Fact Check: US-Venezuela Oil Deal and Infrastructure Claims

the capacity and the infrastructure necessary. Venezuela has also agreed that the

United States will immediately begin refining and selling up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil, which

will continue indefinitely. We're all set to do it. We have the refining capacity. It was actually based very

much on the uh Venezuelan oil, which is a heavy oil, very good oil, great oil. It's uh fantastic for certain things

like asphalt roads, best there is in the world for asphalt roads and other things. All of the companies here today

are going to be treasured partners in bringing the nation of Venezuela back to life, restoring its economy, and

generating great wealth for their companies and for their people and also great wealth for the American people and

tremendous wealth for the companies that are going in. the companies that are going in. And if you don't want to go

in, just let me know because I got 25 people that aren't here today that are willing to take your place.

So, I just want to thank uh these are people that I either know or I know of by reading lots of business magazines

and journals and papers. These are the greatest oil people anywhere in the world. Harold Ham, I see, is here.

Harold, you know, there's a story about Harold Ham that he can look at a piece of land, put a straw into the land, and

oil pours out. Is that true about you? Whereas some of you guys have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to find

that oil. So, we can't let that story be true. But they say Harold puts a straw into the land and oil comes gushing out.

So, you're not a big R&D person, are you? Huh? He's he's called he's called Instinct for Oil. Now, he's got other

problems, but we won't talk about those problems. But he's been a great supporter of mine for a long time,

haven't you, Harold? So, congratulations. But we have, and I think Harold would agree, we have the

greatest oil men and women anywhere in the world sitting in this room right now. And we have a lot of people that

will be back to see us uh sometime next week. We're going to have another meeting for another group, but we're

going to do this very quickly. We can have this done almost immediately. So, I'd like to thank you all for being

here. I'd like to invite Vice President Vance to say a few words, followed by secretaries Rubio,

Bergamman, Wright, and then we'll have a few words from representatives that are here and to discuss their ideas, a

couple of them. Uh, we have Chevron, which has been Where's Chevron? Where are you?

>> Far right. >> No, I thought you'd have a better location. You were the only one that was

there for for all that. I used to call you and say, "Uh, what the hell is going on with Venezuela?" He stuck it out. I

don't know if you made money or not, but you stuck it out. They got to give you a lot of credit for that. Mark Nelson,

thank you very much. Exon CEO Darren Woods. Darren, thank you very much. How's Exxon doing? Okay.

>> They'll do a lot better now, won't they? Huh? Exon's been amazing. It's been an amazing company. And Kico Phillips CEO

Ryan Lance, thank you very much. So you guys could say something and then we'll take some questions from the press and

uh if anybody else would like to speak, we'll have you speak. We have all the time in the world. This is a big

subject. This is massive wealth. And more importantly than massive wealth, it leads to lower taxes and a lot of jobs

for Americans and for Venezuelans, but for Americans in this case. And I just again appreciate you all being here. And

I'd like to ask JD to say a few words, please. Thank you. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President, and thanks

to everybody for being here. You know, as a Marine Corps veteran, for my entire lifetime, presidents, and let's be

honest, they were Democrats and Republicans, would send the American military to far-off places. They would

get us involved in these endless quagmires. They would lose hundreds or thousands of American lives. And the

American people would get nothing out of these misadventures. And now you have an American president who's empowered the

American military to stop the flow of drugs into our country and to ensure that we, as opposed to our adversaries,

control one of the great energy reserves that exist anywhere in the entire world. And he did it without losing a single

American life in the process. It was an amazing operation. It's going to make our country richer. It's going to make

our country more powerful. It's going to make our country safer. and it's going to lead to the decline, the further

decline of drug overdose deaths in the United States of America. An amazing thing and I'm happy to be here to talk

about how we can make it an even bigger and better operation for the American people. Thank you, sir.

>> Thank you very much, Marco. >> Thank you, Mr. President. And I think this is a reminder that everything this

president does, everything President Trump does is with the American people in mind. It was not in the national

interest or national security of the United States and of our people to have in our own hemisphere a country not just

with vast energy reserves but controlled by an indicted narot trafficker who flooded our country with illegal

immigration including drug gang members flooded our openly cooperated with drug gangs and by the way opened up the stole

the wealth of that country to fund a repressive regime and also benefit adversaries such as Iran. All of that is

now changing. Uh part of this process uh the first phase of course is the phase we're in now which is the stabilization

phase. We do not want to see destabilization in the country. We're working very cooperatively with the

interim authorities there to provide a market for the sale of the wealth of Venezuela in such a way that benefits

the people both of the United States but also the people of Venezuela. And as a reminder to everyone, the president

announced this just two days ago. Every penny everything they buy with the money that they're making from the oil now,

Mr. president will be bought from America and that includes everything from equipment for the oil industry to

food to medicine and everything in between. The second it will be a phase of recovery and then some of these

phases will have a normal economy again where the money goes to the benefit of people not the benefit of our

adversaries or the benefit of of of elements in that country and around the world that are against our interests. At

the same time as a process of reconciliation has to happen internally among the different sectors of society

and politics and the like. And finally the third phase which is the mo most important of the three is when the

country fully transitions into a normal country that we have strong economic and diplomatic and relations with uh that

that is friendly towards the United States that's not a foothold for our adversaries that serves our interests

but also the interests of the people. It'll be a country that is wealthy, a country that is prosperous for the

people, not for a handful of uh criminals, but also a country that is supportive of our interests in the

region and throughout the world. And we thank you, Mr. President, and the team you've assembled that have made brought

us to this point. A lot of work remains, important work, but this is historic. >> Okay. Thank you very much, Doug.

