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White House Holds Briefing Amid Escalating War with Iran; Trump: Saudis Must Join Abraham Accords for Nuclear Deal; White House: Trump Gathering Cabinet at Camp David Next Week. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 23, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- homes and businesses. President Trump's bold leadership is turning data centers from a source of concern into engines of growth and opportunity for communities across this country, all while cementing America's dominance over China in the global A.I. race.

The president is ensuring the American people are never left footing the bill so private companies can benefit. Instead, President Trump is leveraging the data center boom to deliver real, tangible benefits for working families and small businesses.

So, we have a busy day here, rest assured. I'll take some questions. And here in our new media seat, we have Cam from Town Hall. Cam, thank you for being here. Why don't you kick us off today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Two quick questions. One on Congress. First off, Speaker Mike Johnson passed a continuing resolution earlier this week. John Thune has said he wants to have a work with Democrats to find a way to fund the government. What is the White House's stance and the best way to keep the government funded?

LEAVITT: Well, the White House's stance is that the government needs to be funded. This president and Republicans on Capitol Hill from both chambers, as you just mentioned, the House and the Senate, Republicans want to keep the government open. We want to work together to find ways to do that. And the White House will continue to have discussions with Senate leadership on the best path forward. I don't want to get ahead of those conversations.

But the most important thing for the American people to know is that this president and this White House wants the government to remain open, unlike the Democrats in this town who have been acting as obstructionists. We've seen time and time again, they have chosen to block this administration, to block Republicans in Congress from keeping our government open, which does not help anyone. And it especially hurts the American people who depend on our government remaining open so they can access the critical services that our government provides to so many Americans across the country. So, these conversations are continuing. But I think I just made the president's position quite clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. And then on the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal, what steps is the U.S. taking to get Saudi Arabia to sign the Abraham Accords?

LEAVITT: Sure. Well, the president himself has spoken on this many times, his true social post this morning, and I will read it for those at home who missed it. The civil nuclear deal, there will be no enrichment of material, an important point being made between the Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non- military use, will be approved but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords. The United States is not opposed to civil nuclear facilities, as we all know.

Look, this is a condition that the president has spoken about many times with our Gulf and Arab allies. He wants to see these countries sign the Abraham Accord. It was one of the most historic accomplishments of his first term, and it continues to be a long-term goal of his to expand those Accords to ultimately come to a place where the Middle East can be a peaceful and stable region. And yes, this deal with Saudi Arabia, the energy deal, is contingent on this condition as far as the president is concerned.

So, we'll continue to talk with our Saudi counterparts to get the deal finalized and hopefully see them joining the Abraham Accords very soon. Thank you. Gabe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karoline, thank you. With regards to the Saudi nuclear deal, why was that condition not mentioned yesterday when the energy secretary announced it?

LEAVITT: Well, look, the president is always the final dealmaker, as you know, and this is something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions. Going back, I can provide you with those statements, and he has said if they don't join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off. So, we'll continue to have those conversations with our Saudi counterparts moving forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, the deal is dead if Saudi Arabia doesn't join?

LEAVITT: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And have you any indication that Saudi Arabia is even considering this?

LEAVITT: Again, the president has spoken directly with the Saudis about this in numerous conversations in the past, and the administration will continue to engage in those conversations. Alexandra.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would Saudi Arabia be exempt from international inspections as part of this deal if it moves forward?

LEAVITT: I don't want to comment on the specifics of the deal, as we're still, again, as I just said, talking especially about this very important condition that the president raised this morning. Alexandra.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good to see you now that you're back.

LEAVITT: You too. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, Treasury Secretary Bessant voiced concern this week on China potentially distilling or stealing A.I. technology from the United States, kind of manipulating it as their own. Anthropic said that the largest distilling attack happened last month. Do you think this will come up when the president meets with President Xi in September?

LEAVITT: Well, I have had the honor of being part of some of the meetings and discussions between President Trump and President Xi, and I can tell you there is always a wide range of topics that come up. I would imagine this would be something. It's of high importance to the president and of this administration to obviously ensure that America remains dominant in the A.I. race. And we're obviously tracking the particular situation that you mentioned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have one more, if you don't mind.

LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This week, we've seen some major players in Democrat politics voicing or alerting, really, on how much influence socialism, communism has had now on kind of mainstream Democrat politics. Is there any chance that the president would be interested or is considering working with left of center Democrats to push back on this?

