Enhance Your English with U.S. Government News –  Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs, 2025. 5. 19.

0:00 good morning everybody morning thank you for joining us early today we have a very busy day so we wanted to kick off 0:06 the re week right this morning after a great trip last week it’s good to see all of you back in Washington this 0:12 afternoon in the Rose Garden President Trump alongside First Lady Melania Trump will sign the Take It Down Act into law 0:19 first Lady Melania Trump was instrumental in getting this important legislation passed the Take It Down Act 0:25 will protect victims of digital exploitation hold internet platforms accountable by requiring them to remove 0:32 such im imagery from their platforms and provide justice for victims by allowing 0:37 prosecutors to go after those who publish non-consent consensual explicit 0:43 images online the first lady met with members in the House and the Senate survivors and their families and 0:50 advocates throughout the process to get this bill across the finish line we are grateful for the first lady’s hard work 0:56 and dedication to this issue and moving forward she will continue to champion the well-being of our nation’s children 1:02 through her be best agenda i know the president looks forward to signing that bill into law later this afternoon and 1:08 we will see you all there in other news the one big beautiful bill passed the House Budget Committee last night 1:14 bringing it one step closer to final passage the one big beautiful bill is perfectly named because it represents a 1:21 once- ina generation opportunity to deliver on the Make America Great Again agenda responsible for President Trump’s 1:28 landslide victory on November 5th the America First policies in this bill are 1:33 the reason why Republicans currently have the majority in Congress right now passing this bill is what voters sent uh 1:40 Republicans to Washington to accomplish and that’s why it’s essential that every 1:46 Republican in the House and the Senate unites behind President Trump and passes 1:51 this popular and essential legislative package this bill will be the single 1:56 most pro- small business pro- family and pro-American worker legislation ever 2:03 this bill will give Americans the largest tax cuts in our nation’s history when Republicans pass the bill Americans 2:10 will be keeping more of their hard-earned money and taking home much bigger paychecks the one big beautiful 2:16 bill will deliver some of President Trump’s central campaign promises no tax on tips for our hardworking waiters 2:23 waitresses and service workers no tax on overtime for our law enforcement officers our firefighters and all those 2:30 who Americans who are putting in extra hours to make ends meet and a large tax 2:36 deduction on interest payments for Americans who purchase Americanmade cars 2:41 despite de desperate Democrat lies the biggest beneficiary of this tax cut will be workingclass Americans and their 2:48 families americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 per year will pay 2:54 about 15% less in taxes after this legislation is passed and according to a 3:00 brand new paper from the White House Council of Economic Adviserss the average family with two children’s 3:06 take-home pay will be up to $13,000 higher because of the increase 3:11 in wages and reductions in tax obligations the CEA study also said that 3:17 the average overtime worker receives a tax cut of roughly $2,000 again this is 3:23 great news news for our nurses our police officers and all those who work overtime to make ends meet across our 3:29 country put simply President Trump’s One Big Beautiful bill will be a boon for workingclass America this one big 3:36 beautiful bill is also pro- family it will increase the child tax credit to $2,500 per child establish optional 3:44 savings account for newborn babies with a $1,000 credit added and strengthen 3:49 paid family leave this bill also delivers historic tax relief to America’s seniors by allowing middle and 3:55 low-income Social Security recipients to deduct an additional $4,000 in payments 4:01 from their taxable income if Democrats get their way and the Trump tax cuts are not extended Americans will face the 4:08 largest tax hike in history to the tune of $4 trillion republicans must not side 4:14 with Democrats in helping them raise taxes the one big beautiful bill also provides critical protections of 4:21 Medicaid which will strengthen and preserve the program for decades to come through common sense efforts to 4:26 eliminate waste fraud and abuse medicaid will no longer be used to pay for 4:32 barbaric gender mutilation procedures on minor children and the 1.4 million 4:37 illegal aliens who are currently improperly receiving Medicaid benefits will be kicked off the program to 4:43 preserve it for hardworking American citizens