Editor's note: On October 31, 2025, correspondent Norah O'Donnell spoke with President Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL, and this is a transcript of that conversation. They started by discussing the president's recent meeting with China's President Xi Jinping. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, first of all, we get along great, and we always really have. We had the COVID moment, which was not-- attractive as far as I was concerned. I wasn't so happy. But outside of that, we have always had a great relationship. He's a powerful man. He's a strong man, a very powerful leader. And-- we've always-- had the best of relationships, probably the best of-- I could-- I think I could speak for him, just about as good as it gets from his standpoint and from my standpoint. And having that is important because of the power of the two countries. NORAH O'DONNELL: What did you get out of this deal that you wanted? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I got sort of everything that we wanted. We got-- no rare earth threat. That's gone, completely gone. We have tremendous amounts of-- dollars pouring in-- 'cause we have-- very big tariffs, almost 50%. We never had anything in terms of tariffs, although I put tariffs on China, but Biden let it lapsed by the-- by the fact that he gave exemptions on almost everything, which was just ridiculous. But-- we have-- billions and billions of dollars coming in, and we have a very good relationship. I mean, we have-- a great relationship with a powerful country. And I've always felt if we can make deals that are good, it's better to get along with China than not, if you can't make the right kind of a deal than not, because, you know, China, along with many other countries (they're not alone in this), they've ripped us off from day one. They've ripped us so much. They've taken trillions of dollars out of our country. And now they're-- it's the opposite. I mean, we're doing very well with China, and hopefully they're gonna do very well with us. But I do think it's important that China and the U.S. get along, and we get along very well at the top. NORAH O'DONNELL: This trade war, though, was hurting Americans. I mean, our soybean farmers. China had stopped buying the soybeans. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. NORAH O'DONNELL: As you mentioned, they were-- China was withholding these rare earth materials that you need for everything from smartphones to-- to build submarines. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure. NORAH O'DONNELL: What-- what was the crucial thing? I mean, how tough of a negotiatior-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, when you say hurting-- NORAH O'DONNELL: --is President Xi-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --it was a temporary hurt. It was a hurt because-- I was takin' in a lot of money from China. We're doing very well against China. And all of a sudden they said, "You know, we have to fight back." And so they used their powers. The power they have is rare earth because of the fact that they've been accumulating it and-- and really taking care of it for a period of 25, 30 years. Other countries haven't. Now we are. I mean, we have tremendous rare earth, and it's going to be-- you know, it's going to be-- it'll be a strength, but it won't really be a strength if everybody has it. Everyone's gonna have it pretty soon. And they were doing it-- on a singular basis. Now-- they use that against us, and we used other things against them. For instance, airplane parts. That's a big deal. They have-- hundreds of Boeing airplanes. We wouldn't give them parts. We were both acting-- maybe a little bit irrationally, but the big thing we had was tariffs ultimately. I said, "Look, if you don't open up, then what we're gonna do is we're gonna impose a hundred percent tariff over and above what you're already paying." And as soon as I said that, they came to the table. We met in South Korea, as you saw, right? A lot of people watched. And-- we made a really good deal. And it was good for them also, I hope. I mean, I want 'em to be good for both sides, but-- we'll be takin' in hundreds of billions of dollars-- in the form of tariffs. You know, tariffs are incredible, because they really give us great national security. As an example-- when they pulled the rare earth on us and the rest of the world, if we didn't have tariffs to fight back, I-- I immediately instituted a 100% tariff over and above what they were already paying. And when I did that, they immediately came to the table. Without tariffs, we would not have had that privilege. We would have-- not have had that right. Tariffs give us national security and great wealth. NORAH O'DONNELL: You talked about those rare earth minerals. Of course-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. NORAH O'DONNELL: --I-- my understanding is about 90% of them come from China. That's their-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right now. NORAH O'DONNELL: Yeah-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But within a short period of time-- we'll have everything we need for ourselves. You know, we've instituted an emergency program, and we will have-- within a year from now to a year and a half, we'll have everything we need, no matter what kind of a threat is being-- NORAH O'DONNELL: How? How do we do that? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because we've taken over. First of all, you saw the partnerships w-- we've established with Japan, with Australia, with U.K., w-- with just about everybody, frankly. And we're all doing it together. You know, this wasn't a threat against the United States. This was really a threat against the world. So the w-- whole world has come together, I think, at our behest. And rare earths, in-- within two years, rare earths will cea-- really cease to be a problem. NORAH O'DONNELL: The one thing that China wants but it doesn't have is the world's most advanced semiconductors. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That's right. NORAH O'DONNELL: That's what the United States has. Will you-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Chips in particular. NORAH O'DONNELL: Chips. That's right-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. NORAH O'DONNELL: Will you allow the chip maker, Nvidia, to sell their most advanced chips to China-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. No, we won't do that. But-- NORAH O'DONNELL: It's not on the table at all? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --we will let them-- deal with Nvidia. Nvidia's the prime-- company in the world for that. And we will let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced. The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States. NORAH O'DONNELL: Because then they would win the AI race. