EXCLUSIVE: Full Transcript: Daily Caller Interviews President Donald Trump

The Oval Office.

Friday, August 29th, 1:27 p.m. 

DAILY CALLER WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT REAGAN REESE: I want to tell you President Trump, the Daily Caller, we have this motto called the ‘rebels in the swamp,’ and we see ourselves as the outlet for your voters. I think the 30 million people who read us monthly, every single one of them voted for you. And so my whole point today is that I think every question I ask you is something that they want me to ask you, your voters.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Good.

REESE: I think it’s fitting that we start with media bias. The New York Times have recently published a story. They were mad at you for not doing the crackdown correctly. They say you’re not in the correct areas of Washington, D.C. First, the mainstream media was mad at you for doing the crackdown. Now they’re mad at you for not doing it correctly. What’s your response to that?

TRUMP: So it turned out, it was amazing, because we’re a crime free zone now. I mean, you see what’s going on? There’s no crime. People are walking to restaurants. They’re free. It’s almost like we just freed the whole Washington D.C. Went faster than I thought. I mean, I knew we’re going to do it, but it went faster than I thought. We have tremendous soldiers that go in there and do it, and they’re strong. They love America. The Other Side only appreciates strong, you understand, and they’ve done a great job much, probably a little bit quicker, much quicker, in a certain sense, then we thought we’re going to be doing it, but it’s complete. It’s amazing. Now, in two weeks, it’s going to be even better. I’m calling it, it’s a crime free zone now. People are going to restaurants that haven’t gone out in four years. They didn’t even want to go in their car because they get the you know, they have..you see, the carjacking is down 87%. 

REESE: Yeah, I wrote a story about the last two weeks compared to the last two weeks, the same two weeks over 2024 and the same two weeks over 2023 and there was a little drop from 2023 to 2024 but from 2024 to 2025 it completely drops off in almost every category.

TRUMP: When they knew I was coming, it started to drop. Don’t forget. Like [Biden] got everything, with the stock market too. When I got in, the stock market went up a lot for him, because, you know, you win on November 5 and you don’t take over until January 20. That’s a lot of time. And the stock market went up a lot. And I said, you know, I even told [Karoline Leavitt and Steven Cheung], I said, make sure we count it from the time of the election, not from the time of January 20th, you know. So you have things like that happening. What the damage they’ve done to this country is incalculable, just incalculable. Every single thing they did was wrong, including Russia, Ukraine. If he would have said the right thing, you wouldn’t have that war right now, which is a horror show. It’s interesting. I– we settled seven. You have a list of them, actually more than that, because there are two of them that nobody found out. You know, these countries are fighting all the time. Who would have thought I never noticed like that, but we settle sides. And I thought the easiest one would be this one in a certain way, because of relationships, because, you know, I just felt I knew. But it doesn’t seem, it’s going to get, it’s going to get done, but it’s taking long. A lot of people are dying. They’re losing from five to 7000 soldiers a week. 

REESE: It’s horrible.

TRUMP: Can you believe it? Every week. 

REESE: It’s horrible. I want to get to Russia. I want to ask you another question about D.C. crackdown. Would you be open to the government reopening insane asylums for people with serious mental illness? 

TRUMP: Yeah I would.

REESE: You would?

TRUMP: Well, they used to have them, and you never saw people like we had, you know, they used to have them. And what happened is states like New York and California that had them, New York had a lot of them. They released them all into society because they couldn’t afford it. You know, it’s massively expensive. But we had, they were all over New York. I remember when I was growing up, Creedmoor. They had a place, Creedmoor, they had a lot of them, Bellevue, and they were closed by a certain governor. And I remember when they did, it was a long time ago, and I said they didn’t release these people? And they did. They released them into society, and that’s what you have. It’s a rough, it’s a rough situation. 

REESE: How soon – 

TRUMP: Why is that a big thing? People are thinking about that? 

REESE: Well – 

TRUMP: Because, you can’t have these people walking around. 

REESE: I mean, what do you do with them? You know?

TRUMP: So dangerous, so dangerous. And they can live to be 85 years old.

REESE: I moved from Washington, D.C., to Virginia because I felt unsafe. We had an attempted break in, me and my roommates from my place on Capitol Hill, and I just moved to Virginia, thinking it’s so much safer. And I had to call 911, the other day because I watched a homeless guy beat up a pedestrian. And the 911 – 

TRUMP: When was that? 

REESE: A week ago. 

TRUMP: During my time? 

REESE: This was in Virginia, though. This was not in Washington, D.C. 