>> Well, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your leadership uh not just as president, but as commander-in-chief.

the uh the boldness, the execution, the breathtakingly uh precise work that you've delivered both in Iran back in

June and here has changed the changed the field for the whole world. Uh and you always rant about the idea of peace

and prosperity. And in in Venezuela, as you know, this was a playground for every bad actor in the world. Uh we had

Russians, Iran, terror groups, uh all of them profiting from this criminal organization that was pretending to run

the country. uh that makes America safer. You've secured the border. We're stopping the flow of drugs and now with

the normalization of relationships on an economic basis, it's going to mean tremendously for the pro prosperity of

the American people. Uh so I just want to say again uh congratulations to you and to the entire leadership team. Uh

it's been an amazing historic week uh on the scale of things that we haven't seen perhaps for 125 years in terms of the US

uh exerting its influence over Latin America in a way that's going to make a change for generations. And on behalf of

all the oil executives that are here today, uh Chris and I want to say thank you to all of you. Uh it's your

technology, your innovation that has put America in the place where today we are the most energy dominant country in the

world. And that is that position is what's allowed us to take uh the action that we're taking uh with state craft

with military action. None of that would happen if we were dependent on everybody else for energy. So you're you're a big

part of the reason uh that we're able to move the way we are today and we're grateful that you're here to be to be

part of the solution going forward. >> Thank you Dougen. You are doing a fantastic job and we appreciate it.

Everybody appreciates it. They know they know who's doing well. Uh Chris Wright. >> Thank you Mr. President. Yeah. What

we've seen in the last week is leadership matters and credibility matters. Venezuelan oil has been

sanctioned for many years and the oil just flew. You know, those sanctions were not enforced. That oil just floated

out to trafficked by bad actors of the world. The resources weren't gone to a central place. The corruption and

decline of Venezuela has been a crisis for the people of Venezuela. And as Secretary Rubio said, massive spillover

effects in the United States in crime and drugs and kidnappings and in taking a huge resource base and making it not

exploited, not developed, the whole world is a poorer, less opportunity rich place. Because of that, when you have

materials underground, they've been underground for a million years. That does not make them a resource. That does

not make them valuable for your country, your people, or the world. They only become a resource with technology, with

capital, with rule of law and a system of governance that encourages the harvesting of those resources to make

the better world. And we see here the dramatic contrast between the United States, which may have less oil

underground than Venezuela. We have 20 times the production of Venezuela, 20 times the impact of human betterment,

massively better quality of living here in the United States. That was at risk under the last administration. We've

seen a lot of attacks on the energy that makes the world go round. President Trump's election has removed those

risks, has embraced reality about how the world is energized, and we are record production of oil in the United

States, record production in natural gas in the United States. We've seen a meaningful decline in gasoline prices,

diesel prices, travel prices because of jet fuel. Um, and now President Trump is taking the genius of a different way to

try to solve a 25-year festering problem in Venezuela that all the traditional things have not worked, but ordering

both a tremendous military operation to remove the heads of a criminal organization masquerading as a

government and then to use the power of our military not to fire bullets, but to stop the flow of Venezuelan oil to the

world immediately gave us leverage. leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela and has allowed us to be in

this position today where the actions of this government can massively improve Venezuela for the better and the bigger

impact is to massively improve the quality of life, affordability, safety and security of the United

States. very proud to be here and I can I I'll turn it over to Mark Nelson who's the vice chairman of Chevron. Chevron

has been in Venezuela for over a hundred years continuously. Uh Mike Worth the CEO had a knee replacement recently.

He's not here. Mark is a tremendous leader in our industry and and I'll turn it over to him.

>> Thank you, Secretary Wright. Um again, I'll send Mike Worth's regrets. He really wanted to be here, Mr. President.

Um, so on his on his behalf, I have three very quick thank yous and an assurance I'd like to provide you all.

Uh, the first thank you, Mr. President, is to you. It's thank you for convening this gathering. It's thank you for your

leadership and and thank you for continuing to keep American energy domination in the in the forefront. So,

thank you. Thank you for that. >> Thank you very much. The the second thank you actually is is to the cabinet.

Uh so Secretary Rubio, Secretary Berg, and Secretary Wright, your ability and commitment to continue to engage with

the parties around the table to keep the world working is greatly appreciated. So thank you. Thank you for that. And the

and the final thank you actually would go to our Venezuelan employees of Chevron. They have been working

tirelessly to operate safely, protect the environment in country and their dedication and skill will help us in

this next chapter. And finally, I'll close with the assurance. U for more than a century, Chevron has been a part

of Venezuela's past. Uh we are certainly committed to its uh present and we very much look forward as a proud American

company to help it build a better future. And so, Mr. President, thank you for your leadership.

>> And you really suffered there. You you stuck it out. A lot of people left. A lot of big companies left. Some of the

people, many of the people sitting at this table left because of the safety risk and other risks. But you really,

you stuck it out. I give you credit for that. Sometimes it was hard. I remember uh six months ago I told you to stay.

Just stay. Things are going to happen. You'll be very happy. I didn't know they were going to happen this fast or this

conclusively. Uh, one thing I think everyone has to know is that if we didn't do this, China

or Russia would have done it. And if China or Russia were a nextoor neighbor, because essentially this is not around

the other parts of the world, so far away where you fly an airplane for 24 hours before you get there. This is sort

of a next-door neighbor if you think about it. And uh, I told China and I told Russia, we get along with you very

well. We like you very much. We don't want you there. Not going to be there. And if we didn't do this, China would

have been there and Russia would have been there. Maybe they both would have been there together, but they're not

going to be there. Now, one thing I will tell them and I will tell you that we are open for business. Uh, China can buy

all the oil they want from us there or in the United States. Uh, Russia can get all the oil they need from us and they

do like oil even though they produce a lot of it. But China, Russia, and everybody else is able to go and we'll

be open for business almost immediately. I have a feeling the hundred million dollars will be spent very very hundred

billion will be spent very very rapidly by these very big, powerful, and rich companies. And I think they're going to

be able to build rebuild the infrastructure. I I hope it's going to be brand new as opposed to rehab because

I know the tremendous difference between the new and the not so new in your industry. The new is uh much more

beautiful, much better in every way, and actually much smaller. It's like everything else, get smaller and

stronger. It's a combination of smaller, better, and stronger. So, I hope you're going to build all brand new stuff, rip

out the old crap that's been there for so many years, and do it the right way. You're going to be there a long time. If

we make a deal, if we make a deal, you're going to be there a long time. If we don't make a deal, you won't be there

at all. It's, you know, sort of interesting. But uh again, China and Russia would have been there if we

didn't do this. And the other thing people ask about the second wave, I don't think it's going to be necessary.

