'This Week' Transcript 5-17-26: U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer, Rep. Thomas Massie & Rep. Jamie Raskin

A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, May 17, 2026 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: “THIS WEEK” with George Stephanopoulos starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: Retribution fund.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, (D) NEW YORK: What we’re seeing here is outright corruption.

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Trump expected to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for a taxpayer-funded fund that could compensate his allies. Is it legal?

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: I don’t even know how that’s allowable to happen.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Breaking overnight, he voted to impeach Trump. Now voters have sent a sitting senator packing.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): And let me just set the record straight. Our country is not about one individual.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Up next, the most expensive House primary ever.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thomas Massie is a disaster for our party.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Can a red state Republican defy President Trump?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE, (R) KENTUCKY & JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: It’s a question of whether you can have even the slightest bit of a dissenting vote.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Kentucky voters will decide Tuesday. We’re joined by Trump’s target, Congressman Thomas Massie.

Pomp and pageantry. But was there progress?

TRUMP: All I can say is, that was a great success.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What comes next after the president’s high-stakes China summit?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: For the sake of democracy and the stability of the global economy, Trump must not sell out Taiwan.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And a “THIS WEEK” exclusive.

CAROL QUILLEN, NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION CEO: The White House is an iconic structure.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The woman behind the lawsuit against Trump’s ballroom gives her first interview.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: Is this Trump derangement syndrome?

QUILLEN: I don’t know what Trump derangement syndrome is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News it’s “THIS WEEK.” Here now, George Stephanopoulos.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to “THIS WEEK.”

Right before he left for China, President Trump was asked if he was motivated to make a deal with Iran by Americans' financial situations. Not even a little bit, he shot back, adding this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans' financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Never mind the president’s repeated claims that Iran’s nuclear program was totally obliterated by U.S. military strikes last June. This statement, packed with conviction, had Democrats cutting campaign ads, Republicans scrambling for cover.

It also put into stark relief how much of Trump’s second term has been devoted to improving the financial situation of his family. Since returning to office, the president and his family have earned well over a billion dollars from overseas real estate projects, branded merchandise, cryptocurrency and more. Companies connected to his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, have been granted tens of millions in government contracts. And political allies, like Michael Flynn and Carter Page, have secured lucrative settlements from the Trump administration.

But this week could bring what critics call the most brazen move yet. My colleagues here at ABC News broke the story, the Department of Justice is finalizing a deal to establish a nearly $2 billion fund to finance payouts to Trump political allies who claim they were wronged by the government. It’s how they proposed to settle the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. It could be announced as early as tomorrow. Critics are already questioning its legality. And it comes as so many American families are struggling with their own financial situations.

Jay O’Brien starts us off.

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JAY O'BRIEN, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This week, in the $10 billion lawsuit President Donald Trump filed against his own government, sources tell ABC News, an unprecedented settlement deal is now being finalized. Trump filed suit against his IRS this January over his tax records leaked to the press by a former contractor in 2019. But now sources tell ABC News the president is expected to drop that lawsuit in exchange for what is expected to be called the President Donald J. Trump Truth and Justice Commission, funded with $1,776,000,000 of taxpayer money to be used to settle claims brought by anyone alleging they were harmed by what Trump and his allies call the weaponization of the justice system under former President Biden.

According to sources, some of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol could be among those seeking damages from the proposed fund. While a deal isn’t yet final, sources say the proposed commission would likely be under no obligation to disclose details for operating procedures. Trump would also be allowed to remove commission members without cause. Democrats, and even some Republicans, raising alarms.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, (D) NEW YORK: I mean, it’s outright corruption. What we’re seeing here is outright corruption.

We’re looking at $1 billion for a ballroom, $1.7 billion for a slush fund for the president’s friends.

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: I don’t even know how that’s allowable to happen. That sounds like a question our colleagues across the street are going to have to resolve pretty quickly.

O’BRIEN (voice over): The possible settlement is likely to face legal challenges. And it comes as the judge overseeing the case began to raise serious questions about the lawsuit moving forward last month. Judge Kathleen Williams writing, Trump’s “named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction,” adding, “this raises questions over whether the parties here are truly antagonistic to each other.” Something even the president himself has acknowledged.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It’s interesting because I’m the one that makes the decision, right? And, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk. And it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.

O’BRIEN (voice over): And sources tell ABC News, Trump separately pressed his own DOJ to pay him some $230 million in damages for investigations he faced during the Biden presidency and his first term. Those claims would likely be dropped as part of this proposed settlement.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: It’s astonishing how many different forms of corruption the president and his team can come up with.

O’BRIEN (voice over): Less than a year and a half into Trump’s second term, ABC News has found the president and his family have earned at least hundreds of millions of dollars from an increasingly diverse set of revenue streams, ranging from overseas real estate projects, Trump’s media and technology group, the parent company of Truth Social, branded merchandise from Trump Bbles to sneakers, and cryptocurrency. Top investors in the president’s meme coin, from which the president and his family earn transaction fees, meeting at Mar-a-Lago last month, their second annual gathering.

