'I'm liking the chandeliers': Trump jokes about removing State Department decor for White House

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump turned a roundtable on the American mining industry into a lighthearted moment on Friday, August 7, by joking that he could take chandeliers, paintings, and even the State Department's Corinthian columns back to the White House.

The remarks came as Trump joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department for a roundtable with executives from major mining companies, where the administration promoted efforts to expand domestic critical minerals production.

Trump jokes about State Department decor

Standing beside Rubio, Trump praised the State Department building before going off script with a series of jokes about its interior.

"It's a beautiful building, but you know, I look at the president's allowed to remove things from any building, and I'm liking the chandeliers. I really, I like those Corinthian columns, but I don't know. That would be not good," Trump said.

He kept the joke going, adding, "Those are beautiful columns, but I'm allowed to do it."

Trump then suggested he occasionally borrows artwork for the Oval Office.

"Every once in a while, I come in here and grab a painting and put it in the Oval Office, right? But not too much," he said, drawing attention away from the policy-focused event before thanking Rubio and other administration officials.

Trump touts mining and investment push

After the off-script exchange, Trump returned to his prepared message, arguing that his administration was making the United States "the minerals superpower of the world."

"In my first term, we secured our energy independence, and now, in my second term, we're achieving our economic independence," Trump said.

He added that critical minerals are "the raw materials of American strength" and said he wants them "mined, refined, and made right here in the USA with the American skill and American hands."

Trump said previous administrations allowed the country to lose more than 3,400 mines over the past three decades but claimed that trend has reversed.

"Over the past 18 months, our administration has signed or approved more than 160 minerals deals worth nearly $40 billion, and today the United States is opening up new mines at the fastest pace since the 1950s," he said.

The president also touted what he described as more than $19 trillion in investment during his administration, the opening of the first American rare earth mine in more than 70 years, a new aluminum smelter in Oklahoma, deep-sea mining initiatives and a more than $12 billion strategic mineral reserve.

President says tariff is his favorite word

Trump closed that portion of his remarks by again defending tariffs, saying they helped drive the administration's manufacturing agenda. 

"The word tariff is my favorite word," he said before joking that, after criticism, it had become only his "solid number five" favorite word.