who need it president Trump and Republicans are 4:48 protecting Medicaid benefits for pregnant women children disabled individuals low-income seniors and 4:54 families and the most vulnerable Americans in our society and that’s what Democrats are so angry about basic 5:01 Medicaid protections that will stop the funding of transgender insanity and illegal aliens from ripping off American 5:08 taxpayers as you all know over his first four months in office President Trump ended the previous administration’s open 5:15 border crisis and secured our homeland in record time all using executive 5:20 authority now Congress needs to act the One Big Beautiful Bill is the most significant investment in our nation’s 5:27 border patrol and law enforcement agents in our nation’s history the bill ensures 5:32 that President Trump’s popular and successful border security measures are made permanent republicans have the 5:38 backs of border patrol and ICE agents who were put through hell over the past four years and have quickly worked to 5:44 secure our southern border and that’s why this bill gives them more resources to do their jobs including a $10,000 5:51 muchneeded bonus to ICE agents and border patrol agents over the next four years to provide those brave agents with 5:58 desperately needed reinforcements on the ground the bill allows for the hiring of thousands of new ICE personnel customs 6:04 officers and border patrol agents these significant hirings will empower President Trump to continue delivering 6:10 on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in the history of our country again that is a promise that 6:17 Republicans made to American voters it’s a promise they were elected on and it’s a promise Republicans on Capitol Hill 6:23 need to keep secure our border to supplement those efforts the bill fund the bill’s funds um will fund the 6:30 completion of President Trump’s signature border wall as a result 701 6:35 miles of primary wall 900 miles of river barriers 629 miles of secondary barriers 6:41 and 141 miles of vehicle and pedestrian barriers will be constructed when this 6:46 bill passes along with cuttingedge technology to secure our homeland from dangerous illegal alien invaders this 6:54 bill also advances our national security and defense interests by ensuring the United States military has the necessary 7:00 resources to remain the strongest and most lethal fighting force in the world 7:05 the bill will provide resources for the construction of President Trump’s Golden Dome to safeguard Americans from 7:11 potential attacks give the Coast Guard resources to build more modernized ships and the Air Force resources to acquire 7:17 better planes if all of those incredible things were not enough the big beautiful bill also finally modernizes air traffic 7:25 control in America a bipartisan issue the bill will allow President Trump to deliver on his promise to overhaul and 7:32 update our air traffic control systems to keep Americans flying as safe and efficiently as possible the previous 7:39 administration failed to act and do this themselves despite repeated warnings from the GAO which has resulted in 7:45 unacceptable delays at major airports like Newark that the Trump administration is working hard to 7:50 address when the one big beautiful bill passes we will replace the current antiquated system the FAA will enhance 7:56 safety in our skies reduce delays and power the future of air travel in the United States that’s just some of what 8:03 this historic legislation will accomplish it is absolutely essential that Republicans unite behind the one 8:10 big beautiful bill and deliver on President Trump’s agenda there is no time to waste americans gave Republicans 8:17 a once in a generation opportunity to course correct our country over many wrongs over the past four years and 8:24 Americans are counting on Republicans to work as hard as President Trump is in this White House every day on Capitol 8:29 Hill send this legislation to his desk as soon as possible for his signature 8:34 here in our new media seat today we have Liam Crosgrove the White House correspondent for Zero Hedge with that Liam please kick us off uh thank you 8:41 Caroline so my first question is on foreign policy sure the president has made uh several moves towards peace and 8:47 multiple fronts india Pakistan with the Houthies uh talking with Iran and talking with Putin um Biden didn’t even 8:53 talk to Putin for the entire span of the war which is crazy considering two nuclear powers were engaged in a proxy 8:59 war um so I do admire these moves by the current president I’ll be honest um 9:05 however we as of today we are still funding both Israel’s and Ukraine’s wars 9:10 so can Americans expect to finally be done financing foreign wars at some 9:16 point would it do you consider that one of the president’s goals well I think I can um