Trump answers questions on Rob Reiner, marijuana reclassification, Syria & more

Brown University, Mr. President, do you know what the motive of the shooter was?

Is it-

No, we don't.

No, it's moving along now. And we don't. And we're gonna see what happens. Hopefully, they're gonna capture this animal. Hopefully, they're gonna capture it.

Has Kash Patel told you why it's been so difficult for the FBI to identify who the shooter is?

Well, it's been so difficult for the FBI to identify who the shooter is? Well, it's always difficult. So far, we've done a very good job of doing it with Charlie, with, you know, the various times this has happened. They've done it in pretty much record time. But you'd really have to ask the school a little bit more about that, because, you know, this was a school problem. They had their own guards, they had their own police, they had their own everything, but you'd have to ask that question really to the school,

not to the FBI. We came in after the fact, and the FBI will do a good job, but they came in after the fact.

Do you know if it was targeted, Mr. President?

No, they don't know that yet, no.

Sir, on the issue of drugs, is it accurate that you are considering an executive order

to reclassify marijuana?

We are considering that, yeah.

Are you planning?

Because a lot of people want to see it, the reclassification, because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can't be done unless you reclassify. So we are looking at that very strongly.

Mr. President.

Mr. President, is it true that the reports that you rebuke the Israeli prime minister are the reports that you rebuke the Israeli prime minister for the hit on the Hamas general true? And is Israel undermining your efforts to be a peacemaker?

No, Israel and I have gotten along very well. My relationship with Bibi Netanyahu has been obviously a very good one. Look, we took out Iran. We wiped out – with that plane right there, we wiped out the B-2 bomber. We wiped out the Iran nuclear threat. And because of that, we were able to make peace in the Middle East. No, we've had a very good relationship with Israel. We actually have a very good relationship with just about everybody in the Middle East.

But was that a violation of the ceasefire, the strike on the Hamas general?

We're going to have to see. We're looking into that. We're looking.

Mr. President, on the Syria handbook of U.S. forces, do you still have confidence in the

Syrian president?

I do. I mean, this had nothing to do with him. This is a part of Syria that they really don't have much control over. And it was a surprise. He feels very badly about it. He's working on it. He's a strong man.

And no, this had nothing to do with the Syrian government. This had to do this had to do with ISIS. As a response, they'll be hit hard.

Yeah. First of all, thanks for honoring the heroes. The communists have lost Chile and the pro-Trump candidate, Jose Antonio Casas, won the elections. Do you think this right wing wave in the Spanish world is due to your influence?

Well, I just we just had a good one in Honduras, as you know, had a great election there. I endorse somebody that was not leading and he won the election. And we had a good one just a little couple of hours ago. I found out in Chile, the person I endorsed who was not leading ended up winning quite easily. So I look forward to paying my respects to him.

I hear he's a very good person.

Mr. President, this you, Mr. President. This year you fired Democrats from a number of federal agencies. And now going into 2026, there are some key regulators like the SEC, the CFTC that are going to have zero Democrats. Do you plan to appoint Democrats to fill those empty spots?

Or do you think that federal agencies shouldn't have Democrat commissioners? Well, do you think they would be appointing Republicans if it were up to them? So we'll look at it. Look, we want to be fair, but typically they're not appointing Republicans. So you're asking me the question whether or not I'd appoint Democrats. But there are certain areas that we do look at and there are certain areas that we do share and share power.

And I'm open to that.

Please. Mr. President, a number of Republicans have denounced your statement on True Social after

the murder of Rob Reiner. Do you stand by that post?

Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned. He said he liked he knew it was false. In fact, it's the exact opposite that I was a friend of Russia controlled by Russia. You know, the Russia hoax. He was one of the people behind it. I think he hurt himself career-wise. He became like a deranged person, Trump derangement syndrome. So I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all in any way, shape, or form.

I thought he was very bad for our country. Yeah.

On blue slips, Mr. President, Leader Thune doesn't seem like he wants to get rid of blue slips. Will there be consequences for the Senate if they-

Well, I think they should get rid of blue slips because as a Republican president, I am unable to put anybody in office having to do with US attorneys or having to do with judges. In other words, if you have one, not two, you don't need two, just one. If you have one Democrat senator, where we have a lot of them, you have one Democrat senator in a state, it is not possible to appoint because of blue slips. A judge, it's not possible to appoint a U.S. attorney.

You see that happening. And I think it's a disgrace. I think blue slips are a disgrace. They've long since. I mean, they're not they should not be relevant anymore. This is a different world than it was 15, 20 years ago.

You know, that was a gentleman and gentlewoman world. This is a little bit different, unfortunately. Yeah, please.

What do you want to see Congress do this week as it relates to health care and the expiring?

