President Donald Trump interviewed by ‘Meet the Press’ moderator Kristen Welker

KRISTEN WELKER:

President Trump, welcome back to Meet the Press.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Thank you very much.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Thank you so much for being here to mark your first 100 days in office. It has been an incredibly busy 100 days. You’ve signed more than 140 executive orders. You’ve been focused on the border, the economy, foreign policy. What is your biggest goal in the next 100 days?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I think we’re going to see a lot of results. We’ve already seen them. On the border, we have the best border in the history of our country. It was 99.999, and nobody ever thought that was possible. In fact, Biden, if you remember, said he has to get legislation. And I said, “No, you just need a new president.” And I guess I was right. We have the best border we’ve ever had. We’re doing great on illegal immigration. We are being hit hard by judges that I think they’re trying to take away the power of the presidency. I was elected in a massive landslide and a big, you know, big vote. We won the swing states. We won the popular vote. We won the district votes by tremendous numbers. We won everything. And one of the reasons — one of the primary reasons I was elected was to get people out of our country that were allowed. We have prisoners. We have murderers. We have terrorists in our country. We have people from mental institutions that are seriously insane. They all came in through Biden’s open border policy. And I was elected to get them out and to seal the border, but to get them out. And we’ll have judges, they’re activist judges. They’re saying, “Well, you know, you don’t have the right to take out murderers and — and people that you don’t even want to talk about.” These are really some really bad criminal people. And they’re here illegally. So, you know they talk about — your next question will be due process. But they talk about due process, but do you get due process when you’re here illegally?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

We’re going to talk about all of that. We are going to talk about deportation. But I want to start on the economy, sir, which obviously — obviously the biggest issue for voters. We got new numbers today, better than expected job numbers.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Much better.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

At the same time, the economy shrank in the first quarter. You’ve been arguing all week that this is President Biden’s economy. Is this now your economy, sir?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I think certain aspects of it are. Costs are. I was able to get down the costs. But even that, it takes a while to get them down, but we got them down good. We lost 5 to 6 billion dollars a day with Biden. Five to 6 billion. And I’ve got that down to a great number right now in a very — in a record time. You know, we’re talking about 100 days. But just think of what that is. Five billion dollars a day we’re losing on trade. And we were very tough with China, as you know. We put 145% tariff on. Nobody’s ever heard of such a thing. And we’ve essentially cut off trade relationships by putting that much of a tariff on. And that’s okay. We’ve gone cold turkey. That means that we’re not losing. You know, we lost a trillion dollars to China. A trillion dollars. That means we’re not losing a trillion dollars when we go cold turkey because we’re not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We’ll see how that all turns out, but it’s got to be a fair deal. But think of it. We were losing a trillion dollars. And that was a big part of the 5 million dollars a day.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

And I want to talk about China, but just staying on this idea of the economy. On the eve of your inauguration, the stock market spiked. You called it the “Trump Effect.” Are you —                                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It spiked because I was elected president. It didn’t spike because of anybody else. It spiked because they see what I’m going to do. They know what I’m going to do with the tariffs and everything else. And I think it’s actually working out better than we anticipated. Did you see oil prices? Did you see gasoline is now below, in many cases, in many states, below 2 dollars a gallon? $1.98, $1.99, $1.97?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, my question, sir, is you — when the stock market spiked, you said this is the “Trump effect.” When the numbers weren’t so good earlier this week, you said it’s the Biden effect. Are you only taking ownership of the good numbers and not the bad numbers?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I think he did a lot of very bad things. And despite some of the bad things, we’re overcoming them. But he was bad on the border. He was bad on the economy. We had the worst inflation in the history of our country. Look, Biden gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country. People — it didn’t matter what they made because they were losing their shirt because of costs. Now take a look at what happened. Oil is down. Gasoline is down. Groceries are down. Eggs. You were the one that asked me. You asked me about eggs. It was the first week. I didn’t even know anything about what you — we were talking about. Egg prices were so high, you couldn’t buy eggs. They didn’t have any eggs. And they said, “Easter is going to be a disaster.” Well, we had Easter at the White House, and we had thousands of eggs. And they were down 87%.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yeah. A lot of that, of course, spike was because of bird flu. But when does it become —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I don’t know —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– the Trump economy?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– what it was. Why do you say that?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, tell me. When —                                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We had the same bird flu as he had.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

When does it become the Trump economy?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It partially is right now. And I really mean this. I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job. He did a terrible job on everything, from his autopen — which I’m sure he knew nothing about, some of the things he was supposedly signing — to immigration. You look at what happened with immigration, how bad it was. Think of it. We have murderers, 11,888 murderers, many of them murdered more than one person. Think of that. And they’re in our country. Now, we’ve gotten a lot of them out, and we know who many of them are. And we’re on the hunt. But why would anybody do that? Why would anybody — who could do such a thing where they’d allow hundreds of thousands, and even millions of people into our country — or criminals and murderers at the highest level. Who would do this?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But, sir, you acknowledge when you announced your tariffs, for example, the stock market dropped. It’s been volatile. It has —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– since gone up.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– it is, but now it’s —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you take responsibility —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Look at today. I take responsibility.                

KRISTEN WELKER:

– for that? Yeah. Do you take responsibility when it drops?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything. But I’ve only just been here for a little more than three months. But the stock market, look at what’s happened in the last short period of time. Didn’t it have nine or ten days in a row, or 11 days, where it’s gone up? And the tariffs have just started kicking in. And we’re doing really well. Psychologically, I mean, the fake news was giving me such press on the tariffs. The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’re going to be a very rich country.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

So let’s talk about the tariffs. And I want to ask you about something you said this week. Got a lot of attention. You were at your Cabinet meeting. You said, quote — I’m going to quote what you said — “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.” Are you saying that your tariffs will cause some prices to go up?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. I think tariffs are going to be great for us because it’s going to make us rich.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But you said some dolls are going to cost more.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sure.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Isn’t that an acknowledgment —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t think —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– that some prices —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– children —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– will go up?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs — that’s 11 years old — needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

When you say, “They could have three dolls instead of 30 dolls,” are you saying you’re —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls —                                

KRISTEN WELKER:

– that Americans could see empty store shelves?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. No, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But you’re basically saying there could be some supply shortages —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m basically saying —                                

KRISTEN WELKER:

– because of the tariffs.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– we don’t have to waste money on a trade deficit with China for things we don’t need, for junk that we don’t need.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, prices are already going up on some popular items —                                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– from tires to strollers —                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Whoa, whoa. This is such a dishonest interview already.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

No, no.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Prices are down on groceries. Prices are down for oil. Prices are down for all energy. Prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline. And let me tell you, when you have — the big thing, what he did, he spent like a stupid person, which he was. But he spent like a very stupid person. And that was bad for inflation. But what really killed us with inflation was the price of energy. It went up to $3.90, even $4. And in California, $5 and $6. Right? Okay. I have it down to $1.98 in many states right now. When you go that much lower on energy — which is ahead of my prediction because I really thought I could get it down into the $2.50s — we have it down at $1.98 in numerous places. But when you say costs are going up, even mortgage rates are going down. You know, we have mortgage rates —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But let me give you some examples. These are — I mean, these are actual examples. So you’re saying the prices that are going down. Some prices are going up. Tires, strollers, some clothing in the wake of your tariffs —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Excuse me. That’s peanuts compared to —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– energy. Energy is 60% of the cost.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But, sir, you campaigned —                                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Energy is a big —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– on a promise to bring prices down on day one.                                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I don’t know, when you say strollers are going up, what kind of a thing? I’m saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller or some place?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But what do you say to Americans who say they voted for you because they want and they need relief right now?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And they’re getting it.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Right now? What about those —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Even mortgage rates. It was just announced —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– different items I just mentioned?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– mortgage rates are going down, despite the fact that we have a stubborn Fed.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But you said dolls — even dolls could cost a couple bucks more.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Maybe they might. But you don’t need to have, as I said, 35 dolls. You can have two, three, four, and save a lot of money. We don’t need to feed the beast.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

I guess — you’re talking about this transition cost. How long should people expect that transition to last, Mr. President?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I can’t tell you that. I can tell you that we’re making a lot of money. We’re doing great. Again, we were losing more than $5 billion a day. $5 billion a day. You don’t talk about that. And right now, we’re going to be at a point very soon where we’re making money every day. Look —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

How soon?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– we were losing hundreds of billions of dollars with China. Now we’re essentially not doing business with China. Therefore, we’re saving hundreds of billions of dollars. Very simple.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

