordability, affordability. I said, I've been here for one -- remember with the eggs, the first day or two days later. I have my first news -- and they talk about eggs. They said the eggs have gone up five times.

I've been in office for one day. And I said, well, we'll have to do something. In fact, they told me not to order eggs for the Easter egg hunt at the White House. I should use plastic. I said, we're not doing that. And by the time we came, that was a couple of months later that happened, and we ordered thousands of eggs.

And, right now, eggs are way down. The prices are way down, and they're coming down further. So they made up a phony word that they used. They said affordability. They're the ones who caused the affordability prices. I didn't. But I brought it down. And the oil is coming down very big.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Brent crude is up slightly today on the announcement that...

TRUMP: A little bit, yes, because we hit them. Any time we hit them, it goes up a little bit, $2.

QUESTION: Is that what you mean -- is that what you meant when you said that we might see oil prices lift a little in response to...

TRUMP: A little bit, yes, $2, very little. It's down from, let's say, $135 down to $69. It's dropping. And everything else drops when -- as oil goes, so goes everything else.

But any time we hit, if we hit Iran, oil goes up a little bit. It's all right.

QUESTION: And do you think Israel...

TRUMP: We're denuking it. We're denuking Iran. They're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

All right, one more question.

QUESTION: Sir, do you think Israel should withdraw troops from Southern Lebanon?

TRUMP: Well, I talked to Bibi about that. Yes, I think they're going to. I think they want to. I don't think it's a question of me. I think it's a question they want to.

And they're getting along with Lebanon. They're signing deals with Lebanon, first time ever.

Marco, talk about that if you would.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes, we have an agreement that. And it calls -- that's the goal at the end. Obviously, this -- Israel is concerned about their security.

But the president did a great job bringing those two countries together for the first time. It's a big thing.

TRUMP: Ever, first time in many years, right? So we have a deal with Israel and Lebanon. And, yes, they will leave. And I think it's going to work out very well.

But we're here for this, because Syria has turned around as fast as I have ever seen. Well, actually, I turned the United States around very fast too. I inherited it from a man who was not smart, not a smart person. We inherited from the man where they were running this country so badly with the open borders.

Think of it, 25 million people allowed into our country. And that includes 11,888 murderers, most of whom murdered more than one person, OK? We got most of them out, or we have them in jail, and we have done a great job.

Washington, D.C., now is considered one of the safest cities in the country. If he came to Washington, D.C., a year-and-a-half ago, he'd fear for his life, even though he never feared for his life before, because it was very dangerous. But somehow his territory might have even been a little more dangerous.

I joke because he comes from a rough environment. Would you say that's right, Tom Barrack? It's sort of funny to think. I don't think he would be too concerned with Washington a year-and-a-half -- but we had a very, very unsafe Washington, D.C., and now it's one of the safest cities in the country.

We put the military in. We brought the -- it's -- Washington went from being an unsafe to one of the safest cities. And crime is down 94 percent. We don't play games. And we removed over 5,000 career criminals, many of whom came in through the open borders of Joe Biden. We did the same thing with Memphis, Tennessee.

We did the same thing with -- in Louisiana. You have to speak to the governor, because New Orleans, the crime rate is down 78 percent seven -- in -- in a little while. And they had the best Mardi Gras they have ever had. So we're doing a good job. And he's done a great job too.

And I thank you very much. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, guys. Thank you, press. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

BLITZER: So there's the president at this meeting, this bilateral meeting, just on the outskirts of the NATO summit with the visiting president of Syria, the new president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

[10:40:00]

And the president praising him, praising what's going on in Syria right now, also discussing other elements in the Middle East, a potential deal between Israel and Lebanon, as well as the U.S. decision to go ahead and move away from that cease-fire agreement with Iran and potentially launch additional strikes against Iranian targets later as -- later tonight. That could come as early as today.

Let's discuss what we heard, and we have heard some very dramatic statements over the past few hours.

Joining us now, Senator Chris Coons. He's a Democrat from Delaware. He sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's attending, he has been attending the NATO summit in Turkey with a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

So you heard President Trump declare that the cease-fire with Iran is, in his word, over before renewing threats to target critical civilian infrastructure inside Iran. So where do we go from here?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): That's a great question, Wolf. And, frankly, our president owes us a great answer.

