Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport
Hebron, Kentucky

2:45 P.M. EST
 
THE PRESIDENT:  I’ve got — I got good news for you: They just elected you Speaker.  (Points to reporter.)  (Laughter.)
 
Q    Hey, what did you and Senator McConnell talk about in the limo ride?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  We talked about foreign policy, about Ukraine, about keeping everybody together — not in the Congress, but just internationally.
 
Q    Are you going to be visiting the border when you head down to Mexico?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  That’s my intention.  We’re working out the details now.
 
Q    Do you think the NFL is getting too dangerous?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  No.  Look, the idea that you’re going to have — look, you got guys that are 6’8”, 340 pounds running a 4.8 40.  I mean, you know, you hit somebody with that kind of force — now, that’s not what happened here. 
 
But I just think it’s a — I don’t know how you avoid it.  I don’t — I think working like hell on the helmets and the concussion protocols — that all makes a lot of sense.  But it’s — you know, it is dangerous.  You got to just acknowledge it.
 
Q    Mr. President, are you con- — are you concerned about the implications of there not being — of there not being a functioning House of Representatives at this point?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, obviously, I am.  In terms of –-
 
I’ll put my hat on here. 
 
For two reasons.  One, it’s embarrassing for the country.  I mean, literally.  Now, I’m not making a (inaudible).  It’s just the reality is that, you know, to be able — have a Congress that can’t function is just embarrassing.  We’re the greatest nation in the world.  How can that be? 
 
And we’ve had a lot of trouble with — I’m sorry for the noise — a lot of trouble with the attacks on our institutions already.  And it just — that — that’s what worries me more than anything else.

Q    What about Bradley Fighting Vehicles for Ukraine?  Is that on the table?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.

Q    Are you worried about how China is handling COVID right now?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, yes, I am.  But I think we just got to make the protocol we set out: that if you’re flying from China, you got to be tested, and so on.

Chi- — China has not been — I know they’re very sensitive about sugge- — when we suggest they haven’t been that forthcoming.

Q    Thank you, sir.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Thanks, everybody.  Thank you.

Q    Mr. President, can you talk about the significance of having Mitch McConnell here with you today?  And —

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, that’s for all you to decide.

Q    And — (laughs) — and how you —

Q    No, but for you —

Q    — and how your relationship will be — will — how the relationship will matter in this next Congress with House Republicans being what they are?

THE PRESIDENT:  Look, I’ve had a relationship with Mitch McConnell for years.  And when, in the — when, in the Obama administration, they were going to — weren’t going to pay the debt, you know, McConnell and I stayed up, as you remember, on New Year’s Eve night until — you know, late at night to finish it.

I’ve — we’ve always been able to work together.

All right, thank you very much.

2:48 P.M. EST