White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke with reporters outside the White House on Thursday.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Caroline, what do you say to critics of the President's education plan?
00:05Where was their criticism of our nation's failing test scores for the last several decades?
00:12The Department of Education was founded in the 1970s, and since then we have spent more
00:16than $3 trillion at this federal bureaucracy.
00:21What has been the return on that investment for the American taxpayer?
00:26Levels that are less than ideal, less than proficient.
00:29Our children's test scores are incredibly concerning when it comes to reading rates,
00:34literacy rates, math, and science test scores.
00:38The numbers prove that, and the President is finally, this President is finally taking
00:43much needed action to return education to where it belongs, and that's to educators
00:48closest to students in their classrooms in their respective states.
00:52We're going to have a great event here later at 4 o'clock.
00:54There will be students here, teachers here, parents here, educators, and of course governors
01:00from around the country who are very excited about taking on this responsibility to educate
01:04our nation's students.
01:05Who's going to run federal student loans?
01:07The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today.
01:11As you know, the President's executive order directed Linda McMahon to greatly minimize
01:15the agency, so when it comes to student loans and Pell Grants, those will still be run out
01:20of the Department of Education, but we don't need to be spending more than $3 trillion
01:24over the course of a few decades on a department that's clearly failing in its initial intention
01:29to educate our students.
01:30So is the federal government going to be spending less?
01:31How is it going to be much smaller than it is?
01:32Is it not going to be shut down completely?
01:33And then I have a second question.
01:37As I said, Pell Grants and student loans will still be run out of the department in Washington,
01:43D.C., but the great responsibility of education, educating our nation's students will return
01:48to the states.
01:49The Department of Education plays a critical role in enforcing civil rights laws that prohibit
01:54discrimination.
01:55Who's going to do that now?
01:56Any critical functions of the department such as that will remain, but again, we're greatly
02:01reducing the scale and the size of this department.
02:04What about federal Title I funding and special education funding?
02:07Same answer.
02:08Caroline, on the Federal Reserve, the President criticized the rate decision yesterday.
02:14Is he looking to replace members of the Federal Reserve Board like he did on the Federal Trade Commission?
02:21Well, the President has appointed Mickey Bowman, as you know, to be the vice chair of the Federal
02:25Reserve.
02:26We're incredibly optimistic about her.
02:29She's on the ball, as the President says, and knows how to get things done.
02:32The President has every right to criticize the decision, and he's made it very clear
02:37that he believes in lower interest rates are going to help this country boom, and this
02:41administration is working on lowering the rate of inflation caused by the previous administration
02:45every day.
02:47Inflation is cooling.
02:48The numbers indicate that, and the President strongly believes in low interest rates, and
02:51I think the American public do, too.
02:53Caroline, on the deportation flights, Caroline, you've said that you're confident that you've
02:57complied with the judge's order.
02:58We are.
02:59If that's the case, then why not turn over the information about the flight?
03:02We are 100% confident that we've complied, and as I said from the podium and will continue
03:07to say, all of the flights that were subject to the written order of the judge took off
03:11before the written order was pushed in the courtroom, and the President is well within
03:15his Article 2 power and his authority under the Alien Enemies Act to make these decisions,
03:22and we think it's egregious that a single district judge is trying to tell the President
03:27of the United States who he can and cannot deport from our soil, especially when it comes
03:31to designated foreign terrorists.
03:33What about the fact that you're not turning over that information?
03:35Jeff, go ahead.
03:36The administration is getting some attention this week for a memo that was released, I
03:40think a couple weeks ago, taking segregation out of the criteria for federal contracting.
03:47Can you explain what that memo was supposed to do, and if you're looking to, I presume
03:52you're not looking for segregation to come back, but can you explain what the reason
03:56for the memo was?
03:57Did the memo come from the White House, or was it from an agency?
03:59It was from the administration.
04:01I think it was OPM.
04:02Okay.
04:03I can refer you to whichever agency wrote that memo.
04:06I haven't seen it, so I can't speak to it.
04:08Caroline.
04:09Go ahead, Reagan.
04:10Thanks, Caroline.
04:11This executive order dismantles the department to abolish it completely requires Congress
04:16to act.
04:17Is the administration asking Congress to codify Trump's executive order to abolish the department?
04:22I'll leave it to the President to speak on that later.
04:24Four o'clock.
04:25What do you think is the President doing about Gaza?
04:28Is he trying to get the ceasefire back in play?
04:31What's his plan?
04:33Well, the President made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of
04:36the hostages, there would be all hell to pay.
04:39Unfortunately, Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives.
04:43This situation, let's not forget, is completely the fault of Hamas when they launched that
04:48brutal attack on Israel on October 7th.
