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Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, May 1, 2026

May 1, 2026 · The White House · 0:21:08

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions from the press before departing the White House on May 1, 2026. On Iran, he said Tehran “want[s] to make a deal, but I’m not satisfied with it,” describing a disjointed Iranian leadership of “two to three groups, maybe four” that “all want to make a deal, but they’re all messed up,” and a country whose navy, air force, and anti-aircraft defenses he said have been wiped out. Asked why he was not seeking congressional approval for the operation, he answered that approval “has never been sought before… They consider it totally unconstitutional. But we’re always in touch with Congress.”

He praised Pakistan’s prime minister and field marshal as mediators — “they continue to work with us” — while saying negotiations were proceeding by telephone rather than by a trip to Islamabad. He said he had congratulated Iraq’s new head of government on his victory the day before: “the new head of Iraq is somebody that we support very strongly.” On trade, he said auto tariffs on the European Union were raised to 25 percent because the EU “was not adhering to the trade deal we have,” and put car-plant construction in the United States at “over a hundred billion dollars… a record.” On Spirit Airlines, he said the administration was “looking at it” and would have “an announcement sometime today”: “I’d like to save the jobs, but we’ll [only do it] if it’s a good deal.”

Why it matters

The May 1 gaggle fixes the administration’s posture at the start of May on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub: an Iran deal available but not yet satisfactory as the President states it, a constitutional claim against seeking congressional authorization, and a dated same-day promise on the Spirit Airlines decision.

Scoreboard watch

The 25 percent EU auto tariff and the $100 billion car-plant figure are recorded as stated by the President; the Spirit Airlines announcement he promised for that day is the dated follow-through item.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, May 1, 2026,” The White House, May 1, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President at the gaggle.