Enhance Your English with U.S. Government News – Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs 2025. 4. 11.

0:06 good afternoon everybody 0:09 happy 0:10 Friday as you all know the president is 0:13 currently undergoing his routine and 0:15 long scheduled physical at Walter Reed 0:17 Medical Center and we will have a 0:19 readout from the White House physician 0:21 last night Cina Karolina arrived back 0:24 safely in the United States after being 0:26 detained in Russia for more than a year 0:29 since inauguration day President Trump 0:31 and his team have secured the release of 0:33 more than 40 detained Americans abroad 0:36 this is more than half of the number of 0:39 Americans released by Joe Biden in four 0:41 years and President Trump has brought 0:43 these Americans home in 80 days this 0:46 administration will continue to work 0:48 hard to bring Americans home from around 0:50 the world 0:52 as I’ve said before and I will say it 0:54 again today everybody in this room has 0:56 access to the most transparent and 0:58 accessible president in American history 1:01 the cabinet meeting yesterday was 1:03 further proof president Trump asked each 1:06 secretary to provide an update to all of 1:08 you in the media on the critical work 1:10 they are doing at their respective 1:11 agencies to deliver on his agenda and 1:14 according to new reporting from the 1:16 Washington Times who I believe is in 1:17 this room today President Trump answered 1:20 nearly 100 questions from the press all 1:22 of you during his first three open press 1:25 cabinet meetings this year that’s nearly 1:27 20 times the number answered by Joe 1:30 Biden in cabinet meetings during his 1:31 entire four years in office in more 1:34 excellent economic news that was 1:36 released yesterday the consumer price 1:38 index report showed inflation fell to 1:41 2.4% 4% in March smashing expectations 1:44 for the second straight month in a row 1:46 this marked the first drop in consumer 1:48 prices dating all the way back to the 1:50 COVID pandemic prescription drug prices 1:53 saw the largest monthly decline on 1:55 record prices for airfare used vehicles 1:58 and car insurance all decreased as well 2:00 and energy prices fell 2.4% in March 2:03 driven by plummeting gas prices around 2:05 the country also yesterday House 2:08 Republicans answered President Trump’s 2:10 call to move forward the budget 2:11 resolution and officially set the stage 2:14 for the passage of one big beautiful 2:16 bill the American economy will boom 2:19 after this bill is passed and the rest 2:20 of the president’s progrowth agenda goes 2:23 into effect the largest tax cuts and 2:25 deregulation in history coupled with our 2:27 energy un ind industry unleashed and 2:30 renegotiated trade agreements that put 2:32 America first are the ultimate formula 2:34 to usher in the golden age of America on 2:38 that note more than 75 countries have 2:40 now reached out to the Trump 2:42 administration eager to address the 2:44 trade issues that have exploited America 2:46 and hurt our workers in the process the 2:50 phones have been ringing off the hook to 2:52 make deals and these countries wisely 2:54 heeded President Trump’s warning not to 2:56 retaliate and as a result they were 2:58 rewarded with a 90-day pause and 3:00 substantially lower reciprocal tariff 3:02 rates during this period so potential 3:04 solutions can be achieved past 3:06 presidents just willingly accepted the 3:08 failed status quo on trade that ripped 3:10 off our workers and our companies but 3:13 that’s not who this president is he 3:15 creates his own leverage and negotiates 3:17 deals better than anyone else who has 3:19 sat in the Oval Office before him and 3:21 that process is currently underway on 3:24 another matter the deadline for 3:25 registration under the Alien 3:27 Registration Act is today all foreign 3:30 nationals present in the United States 3:32 longer than 30 days must register with 3:35 the federal government failure to comply 3:37 with this is a crime punishable by fines 3:41 imprisonment or both as President Trump 3:43 and Secretary Gnome have both said if 3:46 you register and you leave now you 3:48 choose to self-deport you may have the 3:50 opportunity to return later legally but 3:54 if not you will be arrested fined 3:56 deported never to return to our country 3:59 again the Trump administration will 4:01 continue to enforce our nation’s 4:03 immigration laws we will not pick and 4:05 choose which laws to enforce we must 4:07 know who is in