We have an armada, a giant armada like nobody's ever seen in that part of the world and it's stationed off the coast.

and we are getting along so well with the people that are involved and representing Venezuela that I don't

think we're going to have any uh ne I don't think it's going to be necessary to do the second wave. We were planning

on a second wave, but the first wave was so powerful and so good and so strong. And frankly, the people in the country,

they really they did the right thing. They were smart. They did the right thing. They didn't want to go through a

second wave. But we've got a tremendous number of the most powerful ships in the world right there. I don't think we're

going to have to use that. I'm happy to say that. I don't think we're going to have to use that at all. If I could ask

uh Chevron, you did a great job. I want to thank you and Exon Mobile if you would say a few words and then followed

by Kico. Great companies, massive companies, great companies. Uh Exxon, please.

>> Sure. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the invitation and the opportunity, frankly, for the entire

industry to uh show up and provide a perspective. Frankly, we've been kind of unresponsive

to the press regarding Venezuela, but I guess today's the opportunity to address the press directly with respect to a

number of questions that have been asked of Exxon Mobile. First and foremost, obviously, is the interest that we have

in Venezuela. And I think, you know, the way I would position that, I think one of the reasons why we see many of the

industry players here is we're in a depletion business for a product that is in great demand. and will be in demand

for many many many decades to come. And as a depletion business, the biggest challenge we have is finding resources.

There's an opportunity in Venezuela with all the resources there is we don't have that challenge of finding, we have the

challenge of developing those resources. So I think it's on uh it's in the best interest of uh these companies and

frankly society as a whole for the industry to be interested in understanding what the opportunity here

represents. I'll just share a philosophy that Exon Mobile has when we enter countries because we do business all

around the world in a number of different regimes. We take a very long-term perspective. The investments

that we make uh span decades and decades. So we do not go into any opportunity with a short uh uh mindset,

short-term mindset. And there's a value proposition that we have to meet. It has to be a winwinwin proposition.

Obviously, it has to be a win for the company and our shareholders to generate a return for the investments that we

make. Has to be a win for the government. The resources are an important source of revenue that help

support the people of the places that we do business. And uh has to be a win for the people. We have to be wanted there

and to be a good neighbor. And those three things ensure a stable long-term platform for the large investments that

we make for the long term. With respect to Venezuela in particular, we have a very long history in

Venezuela. In fact, uh we first got into Venezuela back in 19 1940s. Uh we've had our assets seized there twice. And so

you can imagine to reenter a third time uh would require some pretty significant changes from what we've historically

seen here in what is currently the state. If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in

place today in Venezuela, uh today it's uninvestable and so significant changes have to be

made to those commercial uh frameworks, the legal system. There has to be durable investment protections and there

has to be a change to the hydrocarbon uh laws in the country. We're confident that with this administration and

President Trump working uh handinhand with the Venezuelan government that those changes can be put in place.

Uh and with respect to the Venezuelan government that that perspective we don't have a view on. We haven't talked

to the Venezuelan government and obviously we it's we have yet to assess the people's uh perspective with respect

to Exon Mobile entering the company country. In the short term, um there are things that can be done while these

longer term issues are being worked. Uh for us, we haven't been in the country for almost 20 years. Uh we think it's uh

absolutely critical in the short term that we get a technical team in place uh to assess the current state of the

industry and the assets to understand what would be involved to help the people of Venezuela get production back

on the market. um with the invitation of the Venezuelan government and with appropriate security guarantees we are

ready to put a team on the ground there. We also have a uh integrated set of capabilities from production to refining

to trading and I think we can be of assistance to getting the Venezuelan crude to market and realizing a market

price to help again uh with the financial situation in Venezuela. So those are my short-term perspective that

I have. I'd say maybe close with a thank you uh Mr. president for the work that you've done to secure not only the

national security but the energy security of the region and then thank you Secretary Rubio, Secretary Wright,

Secretary Bergam for your leadership in this matter. Thank you. >> How long would it take you Darren as

Exxon to if we make a deal and if we make a deal how long would it take you to get in there and get started? Well,

we the first step this technical team we as I talked to the secretary Wright earlier this week, we started from the

beginning to put the team together so that if and when it was needed, we could hit the ground almost immediately.

>> So we can we can hit the ground in within the next couple of weeks start the assessment and then from there we

need to understand >> that's what we want. We want speed and quality. That's what we want. Thank you

Darren and Kico. Ryan, >> thank you Mr. President. appreciate the opportunity to be here too and you've

assembled a great team and our congratulations as well for removing one of the uh terrible people in the world

and bringing bringing them to justice. It was quite amazing. I think you've given hope to the people of Venezuela

again which I think is quite remarkable and we've been on the other end of that uh despot regime a long time. Uh our

assets were appropriated. I had a little bit more hair when that happened. Um, and you know, I think we're the non

largest non-s sovereign credit holder in Venezuela today. So, we're in a bit of different situation, but I think your

big and bold idea to use energy commerce instead of conflict is something that could make a real big difference in

Venezuela. And we stand, our company certainly stands ready to help in in that endeavor. um encourage you to

continue to think bigger and even bolder and we've had some discussions with your energy team about that as well as we

think about the other people that need to be in this room and then this discussion are the banks and including

probably the XM bank as we think about how the debt needs to be restructured in the financing to uh deliver the billions

of dollars that are required to restore their energy infrastructure and uh and I think as we think that big and bold we

need to be also thinking about even restructuring the entire Venezuelan energy system including PETVA and I

think if we can do that and think uh think bold uh there's an opportunity to be quick fast and uh restore the quality

of what's happened in Venezuela or what's been lost in Venezuela over the course of the last 25 years. So thank

you for this opportunity. >> Well, thank you very much and you'll get a lot of your money back. We're going to

start with an even plate though. We're not going to look at what people lost in the past because that was their fault.

