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Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews En Route Groton, CT, May 20, 2026

May 20, 2026 · The White House · 0:10:43

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions from the press at Joint Base Andrews on May 20, 2026, before departing for Groton, Connecticut, for the Coast Guard Academy commencement. “We’re in the final stages of Iran. We’ll see what happens. We’ll either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty, but hopefully that won’t happen,” he said, adding that “the economic numbers are phenomenal.”

He claimed a sweep in the previous night’s elections — “We won all races last night. Every one of them” — and backed Ken Paxton in Texas. On the White House ballroom, he described its roof as a military feature: “The roof of the ballroom is a drone court and it gives great safety to everything below… it’s also a military strong military position for our people.” On Taiwan, he said he would speak to its president before deciding on the weapons package and that the situation was “very well in hand” after his meeting with President Xi. On Israel’s prime minister, he said: “He’s fine. He’ll do whatever I want him to do… he was a wartime prime minister and he’s not treated right in Israel.”

Why it matters

This gaggle is the outbound half of the President’s May 20 travel day, and it fixes three dated postures on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub: Iran at a “final stages” decision point, a Taiwan arms decision still pending with a call promised first, and the ballroom defended in part as a hardened military position above the White House.

Scoreboard watch

The “final stages” Iran framing and the promised Taiwan call ahead of an arms-package decision are dated commitments as stated by the President, tracked against the announcements that followed.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews En Route Groton, CT, May 20, 2026,” Joint Base Andrews, MD, May 20, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President at the gaggle.