You take me to my next question, which is about China. They’ve been making a number of public statements.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Very positive statements in the last 24 hours.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, and most recently, they said before talks could happen, the U.S. would need to remove unilateral tariffs. Would you consider dropping the tariffs to get China to the negotiating table?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. They — first of all, you’re giving me a statement that was said a week ago. You’re not giving the statement that was said today.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

I have May 2nd, Chinese Commerce Ministry.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Do you know what they say today?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

“If the U.S. wants to negotiate, it should show sincerity –”                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

“We’re looking forward — ”                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

“ — by preparing to take actions in correcting its mistakes and canceling the unilateral tariffs.”                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, no, no. They made — first of all, they made numerous statements.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yes. They’ve made numerous statements.                                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You know how many people speak for China?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yes.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’s like, you have 15 different —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

They’ve made numerous statements —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I can give you a statement for any occasion.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yes. Yes, yes.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But they said today they want to talk. Look, China — and I don’t like this. I’m not happy about this. China’s getting killed right now. They’re getting absolutely destroyed. Their factories are closing. Their unemployment is going through the roof. I’m not looking to do that to China. Now, at the same time, I’m not looking to have China make hundreds of billions of dollars and build more ships and more army tanks and more airplanes.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

So you’re not prepared — just to be very clear, you’re not dropping the tariffs against China to get them to the negotiating table? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP: 

Why would I —  

KRISTEN WELKER: 

Those tariffs are staying on?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Why would I do that?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Would you lower them?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them. And they want to do business very much. Look, their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

So small businesses say they are being hurt by the Chinese tariffs. And some could be forced to shut down.                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And many businesses are being helped.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Are you considering —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Look at the automobile —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– tariff relief for small businesses?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Why do you always mention that. You know, you pick up a couple of little businesses. What about the car business? They’re going to make a fortune because of the tariffs. Do you know that the union, the head of the union, who was no fan of mine, Fain, Shawn Fain I guess his name is, right? He didn’t endorse me. The Teamsters did. A lot of people did. A lot of unions did. But he didn’t. He couldn’t stand me. Now he’s saying, “Wow. What Trump’s done for the automobile, I can’t believe it.” I assume he’s going to probably now say — the next thing he can say is, “I endorse this guy. He’s the greatest I’ve ever seen.” He can’t believe it’s happened. He said, “We’ve been waiting 40 years for somebody to do what Trump is doing.” So why don’t you mention the big car industry instead of mentioning somebody that’s doing strollers?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, I’m just asking you about small businesses. Are there any discussions about giving any relief to small businesses?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

They’re not going to need it.  

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. Are these — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP: 

They’re going to make so much money —                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Are these tariffs —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– if you build your product here. Remember, there are no tariffs if you build your product here. It’s very easy. It’s very simple.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Are these tariffs permanent, Mr. President?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Depends on what you’re talking about. One of the things that is going to bring, and has brought — so I think we probably have close to $9 trillion of investments coming into this country. If you look at other presidents, there’s never been anything like that. This is over a period of two months. You’ve got to give me a little break on the one month because we’re three months. But, you know, let’s say we had to get started. We had a lot of fake news at the beginning, so we had to beat that down. But so let’s say in two months. So in just a short period of time — a matter of a couple of months — we have the largest number ever in history invested in the United States and committed. We have between, guaranteed, spoken for and people that are going to make a decision and announce it pretty soon, close to $9 trillion. We’ve never had anything close. Now, that’s Apple building $500 billion worth of plants. They always built their plants in China. Now they’re building their plants over here. That’s the biggest computer company, the biggest chip company in the world. You know, the chip company from Taiwan, which is the biggest in the world, is committed for $500 billion. Another one’s committed for $300 billion. We have companies, nobody’s ever seen anything like it. Let me tell you the other thing, very importantly — automobile companies. Plant, after plant, after plant: Toyota, Honda, Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, I mean, nobody’s ever seen anything like it. And I don’t like this, but it happens to be. They’re stopping work in Mexico, and they’re stopping work in Canada, and they’re all moving here.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

This is important though. You’re not taking the possibility that these tariffs could be permanent off the table — some of them?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, I wouldn’t do that because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you about —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You understand that, right?                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yeah. No, I mean, that’s why I’m asking because there’s a lot of, I think, uncertainty for CEOs, for business owners. They want to know are these tariffs —                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

See, I don’t think there is uncertainty.                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– permanent?                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I think there’s only uncertainty in the fake news. I don’t think there’s uncertainty. I mean, I’ve been very rigid, very strong on it. But I will say I have — I’m flexible. Like, with respect to parts made outside of the country, I gave the automobile companies a little extra time. You know, you’re talking about 15%, and then 10% of the parts made — put in a car. I gave them a little extra time without penalizing them. And I did that only to help, you know, companies. We’re looking to help companies. We want them to thrive and to hire a lot of people and that’s what’s happening. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you about some of what Wall Street has said. Some people on Wall Street have expressed concerns that the possibility of a recession is increasing. And I want to know what you think about that. Are you comfortable with the country potentially dipping into a recession for a period of time if you are able to achieve your long term goals?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, you know, you say some people on Wall Street say, well, I’ll tell you something else. Some people on Wall Street say that we’re going to have the greatest economy in history. Why don’t you talk about them? Because some people on Wall Street say this is the greatest —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, that’s what I’m getting at —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– thing that ever happened.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

That’s what I’m getting at though. It’s —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

There are many people —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– the same question.               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. There are many people on Wall Street that say, “This is going to be the greatest windfall ever happen.”               

KRISTEN WELKER:

And that’s my question —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Remember this —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– the long term.  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is it okay in the short term to have a recession?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Remember this. Look, yeah. Everything’s okay. What we are — I said, this is a transition period. I think we’re going to do fantastically. One of your colleagues on another fake news station, ABC, said, “Do you guarantee 100% that a certain person is going to do a fantastic job as, let’s say, Secretary of Defense?” Okay? Because that was the question. I said, “What kind of a question is that? Do I guarantee 100%? Nobody guarantees 100%.” But I will say this. I think we’re going to have an economy the likes of which we’ve never had before. You know, my four years were phenomenal, as you know. The stock market. In fact, even though we had to go through the Covid thing, that horrible situation with Covid, we did numbers — and when I gave it over, when I handed it over, the election was rigged, and I handed it — and because of that, we have a lot of problems, by the way. But when I handed it over, what happened? The market was higher than it was previous to just previous to Covid coming in. Nobody could believe it. The stock market, I’m talking about.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

I don’t want to look back, but you did take your case to court about that.               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, you got to look back.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

You took your case to court about your allegations against the election. Let me ask you, sir —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Ah, no no no. There’s no question about it. The election was rigged. The facts are in. And it’s still being litigated. Let’s go.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

You did take your case to court more than 60 times —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, no, sure.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– and didn’t win those cases.               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sure. And I won a lot of court cases —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Just to button that up though, sir, just to button that up —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

What are you talking about? The election of —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

How worried are you —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Are we talking about the election of 2020?               

KRISTEN WELKER:

No, let’s talk about the here and now. Let’s talk about here and now —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

The election of 2020?               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let’s not talk about — let’s talk about here and now. Are you worried about a recession?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay.               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. No. I think we’re going to have the greatest economic —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

I mean, are you worried it could happen? Do you think it could happen?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Anything can happen. But I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we’re going to have the greatest economic boom in history.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you about this call to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos this week in response to a report that Amazon was going to display tariff costs next to product prices. Are you going to punish CEOs who increase their prices because of tariffs?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I think what’s — what is a great misnomer is the word “tariff” in many cases, it’s not — to me, I don’t view it as a tax. I view it as an incentive for people to come into the United States and build plants, factories, offices, a lot of things. I think it’s an incentive. But the thing that’s not known is, if you look back and see, oftentimes, like China or Vietnam or other countries, not just China, because China’s an abuser, but there are other abusers. Many of them are friends, the so-called — I say friend and foe, and friend is oftentimes worse than foe. But what people don’t understand is, and this is a lot, the country eats the tariff. The company eats the tariff. And it’s not passed along at all.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, some CEOs —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t view it as a tax.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– are saying they’re going to have to pass it on. So how do you deal with those CEOs?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It may. It may. But the company —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

How do you deal with those CEOs?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

China is eating the tariffs right now.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

What do you say to those CEOs who are saying, “We might have to pass this on to the consumer?”               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, they say that because maybe it’s to their advantage to say it. Maybe they don’t —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Will you punish them?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, because you know what? I want them to build plants in the United States. That way, they don’t have any tariffs. See, tariffs will — and not only will, look at what’s happened. In two months, we’re close to $9 trillion of investment. We’ve never been anywhere near that.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

What did you say to Jeff Bezos?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

He’s just a very nice guy. We have a relationship. I asked him about it. He said, “Well, I don’t want to do that,” and he took it off immediately.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

So he changed course. And will you take that same tactic with other CEOs if you feel like —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sure. I’ll always call people if I disagree with them.  