That was a different president. We're going to We're going to You're going to make a lot of money, but we're not going

to go back. You left a lot of money behind, I guess. Huh? What number?

>> 12 billion. >> How much? >> 12 billion.

>> Well, good write off. >> It's already been written off.

>> It's been all right. Thank you, You'll make it back one way or the other. You're all

going to do very well. I think really very well. Marco just gave me a note. Go back to Chevron.

They want to discuss something. Go ahead. I'm going back to Chevron. Mark, thank you, Marco.

>> Was there was there a question, Mr. President? >> Yes. Go ahead, Marco. What was What are

you saying here? >> Mark, if you can update us on operations in the ground and with the appropriate

approvals, what you might be able to achieve in the next 12 to 18 months. G give us a little view from the ground.

>> You bet. You bet. So today, Chevron has 3,000 employees in four different joint ventures in Venezuela today. And over

the past 5 to seven years, they've taken production from about 40,000 barrels a day to 240,000 barrels a day,

essentially getting those facilities and that equipment up to standards that would be something that people in the

room would be more uh accustomed to. Given the work we've done um with Secretary Wright and Secretary

um Bergam and even Secretary Bessant, I think we have a path forward here very shortly to be able to increase our

liftings from those joint ventures 100% essentially effective immediately. Uh we are also able to increase our production

within our own disciplined investment schemes um by about 50% just in the next 18 to to 24 months and that's just

leveraging what's on the ground. So to to Secretary Rubio's comments about phase one, this is taking the momentum

of improvements we've already made there locally and building on those and creating more momentum for the people of

Venezuela. >> Do you think you have an advantage being there? It's, you know, you've been there

by the skin of your teeth. It's been tough for you to be there, but do you think you have an advantage over the

other people in this room by the fact that you are there? >> Yeah, I think there are, Mr. Mr

President, I think there would be days where it didn't feel like an advantage and there are days where it does feel

like an advantage. But having people on the ground today that care desperately about the people of Venezuela and know

how to operate the assets that are there that it's a definite advantage today. >> Would you say the best locations are

available or would you say the best locations are already sort of worked even though they're in very bad shape?

the best locations for finding oil, the best locations for oil. >> There there are more more opportunities

than not, Mr. President. With 300 billion barrels of of reserves in resources in country, uh there are lots

of opportunities for many companies. >> Will you be building new or we you'll be using the old infrastructure that you

have? >> Yeah, today it's a it's a little bit of a mix, but today it's mostly us taking

the uh the equipment of today, getting it to the standards that we are accustomed to. your comments about

making it how it should be today. Most of the investments that we've been making are about getting it up to our

standards. >> Well, I think you're going to make an investment, but you're going to get your

money back very quickly, and that's part of our thing. We're going to have you get your money back fast, and then

you'll uh give a lot to Venezuela and to the United States after that. Okay? So, you'll be you'll be in good shape. Uh

could I ask Harold Tam to say a few words? He's been a friend of mine for a long time. Very an amazing man,

actually. Amazing energy person. Well, thank you, Mr. President. It's good to be here with so many dignified

people uh and this effort particularly and thank you for your effort for what you've done here taking this desperate

out of that area and the world uh dealt with him way too long. Certainly, our industry knows that this is a real jewel

uh that can be uh developed for the for the people for the people. uh Venezuela and and also benefit the world. And like

um Secretary Wright said, it has not been done. That's not been done in the past. And and they had a good chance at

it. U brought uh someone in that totally took it down as everybody knows here and that was Chavez and we know what

happened to him finally. But you know that uh ruined the industry ruin in in Venezuela and all of us know how that

happened ended very well very very wrongly. Uh so anyway we're we're glad to see u uh what's happened here and and

uh look forward uh for the opportunity for a lot of people in this room but also for America and the country itself.

are you going to be involved in going in because you know he's in North Dakota and he's in Oklahoma and some incredible

places is a little bit different but there's no doubt about you won't have to worry about the stroke too much here you

can just just go at it uh are you going to be one of the participants >> well certainly uh you know I'm an oil

finder uh like you said uh you know Barry Spitzer uh you know told that story the coach

>> and he's kind of exaggerated a bit. It doesn't come out that quite that easily usually, but anyway, great story. I love

it. Uh but I love Barry. >> Barry Barry's the one that told me that. >> Yeah, he's he's a champion, you know,

and in a lot of ways. So, love that story. Uh certainly I I it excites me as an expirationist. uh you know everybody

has that in their blood and and uh you know it is a very exciting uh uh country and and a lot of reserves and so it's

got its challenges and the industry knows how to how to handle that and like Darren said you know you go in your eyes

open and and do the best you can with the team you got. So, >> well, you're going to have something

that they never had really here is tremendous security. You're going to be very secure, very safe, physically safe

in addition to financially safe. >> So, it's good to see you, Harold. Thank you very much. Uh, does anybody have

anything to say before we get to the press? >> What does Cuba have to do to avoid the

same fate? What does Cuba have to >> Well, Cuba's in bad shape. Cuba relied

on Venezuela for oil and for money. And nobody really knows what's going to happen with Cuba. They're doing very

poorly. They really third world all the way. And we have a lot of great Cubanameans.

And I would say Marco fits very solidly into that category. And I might ask you to say a few words about we were

discussing it before. Cuba is a very different. They don't have energy. They don't have oil. But they would live off

of the oil from Venezuela. And they what they do have is very strong people and very powerful people militarily and they

would protect the people running Venezuela and they would take in a lot of money from Venezuela. Now they don't

have that. They won't be taking in any money. So Marco, what do you think? >> Well, I mean the fundamental problem in

Cuba is that it's run by incompetent people that don't know what an economy looks like, much less a functioning one.