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) was almost at a hundred percent with all of (ph) the crypto.

O’BRIEN (voice over): And this week, new financial disclosures show that in the first three months of the year, President Trump bought millions of dollars’ worth of stock in American companies that were directly involved in business deals tied to the administration, including NVidia, the world’s most valuable company. Also, Palantir, Boeing and Intel. Weeks after buying shares of Palantir, Trump touting the stock, posting, “Palantir Technologies has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment. Just ask our enemies.” The White House referring ABC News to the Trump Organization for comment, which said the accounts are managed by third party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions.

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O’BRIEN (on camera): And, George, the White House has denied any connection between the president’s family business deals and his official decisions, repeatedly pointing out Trump’s assets are in a trust controlled by his children.

On that potential settlement, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team didn’t confirm the possible deal, but said the president, quote, “continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.” We have not heard back from the White House, IRS or Treasury on that, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, Jay, thanks very much.

We did invite Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the program today. He declined.

And we’re joined now by the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Jamie Raskin.

Congressman, thank you for joining us this morning.

You’ve called this proposed settlement a fraud. Is it illegal? And are you confident the courts will block it?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN, (D) MARYLAND & JUDICIARY COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER: Yes. Well, let’s start with this, George, only Congress has the power to appropriate money. And Congress never voted on creating this $1.7 billion political slush fund at the Department of Justice. And Congress would never pass that. There’s no way he could get that through Congress. So, this is just an invention on his part. But even if Congress wanted to do it, I think it’s clearly unconstitutional on a number of grounds.

To begin with, if you look at Section Four of the 14th Amendment, it says that no money can be spent by the federal government for the purposes of paying for insurrection or rebellion. So, to the extent that he wants to give a million dollars to each of 1,600 pardoned rioters and insurrectionists, we think that that’s an unconstitutional use of money.

Now, we know that the president wants to keep setting up these political slush funds. He’s done it with the Board of Peace. He’s done it with the Venezuelan oil profits. I think he’s got an account in Qatar where that money is going. He’s done it with the billion dollar ballroom. Originally he said he was raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the purposes of the ballroom. Now he wants a billion dollars directly from the taxpayers.

All of this is outside of the Constitution. All of it is outside of congressional spending power. And so, it is illegal. It is unconstitutional.

STEPHANOPOULOS: “The New York Times” is reporting that they’re -- they plan to model this on a fund that has already been approved by Congress. One that President Obama drew on it to provide payments to Native Americans. You don’t believe that applies?

RASKIN: Well, if that’s passed by Congress, that’s a radical difference right there, because Congress never passed a slush fund for the oath -- you know, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys and -- rioters and insurrectionists. And we never would do that. So, it’s very clearly being made up by the president.

But this is money that exists for other purposes. This is under the Judgment Fund. The Judgment Fund was set up by Congress in the 1960s for the purpose of paying actual court judgments against the United States.

If somebody, say, a member of the Armed Services, is injured by a military doctor, and they bring a lawsuit, and a judgment is entered against the US, that can be paid. Or they could settle a case like that with a valid cause of action.

This, of course, is a political grievance fund that Donald Trump can use to pay off his friends. If these people have a valid cause of action, they should bring it to the court like every other American does, and use the system of due process, and proving things by clear and convincing evidence, or a preponderance of evidence, go and prove it. But the idea that Donald Trump can just pass it out like a pardon is absurd.

Now, he's pardoned all of these people, despite the fact that they were convicted of violently assaulting police officers, conspiring to overthrow the government of the United States in seditious conspiracy, and so on. He's got the power to do that, and then they will pay the price for that politically, because nothing like that has ever happened in American history before.

But this is completely unconstitutional --

STEPHANOPOULOS:  So --

RASKIN:  -- and Congress has got to move to stop it, not just the courts.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  So that's what I was going to ask. You say Congress is going to move. House Democrats will start that. But will House Democrats also be filing lawsuits to take it to the courts?

RASKIN:  Well, undoubtedly, we will. But remember, we are the Article I branch. We have the power over spending, and so we have to assert our spending power to block this.

I was glad to see one of our Republican colleagues speaking against it, so it's not just Democrats already.

It's an utterly lawless plan that is being forwarded, and if our Republican colleagues have any respect for the Constitution and the powers of Congress, they will move to block it, because we know how the Roberts court could take years before they respond to this, and then it'll be too late. They are acting like an arm of the Republican National Committee under MAGA control.

So Congress has got to stand up for the entire constitutional order.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  We also saw the reports about the president's stock trades this week. If House Democrats take back control and win back the House, what will you be doing to look at the financial dealings of the president and his family?

RASKIN:  Well, first of all, we have a systemic problem that goes beyond the president. It's with Congress itself. We've got to ban individual stock trading, which is just an invitation to mischief and corruption. Members of Congress have too much political inside information.

If you want to put money in a mutual fund? Great. People should put their money in mutual funds and let the outside third-party financial institutions operate it.

In terms of Donald Trump, he's converted the presidency into a money-making operation. You can't even say that this is the exception, where there's corruption. That is the rule for Donald Trump.

