WH Briefing Room: Trump Strengthens U.S.-Australia Ties, Rare Earth Pact, AUKUS Defense, and Global Diplomacy Updates

In this episode, Jon Decker reports on President Trump’s meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, highlighting a new Rare Earth Minerals Agreement designed to reduce reliance on China and bolster Western supply chains. Decker also covers updates on the AUKUS defense partnership, the latest developments in ceasefire talks in Gaza, continued diplomatic maneuvering in the Ukraine war, and the start of White House renovations — including plans for a new presidential ballroom. The White House Briefing Room with Jon Decker can be heard daily on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you find your podcasts.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Tuesday, October
twenty First, I'm John Decker. President Donald Trump welcomes the
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanisi to the White House. A
fantastic job.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
As the Prime Minister.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
We're here to talk about trade, submarines.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Lots of other military equipment, the big orderers of our
great military equipment or the best equipment to you.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
In the world by far.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
The Australian Prime Minister touts that just sign Rare Earth
Minerals agreement with the US.

Speaker 5 (00:32):
Today's agreement on critical Minerals and Raress is just take
it to the next level, sacing those opportunities which old
before us.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
And the President confirms that construction is now underway on
President Trump's ninety thousand square foot ballroom.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
And it just started today. So that's good.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
But we begin this Tuesday with the visit to the
White House on Monday by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanisi.
On Monday, I was in the press pool in the
Cabinet room, and it was evident that President Trump and
Australian Prime Minister Albanisi got along very well. In fact,
the US and Australia during that cabinet meeting, signed a

(01:16):
deal that's intended to boost supplies of rare earths and
other critical minerals, as the Trump administration is looking for
ways to counter China's dominance of the market. China currently
controls about seventy percent of rare earth's mining and ninety
percent of the processing of those materials, and those materials

(01:38):
are found in everything from defense equipment to computer chips
and cars. Companies in the US rely on those materials,
making them vulnerable as China recently has taken steps to
restrict access to those supplies in response to new US
tariffs and other tensions between the two countries. Australian Prime

(02:01):
Minister Anthony Albanisi said the deal with the US would
support what he called a pipeline of eight and a
half billion dollars of ready to go projects that would
expand his country's mining and processing abilities. It also includes
a billion dollars to be invested by both countries in

(02:23):
projects in the US and Australia over the next six months.
Also on Monday, President Trump spoke about Australia's multi billion
dollar submarine deal with the US and the UK. Known
as August. He said it was full steam ahead, and
Prime Minister Albanisi spoke of that in the cabinet room

(02:45):
on Monday. Let's listen to him right here.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
And on defense, we've already had a discussion about taking
it to the next level at defense and security. Partnership
with ucases so important for US. Thank you for the
support of the newstruction giving.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
In fact, the US wants to fast track outfitting Australia
with those nuclear submarines under that trilateral agreement known as Aucus,
in order to beef up Australia's submarine force aimed at
countering Chinese influence in the Indo Pacific. The President in
the Cabinet room in the Q and A with reporters
played down that Gaza's ceasefire being broken over the weekend.

(03:29):
Let's listen to the President right here.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Have a little situation relatively with AMAS, and that will
be taken care very quickly if they don't stredge in
at themselves because they're in violation of there.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
The President was asked what steps is the administration taking
to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Out of steps and right now it's in the hands
of others. You know, we have fifty nine countries that
agreed to the deal. We have a peace in the
Middleast for the first time ever. We made a deal
with Amas that you know, they're going to be very good.
They're going to behave they're going to be nice, and
if they're not, we're going to go and we're going
to eradicate them if we have to.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Now, the ceasefire was indeed broken temporarily over the weekend,
and the President explained what exactly happened over the weekend
to lead to that happening.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
They got very rambunctious, and they did things that they
shouldn't be doing. And if they keep doing it, then
we're going to go in and straighten it out, and
it'll happen very quickly and pretty violently unformal. Now.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
In fact, senior US officials are heading to Israel right now.
They're hoping to keep that fragile ceasefire and peace process
for Gaza on track. After those repeated clashes between Hamas
and Israel. President Trump's Special envoice Steve Whitkoff, his son
in law, Jared Kushner. They arrived in Israel on Monday

(04:50):
and the head of Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper is
already on the ground trying to calm tensions. Vice President JD.
Vance arrives in his on Tuesday, so it's a full
core press by US officials trying to lower the temperature
and keep that ceasefire intact. More news on the ceasefire front.

(05:11):
Hamas said it would return the body of another hostage
to Israel. They did that on Monday night. Hamas has
so far returned the remains of twelve deceased hostages whose
identities have indeed been confirmed by Israel. There were twenty
eight bodies of hostages still in Gaza at the time

(05:32):
the hostage release deal was struck. And of course, remember
it's a twenty point plan that President Trump proposed and
was agreed to by both Israel and Amas. Only three
points in that twenty point plan have thus far been accomplished. Now,
as far as conflicts around the world, the President has

(05:52):
turned his attention back to the Ukraine War after reaching
that deal in the Middle East for that ceasefire in Gaza,
and it's pretty clear that the two sides involved in
this conflict, Russia and Ukraine, remain far apart. Russia and
Ukraine signaled on Monday that they are no closer to
ending the fighting. That's days after President Trump's latest push

(06:17):
to reach a settlement. In comments released Monday by his office,
Ukrainian President Zelenski backed the President's attempts to end the
war quickly, but he also said that Russian President Vladimir
Putin is blocking those efforts by demanding that Ukraine give
up territory that Russia's army has thus far failed to

