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>> sandra: all right, fox news alert as we top the new hour here. the white house looking live what will be a joint news conference with japanese prime minister, the president of the united states. this was expected to begin 1:00 eastern time our. as these go as john reminded us, they don't usually start on time so we are anticipating test to began. and of course anything can come up in this room. >> john: don't usually is another word for never. i have never seen one of these things start on time. but it is always exciting because the delegations are in on each side and doug burgum the secretary and all the dignitaries on the japanese side give think the microphone for final test. so we are very close to see shigeru ishiba and president trump up there on the stage. we will hear what they have to say. although i expect they will take fewer questions the press

conference than president trump at the oval office. >> sandra: that is a prediction. we will watch that as soon as it begins live. meanwhile, after that news conference, as you know, things did not stop. president trump is then expected to deliver a major win in the fight for religious liberty with creation of faith office, we are told to. so we are expecting another executive order sending. welcome back as "america reports" in the second hour, john, i am sandra smith and great to join this hour with you. >> john: don't go anywhere, i'm john roberts john roberts an executive order signing ceremony sometime after this and one day after donald trump announced creation of task force aimed at combating what he calls anti-chn bias. he spoke about that during the prayer breakfast. appointing new attorney general pam bondi to lead the charge. >> sandra: let's get straight to it with shannon bream, fox news anchor and chief correspondent live from the

scene of the super bowl down in new orleans. shannon, great to see there. what should we expect from this unveiling of a new white house faith office? >> we understand that paula white, who is a spiritual advisor has been closed to president trump for years will be heading this out of the white house as well. they point at things like that memo circulating within the fbi offices about going after her death catholic followers and keeping an eye on them. folks in kash patel's hearing in many if you become the head of the fbi, leo tell us who the author of that memo was? they want details those kind of effort spirit of the faith act many have used to target catholic evangelical pro-life supporters outside of clinics have not been used to also enforce protections for pro-life pregnancy centers in it and places like that. president trump and those in his orbit have pointed to those things as something these efforts will target and tried to

protect those folks periods and when we noticed not all of the delegations from the u.s. side is in yet. we are still couple of minutes away yet. during the prayer breakfast, donald trump seem to indicate a greater appreciation of faith and prayer to those two assassination attempts. listen to what he had to say. >> none of us know exactly when our time on earth will be over. you never know. confronted a few short months ago, god was watching me to change something. and i feel even stronger. i feel even stronger, but i feel much more strongly about it. >> john: i don't want to assume he had an epiphany coach about something like that will change you as a person. >> i think you're exactly right but that last july 13th when you go over it, it is a miracle by any account. the trajectory of the bullet and quick turning of his head to look at that immigration

illustration that he had to. and i think it really sinks in. you see that added reference and he has said numbers of times god spared me from something. now, he thinks it is to do the work he's doing and protect america and all kinds of things. part of that might be this faith office as well. and evangelical support for him was strong in the elections that got him over the top. they will say he was very much aligned with religious freedom, getting rid of the john cena minute, and all things interest to pro-life groups with religious conservative groups. so they feel he has demonstrated his seriousness about this issue, but they welcome what they are seeing this week and this faith and faith and they should have, too. >> sandra: shannon bream in new orleans and of course, by the way, what you have coming up on the big day coming up? >> be at the speaker with us exclusively as you guys know, he is in the middle of washington to get the budget done and the

reconciliation dance. did they get outmaneuvered by g.o.p.? i don't know about live in the superdome for we will get the scoop. >> sandra: the entry, the louisiana first lady. >> we had a great time working around bourbon street talking about her efforts in trying to help the families left behind and the family members of those victims of the terrorist attack in january. she is trying to do a lot of good work and bring people together for that. >> john: indeed, and getting a sense this will be a very nice show. see you sunday, thank you. now to set the scene let's go lonthe line of the east room. speak of the president has got a pretty busy schedule. he's got dinner in florida with republican senators at mar-a-lago. we don't think he wants to be super late for that. he should be there within the next couple of minutes. the japanese delegation's ear. two members of the cabinet doug burgum and chris wright