KRISTEN WELKER:

You’ll — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

If I think that somebody’s doing something that’s incorrect, wrong, or maybe hurtful to the country, I’ll call. Absolu — wouldn’t you want me to call? Biden wouldn’t call because he didn’t know what was happening, but I do. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Takes me to my next question. Today’s strong jobs report likely means — not clear, but likely means — the Fed is less likely to lower interest rates soon. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, he should lower them. And at some point, he will. He’d rather not because he’s not a fan of mine. You know, he just doesn’t like me because I think he’s a total stiff. And, you know, it’s just one of those things. He should lower them. And I wish the people that are on that board would get him to lower because we are at a perfect time. It’s already late. But he should lower interest rates. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you rule out removing Fed Chair Jerome Powell? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m not — you know, I get to change him very quickly anyway. You know, it’s in a very short period of time.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

In 2026. You’re not going to remove — you don’t have plans to remove him before 2026 when his time’s up?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, no, no. That was a total — why would I do that? I get to replace the person in another short period of time.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. This week, you reshuffled your national security team.  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You moved National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to U.N. ambassador. Just to remind our viewers, Waltz, of course, started that unsecure text chain where sensitive information was shared. Mr. President, was that move a punishment?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. I just think he’ll do a nice job in the new position. Marco’s doing an outstanding job. Now, Marco won’t keep — Marco’s very busy doing other things, so he’s not going to keep it long term. We’re going to put somebody else in. But I think Mike was a — as you know, he’s a fine guy. And I think he’ll do a very good job — knows the countries, knows leadership. And I think he’ll do a very good at the United Nations. And in the meantime, Marco’s really doing something special. And it’s going to work out very well.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

We’re hearing some potential names. Stephen Miller’s name, one of your long-time, most loyal aides. His name has been talked about as a potential national security advisor. Is he someone you’re looking at?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I’d love to have Stephen there, but that would be a downgrade. Stephen is very — Stephen is much higher on the totem pole than that, in my opinion.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Can you tell us who the frontrunner is right now?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I have a lot of people that want it. I will tell you, I have everybody calling. Everybody wants to be a part of this administration. So at some point we’ll — you know, probably do that. You know, there’s a theory. Henry Kissinger did both. There’s a theory that you don’t need two people. But I think I have some really great people that could do a good job.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

So Secretary Rubio could continue to have both jobs indefinitely?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

He could, yeah. He could. But I think he even would like to probably see — because it is a little bit different. But in the meantime, he’ll handle it. And I think Mike, if that goes forward, you know, he still has to get approved. But I think Mike will do a very good job at the United Nations.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth obviously also on that unsecure text chain. He was sharing sensitive information. Are you looking for a new secretary of defense, Mr. President?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. Not even a little bit. No. Pete’s going to be great. We’re —                

KRISTEN WELKER:

His job is safe right now?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We’re doing a fantastic job against the Houthis, who like blowing ships up and watching them sink in the ocean. We’re hitting them very hard. No, he’s doing a very good job.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

His job is safe right now?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Totally safe.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. Let’s talk about the border.. Let’s talk about deportations. Border crossings are at their lowest level ever recorded. Is the border —               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Is that good?               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is the border now secure?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah, it’s really secure.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

It’s absolutely secure?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Isn’t that good, though? When you say that, doesn’t that just sound good? After being abused for years by an incompetent president that allowed people to pour through an open border, criminals from all over the world, murderers and insane people from mental institutions and insane asylums, isn’t it — isn’t it a beautiful thing when you say, “It’s the most secure it’s ever been in the history of our country.” Isn’t that a nice statement? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, I’m curious to know what it means. You declared a national emergency on the southern border.  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

The order is still in place. Even though —                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

By the way, it means exactly what you said, you know —                                  

KRISTEN WELKER:

– you’re saying the border is secure. Yes.                                  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Means we have the most secure border we’ve ever had.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, and I guess the question becomes —                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’s not complicated.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

– when will you know that the emergency is over? Are you planning to lift it at some point? Is it necessary? Because obviously, the military’s involved. Will you lift that — that emergency order, sir?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, the biggest emergency is the courts aren’t allowing us to take really —                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

We’re going to talk about that, but talk to me first about this —                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, that’s to me the emergency because —                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Talk to me first about this, the emergency —                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

The border now is not the emergency. The border is — it’s all part of the same thing though. The big emergency right now is that we have thousands of people that we want to take out, and we have some judges that want everybody to go to court —                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Some of them you appointed, sir, including three on the Supreme Court.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

That’s all right. I mean, they change. I mean, it’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable how that happens, but they do change.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Just to button this up, though, are you planning to lift that emergency order any time soon now that the border’s secure? You say the border’s secure.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, no, no. We have an emergency. We have a massive emergency overall. It’s an overall emergency on immigration. And the — if the courts don’t allow us to take people out, if we had to have a court case every single — think of it. Every single person, we have millions of people. If you have millions of court cases, figure two weeks a court case, it would be 300 years.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

So let’s talk about this, because obviously, you’ve had a back and forth with the Supreme Court. In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court directed your administration to facilitate the return, you’ve talked about this in the past, of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, from a prison in El Salvador, whose deportation your administration called an “administrative error.” You said in a recent interview you could bring him back but you won’t. Are you defying the Supreme Court, sir?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. I’m relying on the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi, who’s very capable, doing a great job. Because I’m not involved in the legality or the illegality. I have lawyers to do that and that’s why I have a great DOJ. We have a great one. We had a very corrupt one before. Now we have a great one. And they’re not viewing the decision the way you said it. They don’t view it that way at all. They think it’s a totally different decision.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, you say you have the power to bring him back, though. Your attorney general says, quote, “That’s up to El Salvador.” Just to put a fine point on this, do you have the power to bring Abrego Garcia back as the Supreme Court has ordered?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I have the power to ask for him to come back if I’m instructed by the attorney general that it’s legal to do so. But the decision as to whether or not he should come back will be the head of El Salvador. He’s a very capable man.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, you know, and your attorney general has said the issue is with that word “facilitate.” Will you seek clarification from the Supreme Court? Do you need to go back to the Supreme Court?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We may do that. I was asking about that. We may do that. There are some people that say, “Bring him back, put him in trial, and you get him out right away.” Because you take — you see what happened just this morning, tapes came out, horrible tapes from his wife. You don’t get much worse than that. You don’t get, I mean, he seems certainly like a very dangerous, very bad person. But even the wife who was so afraid, she was afraid to talk, and all of a sudden tapes got released this morning that were devastating to him.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

And this is the point, sir, about due process. The Constitution says every person, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process. Why not push to have him come back, present all of that evidence in court, let a judge decide?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I’ll leave that to the lawyers, and I’ll leave that to the attorney general of the United States, because —                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But do you agree —                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– they’re in it. You have to understand. I’m dealing with Russia and Ukraine. I’m dealing with China —                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

And we’re going to talk about that.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m dealing with Iran. I’m dealing with Rwanda and the Congo who are fighting and we’re trying to get that one straightened out. And I think we have done that, did a great job. Nobody even talks about it, but I think we’re close to doing that. They’re looking like they’re going to maybe make a peace deal, which was — would be good. But I’m dealing with a lot of different things. I don’t know much about this gentleman other than I hear he’s an absolute not good person. And I have very capable legal people, John Sauer, as you know, and all top people. And I have to rely on that to interpret whatever is said by the Supreme Court. Now with that being said, I have tremendous respect for the Supreme Court. Look, three of the people are people I appointed.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Right.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And I have great respect for the Supreme Court. And I would expect that the attorney general will be doing the right thing.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Your secretary of state says everyone who’s here, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process. Do you agree, Mr. President?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, the Fifth Amendment says as much.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t know. It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials. We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But is —                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Some of the worst, most dangerous people on Earth. And I was elected to get them the hell out of here and the courts are holding me from doing it.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