The entire project of the Trump administration is to make him and his family as much money as possible. He's already made more than a billion and a half dollars being in office. I believe his net worth is now over $11.6 billion.

We've never seen anything like this in the history of the United States. They wake up thinking about how they can convert the resources of the taxpayers into political slush funds for themselves and how they can make themselves as much money as possible.

So again, we've got to resurrect the real Constitution of the United States, which says in the foreign government Emoluments Clause that the president cannot accept a present, an emolument, which means a payment, an office, or a title of any kind, whatever, from a king, a prince, or a foreign state. And they violate that every single day.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  All right.

RASKIN:  The domestic Emoluments Clause says the president is limited to his salary in office and cannot take any other money from the federal government beyond that, which is why that $2 billion lawsuit against the IRS originally was completely fraudulent, and there is no way that that could have gone through.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Congressman, thanks for your time this morning.

RASKIN:  You bet.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  And we're joined now by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie.

Congressman, thank you for joining us this morning.

You just heard Congressman Raskin right there saying the Democrats are going to move to block this funding if the deal goes through. Will you vote to block it?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE, (R) KENTUCKY & JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:  Well, I think we should change the laws. It's almost impossible to sue the federal government if they infringe on your First Amendment, your Second Amendment, or your Fourth Amendment. And so we should change those laws so that -- to give people standing when they've had their rights violated.

Because people have been wronged, we need to make it easier to get that money. But that's action that Congress needs to take. I don't think you can do that. You can't just take a billion or $10 billion unilaterally with the executive branch.

Congress has the power of the purse.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  So to be clear, then, you would vote to block this funding and change the law in other ways?

MASSIE:  I don't think there's going to be a vote to block the funding. I would change the law in other ways.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, the congressman just said there would be. I guess we'll find out if there is.

Meantime, you're facing a primary on Tuesday.

In the wake of Senator Bill Cassidy's loss in the primaries yesterday in Louisiana, the president has been up posting on Truth Social throughout the night and into the morning about you.

Just a few minutes ago, he posted this -- I want to show our viewers right now -- “Bad Congressman Tom Massie voted against tax cuts, the border wall, our military enforcement. Actually, he voted against almost everything that is good. The worst congressman in history. Kentucky, vote the bum out on Tuesday. We can’t live with this troublemaker for another two years. He’s a true negative force.”

Your response?

MASSIE: Well, I think that’s going to help my fundraising at thomasmassie.com. Every time he tweets about me, it’s good for, you know, some money coming in because people don’t like that.

And, you know, how did this race become the most expensive race in the history of Congress for a primary? It’s because three billionaires from outside of Kentucky have funneled millions of dollars in here. They’re trying to buy a seat. And so, it’s not just the president’s tweets. I could sustain those without a problem. It’s because Miriam Adelson and Paul Singer have dumped money in here.

In fact, Miriam Adelson has given so much money to my opponent that instead of paying for the ballroom they’re going to need taxpayer money for the ballroom now.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you -- and you’ve actually said this week that this -- that your vote is a referendum on whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress. What did you mean by that?

MASSIE: Well, the RJC, AIPAC and Miriam Adelson and Paul Singer, they’re all part of the Israeli lobby. And that’s where all the money comes from. And it will be a referendum on foreign policy, whether Israel gets to dictate that by, you know, bullying members of Congress. And I’m the one they haven’t been able to bully. So, they’re putting all the brunt, the force on me.

But you can tell that I’m ahead in the polls and they’re desperate. That’s why they’re sending the secretary of war to my district tomorrow. That’s why the president’s losing sleep and tweeting about this. That’s why AIPAC has dumped another $3 million into my race this weekend, is because they’re panicked, and they really haven’t been able to gain a lead in this race.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You say the president is desperate, but he’s got a pretty good record of defeating people he wants to target in Republican primaries. We saw Bill Cassidy yesterday. We saw what happened in Indiana. How are you going to be able to overcome the president’s opposition?

MASSIE: Well, I have the endorsement of the right-to-life organizations, the gun organizations. I had four members of Congress come here yesterday and campaign with me. So, my situation is a little bit different.

Plus, I’ve had millions of dollars come in from the grassroots, tens of thousands of donors, to my website, thomasmassie.com. And it’s still coming in. And that’s how we’re going to beat them.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The Senate is poised to pass -- trying to pass $1 billion in funding for the White House renovation. That includes the ballroom, the security funding. The parliamentarian has ruled it out of order, but the Senate Republicans say they’re going to fix that. If it comes to the House, will you vote for that funding?

MASSIE: No, I don’t think we should. You know, we were -- we were originally told that the president’s friends were going to pay for this ballroom. And again, one of those was Miriam Adelson. And I think she’s poured so many millions of dollars in my race, they don’t have enough money for the ballroom anymore from her account.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Massie, thanks for your time this morning.

ABC News Live will have full coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern of Tuesday’s primaries, including in Kentucky.