here or. secretary burke them. we are live and can you tell me about the meeting? >> he said no. >> nice try, like it. >> we will try again when the president is here. that we do expect to get president trump and the japanese prime minister here within the next couple of minutes. we are coming off of an administration where three years, joe biden wanted to talk about sell power and our relationship with japan as in a general plaintiff unspoken deterrent against chinese aggression. be expected to hear a little bit about the future of ai. may be north korea, and of course, wants the questions get going, a few about doge, john. >> sandra: i can imagine. i suppose anything can come up. on the federal workers that have

agreed to step aside with paid through september, that could come up. apparently, the numbers updated to 65,000. >> yeah, and there are white house officials who think that is a really attractive offer. they say that they are happy that that judge stepped in to give people more time to think about it. maybe there is something to that because 65,000 is a big increase, 5,000 or so from yesterday from the 60,000 we learned about in the court filings. that they are still concerns amongst federal workers. they are hearing it from virginia and maryland senators. they want guarantees congress has funded this eight months of not working but still collecting benefits and a paycheck. if congress is able to say, even if they don't pass one, big, beautiful bell, if they can say it is in it and will passcode to

that number could go way up over the weekend. >> john: i have to say valiant try there with secretary chad burke and him and i see it's a bubble above his head i'm not getting ahead of the president no way no how, thank you so much, peter. >> i don't blame him. >> john: neither. you don't want to get ahead of the president for sure. in the first term and a great relationship with shigeru ishiba and played golf together in japan, he always talked about japan paying more and taking a greater role for its own defense in the region. at one point, there was talk about japan getting nuclear weapons. do you know if that will be a part of the conversation? >> we can ask. it was not part of what we were told ahead of time that yes, that is part of trump's ammo. when he looks at the region as a candidate he was talking how taiwan wants help should china choose to invade that they

should be paying the u.s. like an insurance company for military assistance if they came to that. that is president trump's ammo, and we were told to expect this to be 2-2 press conference, that is what they said about benjamin netanyahu and the like 40 questions. so we will probably get to that. >> sandra: all right, peter, thank you very much. thank you for that gallery and effort. >> john: we anticipate your first question to the president. >> sandra: let's bring in byron york, fox news contributor in washington examiner. of. we will keep the live shot because this should be underway shortly. byron, your expectations as this meeting seems to be lengthy and a lot could be discussed, u.s. steel among them but what are your expectations? >> well, it has been pretty lengthy. the sheer level of activity at the white house these last

couple of weeks has been absolutely astonishing. so that actually today. my gas is a lot of talk about trade because the president hasf waves by threatening terrorists against some countries not including japan, although i thik $68 billion trade deficit that we have with japan president trump is unhappy with that. and he wants it lowered. so they will talk about ways short of tariffs to get that trade deficit down. >> john: so you know, we have not seen protests at least from the democrats against the u.s. relationship with japan. but earlier today, we sell another very odd sort of kind of street demonstration. not to share what it was, where the democrats gathered outside of the department of education demanding to go in here to the department of education dispatched one fella to stand out there and say you cannot coe in. he was very polite and just

stood there with his arms crossed as he was literally used as a punching bag by the democrats. this comes after shrill rhetoric over elon musk and doge. as you look at all of this under the sword of the umbrella, donald trump doing foreign policy a major big decision, here is the video outside of the department of education earlier today. did the democrats seem like critics or seem to be a little out of step with where things are going in the country? fickle yeah, listen, i don't think this is helping them. but clearly, there was a lot of tension and if you are pulling what is going on in the democratic party, there is a lot of tension where we have got to fight, fight, fight against donald trump. we can't keep doing buy it and go along with staff. excuse me, so a lot of tension and a lot of pressure and start fighting and we have seen that as they picked elon musk as they

are target. but one of the problems is they are coming to the map over some of the more unpopular issues in the united states, foreign aid being one of them. foreign aid is just not very popular at all, especially if you are talking about u.s. bonds for transgender comic book or something like that. that is absolutely zero public support. yet, democrats are going out and fighting in the streets to save it to the department of education is something a lot of republicans have talked about eliminating for years and years. they have never done it. it would be shocking if they can do at this time. it is not the most popular because in the world. one of the odd things we have here is democrats taking to the streets in the defense have unpopular issues. speed till you know, i suppose among the other questions you could get is about the federal s

and whether or not the numbers don't get to where he wanted them to be, whether or not considered and we asked the white house press secretary about this this week and she didn't have further information. but i guess they are wondering that as well, byron. >> i think what peter was saying about that is absolutely correct. because i think there is a lot of confusion on the part of government workers, some of whom might be inclined to leave but worried about this. to imagine leaving your job on the basis of an email you got and say respond yes or no. it seems informal. so i think you have a lot of government workers who if they felt this was a completely, legally, legit all of the i's dotted and tees crossed and it was funded by congress, in other words guaranteed to get what they promise to you which as you get to be paid through september, listen, if they have confidence in that, that number would go away, way, way up.

