2025 10 23 Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Oct. 23, 2025 part003 (28 42min)

certain proposals that Democrats are putting up that are non-starters. What are some of those non-starters? There are a few, and it's a very good question, but I won't negotiate from the podium. I know the White House will be engaged in direct, serious talks with Democrats on this important matter. I'm not really. Thank you. In addition to launching from VARX tonight, Trump has said he wants to meet with insurance companies to light health care costs to you, and he updates on when those meetings are going to be. Yes, he does want to meet with insurance companies that meeting will take place. I don't have an update on when it will be on the schedule, but the purpose of that meeting will be to continue to negotiate with these companies to ensure that more money is going back to the American consumer, and you're all going to see that on full display tonight at 7 o'clock with the formal launch of Trump RX. I'm telling you, this is going to be a very cool and unique event, so everybody really should tune in. Thank you very much. Can you clarify what the President said on the Diego Garcia deal? He said he didn't like it. Now he can easily support it. He spoke with Prime Minister Starmer directly. He understands Prime Minister Starmer's position, and he supports it. But as the President reiterated in that statement, of course, the United States reserves the right to protect our assets. We still have a military base, of course, on the island of Diego Garcia. And so the President reiterated to the Prime Minister and to all of you that the United States will never waver if necessary in protecting our assets anywhere in the world, but including on Diego Garcia. And he supports the Prime Minister's decision. I don't know. I don't know. Just don't know. I can ask you. I said that he's now seeking a billion dollars from Harvard, considerably more than for what changed here and how negotiations going. Well, look, this has been an ongoing negotiation and, frankly, a frustrating negotiation for the President and the Administration because we want to deal. And it's very unfortunate that Harvard has dragged its feet in understanding they need to rectify the wrongs and the illegal behavior that took place on their campus over the course of the past several years under the previous Administration. And so the President wants a justified deal to correct for that criminal behavior that took place on their campus. He is now demanding $1 billion from Harvard University. And Secretary McMahon will be continuing to lead this negotiation in these talks. John. Thank you. You mentioned some polling earlier that was very compelling on deportations. Rasmussen came out of the poll today, said 75% of Republicans want all the Legals deported. It seems like the conversation has shifted again to focusing only on deporting illegal aliens who are criminals. Is the President still committed to deportations of the 20 million illegals that came here under Joe Biden? Or are you starting to see that back? Yes, if the President has always been committed to that, John. But we must prioritize, and the prioritization is on those tens of thousands of convicted criminals whom we know are still roaming our streets. ICE and Border Patrol and DHS have done a phenomenal job of removing tens of thousands of them. Actually, nearly 1 million people have been deported from our country over the past year, 2 million additional self deportations. So nearly 3 million people have left the United States. But again, as you pointed out rightfully, Joe Biden and the Democrats allowed approximately 20 million people into our country illegally. So yes, of course, the President is committed to ensuring that America is and always will be a nation of laws. Thank you, Caroline. Steve Ben and recently said, quote, we're going to have ICE surround the polls come November. Is that something that the President is considering? That's not something I've ever heard the President consider now. We need to be guaranteed to be American public that ICE will not be around polling locations or voting locations in November. I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November. I mean, that's frankly a very silly hypothetical question. But what I can tell you is I haven't heard the President discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations. It's a disingenuous question. Caroline. Caroline, I have two questions regarding the DHS. The first one is one of the Democrats' main demands for DHS funding was to demask ICE agents. Is this something that the President is considering? Again, this is one of the specific points in the letter that went out by Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. I won't negotiate the individual points from the podium, but it is obviously something the White House will be discussing with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in the coming days. Is the administration concerned that the shakeup that we're seeing of DHS activity in Minneapolis could potentially embolden different obstructionist protesters around the country as they now have a playbook on how to get ICE out of their cities? No, because what you saw yesterday with the drawdown of 700 agents only occurred because the condition that the President of the United States set for local counties to turn over illegal aliens to ICE has been met, the vast majority