Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Aug. 19, 2025

//Summary - Level-B2//

Karoline Leavitt praised President Trump’s leadership in seeking peace in the Russia-Ukraine war, contrasting it with what she called Joe Biden’s failures. She highlighted Trump’s recent meetings with Putin in Alaska and with European leaders and Zelensky in Washington, which she said restarted serious peace talks. Leaders like Finland’s president and NATO’s Secretary General credited Trump for breaking the deadlock. Trump rejected U.S. boots on the ground but supports coordination with allies. Leavitt also emphasised his domestic crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., and criticised the media for downplaying his achievements. She framed Trump as restoring U.S. strength globally.

0:03
Karoline Leavitt: Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Good to see all of you.

What we've witnessed President Trump accomplish over the last few days has been nothing short of remarkable.

We are now three and a half years into the war between Russia and Ukraine, a brutal conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian lives and cost trillions of dollars. The weakness and incompetence of Joe Biden foolishly allowed the killing to start in the first place. Until President Trump returned to office in January.

0:37
The bloody and broken Biden status quo was to endlessly force American taxpayers to fund Ukraine no matter the cost, no matter how long it takes, and no matter many lives were lost.

There is no denying that Biden's America Last foreign policy moved the world further away from peace.

President Trump rejected that failed approach and instead, over the last seven months, has relentlessly pursued peace throughout his second term.

1:04
And thanks to President Trump's efforts, we finally have movement after years of deadly gridlock.

On Friday, as you all know, many of you were there, President Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, for a bilateral meeting. This was the first time President Putin has been to the United States since 2015 and the first he has met with an American president in years.

President Putin publicly confirmed what President Trump has said all along. The war between Russia and Ukraine never would have started in the first place if President Trump were in office. This was always obvious to any person with a shred of common sense. Just look at what took place during the last four administrations. Under George W. Bush, Russia invaded Georgia.

1:50
Under Barack Obama, Russia took Crimea. Under Joe Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine.

But under President Trump, Russia did not invade nor take anything. President Trump is the only president this century, Republican or Democrat, who has held Russia in check and ensured peace in Europe.

That's because Russia has always greatly respected President Trump and his peace-through-strength foreign policy approach.

2:15
But overall, the bilateral talks in Alaska were very productive, and multiple key points were agreed to between the two leaders that truly opened up the door for phase two discussions, which took place yesterday here at the White House. Within 48 hours of that meeting in Anchorage, I may add.

2:32
As you all know, there were many European leaders here, as well as Ukrainian President Zelensky.

They all traveled here to meet with President Trump, to maintain the momentum and work toward a lasting peace.

Across the board, every leader credited President Trump for his decisive leadership that has reignited the dialog in hopes of finally bringing this war to a peaceful conclusion. Two quotes in particular capture the progress that was made and the optimism moving forward.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said, "I think in the past two weeks we've probably had more progress in ending this war than we have had in the last two and a half years".

Again, that is the President of Finland, a country that shares a border with Russia. That's what we call the President Trump effect.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also summed it up well. "Without President Trump, this deadlock with Putin would not have been broken.

He is the only one who could do this." Following the encouraging conversations yesterday, President Trump spoke with President Putin by phone, and he agreed to begin the next phase of the peace process, a meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky, which would be followed, if necessary, by a trilateral meeting between President Putin, President Zelinski, and President Trump.

3:48
As the President said, Vice President Vance, Secretary Rubio and Special Envoy Wittkopf will continue to coordinate with Russia and Ukraine to make this happen as soon as possible. It's very important to remember that before President Trump's landslide victory last November,there was no end in sight to this bloodshed.

Now there may finally be light at the end of the tunnel and an opportunity for lasting peace. That's because President Trump is the peace president and American leadership is back on the world stage.

It should not be lost on anyone in this room that world leaders are coming right here to Washington, D.C. For help. While previous presidents have traveled halfway around the world to apologize for America, President Trump stands up for America and he has firmly restored America's status as the undisputed leader of the free world.