(06:40):
take by force. And as for the Kremlin, it has
said that its position has not changed, apparently rejecting President
Trump's proposal to freeze battle lines where they stand right now.
The President has a planned meeting coming up within the
next two weeks, he says, with President Putin that will

(07:01):
take place in Budapest, Hungary. And on Monday I asked
the President in the cabinet room if he's told Putin
to stop attacking civilian areas of Ukraine as an article
of good faith leading up to that meeting in Hungary.
Let's listen to my question to the President and the

(07:23):
way that he responded. The President Putin on Thursday, did
you discuss his ongoing attacks on civilian areas in Ukraine. Yeah,
did you talk to you say cut it out, you say,
show an article of good faith to me.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
I did. But as you know, most of the people
dying are soldiers. The soldiers that are dying in Russia
and Ukraine is unbelievable. Five to seven thousand a week.
Can you believe it? And I look at that and
I say, it's pretty amazing. But in addition to that,
there are attacks on Kiev and some of the other places,
and it's human lives. But the big number of human

(08:00):
lives and soldiers that are being killed in the battlefield
anywhere from five to seven thousand, sometimes more than that
every single week, it's not even believable. It's it's a bloodbath.
It's the worst since the Second World War, the worst
number of people. And you know, it doesn't affect us
in any way. We don't pay anything because now they
pay us for the weapons that they get. The NATO

(08:22):
is paying us for the weapons. As you know, it
doesn't affect I guess you could say that's a positive
thing they pay us, but I'm not interested in that.
I did straighten it out.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Biden gave them three hundred and fifty billion dollars.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Can you believe it, and all they do is get
deeper in. It's just it's a shame. Gave them three
hundred and fifty billion. A lot of lives will us.
That's a war that would have never happened if I
were president. But we do speak about that. I speak
about all of the lives, but I do speak about
the civilian life.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Now, it's not clear if this meeting that is scheduled
to take place in Hungary will actually take place in Hungry.
The reason for that is that Hungary is a member
of the European Union and President Putin's aircraft would need
to cross into EU airspace to reach the summit, and

(09:08):
that is something which is right now barred under current sanctions. Now,
the EU would be unlikely to scuttle that meeting between
President Trump and President Putin, but French officials on Monday
suggested that they would seek to get Russia to agree
to a cease fire in exchange for granting permission for

(09:30):
President Putin's plane to travel to Hungary. So we'll follow
that and we'll see whether or not this meeting goes
off as scheduled. Also on Monday's some demolition work happening
at the White House. Demolition crews on Monday began tearing
down part of the White House East Wing that's in

(09:50):
order to build President Trump's long desired ballroom. The construction
teams demolished this portion of the East Wing with a acho.
They ripped right through the structure, and the President acknowledged
the project in remarks Monday in the East Room at
the White House, and he gestured to the wall right

(10:12):
behind him where that demolition is taking place.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
We're building right behind us. We're building a ballroom. They've
wanted a ballroom for one hundred and fifty years, and
I'm giving that honor to this wonderful place. I think
we should do it. This was the ballroom, and this
room holds eighty eight people, and the new one will
hold nine hundred and ninety nine people, which is a difference.
I say nine to eighty nine because I didn't want

(10:36):
to crack one thousand. I didn't want people to get
concerned because that's getting big. But we're going to have
we'll have the most beautiful ballroom in the country.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
The President in the East room described how that ballroom
will ultimately function.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
That's a knockout panel and that guy's right into the ballroom.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
And the ballroom is.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Going to be beautiful. So you'll have drinks, cocktails, everything
on this floor, and then they'll say, welcome to dinner.
You walk into the ballroom, mister senators, and you're gonna
see a ballroom the likes of which I don't think. Well,
I don't think it'll be topped. It'll be it'll be
the finer. So it's going to be a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Now. President Trump originally estimated that this project would cost
two hundred million dollars to build, but that estimate has
now been upped to about two hundred and fifty million dollars,
and the President says it's fully paid for after receiving
donations as large as twenty five million dollars from dozens
of companies, including Apple, Lockheed, Martin, and Coinbase. The President

(11:35):
also said heat chip in to help build this ballroom.
The President putting out a post on social media, I
am pleased to announce that ground has been broken on
the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful
White House Ballroom, completely separate from the White House itself.
The East wing is being fully modernized as part of
this process and will be more beautiful than ever when

(11:59):
it's complete. For more than one hundred and fifty years,
the President wrote, every president has dreamt about having a
ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties,
state visits, etc. I am honored to be the first
president to finally get this much needed project underway with

(12:19):
zero cost to the American taxpayer. President Trump has long
touted these plans for this ninety thousand square foot structure.
It would nearly double the footprint of the main building
of the White House and both the East and West wings,
and he's also suggested that the construction would not affect

(12:40):
the existing White House. Clearly that's not the case with
the demolition project that has begun already starting on Monday.
As for Tuesday, a few items on the President's schedule,
including at eleven am, the President will participate in the
Richard Nixon Architect of Peace Awards ceremony. That award was

(13:01):
established in nineteen ninety five after Richard Nixon's death. It's
given to individuals who embody Richard Nixon's lifelong goal of
shaping a more peaceful world. That's the way it's described
on the Richard Nixon Foundation website. The recipient last year,
by the way, was George W. Bush. At twelve o'clock

(13:21):
in the afternoon, the President is hosting a Rose Garden lunch.
At four in the Oval Office, the President is participating
in a Dwali celebration. That's the Hindu festival of lights.
And then at seven o'clock Eastern time, in the Rose Garden,
the President is hosting a rose Garden dinner. So a
busy day on tap for the president. That's the White

(13:44):
House Briefing Room for Tuesday, October twenty First, I'm John Decker.
Have a good one.