LEAVITT: Well, unfortunately, we don't seem to have too many of those left in the Democrat Party.

[11:35:00]

We have literal self-proclaimed communists who are winning elections and who are claiming to be the new leadership of the Democrat Party. I think the vast majority of Americans understand the dangers of communism. Just look at countries all over this world. As an example, Cuba right now is a country that is about to be a failed state because of the communist policies of the past several decades. Communism should never be allowed to lead this country. And the president obviously is strictly opposed to it and all the dangers that it reaps. We've seen it happen across the world. Meredith.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to continue on the Saudi nuclear deal. Do the Saudis agree with this interpretation since it wasn't part of the initial agreement? And has the president talked to MBS since this new condition?

LEAVITT: As you know, the president just put out this statement a few hours ago. I don't believe he's had a call with NBS in the hours since. However, this is something that he has raised in previous conversations and has also said many times in the past. John, in the back, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks a lot, Karoline. In regards to this deal, in the past, the Saudi government has said they will not consider entering into the Abraham Accords unless and until there's a Palestinian State. What makes you think that they're going to change their minds on their position regarding that?

LEAVITT: Again, I won't get ahead of the president's conversations, but this is something that he feels very strongly about and has spoken about it in the past and will continue to uphold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I ask you one other question?

LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just playing devil's advocate, why does Saudi Arabia get a civilian nuclear deal, but Iran doesn't get a civilian nuclear deal?

LEAVITT: Well, again, this agreement is still being worked out. It will eventually, hopefully, be finalized with the condition that the president spoke about this morning. But this agreement in particular, as it's been discussed thus far, does give priority access for American companies in the Saudi nuclear energy program, which will ultimately benefit American industry workers and supply chain.

So, the deal that has been discussed thus far and will continue to be discussed absolutely puts America first, and that's obviously very important to this president. Ed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Karoline. So, Friday, the Section 122, the 10 percent global tariff goes away. Is the president going to ask Congress for an extension, or what's next?

LEAVITT: Well, I know the USTR, our great Jamieson Greer, trade representative, will be having an announcement on that very soon, later today. I don't want to get ahead of him, so I would just tell you to stay tuned for more details.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And then one more on -- the president is going to have some big utility companies at this event later on today. We're now a year and a half, so to speak, into his energy -- pro-energy policies. Is he going to pressure those executives to lower energy prices, not just maintain the prices?

LEAVITT: Well, as I mentioned earlier, the ratepayer protection pledge, Ed, is a novel idea drawn up by this president and his team to ensure that data centers and communities -- where those communities want data centers -- that these big CEOs and energy companies are picking up the tab for the energy costs in these communities so the American taxpayer not being fronted with those bills.

And the pledge today is being expanded to acknowledge all elements involved in building an operating data center, the governors who appoint the state regulators, who set the power prices, the utilities and the co-ops that sell the power, and in addition to the tech companies that have already signed the pledge. So, you'll continue to hear more about that from the president in a few hours, at 2:30, when he goes over to the EPA. Sophia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken to the president about what he wants to do about Chinese A.I. models if they are found to have stolen American IP? Does he want to sanction them, or what actions can be taken without undermining broader U.S.-China trade talks or cutting off American startups that are increasingly reliant on them?

LEAVITT: Sure. Well, I won't get ahead of the president on any potential actions, but obviously these conversations are taking place. And again, they're of the utmost importance, not just for our national security, but to ensure America remains dominant in this space. Stephen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Karoline. I have two questions. Has President Trump spoken with FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, about his interest in nominating him for U.N. Secretary General? Can you explain his interest there? And secondly, just a minor point of clarification on the Saudi nuclear deal, did Prime Minister Netanyahu request this provision?

LEAVITT: Knowledge, no. Again, as I told you, this was an idea the president has long had. It was the president and his team in the first term that began and signed the Abraham Accords with several countries in the region, between those countries and Israel. And the president obviously wants to expand on that historic accomplishment from his first term.

To your first question about Gianni Infantino, I don't know if he and the president have discussed that. I haven't been present for all their conversations. I know they speak quite frequently. And the president has a lot of respect for Gianni and what he has done with FIFA.

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As we all just saw, the World's Cup was a tremendous success here at home. It not only was hugely beneficial to our businesses and our local economies across the country, but I think it showed that America is the greatest country on earth. And the president is grateful to Gianni for all of the efforts that he had to make that dream a reality here in the United States. Danny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Karoline. Is President Trump or the administration, do they have any plans to intervene in the extradition process for the Tate brothers?

