Hey, it's been a long time. Must be something big happening, huh? [00:10] You all set? Well, thank you very much. It's a great day for me because I have a lot of confidence in this gentleman, and we're thrilled to swear in our new Secretary of Homeland Security, great American patriot, to put it mildly, Markwayne Mullin. And I want to just say, Markwayne, congratulations, great. You deserve it, you're a great man. Let me also thank Secretary Mullin's beautiful family, including his wife Christie. Thank you. His sons Jim and Jace and Andrew, and daughters Lara, Ivy, Lynette, and other members of the Mullin family. It's a beautiful family. I've known this guy, he's our big wrestling top wrestling guy. I won't wrestle him for anything. An All-American wrestler, huh? You've got good genetics in that family, proud of you. Thanks as well to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chairman Jason Smith, Congressman Josh Gottheimer, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, and many other friends that are gathered with us. It's a great, great group of people. For 13 years, Markwayne has represented the incredible state of Oklahoma, a state that I won 77 out of 77 counties three times in a row, so I think they like me there. Second was Ronald Reagan at 56, did you know that? 56, that's not bad. But 77, it's 77 out of 77, I think, right? I think that's not bad. But he was there in Congress as a member of the House and then as an outstanding United States Senator, and he really has been outstanding. He's been a close and vital partner in helping us secure the border, stop migrant crime, end the scourge of illegal drugs, and make America safe again and make America great again. And he's a tremendous player. He worked with Tom Homan, worked with all of our people on the right and many more, and everything he's done has been good. I say everything he touched, he's turned to gold. Now, but even in business, he was successful. In business, he was successful, and he said, 'I want to go into politics.' I hope you're happy. But as the only Native American, I didn't know that, huh? Let me look at you. I think that's all right. He's got the, he's got great quality, I can tell you. He's the only Native American in the Senate. How many have been there before you, do you know? Native Americans?
President Trump Participates in a Swearing-In Ceremony for the Secretary of Homeland Security
I think three.
Three. Well, you're a fantastic representative. Markwayne has also been a fantastic advocate for our cherished tribal communities. He's now the first member of the Cherokee Nation ever to serve as a member of the Cabinet. I didn't know all these things. I would have picked him faster if I had known. I would have made a quicker decision. Prior to his career in public service, Markwayne had a very successful career in business, leaving school at age 20 after his father got sick, taking over his family business and turning it into a multimillion-dollar success story. He's a very successful guy. Markwayne is also a career as an MMA fighter. That's why I looked at his ears and I said I'm not going to fight with him. You can tell a lot about a person by their ears, right? During which he went totally undefeated. He was undefeated during his career, and he's been inducted into the Oklahoma Wrestling Hall of Fame. And the family is made of fantastic wrestlers, especially that guy right there. That's my favorite guy, huh? And suffered bad injury and come back stronger than ever, I think. So, good to have you, man. Right? I've no doubt that as he takes the helm of DHS, Markwayne will fight for homeland security of the United States and securing the country and making it really strong the way it should be. Our country's come a long way in the last year. We set it up so beautifully and then we had four years of horror. We had four years of disgusting horror, open borders, and things that nobody would even think of. You wouldn't even think of. 25 million people poured into our country, and we've gotten a lot of them out, but we have a lot more to go. We have 11,888 murderers came into our country. People came in from all over the world from prisons and gangs, gang members, drug dealers, people from mental institutions, insane asylums. That's the mental institution times two. And what they allowed to happen to our country can never be allowed to happen again, and it won't. With Markwayne, we have somebody that's strong, professional, and fair. As you know, the department that Markwayne takes over today is currently shut down by radical left Democrat thugs in Congress who have blocked all funding for DHS because they're trying to shield illegal alien criminals, gang members, they want to protect them from being taken out of the country. Drug dealers, murderers, they're protecting them all. I don't know how people can vote for these people. You know, I see the, I hear the midterms are close. I don't know what close means, but I don't know how people can vote for them. You take a look, men, they want men to be able to play in women's sports, they want transgender for everybody. Terrible, but that's the way it is. They don't want to give voter ID. They don't want voter ID for elections. They don't want proof of citizenship for elections, and then they get the vote. And they do cheat, but I don't know, it's hard to believe they can cheat that much. Just in the past few days, we've seen the horrifying consequences of Democrats' deadly open border extremism. They want open borders, and they want to open the borders again if they have their chance, because they think they're going to get votes by doing that. On Thursday, a precious 18-year-old college student named Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed while she was walking in a park. She was just walking in the park, didn't do anything. The illegal alien monster charged with Sheridan's brutal murder had come illegally from Venezuela and been released into our country by