our country for the 4:09 safety and the security of our homeland 4:11 and for all American citizens i also 4:14 have a note from the first lady to share 4:16 with you on this Friday on Tuesday this 4:18 week first lady Melania Trump celebrated 4:20 the advancement of the Take It Down Act 4:22 in the House Energy and Commerce 4:24 Committee the important legislation 4:26 passed the committee with bipartisan 4:28 support and as you may remember the 4:30 president talked about this bill in his 4:32 address to a joint session of Congress 4:33 last month the first lady remains 4:36 dedicated to her championing child 4:38 well-being ensuring that every young 4:40 person can thrive and of course 4:42 championing her be best agenda we urge 4:45 Congress to swiftly pass this important 4:47 legislation here in our new media seat 4:50 today we have Jordan Burman jordan is a 4:52 social media content creator and 4:54 influencer and a lawyer who grew up her 4:56 uh grew up following breaking down the 4:59 news from a neutral perspective jordan 5:01 is the host of her own podcast called 5:03 Unbiased Politics where she dissects the 5:05 top stories from the week from a legal 5:07 perspective jordan focuses on bringing 5:10 back real journalism journalism from a 5:12 nonpartisan perspective and has mastered 5:14 explaining complex legal decisions to a 5:16 mass audience in the short term short 5:18 form context her two biggest platforms 5:21 are Tik Tok and Instagram where she has 5:23 roughly half a million followers on each 5:25 with that please kick us off Jordan 5:27 thank you as you know yesterday has the 5:31 act and many married women soon to be 5:34 married women are concerned that the new 5:37 voter ID requirements may inhibit their 5:39 access to the polls what assurances can 5:42 you give women voters in America uh to 5:45 ease their concerns sure well the SAVE 5:47 Act as you mentioned was passed by the 5:49 House yesterday this is the Safeguard 5:51 American Voter Eligibility Act i believe 5:54 I’m getting that correct um and this act 5:56 is a common sense measure it would 5:57 require proof of citizenship for voting 5:59 in our elections the Democrats have been 6:01 fear-mongering about this bill um have 6:04 been saying that married women if if 6:06 their um name has changed they didn’t 6:08 change it on their identification would 6:09 not be able to vote that is complete 6:11 fallacy there are um outline in the bill 6:13 about how to avoid that uh the president 6:15 very much supports a common sense 6:17 solution to ensuring that only citizens 6:19 can engage in our elections this is um 6:22 critical to improving the integrity of 6:24 our elections and also the trust that 6:26 American citizens uh need to have in our 6:28 electoral process so the president 6:30 supports this bill um and that is a myth 6:32 that has been proven wrong by the text 6:34 of this bill and I believe some of the 6:36 co-sponsors of the bill have been very 6:37 vocal in addressing that and certainly I 6:39 myself as a married woman would not 6:41 stand before this podium uh if the 6:43 president uh did not support such a 6:44 common sense measure thank you for my 6:47 next question I actually want to give a 6:49 voice to the American people i sourced a 6:50 question from one of my listeners her 6:52 name is Brin she is from Oregon and she 6:54 asked “What if any plans do you have the 6:57 administration for the money that will 6:59 be generated by tariffs imposed on 7:01 foreign goods how will the 7:03 administration facilitate the 7:04 development of of American industries 7:06 when many critical components labor 7:08 parts etc are much cheaper and more 7:10 feasible from foreign entities?” It’s a 7:13 great question from your listener and I 7:14 want to thank her for submitting it to 7:16 you to ask that’s the part of the new 7:18 media seat is so that everyday Americans 7:20 across the country have a voice in this 7:22 room so thank you again for being here 7:23 thanks for the question the president’s 7:26 point about his trade and tariff agenda 7:28 is to bolster our manufacturing 7:30 industries uh here in our country uh to 7:32 bring down the cost of living here in 7:34 our country um and to ensure that we are 7:37 maintaining critical supply chains here 7:38 in America we cannot be dependent on 7:41 countries like China if we want this 7:43 country to be strong and wealthy so the 7:45 president wants to restore wealth to 7:46 America um by shoring up these jobs here 7:49 at home uh which will result