>> john: byron, i want to come back to the democratic demonstrations against usaid and against a closure at that and against elon musk. they took to the streets. a lot of people were saying the way they were reporting themselves, they looked unhinged. if we can put the video up. and they think elon musk is going to cave because chuck schumer gets out there and starts chanting, "we will win!" and a bunch of signs elon musk should go or lock them up! i don't know if you have read it, but the biography of elon musk and isaacson row is insight into the type of guy they are trying to take on. this is a kind act as a child sent to a camp by his father and south africa where the kids were told to beat up on each other. he got beaten up so many times at summer camp and school that a bunch of democrats yelling at him that he has to go will not

face a much. >> well, obviously, he's had enormous, incredible success. he has built rockets and cars in his life. but i think the other factor here is donald trump. elon musk is a special government employee. he has no authority inside the executive branch beyond what the president of the united states has branded him. and trump has made clear he, trump, will be in control of what musk does, but he feels that musk right now is doing a very good job. the president remains confident in what is happening. this is a trump story. and trump feels right now that this whole doge project is going well. >> sandra: okay. byron, thank you for joining us as we were attempting to lead up to the world leaders and walking up to the microphones, but that

has not yet happened. we appreciate you joining us in covering all of that for us. john, perhaps only finally take a commercial break, they will step out. >> john: if we say we will be right back and then we go to commercial and they come right out. but i'm not sure. the fact they were is only three people for the american delegation, the president is still clearly talking to the prime minister of japan. it is a jump ball here. >> sandra: we will take a >> sandra: we will take a right back. just be when you. ast helps relie six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. six digestive symptoms. the power of nature. iberogast. some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking allstate first. okay, let's get going. can everybody see that? like you know to check your desktop first, before sharing your screen. ahh...that is not. uhh, oh no. no no no. i don't know how that got in there.

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japanese prime minister shortly. josephine went to vice president j.d. vance came out. we expect secretary of state to come out as well. and a few seconds away from the two leaders coming up. typically these things with asian leaders are limited to two questions aside but as peter doocy remarking the other day with benjamin netanyahu, they went well beyond that.

if they were to go more than two questions aside, that would be an interesting break from protocol because again typically with asian leaders, they like to stick to the rules. but if donald trump wants to freelance head coach of the president gets what the president wants and this could go on for a while. we will see statements by both sides and that will take 10 minutes or so and then we will see questions and another 10 or 15 minutes or so. any bets with the first question to the president will be, sandra? >> sandra: i don't know but perhaps how was the meeting? a big part of this, john, the relationship between these two. you can only imagine they are in the middle of building that relationship right now. you may that japanese prime minister was hoping to get reassurance is about the alliance and how strong it is currently. it sounds like, john, we are close.

>> the prime minister of japan. [applause] >> president trump: thank you very much. thank you very much. it is a great honor to be with the prime minister. we had our patient taken a little while ago. it is so nice that i thought i would present to you here on stage. here is a picture. i wish i was as handsome as he is, but i am not. [applause] [applause] i remember that day. just think it very much,

everybody. i appreciate it. i'm delighted to welcome japanese prime minister, shigeru ishiba to the white house for the first time. prime minister, weight as it is an honor to have you but that's. it is a great honor in japan is a great country. thank you very much. strong and proud in a nation home to one of the great civilizations in the history of the world for nearly 80 years the american japanese people have enjoyed a friendship like few others and had a great friendship across the vast ocean. we found ourselves united by bonds of history, commerce, culture, mutual admiration and great respect. after our meeting today, i am confident the alliances between our two countries and others also will continue to flourish along and into the future of the military cooperation between the united states and japan as one

of the closest security partnerships. it is one of the closest we have anywhere in the world. our service members work together every day to defend our common interest. japan is committed to double its defense spending by 2027 compared to my first term. they have invested a lot of money. because of my first term, we worked on that very hard with shinzo abe. and we look forward to seeing more so shinzo abe and i worked long and hard on those numbers and those numbers are very, very reflective after my first term. and now, they are going up very substantially based on the conversations today. in addition to being secured she security for the exports of equipment and i'm pleased to say this week my administration appd nearly a billion dollars in foreign military sales to tokyo.