And up next, we break down the president’s mission to China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, who benefited more from the trip?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All I can say is, that was a great success. It was fantastic. We made great deals. We did great trade deals. We have great relationships and a lot of things have happened. And you'll be hearing about them. But that was a tremendous success. I think it really was a historic moment.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: President Trump touting his mission to China this week. But questions remain about the specifics of those deals and what the summit actually achieved.

Here's chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce.

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MARY BRUCE, ABC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump wrapping up his highly anticipated state visit to Beijing this week with few tangible accomplishments. The two-day summit full of pomp and circumstance as Trump heaped praise on Chinese President Xi.

TRUMP: You're a great leader. I say it to everybody. You're a great leader. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true.

BRUCE: But any progress made on the policy front is unclear. Trump claiming the most significant takeaway from his trip was his relationship with the Chinese president.

TRUMP: It's all about the relationship. I have a very good relationship with President Xi and with China. And it sounds like something that doesn't mean anything, but it's everything in deal-making and problems we've solved.

BRUCE: The White House had hoped to pressure Xi to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

TRUMP: He said, I would love to be a help, if I could be of any help whatsoever. He'd like to see the Hormuz Strait open. He said he's not going to give military equipment. That's a big statement.

BRUCE: But Xi did not make any commitments publicly. Democrats slamming the president's visit against the backdrop of rising costs at home.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): I think that, you know, Donald Trump has traveled to China on bended knee based on the fact that he has been consistently out-negotiated and now has gotten our country into a reckless and costly war of choice.

BRUCE: While the president touted, quote, "fantastic trade deals," claiming Beijing agreed to buy American soybeans and Boeing planes, the details remain sparse, and Boeing stock dropped sharply Friday after China failed to confirm purchase and investors were underwhelmed.

And after waging an aggressive trade war in the past year, with China often the main target of the administration's punishing tariff policies, Trump saying the issue didn't even come up on the trip.

TRUMP: We didn't discuss tariffs. I mean, they're paying tariffs. They're paying substantial tariffs. But we didn't discuss it. You know, before I came along, it was the opposite. We didn't discuss tariffs.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How come?

TRUMP: It wasn't brought up.

BRUCE: Something that did come up, Taiwan. According to Chinese state media, Xi warned Trump not to interfere with the self-governed island China claims as its own territory.

Trump now refusing to commit to approving U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, implying he could use it as a future bargaining chip.

TRUMP: It's a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly.

BRUCE: But claiming nothing has changed in U.S. policy towards Taiwan?

TRUMP: No. Nothing's changed. I will say this, I'm not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, we're supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I'm not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down.

BRUCE: For THIS WEEK, Mary Bruce, ABC News, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks to Mary.

We're joined now by the U.S. Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer.

Mr. Greer, thank you for joining us this morning. Let's pick up where Mary left off right there. What -- how exactly is the president using this arm sales to Taiwan as a negotiating chip? What does he expect in return?

JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, just remember, the United States has sold arms to Taiwan for many years. It's also had many times when it -- when it didn't sell them. You know, President Obama, you know, he had a pause on arms sales. President Bush did. Right now, the president is considering how to move forward on that. The reality is, it's really important for the United States and China to have a stable relationship.

These are two important economies. The issue of Taiwan arms sales is something the Chinese always raise. So the president is considering how to approach that. This is against the backdrop of our reduction of our deficit with China by 30 percent last year, keeping tariffs on them to control those imports and opening their market to American ag. I mean, all these things mix in with each other. But when the president makes a decision on national security, it's really based on American security needs.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But what would he want in return for holding off on the arms sales to Taiwan?

GREER: I mean, the most important thing that needs to happen is we need to have no change in the status quo in the Taiwan straits. And the president was really clear about this, there’s no change in American policy on Taiwan. There’s no change there.

We expect that situation to be stable. And if President Xi is going to change that, then, obviously, that’s something that would be taken into account.

The president’s very focused on making sure that nothing happens there. This is why, when he talked to the media afterwards, he said, I made no commitments to President Xi on Taiwan, and the president will keep his own counsel on the -- on the arm sales and when and if that happens.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  We saw the president, we showed him in Mary Bruce’s piece there, saying that tariffs didn’t come up at all in meeting with President Xi. But the Chinese Ministry of Commerce says that a deal was struck to reduce tariffs.

So, was the president telling the truth when he said that tariffs didn’t even come up?

GREER:  Of course, he was telling the truth. Yes, of course, he was telling the truth.

So, the way this works, George, is before the leaders meet, people like me and Secretary Bessent and our staff, we meet with our counterparts with the Chinese -- on the Chinese side. And we work out among ourselves a lot of issues so that the presidents don’t have to address it. And that’s why they didn’t address tariffs.

The United States, under President Trump, has had high tariffs on China for quite some time. We are looking at a -- we are establishing what we call a board of trade with the Chinese to talk about trade and non-sensitive goods.

You’ve seen the president, over the past year, pick some goods where he didn’t think tariffs were necessary, things that we didn’t make in the U.S. or grow, you know, bananas, fruits, that kind of thing. He said he was going to tariffs off U.K. whiskey.