But even given those numbers that you’re talking about, don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. They have a different interpretation.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is anyone in your administration right now in contact with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia to the United States? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t know. You’d have to ask the attorney general that question. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. At least two Americans have been mistakenly detained and released by your administration, immigration authorities. Mr. President, should lawful residents of this country start carrying paperwork with them when they leave their homes to be able to prove that they’re — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t think that’ll be necessary, but what you’re not saying is that many people have been killed, maimed, badly hurt by illegal immigrants that came over that are from prisons and from jails and from mental institutions. And they’re hurting our people. And if we don’t get them out, we’re not going to have a country for long. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

There — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We need honest media, and we need walls. We need to have borders. And, by the way, I built a lot of walls, and if we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be able to have those — you know, we would not be able to have the kind of numbers if I wasn’t successful in building hundreds of miles of wall. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Very quickly, sir. The last time you and I spoke in December, you said that you would consider working on getting Dreamers legal status. Dreamers, of course, those who are brought here illegally as children. Where do those efforts stand — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Many, many years ago — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is that a priority for you? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, it’s not a priority for the Democrats because every time we talk about it, they don’t want to talk about it because I guess they like it as a political issue. But they’re not good at political issues because they still want to have men play in women’s sports. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, Republicans do control Congress right now, Mr. President. Are you going to make — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah, but the Democrats don’t — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– Dreamers a priority? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, for that, you would need to have support from Democrats, and we have no support from the Democrats. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Have you had any discussions about Dreamers? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah, we’ve had discussions. We would do something. I’d love to put a beautiful immigration for everybody. But the Democrats don’t want to approve anything. All they want to do is knock out a tax bill. We’re trying to get approved right now the biggest tax cut in the history of our country, and if it doesn’t get approved, it’s a 68% tax increase, and that’s what the Democrats want. They want a 68% tax increase. It’s rather incredible. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And I do want to talk to you about your legislation, but let’s talk about DOGE very quickly. DOGE has fired and then rehired thousands of federal workers, including FAA employees in charge of aviation safety, specialists working on nuclear weapon safety. What do you say to those who believe Elon Musk’s chainsaw approach has jeopardized the safety and security of Americans? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, he found $160 billion worth of fraud, waste and abuse. I mean, I think he’s done an amazing job. I think his people have done an incredible job. They’re brilliant people. They know the computer. I actually asked him, “What’s their big trait?” He said, “They’re unbelievable at computers.” In other words, you can’t fake them out. Because these people were in many cases crooks, but it was fraud, waste and abuse. They found — your question should be asked a different way. “Were certain things found?” Yes. “How much?” $160 billion. Think of what $160 billion is. If you found 160 — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

He said he’d find $2 trillion. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, we’re not finished yet. We’re not finished yet. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you think the work continues even though he’s leaving? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Oh yes, of course, sure. He’s leaving behind some very brilliant people. They were on television last night. They’re super high IQ people. I like high IQ people. The Democrats don’t have many of them. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you about some news that broke. You are threatening to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And yet, directing the IRS to investigate and rescind a university’s tax-exempt status is contrary to what’s in the federal law. The law says you can’t do this. Do you think you’re following the law? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I tell you, I’m going to just follow what the lawyers say. They say that we’re allowed to do that, and I’m all for it. But everything I say is subject to the laws being 100% adhered to. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Are you willing to take this to court if it becomes a court fight? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sure, why not? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You’re going to take it that far?  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We’ve won a lot of cases. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

All right, let’s talk about some of the other actions you’ve taken over the past 100 days. Last month, you directed your attorney general, Pam Bondi, to review two people who you perceive to be your political adversaries. And yet, you told me in December that you would not direct the Justice Department to investigate your political foes. What changed? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, no. I just look at people — and I’m not directing anybody. They looked at these two people. They might have known it or they might have heard it from two years ago. One person said, “He knew me so well,” he was I think on CNN or MSDNC, but they’re both failing networks, you’re happy to know. Even though one of them I guess is related to you in one form or another, although, they’re trying to cut them loose as fast as possible. But the — it was well-known that this one person, it was almost like he was my brother. I don’t even know who he is. Maybe he was there. Maybe he was in the Oval Office a few times as a surrogate for somebody in some form of government, along with 25 other people that sat in the back of the room or stood in the back of the room. I have no idea who this guy is. And he’s out there and then he did a book called “Anonymous.” Did a book called “Anonymous.” I think that’s really subversion. I think it’s spying, it’s something. It’s something really bad. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, you passed an executive order calling for your attorney general to investigate that. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And I think he’s been looked at for a long time. And the other one said that the election was so wonderful. Well, it turned out it wasn’t a wonderful election. It was a corrupt election. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask it this way, sir, because when we talked in December, I asked you, what is your message to people who didn’t vote for you? Let me remind you of what you said. You said, “I love you, and we’re going to all work together.” How does pursuing your political foes help to unify the country? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Did I really say, “I love you?” 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You really did. That’s a direct quote. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m sure you’re right, but I’d like to see that. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

I promise I’ll show it to you. I’ll show you the tape. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Look — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

How does that help to unify the country? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I want to treat people fairly, whether they voted for me or not. I want to have a unified country. It’s very hard because the media’s so fake, including, like, even the way you ask questions. Every question is asked in a negative vein. “There’s a toy company that took a toddler’s you know whatever.” But you don’t talk about the fact that gasoline is down at numbers that nobody believes possible. You know why they’re down, by the way? Drill baby, drill. We’re drilling like crazy right now. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

We try to make sure every question is fair, Mr. President. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, look. Every question you ask says a very negative slant. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

No, no, no. But I’m just curious, are you — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And I’m fine for responding to you. I don’t think you’re very difficult at all to respond to, to be honest with you. But you know what? You should ask some positive things, like, “Sir, it’s amazing what you’ve done with gasoline.” Because you know what? Gasoline’s big business. A stroller is not big business. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

But to this question, Mr. President, you said you wanted to unify the country. Does going after political foes undercut that goal? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, not at all. No, we want honest people. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I think you have to do that. And we want honest people in this country. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you big picture. People who have lived in countries like the Philippines, Hungary, Russia, they look at some of your actions — going after civil service, going after universities, law firms, the media — they say it’s out of an authoritarian playbook. What do you say to those who believe you are taking the country down an authoritarian path? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, there you go again. Why don’t you ask it a different way? Many people want to come into our country. Many people love Trump. I won the election. They didn’t win the election. I got a lot more votes than they did. I won the popular vote. I won all seven swing states by a lot. A lot of people were surprised. They said, “I think he could win four, maybe five.” No, I won all seven, and I won by a lot. And I won. Actually, I think there was a lot of hanky panky going on but it was too big to rig. That’s the good news. It’s too big to rig. But let me just say, so when you make these statements about, “People say this –,” well, they had their chance at the election and they lost big. So you should ask the question differently —  

KRISTEN WELKER:

What do you say to —  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You should say, “What about the people that want to be in this country? What about the people that love this country?” 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. But what do you say to — I’m asking it on behalf of those people to give you a chance to respond to them. What do you say to those people, sir? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Those people are going to be very happy. They’re going to have to see some results. And I think we had a great 100 days. There are a lot of people that say it was unprecedented. It was an absolutely unprecedented 100 days. And I hope that they’re going to be right. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you see dissent as an essential part of democracy? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’s a part of democracy. It is. You’re always going to have dissent — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is it an important part of democracy? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You’re always going to have — Kristen, you’re always going to have dissent. There’s nothing you’re going to do about that. Am I going to get 100% unified? It would be a strange place. I can’t even imagine it where 100%. Look. You have people that are good people. They’re very smart people. And they honestly believe we should have open borders and the entire world should be allowed to pour into our country. I think it’s a 95/5 issue, but they believe it. They’re not even bad people. Some of them are bad. You have people that honestly believe that men should be allowed to play in women’s sports. Some of these people I really, actually I don’t know any. I haven’t been able to find any, but they exist. They say it’s an 80/20 issue. I don’t believe that. I think it’s a 97 to three issue. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you think people should have the right to criticize you without fear of reprisal? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Absolutely. Yeah, I do. That I do. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And how do you square that — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And I think that happens. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

How do you square that with the fact that you have passed these executive orders asking the attorney general to look into some of the people who’ve criticized you, who’ve been harshest against you? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I have been investigated more than any person in the history of the United States of America. I’ve been investigated more than the late great, as they say at my rallies, Alphonse Capone. Alphonse Capone was a nasty man. He was a — the highest level gangster. And I have been investigated more than Al Capone, more than anybody. These people are evil people. And I won. And I’ll tell you what. All I want to happen is for the Department of Justice and the FBI. Pam is great and Kash is great. I think they’re two great people. But they’re their own people. They want to do a fantastic job. And all I want to do and all I want to ask for is that they be allowed to do their job. I’m not telling them to do anything. And I believe I have the right to do it. I’m, in theory, the top law enforcement officer as the president. We went over this once before, and it turned out I was right. But I’m not looking to use that. We have two great people, and we have many, many incredible people under them. And I just want them to do their job and do it well. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you about something I don’t think you’ve been asked much about, which is you’ve branded your own cryptocurrency. The coin’s value actually surged recently after you announced that top holders would be invited to have dinner — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t even know that. What did it surge to — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

