Trump confirms US seized ‘largest tanker ever’ off Venezuela coast amid escalating tensions: Live updates

When a reporter asked whether Defense Secretary Hegseth had explained why he hasn’t yet released the footage of the double-tap strike, Trump insisted the journalist must be with CNN.

“No, he hasn’t told me,” Trump began. “I thought that issue was dead. I’m surprised you’re bringing it up. You must be CNN. Are you CNN?”

The reporter confirmed she was with CNN, adding that lawmakers are still discussing the controversial strike on the Hill. She said mostly Democrats were talking about it.

“You mean the people that you work for? The Democrats…You’re basically an arm of the Democrat party,” Trump said to the reporter.

Earlier at the roundtable, Trump said: “I think the people that have run CNN for…a long period are a disgrace.”

He suggested the media company should be sold “because I think the people running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent.”

President Donald Trump clarified his comments from the rally last night, in which he labeled Americans’ cost-of-living concerns a “hoax” perpetuated by Democrats.

Asked about what he meant during his remarks at the rally, Trump said Wednesday: “The word they use is a ‘hoax’ because they’re the ones who caused the problem.”

“They’re the ones who gave the high prices,” Trump added, saying they shouldn’t be using the word “affordability.”

President Donald Trump rejected various media reports claiming that he’s planning on letting several Cabinet members go at the year’s end.

“I think my Cabinet is fantastic,” he said, denying reports claiming that he’s unhappy with certain Cabinet members, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

President Donald Trump said he’s not worried about recent Democratic victories — but admitted that the party in control tends to lose the midterms.

“For whatever reason, and nobody’s been able to give me an answer, when you win the presidency, you seem to lose the midterms,” he said.

“I don’t know why. Usually I can figure it out,” he added.

“It doesn’t matter how well they’re doing…Even if the president is doing well, they seem to not do well in the midterms,” Trump continued. “I want to win. Winning the midterms is important.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “has to be realistic” and said he “wondered how long it’s going to be until they have an election…the people are demanding that a settlement be made.”

“They want to see it ended,” he said. “When do they have an election in Ukraine? Are they going to have an election? Or are they just going to keep it going like this?”

“It’s time to get this war settled…but it takes two to tango,” the president said.

President Donald Trump said the West Virginia National Guard member who was shot in Washington, D.C. last month is “making progress.”

The president said Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe — one of the two National Guard members shot — stood up but didn’t say anything.

“They were both so badly hurt, we never thought that one could survive,” Trump said.

West Virginia Gov. Craig Caplan said at a press conference last week that Wolfe remained in “serious condition.”

“We did have some positive news that we were told that Andrew was asked if he could hear. The nurse who asked the question [asked him] to give a thumbs up and he did respond. And we were told that he also wiggled his toes,” Caplan said.

Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, the other West Virginia Guard member shot in the attack, died from her injuries.

President Donald Trump touted “growth without inflation,” predicting the U.S. could do “much better than traditional numbers,” he said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said America needs to “build here” and predicted under Trump, America will see the “greatest GDP growth” the country has ever seen.

“In the old days, when you announced really good results in this country, the stock market went up. And we’re going back to that,” Trump said. “We’re gonna go back to the old days.”

“You’re gonna see great results over the next couple years,” the president said.

”If you had Kamala, you’d have a country right now that would be in ruins. Things would be in a state like nobody’s ever seen before. Worse than anything you’ve ever imagined. Worse than 1929, in my opinion,” Trump said.

He then emphasized that his administration is driving down prices “very rapidly.”

President Donald Trump is hosting a roundtable.