They've made a choice and that is they would rather have political control over their people than they would to have an

economy that functions. and they've gotten away with it for 60some years because they've had donors, the Soviet

Union and now most recently Venezuela, but that's now gone. So the people in control in Cuba have a choice to make.

They can either have a real country with a real economy where their people can prosper or they can continue with their

failing dictatorship that's going to lead to systemic and societal collapse. That's a very stark and dramatic choice

and it's one we hope they make the right one. We don't have an interest in a destabilized Cuba, but that would be

their fault because they refuse to allow the people of Cuba to have either economic or political freedom for that

matter. And you have a you have you have a lot of people in this country that want to go back to Cuba and help Cuba. A

lot of people have left, you know, they came in penalists. They didn't have anything and they become very rich

people in our country and they want to very much go back and help Cuba. So that's something that Cuba has that a

lot of other places don't have. Peter, >> President Trump, thank you. I do want to ask you about Minnesota, but first just

more on topic. Uh, President Silinsky said that he was watching with the rest of the world as you made this order to

go and capture Nicholas Maduro. And he said, "If that's how it works with dictators, then the United States knows

what to do next." Sounds like he wants you to go and capture Vladimir Putin. Would you ever order a mission to go and

capture Vladimir Putin? >> Well, I don't think it's going to be necessary. I think we're going to have a

uh we've always I've always had a great relationship with him. I'm very disappointed. I settled eight wars. I

thought this would be in the middle of the pack or maybe one of the easier ones. And I don't know if you know,

Peter, the last uh month they lost 31,000 people, many of them Russian soldiers and the Russian economy is

doing poorly. I think we're going to end up getting it settled. Uh I wish we could have done it quicker because a lot

of people are dying and mostly soldiers. you know, they get hit in Kiev and they get hit a little bit here and there and

people are dying there too, but largely it's the soldier population. When you have 30,000 31,000 soldiers dying in a

period of a month, uh 27,000 the month before, 26,000 the month before that, that's bad stuff. So, uh, as you know,

President Biden gave $350 billion dollars to Ukraine to fight and, uh, we would never get that back. Although I

did make a rare earth deal to get it back, so we will be getting it back, but shouldn't have done that. It was a, it

was a bad thing to do. Uh, I will say that right now because I was able to get NATO to up GDP from 2% to 5%. Uh, NATO's

got a lot of money and they're paying for everything. We're not losing any money. We're making a lot of money, I

guess, if you think of it because we're selling them military equipment. They're probably giving it to Ukraine, but we're

selling them to NATO military equipment. We're getting full price and all of that. But that's not a big deal to me.

What is a big deal is stopping a war where 30,000 people are being killed every single month.

>> On Minnesota, the vice president yesterday suggested that Renee Good, who was killed by this ICE officer, was part

of a broadle left-wing network. What has your team told you about this broadleft-wing network? Who is in charge

of it? Who's part of it? What what's it called? >> Well, I haven't seen the vice

president's statement, but he's generally very accurate. I hate to say. Uh look uh I watched that yesterday and

there were a lot of lot of different forms to it but there was a woman screaming shame shame shame shame. She

was a agitator probably a paid agitator but in my opinion she was an agitator a very high level agitator so professional

she wouldn't stop screaming I said this isn't a normal situation this is a professional troublemaker because you

heard it and I had it. Now, I I will say this. The news sort of turned her down, turned her off because you're trying to

watch. She was so loud and so crazy and just not normal. When somebody sees something like that, they don't go

screaming and screaming and the same words. So, I guess you could say professional, but I didn't think she did

a very good job. You have agitators and we will always be protecting ICE and we're always going to be protecting our

border patrol and our law enforcement. Mr. President, Mr. President, in your conversations with these oil executives

today, did you provide any security guarantees so that they can do their work safely in Venezuela? And

separately, Mr. President, I'm >> They will have those guarantees. Yes. >> And separately, Mr. President, I'm

curious in terms of the future of Venezuela. Do you see Venezuela now led by Deli Rodriguez as an ally of the US?

Uh, is that the way that you view that country? >> Well, right now they seem to be an ally

and I think it'll continue to be an ally and we don't have want to have Russia there. We don't want to have China

there. And by the way, we don't want Russia or China going to Greenland, which if we don't take Greenland, you're

going to have Russia or China as your next door neighbor. That's not going to happen.

Dwight, >> Mr. President, thank you. You just said that these companies would have security

guarantees if they go in on the ground in Venezuela. >> They will have.

>> And what is your plan there actually for these companies and those Americans who are going to be on the ground working

for these companies? >> Well, there are going to be Americans. I assume they're going to be using a lot

of Americans, but they're going to be using a lot of people from Venezuela and other places, I would imagine. But I

would think that mostly they'll be using Venezuelan workers. They have a lot of great workers. They have a very high

unemployment rate and they have workers that are very familiar with taking oil out of the ground. Yeah.

>> Question for you on Iran. How long do you think the Ayatollah will be in power after what we've seen play out on the

ground there? When is the US going to get involved now that reports of protesters being killed on the ground?

>> So Iran's in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really

possible just a few weeks ago. Uh we're watching the situation very carefully. I've made the statement very strongly

that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. We'll be hitting them very

hard where it hurts. And that doesn't mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it

hurts. So, uh we don't want that to happen. Uh there have been cases like this where President Obama totally

backed down, but this is something uh pretty incredible that's happening in Iran. It's an amazing thing to watch.

They've done a bad job. They've treated their people very badly and now they're being paid back. So, let's see what

happens. We're watching it. We're watching it very closely. >> Go ahead, please.

>> Thank you so much, Mr. President. >> Yes. Go ahead, >> Mr. President.