they united states is totally committed to the security of japan. we will extend the full strength of american deterrence capabilities and defense of our friend and ally. 100% the years to come, the president and i will maintain peace and security. i also say peace through strength and all over the indo-pacific and we remain committed to my first term to ensure safety on the korean peninsula. prime minister shigeru ishiba and i spoke long and hard about economic relationship between the two countries and continuance of that relationship, the united states and japan trade $300 billion in goods and services each year. japan is invested $800 million. that will go up very, very substantially in the coming

months more than any other country. and they will have some competition. we have a lot of people coming in and investing in the united states. i think the feeling throughout the world has never been stronger about this country. as a result of their victory in 2024, the presidential election, the japanese investment in technology giant softbank plans to invest between $100,000,000,000.200 billion and many other companies investing that number higher than that number. some a little bit last but trillions of dollars of investments pouring into the country that you didn't have a short while ago and today, error teams discussed how the two nations can do even more to stay on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence along with quantum computing semiconductors and other critical technologies. and they are coming out. the problem with technology effect kind is obsolete in two days so we have to start all

over again. it doesn't last long and we agreed to cooperate more closely to combat the chinese economic aggression, which is quite aggressive. and i'm also pleased to announce that japan will soon began importing historic new shipments of clean, american liquefied natural gas in record numbers. we will be record numbers. with our secretary of interior, we were talking, doug is here, hello, doug, please stand up, dug. doug burgum, everybody. [applause] we are talking about the pipeline in alaska which is the closest point of major oil and gas to japan by japan by four and half the distance of any other location. we are talking about joint venture of some type between japan and us having to deal with alaska oil and gas. that is exciting and they are very excited about it and so where are we. as we deepen our economic

relationship, the united states will conduct trade based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity. chronic trade deficits, not only undermine our economy, but they really do. we will get rid of the trade. we have a trade deficit with japan $100 billion. but we will work that out and i think quickly, frankly. we can do it on oil and gas. we can work it out. we intend to do it quickly. we both understand that. as america welcomes foreign investment, we also want to ensure companies build their products and factories in america, not simply buy assets that we have. and japan is going to be opening up plants built currently as we speak. they have just been started. toyota is one. nissan is going to be doing something very exciting about u.s. steel. they will be looking at investment rather than a

purchase like the idf u.s. steel is a very important company to us. it was the greatest company in the world for 15 years, many years ago, 80 years ago. we didn't want to see that we. and it wouldn't actually leave, but that concept psychologically not good. so they have agreed to invest heavily in u.s. steel as opposed to own it. that sounds very exciting. we will meet with nissan next week, the head of nissan, a great company. they will work out the details. i will help to mediate and arbitrate. i had the privilege of working closely with the great prime minister, as you know, and you know him well shinzo abe the longest serving prime minister and japan's history. likewise, i expect that this prime minister is going to be a great one which i really believe that one. i have gotten to know him. not long but i can see what they

have. he has the qualities of greatness. he will do a fantastic job for japan and for the japanese people. and i would like to now invite the prime minister to say a few words and then we will take some questions, mr. prime minister. thank you. thank you very much. [applause] interpreter mack mr. president trump i would like to sincerely thank you for inviting me to the white house y immediately following the inauguration. i also thank you for your very warm hospitality. i have come to washington, d.c., with the hope of having face to face meeting and deepening our mutual understanding at this early date with president trump who is now leaving the united states. the most important country for japan's diplomacy and security

and aligning our perspectives and visions that japan and the united states should pursue. why should we do to advance the national interest of both of our countries in synergy and to realize peace and prosperity in the indo-pacific? i am convinced that the answer lies in further strengthening the strong and unwavering japan u.s. alliance to achieve free and open indo-pacific. the president and i concurred to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance and to work closely and addressing strategic challenges that both countries are facing in this region. i upgrade the president that japan is an ally of the united states and is ready to share responsibilities and to play its own role.

