For a fact-check, see Fact-Check: Major Claims from Trump AI Executive Order Signing. Assistance from Claude AI.
Summary
President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order on artificial intelligence on December 11, 2025, establishing federal supremacy over AI regulation and blocking states from implementing their own AI laws. Flanked by tech policy advisors and Republican lawmakers, Trump framed the order as essential to winning the “race” against China for AI dominance, arguing that requiring companies to obtain approvals from all 50 states would cripple American competitiveness. AI Czar David Sacks revealed that over 1,000 state AI bills are currently moving through legislatures, with more than 100 already passed, creating what the administration calls a “confusing patchwork” of regulations. During the wide-ranging press availability that followed, Trump also claimed the U.S. military had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capability in recent strikes (despite his own national security strategy using more modest language), discussed ongoing Ukraine peace negotiations scheduled for Saturday in Europe, defended his administration’s Venezuela policy after seizing an oil tanker, and criticized an Indiana Republican state senator for blocking congressional redistricting efforts. The executive order represents a major assertion of federal power over emerging technology regulation, potentially setting up legal battles with states like California, New York, and Illinois that have been leading efforts to regulate artificial intelligence.
Participants
- Donald Trump – President of the United States
- Will Scharf – White House Staff Assistant/Counsel (introduced the executive order)
- David Sacks – White House AI and Crypto Czar
- Ted Cruz – U.S. Senator from Texas, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee
- Scott Bessent – U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
- Members of the Press – Various White House correspondents
The AI Executive Order: Federal Supremacy Over State Regulation
President Trump opened the signing ceremony by emphasizing America’s current leadership in artificial intelligence, joking that he thought “it should be SI, Supreme Intelligence, but I guess somewhere along the line they decided that the word artificial and that’s okay with me.” He quickly pivoted to the core rationale for the executive order: the need for centralized federal approval rather than navigating regulations in all 50 states.
Trump made the case in stark competitive terms: “There’s only going to be, I think, one winner here. I don’t know if anybody agrees with that. I think most people agree, but there’s only going to be one winner here, and that’s probably going to be the US or China. And right now we’re winning by a lot.”
The President framed the regulatory challenge as existential, arguing that “if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you can forget it, because it’s not possible to do, especially if you have some hostile. All you need is one hostile actor and you wouldn’t be able to do it. So it doesn’t make sense.”
Trump emphasized that this policy decision required no briefing for him: “I didn’t have to be briefed on this, by the way, this is real easy business. I mean, this is simple.” He compared China’s centralized system favorably in this context: “China is unified because they have one vote. That’s President Xi. He says do it and that’s the end of that.”
Will Scharf, introducing the executive order’s legal framework, explained that it “orders aspects of your administration to take decisive action to ensure that AI can operate within a single national framework in this country as opposed to being subject to state level regulation that could potentially cripple the industry.” Scharf positioned the order as serving multiple national interests: “economic growth, job development, national security and technological edge.”
David Sacks, the administration’s AI and Crypto Czar, provided the most specific details about the regulatory landscape the executive order addresses. “We have over a thousand bills going through state legislatures right now to regulate AI. Over 100 of them have already passed. 25 percent of them are in California and New York and Illinois. You’ve got 50 states running in 50 different directions. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Sacks clarified the order’s approach to existing state laws: “This EO gives your administration tools to push back on the most onerous and excessive state regulations. We’re not going to push back on all of them. For example, kid safety, we’re going to protect. We’re not pushing back on that. But we’re going to push back on most onerous examples of state regulation.”
The order establishes that “the policy or administration is to create that federal framework,” according to Sacks, who indicated the administration would “work with Congress like the chairman of the Commerce Committee, Senator Cruz and other members of Congress to define that framework.”
Senator Ted Cruz: Historical Precedent and Economic Stakes
Senator Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, placed the AI regulatory debate in historical context by comparing it to the internet’s early days in the 1990s. “Bill Clinton was president at the time. He signed an executive order, just like you’re doing, that put into law a light touch regulatory approach to the Internet.”
Cruz emphasized the dramatic economic consequences of that divergent approach: “In 1993, the US economy’s and Europe’s economy were virtually identical in size. Today, America’s economy is more than 50 percent larger than Europe’s. And the two drivers of that are tech and the shale revolution.”