>> Thank you so much, Mr. President. Uh do you have any comments on reaction to the recent attacks by the Syrian government

alignment groups against US backed Kurdish forces in Aleppo, Syria which killed dozens of civilians and

displacing many families. Does your administration bring peace between the Kurds and the Syrian government?

>> I want to see peace. Yes, I do. The Kurds and the Syrian government, we get along with both as you know very well.

uh they have been natural enemies over the years but we get along both and uh we want to see Syria succeed and so far

I think they are succeeding but this is just breaking out and we want to see that stopped

>> go ahead pleaseustro in a few weeks do you hope this this meeting with Gustavo Petro marks a new

chapter a new beginning in the benefit for of the colian country what country >> Colombia with president of Columbia.

>> I had a very good talk with him yesterday and you know he's been very hostile to us and to the nation and to

me called me a dictator and lots of other things. Uh called Biden uh some terrible names far worse than he called

me. But uh he called yesterday through people and he wants to meet and that's fine with me. I've uh I've made up with

people also, you know. So we're going to have a meeting with him. We had a very good conversation. Uh the people of

Colombia are incredible people. Uh Marco would know that better than anybody because he's married to a woman from

Colombia. And I don't mean Colombia University. That would be I'm not sure. I think I

like Colombia the country better if you want to know the truth. The people the people are

the people. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. The people are the people are great people. I look forward to meeting with

going to meet in the very near future. Would you meet the president in president of

Venezuela here in the White House? Would you greet her to discuss the fate of the >> Yeah. Well, I'm going to meet a lot of

people and we're going to meet, you know, we meet a lot of people. We've uh when you end eight wars, you get to know

a lot of people and uh I think it's very important. As an example, we have over 18 trillion dollars, think of it, $18

trillion coming into our country. A lot of that's coming in from foreign countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar

and UAE and others. And I get to meet a lot of people, but I will be meeting with uh rep various representatives of

Venezuela probably pretty soon. We haven't set that up. Uh but the relationship that we have with the

people that are currently running Venezuela is very good. Uh we also have uh a young lady that received the Nobel

Peace Prize. She's going to come in and pay her regards to our country really to me, but you know, I'm a representative

of the country, nothing else. And uh she's coming in sometime next week, I think Wednesday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

And we'll see how that is. But no, no, we're going to be we're dealing with the people from Venezuela. We're dealing

with them very well. I think they've been very smart in the way they've dealt with us, frankly, because that whole

place could have been obliterated with one more strike, and we didn't want to do that.

Thank you so much. I have a question for you on Minneapolis. But on Venezuela and your meeting with Machado next week, if

she gives you her Nobel Peace Prize, will that change your view about her running that country?

>> Well, I have to speak to her. I mean, I'm going to have to speak to her. She might be involved in some aspect of it.

I will have to speak to her. I think it's very nice that she wants to come in and that's what I understand the reason

is because Norway uh is very embarrassed by what took place. I mean, they're getting

decimated. Look, whether people like Trump or don't like Trump, I settled eight wars, big ones. Some going on for

36 years, 32 years, 31 years, 28 years, 25 years, some just getting ready to start like India and Pakistan where

already eight jets were shot out of the air and I got it done in rapid order without nuclear weapons. Uh, I can't

think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me. And I don't want to be bragging, but nobody

else settled wars. Obama got the Nobel Prize. He had no idea why. He still has no idea. He walks around, he says, "I

got the Nobel Prize." Why did he get a Nobel Prize? He got it almost immediately upon attaining office and he

didn't do anything. And he was a bad president. So, uh, I mean, you you should get the Nobel Prize for every war

you stopped. These were major wars. These were wars that nobody thought could be stopped. President Putin called

me and he said about two of the wars that he's been trying to stop them for 10 years. He wasn't able to do it. He

couldn't believe it. So in theory, you should get the Nobel Prize for every war you stopped. Every one of them was

major. But uh I don't care about that. What I care about is saving lives. I've saved tens of millions of lives. You

know, the prime minister of Pakistan came here and he made a very public statement. He said that President Trump

saved minimum 10 million lives having to do with Pakistan and India and that was going to be raging. So, you

know, but I'm honored that she's coming here. I look forward to meeting her. Yes.

>> Go ahead. >> Minneapolis, I have a follow you. Um, the state officials there have said that

the FBI is not sharing evidence with them. Typically, they would conduct a joint investigation as you know. Do you

believe that the FBI should be sharing evidence with state officials in Minnesota?

>> Well, normally I would, but they're crooked officials. I mean, Minneapolis and Minnesota, what a beautiful place,

but it's being destroyed. It's got an incompetent governor fool. I mean, he's a stupid person. And uh it looks like

the number could be 19 billion dollars stolen from a lot of people, but largely people from Somalia. They buy their

vote. They vote in a group. They buy their vote. They sell more Mercedes-Benzes in that area than

almost. Can you imagine? You come over with no money and then shortly thereafter you're driving a

Mercedes-Benz. The whole thing is ridiculous. So, they're very corrupt people. It's a very corrupt state. I

feel that I won Minnesota. I think I won it all three times. It Nobody's won it for since Richard Nixon won it many,

many years ago. I won it all three times in my opinion. And it's a corrupt state, a corrupt voting state. And the

Republicans ought to get smart and demand on voter ID. They ought to demand maybe same day voting and all of the

other things that you have to have to safe election. But I won Minnesota three times and I didn't get credit for it. I

did so well in that state every time. The people were they were crying every time after. That's a crooked state.

California is a crooked state. Many crooked states. We have a very very dishonest voting system. The last time I

won uh 24, the one that just took place, I won because it was too big to rig. You couldn't rig it. It was too big. But I

won the state of Minnesota. It's a corrupt voting system with an incompetent governor. A very incompetent

governor. >> Mr. President, >> and by the way, he's a very corrupt

governor, too. Go ahead. >> I have a question on Iran. But uh first very quickly on Venezuela, how do you

provide total security guarantees to these companies without putting US boots on the ground?