Sleepy Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our country. And I don't say that because I dis... because I think he's fine, he's okay, I don't like him, dislike him. I talk about job performance, that's all I care about, job performance. He's the worst president in history, and Obama wasn't far behind, by the way. But he was then arrested and released again by Democrat governor, a real slob of a governor, J.B. Pritzker, in the sanctuary city of Chicago, which we could make safe in two months, I would say. Two months if we sent in the group, Tom, right? Two months would be good, three months very good, four, five months it would be great. But they would never call because they don't want to do that. All they have to do is call and ask for a little help. The Democrats in Congress do not care how much American blood they shed in their demented pursuit of open borders, from Sheridan Gorman to Jocelyn Nungaray and Laken Riley. Their quest to flood our country with illegal aliens has left countless American victims in its wake. They never change, too, they see what's happening. They never change, that's what they want. They want to get the votes. With sanctuary and sanctuary cities going at levels that they are, and we've ended a lot, we've done a lot. But for some reason they love it. It's a sanctuary, you know sanctuary cities are sanctuary for, it's really a sanctuary for criminals. With Secretary Mullin at DHS, we will continue our record-setting efforts to deport these illegal alien criminals from our country, and we are doing it at record levels despite a very unfair court system, a radicalized left court system, and others that I'm not too fond of also. And we'll protect innocent American lives. Every single illegal migrant who has a criminal record must be deported immediately. If they have a criminal record, you've got to deport them. And there's a lot that came in under Biden and Kamala, the great Border Czar Kamala, who never went to the border, never called Border Patrol. Never once called Border Patrol. Can you imagine that, Jim? She's the Border Czar, she never called Border Patrol. Explain that to me. She's the worst, she was as bad as he was. Gonna give them IQ tests next week. Under the Trump administration, we've achieved unprecedented gains on public safety. Yesterday, we were in Memphis, Tennessee, to celebrate the steepest reduction in crime ever recorded. We've been there for about five months and the numbers, nobody's ever seen anything like it. And thanks to our Memphis Safe Task, it's called Safe Task Force, alongside our efforts in Washington, D.C., what we've done in Washington is amazing. We have Washington as a safe city now. It's been amazing. It's been, if you go back a year and a half, two years ago, Washington was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world, let alone this country. And now we have a very safe city, what they've done with all of the people working, many of the people standing right there. It's been incredible. And now we're going to see all of our cities take a big step because of Markwayne. In one year, my administration, we've created the most secure border in the United States history and the largest drop in illegal immigration ever recorded. Slashed illegal fentanyl crossings on our border by 64% and accomplished the largest decline in the murder rate in the history of our country, bringing it down to 1900. That's before my father was born. My father was born a little bit after that, he wouldn't be happy mentioning this because he never liked talking about age. But he lived to be a ripe old age, but that's before my father was born. Think of it, 1900. Murders last year were at the lowest level in 125 years. And we're making America safe again. We're doing it at levels that nobody, everything we're doing we're making great. The border's great, the military's great. We're having, by the way, a tremendous success, as you know, in Iran. We had one in Venezuela, and now we're having one in Iran. They have no Navy left, they have no Air Force left, they have no anti-aircraft equipment left, no radar left, no leaders left. The leaders are all gone. Nobody knows who to talk to. But we're actually talking to the right people, and they want to make a deal so badly. You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal. And we'll see what happens. I want to thank Pete Hegseth, the job you're doing over there is really incredible. You and the General and all of the other Generals and Colonels and Captains and Majors and everybody else, right? It's perfect, amazing thing. We have, we make the best military equipment in the world. Now we're going to make it faster. We want to get it faster. But we make the best in the world. We're doing a job. So I'd like to ask Attorney General Bondi to come and do the honors of swearing in a man who's going to do a phenomenal job for our country. And I tell you, your family has to be very proud. You have to be very proud. Everybody wanted this job. I said there's one man for this job, and I have no doubt he's going to be fantastic. Thank you, Pam. Come on over. Thank you.
Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, do solemnly swear,
I, do solemnly swear,
Markwayne Mullin,
Markwayne Mullin,
That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,
That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,
Against all enemies, foreign and domestic,
Against all enemies, foreign and domestic,
And that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same,
And I'll bear true faith to allegiance and do the same,
And that I take this obligation freely,
And I take this obligation freely,
Without any mental reservation,
Without any mental reservation,
Or purpose of evasion,
Or purpose of evasion,
And that I will well and faithfully,
And that I will well and faithfully,
Discharge the duties of the office,
Discharge the duties of the office,
On which I am about to enter,
On which I am about to enter,
So help me God.
So help me God.
Congratulations, Secretary.