4:38
However, one thing that has absolutely not changed is the media's negative and downright false coverage of President Trump and his foreign policy accomplishments. From the beginning of this entire process.

Much of the left-wing media has been actively rooting against the President of the United States in the pursuit of peace.

4:55
Initially, the media ridiculously claimed that President Trump was somehow beholden to Russia for even agreeing to have a face-to-face discussion with President Putin inside of the U.S.

The media said President Trump was making a grave mistake by, quote, "legitimizing Putin." They were aghast that President Trump would treat another world leader like a world leader. The media relentlessly attacked President Trump and claimed he suffered a, quote, "major defeat for not immediately emerging with a final agreement," even though he said, heading into that meeting, this was a meeting to listen and to understand how to move the ball forward.

All weekend following those historic U.S.-Russia bilateral talks, we listened to clueless pundits on television trying but failing to claim that the President had failed. The so-called experts in the foreign policy establishment, whose record is nothing but endless wars, trillions of wasted taxpayer dollars, and dead Americans have the nerve to try and lecture President Trump, who has solved seven global conflicts in seven months about peace.

5:58
This is the same president, by the way, who brokered the Abraham Accords in his first term on top of more than half a dozen other peace deals this year alone, as I just said. We also saw yesterday the President of Ukraine and all of the other major leaders of Europe fly across the Atlantic Ocean to meet President Trump at the White House because of the progress that was made and that, if you ask the media, failed meeting, but it was not. It was highly productive and it was successful.

6:23
This is why Americans trust in the mass media is at a lowest point in more than five decades.
Diplomacy is a delicate process and instead of reporting the facts about what is happening here at this White House and what is happening between this president and other leaders around the world, many outlets in this room continue to try to actively undermine the President and sabotage the efforts towards peace. That is why I felt the need to set the record straight.

6:48
In other news, on the home front, President Trump's efforts to make DC safe again are working. There have been a total of 465 arrests since the start of this operation on Thursday, August 7th. Last night, there were a total of 52 arrests, including the arrest of an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member with convictions for DWI and drug possession.

Thanks to President Trump's leadership in the outstanding work of both federal and local law enforcement, dangerous gang members like the one picked up last night will not be allowed on the streets of our nation's capital.

7:23
Other arrests last night included assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing, parole violation for robbery, murder, outstanding warrant for attempted murder, assault on federal law enforcement officer, and felony assault.

7:36
Four more homeless encampments were also removed during yesterday's reporting period. To date, a total of 48 homeless encamps have been cleared in Washington D.C. By multi-agency teams. MPD patrol units are actively working with city officials to locate and clear additional encampment and remove homeless residents off of Washington's streets.

7:57
And despite fake narratives from the media again, a significant number of the arrests have been in high crime areas of D.C. In fact, nearly half. Of all of the non-illegal alien-related arrests have occurred in wards 7 and 8, the two wards that have the highest number of violent crime,as well as homicides and assaults with dangerous weapons last year.

So while Democrats continue to coddle violent criminals, President Trump and this administration are focused on putting them behind bars and unapologetically standing up for the safety of law-abiding American citizens, and the White House will continue to provide all of you.

8:34
With the results of this operation in the days ahead. So with that, I will take your questions today. Here in our new media seat today, we have Jack Pasobic, who joined us in Anchorage, Alaska last week. Jack, thanks for being here. Why don't you kick us off?
The Press: Karoline, thanks so much.

8:47
So a couple of questions regarding the status of these peace talks. Obviously, we saw the President and President Putin there in Anchorage. We saw the world leaders here yesterday with this summit.

8:57
We've heard phrases like coalition of the willing. We've also heard Article 5-like guarantees.

When it comes to the security guarantees, what is the current status of that? I know the President earlier today mentioned boots on the ground would be UK, France, Germany possibly, but unequivocally said no U.S. Troops on the ground, but U. S. coordination. Can you elaborate on that? And what would the red lines be?

Karoline Leavitt: Sure. Well, you got to the heart of what I was going to say to all of you today on security guarantees, which is the President has definitively stated U.S. Boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine. But we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies.

