THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________
For Immediate ReleaseMarch 15, 2018
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
AND PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR OF IRELAND
BEFORE BILATERAL MEETING
Oval Office
10:55 A.M. EDT
Q Mr. President, are you going to come visit us soon?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I will. I love it. I love it. I have property there, and I may never get to see it again, but I will tell.
Q Will you play golf?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I do play golf. And you play golf, right?
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: I don't, but I'm always willing to learn so we can have you for a few rounds.
Q Are you going to visit the border, Mr. President, with Northern Ireland?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, that's an interesting border, also. We have two interesting borders. One happens to be where you are, right? It's going to be interesting to see what happens.
It's my great honor to have the very popular Prime Minister of Ireland with us. And we're having some good talks about trade and about military and about cyber and all of the other things that we're talking about. The relationship is outstanding and only getting better.
And it really is a very special group of people. A tremendous number of Irish are living in New York, where I grew up, and they're living in the United States, and these are truly wonderful people. We love them. And Mr. Prime Minister, great to have you, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: My pleasure. Thanks for the invitation to be there.
So I'm going to be in New York on Saturday.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, good. Wow, that's good.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: Yeah, for the parade. So marching on 5th Avenue.
THE PRESIDENT: That's good, I'd like to do it with you, I don't know.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: Does it pass Trump Tower?
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) It does.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: It does. Okay. Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: It goes right by Trump Tower.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: That should be good.
THE PRESIDENT: I used to watch it all the time. I would watch it all the time. So you'll be there on Saturday?
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: Wow, that's good.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: So a lot of the American side of my family came through New York. They're all in New Jersey and Florida now.
THE PRESIDENT: All right. That's right.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: But some of them will be at the reception later.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. That makes sense. And this is the first time in the Oval Office. And it's special.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: I was telling President Trump, I was here before as a congressional intern back in 2000, but they didn't let me into the Oval Office on that occasion.
THE PRESIDENT: But now we do. You've made great progress. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: Yeah, absolutely. I look forward to talking about trade and a few other things later on.
Q What are you going to do about -- do you think Putin was behind this, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: It looks like it. I spoke with the Prime Minister and we are in deep discussions. A very sad situation. It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it. Something that should never, ever happen. And we're taking it very seriously, as, I think, are many others.
Q And any more staff changes coming, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the story was very false. I mean, they wrote a story about staff changes today that was very false. We had made a wonderful change. I think Mike Pompeo is going to be an incredible Secretary of State. We have some wonderful ideas.
I've gotten to know a lot of people over the last year. You know, I've been in Washington for a little bit more than a year, whereas some people have been here for 30, 40 years. I've gotten to know great people.
So there will always be change, but very little. It was a very false story. It was very -- a very exaggerated -- a very exaggerated and false story. But there will always be change, and I think you want to see change.
And I want to also see different ideas. Larry Kudlow just came in a little while ago, and I think Larry is going to be outstanding as economic adviser, so we look forward to it. But we'll talk to you about it later.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody.
Q Have you always been truthful with Prime Minister Trudeau?
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
Q Might you come to Ireland next year, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: It could happen. Yeah.
Q Before reelection?
THE PRESIDENT: That could happen. Well, maybe -- maybe if that helps, right? (Laughs.)
PRIME MINISTER VARADKAR: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: I look forward to being there. It's a great country.
Q You've received a formal invitation?
THE PRESIDENT: I guess I have received a formal invitation.
Q Will you visit the border?
THE PRESIDENT: I'd go to the border.
Thank you all very much. Thank you.
Q Thanks, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Say hello to the people. Say hello. Great people.
END 11:00 A.M. EDT
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