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President Trump Addresses the Congressional Picnic at the White House

June 12, 2025 · The White House · 0:08:37

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

What happened

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were announced to the annual White House congressional picnic, and the president welcomed what he called the beautiful Republicans and beautiful Democrats and their families, saying he was delighted to welcome members of the House and Senate to the White House, according to his remarks. He thanked the First Lady for putting together the evening and Speaker Mike Johnson, saying Johnson was doing an incredible job, as well as colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their service to America, as he stated it.

Trump said that for more than half a century the picnic has served as a special night for Republicans and Democrats to put politics aside — asking, to laughter, whether that is possible, and suggesting at least for about an hour — and come together with their families, according to his remarks. He thanked everyone present for their service and the tremendous sacrifices their loved ones make, calling their dedication to the country unparalleled, as he put it.

Trump said the gathering came at an exciting time, calling the USA the hottest country in the world: he said that on his recent Middle East trip the king of Saudi Arabia and the leaders of Qatar and the UAE all told him the same thing, that America is the hottest country anywhere in the world — whereas seven or eight months earlier, he said, the country was cold as ice and a laughingstock, and now all respect it, according to his remarks.

Why it matters

The picnic remarks are the president’s bipartisan-relations set piece for the year, pairing the customary thanks to Congress with his standing claim that foreign leaders now rate the United States as the world’s leading country.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump and the First Lady Participate in the Congressional Picnic”, 2025-06-12 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-06-12). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.