Bukele says Trump has 350 million Americans to 'liberate' by ending crime, terrorism

"And I like to say that we actually liberated millions," Bukele said, with the line drawing praise from Trump. 

Trump's 2024 campaign was critical of the Biden administration's catch-and-release border policies, as well as liberal bail reform laws in many Democratic jurisdictions that forced police to release suspects back onto the streets, often to reoffend.  

Trump on Monday derided the "Democratic establishment," championing how the country would now be run by "common sense" after his election. 

"Do you allow your men in women's sports? Do you allow men to box women?" Trump asked Bukele, referencing how the left has pushed for biological men to compete in women's sports. 

The president of El Salvador remarked, "That's violence." 

"That's abuse of a woman," Trump agreed. "But we have people that fight to the death because they think men should be able to play in women's sports." 

A decade or so ago, Bukele said, the women's rights movement pushed to have laws on the books to prevent men from abusing women, arguing that now the "same people are trying to backtrack." 

"We're big on protecting women," Bukele said, noting that most of his Cabinet members present in the Oval Office with him are women, and joking, "they're not DEI hires or anything." 

Trump championed women in his own Cabinet, naming Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. 

"The most powerful woman in the world, according to magazines," Trump said of Wiles. "I think she probably is." 

Noem, who visited the CECOT last month, thanked Bukele for his partnership, saying Trump has sent a "powerful message of consequences" to keep criminals, rapists, murderers, gang members and terrorists out of the U.S. 

Trump said the Biden administration allowed people to "come freely into our country" from South America, Africa, Asia and "rough parts of Europe," claiming many of those entering came from prisons and mental institutions, as well as gangs. 

Trump did not rule out exporting U.S. citizens or fully naturalized immigrants who commit violent crimes in the U.S. to El Salvador, but he did say Bondi and the Justice Department were still "studying the law" on that potential course of action.

"They're as bad as anybody that comes in. We have bad ones, too. And I'm all for it because we can do things with the president for less money and have great security," Trump said. "I'm talking about really bad people."