President Trump returned to “60 Minutes” on Sunday for his first sit-down interview with the program and with its parent company CBS News earlier this year.settled a lawsuitWith the President.
Correspondent Norah O’Donnell sat down with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Friday, where the contentious history between the president and the network was discussed, as well as a series of questions about the ongoing government shutdown, foreign policy and some other Trump issues.controversial moveSince assuming charge again in January.
Here are five findings from the interview.
Trump sits down with ’60 Minutes’ after lawsuit
The meeting between Trump and O’Donnell marked the latest turn in the sour relationship between the president and “60 Minutes.”
Trump referenced the settlement paid to him by the network’s parent company, and he criticized O’Donnell on several points.
“And actually 60 Minutes made me a lot of money. And you don’t have to wear it, because I don’t want to embarrass you, and I’m sure you don’t – you have a great – I think you have a great, new leader, frankly, the young woman who is leading your entire enterprise is a great – as far as I know,” Trump said. recently appointed CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
At another point, when O’Donnell did not answer Trump’s question about whether he had seen a decline in crime in Washington, D.C., the President quipped that he “didn’t want to embarrass him.”
“It’s good. You don’t have to use it. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. I don’t want to embarrass him,” Trump said.
It was the first time Trump had done an interview with CBS since he sued the network and its parent company, Paramount Global, over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris on “60 Minutes” last year.
Trump claimed the network deliberately edited his answer to a question on the war in Gaza to make his point more coherent. The network rejected that premise in court documents and public statements. Nevertheless, Paramount Global, which recentlycompleted a mergerAs part of a settlement with Skydance, it agreed to pay $16 million to fund the president’s future presidential library.
During the 2024 campaign, then-candidate Trumpcanceled a planned interviewwith “60 Minutes” in the final weeks of the presidential race. The program said the campaign offered a “shifted explanation” for the cancellation, while the Trump campaign alleged that neither interview was ever finalized.
Trump sat for one during the 2020 campaigncontroversial interviewon “60 Minutes”Leslie StahlIn which he walked out over the clash over Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Trump suggests China and Russia are testing nuclear weapons
Trump was asked about his recent direction for the governmentresume nuclear testingA move that has given rise to both logistical questions and concerns about escalating tensions.
Defending the decision, Trump argued that other countries besides North Korea were testing nuclear weapons.
“Russia is testing nuclear weapons,” Trump said. “And China is testing them too. You just don’t know about it.”
O’Donnell responded, turning his attention to Russia, “It would certainly be very newsworthy.”had testedA delivery system for nuclear weapons, but not the warhead itself.
“Russia is testing, and China is testing, but they don’t talk about it,” Trump said. “You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you guys are going to report — they don’t have journalists who will write about it. We do.
“No, we are going to test, because they test and other people test,” he said. “And of course North Korea is testing. Pakistan is testing.”
On Trump’s instructions, America stopped explosive testing of nuclear weapons in 1992.divided lawmakersRepublicans are defending the move and Democrats are questioning the safety and effectiveness of resuming nuclear testing.
Trump suggests he would support Cuomo over Mamdani
The presidential interview aired two days before Election Day, which includes the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoral race in New York City.
Trump has frequently opined on the New York City contest, where Democratic socialist Zoharan Mamdani is leading Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), who is launching a third-party bid.
chairmannot supportedcandidate in the race, but he indicated on “60 Minutes” that he considered Cuomo the lesser of two evils along with Mamdani.
Trump said, “It would be hard for me as president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, you’re wasting the money you’re sending there.” “So I don’t know if he won, and I’m not a fan of Cuomo by any means, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I would pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.”
Trump has offered little on a plan to end the shutdown
Sunday’s interview aired asgovernment shutdownWas close to the record for the longest in history.
But Trump offered no new ideas on how to break the impasse, telling O’Donnell that his plan is to continue to force Democrats to vote to reopen the government.
“I mean, Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and Democrats are voting against ending it,” Trump said. “You know, they’ve never had that. This has happened 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for the extension, always said, ‘Give us an extension, we’ll work on it.'”
Democrats have repeatedly rejected a continuation proposal put forward by Republicans that would fund the government at current levels, insisting that any funding deal include commitments to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. The end of those subsidies is sure to lead to sharp increases in premiums.
Trump has said he willwilling to discussHealth care with Democrats as government reopens. But he told “60 Minutes” that doesn’t mean he will put forward a health care plan of his own.
Trump said, “No. We’ll work on fixing our broken health care system.” “Right now, we have very poor health care and it’s very expensive for the people, not for the government, but for the people.”
Trump defends ICE raids, DOJ indictments
Trump dodged questions about some of the more controversial aspects of his second term so far, such as the aggressive tactics of immigration agents and the prosecutions of his political rivals.
O’Donnell asked Trump whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have gone “too far,” citing recent events.tear gas deployedin a residential neighborhood of Chicago and broke the windows of cars.
Trump said, “No. I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been blocked by judges, by liberal judges who were appointed by Biden and Obama.”
“Do you agree with those tips?” O’Donnell asked.
“Yes, because you have to get people out,” Trump said.
O’Donnell also pressed Trump on the prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, all of whom have been vocal critics of the president.
is in those indictmentsset off the alarmThat Trump is using the Justice Department to target his opponents and exert political pressure on a generally independent agency.
Trump pointed to various criminal cases of his own during the 2024 campaign, claiming that the indictments were the “opposite” of retaliation.
“I think my behavior has been very mild,” Trump said.
“You’re looking at a man who was accused multiple times and I had to face punishment for it,” Trump said. “Otherwise I could not have contested the presidency. They tried to ensure that I did not contest the presidency by going after me and blaming me.”