The senator framed the AI competition as fundamentally about values: “It’s a race. And if China wins the race, whoever wins the values of that country will affect all of AI. We don’t want China’s values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist government governing AI. We want American values of free speech of individual liberty of respecting the individual.”
Cruz concluded his remarks by calling the executive order “tremendously important,” thanking Trump for his leadership on the issue.
Treasury Secretary Bessent: Economic Growth and National Security
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the AI race as “pass, fail” against China, comparing it to previous transformational infrastructure projects: “We’ve seen the canals. We’ve seen the railroads. We’ve seen the utilities. We’ve seen the build out of the internet and the fiber. And now it’s AI.”
Bessent connected AI leadership directly to national defense capabilities: “There’s no use in having a golden dome if China’s AI can get around it. There’s no use in spending all this money on defense and the US will remain the leader in this under President Trump’s leadership.”
The Treasury Secretary highlighted the domestic economic benefits already emerging: “We are seeing building everywhere construction jobs that are going to be jobs at the AI data centers.” He particularly praised Trump’s approach to energy policy for AI infrastructure: “President Trump had the incredible idea to allow the companies to create their own power. And we are going to see soon that communities near AI facilities will have the same or lower electric cost than other communities, which is a great innovation.”
AI Safety Concerns vs. Economic Competition
When a reporter asked whether Trump was “more worried about the US winning the race for AI dominance with China or about AI’s potential threat to humanity,” the President responded: “Both. We’re looking at that very strongly.”
Trump highlighted AI’s early medical applications: “You look at the medical and medical research. Already, the things that come have come out of AI in terms of medical and cancer research and things. We’re way ahead of what we ever thought we’d be just from the infancy of AI.”
He emphasized the economic stakes: “A big part of our economy, it could be 50, 60 percent of our economy going forward for a period of time, at least especially during the startup, is AI and AI based. We have trillions of dollars of construction going on and that construction would stop or it would certainly be halted.”
Trump concluded this response by reiterating the competitive imperative: “Look, we’re leading China. We’re leading China by a lot. China knows that. And not doing this would be the greatest gift to China and other countries, but China in particular that China has ever received.”
Venezuela: Seized Tanker and Border Security
Responding to questions about the administration’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker, Trump explained the action as part of a broader confrontation over migration and drugs. “One of the things it’s about is the fact that they’ve allowed millions of people to come into our country from their prisons, from gangs from drug dealers and from mental institutions, probably proportionately more than anybody else.”
Trump cited specific figures on violent criminals: “We had 11,888 murderers come into our country. Many of them are from Venezuela. We had thousands of Tren de Aragua, the gang come in from which they say is the most violent gang. I don’t know MS-13 is pretty bad, but Tren de Aragua they say is the most violent gang that comes out of from the prisons of Venezuela came out of the prisons of Venezuela.”
The President claimed dramatic success in maritime drug interdiction: “If you look at the drug traffic, drug traffic by sea is down 92 percent and nobody can figure out who the 8 percent is because I have no idea.” He added that similar land-based efforts were imminent: “We’ll start that on land too. It’s going to be starting on land pretty soon.”
Indiana Redistricting Defeat
Trump expressed frustration about the Indiana state senate’s rejection of Republican redistricting plans, despite the vice president traveling to the state to lobby for the effort. “We want every other state that’s the only state. It’s funny because I won the I won Indiana all three times by a landslide and I wasn’t working on it very hard, would have been nice. I think we would have picked up two seats if we did that.”
The President singled out Indiana State Senate leader for criticism, though he appeared uncertain of the exact name: “You had one gentleman the head of the Senate, I guess, Bray, whatever his name is, I heard he was against it. He probably loses next primary whatever that is. I hope he does.”
Trump characterized the vote as a “tremendous disservice,” noting the political contradiction: “Think of it, it’s a great place. I love the people there. They love me. We won in a landslide. All three times got tremendous votes, record I got record votes. And then you there’s no reason for doing that. And the Democrats do it to us.”
He reiterated his threat: “There’s a man named Bray as a, I guess, head of the Senate. Was that Bray? Is that the name Bray? And I mean, I’m sure that whatever his primary is, it’s I think, in two years. But I’m sure he’ll go down. He’ll go down. I’ll certainly support anybody that wants to go against it.”
Ukraine Peace Negotiations: Saturday Meeting and Security Agreements
Trump revealed ongoing negotiations on Ukraine and confirmed U.S. participation in a critical meeting scheduled for Saturday in Europe. When asked about American commitments to European security arrangements, the President responded: “We would help with security because it’s I think a necessary factor in getting it done.”
