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Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, May 8, 2026

May 8, 2026 · The White House · 0:07:45

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions before departing the White House on May 8, 2026. The available broadcast transcript begins partway into the gaggle. On the announced three-day ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, he left the door open: “It could be. It would be nice. I’d like to see it stop. Russia-Ukraine, it’s the worst thing since World War II in terms of life. 25,000 young soldiers every month. It’s crazy. So it could very well be” — longer than three days. Asked whether troops pulled from Germany would move to Poland, he said it was possible, citing his relationship with Poland’s president.

On Iran, he said he was awaiting Tehran’s response to his proposal — “they have no military. They have not a lot left. We’ll see what happens.” He celebrated the election result in Iraq and “a big victory today in Virginia,” cited new stock-market records and job numbers as he stated them, took a question on the new FDA commissioner without announcing a change (“No,” asked whether he was bringing someone new in), noted the French aircraft carrier sent toward the strait without reaction, and said of the ceasefire architecture that “we want to get the whole thing ended, not just individual movements.”

Why it matters

The gaggle fixes the President’s May 8 posture on the two live war files — a Ukraine ceasefire he was publicly willing to see extended, and an Iran proposal awaiting an answer — days before the China trip consumed the schedule. Both threads are tracked on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The statements as made by the President — a possible ceasefire extension beyond three days and a possible Germany-to-Poland troop move — are recorded here as the baseline for what followed on both files.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press Before Departing the White House, May 8, 2026,” The White House, May 8, 2026 (official upload, embedded above; uploaded May 11, 2026). All figures and characterizations as stated by President Trump at the gaggle. The available broadcast transcript begins partway into the gaggle.