TRUMP: Oh in Virginia. We don’t take [inaudible.]

REESE: No I know. Now I’m saying, now I’m like, why did I move from Washington, D.C. to Virginia right after you cleaned it up?

TRUMP: So safe. 

TRUMP: Yeah, I call it a crime free zone because we don’t play games. You know, I said they spit, we hit. You know, when these people – women – they’re standing up to these guys, good looking guys, and they want to do something, but they’re not allowed to. If they do, they’ll be arrested. They’ll arrest the soldiers. They had an arrest warrant out on every single soldier, if they hit back, there was an automatic arrest. So you have these people, they scream, they’re this far away, screaming. Some women, screaming, like crazy, they’re crazy. And then they start spitting in the face of the guy. And these guys are just, they wouldn’t, but they can’t do it. Now they can do it. So I said, we spit– they spit, we hit. Right? 

REESE: I want to switch to a different topic that’s occurred this week, the shooting in Minnesota at the Catholic Church. I’m going to read you some statistics. If you look at the Washington Post School shooting database, and you remove accidental discharges, gang violence and police shootings, [etc.], there have been four mass shootings since 2023 and two of those perpetrators have been transgender. That’s 50%. Do you think gender ideology played a role in this week’s shooting?

TRUMP: Well, it could, but you know, I do say it’s also taking place with people that were not transgender, you know? I mean, generally it seems that it would take place with people that are, this was a bad case. This was a very sick person that was just standing out there and shooting for a long time. If you look, it was a long time, but generally it’s people that aren’t transgender, so you know.

REESE: Do you think transgenderism on kids is a safety threat?

TRUMP: Say it?

REESE: Do you think transgenderism on kids is a safety threat?

TRUMP: Look, I had it in the military. We had it. It was there for me, and I ended it. Then Biden came in and he put it back, and then I ended it again. And I’ll tell you, when you talk to generals, they do not want this. They just don’t want it. When you talk to them, well they’re not talking to you as a reporter. And you know there’s a tremendous number of pills taken when you do those operations. So when you go into the military, you’re not allowed to have any pills, practically an aspirin. And yet, these guys are taking tremendous numbers of pills. 

See what they’re doing outside [in the Rose Garden.] Putting up beautiful mirrors. Did you see the mirror out there? Did you? 

REESE: I haven’t. No. 

TRUMP: We’re doing what’s called the Presidential Wall of Fame.

REESE: Oh yes, I think I did see this.

TRUMP: Come on, want to go watch?

REESE: Yeah let’s go see it. 

[TRUMP and REESE walk out of the Oval Office to Rose Garden for several minutes while Hotel California plays on the White House speakers.]

[TRUMP AND REESE sit back down in the Oval Office.]

REESE: On your ballroom, President Trump, would you like that to be named after you?

TRUMP: Named after who? 

REESE: Named after you. The ballroom.

TRUMP: Oh, well, I’m the one that gets to name it. I hate to — I’m putting up my money and donations. You know, there’s no money by the government.

REESE: Well there’s the Lincoln Bedroom, the Roosevelt Room.

TRUMP: We should get her up to the Lincoln Bedroom and show it — 

REESE: Okay, yeah. 

TRUMP: I’m [fixing] up a lot of things. We’re right now building —

[TRUMP shows REESE the presidential portraits for the Rose Garden.]

REESE: I love the frames, I love the gold. [Reese references the portraits being shown.]

TRUMP: Is that unbelievable?

REESE: It’s very beautiful.

TRUMP: So that was done for very high end paintings. I’m looking at frames and saying ‘what about that one?’

REESE: You’re going to put President Biden up too?

TRUMP: Okay — show it. 

TRUMP: Isn’t that an interesting question. 

REESE: I’m curious. 

TRUMP: And I’ll listen to you too, because it’s a decision I have to make. We put up a picture of the autopen. 

REESE: Oh, that’s hilarious.

TRUMP: He didn’t win the race. He lost badly. He was a horrible president, but can you imagine, he says he has Stage Nine cancer. That was, what? Two, three months ago — 

REESE: I know. You were at the golf course that day, I was with you. 

TRUMP: Stage Nine. I’ve never heard of more than stage four. Stage four is the highest. I’ve never — if you’re stage four, you’re dead. 

REESE: How come we didn’t know about it beforehand? That was suspicious to me. I don’t know if he knew. 

TRUMP: Especially Stage Nine. Is there such a thing? 

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR STEVEN CHEUNG: Never heard of it. 

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY KAROLINE LEAVITT: Me neither. 

