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Trump Gaggles with the Press, Feb. 16, 2025

February 16, 2025 · The White House · 0:06:30

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions from the press on Feb. 16, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida, carried on the White House channel, after attending the Daytona 500, which he called fantastic with an amazing crowd. On the Russia-Ukraine negotiations then starting in Saudi Arabia, the President said the talks were moving along, that Zelenskyy would be involved, and that he believed President Putin wanted to stop fighting, noting that envoy Steve Witkoff had spent about three hours with Putin, as he stated it. He said he did not agree, “not even a little bit,” with Zelenskyy’s claim that Russia would wage war on NATO.

On the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the President said he had told Prime Minister Netanyahu, “you do whatever you want,” after Hamas initially said it would not deliver the hostages it had agreed to deliver, and that the next step would be Israel’s decision in consultation with him. On trade, he restated the reciprocal-tariff rule: whatever they charge us, we charge them.

Why it matters

The Palm Beach gaggle records the President’s own read of three live files in one short session: his belief that Putin wanted to stop fighting, his hands-off instruction to Netanyahu on the hostage deal, and the reciprocal-tariff formula stated as a rule.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the Russia-Ukraine peace process as described on Feb. 16, 2025 (talks moving along; Zelenskyy to be involved) - recorded here as stated by the President.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with the Press, Feb. 16, 2025” (YouTube, 2025-02-16) - official description and broadcast transcript as aired.