in good 7:50 paying jobs and higher wages for the 7:52 American public um and so Americans 7:55 should trust in that process he 7:57 effectively implemented tariffs in his 7:59 first term while driving down the cost 8:01 of living in this country and um that’s 8:02 what he’s focused on doing against thank 8:04 you as a follow-up question could I just 8:05 ask are there any specific uh ideas that 8:08 the administration has as to what that 8:10 revenue specific tariff revenue will be 8:12 used for yes to the heart of your 8:13 question the president has spoke about 8:15 the trillions of dollars that he expects 8:17 in revenue from tariffs and how we can 8:18 use it to pay down our debt and to 8:20 ensure that we are no longer faced with 8:23 a triple a crippling national debt uh in 8:25 the trillions that is going to bankrupt 8:27 our nation for future generations so 8:29 that money coming back home will make 8:31 America in the green rather than in the 8:32 red which any small business owner 8:34 across the country I believe can 8:35 appreciate thank you so much thank you 8:37 Kelly okay 8:39 tomorrow there will be uh negotiations 8:42 between the United States and Iran 8:45 what are the president’s chief goals for 8:47 that and is he satisfied with how Iran 8:50 is responding to this they don’t want 8:51 direct face-to-face negotiations instead 8:54 sort of old school shuttle diplomacy 8:56 where they’re in separate rooms and 8:58 messages are passed back and forth so is 9:00 the president comfortable with the 9:02 arrangement there and what is the chief 9:04 objective well I have spoken to both the 9:06 president and also um his national 9:08 security team who will be engaged in 9:10 these discussions these will be direct 9:11 talks with the Iranians and I want to 9:13 make that very clear i also spoke to the 9:15 president just last night about his goal 9:17 um when it comes to Iran and he has 9:19 reiterated repeatedly to all of you 9:21 publicly and also privately to his team 9:23 here at the White House his ultimate 9:25 goal uh and the ultimate objective is to 9:27 ensure that Iran can never obtain a 9:30 nuclear weap weapon uh the president 9:32 believes in diplomacy direct talks 9:34 talking directly in the same room um in 9:37 order to achieve that goal but he’s made 9:39 it very clear to the Iranians and his 9:40 national security team will as well that 9:42 all options are the on are on the table 9:44 and Iran has a a choice to make um you 9:47 can agree to President Trump’s demand um 9:50 or there will be all hell to pay and 9:51 that’s how the president feels he feels 9:53 very strongly about it and can you 9:54 update us on Mr whit in Russia and 9:57 what’s happening with uh direct 9:59 communications with Vladimir Putin i can 10:01 confirm that Mr witkoff is in Russia to 10:03 have direct communications with the 10:05 Kremlin and with um Vladimir Putin um 10:08 this is another step in the negotiating 10:10 process towards a ceasefire and an 10:11 ultimate peace deal in Russia and 10:13 Ukraine um as these negotiations are 10:15 ongoing I obviously will not get ahead 10:17 of the president or his team but I think 10:18 the president has been quite clear that 10:20 he’s been continually frustrated with 10:22 both sides of this conflict and he wants 10:24 to see this fighting end he wants the 10:27 war to end we believe we have leverage 10:29 in negotiating a deal um to a peace deal 10:32 and we’re going to use that leverage um 10:33 and the president is determined to see 10:36 this through 10:38 thanks Caroline uh President Trump has 10:40 said China wants to make a deal on 10:41 tariffs the president says he has a 10:43 great relationship with Chinese 10:44 President Xi he’s willing to speak with 10:46 him directly why doesn’t the president 10:48 just pick up the phone and get this ball 10:50 going all of the things the president 10:52 just said are true uh the president as I 10:55 said from the podium just a few days ago 10:56 when I was up here would be gracious um 10:59 if China intends to make a deal with the 11:00 United States if China continues to 11:02 retaliate it’s not good for China um the 11:05 United States of America is the 11:06 strongest best economy in the world as 11:08 evidenced by the more than 75 countries 11:11 who have called the administration 11:12 immediately to cut good deals so the 11:14 president wants to do what’s right for 11:16 the American people he wants to see fair 11:18 trade practices around the globe and 11:20 that’s his intention