He described recent progress and setbacks: “I thought that we were very close with Russia to having a deal. I thought we were very close with Ukraine to having a deal. In fact, other than President Zelenskyy’s, people loved the concept of the deal.”
Trump characterized the negotiations as complex: “There’s four or five different parts, you know, a little bit complicated because you’re cutting up land in a certain way. It’s not the easiest thing. It’s sort of like a complex real estate deal, times a thousand, right? But it’s a deal that would have stopped the killing of thousands of lives every month.”
Regarding the Saturday meeting, Trump indicated conditional attendance: “We’ll see whether or not we attend the meeting. We said we’ll attend the meeting if we think there’s a good chance of they want me to attend, they want us to attend. And we’ll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there’s a good chance and we don’t want to waste a lot of time, we think it’s negative.”
Trump emphasized the human cost: “25,000 people died last month, soldiers, mostly soldiers, but some people also where bombs were dropped, but for the most part 25,000 soldiers died last month. I would love to see it stop and we’re working very hard.”
He explained the changed U.S. role in the conflict: “We are now selling weapons to NATO. We’re not selling it to Ukraine. We’re selling weapons at full price to to NATO, as you know. They distribute those weapons probably to Ukraine for the most part. They’re probably doing it to others also, but we’re not involved in the war other than the fact that we are involved in a negotiation because people want us there.”
Trump also noted progress on NATO burden-sharing: “I took GDP if you you know, I took what they’re spending, as a percentage of GDP, but it was a two and they weren’t paying. And now it’s at five and everybody’s amazed, but that 5 percent is a lot of it’s coming back to the United States.”
Despite the high casualties, Trump suggested the conflict doesn’t threaten core U.S. interests unless it escalates: “It doesn’t really affect the United States unless it got out of control. You know a thing like that as you probably know because you are a professional, a real professional, which is something I don’t say about a lot of other people, but you are a great professional. Things like this end up in third world wars and I’m told that the other day I said, you know everybody keeps playing games like this. You’ll end up in a third world war and we don’t want to see that happen.”
Iran Nuclear Strike: Claims of “Obliteration”
Trump made extensive and emphatic claims about recent U.S. military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program, repeatedly using the word “obliterated” despite his own administration’s national security documents using more measured language.
“When we went in with this very plane right here, this beautiful plane, we went in with those B-2s. And we and now I can use the word because it’s been confirmed by the Atomic Energy Commission. We obliterated their nuclear capability, their potential. And their nuclear capability would have been there in about two months. I think it looked like it was some people say two weeks. I don’t know if it’s two weeks, but a very short period of time. They were very close to having massive nuclear weapons.”
When a reporter noted that “your national security strategy does not say obliterated, sir. It says set them back,” Trump doubled down: “Well, the Atomic Energy Commission said obliterated. And the people that have seen the site said obliterated. And frankly, Iran said it was obliterated.”
The President emphasized the precision of the strikes: “To show you how accurate it was. And and you know, I I fight for the pilots because the pilots and those people went in there at great risk. And they hit every single target on every single bomb. And they did a lot of damage. And for them to be given anything less than 100 percent of the credit is unfair.”
Trump continued: “The Atomic Energy Commission said it’s like gonzo. It’s, one person actually used the term obliterated. But Iran actually said that they probably can never go there again. They can probably never start there again. If they ever started, it probably choose a new site.”
He connected the strikes to broader Middle East peace efforts: “When we took out Iran that allowed for peace. There’s no way that and I really have great respect for the king of Saudi Arabia for the Amir. I’m friends with UAE. These are great people. These are actually great people and great leaders. There’s no way they could have done a deal if Iran was not really nullified to a large extent.”
Trump claimed 59 countries now support Middle East peace efforts and that multiple countries have volunteered to handle Hamas and Hezbollah: “We have countries that want to come in and take care of of Hamas as an example. We have countries that want to come in and take care of Hezbollah in Lebanon as an example. And I say right now you don’t have to do that. You may have to do that. But we have countries that are volunteering to come in and literally take care of the whole thing.”
Regarding potential Iranian reconstitution of their program, Trump issued a threat: “If they do want to come back and they want to come back without a deal, then we’re going to obliterate that one too. You know, we can knock out their missiles very quickly. We have great power.”