summarize the president’s foreign 9:23 policy agenda with two words: America first and that means putting the American people and the American 9:28 taxpayer first and that’s why the president is moving as quickly as he possibly can and working overtime uh to 9:35 end these conflicts in both Israel and in Gaza and also the Russia Ukraine war as you all know the president will be 9:41 speaking with Putin at 10:00 he plans to call President Zullinsky when that call concludes i spoke to the president about 9:48 that call at 10:00 i don’t want to get ahead of those very important conversations but of course you will 9:53 hear directly from the president or me after those calls conclude today so you can expect that as for Israel and Gaza 9:59 the president continues uh to uh not only himself but his national security team engage uh in talks on both sides of 10:07 this conflict the president made it very clear to Hamas that he wanted to see all hostages released and last week uh when 10:14 we were flying out of town there was great news on that front with the return of Eden Alexander who was the last 10:19 remaining hostage in Gaza so to answer your question the president is always thinking about the American people the 10:25 American taxpayer first he wants these conflicts to end uh not just to save money but most importantly to save lives 10:32 thank you and uh my only other question for you is so over the weekend uh President Trump posted truth social a 10:38 video highlighting what most people call the Clinton body count which is the strange number of suicides that seem to 10:44 happen in Clinton circles um I have a headline here from the Washington Post that said Trump pedals false conspiracy 10:50 theories tying the Clintons to several deaths um so I just wanted to highlight real quick this wasn’t in Trump’s video 10:56 but this is from the Arkansas Times and it’s the death of Mark Middleton who was a former Clinton White House aid who was 11:02 found dead on a Clinton Foundation property and I’ll just quote from the Arkansas Times middleton apparently shot 11:08 himself in the chest with a shotgun and also hung himself from a tree with an extension cord so I have no idea how 11:15 somebody commits suicide that way but if the Washington Post is here maybe you can enlighten us as to how that was actually a suicide um so anyways that’s 11:22 just a leadin to my question about the most famous Clinton related suicide which is that of Jeffrey Epstein um 11:29 there’s still a lot of questions around that case you’ve released phase one of the Epstein files what was missing from 11:35 that is any connection to his ties to intelligence agencies and that’s really the whole story that not just 11:40 trafficking young girls but doing it on behalf of intelligence agencies and even potentially uh as part of a blackmail 11:46 ring with potential ties to the Israeli government so uh for phase two when can 11:52 we expect it will it have information pertaining to those aspects of the Epstein case i know the attorney general 11:59 has committed to releasing those files i would defer you to the Department of Justice on her timeline but um when she 12:04 has made a promise in the past she has kept it and I’m I’m certain that she will in this case as well rachel thanks 12:09 so much caroline the president set a two-e deadline for Ukraine and Russia to negotiate a deal that time is now up 12:16 does the president intend to set a new deadline on this call with President Putin and how much longer is he willing 12:21 to give these talks yeah I don’t want to get ahead of the specifics of the conversation the president will be having with President Putin in less than 12:27 an hour this morning uh but he has made clear throughout the entirety of this conflict since he inherited it from Joe 12:34 Biden don’t forget this is a war that began because of the previous administration’s incompetence and weakness and President Trump is working 12:40 very hard to fix it he has made it clear to both sides that he wants to see a peaceful resolution and a a ceasefire as 12:46 soon as possible but as for specifics on a timeline i won’t get ahead of the president and just on the goals um for 12:53 this call in particular is the goal to get Putin to agree to a ceasefire is the goal to lead to some sort of in-person 12:59 negotiations with Putin and the president well I think again we’ll see how the call goes and the president has 13:04 made it clear his goal is to see a ceasefire and to see this conflict come to an end and he’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the 13:11 conflict the president has his team have put an enormous amount of effort in solving this very complicated war that 13:16 again began uh because of the last administration’s weakness does he still want to meet Putin personally i think 13:23 the president would certainly be open to that but