So, we’re going to have conversations at the Chinese about stuff we should be selling them, ag, and Boeings, and medical devices, and the kinds of things we want to be getting from them, whether it’s consumer goods or low tech or other inputs that we don’t have here. And we’ll talk about the tariff treatment for those things.

But, you know, I don’t want to get ahead of any kind of final adjustments that might be made eventually.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Did the Chinese make any commitments to try and open the Strait of Hormuz?

GREER:  So, when the president went in, he did not go in asking them to take action in the Straits of Hormuz. He was very focused on making sure that they didn’t provide material support to Iran. That’s a commitment he obtained and confirmed.

The Chinese have a clear interest in having those straits open. Again, I was in these meetings and that’s what -- that’s what the Chinese said. You know they want to make sure no one is there imposing a toll. The president isn’t seeking to have joint military options with the Chinese. I don’t think the American president’s ever done that. We’re not -- we’re not seeking that.

But obviously, we want to make sure that they’re not getting in the way of anything we’re doing to try to clarify that situation.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  How do you respond to critics who say not much was achieved in this summit? And what were the most tangible specifics to come out of it? What was the most tangible progress?

GREER:  Well, I would say there are a handful of times. We’ll have a fact sheet within the next few days to give more details. Some of these are really foreign policy related, where the president and President Xi both agreed that the goal on the Korean peninsula remains denuclearization. They both agreed that they want to have the Straits of Hormuz open and clear with no tolling.

The Chinese, one of the things they’ve already done is, we had a number of meat exporting facilities in the U.S. that had been deregistered by the Chinese. The Chinese have already moved to re-register them. Which means that they can export to China once again. This is -- this is beef. This is chicken.

The Chinese have also agreed to review a bunch of our biotechnology traits, right, where we have certain goods that go to China that have to be approved, you know, scientifically. So -- and we have the 200 Boeings that they’ve agreed to do. This is all on top of the 25 million metric tons of soybeans agreed to last October.

So, there are a variety of very concrete things that are already happening, already going into a place. And most importantly, as the president has said, we have strategic stability with China. This is something that, under the Biden administration, there were no channels of communication that were effective. There was not a lot of concrete progress.

That’s a dangerous situation to have between the two largest countries on Earth in terms of economic and military power. And so that’s a big win for the president to be able to go over there, have a lot of candid conversations with President Xi, and come to an agreement on some of the biggest issues of the day.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Mr. Greer, thanks for your time this morning.

GREER:  Thank you.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Next, Jon Karl’s exclusive interview with the head of the organization suing the president over the White House ballroom.

We’ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG BURGUM, INTERIOR SECRETARY: Everybody wanted to have a clean, safe and beautiful Washington, D.C.. But if this president makes it a priority and personally says we're going to get it done for our 250th, then the word vanity gets inserted. FDR did the reconstruction back in pre-World War II. You know, Teddy Roosevelt tore some stuff down to build the West Wing. Were those vanity projects? No. They're still helping the nation today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defending Donald Trump's renovations across the nation's capital, including his East Wing ballroom.

Chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl sat down with the woman suing the president to try and stop that project. It's her first interview since her organization filed the lawsuit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It came as a shock back in October when, without warning, construction crews tore down the East Wing of the White House.

DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Demolition at the White House, sources now telling ABC News the entire East Wing expected to be demolished.

KARL (voice-over): A first step in making the massive ballroom next to the White House.

TRUMP: They wanted to build a ballroom at the White House. I think it will be the finest ballroom of its kind anywhere in the world.

KARL (voice-over): The destruction of the East Wing particularly shocked Carol Quillen, the woman who is now trying to stop further construction of Trump's ballroom.

CAROL QUILLEN, NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION CEO: The White House is an iconic structure in this country. How could it just be torn down with no warning or notice or consultation?

KARL (voice-over): Quillen is the president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She argues it was against the law to knock down the East Wing and to build a ballroom without congressional approval first. Trump has said he doesn't need that approval.

QUILLEN: I think we can all agree what should happen here is that if our historic resources, the most iconic structure in the country, is going to be altered in an irreversible way, more people should weigh in than one man, the current resident of that building.

KARL: He's a renter, if you will.

QUILLEN: He's a steward.

KARL: He's a steward.

QUILLEN: Right? He's a steward. He is responsible for what he's inherited. And passing that on to future generations. He's more than a tenant, I would say. He's a steward.

KARL (voice-over): President Trump himself has called Quillen over the phone multiple times, she says to personally urge her to drop the lawsuit, a request the administration officially made in late April.

QUILLEN: He has expressed to us the desire of the military to have this project.

KARL: And have you urged him to go through a process to get it done?

QUILLEN: We have expressed our view that there's a legally required process. The judge has also expressed, look, there's a process. Go through the process.

KARL: And his response to the lawsuit, the Justice Department's response. He says that what your organization is basing this on is Trump derangement syndrome.

QUILLEN: I don’t know what Trump derangement syndrome is exactly.

KARL: It would mean you are absolutely opposed to anything Donald Trump, I think is how it would probably be defined.

