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Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 9, 2026

October 9, 2026 · The White House · 0:06:07

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions from reporters as he departed the White House on October 9, 2026, in a gaggle carried in full on the White House channel. He said he was traveling to Syracuse, New York, campaigning for Bruce Blakeman and congressional candidates, and introduced Mike Tyson, who was traveling with him, as a longtime friend: “Nobody like him. He was something special.”

The President used the gaggle to introduce his new press secretary: “We just hired a new press secretary and she’s going to be, I think, terrific,” he said of Katie Zacharia, describing her as a friend to most of the reporters present. He also thanked President Putin, as he put it, for the Russia oil arrangement — “massive amounts of oil coming into our country, and it’s diesel which is what we want” — and, asked about Iran, said the country was “failing badly,” its military defeated, while declining to tie military action to the midterm election: “We may — we’ll see.”

Why it matters

The Zacharia introduction is the first on-camera word of the Press Secretary succession this chronicle tracks: Karoline Leavitt departed in August 2026, and Zacharia’s first briefing followed on October 13 (see that page). The gaggle is also a campaign-trail record — a President campaigning in New York a month before the midterms.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 9, 2026” (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President in the gaggle.