Will Trump escalate on Cuba? Trump addresses media after Raul Castro’s indictment by Todd Blanche

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]population of Miami and certainly beyond Miami.

[00:00:03]People that came there that were decimated, whose families were ruined, appreciate what the Attorney General just did today and is just doing now. It's just watching it.

[00:00:15]So, we have Cuba on our minds. Very important.

[00:00:20]A lot of problems for a lot of years and this was a big I think it was a very big moment for people that not only Cuban Americans, but people that came from Cuba that want to go back to Cuba. These people that want to see their family in Cuba.

[00:00:35]I think this is a very big day, very important day.

[00:00:38]They supported me to the nth degree.

[00:00:40]They supported me at levels that nobody's ever seen before.

[00:00:44]And so, I think it's a very important moment.

[00:00:47]What's next for Cuba, Mr. President?

[00:00:49]Okay. What's coming next for Cuba?

[00:00:51]Well, we're going to see it's a failing nation. You see that. It's falling apart. They have no oil, they have no money. It's a failing nation. So, I just can't tell you that, but uh we're there to help. We're there to help the families, the people. And again, a lot of those people are related to me in the sense that I have had such a great relationship with Cuban Americans. They supported me at a 94% level. That's a pretty good level.

[00:01:15]And uh they're you know, their their relatives are there. So, we we got to on a humanitarian basis, we're there to help.

[00:01:24]Mr. President, we were there last week.

[00:01:26]Can you talk about that at all? Well, we have a lot of people there. We have CIA there. We have Marco is there.

[00:01:33]Marco's parents, as you know, were from Cuba.

[00:01:36]So, we have a lot of expertise in Cuba and it's not going to be like the biggest thing we've ever done, but I will tell you to a lot of people it's going to be one of the most important. They've been looking for this moment for 65 years.

[00:01:49]So, we'll see what happens, but uh we're going to In the meantime, we're going to have to help them out. They have no no way of living. They have no food.

[00:01:58]They have no electricity. They have no energy at all.

[00:02:02]But they do have great people. They're a lot of great people. I mean, I I have so many Cuban friends in my mostly in Miami in Florida.

[00:02:10]And they're unbelievable people. They're unbelievable entrepreneurs.

[00:02:14]And they'd like to go back. I think they hopefully they're going to want to live here, but they want to go back. Maybe they'll invest. We'll see what happens, but uh we're freeing up Cuba. Mr. President, how much longer do you anticipate the embargo having to be in place on Cuba? Let's see. We'll be announcing it pretty soon.

[00:02:33]How much is on the table here, Mr. President? Should we expect any escalation here, or should they expect anything? Yes. Uh no.

[00:02:41]No, you won't There won't be escalation.

[00:02:44]I don't think there needs to be. Look, the place is falling apart.

[00:02:48]It's a mess, and uh they've sort of lost control.

[00:02:53]They've really lost control of Cuba. Do you think JD Vance has Do you think his reaction might be different with Maduro? I don't want to say that.

[00:03:03]I want to ask you what he said on Capitol Hill today. He said that he doesn't think JD Vance has what it takes to come after you. What's your response to that?

[00:03:10]>> that? Gavin Newsom.

[00:03:14]He said doesn't have what?

[00:03:16]Trump The era of Trump ends with you, and that JD Vance doesn't have what it takes to come after you.

[00:03:23]Well, look, uh we've done a lot and JD's very talented. He's a smart guy. He's He'll do very well if it's if it's JD.

[00:03:30]We have a lot of very talented people.

[00:03:32]Uh so, I think uh hopefully we're going to leave something that's going to be real easy to run.

[00:03:38]We're doing We're doing a lot. We're doing a lot, and JD's a very talented guy. Do you want me to have to respond after you said yesterday you were about an hour away from making a decision?

[00:03:48]Where does that stand today? Have you heard anything from them? Very uh right on the borderline, believe me.

[00:03:56]If we don't get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We're already to go.

[00:04:00]Uh we have to get the right answers. It would have to be a complete 100% good answers. And if we do, we save a lot of time, energy, and lives, most importantly.

[00:04:13]Could go very quickly.

[00:04:15]Or a few days. It It could be a few days, but it could go very quickly.

[00:04:19]Iran is a defeated nation.

[00:04:22]We're dealing with some people, and we're dealing actually, I must tell you, we're dealing with some very good people. We're dealing with people that are, I think, far more reasonable than the people that are really no longer with us. Uh we're dealing with some people with talent, with uh good brainpower.

