President Donald Trump departed the White House South Lawn on Thursday morning en route to Farmingdale, N.Y., where he will represent the United States at the Ryder Cup golf tournament. Before boarding Marine One, Trump briefly spoke with reporters, touching on international negotiations and domestic political tensions.
Trump said he believed negotiators were “very close to a deal on Gaza,” one that he said could secure the release of hostages and bring an end to the conflict there. “It’s going to be a deal that will end the war,” he said, adding that he expected it would “bring peace.”
The president also fielded questions about what some have characterized as his pursuit of “retribution” against political opponents. Trump rejected the notion of maintaining a list of targets but criticized former FBI director James B. Comey, accusing him of lying to Congress and calling him a “dirty cop.” He said any future actions would be about “justice,” not revenge. “You can’t let this go on,” Trump said, arguing that federal law enforcement under previous administrations had been “weaponized.”
Asked whether he was concerned Democrats might target his own FBI director, Trump recalled the investigations he faced during his first term. He described years of scrutiny over allegations of Russian ties as baseless, calling it “fake news,” and maintained that despite those probes his administration achieved significant accomplishments.
Turning to the looming deadline to fund the federal government, Trump said any potential shutdown would be the fault of “radical left Democrats,” accusing them of seeking to spend large sums on people who entered the United States illegally. He said the economy is strong and inflation is low and argued that Democrats “want to shut it down” to advance their policy goals. “If it has to shut down, it’ll have to shut down,” Trump said.
The President was accompanied by his granddaughter Kai Trump on the the Marine One flight.
