--- ---  # Read President Trump's Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 2, 2017 3:46 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast February 2, 2017 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast February 2, 2017 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee/;Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 2, 2017 3:46 PM UTC President Trump spoke at the [National Prayer Breakfast](http://time.com/4658002/president-trump-prayer-breakfast-johnson-amendment/) in Washington, D.C., drawing attention for joking remarks that the audience should pray for [Arnold Schwarzenegger’s](http://time.com/4621431/new-celebrity-apprentice-premiere-ratings/) ratings on “The Apprentice.” The speech was Trump’s first at the annual religious gathering, though he joked that he would like “to be here seven more times with you.” He also pledged to repeal the [Johnson Amendment](http://time.com/4452309/trumps-evangelical-voters/), an IRS rule barring pastors from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution,” he said. Read Trump’s full remarks below. --- > “” --- National Prayer Breakfast: Donald Trump Transcript ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4658012/donald-trump-national-prayer-breakfast-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4658012/donald-trump-national-prayer-breakfast-transcript/"},"headline":"Read President Trump's Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast","datePublished":"2017-02-02T15:46:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:06:26.265Z","description":"President Trump spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.","url":"https://time.com/4658012/donald-trump-national-prayer-breakfast-transcript/","keywords":["faith","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt123b54f658050a07/6988b87e7cdbac2c73d5702a/donald-trump-johnson-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt123b54f658050a07/6988b87e7cdbac2c73d5702a/donald-trump-johnson-amendment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Attends National Prayer Breakfast","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast February 2, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Win McNamee/;Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4658012/donald-trump-national-prayer-breakfast-transcript/","name":"Read President Trump's Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast"}}]}] ```