The President understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace and he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe and also to continue to cooperate and discuss.These matters with Ukraine and Russia as well.

9:49
The Press: (inaudible) have the Russians responded at all?

I know he spoke with President Putin last night. What has been their response? Because we've heard some reports from the Kremlin and others saying they're unequivocally against NATO troops on the ground.

Karoline Leavitt: Well, look, the President continues to have these conversations with both leaders.

10:07
Those conversations took place in Anchorage, Alaska, again yesterday with the Europeans and President Zelensky, and he has directed his team to come up with a framework for these security guarantees that can be acceptable to help ensure a lasting peace and end this war.

The Press: Last question really quick on this. Regarding some of the funding, we're hearing questions about another round of weapons sales and possibly a round of US purchases of Ukrainian drones.

10:33
Will that money be funded by the US taxpayers? Are we finally going to see an end to the US taxpayer funded seemingly endless mandate for these foreign wars?

Karoline Leavitt: Well, the Presiden is very sensitive to the needs of the American taxpayer, and immediately upon entering office back in January, he made it very clear that we're not going to continue writing blank checks to fund a war very far away, which is why he came up with a very creative solution to have NATO purchase American weaponry, because it is the best in the world and then to backfill the needs of the Ukrainian army.

11:05
In the Ukrainian people and their military. So that's the solution the President has came up with. We'll continue to see that forward.

As for any additional sales, I'll have to defer you to the Department of Defense. Thanks Jack. Kelly.
The Press: What has President Trump learned that tells him that Vladimir Putin would be willing to make a deal for him, for President Trump?

Karoline Leavitt: Well, the President has learned a lot, which is part of the reason he opened up this dialog. The previous administration, who oversaw the beginning of this war, refused to talk. And President Trump has always said, in order to learn,in order to move the ball forward with diplomacy and towards peace, you have to have open dialog.

11:41
And so that's why the President has had several conversations by phone and, of course, an in-person meeting last Friday with President Putin.

He also has talked to President Zelensky dozens of times, had him here at the White House yesterday, and he's understanding what both sides want, what both side are going to have to give up,and he has always said, in order to get a good deal, both sides are going have to walk away a little bit unhappy.

12:05
So he continues to learn a lot throughout these conversations, which is why we've seen progress from both sides.

And I would also just add, when it comes to learning and moving the ball forward, look at how both Russia and Ukraine have actually talked directly for the first time in many years, thanks to the efforts of this president and this administration.

The Press: Specifically for President Trump, though, what do you think Putin's motivation is to try to do something for President Trump, as opposed to just resolving the conflict?

12:34
Karoline Leavitt: I think, as I just spoke to in my opening remarks, Kelly, Russia and all countries around this world actually respect the United States again, and the President is using the might of American strength to demand that respect from our allies, our friends, our adversaries all around the world.

12:51
And we've seen that not just lead to progress with Russia and Ukraine, but also we've seen it in the closing of seven global conflicts around the word as well. We've seen it with the release of hostages in Gaza.

You've seen it with the end of the conflict between India and Pakistan, which could have resulted in a nuclear war if we had not had a president who believed in the strength and the leverage that comes with the job of being the President of the United States of America. Rachel.

13:17
The Press: Thanks, Karoline. Heading into Alaska, a lot of the focus in the talk was on this trilateral meeting between these three leaders.

Can you explain how this went from a trilateral meeting involving President Trump to now the focus being on this bilateral meeting without the President first?

Karoline Leavitt: Well, look, the President has spoken to both leaders about this, and both leaders have expressed a willingness to sit down with each other. And so our national security team will help both countries do that.

13:42
Ultimately, the President has always said that there are areas of disagreement in this war that will have to be discusse and decided upon by these two countries. And so he wants these two country to engage in direct diplomacy.

13:54
He said that from the very beginning, which is why he's agreeable to the idea of having President Zelensky and President Putin get together.

