WH Briefing Room: Trump Ends Canada Trade Talks, White House Makeover Begins, and a Binance Pardon Shocks D.C.

White House correspondent Jon Decker reports on a series of major developments shaping Washington’s political landscape. President Trump abruptly ends trade negotiations with Canada following backlash over a Reagan-themed ad, while the federal shutdown deepens. Inside the White House, the East Wing faces demolition for a new ballroom project, and a surprise presidential pardon for Binance’s founder sparks bipartisan debate. Decker unpacks how these moves reflect Trump’s governing priorities and the administration’s message heading into a tense political season.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Friday, October
twenty fourth. I'm John Decker.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
President Trump terminates trade negotiations with Canada as he's angered
over this commercial featuring the voice of former President Ronald Reagan.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Hi tariff's inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and
the triggering of fierce trade wards. Then the worst happens.
Market shrink and collapse, businesses and industry shutdown, and millions
of people lose their jobs.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
It's day twenty four of the federal government shutdown, and
the President says Senate Democrats must end the impass.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
They really should approve an extension, get the country back
to work, get the people paid, and you know it's
very simple.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt explains why the East
Wing of the White House was torn down.

Speaker 5 (00:57):
The plans changed when the President heard Council from the
ARC attacks in the construction companies, who said that in
order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful
for many, many years to comfort, to be a truly
strong and stable structure, this phase one that we're now
in was necessary. And the President wants to do right
by the people's House.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
And Levitt makes no excuses for the President granting a
presidential pardon to the founder of the crypto exchange Finance.

Speaker 5 (01:23):
I would respond and say the President is exercising his
constitutional authority to grant clemency requests.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
But we begin with the late breaking news that the
President has called off trade negotiations with America's second largest
trading partner. President Trump, in a post on social media
late Thursday night, said he is terminating trade negotiations with Canada,
and the reason an advertisement sponsored by the Ontario government

(01:51):
that features the voice of Ronald Reagan.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Throughout the world, there's a growing realization that the weight
of prosperity for all nations, rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting
fair and free competition, America's jobs and growth are at state.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Shortly before eleven o'clock on Thursday night, the President wrote
on social media, based on their egregious behavior, all trade
negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated. The President claimed that
Canada fraudulently used an advertisement, which in his words, is fake,
featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs. The President argued

(02:33):
on that social media post that the ad was designed
to interfere with the upcoming tariffs case that he has
before the Supreme Court that will be on November the fifth,
and he said that this is problematic in terms of
trade negotiations continuing with America's neighbor to the north. Now.
The ad is sponsored by the Canadian province of Ontario,

(02:56):
and it features Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. The ad uses
audio from a radio address that President Reagan delivered back
in nineteen eighty seven. In that address, which you can
actually watch on YouTube, the president expounded at length on
his commitment to free trade, but he also said he
decided to impose trade tariffs on Japanese semiconductors, and he

(03:20):
said that those tariffs were an exception to his broader
desire to lower tariffs and trade barriers. Now. The Ronald
Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute took to social media on
Thursday night, shortly before President Trump's comments, and they said
that the ad misrepresented Ronald Reagan's address, But the foundation

(03:43):
didn't say what was inaccurate about that ad. As for
the ad itself, Ontario's leader, Doug Ford said in a
speech in Toronto earlier this month that the province would
spend fifty three million dollars to run that cocial on
major networks in the US. It is day twenty four

(04:05):
of the federal government shutdown, and in the Republican controlled Senate,
Republicans failed to advance a bill that was sponsored by
Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin that would pay all federal
workers who are required to work during the shutdown. The
vote was fifty four in favor forty five against, short
of the sixty votes needed, and Democratic Senators John Feederman

(04:29):
of Pennsylvania, John Assoff, and Rafael Warnock of Georgia each
sided with Republicans. Republicans said the bill would relieve pressure
on functions such as air traffic control and border security
while negotiations with Democrats continue. Democrats largely opposed this legislation

(04:50):
because they said it would give the White House too
much additional power and it doesn't help furload workers. The
President on Thursday was asked in the state dining room
whether the shutdown will be resolved by the time he
comes back from his trip to Asia. Let's listen to
the president right here.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
I think the Democrats have gone totally crazy, and you
don't know what they're going to do. Because they don't
care about the people. They don't. I really think they
have no leadership. They have a lot of very low
IQ people.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Now. Since the shutdown started on October the first, the
Trump administration has moved funds around to stave off the
impact on some government workers and programs, but it's not
clear that the White House can do that much longer now.
By midday on Thursday, outside the White House wrecking cruise

(05:43):
had completely removed the East wing. The east wing of
the White House is now gone, and that's just three
days after those wrecking crews started in order to make
way for a pet project of President Trump's, that's a
ninety thousand square foot ballroom. On Thursday, at the White
House Press briefing, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt was

(06:06):
asked about donors to the ballroom. Let's listen to the
White House Press Secretary right here.