LEAVITT: No. Already answered that question. Elizabeth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Karoline.

LEAVITT: Secretary Mullin said that election officials that knowingly allowed non-citizens to vote could be prosecuted and fined. Is this option being considered in New Jersey after the governor revealed that thousands of non-citizens were registered to vote there?

LEAVITT: Well, for any process, obviously, I would always defer you to the Department of Justice. But what I will say on New Jersey and this governor, the fact that she just all of a sudden decided to put out a press release saying President Trump and Republicans have been right about non-citizens on our voting rolls is not a coincidence. I think this governor is saying this because she realizes this administration is serious about getting to the bottom of illegal aliens voting and being on our voting voter rolls in our country. The secretary of Homeland Security, as you know, sent a letter to several states, including New Jersey, requesting that non-citizens that are on their voter rolls need to be reported to DHS and need to be removed from those voter rolls.

So, that's why all of a sudden, she is speaking truth about the fact that this does take place in states across the country. It is completely unacceptable to have non-citizens on American voter rolls voting in U.S. elections. And she says at 6600, we suspect it's a heck of a lot more, not just in New Jersey, but in states across the country. The president is hellbent on getting to the bottom of this. And it's also why we need to pass the Save America Act to ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections.

And I understand the House had a great accomplishment yesterday with passing the budget resolution, which has as much of the Save America Act as possible. And we encourage the Senate to move forward with passing that resolution into law so the president can sign it into law by the August recess. It's of the utmost importance to this president, but also to the American people who support this bill overwhelmingly. Mary, in the back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Karoline. Two questions, one on Sophia Cunningham and then on self-driving cars.

LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sophia Cunningham, the WNBA, has been attacked as a MAGA Barbie for saying it's common sense for men to not be in women's sports and locker rooms. Is the president following this story and has he reached out to her?

LEAVITT: I don't believe he has reached out to her. I know he is following the story. As you know, this is something the president feels strongly about as well, and the American people do too, that men should not be playing in women's sports. It's completely ludicrous that anyone could support that. It's even more ludicrous that you do have Sophie Cunningham, a female athlete herself, very accomplished in her own right, coming forth and speaking that truth that men shouldn't play in women's sports.

We want to protect women and girls, and the backlash she is receiving from Democrats and left-wing fingers across the country is astonishing. They are clearly very out of touch with the American public on this issue, which again is an 80-20 issue. It's common sense. It's rooted in basic biological fact that men should not be competing against women on playing fields across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On self-driving cars. There's legislation right now to ban China's self-driving car technology from U.S. roads. Does the White House have a position on this? And broadly, how does the president feel about self-driving cars himself?

LEAVITT: Well, you know, the president did have a red Tesla here at the White House for quite some time, so he's a supporter of them. I know he's purchased some self-driving cars for his family members, his grandchildren. So, I think he supports them and Americans who want to drive them. But with that said, I don't know about the specific legislation. I will check in with our Legislative Affairs Office and we'll get you a statement on that. Reagan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One question for you on Thune and then one on Darline Graham. The president seemed yesterday frustrated with Leader Thune when he was speaking in Georgia. Is his patience running out with Leader Thune? And then the president recently endorsed Darline Graham right after her appointment to Senate. What caused him to endorse her so quickly?

LEAVITT: The president met with Darline and thought she will be a great representative for the great people of South Carolina and will carry on her brother's legacy of public service in that beautiful state. So, the president is fully supportive of Darline and her honorable decision to run and, again, to continue her brother's legacy.

With respect to your first question on -- remind me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To Leader Thune, his patience is running out.

LEAVITT: Look, the president spoke about this directly yesterday. His patience is running out. He wants to see as much of the Save America Pass as possible by the August recess. He knows that's what the American people want to see passed.

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He was just traveling on the road yesterday, spoke about this, and there was a very loud applause from the people in the audience, the everyday Americans, because voter ID is common sense. They want proof of citizenship in our elections, and the president feels very strongly about that.

And I would just add, you know, the American people elected overwhelmingly Republicans to lead not just this White House but also the House and the Senate. The House did its job. The Senate needs to do its job too. I know it's a brief briefing today, but you're going to hear from the president directly twice today at 2.30 and also at 4.30, and we will see you all tomorrow night at the Correspondence Center. Thanks, guys.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, there you have Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, answering reporters' questions. Interesting, as this war with Iran is escalating, there were really no serious questions about the escalation in the war between the United States and Iran, a lot of questions about the Saudi nuclear deal, questions on other issues, including voter rolls and other domestic economic issues.

