A recap now of Donald Trump’s interview, broadcast yesterday on ABC, during what was the 100th day of his second term in the White House.
The interview covered a range of other topics, with some key excerpts summarised here:
‘Would hate to think’ people thought he was authoritarian
The president was questioned about his unprecedented use of executive powers, which many critics have said are being deployed to avoid the democratic processes enshrined in the US constitution.
“What do you say to people who are concerned you are taking, seizing too much power and becoming an authoritarian president like we haven’t had before?” interview Terry Moran asked.
“No, I would hate them to think that,” Trump replied.
“I’m doing one thing: I’m making America great again. We have a country that was failing. We have a country that was laughed at all over the world. We had a leader that was grossly incompetent. He should have never been there.”
Admits Putin may be ‘tapping’ him along
Trump had said in a social media post over the weekend that he was unhappy with Russia’s continuing bombardment of Ukraine – saying “there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days” and that “it makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently”.
Asked about the notion that the Russian president was “tapping” him along, Trump told Moran: “It’s possible.
“Yeah, that’s possible. Sure. He could be tapping me along a little bit. I would say that he would like to stop the war.”
“You believe that?” Moran interjected.
“If… if it weren’t for me, I think he’d want to take over the whole country, personally,” Trump said.
“I always felt… so when I left, there wasn’t even a chance that this would happen. When Biden got involved, I won’t say whether or not he handled it properly, but obviously it wasn’t good, because the war started.”
Asked if he believed Putin wants peace, Trump said: “I think he does, yes.”
The president continued: “I think Putin wanted all of Ukraine,” repeating his claim that Putin invaded because Biden was in office, and saying: “I think if I didn’t win the election, he would have gotten all of Ukraine.”
“And because of me, I do believe that… he’s willing to stop the fighting,” he added.
Declines to say he has 100% confidence in Hegseth
Asked about defence secretary Peter Hegseth, who has faced criticism since his appointment, Trump said he was “a talented guy” who is going to be “a very good defence – hopefully a great defence secretary.”
But when pressed on whether he had 100% confidence in Hegseth, the president said: “I don’t have a 100% confidence in anything, OK? Anything. Do I have a 100%? It’s a stupid question.”