[TRUMP shows REESE what the ‘Biden Autopen’ portrait will look like in the Rose Garden.]

TRUMP: So what do you think?

REESE: I think you got to. 

TRUMP: I gotta do it. Actually good, because it’ll —

REESE: I’m gonna put this in the transcript, and people are not gonna be happy that I gave you advice on this, but I think it’s very Trump.

TRUMP: You know, she could have that, right? It’s going up in about two weeks, because — it’s all being prepared. 

LEAVITT: Could we give her that picture to run it? 

TRUMP: Well, I’m not actually using this picture, and they’re all black and white…  

REESE: I like that. 

TRUMP: You know, you can’t… George Washington, he didn’t have too much. 

REESE: He didn’t have colored photos. 

TRUMP: So, but I think the black and white – same picture, but black and white. Yeah, and I’m not using that one with the smile. I’m using. Show the other one that we’re using because I like it. This is going to be very controversial.

REESE: It’s going to be funny.

TRUMP: It’s true though, now they’re finding the autopen, which should not have been used, [Ian Sams], he spoke to Biden briefly twice about nothing. 

REESE:  The New York Times reported that Biden would give his top advisors verbal permission to use the auto pen. Then they would tell their assistants. ‘[Biden] said yes,’ they would then summarize, yeah, this is what happened in the Oval Office. And then they would send that off to the woman who used the autopen. And I was like, this is a long game of telephone.

TRUMP: Were they doing that to try and justify it at The Times?

REESE: Well, that’s, I think that’s the question, when did they implement this? And why? Because –it’s a weird game of telephone.

TRUMP:  From the beginning. So use that one.

[TRUMP shows REESE one of his presidential portraits.]

REESE: Okay, I like that one too.

TRUMP: That’s for the first, I use that one for the first campaign. So, you know, it goes with a year. Yeah. So we have two Grover Cleveland and Trump, right? We have two. So you put up two. I feel a little guilty doing it, because you could put up one, but the way they do it is they put up two, because it’s by the [inaudible]. So it’s cool, yeah. You know, where they do a good job with it? Not like this. They don’t have frames like that. [Trump references framed photos of presidential portraits he had his staff bring in the room to show Reese.] The Hilton. Did you ever go to the Hilton, where they have the big room? 

REESE: No.

TRUMP: Backstage, they have, that’s the only one I’ve ever seen. They have. They must have Presidential Wall of Fames, right? I’ve never seen one except at the Hilton. Have you seen one other than that? 

CHEUNG: Just at the Hilton?

TRUMP: Have you seen one other than that? 

CHEUNG: No.

TRUMP: I mean, I’m sure they’re there, but, oh, now they’ll, now other people will [inaudible.]

[TRUMP and REESE move off the record.]

[TRUMP and REESE move back on the record.]

REESE: Can I ask you, this kinda relates to Joe Biden. I want to ask you about Russiagate. Director Gabbard has declassified Russiagate documents. They’re explosive. She’s referred the case to the DOJ. 

TRUMP: By the way, she’s coming along, right?

REESE: Yeah.

TRUMP: Yeah. 

REESE: Do you think there are going to be arrests? Who do you think is going to be arrested, and how quickly?

TRUMP: I don’t know if there’s going to be. There should be. What they did is a disgrace. They cheated, they lied, they did so many bad things, evil things that were so bad for the country, and because they did something to me that should have never been done, nobody thought they’d ever do that. Actually, when I left, nobody thought that would happen. They get – they just went crazy. They’re bad people. They’re sick people. They’re the ones that committed all the crimes. We didn’t commit crimes. They committed all the crimes, there should be, I can’t tell you whether or not because I really, I don’t have to stay uninvolved. I’m allowed to stay involved, but I purposely don’t get involved. I can say that they should be arrested. They lied, they cheated, they did everything you can do that’s illegal, and then they accused — it’s amazing, even I see it now, with me. They say ‘he’s actually looking to arrest him.’ What the hell did they do with me? You know? And then they’ll say he’s – they make it sound like I’m a bad guy. I had to have a mug shot taken, right? These are bad people. They’re sick people, and, you know, the press plays along with it. But they should be. I mean, I’m probably answering the question more than you think I should. They should be [arrested]  because they’re crooked and they got caught.

REESE: So James Comey and John Brennan, would you be comfortable seeing them handcuffed and arrested live on TV?

TRUMP: Would not bother me at all.

REAGAN: Do you think it’s a possibility?

