Some big discussions today concerning trade, concerning lots of different subjects. We have a tremendous trade relationship with Ireland and we'll keep it that way. I think it's going to be expanded very greatly.
Probably they want to talk a little bit about tariffs, but I won't mention that. You know, we won't bring that up. But you might want to be discussing that a little bit. But it's an honor to have you and thank you very much for being here. Thank you.
And may I thank you, President, for facilitating this visit, and in what is for us probably one of the most important weeks in the United States. And in many ways, you're affirming the tremendous bonds between Ireland and the United States that go back to the very foundation of this republic, and 35 million people in this country claim Irish descent and Irish heritage. And I spent the first two days in Philadelphia, right, going back really into the heart of that history, and the fact that three Irish people born in the island of Ireland signed the Declaration of Independence. It was printed by an Irishman, John Dunlap, and disseminated across the colonies. And Charles Thomson, who we discussed earlier, he designed the bald eagle, the seal of the US. So, in many ways, our connection is foundational. It's historic, and the Irish helped to build America. We're very proud of that connection and we think you hosting us here in the White House is affirmation to all the Irish Americans out there and to our diaspora in this country for what they've contributed to America. And that's very much through the prism this year, the America 250. It's a very exciting year and we're discovering new things. I mean, even a guy from my own city, a guy called Stephen Moylan, who was an aide to Washington, he's regarded as the guy who came up with the phrase the United States of America, first written record, and it's in New York in the history of those bonds.
Well, you told me something before that was maybe the most interesting of all. How many presidents are in some way related through blood with Ireland?
They're great politicians.
The Irish are great politicians. No, but think of it. 23 are in some form and many of them have gone to Ireland.
Grant was... Grant went to Ireland after his presidency. Right.
I was saying earlier Ronald Reagan's visit was an extraordinary one in a place called Ballyporeen in County Tipperary.
And of course John F. Kennedy, whose grandfather was Irish, came back, I think, early '63. That's a very memorable visit because of what tragedy that happened subsequently in the assassination, which touched people in Ireland very deeply. Sort of Kennedy... very popular... Kennedy family strong... very, yeah... resonance with Ireland... but we like the family... too... one person in particular... one very non-controversial... I know that, yeah... but now he's doing a very good job, though, it really is.
But we have more, I think, people here by far than you have in Ireland that are of Irish descent. We have... so you have quite a few, but we have a lot. You have a lot more than we have. That's pretty amazing.
Anyway, thank you very much. It's a great honor. And any questions for... you visit in September and when you stay at...
Well, I'm having... it's a great thing. My son and my family. We have a great golf complex in Ireland, one of the best in the world called Doonbeg. It's in Doonbeg. And it's been amazing. And Rory McIlroy loves it. They all love it. Great golfers. You have a tremendous golf tradition and it was chosen for the Irish Open, which is a big deal. That's a big event.
Absolutely. Looking forward to it.
Everybody wants me to be there. You just said I hope you're going to go.
And we're going to try. We are going to try. But it would be an honor. But it was a great honor to be chosen. They only choose the best courses in the world for the, you know, for the big opens. It's one of the big ones, the Irish Open. It's really become one of the most important tournaments in the world. It's going to do... I hear it's going to be a fantastic success.
Mr. President, what progress have you made, Mr. President, in getting America's allies to assist the US in escorting those oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz?
Well, we don't need too much help and we don't need any help actually. In fact, we just put out a notice. I was watching over the last couple of weeks and all of our NATO allies were very much in favor of what we did. They thought it was very important. We were just discussing it actually, very important that we take out the nuclear threat from Iran and we've done that very strongly, very powerfully. We've wiped out their navy, wiped out their military in every aspect. Their air force is now decimated. They have no air force, no navy. They have no radar. Their radar is entirely gone. Their anti-aircraft machinery is gone. Everything is gone. Their leaders are gone. I guess one of their top person was... they say, a lot of people say their actual top was killed yesterday along with somebody else who was responsible for the killing. The man that was responsible for the killing of 32,000 people over the last two weeks. He was in charge of the killing of protesters. It's an evil group. I mean, they killed much more than 32,000 people and the man who is responsible for that was also killed yesterday. And all of the NATO allies agreed with us, but they don't want to, you know, despite the fact that we help them so much. We have thousands of soldiers in different countries all over the world and they don't want to help us, which is amazing. I mean, amazing. And I didn't do a full court press because I think if I did they probably would be, but we don't need help. You know, that war has been long prosecuted as far as I'm concerned almost from day one. We knocked out many of these things. We knocked out the Navy essentially in a couple of days. But I was surprised to see that NATO, while they agreed that it was a very important thing to do, they agree fully. Nobody said, 'Oh, you shouldn't do it.' They would have had a nuclear weapon within one month of when we had the B2 bombers bomb the nuclear potential, the... I call it the nuclear dust. So I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake. And I've long said that, you know, I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this was a great test because we don't need them, but they should have been there. The other thing is, and I think, you know, very important, we didn't have to be there for Ukraine. You know, Biden chose to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on Ukraine. And I guess the head of Germany just made a statement that, well, they weren't involved and they have nothing to do with the war, but at the same time they think we did a great thing by knocking them out. Nobody wants to have Iran or anybody, but nobody wants to have Iran with a nuclear because these people are crazy. They're absolutely crazy and they're vicious, violent. I mean, they killed... think of it, they killed... now I hear it's about 41,000 people. They put out a notice two days ago: anybody that protests will be immediately shot and killed. That's pretty tough stuff. So everyone agrees with us, but they don't want to help. And we, you know, we as the United States have to remember that because we think it's pretty shocking.
