--- title: Donald Trump: Read Speech at MacDill Air Force Base description: President Donald Trump claimed the press does not report terrorist attacks during a speech at the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. canonical: https://time.com/4661658/donald-trump-terror-attacks-speech-macdill-air-force-base/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-06T20:52:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:10:03.921Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Trump's Speech Claiming Press Doesn't Report Terror Attacks og:description: "They have their reasons and you understand that" og:url: https://time.com/4661658/donald-trump-terror-attacks-speech-macdill-air-force-base/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt799e244da795b901/6988b901a988ca21456bae35/trump-press.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. President Trump is welcomed during speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Trump's Speech Claiming Press Doesn't Report Terror Attacks twitter:description: "They have their reasons and you understand that" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt799e244da795b901/6988b901a988ca21456bae35/trump-press.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Trump's Speech Claiming the Press Doesn't Report Terror Attacks by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Feb 6, 2017 8:52 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks to commanders and coalition representatives during a visit to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 6, 2017. President Donald Trump speaks to commanders and coalition representatives during a visit to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 6, 2017.Carlos Barria—Reuters by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Feb 6, 2017 8:52 PM UTC President Donald Trump claimed the [“very, very dishonest press”](http://time.com/4660961/donald-trump-travel-ban-polls-fake-news/) does not report terrorist attacks during a speech to coalition representatives and senior U.S. military commanders at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base on Monday. “They have their reasons and you understand that,” the President said in reference to several attacks across the U.S. and Europe — all of which were widely covered by U.S. and international media. The President touched upon a number of topics during his speech, including a vow to make a “historic financial investment” in the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as a [request for fellow NATO members](http://time.com/4660803/nato-trump-meeting/) to make “full and proper financial contributions to the NATO Alliance.” Read a full transcript of his speech below. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4661658/donald-trump-terror-attacks-speech-macdill-air-force-base/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4661658/donald-trump-terror-attacks-speech-macdill-air-force-base/"},"headline":"Read President Trump's Speech Claiming the Press Doesn't Report Terror Attacks","datePublished":"2017-02-06T20:52:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:10:03.921Z","description":"\"They have their reasons and you understand that\"","url":"https://time.com/4661658/donald-trump-terror-attacks-speech-macdill-air-force-base/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt799e244da795b901/6988b901a988ca21456bae35/trump-press.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt799e244da795b901/6988b901a988ca21456bae35/trump-press.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Trump is welcomed during speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump is welcomed as he speaks to commanders and coalition representatives during a visit to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, U.S., February 6, 2017. 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