Speaker 5 (06:12):
You have released the full list of donors thus far.
Perhaps there will be more people who want to generously
contribute to this project. And the President yes, has committed
his own resources, and when he releases that information, which
I'm very confident he will, you will all see that.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Initially, when the ballroom project was announced by the White House.
The cost was put at two hundred million dollars. Well,
that cost has risen, and on Thursday Levit confirmed that
the ballroom project has indeed increased in cost.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
With any construction project, there are changes over time as
you assess what the project is going to look like.
And will continue to keep you apprized of all of
those changes. But just trust the process. This is going
to be a magnificent addition to the White House for
many years to come, and it's not costing the taxpayers
an the President is privately funding this ballroom addition to

(07:03):
the White House grounds.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Now, critics have accused the President of rushing this ballroom
project and skirting public review. White House Press Secretary Caroline
Levitt on Thursday explain that the White House believes that
this construction project is completely above board.

Speaker 5 (07:19):
They have ruled consistently. Their General Council has said, when
it comes to phase one of this project, the tearing
down of the current East wing structure, a submission is
not required legally for that. Only for vertical construction will
a submission be required. And that's a legal opinion from them,
and we are following that legal opinion. And again I

(07:40):
would just add, can any president do such a thing
to the White House Grounds? There have been many presidents
in the past who have made their mark on this
beautiful White House complex.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
If you're a visitor to Washington, DC, you were used
to seeing the East Wing. It dates all the way
back to nineteen oh two during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt.
Until this week, it was home to a movie theater
and offices for the First Lady. On Thursday, Caroline Levitt
was asked if the President is interested in pursuing any

(08:11):
other White House building projects. Let's listen to the way
she answered that question.

Speaker 5 (08:16):
Not to my knowledge, no, But he's a builder at heart, clearly,
and so his heart in his mind is always charting
about how to improve things here on the White House Grounds.
But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom
is really the president's main priority.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
The President told reporters on Thursday that private donors have
given about three hundred and fifty million dollars for this project,
and that he had personally contributed millions of dollars, and
he said he'll donate whatever is needed. A presidential pardon
was also in the news on Thursday. The President has
pardoned Shang Peng Zao. He's the convicted founder of the

(08:52):
Crypto Exchange Finance, and the pardon follows months of efforts
by Jao to boost the Trump families own crypto company.
The President signed that pardon on Wednesday, and he was
asked about that pardon on Thursday. Let's listen to that
question and the way the President answered that question right here.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
Can you explain why you chose to pardon him and
did have anything to do with his involvement.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
In your family?

Speaker 5 (09:16):
Is the founder of binance, he is an involvement in Europe,
the recent one.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
Yes, I believe we're talking about the same because I
do pardon a lot of people. I don't know. He
was recommended by a lot of people. A lot of
people say that, are you talking about the crypto person?
A lot of people say that he wasn't guilty of anything.
He served four months in jail and they say that
he was not guilty of anything. That what he did, Well,

(09:42):
you don't know much about crypto. You know nothing about
You know nothing about nothing. You fake news. But let
me just tell you that he was somebody that, as
I was told, I don't know him. I don't believe
I've ever met him, but I've been told a lot
of support. He had a lot of support, and they
said that what he did is not even a crime.

(10:02):
It wasn't a crime. That he was persecuted by the
Biden administration, and so I gave him a partner at
the request of a lot of very good.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
That pardon will likely pave the way for Binance, that's
the world's largest crypto exchange, to return to the US
after the company pleaded guilty in twenty twenty three to
violating US anti money laundring requirements and was also barred
from operating in the country. Caroline Levitt on Thursday made

(10:31):
no excuses for the presidential pardon.

Speaker 5 (10:34):
I would respond and say, the President is exercising his
constitutional authority to grant clemency requests, and the President in
the White House have a very thorough examination of every
part in request that comes to the President's desk. It
is thoroughly reviewed by the White House Council Office. And
I spoke with our great White House Council about the
pardon after it happened. This was an overly prosecuted case

(10:56):
by the Biden administration. Even the judge in the case,
admitted that the Biden administration was pursuing a egregious over
sentencing of this individual, and the previous administration was very
hostile to the cryptocurrency industry. So the President wants to
correct this overreach of the Biden administration's miss justice, and

(11:16):
he exercised his constitutional authority to do so.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
This past week was one in which a lot of
attention has been focused on the President's war on drug traffickers.
There have been many attacks that have been launched by
the Pentagon on what they call drug votes in the
Caribbean and also in the Eastern Pacific. Those attacks have
taken place without any type of Congressional input, And on Thursday,

(11:42):
the President was asked, why not have Congress declare war
on the cartels that are bringing drugs into the country.
Let's listen to the president's response to that question right here.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
If you are declaring war against these cartels, and Congress
is likely to approve of that process, why not just
ask for a declaration of war?

Speaker 4 (12:04):
Well, I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for
a declaration of war. I think we're just going to
kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay,
we're going to kill them. You know, they're going to
be like dead.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
The President suggested on Thursday that War Secretary Pete Hegseth
would soon go up to Capitol Hill and explain the
administration's efforts in terms of going after these drug traffickers.
As for the President's schedule for Friday, no items on
the President's schedule. He is departing for Asia late Friday night.

(12:37):
His first stop Malaysia, and he'll be in Asia for
much of next week. That's the White House briefing room
for Friday, October twenty fourth. I'm John Decker. Have a
great weekend.