TRUMP: See, I wouldn’t have answered that question that way four years ago.  Do you understand that? I wouldn’t. Because, well, Hillary’s a good example. We had Hillary cold. I didn’t want to see that. I didn’t want the, you know, the wife of a president, to go to jail, but she was Stone Cold guilty of things. And if you remember, at the, at the big rallies, I’d say, ‘All right, take it easy.’ You know, they’d all say, ‘lock her up. Lock her up.’ After we won, before I won, just, they could do whatever they wanted. After I won – yeah, I was very gracious. And I assumed that, you know, I was a president, we had a great first term, first, not like this one, though.

REESE: Yeah, this feels different.

TRUMP:  It’s better. It’s, I don’t even know, I don’t think it’s experience. If you look at the first term of this, you know, we had a great first and we had a great economy. We rebuilt the military, we did the wall, we did the whole thing. And we did great on immigration. But the thing is, that immigration was peanuts compared to what they left me, because when I mean they left, people were coming in, millions of people a month. Remember that they had a period of time, seven months, when anybody in the world just poured into this place, and we have to, we have to get them out, because they’re very, very dangerous. 

No, if, depending on what they find, they’re guilty, they’re guilty. They’re bad people, and they are very, very sick people, beyond bad. They’re sick. They’re going crazy over crime. They right now, the campaign is very easy. I want to stop crime. They love crime. This is the campaign. They said the other day, he’s done it again. He’s done it again. You know, men and women in sports, transgender for everyone, which is, but it’s a trap, they say. It’s not a trap. These people they’re going crazy in Washington because they have soldiers stopping people from getting killed. They should say this is a wonderful thing, and they’re National Guards. We haven’t brought out the military, per se. It’s the National Guard and they’ve done a great job. I’m really impressed. You know, I went to be with them a few days ago, and it was great. And they are so psyched, you have no idea, but you should now move back. You know, probably what happened is they may have moved into, they followed you. Because —

REESE: I know I was like, they better not be sending the homeless people out here. 

TRUMP: We’re nasty. We’re nasty. Which is, by the way, the only thing they understand.

REESE: How soon do you think you could go into Chicago? Could it be next week?

TRUMP: So I should go in now. I really would like to be invited in, but [J.B. Pritzker] is a terrible governor, and he, you know, I know, I know [him] for a long time. He was thrown out of his family business, all that stuff. He’s a terrible governor. If, if you had the right governor, then they’d say, please come right now. They’d get credit for, you saw the mayor of D.C.? 

REESE: Yeah. She’s happy now. 

TRUMP: She’s saying –’ it’s so incredible.’

REESE: Did you talk to her? Why do you think she flipped?

TRUMP: [Inaudible] – Her friends are all calling her saying, Are you kidding? This is the greatest thing that ever happened so she’s being honest.  And you know what? Gavin Newsom, if I didn’t go in, if we didn’t go into L.A., you wouldn’t have an L.A. right now. And if you look back, you got to look back. Maybe you could find it [Trump directs Natalie Harp to pull up a clip]. The sheriff, the first days of Los Angeles, they asked the sheriff, they said, ‘we could have never handled this.’ And that’s the honest answer. You know, he actually said, the top guy in L.A. said something to the effect that we could have never handled this. If we didn’t go in there, you wouldn’t have L.A. right now, there’d be riots all over the place. Sort of amazing, when you think of it. But what’s beautiful, I want to do this just perfect. It’s really close. It’s crime free now. Everyone is going out. You know, they’re having to open up new restaurants. You know, a lot of the restaurants closed. You have some of these restaurants reopening. It’s a great thing to see. But the mayor’s been pretty good, I think, right? Her statement – 

REESE: She’s happy with you which —

TRUMP: She should be.

REESE: It’s a major win [for you], in addition to getting the crime off the streets. 

TRUMP: Yeah. 

REESE: You mentioned the border, it’s been something that I think has been probably your administration’s greatest success this time around…

TRUMP: They don’t even talk about it. [Inaudible]. Think of it. For the last 90 days, we’ve had nobody, three months. Three months, nobody, zero. And, you know, Democrats do those stats. It’s like zero. It’d be very hard to get it, but for three months, we’ve had nobody. Could be four months now. I mean, I’ve totally solved the border problem. 

REESE: Are you happy with the rate of deportations right now?

TRUMP: Yeah, we’re doing a lot. You know, we’re doing a lot of self deportations. Millions are going out. That’s not much of a story, but a big story is self deportation. You know, we give them an incentive to go out, meaning you can come back someday. If you don’t go out, you can never come back.

[TRUMP and REESE move off the record.]

[TRUMP and REESE move back on the record.] 