[00:04:39]And we're pretty impressed by it. So, hopefully, those people will make a deal that's going to be great for everybody.

[00:04:45]But I I don't know. I don't know. I don't Do I get what? I never I never get tired.

[00:04:52]But what I like to do, if I if I can save war by waiting a couple of days, if I can save people being killed by waiting a couple of days, I think it's a great thing to do.

[00:05:04]Mr. President, even with Colbert's last show tomorrow night, what's your message to him? The late night host Stephen Colbert, it seems lost show after he's being such a staunch critic of yours.

[00:05:12]What's your message?

[00:05:14]Uh I'll have a message at a later date.

[00:05:18]Mr. President, did the US offer Iran uh oil sanctions relief during the peace talks, as Iranian state media has reported?

[00:05:28]No, I I haven't heard that.

[00:05:30]I'm not doing any relief until they sign an agreement. When they sign an agreement, uh we can get that place filled up again and have something that's really a good country for the people. But, you know, we haven't offered anything.

[00:05:43]Mr. President, what's your message to American families who are scared by the the rise of the AI. They're worried that their kids are not going to be able to have jobs someday because AI will take >> tell you, AI has been amazing because right now we have more jobs, more people working right now in the United States by far than we ever had before.

[00:06:00]And outside of the war, and I assumed the economy was going to go down, the stock market would go down 20, 25%. It's actually up. The stock market is higher now than it was before I started the Iran situation. And on the Iran, I had no choice because they were going to have a nuclear weapon. We're not going to give them a nuclear weapon. But that's going to end soon one way or the other.

[00:06:22]Uh oil is going to come tumbling down.

[00:06:24]There's so much uh we have 1,600 ships in the strait that are loaded up with oil that are going to be coming out very soon.

[00:06:32]So uh we'll have to see, but the military's been unbelievable. The blockade has been infallible. Not one ship has gotten through the blockade. 37 have tried. Uh they all wish they didn't. Tell us about your call with Erdogan.

[00:06:49]Yeah, I had a very good call with President Erdogan. And uh pretty standard. We have a very good relationship. Isn't it nice to have relationships with some very tough people?

[00:07:02]He's a tough guy, and uh but I have a relationship with him that nobody else does.

[00:07:07]He's he's actually done a good job. He's been you know, I think very much of an ally.

[00:07:12]Some people would doubt that, but I think he's been a great ally, and his people respect him. His people respect him a lot. Mr. President, are there any people critical of your your um settlement over your IRS case about the tax now that you can't be prosecuted for tax Yeah, well, what happened is uh I was suing IRS for a lot of different reasons. One of the reasons is they released my tax returns, which they're not allowed to do. Now, they showed I pay a lot of tax. I may even release my current returns cuz they show I pay a lot of money.

[00:07:43]But, they're not supposed to do that.

[00:07:44]They were lock boxes as president. They were And they released them. And they certain firm released them.

[00:07:51]Which was, I guess, a private firm, but it released them to a lot of the fake news. And the fake news went and you're just not allowed to do that. And many other things happened.

[00:08:02]So, I released them from the lawsuit.

[00:08:04]And I guess they made a settlement of some kind. I wasn't involved in the settlement.

[00:08:09]Uh I could have been involved, but I didn't choose to be.

[00:08:12]Uh so, they made a settlement. Also, the anti-weaponization uh of people. I mean, people were destroyed. They went to jail. They Their families were ruined. They committed suicide. You know, all the Biden administration and the Obama administration, both of them. I mean, the Obama administration started it. The Biden administration was uh horrible in terms of what they've done to people is incredible.

[00:08:36]And we're getting We're reimbursing those people people for their legal fees and for their costs. And for anybody involved. But, they destroyed people.

[00:08:45]People committing su I read the other day a person committed suicide over it.

[00:08:50]They went You know, it was the most violent thing I've ever seen in politics, what they did. And yet, if I say, "Oh, let's look at this one or that one." They say, "Weaponization. Weaponization."

[00:09:01]What they did in terms of weaponization will never be allowed to happen in this country again.

[00:09:07]So, we think that those people We think that anybody involved in that process should par- partake. And you're talking about peanuts compared to the value. It destroyed the lives of many, many people. Thank you very much, everybody.

[00:09:20]Thank you, sir.