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Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews, Sep. 9, 2026

September 9, 2026 · The White House · 0:06:31

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions from reporters at Joint Base Andrews on September 9, 2026, while his aircraft’s emergency slide was being checked before the flight to Dallas — a delay he explained to the press pool himself. Heading to the midterm convention, he said the Dallas crowd “looks very big” and that “the economy is very strong. The investment in our country is the biggest in the history of any country.”

Confronted with oil back above $100 a barrel, the President tied prices directly to the war: asked how he would explain it to Americans, he answered, “Will you let Iran have a nuclear weapon? And the answer is no.” He put Iran’s inflation at 300%, said “we control the strait,” and predicted that “right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward” — gasoline, he said, would get “below $2 a gallon,” though “a little bit longer than the midterm.” On Ukraine, he described a “great conversation” with President Putin — “he is wanting to make a deal” — said a trilateral meeting “could happen,” and put the war’s toll at “25,000 last month.” Asked about Britain, France, and Canada sanctioning Israeli settlements in the West Bank, he said he would speak to Israel before reacting.

The gaggle’s domestic headline was clemency: asked about a pardon for Michael Cohen, the President said Cohen had recanted his testimony and that a pardon was “something I would consider.” He closed with campaign advice for Republicans: “Just keep fighting and just keep explaining how well we’re doing as a country.”

Why it matters

Foreign policy is the portfolio of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. This gaggle puts three checkable presidential statements on the record in one stop: gasoline below $2 after the election, a possible trilateral meeting on Ukraine, and a pardon under consideration — each now dated evidence for the scoreboard and position pages.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews, Sep. 9, 2026” (official upload, embedded above; the upload’s description places the gaggle at Joint Base Andrews, MD). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President in the gaggle.