REESE: Do you trust Mexico to secure their side of the border with – since the government is believed to be, you know, run by the cartels, or the cartels are involved?

TRUMP: So I like the President very much. I think she’s a terrific woman. She’s actually an amazing woman in some, in certain ways, very elegant, beautiful. But Mexico is run by the cartels. It’s run by the cartels. 

[TRUMP and REESE move off the record.] 

TRUMP: Now you can go back [on the record.] I’ve offered to send in the military, and she doesn’t want us to do that.

REESE: Why? 

TRUMP: Because she’s scared.

REESE: Wow. 

TRUMP: She’s very scared.

REESE: On illegal immigration, sticking on immigration, are there still plans to provide deportation exemptions for illegal farmers and restaurant workers? What’s the policy right now? 

TRUMP: We want to, we want to. Look I, I have two groups, that in particular like me, people that don’t want to allow people to come into the country illegally, and the farmers. Okay, they really, with the farmers, they’re great and, and it’s a little at odds, because some of the people coming in for many years have worked on farms, and they’ve been good, and in many cases, they pay taxes, you know, everything else. And you have some of my best people, don’t want anybody in for any reason, no matter what. No matter what. Very hard line stand. So we’re working on legislation now that’s gonna, it’s gonna — I think, I think, I’m gonna make everybody happy.

REESE: I want to stick on national security. In the Cabinet Meeting I asked you about Chinese students.

TRUMP: How did you like the cabinet meeting?

REESE: It was long, Mr. President, and I was trying to tell you at the end, but everybody was moving out, it was your longest on camera appearance, which I think longest Cabinet meeting is, is wild… 

TRUMP: The opposite of Biden. 

LEAVITT: It was actually the longest televised presidential event in history. 

REESE: Wow. How do you have the stamina for that?

TRUMP: You know how? Good parents. It’s a parental thing… you understand that? 

REESE: Yeah. Hopefully I have the right genes too.

TRUMP: I have two strong parents I can tell you. 

REESE: Okay on the Chinese students – 

TRUMP: You have it too, right? 

REESE: I hope so, yeah. You are – 

TRUMP: I think it was well reviewed, that presidential conference? 

REESE: Yeah it was. 

TRUMP: [Inaudible] you know, everybody complained Biden never answered a question – 

REESE: Or held cabinet meetings. 

TRUMP:  Always, what? What’s your favorite ice cream? How many times was he asked about ice cream? It’s the only question they were allowed to ask. Can you imagine? Well, how about Kamala? Where 60 Minutes, we just settled that case. Where 60 Minutes asked her a question. She gave the worst answer, and they took the answer. It was really career threatening. Her answer, right?

REESE: I thought that the interview was just bad. 

TRUMP: It was a bad interview. 

REESE: It was. It was a tough interview, even if it wasn’t —

TRUMP: Do you think they were rough with her? 

REESE: I thought because she, she went on a long softball-like [media] week experience – 

TRUMP: Why did they take – her worst answer was, yeah, that was a main question. So did you ever hear of, you know, a news organization taking the entire answer, it went for three pages, throwing it away and using another answer, because it’s on television, right? So that was a hell of a thing. So, you know, we sue them, and we settled. 

REESE: Can you believe — 

TRUMP: But do you like when I do a news conference like that?

REESE: I love getting – when I get to ask you questions, they like me back at my job, and I stay employed. So I like the opportunities to ask you questions.

TRUMP: So it’s important for you, because this way you’re asking me a question, you work for them, it’s good, right?

REESE: Yeah, but it’s also, I love to talk to our audience at the Caller and ask them, what do they think? What do they want to know?

TRUMP: Who is the boss at the Daily Caller?

REESE: Neil Patel. That’s the publisher. The Editor-in-Chief is Dylan Housman.

LEAVITT: Who owns the paper?

REESE: Neil Patel. 

TRUMP: He’s very good. 

REESE: Yes, yeah. I’ve enjoyed working for him. I’ve been there for three years. 

TRUMP: And he’s been with it right from the beginning?

REESE: Yes.

TRUMP:  And it does well, right?

REESE: It does do well, we’re growing. 

TRUMP: Yeah that’s good. 

REESE: And we are growing and expanding.

TRUMP: You tell them I appreciate it.

REESE: I will. 

TRUMP: And the editor you said is who?

REESE: Dylan Housman. 

TRUMP: Good, right? 

REESE: Yeah. 

TRUMP: Very good. 

REESE: It’s been a really successful eight months, you know, over the last, the last eight months, but the last, the three years that I’ve been there, we just have continued to grow and grow, which has been really fun to experience. 