Thank you. I think that was the most nervous I've ever been. I don't... it just seems surreal being in the Oval Office and having the President of the United States speak so highly of me and then recognize my family and know my family by name. It's, it's humbling. And, and I never take it for granted, but I made this very clear that I don't care what color your state is. I don't care if you're red or you're blue. At the end of the day, my job is to be Secretary of Homeland and to protect everybody the same. And we will do that. I'll fight every single day. Today I got the privilege of meeting so many of the employees at DHS. These employees have been there for 30 days without pay. And if you need anything to know their dedication, to show up and still protect the homeland that you and I enjoy and the freedoms that we're experiencing, they're working for free because of political politics. That's all I need to know. I told them I was your fight 365 days, understand I'll be fighting 360 days 365 days beside you. No one's going to outwork me. And I'm not going to let any of them outwork me. The President has entrusted me with this, and failure is not an option. And so, thank you so much, Mr. President, for this opportunity. I won't let you down. Thank you very much.
And I love that expression, no one's going to outwork me. That's a wrestler's expression, isn't it? Huh? That's a good wrestler's expression. Yes, please.
Mr. President, will the Secretary's replacement in the Senate support the SAVE Act and the use of the talking filibuster to get it through?
Well, it's not the SAVE Act, it's not called the, it's called the Save America Act. There's a big difference, because the SAVE Act nobody knows what that means. Save America means Save America. And I can't speak for him, but I would imagine that Markwayne, I didn't even ask him the question, because who wouldn't support it? Voter ID with a picture. You want a citizenship, proof of citizenship. Ideally, you want to end mail-in ballots because there's tremendous corruption. Then we added a couple of things, Markwayne, like I don't think being a great athlete and having a family of great athletes, they produce great athletes in this family. All-American wrestlers. They especially like wrestling, by the way. What about baseball? Did you play baseball? Anything else? They like wrestling. But I don't think that you would say that his family, and I don't know this for a fact, and I shouldn't say it because I could get myself... does anybody in your family want men to play in women's sports? I don't think so, Jim, right? I don't think so. I don't think. How would they do? Would they do good wrestling you? They would be in trouble. He said yes, they'd be in big trouble. It's so crazy. So that would be one, and then we have a few others that we added, we call them the best of, best of Trump. But if you look at transgender mutilation of children, we don't want that. It's the mutilation of children. We don't want that. So generally speaking, I think I can answer that Markwayne would be very much in favor of what I'm in favor of. Would you say that's right, Mark? I can't think of too many things. He might be worse, he might be worse than me. That's my look at his wife is saying that's right. But so, yeah, he's going to be great. Yeah.
Do you believe the Secretary will run DHS any differently than Kristi Noem did? What do you hope to see as his priorities?
Well, we had a good run. Look, we created the strongest border with the help of that man right there. Tom is so incredible, and he's going to be a big influence here too. There's nobody more professional, nobody better. There's nobody better as a human being. You know, he looks tough, but he's got a good heart. But not too good, don't make it too good. But, you know, we had Tom, we have the safest border we've ever had. We have a lot of assets, but a lot of things we can we can do and we're going to do. We have to get criminals out of our country that were allowed in by Biden. Yeah, please.
Mr. President, do you support the what appears to be emerging agreement coming out of the Senate to reopen DHS?
Well, I'm going to look at it, and we're going to take a good hard look at it. I want to support Republicans, and you know, sometimes it's awfully hard to get votes when you have Democrats that don't want to have voter ID, they don't want have proof of citizenship. They don't want to do anything about men playing in women's sports. That's one of the items we put on, you know. And I did that just because it's so popular. You know, they say that's at least an 80-20 issue. No, it's about a 99-1. I don't think it's, what do you think, Pete? Do you think it's 80-20? Who's closer, 80-20 or 99-1?
Almost 100.
Yeah, I think I think 100 is really there. So, you know, so, so I support that and I support common sense. Yeah, please.
Would you be comfortable with a deal that involves separating ICE funding from the DHS funding package in order to reopen?
Well, they're working in all of that, you know. That's a detail that they'll explain later. Please.
Election integrity and DHS measures, Mr. President, since CISA falls under DHS, and given that many credible voices have raised concerns over its premature and possibly faulty, likely faulty 2020 election assessment, will you and Secretary Mullin implement reforms at CISA and at DHS to ensure full confidence in future elections, like in the upcoming...
We'll be talking about it. We'll talk about it, you know, pros and cons. Look, they used it to try and put me in prison, right? So I can't be thrilled with it. They used that very strongly, very illegally. The Democrats are thugs. And I don't want to say that, it would be nice to everyone get along, but it's a different country than it was years ago. It was very dangerous the way they used it. And they weaponize government. They used that to weaponize government. So I'm not thrilled, but I'll also go along with two groups of people: the military, and I think the military likes it, right? And I'll go along with the senators. It's, I'm fine. But I was a big victim of it. Yeah, please.