 — that people wanted to — what did it surge to? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. What’s it worth? You might as well tell me, because I have no idea. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, it surged, I will find it, hold on one second, 5.2 or 58%, so 58%. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

To what number? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

That’s not bad, 14.32. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

What, billion? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

For — no, dollars per cryptocurrency. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Billion dollars? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

No. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

What’s the number? I mean, what is the amount? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

The meme coin’s value hit a peak of 75.35 on January 19. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, that doesn’t mean anything. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And that’s before your inauguration, and then it surged. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Look. I’m in favor of crypto. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. But let me just ask you — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You know what I’m in favor of it — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– what do you say to those who argue that when they hear that, they worry you’re profiting from the presidency? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m not profiting from anything. All I’m doing is, I started this long before the election. I want crypto. I think crypto’s important because if we don’t do it, China’s going to. And it’s new, it’s very popular, it’s very hot. If you look at the market, when the market went down, that stayed much stronger than other aspects of the market. But I want crypto because a lot of people, you know millions of people want it. I don’t know if you know that Biden went after it violently, and then before the election, he changed his tune entirely. His head of the SEC, everybody changed their tune. You know why? Because there were hundreds of millions of people that are participating in crypto, and they wanted to get their votes. But it didn’t work– 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So you’re not profiting off of the cryptocurrency at all? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I haven’t even looked. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Has your family? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But I’ll tell you what. Look, if I own stock in something and I do a good job, and the stock market goes up, I guess I’m profiting. But who really profits is somebody like Nancy Pelosi, who uses inside information. She worked for $175,000 a year, and that’s at the high end. And she’s worth $150, $200 million? Okay? You ought to look at Nancy Pelosi and you ought to look at some of these politicians that are stone cold crooks. I was very wealthy when I came in. Being president probably cost me money if you really look. In fact, I do something that no other president has done, they think maybe George Washington has done. I contribute my entire salary to the government, back to the government. And I’m doing it again. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So will you contribute anything you earn from crypto back to the government if that happens? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I never thought of that. I mean, should I contribute all of my real estate that I’ve owned for many years if it goes up a little bit because I’m president and doing a good job? I don’t think so. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But I’ve done something that surprisingly they say nobody else has done, no other president has done. I give, and it’s a substantial salary. It’s a half a million dollars a year or $550,000 a year, four years, couple of million dollars. I gave it to the government last time. I never got a story saying I gave it. Nobody cared if I gave it. I guarantee if I didn’t give it, there’d be a big story. But no other president, they say with the possible exception of George Washington, and they haven’t been able to find those records. And we’ve had wealthy presidents before, but no other president has contributed his salary. And they told me before this that you will probably be asking me whether or not I’m going to contribute my salary again. But you haven’t asked that. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Are you going to? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yes. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You are? Okay. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yes. I am. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. Well, I appreciate — we just made news there. Let’s talk about foreign policy, sir. You just signed a minerals deal with Ukraine. It’s a sign, it seems, that the United States is invested in Ukraine’s future. The secretary of state told me this is a very critical week. Are you any closer to reaching a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I hope so. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

How would you characterize it?  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I do believe we’re closer with one party, and maybe not as close with the other. But we’ll have to see. I’d like to not say which one we’re closer to. But we did do a deal for the American people that was good. We were able to get rare earth, you know? The Europeans are getting paid back. They have a loan. We didn’t — Biden just gave them $350 billion. He has no idea where the money is, what happened. And at least we’ll, in one form or another, get our — yeah, I don’t feel so foolish. And remember this, this is Biden’s war. This was a war that was never going to happen if I were president. This is a horrible, horrible war. And I get to see shots of soldiers through, you know, satellite that are so, just so, terrible. 5,000 soldiers are being, look 5,000 soldiers a week on average are dying. They’re not American soldiers. But I want to solve the problem. They’re Russian soldiers, and they’re Ukrainian soldiers. And if I can save 5,000 souls, I just love doing it. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

How long do you give both countries before you’re going to walk away? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, there will be a time when I will say, “Okay, keep going. Keep being stupid and keep fighting.” 

KRISTEN WELKER:

When does that come? Are you close to it? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sometimes I get close to it, and then positive things happen, okay? So I hope it gets done. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Your close ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, has a sanctions bill against Russia. If you get to that point, Mr. President, where you’re prepared to walk away, will you support — will you sign that sanctions bill? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, it depends on whether or not Russia is behaving toward coming to a peace. We want a peace deal. We want Russia and Ukraine to agree to a deal. We think we’re fairly close, and we’re going to save a lot of people from being killed. Going to save a lot of money, too. Because we’re spending money like — you know, Europe is spending a third of the money that we’re spending. And it’s more important for Europe than it is for us. Biden had no control. He just sent money over there willy-nilly, nobody had any idea what was happening, why they were doing it, why they were sending it. And it was massive amounts of money. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So you think you’re close to a deal? What will Russia have to give up? Because Ukraine, there’s been discussions they will have to give up some of the land that Russia’s illegally claimed. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Russia will have to give up all of Ukraine. Because that’s what they want. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

All of Ukraine? Meaning they wouldn’t keep any of the land that they have claimed? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, no. Russia would have to give up all of Ukraine. Because what Russia wants is all of Ukraine. And if I didn’t get involved, they would be fighting right now for all of Ukraine. Russia doesn’t want the strip that they have now; Russia wants all of Ukraine. And if it weren’t me, they would keep going. Do you know that the European Union leaders have asked me to call Putin so many times? Because he doesn’t return their phone call. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You, you, posted on social media he might be “tapping” you along. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Might be. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Did you misread him– 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But you might be tapping me along, too, when you tell me how nice an interview this is going to be. So you know, I’m used to being tapped along. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Did you in any way misread Vladimir Putin? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Did I what? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Misread him? Now that you’re saying that. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, I’ll tell you about in a month from now, or two weeks from now. I have no idea. I can tell you this, he’s — his ambition was stopped to a large extent when he saw that it was me that was now leading the charge. Because he wasn’t dealing with anybody in Europe, he wasn’t calling them back. Do you know that I asked him, I said, “Did Biden ever call you in three years? Did Biden ever call?” He said, “He never called.” You know, Biden didn’t call him one time? And all these thousands of soldiers, hundreds, millions of soldiers are dying, and people, not only soldiers. People dying in the cities, and the towns, and the whole heritage of that country is being blown apart. I mean, the country’s heritage is being blown apart. You know the steeples, those beautiful spires that you see, you know the most beautiful in the world? Almost 95% of them are laying in smithereens, all broken up and, so sad, laying all over the ground because they were shot. It’s really a bad situation. And he didn’t get one phone call from Biden. The war would’ve never started. And by the way, for four years it didn’t start. I was there for four years, it was the apple of his eye. This was the apple of Putin’s eye. There was no chance he would have gone in. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

What’s the red line for you? At what point do you say, “That’s it, we’re walking away?” 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, you’ll know. I mean, there will be a time when I may say that. And if I do — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

But you’re not there? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– there may be something. I can’t — maybe it’s not possible to do. There’s tremendous hatred, just so you understand. Kristen, we’re talking tremendous hatred between these two men and between, you know, some of the soldiers, frankly. Between the generals. They’ve been fighting hard for three years. I think we have a very good chance of doing it. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Very quickly, if you do walk away, would that mean that you would pull military and intelligence sharing? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t want to say that now. It’s too early to say that. I don’t want to get into that argument. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay, let’s move onto Canada. You have long talked about making Canada the 51st state. There’s obviously a new prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, who you spoke to — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Correct. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– after his victory. He says that you didn’t talk to him in that call about making Canada a 51st state. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. He called me, he was very nice, and I congratulated him. He had a victory. It’s a very close victory. You know, there’s no majority or anything, so that’s going to make things a little bit difficult, I think, for him to run. But he’d nevertheless had a victory. And he’s a very nice man, I think. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you plan to talk to him about making Canada a 51st state? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

