Donald Trump: 10 things we learnt from US TV interview about his plans if he returns to White House
Donald Trump has faced questions on US television about his current legal woes and what he would do if he wins the presidency for a second time.
He is currently favourite to claim the Republican nomination and take on the Democrats in November 2024.
Here are 10 key takeaways from the wide-ranging Meet The Press interview on NBC.
1. Ukraine and how to end the war
Mr Trump did not spell out exactly how he would pursue the end of the war between Ukraine and Russia “because if I did… I lose all my bargaining chips”.
“But I would say certain things to [Vladimir] Putin. I would say certain things to [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, both of whom I get along,” he added.
Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2018. Pic: AP
Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in September 2019. Pic: AP
Asked if he would push for a deal that allowed the Russian president to keep Ukrainian territory, Trump said “no, no, no, no”.
“I’d make a fair deal for everybody,” he said.
2. Appreciation for Putin comment
Mr Trump expressed appreciation for a remark Putin recently made.
The Russian leader said: “We surely hear that Mr Trump says he will resolve all burning issues within several days, including the Ukrainian crisis. We cannot help but feel happy about it.”
In response, Mr Trump said: “Well, I like that he said that.
“Because that means what I’m saying is right. I would get him into a room. I’d get Zelenskyy into a room. Then I’d bring them together. And I’d have a deal worked out. I would get a deal worked out. It would’ve been a lot easier before it started.”
Mr Trump has long declined to overly-criticise Mr Putin, and in February 2022 he called the Ukraine invasion “genius” and “savvy”.
3. Trump won’t rule out sending troops to Taiwan if China invades
Mr Trump said the option of sending US forces to defend Taiwan against China remains open.
But he would not commit to this policy, unlike Democrat President Joe Biden.
“I won’t say. I won’t say,” Mr Trump said. “Because if I said, I’m giving away – you know, only stupid people are going to give that.”
“I don’t take anything off the table,” he added.
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Roe v Wade: US abortion rights a year on
4. Trump is against full abortion bans
The former Republican president said members of his own party “speak very inarticulately” about abortion, and he criticised those who push for abortion bans without exceptions in cases of rape and incest, and to protect the health of the mother.
“I watch some of them without the exceptions,” he said.
“I said, ‘Other than certain parts of the country, you can’t – you’re not going to win on this issue. But you will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks.”
He did not state what kind of legislation he would sign to ban abortion after a certain number of weeks – or if he prefers the issue be solved at the federal level rather than on a state-by-state basis – but he tried to portray himself as a dealmaker who could unite “both sides”.
5. Trump might pressure Fed to lower interest rates
He complained US interest rates were too high and indicated if he gets another term in office, he might pressure Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to loosen monetary policy.
He said: “Interest rates are very high. They’re too high. People can’t buy homes. They can’t do anything. I mean, they can’t borrow money.”
Asked specifically whether he would try to strong-arm Mr Powell into lowering rates, Mr Trump said: “Depends where inflation is. But I would get inflation down.”
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Trump charges in 60 seconds
6. Trump likes democracy
Mr Trump claimed he still believes democracy is the most effective form of government – but added a key caveat.
“I do. I do. But it has to be a democracy that’s fair,” he said. “This democracy – I don’t consider us to have much of a democracy right now.”
He suggested US democracy was unfair because of the charges he faces for allegedly mishandling classified documents, trying to conceal hush money payments to women ahead of an election and attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
He added: “We need a media that’s free and fair. And frankly, if they don’t have that, it’s very, very hard to straighten out our country.”
7. Not afraid of going to jail
Despite facing four trials, Mr Trump said he’s not consumed with visions of prison.
“I don’t even think about it,” he said. “I’m built a little differently I guess, because I have had people come up to me and say, ‘How do you do it, sir? How do you do it?’ I don’t even think about it.”
He later said: “I truly feel that, in the end, we’re going to win.”
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Trump speaks to NBC
8. Doesn’t rule out pardoning himself
Trump declined to rule out pardoning himself if he becomes president again. But he called the scenario “very unlikely”.
“What, what did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything wrong,” Trump said. “You mean because I challenge an election, they want to put me in jail?”
9. What about pardoning January 6 rioters?
Mr Trump said he views the prison sentences given to some January 6 rioters following the attack on the US Congress in early 2021 as unfair.
“We have to treat people fairly,” he said.
“These people on January 6, they went – some of them never even went into the building, and they’re being given sentences of, you know, many years.”
Mr Trump was asked if he would pardon the imprisoned rioters.
“Well, I’m going to look at them, and I certainly might if I think it’s appropriate,” he said.
10. Trump says he won’t seek a third term should he win in 2024
Mr Trump was asked if there was any scenario in which he would seek a third term should he win the presidency next year.
“No,” he said, before criticising Republican rival Ron DeSantis, who has promoted his ability to serve two full terms rather than one.
The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution limits presidents to two four-year terms. That was enacted after former President Franklin Roosevelt was elected to four terms in office.
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The anticipation had been that it would be a speech of significance.
The White House had announced two days earlier that the president was to deliver an evening address to the nation.
Traditionally the 9pm slot, interrupting the prime-time schedule on all the networks, is reserved for big news – usually international in nature.
Speculation had grown through the day that he may use the speech to address the prospect of US military action in Venezuela.
Read more: Trump has told us why he’s going after Venezuela
Instead, Trump took the big audience moment to make what was essentially a campaign speech but delivered at speed and combative in tone.
He blamed former president Joe Biden for the economy he inherited, on the “brink of ruin”, adding that he is “bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast”.
