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Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews, Oct. 26, 2026

October 26, 2026 · The White House · 0:05:46

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What happened

President Donald Trump took questions from reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on October 26, 2026, saying he was traveling to Mississippi to help get Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith elected. Asked about a reporter’s premise that the Mississippi race had been moved from solid Republican to likely Republican, the President said he thinks she is doing very well but wants to make sure she wins, calling her “a great person and she’s a great senator” who “loves Mississippi,” as he stated it.

Asked about the result in Brazil and whether that election was fair, the President said it “looked terrible to me” and “looked like another rigged election,” while stressing repeatedly that he “didn’t take sides” and “didn’t endorse anybody.” He added that “elections have to be indisputable,” said he likes President Lula and gets along with him very well, and said the election “had a very bad look” in the way it was tabulated, as he stated it.

On election enforcement, asked about noncitizens who vote being automatically deported, the President said, “I think so. And we do that and we’re starting that process,” and announced: “I’m also going to be issuing a million dollar bonus or reward or whatever you want to call it for anybody that reports voter fraud leading to the arrest and conviction of somebody. We’re giving that person a million dollars,” as he stated it.

Asked whether Prime Minister Netanyahu had asked for a second endorsement in Israel’s elections, the President said they never spoke about it, that what he put out “wasn’t an endorsement,” and that he thinks Netanyahu has “done a very good job as prime minister under very trying conditions,” as he stated it. Asked about former President Obama comparing his White House decoration to a Cheesecake Factory, the President defended his restoration work at length, saying the building had been in terrible shape, that it has been reskinned by “the finest artisans in the world,” and that “the White House is now in the best shape it’s been since 1792 when it was built,” all as he stated it. Asked finally about Venezuela, Machado’s return, and a possible debt restructuring, he answered: “I don’t know. We’ll take a look at it.”

Why it matters

The gaggle puts a new, dated enforcement pledge on the record a week before the midterms — a $1 million reward for voter-fraud reports that lead to arrest and conviction, paired with the statement that the noncitizen-voter deportation process is starting — alongside a Senate endorsement delivered en route to Mississippi and the President’s on-record characterization of Brazil’s election, which he called terrible-looking while insisting he took no side. This chronicle files it on the Elections & Governance hub with every claim attributed to the President.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the President’s October 26, 2026 announcement of a $1 million reward for reporting voter fraud leading to arrest and conviction, and his statement that the process for automatically deporting noncitizens who vote is starting, are dated, checkable claims as stated. Noted for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews, Oct. 26, 2026,” Joint Base Andrews, MD, October 26, 2026 (official upload, embedded above; published October 26, 2026). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President in the gaggle.