i also reiterated japan's unwavering commitment to fundamentally reinforce its defense capabilities and be confirmed the unwavering commitment by the united states to the defense of japan. we reaffirmed that article five of the japan u.s. trade deal mutual cooperation and security applies to the islands with half the world's population in approximately 60% of the worlds gdp. the indo-pacific serves as the engine of growth and vitality for japan, the united states, in the world. to the president i also concurred that the united states and japan will make further efforts in a wide range of areas working hand-in-hand together to realize free and open indo-pacific. in this context, we also concurred to further advance corporation of the multilayered

networks of the like-minded countries, including trilateral corporation with the public of korea and the philippines. we also discussed japan, united states corporation, to bring about growth and prosperity, economic corporation including economic secretary is important from the perspective of strengthening alliance corporation. japan is the closest economic partner of the united states and has been the world's largest investor in the united states for five, consecutive years. also, with the inauguration of president trump, the momentum for japanese countries to invest in the united states is growing even stronger. today, i comp conveyed my willis to elevate japan's investment in the united states to an

unprecedented amount of $1 trillion. president trump and myself also concurred to elevate the japan/u.s. partnership to an even higher level through improving business environment and increasing bilateral investment and employment, strengthening each other's industries, leading the world in developing advanced technologies such as ai and leaving semiconductors and strongly promoting efforts to harness the energy of the growing market in the indo-pacific region. we also confirmed that we will cooperate to strengthen energy security between the two countries, including increasing exports of the united states liquefied natural gas to japan in a mutually beneficial manner

regarding foreign exchange has and the first trump administration. close discussions will continue between japanese and the u.s. prime ministers who are experts in this field. >> we also held candid discussions on challenges indo-pacific region is facing. we confirm that we have results not to allow to change the status quo by coercion and such attempts in the east and south china seas in order to fully defend free and open indo-pacific. we also reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the taiwan street. regarding north korea, we affirmed the need to address its nuclear and missile program, which poses a serious threat to japan. the u.s. and beyond and that the u.s. and japan will work together to complete nuclear isolation of north korea.

as their families continued to age, i conveyed my strong sense of urgency determination directly to president trump and gained renewed strong support for the immediate resolution of the objections issue. while this was my first face-to-face meeting with president trump, we were able to openly and, frankly, exchange the use. our meeting turned out to be very productive and meaningful. as a result of today's meeting, which marked a new departure for the japan/u.s. relations, we are issuing japan/u.s. joint statement appeared to have this document will serve as a compass for further cooperation between our two countries. on the basis of these deliverables, i look forward to working together with

president trump whom i respect immensely to usher in a new golden age of japan/u.s. relations. i look forward to welcoming you to japan. and i am very excited about that prospect. thank you, mr. president. >> president trump: thank you very much, thank you. [applause] any questions, please? peter? >> reporter: president trump, i have two. elon musk said i love donald trump as much as. [inaudible] >> president trump: i think she will be okay with it some help. >> reporter: democrat lawmakers as we all know, engineers have access to. [inaudible]

to disperse trillions of dollars each year in everyday america's personal security numbers and all of the threads of the bank accounts, why does doge need all of that? >> president trump: it doesn't but they get it easily and we don't have good security in our country. they get it easily. what we are doing if you look at what has taken place with respect to the investments that have been made on another agency people have been talking about for years but nobody did anything about it. it is absolutely obscene. dangerous, bad, very costly, virtually every investment maybe is a conjurer and nothing of value to anybody unless a kickback scheme going on which is possible. we will be doing more and more of that. we will be looking at the department of education. we will be looking at our military. we will look at tremendous amounts of money, peter, being spent on things that bear no

relationship to anything and have no value. we are talking trillions of dollars. in the end, trillions of dollars absolutely wasted and perhaps illegally, i would say certainly many cases illegally but perhaps illegally. overall, i'm very proud of the job this group of young people, generally young people, but very smart people are doing. they are doing it at my assistance. it would be easier not to do it, that we had to take some of these things apart to find corruption. we found tremendous corruption. >> reporter: democratic lawmakers trying to get into the department of education earlier today. >> president trump: i see the same ones, maxine waters, a lowlife. they don't love our country. they don't love our country. we want great education. we rank 40 in education and we are ranked dead last, dead last. the good news is number one in one category and you know what