of counties nearly every single county now in Minnesota has made an agreement to notify ICE when they are releasing an illegal criminal from their jail. This is a huge win for the administration. Again, it's a condition the President set out and has been met thanks to the tireless efforts of Mr. Holman and as for the left-wing agitators who have been illegally obstructing ICE's immigration efforts, we are not letting that behavior go unnoticed or unpunished. In fact, just today, the Department of Homeland Security arrested this individual. He is a self-proclaimed antifa member who has been threatening, doxing, harassing ICE. He called for the murder of federal law enforcement officers. He encouraged bloodshed in the streets of Minnesota. He proudly acclaimed affiliation with the domestic terrorist organization Antifa and the Department of Justice thanks to the great work of HSI and the FBI where it was able to locate and arrest this individual today. So we are committed to enforcing our immigration laws. We want that level of cooperation from state and local officials. And if people are illegally obstructing our federal law enforcement operations, if they are targeting doxing, harassing, invilifying ICE agents, they are going to be held accountable. Like this individual here who, again, is a self-proclaimed member of Antifa. He is a domestic terrorist and he will be held accountable in the United States. Thank you very much. How are you wrong? Just to follow up on here, it's earlier question. I mean, you've talked a lot about the SAVAC. I know you spoke with the President about it before you came out here. The President has gone beyond that, though. He's talking about Republicans taking over elections, states, or agents of the federal government. So just to be clear, is the President only calling on Congress to pass the SAVAC or does he want Republicans to go further than that before the election? The President is calling on Republicans, again, and Democrats to pass the SAVAC. I will reiterate requirement for voter ID to vote. That should be something that no American should oppose. In fact, we know that the vast majority of Americans support it, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, which is not hard to do. We should be able to do that in this country. If you want to register to vote in the United States of America, you have to be a citizen in the United States of America. And this piece of federal legislation will direct states to remove non-citizens from the voter roles. I just had a conversation with the President about it. Thank you. Thank you, Caroline. I have a question. A terrible South Korea. As you know, President Trump recently mentioned the terrible, increasing terrible South Korea. When will the 25% terrible, increasing on South Korea begin? Secondly, what impact will this have on national security? Sure. I don't have a timeline for you on that, but I will make sure that our trade team here at the White House gets you an answer swiftly and promptly. John. Thank you so much, Caroline. Yesterday, President Trump in the NBC interview said that it bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton. That somebody is the House Riverside Chairman, James Comer, a Republican. Why is the President bothered that they're investigating Bill Clinton and his Epstein ties? Look, I think that the President has respect for the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton. He said yesterday himself they've shared a good relationship, and that's what he was reiterating in that NBC interview. I'm a very young woman. I'm a very young woman. Thank you. Go ahead, Caroline. Can you tell us a little bit about the agenda for two more stocks with the Iranians? What would be the focus of the discussions? Diplomacy moving forward. The President has obviously been quite clear in his demands of the Iranian regime. Zero nuclear capability is something he's been very explicit about, and he wants to see if a deal can be struck. And while these negotiations are taking place, I would remind the Iranian regime that the President has many options at his disposal aside from diplomacy as the commander-in-chief of the most powerful military in the history of the world. Thank you. Washington and Chandler. Go ahead. Go ahead. Lynchburg County, Virginia, is to third. Local law enforcement is defying the blue governments to demand that they no longer cooperate with ICE. There's a lot of red counties that are thumbing their nose at the blue government, blue states, leadership, telling them not to cooperate with ICE. Will this administration support those counties in any way, support them, either through legal help or? Absolutely. And if there is a county in this country, whether it's red or blue, that seeks to cooperate with the federal government to remove violent illegal criminal aliens from their communities, this administration is here to help. You've heard the calls from, again, from the President himself on asking Democrats and Republicans across the country to call on the Trump administration to work with them, not against them in the matter of public safety and securing our homeland. Thank you all very much. You'll hear directly from the President tonight at 7 o'clock, and I hope everybody has a good weekend, have you Super Bowl weekend. The President has wisely chosen not to make a prediction in Sunday night's game, but as a native girl from New Hampshire, go Patriots. Thank you guys.