let’s see how this call goes today what’s the status of the secondary sanctions package the president’s been 13:30 talking about that you haven’t imposed them yet but is that still on the table i think everything’s on the table yes 13:35 and again I won’t get ahead of the president in any commitments or decisions but certainly it’s something he’s been looking at and discussing 13:41 elena hi K i want to ask you about the House uh bill budget bill so does the president agree with Republicans behind 13:48 this bill that Medicaid work requirements should be implemented as soon as 2026 so the president wants to 13:54 preserve and protect Medicaid for in for Americans who this program was intended 13:59 for uh the most vulnerable in our society pregnant women low-income families seniors those who truly need 14:06 these bene these benefits uh and it should be going to people who physically uh cannot work we want to see 14:13 abledbodied Americans uh at least working 20 hours per week uh whether that’s part-time or full-time whether 14:19 that’s even looking for work or volunteering for 20 hours a week if they are receiving Medicaid these are common 14:26 sense uh provisions these are common sense changes that were actually introduced by former Democrat President 14:32 Clinton they’ve been supported by every Democrat president since including the previous president Joe Biden uh but 14:38 again these are common sense re uh reforms to ensure uh that those that this program was intended for receive 14:45 those benefits and then just a quick followup um is the president okay with this bill adding to the deficit this 14:52 bill does not add to the deficit in fact uh according to the Council of Economic Adviserss uh this bill will save 14:59 $1.6 trillion and the president absolutely understands and hears the 15:04 concerns of fiscal conservatives and of Americans who want to get our fiscal house in order that’s what the intention 15:10 of this bill is there’s $1.6 trillion worth of savings in this bill that’s the largest savings for any legislation that 15:18 has ever passed Capitol Hill in our nation’s history the next bill that even comes close was $800 billion dollars 15:24 that’s less than half of the savings that we see in the one big beautiful bill and so uh the the goal of this bill 15:30 is to produce economic growth to cut taxes and to get our fiscal house in order and this is the right step in the 15:37 right direction towards doing that Edward yes thanks and and then I’ll go to you um I want to get the president’s 15:42 reaction to Moody’s downgrading the credit rate credit rating of the United States sure well look the president uh 15:49 talked about this over the weekend the secretary of treasury also talked about it when you look at the world uh the 15:55 world has confidence in the United States of America and our economy once again the president just last week uh 16:01 secured trillions of dollars in investments from countries in the Middle East we have seen trillions of dollars 16:06 of investments flowing into our economy since the president took office that is 16:11 because America uh or people around the world have confidence in the United States of America and if you also just 16:17 look at the raw economic data that we’re seeing last week when we were out of town inflation dropped once again oil 16:23 prices are dropping gas prices are dropping the president has added nearly a half million jobs to the American 16:28 economy already uh so there’s a lot of optimism in this economy and the president disagrees with that assessment 16:34 and I want to ask you one one more thing if I could um on your Middle East trip the United Arab Emirates uh is is getting some of the most advanced uh AI 16:40 chips and there’s agreements there the UAE is the newest member of bricks is there a concern from the president that 16:45 those chips and the technology will pass through to China India uh Russia and uh Iran part of going to the Middle East 16:52 was to ensure that the United that this part of the region the our Gulf partners know that the United States of America 16:58 is there for them again and that they should be investing in the United States not in China and these AI agreements 17:04 particularly the one uh the the secretary of commerce signed in the UAE has security guarantees to ensure that 17:11 China is not getting the advantage but the United States is getting the advantage when it comes to AI and that the UAE and the US are hand working hand 17:18 inand together um to invest in this space so you read the agreements there are security guarantees uh and it this 17:25 was a great trip for the country no doubt go ahead thanks Caroline um Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has said 17:31 today that Israel will take control of all of Gaza um is that a goal that 17:36 President Trump is comfortable with or or