From the beginning of this war of choice against Iran, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have offered a wide variety of different and competing goals for this war with Iran. Is it sinking their navy? Is it ending their ballistic missile program? Is it ending their support for proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah?

Is it making sure they never have a nuclear weapon? Is it seizing their oil production? At different times, he's had several different goals. And my concern from the beginning has been, he didn't consult the American people or Congress or our allies. He just went charging in.

And this war has been very costly, tens of billions of dollars, more than a dozen American service members killed and hundreds wounded. And it's not clear whether we have achieved a core goal, which is making the region and our nation more safe against Iran.

The MOU, the memorandum of understanding, that President Trump signed recently doesn't address proxies, doesn't address Iran's support for the region. And the biggest problem that this war has made clear is that the mullahs, a more extreme, more militant group of mullahs who now control Iran, have the ability to shut the Strait of Hormuz using mines and drones.

And it's exceptionally difficult to stop them from doing that. So here we go back into another series of exchanges, bombs and drones and mines back and forth. And my hunch is, we will soon see the prices of oil and gas and fertilizer go back up if the strait is closed again as we go back into active fighting tonight and tomorrow, as President Trump just said.

BLITZER: But did the U.S. under President Trump effectively eliminate Iran's capability of developing, building a nuclear bomb?

COONS: No.

And, to be clear, under President Obama, there was an Iran nuclear deal that had searching on-the-ground inspections by the IAEA, a U.N. group that does nuclear inspections, and we had real visibility into their program.

They both pledged to give up any effort to develop a nuclear bomb and downblended all of their highly enriched uranium and closed off -- they filled it with concrete -- a potential plutonium reactor.

Where we are today under President Trump, is yes, last summer, he carried out a military action that bombed several of their main sites. They were not close to having a usable deliverable nuclear weapon at that point, and they are certainly farther away now.

But we don't have a clear, detailed understanding of the status of their centrifuges, the status of that highly enriched uranium, or a clear path towards resolving it, other than going back to the negotiating table with Iran.

So I don't think we're significantly safer today with regards to their nuclear program. And the other goal that President Trump initially announced for this war with Iran -- remember, he said to the thousands of protesters rising up against the Iranian government help is on the way. There's been no talk about any efforts at regime change under this MOU.

BLITZER: I want to get your reaction to what President Trump said just a little while ago, that the U.S. is considering attacking various targets inside Kharg Island, which is the major oil reservoir of Iran, but he said specifically the U.S. will not hit oil targets in -- on Kharg Island, because potentially the U.S. may eventually wind up taking over Kharg Island and all of that oil.

What's your reaction to that?

COONS: That doesn't make a ton of sense, Wolf.

Kharg Island it is essentially a terminal. It's offshore. It's an island. It doesn't have huge reservoirs of oil, but it does have critical pipelines that connect back to the mainland where the oil reserves are and allows tankers to pull up to the island and to be filled up.

[10:45:05]

We have already, under President Trump struck Kharg Island several times, and he previously said weeks and weeks ago now the same sort of thing. It would be very hard for the United States to take control of Kharg Island without putting at risk losing hundreds of troops, because it's all the way up in the northwestern corner of the Persian Gulf, close to Iran.

And we would have to engage in very heavy campaigning and put a lot of lives at risk in order to seize Kharg Island.

BLITZER: And an Iranian spokesperson, reacting to what the president just said, said this on X: "Come. We are waiting for you, and we promise that not a single American soldier will return alive."

They don't seem to be intimidated by what the president is saying, do they?

COONS: No, and that's one of our real challenges.

Look, let me be clear. Iran is a dangerous, radical regime. They're one of the biggest supporters of terrorism in the world. They have funded and trained and equipped extremist groups throughout the Middle East. But it's not clear to me that this war that we went into only with our ally Israel, not with any of our other NATO allies, who are all represented here at this NATO summit,it's not clear to me that this has made us any safer so far.

And it has raised prices. Look, in general, what I hear from Delawareans is concerns about the cost of housing and health care, gas and groceries. President Trump may dismiss this concern about affordability as a hoax, as he just did in his press conference, but it is what I hear people concerned about.

President Trump just said that we have the greatest economy ever. Well, if you survey the average American, they're having a hard time making ends meet. There is good news out of this summit, though, Wolf. I don't just want to be negative.

I do think that there's been real progress towards our NATO allies dramatically increasing their spending on our collective security, more than $250 billion more invested in our collective security by our European NATO allies and Canada.