QUILLEN: No, I don’t think that's true. I’m not opposed to everything he does. I don’t have a lot of strong emotion about him as a person. I just believe that any sitting president should follow the law and that we all have an -- we should all have an opportunity to weigh in.

KARL (voice over): The ballroom is just one of many ways President Trump plans to remake the historic center of the nation’s capital. At the White House, he has installed a patio on the Rose Garden, a door into the Oval Office and the colonnade with gold. He plans to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white. Plans first unveiled to a startled Fox News host, Laura Ingraham.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: But you’re not worried that’s like a big white blob.

KARL (voice over): President Trump’s most ambitious construction project is about two miles away.

KARL: It’s on this plot of grass, inside a traffic circle, just outside the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, that Trump plans to build his arch. The size of the plan is staggering, 250 feet tall. That is two and a half times the size of the Lincoln Memorial. It is larger -- significantly larger than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. And it is almost as high as the Capitol Dome.

KARL (voice over): The planned arch is so tall that this week the FAA announced it is conducting a review to see if it would interfere with air traffic in Washington. A group of Vietnam veterans is suing to stop construction because it blocks the view of Arlington Cemetery.

The administration says it will enhance the visiting experience for Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen and all Americans like. This week it appears there was surveying activity at the site. “The Washington Post” reported that the Trump administration planned to start work there as an unrelated no bid contract already underway at the White House.

The Trump administration announced Friday a new plan at nearby West Potomac Park as the site of his planned National Garden of American Heroes. A proposal that raised questions about whether congressional approval is required.

Elsewhere, the president says he’s making overdue renovations, fixing long, broken fountains at Lafayette Park. The cost of the project, currently at $17.4 million, awarded without competitive bidding to a company that had done work at Mar-a-Lago.

KARL: And over here in front of the Lincoln Memorial you have the iconic reflecting pool. And here is a project Trump has been very excited about. They drained the water from the pool, and they appear to be painting the floor of it, what Trump calls American flag blue.

KARL (voice over): At first, President Trump said the project would cost roughly $1.5 million and would be done in two weeks. The tab now stands at nearly ten times the original estimate, almost $15 million. Another no-bid contract to a company that had done work at a Trump golf club.

And finally, President Trump says he has big plans for what he calls the Trump Kennedy Center.

KARL: There is no doubt that this building and this area out back on the Potomac River looks a little bit worn and beaten down, could use a renovation. The sense is they might have much more in mind than a simple renovation.

KARL (voice over): The National Trust has also joined a lawsuit with several other groups to stop any Trump construction at the Kennedy Center without congressional approval. The administration says that work there will affirmatively fulfill the board’s responsibilities to repair and improve the center.

KARL: Are you concerned that the Kennedy Center could go the way of the East Wing? That they could actually tear down --

QUILLEN: One reason why the suit requests a preliminary injunction so that that doesn’t happen.

KARL: So, you are concerned that they could literally knock good chunks of the Kennedy Center down?

QUILLEN: We’d like that not to happen.

KARL: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks to Jon Karl.

The roundtable’s up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY, (R) LOUISIANA:  Let me just set the record straight. Our country is not about one individual. And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they are about serving themselves. They are not about serving us.

(APPLAUSE)

CASSIDY:  And that person is not qualified to be a leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Senator Bill Cassidy, after losing his primary last night, another win for President Trump.

We’re going to talk about it on our roundtable when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing -- we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.

TRUMP:  That’s right. That’s a perfect statement. I’d make it again.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST:  But you can imagine how many people stopped the sound bite at --

TRUMP:  No, no.

BAIER:  -- “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation”. So what’s your response to that framework?

TRUMP:  Very simple. When people hear me say it, everybody agrees. Short term pain -- it’s going to be short term pain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Let’s talk about this on our roundtable. I’m joined by the editor of SCOTUSBlog, former Trump administration official, Sarah Isgur; Chris Christie and Donna

Brazile are two analysts. And New York times opinion political correspondent, Michelle Cottle.

And, Michelle, let me begin with you. You know, Michael Kinsley famously described the gaffe as when a politician in Washington tells the truth, says the quiet part out loud.

President Trump doesn't ascribe to that. He doubled down.

MICHELLE COTTLE, NEW YORK TIMES OPINION POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT:  He always doubles down, right? He's decided that he can say whatever he wants, and he's going to get no blowback for it.

But in this case, this is what's going to haunt him and his party in the midterms. People are feeling economic pain. And if every Democrat running doesn't use that clip in an ad, I will be very surprised.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  You did have Republicans scrambling and saying, I think it was Speaker Mike Johnson saying, you need to understand the context. How does that help?

SARAH ISGUR, EDITOR AT SCOTUSBLOG & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  This is the relationship between Donald Trump and the Republican Party that has plagued the Republican Party now for 10 years. Donald Trump defeated the Republican Party before he defeated the Democratic Party in 2016.

And he has never actually cared about his legacy, meaning the Republican Party. And if anything, when Republicans lose without him, he thinks it proves how indispensable he is. So, this clip hurting Republicans in the midterms? Meh.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  It does seem that the president is relatively unconcerned with what's going to happen in November.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  I think it's because he's so preoccupied with other things, George. And I think that comment is because he's so preoccupied.

