The White House scrambled this week to delete a "damning" speech from President Donald Trump that was supposed to remain hidden, according to The New Republic, with the administration accidentally sharing it online for all to see.
Trump on Wednesday delivered remarks at a White House event commemorating Easter, which was supposed to be press-free, meaning that no videos of the address were meant to circulate publicly. Instead, a video of Trump's appearance was briefly shared on the official White House website before being swiftly deleted. This did not stop reporters like Bryan Metzger of Business Insider from sharing the video around anyway.
Such a slip-up might not have otherwise been a major deal, except that the contents of Trump's remarks contained several alarming and damning asides, according to The New Republic, including instances where the president blamed the cost of the Iran war for making free childcare impossible, claiming that it must be left to the states so that military spending can be prioritized.
“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare," Trump said. "You got to let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it too. They should pay. They’ll have to raise their taxes, but they should pay for it. And we could lower our taxes a little bit to them to make up. It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal [level]. We have to take care of one thing: military protection."
Speaking further on his controversial war, Trump chastised Americans for not having "the patience" to wait while the military takes control of Iran's oil.
"We could just take their oil. But, you know, I’m not sure that the people in our country have the patience to do that, which is unfortunate," Trump said. "You know, they want to see it end. If we stayed there, I, you know, I’d prefer just to take the oil. We could do it so easily. I would prefer that, but people in the country sort of say, ‘Just win, you’re winning so big. Just win, come home.'"
Trump also at one point touched on his White House ballroom project, which was halted this week by a federal judge's order. The president mused about how much easier such a thing would be if he were a king instead.
“I can’t get a ballroom approved. It’s pretty amazing, right?” Trump also said in the speech. “If I was a king, we’d be doing a lot more. I’m doing a lot, but I could be doing a lot more if I was a king.”
It seems the White House may have uploaded that video unintentionally. It's now been made private.
But I downloaded it, so here's the full WH feed of the Easter lunch earlier today.
Trump does sound a bit more candid here than he does in front of reporters. https://t.co/PicD2aCH4epic.twitter.com/sqPjqur0cc
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) April 1, 2026