that is? cost per pupil. we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world. you look at norway, denmark, sweden, various companies up and down, finland, china does well in education. then you look at us spiritually spend much more money than they do per pupil or any other way, that we spend more money than they do and yet ranked this year biden's last year, congratulations, joe, we are ranked dead last. i want to see education. number one, we like choice, we all like toys, but beyond choice want to see it go back to the states where great states do so well and have no debt and operated brilliantly. they will be as good as norway, denmark, sweden rather highly ranked countries. probably 30, 35 to 38 states will be at the top. the rest will come along and they will have to come along competitively. by the way, we will spend a lot

less money and have great education. >> reporter: as part of doge cost-cutting effort, one of the engineers fired for inappropriate posts. the vice president says, bring him back. what you say? >> president trump: i don't know about the particular thing, but did the vice president say that? did you say that? i'm with the vice president. thank you, peter. go ahead, please. red dress. >> reporter: how long do you want the military to be? do you specifically hope increased military spending bill deter china and north korea? what did you talk about that? >> president trump: i want our military to be the strongest. i also don't mind ending so much money on the military because we bill that year all in the usa. rebuilt our military during my first term. we did a great job and left some of it behind in afghanistan stupidly. there is no reason for that.

but still as much as it was, billions and billions of dollars but a small part of it. but we will have the strongest military by far. we have great people. i want to congratulate pete hegseth for having gone through the gauntlet. he went through that he will be tremendous -- no doubt he will be a tremendous leader. and the other leaders sitting here in their own fields, we will do something very, very, very great we expect great things. i expect the strongest military in the world. far stronger than china and far stronger than anybody. that is the way it is. thank you very much. would you like to ask a question? please, go ahead. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. >> president trump: thank you. >> my question, two quick questions. this is the first meeting,

mr. president, and prime minister shigeru ishiba so what kind of impression do you have on him? number two, do you have any idea or a plan to enforce. [inaudible] thank you. >> president trump: i think he is going to be a great high ministry. i think he is a strawman, very, very strong and i have great respect for him. i know him a long time through reputation. shinzo abe thought the world of him. and i think he is going to do a fantastic job as prime minister, a very strong person. i wish he wasn't so strong. i wish he was a little bit weaker than that, but that is what i got. i have to get strong guys all the time. he will be a great prime minister. i also in terms of tariffs, we will have tariffs, mostly reciprocal tariffs and i will be meeting on that monday or tuesday and have an announcement or a news conference.

but probably reciprocal tariffs where a country pay so much and charges us so much and we did the same. ferry reciprocal. i think that is only fair way to do it. that way nobody is her. they charge us and we charge them, the same thing. i seem to be going to that line as opposed to a flat fee tariff. yes, go please. please, go ahead. why don't you go ahead? >> reporter: this is the newspaper. i have a question for prime minister shigeru ishiba. this is your first summit meeting. what was your impression of president trump? were you able to build a good relationship with trust and confidence in northeast asia? there are many challenges with china and so forth. with president trump, what did you appeal to him? what kind of understanding where

you able to obtain on the economic field? there is the acquisition of u.s. steel, nippon steel and expansion of -- what were the communication discussion did you have with president trump bush marked $1 trillion have an investment of japan, what was his reaction? what about your communication on the tariffs front? this is the first time that i met with president trump in person. so this was the first time meeting face to face, that for many, many years, i have watched him on television so it was quite exciting and so exciting to see such a celebrity on television, to see in person. on television, he is frightening and he has a very strong personality. but when i met with him,

actually, he was very sincere. and very powerful. and with strong will. for the united states and the whole world. i was able to feel that. this is not the sort of publishing or trying to suck up to him. for the world peace and for the region stability, that both of their countries need to play our role and make our endeavors and responsibility. as for the increase of defense expenditures, but is not that we are told by the united states to do so. japan on our own, on our own decision and on our own responsibility, we need to increase our defense expenditures. but of course, we need to communicate and consult with the