He wants to come and see me. He’s going to come this week or next week. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So will you talk to him about making Canada a 51st state, annexing Canada? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’ll always talk about that. You know why? We subsidize Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year. We don’t need their cars. In fact, we don’t want their cars. We don’t need their energy. We don’t even want their energy. We have more than they do. We don’t want their lumber. We have great lumber. All I have to do is free it up from the environmental lunatics. We don’t need anything that they have. We’re giving them — I asked, I asked Mr. Trudeau — who I call Governor Trudeau, not Prime Minister, Governor — I said, “Governor Trudeau, could I ask you one question? Why are we giving you $200 billion? Why are we subsidizing Canada?” If Canada was a state it wouldn’t cost us. It would be great. It would be such a great — it would be a cherished state. And, if you look at our map, if you look at the geography — I’m a real estate guy at heart. When I look down at that without that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago — was just an artificial line, goes straight across. You don’t even realize. What a beautiful country it would be. It would be great. But, I don’t think the American public wants me to pay $200 billion a year to subsidize Canada. Again, remember this, we don’t need their cars, we don’t need their lumber, we don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything. We do very little business with Canada. They do all of their business practically with us. They need us. We don’t need them. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You and I talked, and I asked you if you would rule out military force to take Greenland. And you said, no, you don’t rule out anything. Would you rule out military force to take Canada? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I think we’re not going to ever get to that point. It could happen. Something could happen with Greenland. I’ll be honest, we need that for national and international security. But I think — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

But not with Canada? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– it’s highly unlikely. I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay, but you don’t rule it out for Greenland? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And by the way, Canada, they spend less money on military than practically any nation in the world. They pay NATO less than any nation. They think we are subsidizing, they think we are going to protect them, and really, we are. But the truth is, they don’t carry their full share, and it’s unfair to the United States and our taxpayers. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

But you are not ruling out military force to take Greenland one day? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t rule it out. I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security. Do you know, we have Russian boats and we have Chinese boats, gun ships all over the place — aircraft carriers, gun ships — going up and down the coast of Greenland. We need that to be protected. Internationally we need it. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So you are willing to send U.S. troops to claim a sovereign territory? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I didn’t say that. You asked me a question, “Would you, is there a circumstance?” It could happen. I doubt it will, but it certainly could happen with respect to Greenland. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. Let me ask you about Iran. Your administration has had conversations with Iran. Is the goal of these talks limiting Iran’s nuclear program or total dismantlement? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Total dismantlement. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

That’s all you’ll accept? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah, that’s all I’d accept. Now, there’s a new theory going out there that Iran would be allowed to have civilian — meaning to make electricity and to — but I say, you know, they have so much oil, what do they need it for? But you know, I’ve seen it with other states, where they’re looking to do something and they have a lot of oil. Iran has tremendous energy. You know I put sanctions, if you know that, I put pretty strong sanctions on two days ago, on the oil. The sad part is that if Biden didn’t get involved, if we had a competent president, you would’ve never had the attack on Israel. October 7th would’ve never taken place. Hamas would’ve had no money. Because Iran was broke. And now in a period of four years, during the Biden administration, they became very rich. They have over $300 million cash in the bank. And they had no money. They were ready to make a deal with me, and it’s very sad. Because of this rigged election they didn’t do it. Just another thing you can mark down to a bad election. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

It’s interesting what you’re saying, though. Because Secretary Rubio has said that he would accept, or the idea is that there is an openness to accepting a peaceful, civil nuclear program. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well that’s what people — I didn’t say anything contradictory. I said that people are talking about that. And this is something that’s really pretty new in the dialogue. And I’d have to be, you know, my inclination is to say, “What do you need that for? You have a lot of oil.”                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

So you want total dismantlement, bottom line?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I think that I would be open to hearing it, you know? Civilian energy, it’s called. But you know, civilian energy often leads to military wars. And we don’t wanna have them have a nuclear weapon. It’s a very simple deal. I want Iran to be really successful, really great, really fantastic. The only thing they can’t have is a nuclear weapon. If they want to be successful, that’s okay. I want them to be so successful. And you know, the Iranian people are incredible. I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon because the world will be destroyed.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Just to recap, we’re talking about your desire to claim Canada, Greenland. What do you say to people —                                                

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You forgot the Panama Canal.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Panama Canal. What do you say to people who say they voted for you because they wanted you to end foreign conflicts, not start new ones?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t see that as conflict. I think that’s good for our country, those things. Look, the Panama Canal was taken over by China, effectively. Now China seems to have left. But the Panama Canal — think of this deal. We built the most expensive object we’ve ever built in the history of our country. That was Mount McKinley, they just took away, I just gave it back the name. But, McKinley made the money, Teddy Roosevelt spent the money. McKinley takes gets very little credit, you know but you know how he made the money? Through tariffs. He was the big tariff president. Okay, but forget that. We built the Panama Canal. It was the most expensive thing. It would be the equivalent, like, almost $2 trillion today. We’ve never spent there — and it was very successful. And Jimmy Carter gave it away for $1. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Panama insists they — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

This is the kind of leadership —                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Panama says they do control the canal. But we have a couple more questions left, and I’m getting a little wrap.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Panama said what? Panama said what?                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Panama says they still control it. I know you’re saying China. Panama says they still control it.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You know, if you would have gone there about 5.2 months ago, every single sign on the Panama Canal, with the exception of about 15% of them, was in Chinese.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yeah. Let me ask you, because we’re nearing the end, just a couple more questions here.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m not complaining. You keep saying to me like I’m rushing —                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

No, you’re not. And I really appreciate it.                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t want to rush you. I don’t want to make you nervous.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Thank you. The Trump organization is selling hats that say, “Trump 2028.”  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP

Yeah.  

KRISTEN WELKER: 

Are you seriously considering a third term, Mr. President, even though it’s prohibited by the Constitution? Or is this about staying politically viable?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I will say this. So many people want me to do it. I have never had requests so strong as that. But it’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do. I don’t know if that’s constitutional that they’re not allowing you to do it or anything else. But, there are many people selling the 2028 hat. But this is not something I’m looking to do. I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward. But I think we’re going to have four years, and I think four years is plenty of time to do something really spectacular.  

KRISTEN WELKER: 

The Constitution does prohibit it. Have you — some of your allies are pretty serious about this, though, Mr. President. And I’ve spoken to them. They say they are coming up with potential ways, obviously the biggest one would be a constitutional amendment.  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

That’s because they like the job I’m doing, and it’s a compliment. It’s really a great compliment.                                               

KRISTEN WELKER:

Has anyone approached you, though, with an actual plan, a way to actually start the process of a constitutional amendment?                                               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, there are ways of doing it. There are ways of doing it. And you know the same thing. And if you look at the vice presidential thing, and you hear different concepts and different other people say, “You can have a write-in vote.” There’s lots of different things. With all of that being said, I want to be a great president. I will have served — hopefully everything will go well. I feel very good. I just did a physical. I took — unlike all other presidents, I took cognitive tests and I aced it. I got 100% correct. And the doctor, one doctor said — there were numerous doctors watching. And he said, “I’ve never seen that before.” Biden didn’t take a cognitive — he couldn’t have gotten the first question right. But I came out great with the physical, both physically and mentally. And I just want to serve, do a great job. I’ll be an eight-year president, I’ll be a two-term president. I always thought that was very important, to be honest with you. You know, if you look at President Polk, he was a one-termer and he did some great things, actually. Pretty good president. And I’m not saying you can’t do that. But, there’s something about being a two-term president that was very important to me. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And just to put a button on it, has anyone in an official capacity presented you with, “Sir, here are some ideas by which you could actually get a constitutional amendment?” 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, in a capacity of being a big supporter, many people have said different things — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But, I’m not looking at that. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You haven’t had official meetings about it? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. And — and just so you understand, four years is a long time. I have almost four years. You know, all of these things that we’ve done, we’ve done more than any president — and even you might admit that. Nobody’s done the extent of — of the things that we’ve done. Nobody’s done this, in essentially a little bit more than three months. As they say, 100 days. I’m looking to do a great job as president, and set the country on the right track. Because if I didn’t win, this country would’ve failed. We would’ve been a failed nation. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You have built a political movement that has transformed the Republican Party — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Greatest in history. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

It’s transformed the country — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

The greatest — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– quite frankly. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– political movement in history, MAGA. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

When you — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Make America Great Again. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

When you look to the future, Mr. President, do you think the MAGA movement can survive without you as its leader? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yes, I do. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

What gives you confidence? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I think it’s so strong. And I think we have tremendous people. I think we have a tremendous group of people. We talked about a number of them. You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic. You look at — I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think we have a tremendous party. And you know what I can’t name? I can’t name one Democrat. I mean, I look at the Democrats, they’re in total disarray. They have a new person named Crockett. I watched her speak the other day. She’s definitely a low IQ person. And they said she’s the future of the party. I said, “You have to be kidding.” I don’t know what they’re going to do. And I really believe in a two-party system. I really — because it’s good to be challenged. It’s really good to have a two-party — you know, it’s good. Being challenged is okay. It keeps you sharp. I don’t know what they’re going to do. They have nobody. Bernie’s 87 years old or something. And you know, Biden is the worst thing that ever happened to old people because he was grossly incompetent. And I think maybe for artificial reasons. You know, he had operations and things. So maybe that’s an artificial — but I know people that are unbelievably sharp and they’re older than 87. But I watch Bernie Sanders. He’s a nut job, but he’s still sharp. He’s sharp as — he’s the same guy he was. He hasn’t gone down. But Biden is really — he’s the worst thing to happen to old people.               