And I understand accommodations for that meeting are underway. As soon as we hear more details, we'll be sure to let all of you know.

The Press: Quick follow up. We know as of right now there is no ceasefire in place. We've seen Russia continue its attacks on Ukraine.

What indications is the President getting from Putin that he wants to have this meeting with Zelenskyy soon?

Karoline Leavitt: Because he spoke to him directly yesterday. He spoke to that directly yesterday and the President put that in his statement that he gave to all of you, the news media, knowing you'd be asking, following that conversation in the effort of transparency. Haley.

14:35
The Press: Thanks, Karoline. You made clear no U.S. boots on the ground. Is the President considering U.S. boots in the air as a form of a security guarantee?

Karoline Leavitt: Look, that was something the President mentioned on his interview this morning. It is an option and a possibility.

14:48
I won't certainly rule out anything as far as military options that the President has at his disposal.

14:53
I'll let him do that. I can tell you he's definitively ruled out boots on the ground.
The Press: Just about the possible venue for the talks, can you confirm that Putin suggested Moscow as a venue for bilateral talks, and if so, doesn't that indicate that Putin is perhaps not serious about this, that he's suggesting a venue that there's no way that Zelensky is going to go to?

15:14
Karoline Leavitt: Look, I'm not going to litigate the private conversations between the President and President Putin aside from what the President himself has already spoken on, but I can tell you there are many options that are being discussed by our national security team right now with both parties.

The Press: (inaudible) can give us an indication of where.

Karoline Leavitt: I just told you we'll provide you details as soon as we can. Thank you for trying, though. Libby.

15:37
The Press: I wanted to ask about the National Guard troops. How is the White House coordinating how they're being placed in D.C.?

What areas? And then also, how long should people here in the district anticipate National Guard to be on the ground, the patrol of the troops?
Karoline Leavitt: I don't have a timeline for you, Libby, but we will keep you posted on that.

15:55
I think the President, as you know, and this administration, he came to this briefing room with members of his cabinet to lay out the rationale and the reasoning for federalizing the National Guard here in Washington, D.C., and for our work with the Metropolitan Police Department to make our district safer.

We've seen violent crime has taken the lives of far too many residents here in our capital and the President wants to make it safe again. And as for the coordination efforts, this inter-agency team is meeting and talking daily.

16:27
In fact, there's a meeting taking place right now in the West Wing with members of the inter-agency task force to continue to discuss not just the National Guard deployment, but also how we can continue to remove public safety threats off of the streets of Washington, which as the numbers I just showed you prove, they are doing every single night.

16:45
I will just reiterate, 465 total arrests and counting. Since the start of this operation.
I believe 11 or 12 days ago, I'll have to check the calendar, but those are pretty remarkable results.

16:56
If not for this task force and their high level of coordination and the leadership of this president, there would have been 465 more violent criminals on the streets of this Capitol that you all live in every day. So I think we should all be very grateful for that. Stephen.

17:09
The Press: Thank you, Karoline. Three questions about the D.C. crackdown. Sure. First, I was wondering if you could clarify something President Trump said. He mentioned getting rid of the slums where criminals live.

17:20
Was he talking about tents or permanent residential buildings? And then the mayor has expressed an interest in clarifying how much of a focus illegal immigration enforcement is as part of this crackdown?

17:32
Can you say anything about that? Sure. Any preview on the beautification?

Karoline Leavitt: Three questions. I'll try to answer all three of them pointedly for you.

17:39
First, when it comes to what you said and the President said, the slums of Washington, D.C., he's referring to the most dangerous communities, neighborhoods, and streets in the city where, unfortunately, violence has ravaged these communities and taken the lives of, again, far too many law-abiding D.C. residents.

We know on July 5th of this year, just more than a month ago, a three year old beautiful young girl was shot and killed in her car with her family in one of these communities, which is why there has been a surge, despite what many of you have been falsely reporting.

18:12
And I believe it was the Washington Post to put out a map claiming it to be fact based when it was just based on, I don't know, accounts that they've heard on the street, not actual statistics and data. So we went and reconfigured the numbers.