united states. but the responsibility is with japan. the decision is with japan. now on the tariffs, that, if it is mutually beneficial, tariffs need to be set. as for japan as mr. president has introduced to us, and unprecedented investment will be made from japan to the united states. and so many jobs will be created. so $1 trillion is the target. and this will be to the benefit of the united states, but also to the benefit of japan as well. investment is mutually beneficial. so be it with u.s. steel as mr. president says, but is not acquisition. it is investment. so the japanese technology will

be provided, and a better quality products will be manufactured in the united states and the u.s. steel will make products which will contribute not only to the united states and japan, but also to the whole world. it is not one-sided. it will be reciprocal. it will be mutually beneficial. and i believe we were able to share on this. that is the biggest result that i have seen today. >> president trump: thank you very much. go ahead, please. >> reporter: i want to ask you about u.s. steel deal. you are saying, is this restructuring of the deal that is happening? and will you approve? >> president trump: we are doing it as an investment and no longer a purchase. i didn't want to purchase, but investment i love. they will do a big investment subject to getting the deal

done. i'm okay with that sure appeared. >> and prime minister what was your argument to the u.s. steel and more on tariffs, if i could use it on tariffs you would like to be there reciprocal back and forth. what was the reception from the japanese prime minister when you said that? >> president trump: we didn't discuss tariffs too much but many other things including the pipeline in alaska, which i think will be the most exciting thing we have done. chris, we discussed that link go to the pipeline to great interest to them. we have potentially more oil and gas in saudi arabia. we have the most of any country in the world. it is a big asset in the united states. we have oil and gas and we have more than anybody. it is an amazing phenomenon that took place over the last four years. nobody understands it, including

the people in charge of it. they had no clue what they were doing. it was a big problem. they were surprised, actually, too, and they wouldn't sell lng. japan wanted to buy neck lng and biden wouldn't sell it. i'm trying to figure that one out. maybe it was the environment. you might answer that question. he is curious about that himself, i think. thank you very much. if you want to answer that, you may about lng that the united states would not sell l lng. >> president ishiba: that was really on an unfortunate thing your tip the current administration -- i'm sorry the previous administration was not allowing the lng to be exported to us. i believe president trump on the

day of his inauguration allowed us to resume this importing. this is something that is really wonderful for us. and as the country of japan, we are interested in importing not just lng but bioethanol, ammonia, another reason resources as staple price or reasonable price from the united states. and we also want to improve the trade deficit the u.s. has towards japan. so, if we are able to buy those at stable and reasonable price, i think it would be a wonderful situation. and for that, i am very appreciative to president. and we also look forward to lng and hope it is a success. >> president trump: i just want to say that ethanol, il well will be happy. all of nebraska and firm states

will be very happy. they want ethanol, and we will be able to provide it to the farmers, who i like and they like me. i think they will be very, very happy. we have opened the sale of the lng immediately actually. we did it if you days ago. china right now, china, everybody wants to buy it. we have more and they are all buying at the japan in particular, we are happy they will start immediately. we can supply it to the world. we are supplying to japan. they will always be right up in front of the line. go ahead, please, go ahead. >> reporter: mr. prime minister i have a question for you as well but mr. president i will follow up was asking have you said elon with spending and the biggest discretionary? >> president trump: at the pentagon and education and everything. we will go through everything just as it was so bad with what we went through with this horrible situation we just went through.

i guess 97% of the people have been dismissed. it was very, very unfortunate. you will not find anything like that, but you will find a lot. i instructed him to go check out education, to go check out the pentagon, which is the military. sadly you will find things that are bad, but i don't think proportionally you will see anything like we just saw. >> reporter: york at the eye has turned to the justice department agents on january 6 rioter cases. are you planning to fire the fbi agent who worked on those investigations quench my. >> president trump: no, i will not fire all of them but some of them i will fire because they were corrupt. i got to learn about the business and that world. i got to learn about that world and corrupt agents. those people are gone or will be gone and it will be done quickly and very surgically. did you have a question for the prime minister? talk up.

