President Donald Trump addressed House Republicans attending a legislative retreat in Florida on Monday.
Watch Trump’s remarks in our video player above.
Trump was spending the day at his Miami-area golf club and having “many important meetings and phone calls” while there, according to a social media post in which the Republican president laid out his schedule. He said he’s attending a 4 p.m. fundraiser for House Speaker Mike Johnson and will hold a news conference before he returns to the White House.
WATCH LIVE: Trump holds news conference to answer questions about Iran
At the news conference, which is expected to begin at approximately 5:30 p.m. EDT, Trump will provide an update on Iran and answer questions from reporters.
Trump tells Republican House members that Mideast war will be ‘short term’
Trump opened his address to the lawmakers by talking about Iran, saying “we took a little excursion” to the Middle East “to get rid of some evil. And, I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.”
The legislators met earlier in the day at Trump’s golf club near Miami.
Trump says family of soldiers killed in Middle East told him to ‘win’ in Iran
The president briefly recounted what family members of soldiers killed as part of the ongoing war with Iran told him during the dignified transfer of their remains Saturday in Dover, Delaware.
“But they all said one thing to me: ‘Make sure you win, sir. Make sure you win,'” Trump said.
Trump called the dignified transfer “a beautiful thing, but it’s also a very sad thing.”
Trump says that the US would have been attacked by Iran ‘within a week’
The president dismissed criticism from some Democratic officials that there was no reason for the U.S. and Israel to strike Iran.
“Well, I’ll give you the best reason of all. Within a week they were going to attack us, 100%. They were ready,” Trump said.
He did not offer any information to support that statement but said Iran had “all these missiles, far more than anyone thought.”
However, Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S.
After volatile swings in oil prices, Trump claims to be bringing down prices
The president told House Republicans that he’s beaten inflation, even as swings in the oil market have gasoline costs rising in America after the start of the war with Iran.
Trump said that Democrats before his second term caused affordability to be a problem, “but we’re really bringing down prices.”
Gas prices have risen 20% in the past month to a national average of $3.48 a gallon, according to AAA.
Trump didn’t bother to address that, saying of prices that, “We’re even bringing them down further. They’ll be way down.”