And as I said, half, nearly half of all the non illegal alien related arrests have occurred and ward seven and eight in the District of Columbia where we know -- excuse me -- there's the highest rate of crime.

18:36
So we'll continue to do that. And what was your second question, Stephen?
The Press: Immigration, how much of a focus that is.

18:41
Karoline Leavitt: Yeah, look, I mean, the focus is to make D.C. safe and beautiful and to remove public safety threats and violent criminals from our streets.

If federal law enforcement, with the help of the Metropolitan Police Department, come across illegal aliens, of course we are going to abide by this administration's policy of law and order, and we are going to remove illegal criminals from the nation's capital.

They will be detained and deported just like they are in every other community across the country.

The Press: My first question is whose idea was it to change the next steps from a trilateral to a bilateral meeting?

19:16
Karoline Leavitt: It was an idea that evolved in the course of the President's conversations with both President Putin, President Zelensky, and the European leaders yesterday. And as you saw, Kristen, with all of those European leaders leaving the White House, including the NATO Secretary General, they all agree that this is a great first step.

And it's a good thing that these two leaders are going to be sitting down together, and the President expects that to happen.

The Press: How long is Trump willing to wait and operate in good faith for Putin to actually arrange a meeting before he intervenes?

Karoline Leavitt: Look, the President has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He's taken actions, as you've seen, sanctions on India and other actions as well. He's made himself very clear that he wants to see this war end.

19:58
And he has scoffed at the ideas of others that have been raised that we should wait another month before any meeting takes place. The president wants to move and he wants bring this to war to an end as quickly as possible.

20:09
The Press: (inaudible) about Putin agreeing to the meeting. The Kremlin seemed to indicate that Putin did not firmly agree to a bilateral. Did he agree to have a sit down with just Zelensky on the phone?

20:22
Karoline Leavitt: I can assure you that the United States government and the Trump administration is working with both Russia and Ukraine to make that bilateral happen as we speak. Sean.

The Press: If the point is to get everybody on the same page, why wouldn't Trump just take the call from Putin while the other leaders were in the room? He said it would be disrespectful to do that. Why is it disrespectful?

20:40
Karoline Leavitt: With all due respect, only a reporter from the New York Times would ask a question like that, Sean.

20:46
The president met with all of these European leaders at the White House 48 hours after sitting down with President Putin on American soil. In fact, there was so much progress in the readout that was given to these European leaders immediately following his meeting with President Putin that every single one of them got on a plane 48 hours later and flew to the United States of America.

And if I could just read for all of you some of the statements from those European leaders yesterday, you had President Zelensky himself saying it was a very good conversation. It was really good.

21:17
We spoke about very sensitive points. The Secretary General, Mark Ruta, it was the President only because of the President that this deadlock was broken, but with President Putin by starting a dialog.

21:30
So these leaders who this war is in their backyard are very grateful that the President took that call.
And that he was there to provide them with a readout of Russia's thinking on this, something that was not done by the previous administration at all. Catherine.

The Press: (inaudible) looking at Budapest as a possible location?

21:48
Karoline Leavitt: I'm not going to confirm or deny locations. We'll provide you with details as soon as we can.

The Press: On Kristen's question, I understand that the White House is working and allies are working to make this meeting happen, but did Putin promise to do a meeting with Zelensky,a direct meeting, in the coming weeks?

Karoline Leavitt: He has, and I just answered that question for you. Franco.

The Press: Thanks. I just want to clarify.

22:08
So you are saying that President Trump is considering U.S. pilots and U.S. aircraft potentially supporting European or Ukrainian forces.

Karoline Leavitt: The President spoke to that himself this morning when he called into Fox& Friends and I would defer you to his answer. You can read it directly yourself.

22:28
The Press: In addition, can I ask, no boots on the ground, Steve Witkoff's talking about Article 5-like security guarantees. Can you talk about what other Article 5 like security guarantees that are being considered if it's not boots on the ground?