>> Well, we're going to work with the Venezuelan leaders and people and we're going to have a very safe uh group and

they're going to also bring over some security with them. You know, these are not babies. These are people that drill

oil in some pretty rough places. I could say a couple of those places make Venezuela look like a picnic. These are

very these people around the table. These are tough people. They go into areas that you wouldn't want to go. They

go into areas that if they invited me, I'd say, "No thanks. I'll see you back in Palm Beach." Uh, no. This is a tough

group of people. They don't know how to do it. But we are, in addition to that, we'll have very good security for them.

We're going to make sure that it's very, very good security. And I think the people of Venezuela are going to give

you very good security. You know, the people, now I'm not talking even leadership, the people of Venezuela are

going wild over this. They named a street after President Trump. What do you do? You attack a country and they

name a street. That's never happened before. Although I heard that's also taking place in Iran. They named a

street the protesters. I just hope, you know, just God bless them. I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be

safe because that's a very dangerous place right now. And again, I tell the Iranian leaders, you better not start

shooting because we'll start shooting, too. >> With your glasses, sir. Go ahead,

please. >> Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Next to you. Yes. Glasses. The gentleman with

the glasses. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. President. >> With those very big glasses, actually.

>> Yeah. Ferrari, actually. Um, Mr. President, I have two question. Um, what do you want the European Union to do in

Ukraine? The the European leaders seem pretty divided on Ukraine. And then if you can reiterate this straight message

that you have to to the Iranian leader to Kmeni, the message that you have, >> you're talking about Iran.

>> Iran. Yeah. First Iran to do. >> I'm sorry. >> Where are you from?

>> Italy. >> Oh, nice place. >> Yeah.

>> Okay. >> The first question. >> So, what are you asking about Iran for?

Well, if you can answer um about Europe and what you think the Europeans should do on Ukraine and then a message.

>> Well, look, Europe has been doing so much for Ukraine, but uh it hasn't been enough. And obviously that I would say

that President Putin is not afraid of Europe. He's afraid of the United States of America is led by me. Uh there's no

fear of Europe. You know, Europe's fallen behind and Europe and JD said it very strongly. I don't know. It's uh he

got took a lot of heat, but I didn't give him any heat. Europe is a different place. Europe is changing. Europe has

got to get its act together. I love Europe. I guess I came from Europe essentially. I had uh I have my roots

are in Europe, but Europe is a different place. They have to get their act together. Now they've they have a great

NATO leader and they've gone up to 5% from 2% GDP. That's a big step. But they have to be very careful with their

immigration policy and they have to be very because you know uh I will just say to be nice that there are certain places

in Europe that are very important that are no longer recognizable. I'm being very nice. I'm being very diplomatic

when I say that they are not recognizable and they have to be careful on energy

because they're putting windmills all over the place and losing a fortune. They're destroying their country.

They're destroying the beautiful landscapes, the beautiful everything. there. They're doing, by the way, in

case you people don't know, I'm not much of a windmill person. I can proudly say, Doug, that we have not approved one

windmill since I've been in office, and we're going to keep it that way. My goal is to not let any windmill be built.

They're losers. They lose money. They destroy your landscape. They kill your birds. They're all made in China. And

all you have to do is uh you know, just about all of the windmills are made in China. the structures. All you have to

do is say to China, how many windmill areas do you have in China? So far, they're not able to find any. They use

coal and they use oil and gas and some nuclear, not much, but they don't have windmills. They make them and sell them

to suckers like Europe and suckers like the United States before. They are the worst form of energy, the most expensive

form of energy, and in eight years they're rotted out. Anyway, go take a look at Palm Springs, California, and

take a look at what that looks like. It looks like a junkyard. A junkyard of steel. So, we don't approve. And I've

told my people, we will not approve windmills. Maybe we get forced to do something because some stupid person in

the Biden administration agreed to do something years ago. We will not approve any windmills in this country.

>> Questions on Venezuela. Is it ultimately more important to you to establish stability there or democracy there?

>> Well, you're talking about maybe the same thing. I mean, you're talking about stability or democracy. I don't know. To

me, it's almost the same thing. We want stability, but we do want democracy. Ultimately, it'll be democracy. Peter,

>> I have a policy question, President Trump, but I'm having a hard time seeing here. I see the American flag lapel pin.

What is the other lapel pin on your >> Somebody gave me this. You know what that is? That's called a happy Trump.

And considering the fact that I'm never happy. I'm never satisfied. I will never be satisfied until we make

America great again. But we're getting pretty close. I'll tell you what. This is called a happy Trump. Somebody gave

it to me. I put it on. >> Thank you. Thank you. And uh the policy question. How much money are you

thinking of giving people in Greenland to get them on board with a possible US? >> I'm not talking about money for

Greenland yet. I might talk about that, but right now uh we are going to do something on Greenland whether they like

it or not. Uh because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland and we're not going to have Russia or

China as a neighbor. Okay? I would I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don't do

it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way. >> And I'm a man. And by the way, I'm a fan

of Denmark, too. I have to tell you, and I'm and you know, they've been very nice to me. Uh I'm a big fan. But you know,

the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn't mean that they own the land. Uh I'm sure we had lots of

boats go there also. But we need that because if you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian

destroyers. There are Chinese destroyers and bigger. There are Russian submarines all over the place. We're not going to

have Russia or China occupy Greenland. And that's what they're going to do if we don't. So, we're going to be doing

something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way. >> Please go ahead. Ma'am,

>> Mr. President, why is it so important to you to own it when you have a military presence there, which you could expand

to affect the security >> because when we own it, we defend it. You don't defend leases the same way.