But I want to get into the Saudi deal first of all, because this is a new condition that the president announced this morning on his Truth Social site. He said the U.S. helping the Saudis develop civilian nuclear power is, quote, "totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords. The United States is not opposed to civil -- non-enriched nuclear facilities, but the Saudis must accept the Abraham Accords."

Several Arab countries have accepted the Abraham Accords, have established full diplomatic relations with Israel, just as Egypt and Jordan did years ago. But why are the Saudis so reluctant to do so?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think after, you know, October 7th and Israel's conduct within Gaza, Saudi and other countries kind of drew a line and said, we're not going to have a normalization unless things change in terms of conduct within Gaza. And I think that was really a red line for Saudi.

And what's interesting, and I know we were talking about this yesterday, is that this deal was coming together, and by the afternoon, it was signed by the energy secretary, Wright. So, the fact that the president this morning put out this truth saying this deal is off, essentially, unless Saudi normalizes, you know, signs onto the Abraham Accords, indicates to me that there was clearly some calls being made behind the scenes, as we talked about yesterday, either from the Israeli side, and I would also presume from some members of Congress that were deeply uncomfortable with this deal, with Saudi potentially getting access to enriched uranium with no safeguards put in place.

BLITZER: You want to quickly make a point?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, absolutely, Wolf. Well, you know, when you look at the domestic political pressures that Saudi Arabia, that Crown Prince MBS is under, he also has to keep in mind that there are a lot of extremists in Saudi Arabia who would be vehemently opposed to any deal with Israel, and especially in wake of, as Sabrina mentioned, you know, the way things have worked out in Gaza.

So, MBS has to thread a to get to the point where he can actually commit Saudi Arabia to the Abraham Accords. If he doesn't, it would be a major achievement for the Trump administration. But at this point, I don't think they're there yet.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting. MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, he's clearly in charge of so much of the Saudi decision. The Saudis for a long time in conversations with me and so many other reporters have always said they would be willing to establish relations with Israel, but Israel must first accept what's called a two-state solution, a new state of Palestine living alongside Israel, which the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, strongly opposes doing that. And that's what has set back you Israeli-Saudi relations and U.S.-Saudi relations for that part as well. We didn't hear the president say Israel should accept a two-state solution in order to establish full diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

SINGH: That was interesting in the statement, is that the pressure is not being put on Israel or being leveraged on Israel. It's on Saudi. And that somewhat makes sense in that the deal is a Saudi deal. And so, I think the president is trying to leverage some of his relationships with MBS, with others in the country.

I mean, we know that he has extensive business dealings, or his sons do, within the region to leverage them to come to the table and say, OK, now it's time to sign into the Abraham Accords. But as you just mentioned, you know, one of the conditions that Saudi wants is to see a two-state solution. And that is a red line from the Netanyahu government, at least right now.

So, it's hard to see how both sides kind of reconcile this. And Karoline Leavitt, frankly, couldn't answer the question when she was asked, is this deal on hold? The deal was signed yesterday. So, I don't know what this means for going forward.

BLITZER: And just to be precise and remind our viewers about the Abraham Accords, which the Trump administration negotiated during its first term. And we have a graphic. I think we could put it up on the screen.

[11:50:00]

Right now, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Sudan and Kazakhstan, for that matter, have all signed on to the Abraham Accords. And as I pointed out, Egypt and Jordan established full diplomatic relations with Israel many years ago. And those relations continue right now. But it looks like this whole issue of a two-state solution is going to prevent the Saudis from moving forward.

LEIGHTON: I think so. And I think --

BLITZER: Even though they really want this nuclear deal.

LEIGHTON: Oh, absolutely. The Saudis absolutely want this nuclear deal for them. This is a great opportunity to move into the nuclear energy area. And it also gives them a diversification of their energy resources, because if their oil, when their runs out at some point, they will need to have some other means of producing energy and would need to shift their economy. And that's basically Mohammed bin Salman's, the crown prince's, ideas to diversify the Saudi economy as much as possible.