Mr. President, President Macron has just said in the last hour that he will never join a task force in the Strait of Hormuz until hostilities are finished. Yet yesterday you said...
Who said that? Who said that?
President Macron of France. What's your reaction to that, sir?
Well, he'll be out of office very soon. So we'll have to see, you know, I don't know.
Mr. President, on Doonbeg, you're building an extension to it at the moment, but there's been an objection put in and it's being held back at the moment due to small snails. What are you disappointed by? Planning Commission?
I have not heard that. No. I mean, the course was built and it's been operated very successfully. Somebody's objecting... a human and environmental group is objecting to...
Mr. President, how close is the US to announcing a coalition of the willing to secure the Strait of Hormuz? Which countries are joining and which countries aren't?
Well, we've had great support from the Middle East. Qatar has been great. UAE has been absolutely... they've been great. Saudi Arabia has been terrific. Bahrain has been very good. The Middle Eastern countries have been very strong in their support and of course Israel has been our partner. Israel has been very, very strong along with... Iran. I was... if you look... ago I talked about Iran was a big threat to this country, to this world of ours, and it turned out to be. I was right. In fact, I said you have to attack... you have to attack them years ago when they were acting up. They've been acting up for 37, 47, I guess now 48 years. For 48 years, they've been bad players, vicious players, and you can't let them have a nuclear weapon. If they got a nuclear weapon, I would say they would have used it within 24 hours after having it. And they would have had it if we didn't bomb them out from that great raid with the B2 bombers eight months ago or so. You would have had a nuclear war in the Middle East and maybe beyond. I think it would have hit Europe. Maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe. I think you would have been a nice piece of it. It all gets you. It's big enough that you would have been affected. They would have hit Europe eventually.
Mr. President, your director of national counterterrorism, Joe Kent, he just resigned today. He said he can't support your conflict with Iran. What's your reaction to that? And did you...
Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security. Very weak on security. I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it. And many people, many of the greatest military scholars are saying for years that presidents should have taken out Iran because they wanted a nuclear weapon. They were... if we didn't do the attack, or if I'll go a step further, if I didn't terminate the Iran nuclear deal given to us, one of the worst deals ever made by Barack Hussein Obama. Remember when they sent Boeing 757s over there loaded with cash, hundreds of millions of dollars? He would have been very happy. This was a wonderful... They sent hundreds of millions. People forget that. Does anybody remember? Right. You remember hundreds of millions of dollars in a Boeing 757. I think they had two of them loaded. They took the seats out and they put cash, and it was so much that there wasn't a bank in Virginia, Maryland or DC that had any money left. They stripped them of all their money, put it into place, sent it to Iran almost as ransom. That's not going to happen with Trump. And nobody ever did anything about... nobody ever said anything. Can you imagine if I did that? So they've been a threat for a long time, but they've really been a threat. If I didn't terminate Obama's horrible deal that he made, the Iran nuclear deal, you would have had a nuclear war... ago. You would have had... you would have had nuclear holocaust and you would have had it again if we didn't bomb the site. So when somebody is working with us that says they didn't think Iran was a threat, we don't want those people. Because... and there are some people, I guess, that would say that, but they're not smart people or they're not savvy people. Iran was a tremendous threat. And virtually every NATO nation, and this is the thing, if they told me it wasn't a threat and therefore they don't want to help. But when they say it was a threat, and it was a major threat, every one of them, I think every one of them, I don't know of one that said they're not a threat, but when they say it was a threat, but we're not going to help, I think they're very foolish. You know, it's interesting. It's interesting because I could say this, that what's happening in Ukraine, we're probably in there for $400 billion. We don't spend any money anymore. They buy it from us and they pay full price. But Biden gave them between 350 and $400 billion dollars of equipment in cash. Someday they'll have to find out about the cash. And you could say that wasn't a threat. You know, we're helping them. So we helped them and they didn't help us. And I think that's a very bad thing for NATO.
Mr. President, are there any repercussions for NATO? And are you still going to China?
Well, yeah. What... on China? That's a little different story. We are... we're resetting the meeting and it looks like it'll take place in about five weeks. We're working with China. They were fine with it. We're going to say... I look forward to seeing President Xi. He looks forward to seeing me, I think. But I do look forward to seeing... We have a good relationship with China. China actually has become economically for us very good, very good, as you know. It's much different than it was in the past. And we have a very good working relationship with China. So we're making it in about five or six weeks.
Mr. President, for not supporting you on this. Any repercussions?
Well, no. I just think that it's not good for a partnership when they say what you're doing is a great thing, but we're not going to help.
Mr. President, they said what you did is a great thing, but we're not going to help. Mr. President, in Iran, because the Iranian regime has told Sky News if you put boots on the ground in Iran it will be another Vietnam. Are you afraid of that?
No, I'm not afraid of... I'm really not afraid of anything.