He suggested Iran now seeks negotiations: “I can tell you that they would love to be able to make a deal with me. They would love to be able to make a deal with me. And I’d love to make a deal with them if we could.”
Trump argued Iran made a strategic mistake by not accepting earlier diplomatic overtures: “We were not close but not so close, but we were reasonably there for a deal with Iran before the bombing. And they would have been much better off if they made a deal. They could have had a deal where they would have been much better off. Look at what we’ve done. I mean, their place is blown up. Forget about the nuclear. The nuclear is gone. But look at the damage they’ve suffered, the death that they’ve suffered.”
China Relations: AI, Trade, and Nuclear Weapons
When asked about potential agreements with China on AI, particularly regarding nuclear weapons systems, Trump indicated ongoing high-level discussions. “I speak to him a lot about it. I speak to him a lot actually. I have a very good relationship with him, as you know.”
He pointed to tangible benefits from the relationship: “If you had another president, you would have had a big rare earth problem and it turned out not to be a problem. They’re purchasing tremendous amounts of the soybeans and other agricultural products. Now we’re getting along with them very well. Now we talk about AI quite a bit. We talk about everything quite a bit.”
Trump confirmed broader nuclear weapons discussions: “One of the things I talked to China about is the denuclearization of weapons that we’d like to see if we could stop that. I’ve spoken to China about that. I’ve spoken to Russia about that. And I think it would be something that we would want to do and they would like to do. And I think Russia would like to do.”
When a reporter noted that Russia has said it won’t join New START or a follow-on arms control treaty, Trump suggested he gets different information: “Well, that’s what they’ve told you, but, you know, what they tell you is different than what they tell me.”
Gaza Stabilization and Netanyahu Meeting
Addressing questions about Gaza, Trump confirmed appointing a general to lead stabilization efforts: “We’re working very strongly on Gaza. Yeah, we’re working very much on Gaza. We actually do have a real peace in the Middle East. We have 59 countries supporting it, which is you know, never happened before.”
Regarding a scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of December, Trump noted their strong relationship: “We get along with him very well. He’s been a wartime prime minister, certainly.”
Economic and Political Claims
Throughout the press availability, Trump made numerous claims about economic performance and political developments:
On the stock market: “Our stock market today was well, I saw it a few hours ago, but a few hours ago. It was way up. And we hit a new high. For the 52nd time in ten months, we have an all-time high stock market.”
On tariffs: “We’re charging countries that were really hurting us badly, were really decimating us. Hence, we have $38 trillion in debt, which we’ll start paying off pretty soon with the tariff money coming in.”
Trump claimed to have “settled eight wars, and numerous of them was because of trade and because of tariffs.”
On auto manufacturing: “Auto plants are being built at levels that we’ve just about never seen before. We had our auto industry was decimated. 56 percent of our auto industry left our country over the years. It was at 1.100 percent. And then it got shriveled down. And really we lost a lot. And now because of tariffs, which have been so incredible, we’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars. And we’re bringing back our factories.”
On inflation and prices: “Prices were the highest they ever were. Inflation was the highest in 48 years or I think ever. They say 48 years. The press is 48 years. I’ll accept that. But I think it was the highest inflation we’ve ever had. Under the past administration with the highest prices. We have high inflation. You have high prices. Prices are coming way down, energy is coming way down, gasoline is hitting now $1.99 in a couple of states, and it’s way down.”
On Senate confirmations: Trump praised Senate Majority Leader John Thune for approving “hundreds of people” while criticizing Democratic obstruction: “We have a roadblock with the Democrats. They’re just obstructionist, that’s all. That’s all they’re good at is obstructing. They’re not good at creating. They’re only good at obstructing and wanting open borders and men in women sports and transgender, all things that transgender for everybody, all things that people don’t want.”
He also criticized Democrats on healthcare: “They’re doing that with healthcare. We have a great healthcare proposal where we pay all of the hundreds of billions of dollars that the insurance companies have been making. You know their stock is up 1,700 percent.”
Trump closed by emphasizing restored international standing: “Our country is respected again. I think we’re respected like never before. The United States is respected again. We have a country that was a dead country one year ago, dead, and now it’s the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
Source
“Remarks: Donald Trump Signs an Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence – December 11, 2025.” Factba.se, Roll Call, 11 Dec. 2025.