Karoline Leavitt: These are very sensitive diplomatic discussions that are currently taking place literally as we speak. So I will leave it to the national security team and I'll leave it the President to have those private discussions with these leaders as we try to bring this war to an end.

22:58
The Press: Thanks, Karoline. Two questions, if that's okay. So on these meetings, I know you said that the trilateral will take place if necessary.

23:06
Do you think that we might not need the trilateral and that Zelensky and Putin might come to this conclusion on their own?

23:12
And then, as a follow-up, I know the President said on Fox News this morning that he's partially seeking peace in order to get to heaven.

23:19
Was he joking, or is there spiritual motivation behind his peace deal here?
Karoline Leavitt: I think the President was serious.
I think president wants to get to heaven, as I hope we all do in this room as well.

23:31
The Press: Thanks Karoline. I'm just shifting gears to the Department of Justice for a minute. Can you walk us through why another deputy FBI director was named? Does Trump have any displeasure with how the FBI has been being run to date?
I have a question about the antitrust.

Karoline Leavitt: Andrew Bailey is extremely qualified,as you know, he's been serving with honor as the Attorney General of Missouri and he's brought on as another set of very credible and experienced hands to work alongside the current Deputy Director, Dan Bongino, under the leadership of the Director, Cash Patel,and the Attorney General, Pam Bondi.

And the FBI has been doing a tremendous job, we've seen their agents out on the But the crime that they've been stopping here in Washington, they've being doing this for seven months all across the country.

24:21
In fact, there's been 19,000 arrests by the FBI nationwide. That's more than double last year in the same time period.

Of those 1,600 arrests were for violent crimes against children. 4,000 child victims have been rescued by this FBI under this current leadership, 1,000 arrest from investigations of foreign terrorist organizations.

There's been 1,500 kilos of fentanyl seized, 6,300 kilos of meth have been seized, and three of the top 10 most wanted have been arrested so far. Not a single one of the individuals on the top ten most wanted lists were arrested under the previous administration. We've arrested three in seven months. So when you're actually working and enforcing law and order, you need all hands on deck.

25:23

And so we look forward to welcoming Andrew Bailey to this new post. Jackie.
The Press: I had a quick question about Roger Alfred, who is a former DOJ official. He gave a speech in Aspen yesterday where he said that senior DOJ aides are cutting deals with favored lobbyists. I'm wondering if the President has any concerns at all with the way the antitrust division is working.

Karoline Leavitt: I have no idea who that individual is. I don't know why he made those comments. I don't know what basis he's making those comments on.

My instinct tells me it's not true, but we will definitely look into them and I'll get you a response. Jackie.
The Press: Karoline, since the President often says that this war would not have started if he were in office and Putin confirmed that, how --.
Karoline Leavitt: It's true. Do you accept that as true?

25:46
The European leaders do. And President Putin himself said that, by the way.
The Press: He did say that. The question I have, though, is what is the President going to do to ensure that these security guarantees last beyond him into the time when he is no longer president? And does that have to involve Congress at all?

26:04
Karoline Leavitt: Well, he understands the need for that, which he spoke to yesterday, and what's he going to do? It's why he's engaging in so many talks and so many conversations with both sides of this war with our European allies. It's way on the way home from Anchorage, Alaska,very late at night, when I know many of you on the press plane were sleeping and many staff were sleeping, the President himself was still awake at 2 o'clock in the morning talking to European leaders and NATO.

26:30
About how we can ensure a lasting peace and bring this conflict to an end. He has expended an incredible amount of time, energy, and effort into bringing this war to an and he remains determined to do that.

26:44
Go ahead. Sure, Jake, and then to your right.
The Press: Thank you, Karoline. Which of the half-dozen peace deals that the President's pulled off would you say he's the most proud of?

26:56
Karoline Leavitt: That's a good question, Jake. I'll leave that to the President to answer. I think he's proud of all of the peace deals that he's been able to achieve. You saw the President of Armenia and the head of Azerbaijan both at the White House just a couple of weeks ago.