You know, Donald Trump did not run to be America's foreign policy president. And I think the problem with that quote is that the American people listen to it and say, wait a second, that's what we voted for you for.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Bring prices down.

CHRISTIE:  Yes. Bring prices down and improve the economy, grow the economy, give us more money in our own pockets, make it a more prosperous nation. And you're doing what? Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, China, what are you doing?

And I think the bigger problem with that quote is not the quote itself. It's whose mouth it's coming out of, because -- you know this, George -- when a candidate runs to do a particular thing and is known for that, you better deliver on that. No matter what other good things you might do, if you don't deliver on the central theme of your campaign, which for him was the economy was great under Trump in the first term and it's horrible under Biden, I'm going to make it better.

He hasn't delivered on that. And that's where that quote's going to come back to haunt him.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  And it is striking, Donald. Brazil, a recent poll show up to 70 percent, maybe even more than 70 percent of America personally blame Donald Trump, in part because of the decisions he's made.

DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  That's absolutely right, George. Look, I mean, the sticker shock when you go to the grocery store is just outrageous. I found myself this week going from California to -- don't go to California unless somebody's driving you because seven bucks, George, I say I'm going back to my bicycle days.

But even in Louisiana, $4 for gas, the sticker shock. And Chris and I always talk about the price of Jiffy.

CHRISTIE:  That's right.

BRAZILE:  It's $1.19, man. We've gone from three for a dollar, two for a dollar to $1.19. I mean, from milk to eggs, the price -- people cannot afford it.

Donald Trump is tone deaf. His party is tone deaf. Speaker Johnson, who said, wow, we don't have the context.

Didn't he -- he -- you know, he talked about this week? Members of Congress are living off $174,000. Last time I checked, that's over what? Twelve thousand dollars? Fourteen?

Look, I understand that they’re -- they have to make sacrifices when they live in Washington, back home in their district. But Donald Trump does not understand the pain and it's not short term.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Donna mentioned Louisiana. One of the paradoxes of Donald Trump, you saw in Louisiana last night, his hold on the Republican Party as strong as ever, the defeat of Bill Cassidy, even as his overall numbers are plummeting.

COTTLE:  Look, he's on a vengeance tour. This is what he is all about. He does not, in fact, care about the Republican Party.

What he cares about is his power. So Bill Cassidy is just the latest. You know, we saw the five Republican state senators in Indiana who had thwarted him on redistricting. That can't be allowed. So he dumps money into these races.

He's going to go next after Thomas Massie in Kentucky.

He can't have anyone going up against his absolute authority. That's what he cares about. He doesn't care about the party.

ISGUR:  What's interesting is he's not actually going to Congress, though, for anything. He's been in office now, you know, nearly two years into this term. What are the major legislative initiatives he has asked Congress for? No --

STEPHANOPOULOS:  I’m going to say the tax cut, the Big, Beautiful Bill.

ISGUR:  He's done all these executive orders on birthright citizenship, on immigration, on tariffs, all things that the courts have said, no, you must go to Congress. He hasn't then turned to Congress and asked for that authority.

COTTLE:  He has no use for Congress.

BRAZILE:  And the farm bill is lingering while farmers are suffering all over this country. The president, even in China, he had an opportunity to make the case for American agriculture. We need that market.

And yet the president comes back and say, “Well, it was successful,” but he can't define what success really is.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But what can the president do to turn this around before the midterms?

CHRISTIE: Pray. Because, George, look, even if he ended the war in Iran next week, which is highly unlikely, I don't think there's enough time for the system, the economic system, to get to a place where prices are going to go significantly down at the pump or at the grocery store. There's just not enough time. If you -- I'll give you one you're familiar with, George. Remember 1992?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, I do.

CHRISTIE: George Bush 41. The numbers were improving and improving into 1992. And the economy. But it -- the voters didn't feel it yet. And Bush would be out there talking hard about how the numbers were getting better. And Bill Clinton would ask, do you feel it? And they didn't. And George W. Bush wound up with 38 percent, or George Bush 41, wound up with 38 percent of the vote. Right?

So, you know, I think that there's not a lot that Trump can do. And one thing on Bill Cassidy, and this is a message for all my fellow Republicans out there. Here's a guy who voted his conscience on impeachment. And then he spends the next five years sucking up to Donald Trump, including voting for the single most unqualified secretary of Health and Human Services in my lifetime, who is laying ruin to the public health system.

And Doctor Bill Cassidy was the deciding vote to put him on in an attempt to get Donald Trump's favor. For every other Republican, you're not going to get his favor. It doesn't work that way. And Bill Cassidy, I think, paid a price last night. And guess what? I think he deserved it.

BRAZILE: There was a lot of confusion in Louisiana, the confusion over whether or not Louisiana elections were canceled because of what the governor did in trying to, you know, redraw maps. There was confusion because before we had an open jungle primary where Democrats and Republicans and independents can go in and vote their choice, yesterday was more of a semi-closed primary. That could have hurt Mr. Cassidy as well.