You have to own it. Uh, and you know, with a nation, look at what happened with Obama with that horrible deal they

made with Iran. It was a short-term deal. It was like a nine-year deal. Countries can't make nine-year deals or

even hundredyear deals. Countries have to have ownership. and uh you defend ownership, you don't defend leases. And

we'll have to defend Greenland. Uh if we don't do it, China or Russia will. It's not going to happen. We are not going to

have and I like China. I like Russia. I love the people of China. I love the people of Russia. I get along very well

with President Putin, but I'm very disappointed in him. I get along very well with President Xi. I'm going to go

over to China in April, but I don't want them as a neighbor in Greenland. Not going to happen. And and by the way, and

NATO's got to understand that I'm all for NATO. I save NATO. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have a NATO right now.

But we're not going to allow Russia or China to occupy Greenland. And that's what's going to happen if we don't.

>> Go ahead. >> Economic report that came out today, Mr. President. One, can you respond to that?

And two, >> it was an amazing report. The amazing and the most amazing thing is government

jobs are way down and yet the employment came unemployment or the employment numbers are very good. Uh we've gotten

rid of tremendous numbers of federal job government jobs. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. And yet the employment

numbers are very good. They're really getting better. But now we have all those people to work in the private

sector for a lot more money. I think that's one of the very big things. The other thing is at 5.4% 4%. And remember,

this is after we had a shutdown. And that shutdown had an impact because the concept of the shutdown, even though

it's before, people knew we were going to be shutting down. A lot of bad things happen. And by the way, on January 30th,

you may have another shutdown. We'll see what happens. But, uh, I think the numbers, Caitlyn, were really amazing.

Look, to think about 5.4%. Nobody thought that. They thought it was going to be 2%. And you know what it is?

It's tariffs and it's also November 5th. We had a great election uh a great great election. Our country was dead one and a

half years ago and now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. And I hope you guys were impressed. 5.4%

and we haven't even really transitioned yet. There's no reason it can't be much much higher than that. Yeah.

President, can you respond to the manufacturing? >> Let's give CNN a chance. You know,

they've been fighting so hard to get back into the mainstream. >> Mr. President, you posted some numbers

actually on Truth Social last night. People saying you posted the job data early when you're not supposed to

obviously share it till the next morning. Did you do that on purpose? >> No. No. I don't know if they posted

them. I said post them whenever you get a chance. I don't know. They gave me some numbers. I I po When people give me

things, I post them. But the numbers the numbers are amazing. Yeah, please. >> How does the administration plan to

distribute the money from the Venezuela oil sales? Is it go obviously you say it's going to go into these controlled

accounts. Would it go back to Venezuela in a direct payment? Is it going through these goods? How do you plan to do that?

>> Well, we want to make sure that Venezuela can survive. You know, Venezuela needs money and we're going to

make sure that they get money and we're going to get money and the oil companies are going to make something for the work

they do and they're going to get back their money. Uh we're devising a formula, but it won't be so much of a

formula. It's going to be what they need. We're going to take care of what they need. There'll be plenty left over.

We're gonna have a lot of money left over. And the money left over is going to the United States of America, and the

oil companies are going to be very happy. Yeah, please. >> Thank you, Mr.

>> My question is, would the administration offer a backs stop to these oil companies um for like financial

guarantees, some sort of backs stop if the country did destabilize again? That's a very interesting question using

the word backs stop. I haven't heard that word in a long time. That was at the Wharton School of Finance. I last

heard that's a good term. We ought to use it more often. I hope I don't have to give a backs stop. I'm I'm just Look,

these are very smart people. The smartest people are not only in oil and business. These are the biggest

companies in the world sitting around this table. Uh they know the risks. I mean, there are risks. We're going to

help them out. We're going to make it real easy. They're going to be there for a long time. We're going to be there

together for a long, long time. And they're going to be taking the oil and they're going to be bringing oil prices

down. They're going to make a lot of money. They're going to get their money back. They're going to be safe. Uh the

people of Venezuela are going to be big beneficiaries. And the United States of America is going to be a big beneficiary

for what we've done. And and you know, one other thing I might say, it's also very big for

national security because again, just like Greenland, we can't have China or Russia occupy Greenland. We can't have

China or Russia occupy Venezuela. And if we didn't do what we did, China or Russia would have been in Venezuela. I

think I can Where's Mr. Chevron? So, let me ask you, they would have been there if we didn't do this. Do you agree with

that? >> They certainly have a lot of economic interests in country. There's absolutely

no argument about that. >> They were trying to be there. I mean, you know, we had a Russia, I guess sort

of semi I call it a semi-Russian ship yesterday that we took over and Russia decided not to defend that ship against

us. It's a big movement. Uh the ship was loaded up with oil and we took the oil and it came out of that port. But Russia

would be there or China would be there. And we want them to be there for a different reason. We want them. Do you

people agree? Uh, in particular, China, they need a lot of oil. Russia doesn't need so much, but Russia was there

anyway. But I assume you agree that China would like to be doing a lot of business there by buying oil. And I want

to just tell President Xi and President Putin, but more so in this case, President Xi because they do need a lot

of oil. And we are open for business in the United States and we are open for business in Venezuela. Right.

Go ahead. Sure. >> Mr. President, I could take questions from these people all day long. You

know, they're sitting here and generally they're very rich, very powerful, but nobody gives a damn about them. It's a

sad thing. You have all that money, all that power, and look at all these crazy questions. We could do this all day long

and they wouldn't be satisfied. >> I have a question on today's meeting. We'll take a few more, though. question

on today. >> Do you have Let me ask you more importantly, do you have any questions

from the biggest >> Hold it. Do you have any questions for the biggest people on earth? The biggest

business people, the biggest companies anywhere on earth? Do you have any questions for these people?

>> No. No. Do you have a question for them? >> Go ahead. Go ahead. Ask them a question. companies in the room that they are

committed to rebuilding the oil infrastructure in Venezuela and for the executives in the room what do you need

from the administration in order to invest >> that's a good question uh do you want to

go and answer that question >> small I'll refer you back this the statements I made before there are a

number of legal and commercial frameworks that would have to be established to even understand what kind

of returns that we'd get on the investments so I all the investments and the opportunity sets. I think everyone