Yeah, that's a good question. What do you want to see Congress do this week as it relates to healthcare and the expiring ACA? That's a good question. I'd like to see the people get the money. I'd like to see all of the money that's going to the Democrat insurance companies. You know, the insurance companies are making a fortune. They're up 1700% and more.

And they're taking in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, even trillions of dollars. And Obamacare gives you terrible health care. Just so you understand, Obamacare was set up, and I said it right from the beginning, for the benefit of the health insurance, insurance companies, of the insurance companies. They're making billions and billions of dollars.

Their stock is through the roof. I don't want to give them anything. I want all money going to the people and let the people buy their own health care. It'll be unbelievable. They'll do a great job. They'll get much better health care at a much lower cost.

Would you like Republicans next year to just use reconciliation to do with healthcare exactly what you laid out, and they wouldn't have to worry about the enterprise folks?

Well that or knock out the filibuster. If you knocked out the filibuster, it would all go away. But we have a few people that wouldn't do that. It's crazy. Look, we should knock out the filibuster. And if you did that, we'd get voter I.D. You'd have no mail-in voting.

All things that make our elections dishonest. And you'd get a lot of other things having not even to do with voting. But Republicans should knock out the filibuster. And we should approve a lot of things. You wouldn't have January 30th looming, because, you know, you have the 30th of January looming. You know that, right?

And if we knocked out the filibuster, it would be just a simple approval. But you have some Republicans, they're unable to explain why. You know, if you ask them why, they're unable to explain it. They cannot win the debate. But they should knock out the filibuster. And frankly, they should get rid of the blue slips, too.

Yes.

Sir, Mr. President, the Democrats won Miami, where you won the election one year ago. Do you think it's because of Hispanic media like Telemundo that are publishing fake news about the ICE operations? How do you plan to win back those votes for midterms?

Yeah, well, I won that whole election. And you know, it's interesting. When I'm not running, we don't do as well. And I'm going to try and get that changed for the midterms. But we did have a big win in Tennessee, as you know. Matt Van Eps, Van Eps, had a big win in Tennessee against a very strong candidate, attractive candidate who a lot of people thought would do very well.

And Matt won by a lot. And I won Tennessee by a real lot. You know, we had a great we had a great election. We won every single swing state. We won the popular vote. We won everything.

And it is a thing that they have now districts, which is a big deal. I think in a way it's the most important stat from the standpoint of, you know, looking at numbers accurately. So out of thousands of districts, I won 2,750 versus 525. Think of that, 2,750 versus 525. It was great.

That's why the map, when you see a map of the election, it's all red, other than two little narrow lines on the other side. Please.

Sir, Jimmy Lai was convicted today in Hong Kong. Do you have any reactions?

I feel so badly. I spoke to President Xi about it. And I asked to consider his release. He's not well. He's an older man and he's not well. So I did put that request out. We'll see what happens.

Okay.

Q Question about Ukraine. Now that the meetings in Berlin have wrapped up with Zelensky, is there a timetable for going to Moscow? Is the delegation going?

Well I think that the delegation is largely there right now actually. They're in Europe. And they met with those people that I called out before, the various countries, plus some others. They want to see it end, Katie. They want to see it end.

They all. I want to see it end. They want to see it end. I actually think that President Putin wants to see it end. They all, I want to see it end, they want to see it end. I actually think that President Putin wants to see it end. You know, I've had good talks, we've had good talks with Russia. And I think they'd like to get back to a more normal way of life.

Mr. President, an Article 5-like deal seems to be emerging without NATO membership for Ukraine. If such a security guarantee is offered, what incentive is there for Ukraine to give up any sort of territory?

Well, look, you have well, they've already lost the territory, you know, to be honest. I mean, they've the territory is lost. But in terms of security guarantee, we're working, we're working with Europe on it. Europe would be a big part of that. And we're working on the security guarantee. so the war doesn't start up again. We don't want to have a war start up again.

You know, as I said, with Thailand and Cambodia, two people I get along with great, and I dealt with them and I called them and I said, look, fellas, you got to relax. You got to take it easy. They lost. You know, they started the war again. I got it ended. And things like that are going to happen. War is nothing nothing pretty about war. Nothing good. And there's nothing you can do to predict

what's going to happen. But I think we've made a lot of progress with respect to Russia and Ukraine. I hope I hope you know, last last month, it was close to 27,000 soldiers were killed, mostly soldiers, but 27,000 people, but mostly soldiers were killed last month in Russia versus Ukraine.

Is there a time limit on security guarantees?

Well, there's no time limit. We're just the time limit is whenever we get it done. I mean, we're going to try to get it done. We're making progress. It's more difficult than anybody could have thought. I would have said that half of the wars that I got settled, some were going for over 30

years, that half of them should have been more difficult. And they actually haven't been. There's a lot of dislike between the two leaders, you know that. And so it probably makes it a little bit tough.

Have you recently spoken directly to Putin?