and his goal so is 11:22 he waiting for China to make the first 11:23 move here i’m not going to comment on um 11:25 communications that are happening or may 11:28 not be happening uh or either way we’ll 11:30 make leave it to that our national 11:31 security team to get these discussions 11:33 underway and as always in the effort of 11:35 transparency we will provide updates 11:38 moving forward but the president has 11:39 made it very clear he’s open to a deal 11:41 with China why is he optimistic that 11:43 China’s going to make a deal or wants to 11:44 make a deal if they’re not talking 11:46 where’s that optimism coming he’s 11:47 optimistic hey why would any of our 11:50 allies work with us to isolate China in 11:52 a trade war if we’re treating friend and 11:54 foe alike you’ll have to talk to our 11:57 allies who are reaching out to us the 11:59 phones are ringing off of the hooks 12:00 they’ve made it very clear they need the 12:02 United States of America they need our 12:04 markets they need our consumer base you 12:06 saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 12:08 the Oval Office with the president um 12:10 saying that he was going to bring down 12:12 all of their monetary tariffs and their 12:13 non-monetary tariff trade barriers as 12:16 well um we’ve heard from South Korea 12:18 we’ve heard from Japan the president has 12:20 spoken to Vietnam we have Italy coming 12:22 to the White House next week there’s a 12:24 reason for that Sean and it’s because 12:25 they need the United States of America 12:27 and our business uh model and our 12:29 markets to survive and the president is 12:31 using that leverage to our advantage 12:33 michael hey thank you Caroline two-part 12:35 question china beijing says it will 12:37 simply ignore any further tariff 12:39 escalations from the US does President 12:41 Trump see this as China backing down and 12:45 as a followup to that What do you say to 12:47 people like Shark Tanks Kevin Olirri who 12:49 said you guys simply haven’t tariffed 12:51 China enough look the tariff rate on 12:54 China remains where it was yesterday at 12:56 the 145% level the president made it 12:59 very clear when the United States is 13:00 punched he will punch back harder um and 13:03 he hopes to make a deal that benefits 13:05 the American worker and our companies 13:07 that have been ripped off for far too 13:08 long and he’s finally taking bold and 13:10 courageous action to do that you know 13:12 taking on China is uh in the terms of of 13:15 trade and and tariffs is something that 13:17 both Democrats and Republicans alike 13:19 have spoken about for decades president 13:20 Trump is finally doing it caroline real 13:22 quick President of El Salvador is coming 13:24 to the White House on Monday does 13:26 President Trump want him to bring Kilar 13:28 Argo Garcia with him uh the Supreme 13:30 Court made their ruling last night very 13:32 clear um that it’s the administration’s 13:35 um responsibility to facilitate u the 13:38 return not to effectuate the return i 13:40 believe the Department of Justice just 13:42 filed another brief in the lower court i 13:44 would defer you to that for any updates 13:46 but as you mentioned President Blly will 13:48 be here at the White House on Monday to 13:50 talk about the cooperation that is at an 13:52 all-time high uh and we very much 13:54 appreciate President Blly and El 13:56 Salvador’s cooperation and the 13:58 repatriation of El Salvadorian gang 14:00 members who the previous administration 14:02 allowed to infiltrate our country sure 14:05 um thank you very much Caroline uh the 14:07 president spoke quite highly of the 14:09 great relationship that he has with the 14:11 Turkish president we know that the 14:13 president might be heading off to the 14:15 Middle East very soon is he planning to 14:17 meet with the Turkish president either 14:19 here in the White House or in Turkey any 14:22 plans i don’t have any details about the 14:24 president’s overseas trip other than to 14:25 say he was surely going to Saudi Arabia 14:28 there could be more countries as part of 14:29 that trip we’re working on the details 14:31 and as I’ve said repeatedly we will 14:33 provide the details of that trip as soon 14:35 as possible the a trip to Turkey or let 14:38 his invitation to the Turkish president 14:40 is under consideration um I am not going 14:42 to comment on the details of the trip 14:44 but once they’re confirmed I will 14:45 certainly let you all know yes Stephen 14:48 uh thank you Caroline i’d like