Look, I say something as a Democrat, but as an American. Bill Cassidy is a good man, a man with integrity. I'm sorry that he lost his race. Louisiana should be sorry that he lost his race. But you know what? The Democrats have a good candidate. Hopefully we can win in the fall.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Wait, against the Democrats going into the midterms is the redistricting, now looks like maybe 10 seats have gone to the Republican column?

COTTLE: So the Republicans have been nervous. Trump has been very nervous. He doesn't care what happens to the Republican Party, but he does have a sense that if he loses control of the House, that could make his life more complicated. So they've been rigging the game as fast as they can. Whether you're talking about Texas or all of these other states that they intend to play in.

But you can't take that and cancel out the political fundamentals. The wind is blowing very hard against the president and, by extension, his party. The numbers are appalling. His popularity numbers are in the toilet and he's not doing anything to turn that around. I mean, you know, what can he do to turn it around? That's not even really the question. It's like, does he even acknowledge that he needs to in terms of his popularity?

STEPHANOPOULOS: He said, Sarah, we're likely to see, as we reported at the top of the program this week, this deal coming to the Justice Department to set up this compensation fund for what the president says are the victims of weaponization. Do you think they'll go through with it? What do you think the courts are going to do?

ISGUR: They certainly expect to go through with it. You know, this started during the Obama administration with third party settlements. This idea that a friendly group would sue, they would settle it. And part of the settlement you would pay to a third party that was friendly to the administration. People were decrying that at the time. And like everything else, whether it's executive orders, sue and settle, third party settlements, Donald Trump just turns it up to eleven.

And so here we have the logical extreme of that policy. You know, we were talking in the green room. I do think it's possible for someone to get a lawsuit on this arguing that, no, only Congress can appropriate money of this size and magnitude. And we've seen the courts really want to police that line between the president and Congress. No, presidents cannot run the government through executive order alone or these kind of intra-executive branch settlements either.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So Sarah is saying this is a degree in -- it's not a degree in kind. It's a degree. Is that -- do you agree?

CHRISTIE: Yes. Look, I think -- I do think the Obama administration started this, and I think there were a lot of people who objected to it on principled basis at the time. But -- and this is the problem for Democrats is that, you know, every time they do something like that, no one anticipated they'd have somebody who would take it to the degree that Donald Trump has taken it. And that's a very, very big problem for Democrats who are trying to make principled arguments.

Well, when you go back and look at where did this start, it started under President Obama. Now, you could say Trump has made it much worse. And I agree with that. But it started there.

And George, you know, this is the destruction of politics as we know it. And as we've known it over the past 50 years in this country. What's happened since post-Watergate and the

way there have been certain norms on the corruption, on the self-dealing, all this other stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Obama didn't see the federal government and say that he's -- and then create a settlement out of it.

CHRISTIE: It's a -- it's a difference in kind, George. These third party settlements, though, were settlements for groups that the administration favored.

BRAZILE: Well, why don't they sue the federal government? Why set up a slush fund that Donald Trump basically pays out to his cronies and his lawless and say, I'm going to pay you because you suffered under another president. This is a slush fund. At a time when the American people are hurting, Donald Trump is saying, I want all of the money, all of the cash, so I can dole it out to my friends.

I think about that reflecting pool. I mean, I've spent a lot of time at the Lincoln Memorial. I've organized events and to spray paint a pool that belongs to the American people with a no bid contract that starts at 1.5 to 15, and we haven't talked about Lafayette Park. Look, I live in Washington, D.C. for 44 years, so I got you beat by a couple of days.

And we -- D.C. is a city beyond the monuments. Everywhere you go now, you got a picture of Donald Trump, beautification of the nation's capital. Beautify Anacostia, beautify Brooklyn, beautify Crestwood, beautify all our neighborhoods. But to just make this about him and the arches that are about to go up, the American people should wake up and say, we're tired of this.

STEPHANOPOULOS: To your point, it does seem this is what the president is focused on right now, if you read most of Truth Social.

COTTLE: This is a guy who sees his mortality coming at him fast. He wants to bring out all of these monuments. He wants to rename everything. He wants to pull it, but somebody needs to just slip him a copy of Ozymandias. Like, if you want to be remembered as a great man, this is not how to do it. You actually need to do something, accomplish something that will be remembered, instead of like painting your face on it.

CHRISTIE: And George, this is what he's comfortable doing. Let's not forget this is a fish out of water in politics and what he's most comfortable, what he goes back to talking about all the time is the ballroom, the arch. This is what he knows is development. Whoever thought we'd see a president of the United States talking about different marbles that would be used? I mean, that's not --

(CROSSTALK)

CHRISTIE: I don't think, I don't think that President Clinton in his time in the White House was talking about marble.

ISGUR: This gets back to the partisan gerrymandering issue, which Congress, of course, could pass a law tomorrow banning partisan gerrymandering. But when you have states that are now being one party controlled, you have to have two healthy parties in this country, and we do not.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And that's the last word. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: That is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out WORLD NEWS TONIGHT and I'll see you tomorrow on GMA.

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