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Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 22, 2026

October 22, 2026 · The White House · 0:12:33

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

What happened

President Donald Trump took questions upon departure from the White House on October 22, 2026, before traveling to campaign in Iowa. Most of the gaggle concerned the Ohio governor’s race: a Vivek Ramaswamy campaign ad built on statements by Amy Acton’s mother about her daughter. The President defended the ad at length. “All I know is the mother said very bad things about Acton,” he said. “And I think you have to take that seriously.” He argued the ad would be treated differently if it were about him: “If my mother said that about me, it would be a major news story… you’d have it as your number one story.” He accused the press of having “teamed up” and “ganged up” to protect Acton because Ramaswamy is a Republican, and said that “if what the mother said about the daughter is half right, she has no right even running for the governor of a great state,” as he stated it. Asked why he had made no mention of Acton’s allegations against her stepfather, he said he did not know the mother and had never heard of her until recently.

On other subjects: asked about President Zelenskyy’s statement that new Russian strikes showed President Putin did not want peace, he said, “Well, we’ll see how it works out.” On Elon Musk and Starlink for Ukraine, he declined to confirm reporting that he had called Musk — “whether I called or whether somebody else called doesn’t make any difference… the bottom line, he put it back” — and said his relationship with Musk was “a very good one.” On lawsuits by soldiers, he said that if the claims are legitimate the Justice Department should settle them reasonably, but tied the outcome to the midterms: “if the Republicans don’t do well, I would say that maybe they won’t get their money,” because he could not speak for another administration. He dismissed a New York Times poll as based on “fake numbers,” saying the polling company had acknowledged the numbers were fake and the Times had not apologized, as he stated it; and he put his turnout effect at “almost 50% more voters” when he runs — “if I can get my voters out, we’re going to win.” Asked about reports that the Justice Department was looking at Corey Lewandowski, he said he had only just heard of it: “I want my people to be honest and if they’re not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted… if somebody is dishonest, I consider them not only against the country, I consider that dishonest against me.” Asked about an HHS resignation reported that day, he said he did not know her very well and that Secretary Kennedy “is doing great,” as he stated it. He praised Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi — “if I need to go, I’d go” — backed the Texas attorney general’s Senate candidacy, and dismissed a question about conditioning a 2028 endorsement of Vice President Vance on holding the majorities: “I never even thought of it… it’s a long way off.”

Why it matters

The gaggle is the President’s fullest on-record defense of the Ramaswamy ad — the defining controversy of the Ohio governor’s race in its closing stretch — and it ties two governing questions, the January 6-related lawsuit settlements and the standard for prosecuting dishonesty inside his own administration, directly to the November 3 midterm results.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the President’s October 22, 2026 statements conditioning the soldiers’ lawsuit settlements on the midterm outcome, and his claim of a roughly 50 percent personal turnout effect. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press Upon Departure from the White House, Oct. 22, 2026” (official upload, embedded above). Remarks as delivered in the gaggle.