WASHINGTON — A day after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections, President Donald Trump used his first on-camera appearance to defend the war in Iran, insist he would have won had he been on the ballot himself, and remind Democrats that he still holds the veto pen.
Trump spoke on Wednesday at the White House construction site where crews are building his new ballroom, during a ceremony to raise the final steel beam for the project. After remarks about crime in Washington and the renovation of the White House facade, he took questions from reporters while workers rigged the beam behind him.
Asked about Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion that the Iran war cost Republicans at the polls, Trump conceded part of the point. “I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short-term,” he said. “But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again, because long-term, it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” Asked directly whether the war was worth it, he answered: “I do, yeah.”
In a second round of questions, Trump said he had known Vance would post his message about the war’s impact on the results and approved of it. “I think it was fine. I thought it was good,” he said. Asked whether he had spoken with Vance and about the 2028 race, Trump was noncommittal: “We’ll see what happens. … Maybe nobody’s going to run. Maybe he won’t run. I don’t know who’s going to run.”
On working with the incoming Democratic majority, Trump struck a conditional note. “I’ll get along probably with the Democrats unless they want to be destructive, but I have the power of the veto,” he said, adding that Democratic leaders had “already called, and they want to talk about things, and that’s fine.”
Asked about talk of impeachment, Trump dismissed it. “I think it would destroy the Democrat party if they did that,” he said, “because impeachment for no reason — what, for having a successful country. Our country is more successful now than at any time in its history.”
Asked whether he regretted how he closed out the campaign, Trump said no. “If I was on the ballot, we would have won,” he said. “You saw the people. There were thousands and thousands of people at every rally. … But they just — you couldn’t transfer that love. We weren’t able to transfer the love to candidates.”
Asked about the contest to lead House Republicans after the party lost its majority, Trump said he would stay out of it, praising the Speaker, Mike Johnson, as “fantastic.”
Democrats won control of Congress in Tuesday’s voting, according to Associated Press race calls. Trump reacted on election night in phone interviews, acknowledging the Iran war was one part of the losses while arguing the candidates bore most of the blame. Wednesday’s appearance — at the ballroom site, a project he has championed — was the first time he had fielded reporters’ questions in person since the results.
Zark News carried the remarks live: LIVE: Trump Delivers Remarks at the White House.