TRUMP:  People don’t realize how big our market is. You know? It’s like if they had Nora O’Donnell, anybody could do this. You could take 50% of the women off the street, they’d do just as good. Pay her 12 million a year, and she’s not going to be there very long. But if she’s not already out, I mean, she’s pretty close, I would say she’s pretty close, but, the other ones too. The ‘Face the Nation.’ The woman on the ‘Face the Nation’ is so bad.

REESE: Kristen Welker, right?

TRUMP: Well, now Kristen Welker is NBC.

REESE: You know better than I do.

TRUMP: Kristen Welker is NBC. She’s, you know. 

LEAVITT: Margaret Brennan [Leavitt refers to the host of ‘Face the Nation.’]

REESE: Margaret Brennan, right.

TRUMP: Margaret Brennan. What do you think of her?

LEAVITT: She’s stupid. You can put that on the record. 

TRUMP: She’s nasty. 

LEAVITT: Yes.

TRUMP: I watched it with Marco. He handled her – 

REESE: He goes on there a lot. And every time he does a really, he’s intense about it. 

TRUMP: Because he’s good and he’s smart. 

TRUMP: But the level of hatred, I’m surprised he goes on there, the level of hatred when they’re asking the question. But I could, I could take, you know, this one right over here. [Trump references Natalie Harp.] She was an anchor. Do you know? For OAN [One America News Network.]

REESE: I interned for them. 

TRUMP: Did you know Natalie worked for OAN for a couple years as an anchor?

REESE: I don’t know, when was that?

HARP: It was 2020.

REESE: Okay. 

TRUMP: Natalie worked for OAN for a couple of years as an anchor. I’m telling you. She was a great anchor, but she didn’t want to, she wanted to come with Trump, and maybe this is better. So you, you like, you’ve never been in the Oval Office, right? Or you’ve been in [inaudible].

REESE: I’ve been in – covering the administration before… Have you seen there’s been a little bit of debate on social media over which Oval Office is better, Joe Biden’s or yours? Because some people aren’t a fan of the gold. But I think, yeah, I’ve always felt this way. I, the White House is such a grand, it’s the most important place in the world. It should look beautiful.

TRUMP: And this is the real deal gold, too. This not, you know. I always say you, there’s never been a paint made, amazing…  you’d make a lot of money if you could buy a paint that looked like real gold. When I’m doing interviews, look at the fireplace, when I’m doing interviews, and I’ve got some heads of state. This used to be [inaudible] do you understand? It’s just a plain, flat piece —

[TRUMP and REESE move off the record]

[REESE moves following excerpt from the off the record conversation to on the record]

TRUMP: But see all these paintings, they were in the vaults. These paintings were all in the vault. That’s George Washington, the original. The original Lincoln. They were sitting down in vaults. I went down. [Inaudible] where they have over 1,000 paintings, and I picked, you know, great [inaudible] Benjamin Franklin, so I put some non-presidents.

TRUMP: I took them out of the vaults. They all come from the building, but they were never up. Look at the back, and that’s George Washington.

REESE: Yeah, it’s America. We should be proud of our country. 

TRUMP: This one just went up today [Trump references a George Washington statue behind him to his left.]

[TRUMP and REESE move back on the record.]

REESE: You’re allowing 600,000 Chinese students to still study here–
TRUMP: 600,000 over two years – 

REESE: Over two years. I’m curious if this is a negotiation tactic, or is this something you think benefits the country?

TRUMP: I think that it’s very insulting to a country. I have a very good relationship with President Xi. I think it’s very insulting to a country when you say you’re not going to take your students, and they have probably 300 thousand –  600 is over two years – but they have, let’s say 300-350,000 students. It’s also good for our system, when you take them out and you know who’s going to be affected, the lesser colleges, the top colleges aren’t going to be, it’s the lesser colleges that are —

REESE: It wouldn’t take like Harvard out? You don’t think? Because when I hear that, I think, I think conservatives would say, ‘all right, let’s let Harvard and Columbia or the universities die.’ But you think it would hurt the lesser schools?

TRUMP: I don’t want them to die, no, I want them to be great, but I want to be fair. And you know, they’re being punished. But you know, I don’t want, we have, we have the greatest system in the world, university, young, you know, the high schools. And let’s say you don’t take Harvard. They’re going to develop schools, and they’ll be fine, they’re going to be fine. No, I think it’s very insulting, in that sense, to be doing that, and I think it would hurt the system. And, you know, I get along with China. China’s paying us a lot of money right now. They’re paying us hundreds of millions of dollars. And do you understand what I mean by that?