that he supports i’ll have to talk to the president about those comments as 17:43 they just came I believe from the prime minister this morning and I’ll let him speak on that the president has made it 17:48 very clear he wants to see this conflict in the region end he wants all hostages to be released he was pleased uh that 17:55 Edon Alexander was returned home safely um to his loving family the president spoke with Eden directly uh while we 18:02 were traveling to the Middle East last week um as for the prime minister’s comments I’ll let the president himself 18:07 respond to those sure um how about two questions one how involved does the president invol uh intend to be directly 18:14 in talking to house members about the bill over the next couple of weeks or the next next week sure well over the weekend the president was in direct 18:21 conversation and communication with the speaker of the house he’s been very involved he always is he’s willing to 18:26 pick up the phone when uh he is asked to um so he’ll continue to be very engaged in this process with both House members 18:33 and his friends on the Senate side as well and on former President Biden’s cancer diagnosis the the president put 18:39 out a very you know nice message on Troop Social uh has he talked to President Biden directly does he intend 18:45 to call what does he intend to say directly uh not to my knowledge i don’t believe they have spoken but I’m sure 18:50 the president would be open to doing that i spoke to him last night about the uh former president’s cancer diagnosis 18:56 and u the statement that he put out was the uh initial reaction he had with me on the phone as well peter follow up on 19:03 former President Biden white House doctors may have missed the early stages 19:09 of his prostate cancer so is President Trump worried about the quality of care 19:15 that presidents get here not as far as President Trump is concerned the uh White House physician 19:21 we have here is phenomenal and the team of physicians that take care of the president particularly at Walter Reed 19:27 Medical Center are great the president had his physical recently as you know he had uh perfect results he’s in very good 19:34 shape i think those of you who traveled to the Middle East with us last week can attest to the president’s endurance and 19:39 by the way I will add we returned home from a very long and tiring trip last week and on Saturday where was the 19:46 president in the Oval Office working all day he doesn’t stop he doesn’t quit he’s in great health and he trusts his 19:52 physicians two more things uh Putin ghosted everybody at these peace talks 19:57 last week as President Trump phones him today to try to figure out an end to the Ukraine war does he think that Putin is 20:04 the good guy or the bad guy i’ll let the president speak on that conversation 20:09 later uh he’s made his his uh feelings about uh both sides of this war quite 20:15 clear throughout it he wants to see it end the last one what does President Trump mean when he says that Taylor 20:22 Swift is no longer hot look he uh is speaking about Taylor 20:28 Swift’s political views and how perhaps it has impacted the support of the American public for her work and I will 20:34 leave it at that annie go ahead thanks so much um Carolyn I’m just going back one more time to the White House medical 20:40 office because there seems to be some question about this with regard to President Biden’s screening can you say 20:46 whether or not President Trump is screened for prostate cancer as part of his physical to the best of my 20:51 understanding he is uh but we can certainly check in with the White House physician and go back and look at that physical report and then just one other 20:58 question um recently um uh Steven Miller at the White House made some comments 21:03 about considering suspending habius purpose and I’m curious if there’s any 21:08 update on how the White House is exploring that option to enact the president’s agenda i don’t have any 21:14 update at this time but I can check in with our deputy chief of staff Mary Margaret go ahead thanks Caroline um 21:20 given the ongoing revelations about the former president’s mental acuity and how 21:25 staff and media covered that up especially with the release of this book uh two days I think uh is there any 21:32 interest in further scrutiny of Kevin Oconor the former president’s position um I’ll let the president speak on that 21:38 i’ll I spoke to the president again about the former president’s health diagnosis last night and uh he wanted to 21:44 extend his warmest wishes to the former president and his family um but as for any further action I’ll let the 21:51 president speak on that first michelle Vice President Vance’s meeting with Zilinski can you share any more information on that uh my understanding 21:57 was it was a a good meeting a