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Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, Feb. 27, 2026

February 27, 2026 · The White House · 0:09:49

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took press questions on the White House grounds on February 27, 2026, before departing for Texas — hours before the Iran strikes he would announce the next morning.

On Iran, he was consistent across several exchanges: “I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have… They cannot have nuclear weapons and we’re not thrilled with the way they’re negotiating.” Asked directly whether he had made a final decision, he said: “No, I haven’t.” He acknowledged the risk in any military option — “when there’s war, there’s a risk in anything, both good and bad” — and said he would love not to use the military, “but sometimes you have to.”

On Cuba, whose government he said was talking with the United States and was “in a big deal of trouble… They have no money,” the President said: “We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba,” adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was dealing on it “at a very high level” and that a change could be “very positive for the people that were expelled… from Cuba that live here.” On the day’s other topics, he said he did not like seeing former President Bill Clinton deposed but that Clinton’s side “certainly went after me a lot more”; defended Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick against a subpoena push as “a very innocent guy doing a good job”; answered a young reporter’s question on mortgage rates — 30-year rates had dipped below 6 percent, as the reporter stated — by advising young buyers to “save a little money, wait a little longer, you’re going to get a mortgage for a very low rate”; and described his Texas trip as “a little bit of an oil meeting,” pointing to falling gasoline and general prices.

Why it matters

This departure gaggle is the last free-form press exchange before Operation Epic Fury began — the President publicly uncommitted on Iran while unveiling, almost in passing, the Cuba “friendly takeover” formulation that later Cuba coverage traces back to this morning. It is recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The President’s Cuba statement — a possible “friendly takeover,” with Secretary Rubio handling it at a high level, as stated at this gaggle — and his on-the-record “no final decision” on Iran on the eve of the strikes are recorded here for the weekly scoreboard. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, Feb. 27, 2026,” The White House, February 27, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President and reporters at the gaggle.