REESE: Yes.

TRUMP: It’s very insulating to say we don’t want their students. 

REESE: Yes.

TRUMP: I, you know, I think it’s good for us, but you know, we’re doing well with China.

REESE: Is there something you hope to get specifically in return for allowing their students to still study?

TRUMP: No, no, I don’t want anything in return. We’re doing well. They’re paying us hundreds of billions of dollars. They paid Biden, you know? Well, Biden left mine, you know, I did this in my first term. A lot of people don’t know. And then when covid came, it was hard to say to Italy, which was just getting decimated, right? Italy and France and Spain, we’re going to put taxes on yourself. We’re going to charge you a nice tax or tariff. So, no, I just think it’s, I think it’s, I think what we’re doing is the right thing to do. It’s good to get along with countries, not bad, especially, you know, nuclear powered countries. I think it’s good to get along with countries. The war would have never started if I were president, all those kids would have been alive right now.

REESE: I want to come back to Russia. Are you still considering with security guarantees, using you, U.S. soldiers – 

TRUMP: No

REESE: and planes in the air, I mean, in the air. 

TRUMP: Maybe we’ll do something. Look, I’d like to see something get solved. They’re not our soldiers, but there are, five to 7,000, mostly young people being killed every single week. If I could stop that and have a plane flying around the air every once in a while, it’s going to be mostly the Europeans, but we, we’d help them. They, you know, they sort of need it, and we’d help them if we could get something done.

REESE: Are you concerned at all – I know some of your base thinks that’s not our war, and they don’t want our Americans over there at all.

TRUMP: It’s not our war.

REESE:  Are you concerned about how that might square with the America First agenda?

TRUMP: So there are a lot of people that so agree. Look, we were spending hundreds of billions of dollars in that war. Now we sell equipment to NATO. I got them to go from two to five. Nobody thought that was, and pay. We sell equipment to NATO. We don’t sell it to Ukraine. We sell it to NATO. They pay for the equipment. We’re not spending any money on the war. That’s some difference, right there. So add that one up. And other than that, look, if I don’t think it can be settled without a security guarantee of some kind,  and we’re not going to have boots on the ground or anything else. But if we can help Europe, and you know, they’ll, they’ll be out there. They want to, they want to see it get settled, but if we can help them, I’d be willing to do that. We’re talking about a lot of lives. We’re not talking about something that I started. I inherited this war. And all I’m trying to do is put out the flame,  you know. And I thought I had it done. I did it seven times with other, I did it with wars that were tougher than this in terms of nobody. So three of those wars are going on for more than 30 years, and I got them all done. This war is just, it’s been very difficult. It’s been a difficult war.

REESE: You mentioned, I believe in a Truth Social post, that there was a big thing that you and Putin didn’t agree on in Alaska. What was that big thing?

TRUMP: I don’t know. We got along. You saw it, you. We’ve had a good relationship over the years, very good, actually. That’s why I really thought we would have this done. I would have loved to have had it done. Maybe they have to fight a little longer. You know, just keep fighting. — stupidly, keep fighting.

REESE: Do you think a trilateral will still happen?

TRUMP: A tri would happen. A bi, I don’t know about, but a tri will happen. But, you know, sometimes people aren’t ready for it.  I say, I use the analogy. I’ve used it a couple of times. You have a child, and there’s another child in the lot, in the playground, and they hate each other, and they start swinging, swinging and swinging, and you want them to stop, and they keep going. After a little while, they’re very happy to stop. Do you understand? It’s almost that way. Sometimes they have to fight for a little bit before you can get them to stop. But this has been going on for a long time. A lot of people dead.

REESE: A different war, Israel, a March Pew Poll, found that 53% of surveyed U.S. adults had an unfavorable view of Israel, that’s down – or that is up from 42% in 2022. Among young Republicans under 50, 50% have an unfavorable view of Israel. That’s up from 35% in 2022. There’s a growing group within the MAGA, America First coalition, Republicans, especially younger Republicans, who are skeptical of our support for Israel. Are you aware of this group? Are you worried about it?

TRUMP: Yeah I’m aware of it. So, Israel is amazing, because, you know, I have good support from Israel. I have. Look, nobody has done more for Israel than I have, including the recent attacks with Iran, wiping that thing out. We, that plane, wiped them out like nobody ever saw before. You know, we got back and CNN was trying to say ‘well, maybe it wasn’t complete,’ and it turned out totally complete, beyond complete. But when, if you go back 20 years. I mean, I will tell you, Israel had the strongest lobby in Congress of anything or body, or of any company or corporation or state that I’ve ever seen. Israel was the strongest. Today, it doesn’t have that strong a lobby. It’s amazing. 