And over the last year, since the previous NATO summit in the Netherlands last year, there's been a lot of progress that our bipartisan delegation congratulated and thanked many of our allies with whom we met about making that progress.

And the statement that's coming out of this summit, Wolf, is clear and positive about supporting Ukraine and is clear about Russia being a threat to all of NATO.

BLITZER: And you're there with a bipartisan delegation from Congress at the NATO summit in Turkey. And you had a chance, I understand, to meet with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, earlier today just ahead of his meeting with President Trump. How did that go?

COONS: It was a very positive meeting, Wolf.

Look, they're making real progress on the battlefield. They are striking deeper and deeper into Russia. What we haven't accomplished as a country with sanctions, they're now accomplishing with missiles. They're blowing up oil refineries. The people of Moscow and St. Petersburg are waiting in line for gas at the gas pump that's hours- long, and it's beginning to sap support for this war from the Russian people.

They're also imposing huge costs on the battlefield; 35,000 Russian troops are being killed or severely wounded every month. And all of this is because Ukraine has developed the world's best drones and counterdrone technology. They have really changed the shape of the battlefield for the future.

And I have been urging the Trump administration and Pentagon to invest more in our partnership, so that our military can learn the lessons of this war in Ukraine and so that our country can benefit from their technologies to defend everything from civilian infrastructure like football stadiums and water systems to our military bases and embassies in the Middle East and in our home country. I'm hopeful that they will make progress on that this year. It has

strong bipartisan support.

BLITZER: Let's see what happens.

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, thanks, as usual, for joining us. Appreciate it very much.

COONS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we will have more news right after a very short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:51]

BLITZER: We're continuing to follow the breaking news, and there's a lot of breaking news unfolding today.

Only moments ago, President Trump spoke about Israel's attacks on Hezbollah targets inside Southern Lebanon, saying he thinks Israel will withdraw its troops from the southern part of the country. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: And do you think Israel...

TRUMP: We're denuking it. We're denuking Iran. They're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

All right, one more question.

QUESTION: Sir, do you think Israel should withdraw troops from Southern Lebanon?

TRUMP: Well, I talked to Bibi about that. Yes, I think they're going to. I think they want to. I don't think it's a question of me. I think it's a question they want to.

And they're getting along with Lebanon. They're signing deals with Lebanon, first time ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go live right now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who is joining us from Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, so what's the view, what's the reaction from inside Israel right now? How likely will Israel do what President Trump says it should do?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's hard to know if President Trump's comments are based in any kind of reality of conversations that he's had with the Israeli prime minister, because, publicly, Prime Minister Netanyahu has said the opposite, that there is no indication that they intend to withdraw from Southern Lebanon, at least not in -- completely from this -- quote, unquote -- "security zone" that Israeli troops have established in Southern Lebanon.

[10:55:18]

Important to remind our viewers that there are still thousands of Israeli troops that are currently deployed in Southern Lebanon, as deep as 10 kilometers into Lebanese territory. We are still seeing near daily Israeli strikes in Southern Lebanon.

We have also seen continued instances of close-quarters combat between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants in Southern Lebanon as well, and, again, repeated statements from the prime minister and the defense minister about remaining in Southern Lebanon in that security zone for as long as is necessary.

Now, we do know that there is this agreement between the Israeli government and the Lebanese government that, at least in its initial stages, would see this kind of pilot program, where Israeli troops would withdraw from two areas in that security zone in Southern Lebanon, hand over control of that area to the Lebanese military in an effort to keep those areas out of Hezbollah's hands.

But even that pilot program has yet to actually take place. We haven't seen Israeli withdrawals from those areas. And so it remains to be seen what kind of progress can be really be made on this amid the continuation of fighting in Southern Lebanon and also now amid these broader regional tensions between the United States and Iran -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv for us.

Jeremy, thank you very much.

And, coming up, I will speak live with Rahm Emanuel about the speech he just gave at Tel Aviv University, a speech aimed at taking another look at the U.S. policy of what's been described as unconditional support for Israel. He's got some very strong views. We will speak to him about that.

And still ahead next hour here in THE SITUATION ROOM, a CNN exclusive. We will head back out to the Arabian Sea, where my co-anchor, Pamela Brown, is on board the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, as President Trump threatens more strikes on Iran.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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