There was a glass bottle of milk on the Resolute Desk when President Donald Trump joined officials and others for the signing of a bipartisan school nutrition bill, and Trump promised he would get to the milk soon. The Associated Press said Trump first turned to other topics, including Iran, the capture of someone accused of leaking secret information involving Venezuela, and executive orders he was issuing.
Trump signed the bipartisan measure known as the “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act,” which allows schools to serve whole and 2% milk along with the skim and low-fat products that had been required since 2012. In the Oval Office, Trump acknowledged the gathered crowd, which included Cabinet secretaries, lawmakers from both parties, dairy farmers and children.
“You see that beautiful milk? That’s why we’re here,” Trump said, as he pointed to the bottle and described the event as the reason for those gathered. He told the room, “We’ll be talking about that in a second,” before the conversation moved away from the milk.
Before he addressed the attendees, Trump told reporters he had it “on good authority” that plans for executions in Iran had stopped. The Associated Press reported that this came despite Tehran having signaled fast trials and executions ahead in its crackdown on protesters.
After that exchange, Trump changed topics again, saying, “the leaker has been found, and is in jail right now — and that’s the leaker on Venezuela, a very bad leaker.” He added without clarifying the case, “there could be some others. We’re hot on their trail.”
Next, Trump signed executive orders related to tariffs on semiconductors and rare earth minerals, according to the report. The AP said the event then returned to milk, with Trump saying both Republicans and Democrats drink it and making comments that included national nutrition adviser Dr. Ben Carson.
Trump said, “I still looks good. That’s ‘cause he drinks a lot of milk,” referring to Carson. Officials and participants at the signing also spoke about milk’s nutritional role, including claims about brain development, while a child described how milk is produced.
Later, Trump took questions from reporters and said he had completed his first known phone call with Delcy Rodríguez, who became Venezuela’s acting leader after the U.S. ousted President Nicolás Maduro last week. The report also said Trump added he would be briefed on earlier Wednesday meetings between U.S. officials and leaders from Greenland and Denmark connected to his insistence that the U.S. take over the world’s largest island.
As the event wound down, Trump pointed back to the uncapped bottle on his desk and said, “It just looks so good sitting there.” He then joked, “We have some milk here. It’s been sitting here for five days. I brought it so the press could have some,” and the Associated Press reported that the bottle remained untouched when the signing ended.