There was a time where you couldn’t speak bad, if you wanted to be a politician, you couldn’t speak badly. But today, you have, you know, AOC plus three, and you have all these lunatics, and they’ve really, they’ve changed it. You’re too young to know this, but if you go back 15 years, probably that’s when it started, right. Israel, you would understand this very much, Israel was the strongest lobby I’ve ever seen. They had total control over Congress, and now they don’t, you know, I’m a little surprised to see that. And people, they forgot about October 7th. You know, October 7th was a truly horrible day, because I’ve seen the pictures.

REESE: I was just over in Israel, and we went right up to the war where you could hear the bombs dropping in Gaza. And we went to the places from October 7th. Scary. Being in it. I understand —

TRUMP: It was a really bad one, right? 

REESE: Yeah. 

TRUMP: And you know, you have people that deny it ever happened, their deniers. You have people that deny the Holocaust ever happened. So, they’re gonna have to get that war over with. But it is hurting Israel. There’s no question about it. They may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations, you know, and it is hurting them. But Israel was the strongest lobby 15 years ago that there has ever been, and now it’s, it’s been hurt, especially in Congress.

REESE: We’ve talked a lot about what you’ve done over the last eight months, immigration, economy, peace…

TRUMP: Too much to talk about. 

REESE: Yeah. When you’re done being in office, what honors do you want the country to pay you? Would you want to be added on to Mount Rushmore? Is it the Nobel Peace Prize?

TRUMP: If I say that, it sounds so bad, so I don’t want to say any of that stuff, because it sounds so bad. But look, I stopped seven wars and wiped out a nuclear war that would have happened with Iran, that was going to happen.

REESE: Do you crave the Nobel Peace Prize?

TRUMP: No.

TRUMP: I just want, I want to be treated fairly. But the word crave, and even if I did, I couldn’t answer that question, because it would sound terrible. Yes. Suppose I said yes, I craved it. Oh, please. I can’t do that. I don’t, you know, you can’t put yourself in that position, but I can say this, nobody’s done in history what I’ve done. I stopped seven wars, and they were, they’re big ones too, India – Pakistan. They were shooting down planes, seven planes landed on their rear end. I mean, that was and that was a potential nuclear war, and there’s great hatred, and I got him on the phone, and I worked it out. And nobody else could have done that. I got him on the phone and I worked it out. He said, ‘You want to trade with us?’ I’m not going to trade with you. You guys are going to blow up the whole world with your stupid nuclear weapons. And, you know, because they both had nuclear weapons. So no, I mean, nobody’s done that. But with that being said, it is what it is. We’re going to have to see, they had, right after I won the election, Time was, you know, doing their ‘Man of the Year,’ which they call ‘Person of the Year,’ actually, which is interesting, but Time is doing their ‘Person of the Year.’ And I said, I said, you know, I, it’s not done in a braggadocious way. Who the hell’s gonna beat me? I just won the election. And I said, ‘Who else could be chosen?’ They thought maybe they could choose the AI machine or something, you know, pick some machine – 

TRUMP: Do you know this one over here? [Margo Martin enters the Oval Office and hands Trump a note.]

REESE: Hi Margo, good to see you. 

TRUMP: Okay I will be two seconds [referring to the note Martin handed him.] 

TRUMP: – So I said, it’s, I said, ‘Who?’ And I didn’t do this. I just said, ‘who’s [inaudible]? I won the election.’ They were actually thinking about maybe picking Kamala. Okay, Kamala. She just lost horribly.

REESE: Or Joe Biden, that that would have been wild. 

TRUMP: They’ll pick anybody. They didn’t want to pick me. But I said, Who the hell else? Who can you pick? You know, you just won in a landslide. I won all seven swing states, the popular vote. I won everything. I said, so, the only thing they could have done is picked a machine, you know, AI, the AI robot.

REESE: People are calling those clankers now, like as an insult to robots. That’s a trend. 

TRUMP: Right. 

REESE: You want to be cool with the Gen Zers. You start calling them clankers.

TRUMP: But this AI is a big deal. It is a big deal. And we’re leading China by a lot. We’re leading China by a lot. And we’re, we’re getting, you know, all the electricity, and you do, tremendous amounts of electricity. We’re getting it. We’re letting them build it. They’re going crazy. They can’t believe I gave them. I’m giving them the right to build, right? We’re gonna have so much electric, they’re all building. 

LEAVITT ends the interview at 2:21 p.m.