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Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One, Feb. 16, 2026

February 16, 2026 · The White House · 0:15:45

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

What happened

President Donald Trump gagged with the traveling press on Air Force One on February 16, 2026, en route to Joint Base Andrews. He opened with the economy as he stated it — “great financial numbers. You saw low inflation, very low inflation. Prices are down, way down. Gasoline is less than $2 in many places a gallon… as goes gasoline and oil and gas, so goes the rest” — and crime numbers “way down.”

On the Iran talks opening in Geneva the next day: “I’ll be involved in those talks indirectly and they’ll be very important… Typically Iran’s a very tough negotiator… I would say they’re bad negotiators because we could have had a deal instead of sending the B2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. We had to send the B2s. I hope they’re going to be more reasonable. They want to make a deal.” Asked about the $5 billion announced for the Board of Peace, he called it “peanuts compared to the kind of money that has been spent” on the region’s wars. Asked whether, if no deal were made with Cuba, he would consider an operation like Venezuela’s, he declined to answer — “Why would I answer that?” — adding that it “wouldn’t be a very tough operation” but that he did not think it would be necessary.

Domestically, he demanded the release of Tina Peters — “she pointed out the voter theft that was taking place… They arrested her and they gave her a 9-year sentence and he better let her go because it’s a disgrace” — and criticized Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who had not been invited to the week’s governors events: “I don’t like the job he’s doing in the bridge. I don’t like the fact that he did that horrible, you know, with the pipes and the Potomac… we’re going to have to get the federal government involved in getting it fixed because he can’t fix anything.”

Why it matters

This gaggle sets the terms, in the President’s own words, for the two foreign files that dominated the following weeks — the Geneva Iran track he was monitoring from Washington, and the Cuba question he pointedly left open — three days before the Board of Peace met. It is recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The President’s statements on the Geneva talks, the Board of Peace funding, and Tina Peters are recorded here for the weekly scoreboard. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One En Route Joint Base Andrews, Feb. 16, 2026,” The White House, February 16, 2026 (official upload, embedded above; Air Force One, per the official description). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President and reporters at the gaggle.