04:51The President has made it very clear that he wants all of those hostages to come home,
04:55and he fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they've taken in recent days.
05:00Go ahead, Michael.
05:01The President would like to see American schools and students reach over the next four years
05:05after he signs the CEO.
05:06Well, again, the intent of this CEO is to return this great responsibility back to the
05:12states, and we know, we believe in federalism here at the White House.
05:16I know the previous administration didn't, but we think decisions are best made when
05:19they're closest to the people.
05:21And we trust teachers and educators in their respective schools to make these very important
05:27decisions about our children's education and their futures.
05:30And the current status quo is failing our students.
05:33In fact, I have some facts right here.
05:35Thirteen-year-olds' mathematics scores are the lowest they have been in decades.
05:39Thirteen-year-olds' reading scores are the lowest since testing began over 30 years ago.
05:43Low-performing students are falling further behind.
05:46One city, Baltimore, Maryland, in 2023, high schools had zero students who tested proficient
05:52in mathematics.
05:54As a mother myself, I know I share the concern of many parents across the country.
05:57We want our children to be bright and smart and ahead of the game.
06:01This is also, I would say, a national security issue.
06:03When you look at how students around the world, particularly in China, are being educated,
06:08American students are falling behind.
06:10We're not keeping up with our allies or our adversaries, and that's a major problem
06:13for our country.
06:14And the president is fixing it today.
06:16We're less than two weeks away now from the August 2nd midterm deadline.
06:22Has the president spoken with his Canadian counterpart?
06:26Not to my knowledge.
06:27I don't believe he has, but I can check in with the president and get you a firm answer
06:30on that.
06:31But my understanding is they haven't spoken, and the president has been very clear about
06:35his intention for April 2nd.
06:37It's going to be a big day for our country.
06:39I would encourage all of you to be here to cover the White House that day on April 2nd
06:43because there will be big announcements when it comes to reciprocal trade.
06:46And the president will be highlighting the unfair trade practices, the ways in which
06:51America has been ripped off by every country around the world, quite frankly.
06:55And there will be big tariffs that will be going into effect, and the president will
06:59be announcing those himself.
07:01The European Union had a decision yesterday against Apple and Google.
07:05Are you familiar with that?
07:06Is there anything the president...
07:07Is that a response to the April 2nd tariffs?
07:09I think we've seen a lot of movement, actually, around the world of countries who are lessening
07:14their tariffs.
07:15I know the EU also paused their alleged tariff on whiskey.
07:20So I think you're seeing countries are taking the president seriously.
07:23They understand that he is going to do what's right for American workers and families.
07:27And so the president and his team are in constant communication with our EU counterparts, but
07:32also our counterparts around the world.
07:34The decision to lift off some of the failures over the last 30 years from the Department
07:39of Education.
07:40So for our critics, what has been the ROI on $3 trillion going to a failing education
07:46system?
07:47That's a great question.
07:48Nothing.
07:50The president is signing the order later today.
07:51But with the executive order today, is it also the goal to eventually be spending less
07:55in federal dollars on education?
07:57Of course.
07:58It's our goal to reduce the size and scale of this government across every agency, which
08:02is why you've seen very strong and quick actions taken to reduce the amount of money that federal
08:08taxpayers are paying on a system that is failing them and their families.
08:11But does that mean eventually downsizing some of the programs that are run out of the Education
08:15Department currently?
08:16It means stopping the wasteful spending.
08:19And as I said, critical programs will be protected.
08:22We have this new deadline looming for this D.C. judge for the DOJ to turn over these
08:27documents when it comes to the timelogues for these deportation flights.
08:30Is the administration going to turn over that information, the exact timelogues, the information
08:35that the D.C. court is asking for?
08:37I won't get ahead of our lawyers, but you'll hear from them in court.
08:40And a follow-up question.
08:41The Commerce Secretary yesterday said that Tesla stock is something that Americans should
08:45be buying.
08:47Is that the stance of the administration that people should be investing in?
08:49Is that something that the Commerce Secretary should be recommending?
08:51I think the Commerce Secretary was reiterating that the president supports an American-made
08:56company like Tesla, who produces a very good product for the American people, which was
09:01beloved by the American people, particularly Democrats, until Elon Musk decided to vote
09:06for Donald Trump.
09:07And now we've seen despicable and unacceptable violence taking place across our country at
09:13Tesla dealerships against workers, employees, and also innocent Americans who drive these
09:17vehicles.
09:18It's actually a scary time in our country because of this political violence from the
09:22left, and the White House and the president's entire administration condemn it wholeheartedly.
09:27We'll see you guys at 4 o'clock.