KRISTEN WELKER:

I know that you are only 100 days in, but as we sit here today, who do you see as your successor, Mr. President?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I — it’s far too early to say that. But you know, I do have a vice president, and typically — and JD’s doing a fantastic job. It —               

KRISTEN WELKER:

He would be at the top of the list?               

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It — it could very well be — I — I don’t want to get involved in that. I think he’s a fantastic, brilliant guy. Marco is great. There’s a lot of them that are great. I — I also see tremendous unity. But certainly you would say that somebody’s the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage. But I think the other people would all stay in unbelievably high positions. But you know, it could be that he’d be challenged by somebody. We have a lot of good people in this party. 

Second portion

KRISTEN WELKER:

Mr. President, thank you for having us here at Mar-a- 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, thank you. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– Lago. What does Mar-a-Lago mean to you? It’s a special place. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It is a special — there’s no place like it. You look no matter where — it’s just — there’s nothing like it. And it’s become really the heart of Florida in a way but certainly the heart of Palm Beach, which is an important place. And I just don’t think there’s anything more beautiful in this country than Mar-a-Lago as, you know, as a physical object. It’s been amazing, and it’s been very successful and very special.

KRISTEN WELKER:

It’s the winter White House. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It is. It was built, you know by — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Or it was built, essentially, for that reason. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post. They were married. He was the biggest man on Wall Street, and she was the richest woman in the world actually. And they built it together. And it just — they picked the best site. They picked the best architects. They had unlimited money, and they built it. Now it’s a — it’s a very special place. And Palm Beach likes me because I saved it. Most of these places were ripped down and 10 or 15 or 20 houses, mansions — beautiful mansions also but much smaller — they were built on those sites. And I was able to save this, which is very important. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, and I know that you were just in Michigan. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Right. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You were just talking to folks in Michigan to mark 100 days. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Right. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you anticipate doing more travel across the country? And what do you do to stay in touch with the workers who elected you, sir? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, I just went to a great place, University of Alabama, last night. This was some unbelievable evening. And I gave the commencement address, and it’s, like, different. Everybody was so awake, so lively, so — so attractive. And I’m not talking just physically attractive, just there was such an energy in the room. And it was really nice. You know, I won Alabama by many, many, many points. And they asked me to do it. And they put all of their — they had nine different, you know, business and law and this and that, all those different things. They put them all — journalism by the way — they put them all together, and we were in the big — that big arena. And it was tremendous energy. And — and that’s a little bit, you know, to your question, yeah, I think I get out quite a bit. I went to Michigan. I went — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You think you’ll do more in these second 100 days? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I think I will. But we’re talking about the great, big, beautiful bill, you know, that we’re trying to get passed. It’ll be the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country, and hopefully it’ll get done. And the Democrats are fighting us. And if it doesn’t get done, it’s going to be a 68% tax increase. So that’s going to be the Democrats. But I think we’re going to have it done. I think the Republicans are going to vote for it. And it’ll be the most consequential bill I think in the history of our country. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Leader Thune says he wants to get it done by July 4th. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you think that’s possible? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I think it is, and I think he’s doing a fantastic job. And Mike Johnson, Speaker, is doing a fantastic job, and they’re both getting together well. There’s great unity in the Republican Party. The Republican Party’s a much different party than it was. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

What happens if it comes to your desk, has the tax cuts, but also cuts to Medicaid? Would you veto that? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, we’re not doing that. No, we’re not — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Would you veto that? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I would if they were cutting it, but they’re not cutting it. They’re looking at fraud, waste and abuse. And nobody minds that. If illegal immigrants are in the mix, if people that aren’t supposed to be there, people that are non-citizens are in the mix, nobody minds that. Waste, fraud and abuse. But we’re not cutting Medicaid, we’re not cutting Medicare, and we’re not cutting Social Security. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

You also unveiled a budget. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Deep cuts in some social services. What do you say to folks who may look at these cuts and say, “It’s going to impact education. It could impact people who rely on services for the poor?” 

PRES DONALD TRUMP:

Well, from what I understand — and first of all, the budget is a very preliminary instrument — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yes. 

PRES DONALD TRUMP:

– and I think that when it’s all said and done you’re going to see a wonderful budget for everybody, really everybody. I would actually say the middle class probably goes to the fore, and it’s about time. But we took care of the middle class during my — during the original Trump tax cuts we really took care of the middle class. The people with the least amount of money actually were the biggest — and this isn’t just the middle class. The least amount of money, the poorest people, proportionately gained the most. And that’s what we’re looking to do here. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So you’re not concerned about it impacting education and other services? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No. It depends what education. If you’re talking about Harvard, which has a — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

No, no, I’m talking about education — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– $53 billion in the bank because of a lot of things that they’ve been able to do and that the government help them with. That’s different. But, no, not education. We’re bringing education back to the states. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me talk to you about TikTok — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You know, that’s a big thing because education coming back to the states is a very big thing. We’re going to bring it back. The United States does not do well with education. We’re number 37, 38, 39 and 40 out of 40. And we’re going to bring it back to the states and we’re going to go to among the top ten I believe. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask you about TikTok, sir. Would you extend that deadline if there’s still no deal? You already — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I would. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– put one extension — you would? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah, I would. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So, you’re going to — you want to see a deal? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’d like to see it done. I have a little sweet spot in my heart because, as you know, I won young people by 36 points. That’s a lot. No Republican ever won young people, and I won it by 36 points, and I focused on TikTok. So perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok. TikTok is — it’s very interesting, but it’ll be protected. It’ll be very strongly protected. But if it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension, might not need it. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

But where are discussions? Is it close to a deal? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well we’re not — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is someone close to — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. Yeah, we — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– purchasing it? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– actually have a deal. We have a group of purchasers, very substantial people. They’re going to pay a lot of money. It’s a good thing for us. It’s a good thing for China. It’s going to be, I think, very good. But because of the fact that I’ve essentially cut off China right now with the tariffs that are so high that they’re not going to be able to do much business with the United States. But if we make a deal with China I’m sure that’ll be a subject, and it’ll be a very easy subject to solve. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

We’re talking about your agenda, your budget bill, your tax bill, and you think about the next big test, which is the midterms. How do you see your role in the midterms? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’m going to be very active. I’ve raised a lot of money for congressmen and senators that I think are good — really good people. We have some great Republican congressmen and women and senators that love this country, and they’re not lunatics like some of these Democrats. What they’re doing to the country is incredible. It’s insane. There’s something wrong with them. They suffer a major case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. I mean, it doesn’t — nothing matters to them other than that. Yeah, I’m going to be much involved. The interesting thing is — and nobody can explain why — but when somebody wins the presidency they seem to lose Congress. They seem to lose the House and the Senate or — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

How concerned are you about that? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I don’t know why it would be. I think we should do better. But if you look it’s pretty consistent that whoever wins the presidency ends up losing the House, losing the Senate. I think we’re going to turn that around. I think we’re going to turn it around easy. It should be the opposite. If we do a good job, let’s say as president if I do a good job, it should be the opposite. So hopefully we’ll dispel that. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, it looks like you’re also looking at the history books. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

How concerned are you about losing one or both chambers? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’s a long way away. It’s a long way. You know, we’re in here for a little more than three months. We have a long way to go. I’ve raised a lot of money. We’re having a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago tonight for exactly that purpose. We want to win the House in bigger numbers. But, you know, we had a one majority three months ago. Now we have seven because we won a few races. I guess you know that. But we won a few races. But we’re up seven now, and we’re up — we have 53 senators. And I think we’re going to be in very good position. I expect to win by a bigger margin than we have now. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