Yeah, I have.

On Syria, Mr. President, on the U.S. troops killed in Syria over the weekend, why do we have troops in Syria?

Because we're trying to make sure that there's going to be and remain peace in the Middle East. And Syria is a big part of it. The new leader is a strong person, and that's what you need. This is a rough part of the world. And we've – it's been amazing what's taken place in Syria.

We got rid of Assad. We got rid of other people that were really bad people and that were in the way of peace in the Middle East. You know, we have legitimate peace in the Middle East. You know, we have legitimate peace in the Middle East, first time in 3,000 years. And we have 59 countries backing it.

And we'll see what happens with Hamas. We'll see what happens with Hezbollah. But regardless, I mean, we have countries that want to go in and clean that out if we want them to do it. But they said in the case of Hamas, they said that they're going to disarm and we're going to find out whether or not that's true. Hezbollah in Lebanon has been a problem.

We'll see what happens there. But there is legitimate large-scale peace in the Middle East. And if there weren't, we wouldn't have been able to make all of those deals that we've made with the Middle East. And if there weren't, we wouldn't have been able to make all of those deals that we've made with the various countries. They would have never been able to do that. If, for instance, if Iran, if we didn't with that B-2 bomber right there on the desk, if we didn't, of which we just ordered a lot more of the newer version, totally

stealth, they could not see it. They knew it was coming. They had no idea where it was. It was pretty amazing, actually. Every bomb hit its mark perfectly, despite CNN trying to say differently. They didn't know. They just, you know, hoped. They hoped that we didn't, but it turned out that they did.

Atomic Energy Commission confirmed it. So did – actually, so did Iran confirm it. They got knocked to hell. But if we didn't knock out their nuclear capability, we would have never had peace in the Middle East, because you would have had a dark cloud hanging over Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and all the other countries, and they would have never, ever been able to sign an agreement. Yeah, please.

How soon do you expect that international stabilization force to be up and running in

Gaza? I think that it's – in in a form it's already running. In a very strong form it's already. But it'll get stronger and stronger and more and more countries are coming into it. They're already in. But they'll send they'll send any number of troops that I asked them to send.

They want to see peace. We have more than 59 countries. We have many countries that aren't even in the Middle East, but they're fairly close to the Middle East. They they want to be involved. So it's been pretty amazing.

Mr. President, this week, a man named Keone Rodriguez is going to federal prison for creating crypto privacy software. The case was started under the Biden administration, but your DOJ DOJ kept it going and secured the conviction. A lot of people in crypto are saying that this man should be pardoned. Are you familiar with the case at all or would you be interested in looking at it?

I've heard about it. I'll look at it. Why, you think he should be pardoned?

Sounds like it.

Sounds like, based on your question. Many people in the industry are. Rodriguez, we'll look at that, ma'am. Okay? a look at it, you know, you'll have to tell me. I don't know anything about it, but we'll take a look. On Friday.

Mr. President, market analysts are calling for a standstill rally. Typically, it's five

trading days going into Christmas. In the first two trading days in January, that's

a sign of market optimism. Do you anticipate, along with the historical low gas prices,

that continuing into the first quarter? Well, we've had the greatest stock market in history, Brian. We have a stock market that's gone up 52 times to new highs during a 10-month period, my 10 months, my first 10 months. We set a record, 52 days, we had the highest stock market in history, including a day ago. And I didn't look today. Maybe it's up to that or not. But we had 52 altogether

and there's never been anything like it. And the reason are the tariffs have brought vast amounts of wealth into our country. That countries that have taken our car companies, those car companies are all coming back. The AI is coming at levels that nobody's ever seen before.

That's going to be a massive industry. Without the tariffs, we wouldn't have that. Chips are coming in. The chip companies are coming in from Taiwan and other places, but mostly from Taiwan, which has almost 100 percent of the market. And we're now making chips. and we're not paying anything.

It's not the chips act where they give billions of dollars to companies and then they just take the money and they run. That was under Biden. The fact that I set tariffs up and that if they don't make their chips here, they have to pay a big tariff in order to send them into the U.S. They have to be here. You know, tariffs really work, in my opinion, almost only in the United States.

They've been used against us successfully because we had presidents that had no clue. But tariffs really work. We have taken in hundreds of billions of dollars with tariffs. And more importantly, we've taken in countries and companies where and even countries have sent their their car making people into the United States in order to avoid paying tariffs. And they'll build a plant and they'll hire our people

to make the cars. But we now have, as you know, Toyota just approved $10 billion in manufacturing plants in the United States using our people. Without tariffs, none of that would have happened. Tariffs have given us great national security. There's nothing like what's happened in the last 10 months. Tariffs have given us tremendous national security and tremendous wealth.

Tariffs have given us tremendous national security and tremendous wealth. Thank you all very much. Thank you.