Speaking from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room, he said: “Our country is back, stronger than ever before. We’re poised for an economic boom the likes of which the nation has never seen.
“It’s not done yet, but boy are we making progress, nobody can believe what’s going on.”
Flanked by Christmas trees, but the speech hardly offered goodwill to all men
He was speaking against an increasingly challenging backdrop politically and economically.
Petrol prices are down, but the broad cost of living continues to rise, and people do not seem to be feeling the economic boom he claims to be unleashing.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November, the highest it’s been for five years.
The only real announcement in his speech was a bonus for members of the military.
He said that the government would send cheques of $1,776 to all service members. The idea, he said, had only been finalised “about 30 minutes ago”, and the cheques were already in the post.
A fascinating speech – in tone if not substance
It was a very notable presidential address, not for what he announced because there was no big reveal. It was the tone which fascinated me.
The 9pm live address was his framing of his greatest hits from the past year, but delivered by an angry and frustrated man.
“Why are my polling numbers not better?” was the vibe he gave off.
“Why is the economy not doing better? Why are you – the voters – not feeling better off?”
Not actual quotes, but the clear subtext.
Read more: White House plaques attack ex-presidents
Trump’s address was a selection of his greatest hits. Pic: Reuters
It is his low polling, rising unemployment, the cost of living and inflation challenges which prompted this address.
Had he come out and, off script, with empathy, said – “look, I get it… it’s taking time for you to feel my economic success….” – if he’d said all that with meaning, I think that would have landed in a more sympathetic way.
Instead – reading, unusually, off a script, he came across as a very frustrated president and extremely defensive.
Here’s the worry for Team Trump. So often out and about with voters, I hear people say: “Oh I don’t really like his style, his language, his divisiveness. But he’s a businessman. He knows how to run the country and the economy.”
If he loses those people, he’s in real trouble. That’s especially true when combined with suggestions he is losing some in his base too – just listen to his fan-turned-foe, MAGA stalwart, Marjorie Taylor Green.
One last thought. There are observers who think Trump is kind of unhinged; losing his marbles a bit. The slightly strange tone of this speech will be evidence for them, for sure.
Donald Trump’s administration has installed new plaques beneath portraits of former presidents attacking his predecessors in the US president’s typical fashion.
Among the plaques, apparently written by Mr Trump himself, is one for Joe Biden reading: “Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst president in American history.”
The “Presidential Walk of Fame” at the White House features a picture or painting of every former US president – except Mr Biden, who has been replaced by a photo of an autopen.
Biden’s refers to ‘Sleepy Joe’. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed Mr Biden was not mentally capable by the end of his term as president and his staff made decisions on his behalf, using an autopen to sign them off without his knowledge.
The device reproduces a person’s signature, allowing them to repeatedly sign documents without having to do so by hand each time.
The damning decoration goes on to falsely accuse Mr Biden of winning the “most corrupt election ever” and claims he made “unprecedented use of the autopen.”
Obama’s says he presided over a ‘stagnant economy’. Pic: Reuters
Another plaque refers to “Barack Hussein Obama” as “one of the most divisive political figures in American history.”
The plaque underneath Bill Clinton’s photo reads: “In 2016, president Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, lost the presidency to President Donald J Trump!”
Even George W Bush, a fellow Republican – though not a Trump supporter – is given a badge of rebuke, with his plaque saying the former president “started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened.”
Bush’s plaque attacks the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pic: Reuters
The “Presidential Walk of Fame” is a recent addition to Mr Trump’s White House and displays the portraits along corridors between the Oval Office and the South Lawn.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the plaques were an “eloquent” description of each president’s legacy.
“As a student of history, many were written directly by the president himself,” she said.
It is the latest change to Mr Trump’s White House, which has seen the increased use of gold-coloured accents and gilded fixtures that mimic the decorations in Trump Tower in New York and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Rob Reiner’s son Nick made his first court appearance on Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.
Wearing a suicide prevention smock and shackles, the 32-year-old did not enter a plea as he appeared from behind the glass wall of a custody area.
His next court appearance will be on 7 January.
As it happened: Nick Reiner makes first court appearance
Nick Reiner makes his first court appearance on murder charges in this courtroom sketch. Pic: Reuters/Mona Edwards
Nick Reiner spoke only to say, “yes, your honour” to agree to the date.
He was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference.
Nick Reiner is being held without bail and could face the death penalty.
Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added a special circumstance of multiple murders, as well as an allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon, a knife.
Speaking outside the court, Nick Reiner’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, called on the public not to “rush to judgement”.
Mr Jackson pointed to “complex and serious issues that are associated with this case” that needed to be thoroughly and “very carefully dealt with and examined”.
He added that it was a “devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family”.
Rob Reiner, Michele Singer Reiner, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan and Jake Reiner. Pic: JanuaryImages/Shutterstock
‘Unimaginable pain’
Nick Reiner’s two siblings Jake and Romy have released a statement, saying “words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day”.
“The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience,” they said.
“They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends. We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life.”
The two asked for “respect and privacy” and for speculation to be treated with “compassion and humanity”.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the killings.
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
The area near Rob Reiner’s home. Pic: AP
Read more from Sky News:
Moment Nick Reiner arrested for murder of his parents
Could Reiner actually face the death penalty?
Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometres) from the crime scene, according to police.
Rob Reiner was a celebrated director, whose work included some of the most memorable films of the 1980s and 1990s, including This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.
He met Michele Singer, a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, in 1989, while directing When Harry Met Sally.
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