Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, Sep. 7, 2025
September 7, 2025 · The White House · 0:02:28
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
President Donald Trump took questions on September 7, 2025, before departing the White House for the U.S. Open, in a short gaggle carried on the White House channel. The lead exchange was Chicago. “Are you ready to go to war with Chicago?” a reporter asked, and the President answered: “We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our city. We’re going to clean them up so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war. That’s common sense.” Pressed on why Chicago and Boston when some red-state cities have higher crime rates, he cited the tolls as he stated them: “Do you know how many people were killed in Chicago last weekend? Eight. You know how many people were killed in Chicago the week before? Seven. You know how many people were wounded? 74 people were wounded. You think there’s worse than that? I don’t think so.”
He defended Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. against establishment attacks: “He’s a different kind of a guy. He’s got a lot of good ideas… We’re coming up with the answers for autism. You watch.” Asked about attacking cartels inside Venezuela, he said: “Well, you’re going to find out.” He also fielded questions on a second phase of Russia sanctions and on Hezbollah’s refusal to hand over its weapons in Lebanon, deferring the Lebanon answer.
Why it matters
The Chicago exchange — “that’s not war, that’s common sense” — is the crispest statement of the city-cleanup framing in the week the Memphis and Chicago operations were being prepared, and the Kennedy defense is the President’s on-record backing of his Health Secretary during the fall’s attacks on him.
Scoreboard watch
This gaggle is a scoreboard reference point: the President’s September 7, 2025 Chicago weekend figures (eight killed the prior weekend, seven the week before, 74 wounded, as he stated them) and his statement that federal action in Chicago is a cleanup, not a war.
Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, Sep. 7, 2025” (official upload, embedded above; the upload’s description places the event at the White House). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President in the gaggle.
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