to ask 14:50 you about presidential health and also 14:51 about tariffs on presidential health uh 14:54 are there plans for the president’s 14:55 position to come here and take our 14:56 questions and also President Trump uh 14:59 repeatedly makes uh remarks about the 15:01 former president’s health is he 15:03 considering using his ex executive 15:04 powers to bring any greater transparency 15:06 there um as I have said the president is 15:09 undergoing his long scheduled physical 15:12 it’s a yearly physical that every 15:13 president receives and we will provide 15:15 an update on that um by the president’s 15:18 physician as soon as we possibly can and 15:20 about the former president and 15:21 transparency regarding his health are 15:23 there well I can tell you there was 15:25 certainly a lack of transparency from 15:26 the former president uh from the entire 15:29 former administration and frankly a lot 15:31 of people in this room when it came to 15:32 the health and the competence of the 15:34 former president of the United States 15:36 Joe Biden there was one of the greatest 15:38 cover-ups and frankly political scandals 15:40 this nation has ever seen it’s been 15:42 unraveled in some recent books that are 15:44 being written by journalists who engaged 15:45 in that cover up and scandal which is 15:47 quite ironic um but this president is 15:50 clearly committed to transparency you in 15:52 this room see him and hear from him on a 15:55 daily basis u you in this room know from 15:57 covering him it’s hard to keep up with 15:59 him he is a machine working around the 16:01 clock every single day um and the 16:03 physician after today’s physical will 16:05 provide an update on the report in the 16:06 effort of transparency if I could ask 16:08 about tariffs uh there have been big 16:10 swings this week in the uh Treasury uh 16:13 bond yields uh there’s a theory that it 16:15 might be because of China dumping these 16:18 as leverage um driving up costs for US 16:20 loans like mortgages um does the White 16:22 House have evidence that this is in fact 16:24 a result of Chinese dumping and if so is 16:26 there a message on that not to my 16:28 knowledge but I would check in with the 16:29 Treasury Department on that i can tell 16:31 you I know our Secretary of Treasury 16:33 Scott Bessant is keeping a very close 16:35 eye on the bond market uh he spoke about 16:37 it at the White House this week and I 16:38 know he’s keeping his eyes on it dayto 16:40 day ed thanks thank Thank you Caroline 16:42 um so the administration I have an 16:44 administration source who’s telling me 16:45 that we’re weeks away from the first 16:47 deal with with the country over tariffs 16:49 um where is the administration how how 16:51 soon could we see that and what country 16:53 is that the first um I won’t reveal or 16:55 get ahead of our trade team as these 16:57 negotiations are obviously ongoing but I 16:59 can tell you very good progress has been 17:01 made uh Jameson Greer was on television 17:03 this morning and I spoke to him and he 17:05 confirmed that more than 15 offers are 17:08 already on the table which is remarkable 17:10 in just a mere matter of days and as I 17:12 said earlier we’ve heard from more than 17:14 75 countries around the world this is a 17:16 team effort the president has a team of 17:18 of great brilliant adviserss um who have 17:21 been with him every step of the way uh 17:23 and all of them will be divvying up the 17:25 workload and I just want to give the the 17:27 president and his trade team credit for 17:28 taking this on this is a massive 17:30 undertaking there’s no doubt about it we 17:32 take it very seriously the president is 17:34 determined to renegotiate global trade 17:36 on behalf of American workers and again 17:39 you’ve seen people on both sides of the 17:40 aisles calling for this for years but I 17:43 think no other president lacked the 17:44 courage or maybe the work ethic or the 17:46 stamina to take on such a task and I 17:49 know there were some questions about the 17:51 president’s delayed departure earlier to 17:52 Walter Reed i’d like to address it was 17:54 because he is working on this very issue 17:56 so he was running a bit behind this 17:57 morning on the 90-day pause um is what 18:00 would the president need to see in order 18:02 to extend that 90-day pause for 18:04 countries on tariffs well I think the 18:06 president addressed this yesterday when 18:07 he said he’s hoping that there will be 18:09 good deals made before the 90 days is up 