productive meeting um and we’re grateful that the vice president did it and that he also 22:04 went to uh the Pope’s first mass in Rome i also have an update on that uh the vice president passed along a letter to 22:11 the pope from the president and from the first lady extending their warm wishes and inviting them to the White House as 22:17 soon as they possibly can come michelle uh on Iran Steve Wood said yesterday that continued enrichment is a red line 22:24 for the US the Iranian foreign minister says that’s going to continue no matter what how committed is the US to that red 22:29 line and what’s the next step for the next round of talks we are 100% committed to that red line the president 22:34 special envoy Whit Secretary Rubio have made that incredibly clear not just to 22:39 the American public but also in those discussions that special envoy Witoff has had directly with the Iranians and 22:45 the next round of talks I don’t have an update for you but we can get one um to the back row go ahead thank you Caroline 22:52 south Africa’s president says he’s going to come to the White House to meet with President Trump on Wednesday what are the president’s expectations for that 22:59 trip and South Africa’s president recently said he believes the folks that have been resettled here recently are 23:04 cowards running away from problems in South Africa does the White House have a response to that so I did see the South 23:11 African president put out that statement i want to confirm on our end with our secretary of state and national security 23:16 adviser and we’ll get back to you on that monica thanks Caroline uh you mentioned the president and the first 23:21 lady are signing the historic take it down act this afternoon i’m curious to know what are some of the repercussions or consequences for these online 23:28 platforms or perpetrators that won’t comply with the act well what this bill does it takes the initial step to ensure 23:33 that prosecutors are able um to take down that’s why it’s called the Take It Down Act uh platforms that are allowing 23:40 this sexually explicit content on their platform so it gives them more leeway to go after them as they see fit but as for 23:47 specific repercussions I would defer you to the Department of Justice of how they plan to implement this bill once it is 23:53 signed later today brian yes thank you uh you said in your opening statement you talked about this MAGA baby savings 24:00 account exactly how would that work uh who would be eligible for it i’m assuming women would be eligible for 24:08 that yes so we one of the provisions in the one big beautiful bill as I said 24:13 this is a very pro-f family piece of legislation not only does it increase the child tax credit but it also 24:19 includes uh MAGA baby savings accounts uh for children that are born before 24:25 January 1st 2024 under eight years old US citizens and have at least one parent 24:30 with a valid social security number uh and when this tax provision becomes law 24:37 um the child will if if the parents seek to do this will be set up uh with a savings account essentially it’s a 401k 24:43 for a newborn baby um and child’s relatives their parents um can uh 24:48 contribute up to $5,000 per per year of after tax dollars annually to that 24:54 account um and then later in the baby’s life at age 25 savings account holders 24:59 can withdraw up to the full balance of the account upon reaching 30 the account holders can access the full balance of 25:06 the account for any purpose desired so it’s a great initiative for new parents uh new mothers who want to set up the 25:12 savings account for their children ouija thank you caroline President Trump and his top economic aids have repeatedly 25:18 said that Americans will not pay the cost of tariffs in fact last week Lutnik 25:24 said people have to drop the quote silly arguments that consumers would pay u the 25:29 costs but over the weekend as you know the president posted that Walmart should 25:34 eat the tariffs and not charge the value customer anything i’ll be watching and so will your customers so um does he 25:42 acknowledge that if companies don’t absorb the full cost Americans will have to pay well first of all the CEO of 25:49 Walmart made those comments about the tariffs on an ear earnings call where CEOs I believe are legally obligated to 25:56 give the most dire warnings and forecasts to their uh investors and stakeholders the reality is as the 26:02 president has always maintained Chinese producers will be absorbing the cost of these tariffs and that is why China was 26:08 so quick to hustle to the negotiating table with the United States of America they need our markets they need our 26:14 consumers and I would again point you to the inflation report that came out last week showing that inflation is declining 26:20 in large part because energy uh prices