Trump gives first interview as 47th US President: Key takeaways
Donald Trump gave his first TV interview as US president, covering a wide range of topics, mostly domestic policy. He also repeated the thesis that there would have been no war in Ukraine if he had been president.
RBC-Ukraine provides key takeaways from Trump's interview with Fox News.
Contents
- 'A lot of work' because of Biden's policy
- A hint on possible prosecution of Biden
- Why he pardoned participants of the Capitol storming
- No concerns about China and TikTok
- Assassination attempt and promise in the JFK case
- Did Trump mention the war in Ukraine?
In the interview, Trump paid more attention to past grievances and plans to move America forward. Journalist Sean Hannity asked questions on several topics. Among them were the role of the federal government in assisting in natural disasters, the deployment of troops on the border with Mexico, and the reason why he pardoned the participants in the January 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol.
'A lot of work' because of Biden's policy
Joe Biden left the presidency with a rating of only 36%. This fact and the Democrats' departure from power remain one of Trump's favorite topics.
When asked what it would be like to return to the Oval Office in four years, he said that he would have “a lot of work to do” and that many things should not have happened during the Biden years.
“We wouldn't have had inflation, we wouldn't have had Afghanistan disaster, we wouldn't have had October 7th with Israel where so many people killed, and we wouldn't have had Ukraine war going on,” Trump said.
He also said that the Democrats were defeated in the election because they “failed the country and are only good at cheating.”
A hint on possible prosecution of Biden
Leaving the White House in 2021, Trump had the opportunity to grant himself a preventive pardon, but he refused because he believed he had done nothing wrong, despite public attempts to undo his election defeat.
Now he says that it was a shame that former President Biden did not take advantage of this opportunity. “This guy went around giving everybody pardons, and, you know, the funny thing — maybe the sad thing — is he didn't give himself a pardon...Joe Biden has very bad advisers. Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him,” he said.
Later, he said that Biden made it hard for him and he went through four years of hell, spending millions of dollars in legal fees.
When asked if he would like Congress to investigate Biden, he replied: “I think we'll let Congress decide.” In his opinion, the attorney general could “pull a big one” on his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton. Although Trump personally is allegedly against it.
Why he pardoned participants of the Capitol storming
For the second day in a row, Trump has to answer questions about pardoning those accused of rioting near the Capitol who committed violence against police officers. In an interview, he called some of the episodes “minor incidents.”
“They were in there (prison - ed.) for three and a half years…treated like nobody’s ever been treated. So badly. Treated like the worst criminals in history,” he explained the decision to pardon more than 1,500 people.
This number includes the top leaders of the right-wing radical groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
“Some of those people with the police, true. But they were very minor incidents. They get built up by a couple of fake guys who are on CNN all the time,” Trump added.
No concerns about China and TikTok
Trump brushed aside concerns about China and TikTok. He believes that the media platform is not as big a threat to US national security as its opponents say.
“The interesting thing with TikTok though is you’re dealing with a lot of young people. Is it that important for China to be spying on young people? Young people watching crazy videos and things,” he said.
On his first day in office, Trump took steps to save TikTok in the United States, which was under threat of being banned. The president granted a 75-day extension and began working on a deal to sell it to an American company.
When asked about TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese parent company ByteDance and thus subject to China's data collection requirements, being “an app for spying on Chinese communists,” Trump replied that any gadget from China can be used to spy on Americans.
“You can say that about everything made in China," he said, adding that phones are mostly made in China.
Assassination attempt and promise in the JFK case
The assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, according to Trump, hardened his faith in God. Before that, he spoke about the assassination attempt in his inaugural speech, reflecting on how close he was to death.
He mentioned he has not changed after that, but "there's something to it". Because pre-election polls showed he shouldn't be in the White House.
Trump also reiterated his promise to make public the materials on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. According to him, some of the documents were made public during his first term, but then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dissuaded him from further disclosure.
“I did it with Kennedy, to an extent. But I was asked by some of our government officials not to, and, you know, you have to respect them,” he said, adding that he would immediately release the files after reviewing the information.
Did Trump mention the war in Ukraine?
In an interview with Fox News, the new US president mentioned the war in Ukraine only once. It happened in a block criticizing Biden's policy. He repeated the standard phrase that the war would not have started if he had been president.
Prior to that, Trump had noted the readiness of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for peace but emphasized that “it takes two to tango,” meaning Russia's desire.
He said that his administration was already in talks with the Ukrainian authorities. As for Putin, work is underway to organize a phone call. Trump also called it “very likely” that even tougher sanctions would be imposed if Russia refuses to negotiate.
It is possible that Donald Trump could touch upon foreign policy topics in the second part of his interview with Fox News. It will be published today at 09:00 p.m. EST (January 24 at 04:00 Kyiv time).