If you do lose one chamber, are there areas where you think you could find common ground with Democrats? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, there should be, but they seem to be stone cold. Look — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is there anything — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– the one — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– in your mind though? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– thing I will say about the Democrats, they stick together. They have horrible policy. Men in women’s sports, transgender for everyone, open borders. The craziest policies I’ve ever seen. But regardless of how crazy they are, they stick together. And I respect that. I think it’s a great thing. And I think the Republicans are starting to do that also. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

So looking forward, sir, one of the big features of your first administration was the first lady. She had her “Be Best” campaign.  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Right. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Will people start to see more of her? Will she come back — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– with her “Be Best” campaign, for example? Can you give us a little — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sure. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– bit of a preview of what we can see? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, as an example, she did a book and she was number one bestseller for a long time, for many, many weeks. The people love her. She’s a very private person, which I respect a lot. She doesn’t have to be out. I know people where they have wives in politics and the wife wants to be in front of the husband all day long, waving to everybody. She’s got great confidence in herself and she doesn’t need that. But when she goes out. We were out, as you know, last weekend. It was an amazing, amazing day. The people love her. They really respect her, and they love her. Yeah, she’ll be very much involved. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And that’s part of why I’m asking you. I mean, can people expect to see her revive her “Be Best” campaign? Can you give — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, she is — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

– us a little preview? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, it’s still a campaign that’s very important to her, and it’s sort of a cute name, “Be Best.” I said, “That’s a strange name,” but it’s really beautiful and it sort of, you know, means something now that I didn’t understand, lot of people didn’t understand. And she’s done a great job. She’s raised a lot of money. She cares a lot about people, really cares a lot about people — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

When you and I talked in December we talked about the fact that in this second administration your family is not there.  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, that was — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And they were really some of your closest advisors — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sure. Sure. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

What is it like to be there and are they still, I would imagine, your closest advisors? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

They’re with me all the way. But I think they were treated very unfairly. Ivanka worked so hard on getting jobs for people. You know, I wanted to make her the head of — the ambassador to the United Nations. There would be nobody that would be better than her. She said, “Dad, I don’t want to do that. I just want to get” — you know, she worked on getting people jobs. It sounds good in one way, but it doesn’t sound as exciting as other jobs. And she just wanted to do that. And she got hundreds of thousands of jobs for people. It made her so happy. She’s a good person. The way they went after Don and Eric, I said, “Just relax,” because I thought it was unfair. They went after these kids, and they’re really good. And they’re no longer kids, but they’re always going to be my kids.  

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yeah. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

They were treated so unfairly. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Barron’s in college now. How is he liking college? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Right.  

KRISTEN WELKER:

How’s he doing? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

He’s a great student. He’s doing very well, goes to a great school. But he’s doing really well. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And is there any challenge being in college, having your dad as president of the United States? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, you’ll have to ask him someday that, but we try and make it as normal as possible. There’s nothing normal about it. But he’s a very great guy and wonderful kid. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Your birthday’s coming up. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And there are reports that you’re looking into the possibility of a military — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

— parade. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Not for my birthday. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

When can you tell — when would it be? What can you tell me? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, my birthday happens to be on Flag Day. So — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, there you go — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– I think they’re talking about Flag Day. But I view it for Flag Day, not necessarily my birthday. Somebody put it together. But no, I think we’re going to do something on June 14th maybe or somewhere around there. But I think June 14th, it’s a very important day. It’s Flag Day, plus we’re going to have different days. You know, if you look at Russia, they celebrate Victory Day.  

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yeah. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

If you look at France, I was talking to Prime Minister Macron and he says, “Yes, there’s Victory Day, Victory Day.” And I say, “Victory Day for what?” “World War II.” I said, “Well, we had more to do with winning World War II than any other nation. Why don’t we have a Victory Day?” So we’re going to have a Victory Day for World War I and for World War II. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And will it be a military parade? What can people expect? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And you have breaking news because nobody knows this. We’re going to have Victory Day for World War I and for World War II. Well, it’s going to start off by saying, “It’s Victory Day,” because, you know, when other nations, some of which weren’t even very successful in the war, they have Victory Days and the United States doesn’t. And we’re the one that won those wars with the help of others, with the help of others. But we’re going to have a Victory Day for I and II. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

But one day, right? Both on one day? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Maybe not because — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Oh, really? More than one day? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, they took place on very different days, you know. They’re about six months apart. So I think you can have two days. This doesn’t mean we’re going to go and not work and have a national holiday and all of that because we don’t have many of those days left. You know, eventually our country will become all national holidays. But we’re going to acknowledge by having days for World War I victory and World War II victory — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And just paint a picture for me. What will those parades look like? Will it be military parades? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You mean, like, on Flag Day? 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yes. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We’re going to have a big, beautiful parade. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

A military parade? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah, sure.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We’re going to celebrate our military. We have the greatest military in the world — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

What’s the price tag? Do you know? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Peanuts compared to the value of doing it. We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we’re going to celebrate it. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And, sir, finally, you’ve talked about the fact that you’re putting some of your own touches on the White House — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Anything that you can share about what you may be planning for the White House?  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Sure. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

What’s going to look different? I know you are thinking about making the Rose Garden look a little bit different. Anything you can share? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, the problem with the Rose Garden is the grass is always soaking wet and you can’t use it for news conferences. You’re supposed to have news conferences, meetings, all this in the Rose Garden. So we’re going to put a beautiful stone surface down so that people — for instance, we had something the other day and it actually didn’t rain for three or four days and the women were still getting stuck in the grass. And we want to put it to work. So we’re going to do something in terms of a hard surface. It’ll look beautiful, you know — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

And where will it be specifically? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Where the grass is, where there’s — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Where the grass is — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– grass is. There’s grass in the middle. The roses stay. Everything stays just the way it was, including the limestone paths and everything else. But we had the prime minister of India here and they had a lot of press, and the women were walking out with their shoes full of mud. So we can’t have that. The other thing — and you see what I’ve done to the Oval Office and that continues, 24-carat gold. It’s beautiful. And we have really gotten — because I know that people can be fresh and nasty, you know, but we’ve been getting rave reviews. It was not taken care of the way it should. Now, I have an advantage. I was a really good real estate developer so I know how to get things done. I know how to build it. You’ll see it in a minute when you look at the ballroom, which I built at Mar-a-Lago.  

KRISTEN WELKER:

Could anything — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But the other thing, and the big thing, is going to be for 50 years they’ve wanted to build a ballroom at the White House. And they’ve tried, but the presidents were not real estate people. They had no clue. All you have to do is look at President Obama and look at his museum or library, whatever they call it, in Chicago. It’s a catastrophe. It’s way over-budget. Maybe it comes to an end. I don’t know what’s going on. But it’s a disaster because — and it’s not his fault. He’s not a real estate person. He doesn’t know how to build. I do really well. And what we’re going to do, you’re going to see the most beautiful ballroom in the world right now when you take a look. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Is —  

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But we are going to make and build a ballroom, which they’ve wanted for probably a hundred years at the White House. And it’ll be a world-class, beautiful ballroom, and they’ll use the meeting rooms already existing. And we’re going to get that started over the next few months, and it’s going to be beautiful. And it’ll be done properly, and I will fund it. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Will you bring — you will fund it? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Yeah. Yeah, I’m not going to ask the government for money. I’ll fund it, and I’m sure we’ll have some donations to it. But it’s not an inexpensive thing. It’ll cost a lot of money. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Where will it be? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’ll be near the — I guess you would say the East Wing, near the East Wing, a little complicated to explain without a drawing. But we have three or four different concepts, and we’re working with great architects, with great planners. And it will be something really beautiful, top of the line.  

KRISTEN WELKER:

Finally, sir — 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You know, when they have a party for, like, when the head of China comes in — 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yeah. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– or the head of anybody, you know, head of anything, they have a party where they have a tent 200 yards away, where people have to walk in the rain to get to a tent. And that’s not for us. That’s not for the United States of America. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

I know you — you’re only 100 days into this second term, but have you thought about what you want your legacy to be? 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I want my legacy to be very much as the name of MAGA and what it represents. It’s called “Make America Great Again.” We were a great country for a period of time, and the last four years have been a disaster for the reputation of this country and for the fact of the country. It’s been a disaster. We’re going to make America great again. That’s all I want to do. I want to make it greater than ever before. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Thank you, Mr. President. 

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Thank you very much. 

KRISTEN WELKER:

Appreciate it.

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