are dropping across the board in this country because of the president’s 26:26 robust uh energy agenda that he has taken since January 20th so the president is committed to ensuring that 26:33 prices remain low for American consumers uh and he maintains the position that foreign countries will absorb these 26:38 tariffs what does he mean by I’ll be watching Walmart uh he’ll be watching seeing what they’re doing jennifer on 26:45 the gift plane from from Qatar three things is there a timeline for the US receiving that plane do you know how 26:52 long it will take to retrofit the plane to presidential standards and thirdly has the intelligence community security 26:59 folks have they weighed in on whether that plane can actually be secured to presidential standards i’m glad you 27:05 brought up this question because I was watching the American press spew a lot of misinformation about the plane 27:12 donation last week when we were abroad let’s be very clear the government of Qatar the Qatari family has offered to 27:20 donate this plane to the United States Air Force uh where that donation will be 27:25 accepted according to all legal and ethical obligations it will be retrofitted to the highest of standards 27:33 uh by the department of defense and the United States Air Force this plane is not a personal donation or a gift to the 27:39 president of the United States and everyone who wrote that last week should go and correct their stories because this is a donation to our country and to 27:46 the United States Air Force as for a timeline because it is the United States Air Force that is accepting the plane I 27:52 would defer you to them for specifics because the president frankly has nothing to do with it it’s the Air 27:57 Force’s project to take on sure Elizabeth thanks so much Caroline um did the president call fiscal conservatives 28:05 who were hesitant to vote for the big beautiful bill and if so what did they say what did he say uh the I don’t 28:10 reveal the president’s private discussions unless he gives me the liberty too but he has been engaged in this process he spoke to the speaker of 28:17 the house and uh he will continue to make those phone calls if it’s necessary for him sure thank you Caroline i’ll go 28:24 to both of you go ahead thank you uh any updates on Greenland will the president be making any trips and do we have any 28:29 details you can share with us i don’t have any future foreign trips to read out for you we just returned home from 28:35 one uh but the president maintains u the the uh reasoning for Greenland’s 28:40 strategic purposes in the Arctic um and he continues to remain committed to the 28:46 idea of uh obtaining Greenland in in whatever means we can to advance our uh 28:51 national security interests in the region thank you i have a question was Lebanon part of the discussions during 28:57 the Middle East tour and did you meet with any Lebanese representatives uh to my knowledge the president did not meet 29:04 with any representatives from uh Lebanon although he did talk about the election that they recently had there and how he 29:10 hopes that uh Lebanon can come to a more peaceful place in their country and that we drive out uh Hezbollah Iranianbacked 29:17 Hezbollah proxies uh in Lebanon to ensure peace and prosperity in that country and also for the greater Middle 29:23 Eastern region and I would just add to that before I I wrap up because the president’s call will begin in a few minutes the president’s historic tour to 29:29 the Middle East last week truly reset our foreign policy agenda in that region 29:35 i think actually in fact the Washington Post um had a headline President Trump remakes US foreign policy in the Middle 29:42 East and that’s absolutely true he took a courageous and bold step to lift sanctions on Syria he strengthened our 29:49 ties with our Gulf partners uh and he put Iran into a very difficult position because the United States of America is 29:56 back and I will summarize the president’s trip with an anecdote that I heard directly from a member of one of 30:01 the foreign delegations i asked him how hopeful uh their country was when they learned President Trump won the election 30:08 and he told me when President Trump won the election it was the like the lights turned on in a dark room for the past 30:15 four years to the rest of the world America was dark we were unresponsive we did not pick up the phone we did not 30:20 return calls all of that has changed under the leadership of this president and I think the world saw that last week 30:26 with this historic and wildly successful trip and the work continues the president will be speaking to President 30:32 Putin at 10 a.m and we’ll have a readout for you after that call and we’ll see you in the Rose Garden at 3:00 thanks 30:37 guys thank you everyone

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