18:12 um and we will cut those deals as soon 18:14 as we possibly can country by country 18:16 tailor made deals for each and every 18:18 country as they all propose unique 18:20 challenges um and unique assets to to 18:22 each country um advantages rather and um 18:26 if when that 90-day mark hits um the 18:28 president will will make that decision 18:30 then one more if I could on a different 18:31 subject so a bird earlier attacked my 18:34 colleague Peter Ducey during a live shot 18:36 at I’m wondering if that’s why Peter is 18:38 absent from seat is he doing okay he’s 18:41 recovering has anyone checked on him 18:44 is anyone looking into that incident uh 18:46 I could check in with GSA to see if 18:48 anybody here is looking into it i also 18:50 understand there was a mouse in the 18:52 briefing group earlier today so I’m 18:53 hoping somebody checked in on that as 18:55 I’m hoping it doesn’t run up here and 18:57 distract me uh that would be a good way 18:59 for all of you to distract me actually 19:01 have a mouse come run up here um so I’ll 19:04 get an answer for you on that out of 19:06 respect for our good friend Peter jeff 19:09 why is American consumer confidence so 19:11 low look I think there’s a great 19:14 optimism in this economy great optimism 19:16 uh for the American people a lot of 19:18 reason for people to feel optimistic um 19:20 the president is as I just said trying 19:22 to renegotiate um the global um trade 19:26 agenda that has ripped off the American 19:28 people for far too long because he said 19:29 this is going to be a period of 19:31 transition he wants consumers to trust 19:33 in him and they should trust in him look 19:35 at what he did in his first term and I 19:37 just want to reiterate all the reasons 19:38 to be confident since you asked Jeff for 19:40 those watching at home yesterday the CPI 19:42 report inflation declined massively 19:45 consumer prices are dropping for the 19:46 first time in years energy prices are 19:48 down in fact oil prices are down 20% 19:51 since this president took office 19:52 wholesale prices uh fell again there 19:55 have been trillions of dollars in 19:56 investments into this country every day 19:59 the president is signing executive 20:00 orders to cut regulation um especially 20:03 when it comes to environmental 20:04 protection agency our energy industry 20:07 that’s going to unleash the economic 20:08 boom in this country that we saw in the 20:10 president’s first term so trust in 20:12 President Trump he knows what he’s doing 20:14 this is a proven economic formula what 20:16 is he asking of Americans at this time 20:18 he talked about transition costs 20:20 transition problems is he asking 20:22 something specific for Americans to do 20:24 um no i think the president is is asking 20:27 for Americans trust in Trump as I just 20:30 said trust in his economic agenda and 20:32 formula it’s a proven formula that works 20:34 and by the way clearly the American 20:35 people do in fact trust him because they 20:37 did just overwhelmingly elect him to 20:38 this office jennifer um is he going I’m 20:42 asking about the physical is he 20:43 undergoing any general anesthesia and 20:46 can you outline any of the other tests 20:47 that he’s doing today he is not he is 20:49 undergoing quite a few tests imaging 20:51 again a um long over or it’s a yearly 20:54 physical so there’s quite a lot that 20:56 goes into it to make sure the president 20:58 um um is accomplishing all of his goals 21:00 and we will provide a readout of that as 21:03 soon as we can and will you be committed 21:05 to releasing all of the results as many 21:08 of the results as possible of course yes 21:10 the president’s physician will do that i 21:12 spoke with him this morning sure will 21:14 you guys also consider uh releasing the 21:16 president’s fitness plan he actually 21:18 looks healthier than ever before 21:19 healthier than he did eight years ago 21:21 and I’m sure everybody in this room 21:22 could agree is he working out with Bobby 21:24 Kennedy and is he eating less McDonald’s 21:27 uh I can confirm the president is in 21:30 very good shape as you see on a near 21:32 daily basis here u and in that vein 21:34 thank God it’s Friday it’s been a very 21:36 long and busy week here at the White 21:37 House we will see you all on Monday and 21:39 we will release the the results of that 21:41 report as soon as we can have a great 21:43 weekend everybody thank you have a great 21:46 day

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