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Trump Gaggles with the Press Upon Arrival in Palm Beach, FL, Oct. 17, 2025

October 17, 2025 · The White House · 0:01:00

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

What happened

President Donald Trump spoke briefly with the press upon arrival in Palm Beach, Florida, on October 17, 2025. On the shutdown, he held the Republican position as he stated it: “If the shutdown continues, the Republican party’s not going to pay a trillion and a half dollars to illegal immigrants coming into our country… We’re not going to do that. So, the shutdown continues. It’s a Democrat shutdown. It’s a Schumer shutdown.”

On Ukraine, recapping that day’s White House meeting, he said: “I met with President Zelenskyy as you know today and we had a very good meeting, very cordial meeting. In my opinion, they should stop the war immediately. You go by the battle line wherever it is. Otherwise, it’s too complicated. You’ll never be able to figure it out. You stop at the battle line and both sides should go home, go to their families, stop the killing, and that should be it. Stop right now at the battle line. I told that to President Zelenskyy. I told it [to] President Putin.”

Why it matters

The one-minute gaggle carries the President’s freeze-at-the-battle-line formulation for Ukraine — delivered the same day as his bilateral lunch with President Zelenskyy, which this chronicle records separately — on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The battle-line formula, as stated by the President to both leaders, is recorded here as the administration’s stated end-state for the war at this date.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with the Press Upon Arrival in Palm Beach, FL, Oct. 17, 2025,” Palm Beach, FL, October 17, 2025 (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President at the gaggle.