>> president trump: i don't know, we have some corrupt but i don't like it. we will bring back the reputation of the fbi. kash patel will do a good job. we will bring back the reputation of the fbi and it has been hurt very, very badly over the last four years. >> reporter: you have just been meeting the first time with president trump. the last administration famously did not have any contact with north korea. president trump certainly get the last time he was in office. would you like him to resume in-person meeting he had with north korean leader kim jong un? >> president ishiba: that is something the united states needs to determine on its own. but is not something that we issued a request. having said that, but for

example, in vietnam or singapore, the president of the united states -- president trump was able to meet with kim jong un. i think that is a very positive development. so, now that president trump is in power again, if we are able to move towards resolving issues with north korea, i think it would be great. and of course, for us, that includes not only denuclearization but resulting issues. and so, not only the victims of the abductees go to but also their families, too, are aging o our time is limited. so if the president of the united states if president trump is able to resolve this issue,

we do understand it is a japan issue. first and foremost, having said that, we want to continue to cooperate with them. >> president trump: it is actually a good question and we will have relations with kim jong un. i got along well with him and i think i stopped a war. i would not have won that election you would have ended up in a very bad situation. that i did and we had a good relationship. when i think it is a very big asset for everybody that i do get along with him. i get along with him and he gets along with me and that is a good thing, not a bad thing. i can tell you that japan likes the idea because they are relationship is not very good with him. and if i can have a relationship with not only him that other people throughout the world where there seems to be difficulties. that is a tremendous asset for the world but not just the united states. go ahead. >> reporter: i have a question for you and prime minister as

well. the criticism for democrat staff productions and cuts elon musk is doing is unlawful para graham graham. is there anything you told elon musk he cannot touch? >> president trump: we haven't discussed that much. i will tell him to go here or there and he has a capable group of people. very, very capable and they know what they are doing. and they will see immediately somebody gets tongue-tied they are cricket or don't know what they are doing. we have very smart people going in. i have instructed him to go into education, go into military, lanco at the things going along appear to have a fine massive amounts of fraud, abuse, ways. but i will pick at a target and say go end. it could be areas that we won't, that i think we are government and we have to be open. as an open government, you could say may be high intelligence or

something, able to that myself if i have to. but generally speaking, i will just say, "no." he will look at education pretty quickly and military too. >> reporter: federal spending, so slick security, medicare, would you like them to look at those programs as well question my. >> president trump: they can't be looked by him that social security will not be touched but only strengthen. we have illegal immigrants on social security. we will find out who they are and take them out. we have illegal immigrants and other medicare. we have a lot of bad people and a lot of people that shouldn't be on that were put on your california. a lot of them come out of california. we will not stand for that. so we will strengthen our social security, et cetera. we will not touch it other than to make it stronger. but we have people that shouldn't be on. we have to weed out. most of them are many so far are illegal immigrants that should

not be in the country. do you have a question for the prime minister? >> reporter: prime minister his affinity for tariffs is well known. if tariffs on japanese imports, width japan retaliate? >> president ishiba: i am unable to respond to a theoretical question. that is the official answer we have. [laughter] >> president trump: that is a very good answer. very good answer, wow! that is very good. he knows what he's doing. thank you very much, everybody ago thank you. >> john: all right, president trump and japanese prime minister leaving the stage after a longer press conference, sandra, than expecting. typically two and two but vide.

>> sandra: 38 minutes. pretty lengthy news conference that interesting answer at the hand but won't respond to hypotheticals talking about the federal workers that he has asked to take a deal or he was asked, what you consider layoffs? i don't know if we got a lot of clarity on that situation, john. interesting news conference nonetheless. >> john: one of the big headlines japan to spend more on self defense because of a d in the president's bonnet in the last administration is japan is affluence that a lion share of money to provide for japan's defense. he wants to see a greater role. of course the japanese constitution runs up how big the military can be. but it looks like room for negotiation there. >> sandra: you asked me what i thought the first question would be and that is from peter doocy. we asked about musk about loving

donald trump. he asked how the first lady was taking that. and the president said i think she will be okay with that somehow. >> john: peter asked about a doge employee who had been fired and then j.d. vance thought should be reinstated. to the president said he agreed with j.d. vance. i guess that person will get his job back and we will hear about that likely in the days ahead. >> sandra: we will, indeed. that does it for us. we will see you on monday. that was another busy afternoon. i can only guess what will happen on monday, john. >> john: it is not over yet because the president has eeo signing about religious fittings as well. the super bowl coming up on sunday. don't forget to watch that an all-day fox, a whole day of programming. >> sandra: i'm predicting chiefs, i don't know. still and i'm chiefs, but hoping eagles. the story with martha starts