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Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 16, 2026

October 16, 2026 · The White House · 0:20:50

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 16, 2026, in a gaggle carried in full on the White House channel. The gaggle opened on the White House grounds, where the President pointed out the heavy crane lifting steel beams for the ballroom construction, describing the lifter and its span as record-setting in size.

Asked whether the United States had slowed Starlink or Star Shield service for Ukraine, the President said it had not: “I didn’t do that. No, we didn’t do that at all,” adding that he had checked that morning and understood the service to be functioning. Asked whether he was shopping for a new chief of staff, he called the report — which he attributed to Politico — “a total fake story,” said he could not be happier with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, noted her recovery from illness, and said she had done a great job from day one.

On Ukraine, the President repeated his figure that 32,000 soldiers had been lost in the last month, said he deals with both leaders, and said of the war: “I think they want that war ended there. And I think it’s going to end. That’s all I care about. I want that war to end.” He also discussed Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Abraham Accords framework in answer to reporters’ questions.

Why it matters

Departure and arrival gaggles are where this President most often states his positions in his own words, outside a prepared text. Foreign policy is the portfolio of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, whose records this site tracks against statements like these.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 16, 2026” (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President in the gaggle.