Newsweek has broken down five key takeaways from Donald Trump‘s interview with daughter-in-law Lara Trump about his first six months in office.
‘Hottest Country in the World’
Trump said repeatedly that his administration has broken multiple records, saying that other countries had told him the United States was “the hottest country in the world.”
He told how when he was with “the king of Saudi Arabia, the leader of Qatar, the leader of the UAE and many of the leaders at NATO” told him “separately” and “as a group”: “You have the hottest country in the world right now.”
“And, six months ago they also said ‘we thought your country was dead,’” Trump continued. “They actually thought it was dead. And it felt dead. We not only had no leadership, we had negative leadership.”
Trump went on to say he has already “taken care of inflation,” energy, fuel and “so many other things.”
Border
One of Trump’s major campaign promises was to carry out mass deportation and secure the border.
He said his administration has taken on this “big job, getting hundreds of thousands of criminals out of our country.”
Trump said former U.S. President Joe Biden let in 11,888 murderers into the country—Newsweek has contacted the White House, via email outside of working hours, to ask where this figure came from.
Assassination Attempt
Trump’s interview coincided with the anniversary of the first assassination attempt against him while he was on the campaign trail.
He was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania, when 20-year-old Michael Thomas Crooks took eight shots at him, grazing Trump’s ear, killing rally attendee Corey Comperatore and wounding two others before a Secret Service sniper killed Crooks.
Trump called the day “unforgettable” and went on to praise the Secret Service sniper for doing “a fantastic job” by killing Crooks within five seconds.
When asked about all the questions surrounding that day, and how Crooks was able to carry out such an operation at an event that should have been highly secure, Trump said he is “satisfied.”
“They briefed me and I’m satisfied with it,” Trump said. “They should have had someone in the building, that was a mistake, they should have had communications with the local police—they weren’t tied in—and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made. And that shouldn’t have happened.”
“But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot,” he continued, “I have great confidence in these people. They’re very talented and very capable—they had a bad day, I think they’ll admit that.”
“This is a very dangerous job being president,” Trump added before saying that being president is more dangerous than being a race car driver or a bull rider.
“But I wouldn’t have made a different decision because we’re doing so well, the country is back,” he said.
Texas Floods
Trump was asked about the recent Texas floods which killed at least 129 people, according to the latest death toll, including 27 children and staff attending an all-girl summer camp called Camp Mystic, on the banks of the Guadalupe River.
He said “there can be nothing worse than losing a child,” especially given “the way this happened.”
Trump described the grieving parents as “devastated” and said that this “tragedy in particular” was “so sad to see.”
He went on to say that there had been “very early warning.” “They warned the day before, they even warned two days before, they warned four hours before. Maybe they should have had bells or something go off.”
Big Beautiful Bill
Trump was asked when people can expect to see the benefits promised in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which was passed earlier this month, when the House voted 218 to 214 to pass the bill after Vice President JD Vance broke a tie with his vote.
“They’re already seeing them,” Trump said. “Because of that bill, we’re having investment in this country that nobody’s ever seen.”
“We’re up to close to £15 trillion,” he said. “Other administrations—they wouldn’t do that in four years.”
Trump went on to say he had told Republicans to “speak positively” about the bill because “the Democrats, they only do one thing good and that’s complain.”
He said the Democrats’ claims about the bill causing death are part of “sound bites.”
“It’s not gonna cause death, it’s gonna keep people alive,” Trump said. “And it’s gonna make our country successful.”
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