Are you going to send Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to do direct negotiations with the Iranians?
Yeah, well, we're in negotiations, as it turned out, and now you've seen what I said yesterday was exactly correct. We're in negotiations right now. They're doing it along with Marco, JD, we have a number of people doing it. And the other side, I can tell you, they'd like to make a deal so badly. You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal. And we'll see what happens. I want to thank Pete Hegseth, the job you're doing over there is really incredible. You and the General and all of the other Generals and Colonels and Captains and Majors and everybody else, right? It's perfect, amazing thing. We have the, we make the best military equipment in the world. Now we're going to make it faster. We want to get it faster. But we make the best in the world. We're doing a job. So I'd like to ask Attorney General Bondi to come and do the honors of swearing in a man who's going to do a phenomenal job for our country. And I tell you, your family has to be very proud. You have to be very proud. Everybody wanted this job. I said there's one man for this job, and I have no doubt he's going to be fantastic. Thank you, Pam. Come on over. Thank you. They have no navy left, their Air Force is gone, their communications are gone, that's the biggest problem. It's very hard to communicate them between themselves. All of the anti-aircraft is gone. Most of their missiles are gone. We shot either shot them or they shot them and don't have them anymore. They're down to a trickle. They're pretty much everything they have is gone. I don't know, can you name one thing that's not gone? Or can you name one thing that's doing well? You know, if you read the papers, you think we're tied. You think we're in a tough battle. We are roaming free over Tehran, the city, Tehran, as opposed to Iran. We're roaming free, we can do whatever we want. And as you know, today we were going to have the privilege of shooting down a very big electric generation plant, one of the biggest in the world. And one shot to the right location ends the plant, it collapses. And we held off based on the fact that we're negotiating. Yeah.
What do you think was the turning point to make you want to pursue a ceasefire? A few days ago you, you know, you said you wanted to continue bombing Iran, now you want to pursue peace talks. Was there something that happened?
The fact that they're talking to us and they're talking sense. And remember, it all starts with they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Just, you know, I said yesterday, what are the top ten? I said, well, number one, two, and three is they can't have a nuclear weapon. And they're not going to have a nuclear weapon, and we're talking about that. And I know, I don't want to say in advance, but they've agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that. How do you know?
Chief Greg Bovino, your former Border Patrol Chief, Greg Bovino said his only regret is that he didn't catch more illegal aliens. What's your reaction to that?
Well, I mean, we captured a lot. You know, they were allowed into the country by Sleepy Joe and that group of incompetent people that were here. Worst president ever, the group of incompetent people. To me, that's the biggest scar. You know, inflation, they caused the highest inflation we've ever had. We've already gotten rid of it. The biggest scar is, is what they did. The people that they allowed. From prisons all over the world, they came from the Congo, from all over South America. Rough, rough, rough people. Really tough people. So no, I understand what he means. He's, you know, would have liked to have captured more. I'm not capturing so much as removing. You know, we're removing thousands of people, and many are self-deporting because we're going after them so powerfully that they're self-deporting, Tom, going back. I think that's one of the big unkept secrets. It's, it's, we have thousands and thousands of people and they're self-deporting, they're going back to where they came from. But what we want really is the criminals. We're really focused on those criminals getting them out. Yeah.
What's your message right now to Democrats and also to Americans that are stuck at airports? It's really devastating watching it online because Democrats won't fund DHS.
What's, what's devastating? The situations of Americans right now stuck at airports as we speak because Democrats won't fund DHS. Well, they just don't they won't, right look. This is a deal that was done and the great big beautiful deal which gave you the biggest tax cuts ever, including no tax on tips and no tax on social security for the seniors, think of it, no tax on overtime. Tax deductions when you buy a car, you take money and pay interest on the money, you deduct it. We've never had that for people buying cars. If it's an American car, only if it's an American car. But they are just what, they stick together, the Democrats. I tell you, I give them great credit for that. We have some that will, they're not good stickers. We have guys like Tom Massie in Congress, who's terrible. He's just a terrible, terrible person. I call him Rand Paul Junior, but they don't vote. Rand Paul, I mean, rarely votes for stuff. Likes me, says I'm a great president. He said the other day, I'm a great president, one of the greatest presidents. But I said, do me a favor: vote for us and don't call me a great... I'd rather have the vote than the statement. But we have people that don't stick together and those people hopefully will someday be gone. The thing I most respect about the Democrats, even on horrible policy, they stick together. What they do have, though, is horrible policy. Transgender for everyone, open borders, men in women's sports, they have the worst policy that you can imagine. And so, whether they stick together or not, I mean they have just this terrible policy. We have great policy. Republicans have great policy, we have common sense policy, but it's great policy. That's our biggest advantage is our policy is correct. Yeah, please.