The president, I know, very much enjoyed spending time with them and helping to bring that conflict to an end. He very much enjoy his time with leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Oval Office, talking to them about bringing that decades-long war to an end, India and Pakistan He used trade in a very powerful way as leverage to bring that conflict to an end.

27:30
So I know he's very proud of all of these achievements, and I know he's honored to serve as the President of the United States and to restore peace around this world. Go ahead. The

Press: You mentioned a meeting in Azerbaijan. That's a conflict that, you know,

27:43
I spent time in the Southern caucuses covering that. And, you, know, a conflict of over 30 years, and he resolved it in just a couple of months. Are there other conflicts that the President is working on right now that are off the radar screen that we should be tracking?

28:00
Karoline Leavitt: In fact, there are many. The State Department is always working around the clock under the leadership of Secretary Rubio and keeping the President apprised of conflicts that are bubbling up all over the world.

But of course, as you all know,as we've talked a lot about in this briefing, he's spending a lot of time right now on ending this war on Russia-Ukraine,and of course the conflict in Israel and Gaza, which he wants to see come to a close as well. Sure, go ahead.

28:21
The Press: So the President says that he's starting a movement to eliminate mail-in voting.
But states administer elections, not federal authorities. So can you provide any more details about how the White House plans to eliminate that?

28:35
Karoline Leavitt: The White House continues to work on this, and when Congress comes back to Washington, I'm sure there will be many discussions with our friends on Capitol Hill and also our friends in state legislatures across the country to ensure that we're protecting the integrity of the vote for the American people.

And I think Republicans generally and the President generally wants to make it easier for Americans to vote and harder for people to cheat in our elections. And it's quite mind-boggling that the Democrat Party could stand in opposition to common sense. He wants to ensure election integrity. There were great efforts that were made in 2024.

29:08
I won't get ahead of myself for Hatch Act reasons to get ahead for the next election.
But I can assure you this is a priority for the President. Go ahead.

The Press: If I could just follow up on your comments about Gaza, there was a ceasefire proposal put forward by both Qatar and Egypt. Hamas accepted it on Monday.

29:27
Israel has yet to officially weigh in. I'm wondering if the U.S. was at all involved in it, if it's supportive of it, and whether or not the President believes Israel should accept it.

Karoline Leavitt: I don't think it's a coincidence that Hamas accepted this proposal after the President of the United States posted a very strong statement about this conflict on truth social yesterday.

I would refer you back to that statement. As for this proposal that Hamas has now accepted,the United State continues to discuss it and I'll let the President weigh in on it definitively. You're welcome. Sure.

30:00
The Press: Can you describe the President's perspective on taking a stake in Intel in exchange for federal grants?

And is this a -- are we expecting to see the White House make similar arrangements with other semiconductor companies and manufacturing companies?

30:11
Karoline Leavitt: Well, the President, he's been very clear about the need to reshore manufacturing that's critical to our national and economic security.

That is especially in regards to chips and semiconductors, which is why the President has initiated the Commerce Department to conduct a study on semiconductors -- a Section 232 investigation -- so we can ultimately implement tariffs. And it's why our export license requirements remain in place as well.

30:36
As for this 10% government stake deal, the Department of Commerce continues to work on it. I know Secretary Lutnick is working on it and ironing out the details, but the President wants to put America's needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective.

And it's a creative idea that has never been done before to ensure that we're both reshoring these critical supply chains while also gaining something of it for the American taxpayer. You're welcome. Emily.

31:03
The Press: Thanks Karoline. I wanted to ask about the (inaudible) warships that are being sent to Venezuela and there's 4,000 Marines on board.

31:10
Are you looking at possibility of boots on the ground there?
Karoline Leavitt: What I will say with respect to Venezuela, President Trump has been very clear and consistent. He's prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.

31:26
The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel.
In Maduro, it is the view of this administration is not a legitimate president. He is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the United States for trafficking drugs into the country.

And with that, I will leave you all, and we will see you later, if not tomorrow. And I look forward to taking more of your questions. Thank you.

The Press: Thanks, Karoline.