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ON THE FED
Asked if Kevin Warsh committed to cut interest rates if confirmed, Trump said "no," adding he did not want to ask Warsh "that question" because it was "inappropriate, probably."
"I want to keep him nice and pure. But he certainly wants to cut rates. I have been watching him for a long time."
Trump called Warsh "very smart, very good, strong, young, pretty young" and "the central casting guy people wanted."
Asked if he was concerned about the Senate confirmation process, Trump said: "No, no…in the whole country I would say that this was the perfect candidate…this was the man that's most qualified."
Asked what his strategy was in the Senate given Senator Tillis's objections: "That kind of thinking is why he is no longer a senator…if he doesn't approve, we'll just have to wait til somebody comes that will approve it, right? So that's it."
Asked if the DOJ should continue its investigation into Jay Powell, the president talked about the Fed renovation: "I'm hearing numbers between three and four billion dollars. It's the most expensive structure ever built per square foot, so he's either incompetent, or he or somebody is a crook, and we'll find out."
ON IRAN
Asked if he was giving Iran a deadline to make a deal: "Only they know for sure." Asked if he had communicated it to the Iranians directly: "Yeah, I have."
On the armada: "They have to float someplace, they might as well float near Iran."
On prospects for a deal: "A lot of people are being killed, so we will see what happens…I can say this: they do want to make a deal."
Asked if he wanted to replicate the Venezuela attacks in Iran: "I don't want to talk about anything having to do with what I'm doing military, but we have a tremendously powerful fleet there."
ON RUSSIA/UKRAINE
"I think [peace talks] stand a chance. We've been trying…I think we're getting very close to getting a settlement."
Lauren Fedor
Financial Times