The UAE, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, the other states that you mentioned, would not have signed the Abraham Accords if the situation in Gaza had happened during Trump's first administration. So, this was a unique opportunity. It was a place in time where they could do that politically. Right now, that moment in time has vanished. And that becomes a really critical element here. If they want to get back to that, there's going to have to be some give and take basically among three parties, the Israelis, the U.S. and the Saudis.

BLITZER: Let's not forget Jared Kushner was really instrumental in putting that Abraham Accords together.

SINGH: And to Cedric's point on the energy sector, I mean, Saudi wants to diversify their energy resources. And right now, you're seeing that just directly put in play with the Houthis potentially closing the Red Sea.

BLITZER: Which allows the Saudis to export so much of its oil.

SINGH: Exactly. I think they export about -- you know, I think 4 percent of the world's oil goes through the Red Sea. Now, if you're talking about rerouting Saudi oil that would go out through the Bab el-Mandeb and instead going up through the Suez Canal, through the Mediterranean and down the Cape of Africa, the Horn of Africa, that adds about 10 to 15 days for a shipper to get oil to Asia. So, that is a huge cost to the shipping industry for the Saudis. And so, this makes sense of why they want to move towards diversifying their energy resources as well.

BLITZER: It's so important indeed. All right. Everybody stand by. Don't go too far away. Kristen Holmes was in the White House briefing room. You know, Kristen, there were a lot of questions. I was surprised as this war with Iran is escalating. I don't know about you, but I was surprised that there were no serious questions about what is going on with the war with Iran.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And that would have been one of my top questions, particularly given the reporting that we have today that both the CIA and the DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agencies, have recently assessed that the kind of bombing the U.S. has been doing for the past 12 nights is unlikely to move Iran's negotiating position.

So, what exactly is President Trump going to do to try and break this deadlock? That has been the question that we've had really for several days, but now particularly with this new intelligence from our reporters at CNN. But no real serious questions on Iran.

I do want to quickly note on that Saudi Arabia deal, which dominated most of this relatively short for Karoline Levitt briefing. What was interesting about it was that Karoline kind of went back and forth as to what exactly this meant for the deal. She very explicitly said at one point the deal is moving forward. It's been signed, but then also said the deal is completely contingent on this idea of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.

The other interesting part of all of this was this idea that President Trump only brought this up this morning. She noted that. She said this is a concern that President Trump raised this morning. It gives you kind of an idea of what's probably happening behind the scenes in terms of a scramble to figure this out.

And the last thing I will note, and I'm not sure if you guys had mentioned this, was that she was specifically asked if Netanyahu had asked President Trump to do this, to add in this condition. And Karoline said she wasn't sure if that was something that had happened, but she didn't think so. She didn't think the two had spoken about this. So, just interesting there how this dominated the entire briefing while we still have this war raging in Iran and President Trump yesterday attending the dignified transfer of four fallen soldiers.

BLITZER: All right. stand by. I'll get back to you. Kevin Liptak is over at the White House as well. Kevin, lots of questions. No serious questions about the war with Iran right now. But she did announce to the press secretary there would be a full-scale cabinet meeting, what, next Friday at Camp David in Maryland. Is that right?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And this is a rescheduled moment. They had originally planned to do this a few months ago, but weather got in the way. You kind of have to take a helicopter up to Camp David. It's more than two hours on the roads. And so, she will be -- and the president will be there with his cabinet members next Friday. She said it would be the 13th cabinet meeting of his administration.

There were two other points that she made about the White House's relations with Congress at kind of a particular and quite a sensitive moment.

[11:55:00]

In fact, she did say that the White House wanted to work with members of Congress and with Republicans to ensure that there was not another government shutdown. And at this point, the pathway to that remains unclear. And she left it sort of high level. She didn't specify how exactly she saw that all happening, but did affirm that the White House doesn't want to see a shutdown.

And then she also said -- and this has been pretty evident for quite some time, that the president is losing patience with the Senate majority leader, John Thune, who has so far not been able to get passed through the Senate, the Save America Act, that voting reform bill that the president is calling on Thune to blow up the Senate filibuster over. She did affirm that the president is frustrated and that she is losing -- or that he is losing patience with John Thune, just I think widening the rift between those two men at a very sensitive moment. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House for us as usual. Thank you very, very much. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media, @wolf blitzer and @pamelabrowncnn.

We'll see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning for two hours, 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Inside Politics today with our friend and colleague, Manu Raju, filling in for Dana Bash, starts right after a quick break.

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