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Trump Delivers Remarks to Troops at Al Udeid Air Base, May 15, 2025

May 15, 2025 · The White House · 0:58:43

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

What happened

President Donald Trump addressed American service members at Al Udeid Air Base outside Doha, Qatar, on May 15, 2025, during the second stop of his Gulf trip, in remarks carried on the White House channel. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth introduced him, laying out the department’s program in his own words: “We’re restoring the warrior ethos. No more political correctness,” Hegseth said, adding that recruiting and retention had reached historic levels under the President.

The President thanked the troops and their families — “six or 7,000 miles away,” as he put it — and announced the defense topline: “I recently announced that I’ll approve an unprecedented $1 trillion” defense budget, he said. He also announced the host nation’s commitment to the base hosting them: Qatar “will also be investing 10 billion dollars to support this massive base in the coming years,” he said, and he repeated his running tally of investment into the United States: “We have over 10 trillion dollars going to be invested in our country.”

Why it matters

Al Udeid is the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East, and the remarks are the trip’s troops-facing set piece: the $1 trillion defense budget announcement and the stated Qatari investment in the base, delivered by the Commander in Chief alongside his Secretary of Defense.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the $1 trillion defense budget announcement and the stated $10 billion Qatari investment in Al Udeid Air Base, as announced by the President on May 15, 2025 — flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Delivers Remarks to Troops at Al Udeid Air Base, May 15, 2025” (YouTube, May 15, 2025) — official description and broadcast transcript as aired.