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, they wouldn't win it necessarily, but they would certainly have-- an equal advantage. Right now we're winning it because we're producing electricity like never before by allowing the companies to make their own electricity, which was my idea, which nobody, frankly, had thought of. These massive plants that are being built are building their own electric generating plants along with the plant itself. And that gives them all the electric they need without going to an old grid that's, you know, 150 years old. And-- they're makin' it-- themselves, and then they're selling back any excess electricity into the grid, so we benefit in all ways. But most importantly, it allows the c-- the companies to go immediately forward. We're getting-- approvals done in two and three weeks. It used to take 20 years. And we are leading the AI race right now by a lot. We are leading it by numbers that people have no idea. It's been-- it's been really great. We've been very, very far-reaching for it-- th-- look, that's the new internet. That's the new everything all put together. The AI race is a big deal. NORAH O'DONNELL: Mr. President, you just negotiated this one-year trade deal with China-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yep. NORAH O'DONNELL: But as you know, the Chinese, they think in a hundred years. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure. NORAH O'DONNELL: They play the long game, including on our own soil. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We play the long game too. NORAH O'DONNELL: Our own intelligence agencies say the Chinese have infiltrated parts of the American power grid and our water systems. They steal American intellectual property and Americans' personal information. They bought American farmland. How big of a threat is China? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's like everybody else. We're a threat to them too. Many of the things that you say, we do to them. Look, this is a very competitive world, especially when it comes to China and the U.S. And-- we're always watching them, and they're always watching us. In the meantime, I think we get along very well, and I think it's-- I think we can be bigger, better, and stronger by working with them as opposed to just-- knocking them out-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Hmm. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --of the economy. They can produce things that we don't want to produce because it's not really worth our while-- making-- undergarments, makin' this-- you know, certain things. We don't want to do that, and we can buy them inexpensively from other places in the world while we can lead the world in AI, and chips, and lots of other things. Within-- two years from now, we'll have 40% or 50% of the chip market. What's happening here, the biggest companies are leaving Taiwan. They're coming into the United States because of tariffs. If we didn't have tariffs, they wouldn't be doing it because-- NORAH O'DONNELL: In how many years? You think we'll be producing-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think in two years, we'll start opening up plants and we'll have a very substantial portion of the chip market. Right now we have almost none. We should have had a hundred percent. If we had par-- if we had presidents that knew anything about business or knew what they were doing, because, frankly, they didn't. We lost 50% of our automobile business. It's all coming back. We lost a hundred percent of the chip-- you know, it used to be all Intel and other companies. And what happened is other countries came in, and they stole our chip business, and we didn't charge tariffs. If we would have charged let's say a 100% tariff, none of those companies would have left. But they all left. Now they're all coming back, Norah, because the only way they avoid the tariffs is to build in our country. If they build in our country, make their plant and make their product in our country, then it's a very simple thing. They-- they don't have any tariff to pay. NORAH O'DONNELL: Uh-huh. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And that's what they want to do. And so instead of charging somebody a 100% tariff and you can make your product outside, they come in, and they make-- and this is why we have $17 trillion being invested in the United States right now. By the time it-- it-- just to show you how big that is, it's the biggest in history by many times. No other country's been any-- seen anything like it. The Biden administration in four years did less than a trillion. We have 17 trillion-- more than $17 trillion right now, and I'm in my ninth month. By the time we finish up, I think we're gonna have over $20 trillion invested in the United States or to be invested in the United States-- NORAH O'DONNELL: How will that trickle down to the average worker? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because of jobs, because they're building plants. W-- we're bringing back the auto industry into our country. We lost 58% of the automobile manufacturing business to other countries. You know, we used to be the king of automobile and automobile manufacturing, and now we're not really the king anymore, you know? Within a year and a half, two years, we're gonna be the king again. We're gonna-- the-- the-- as an example, I was also in Japan, as you know, and South Korea. We had-- the biggest Japanese companies are investing billions of dollars in building auto plants in the United States. If I weren't elected-- if I weren't elected, we would be losing all of these jobs. We would be losing far more of the auto industry. We would be nowhere in chips. Our country would have been bankrupt, and we would have had a bigger welfare roll. They would have expanded welfare and forgotten about everything else. Now we're building a country that's gonna be so strong, I don't know if you saw the last numbers in terms of employment. They're all non-government jobs. Not just government. Government jobs are easy. I could-- I could immediately inc-- do anything I want with government jobs. I'd just say, "We're gonna add up-- we're gonna add on a million government jobs," and you're gonna say, "Oh, what wonderful numbers." They don't mean anything. We are building jobs at a level that nobody's ever seen before. But when all of these plants that are currently under construction and to be under construction, when they open, we're gonna have an economy like our country has never seen before, the strongest economy in the world. We're doing very well. By the way, the stock market just hit-- perfect timing for your show, just hit an all-time high. It's hit an all-time high 48 times during the course of my-- nine-month period. But just yesterday, the stock market hit an all-time high. We're doing really well, and everybody knows it-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Can I ask-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Let's put it this way-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Can I-- can I ask you-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The smart people know it. NORAH O'DONNELL: Uh-huh. Can I ask you, Mr. President-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The smart people definitely-- NORAH O'DONNELL: --on that point, though? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. NORAH O'DONNELL: When the stock market is doing well, that doesn't affect everybody. Not everybody's invested in the stock market-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It does. Oh, it does, it does. NORAH O'DONNELL: But there have been-- grocery prices are up-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look, 401(k)s. People have 401(k)s. Their 401(k)s are double what they were a year ago. NORAH O'DONNELL: Uh-huh. But for people that don't have 401(k)s, who are not invested in the stock market-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure. But-- but-- NORAH O'DONNELL: --they've seen their grocery prices go up, inflation-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, you're wrong. They went up under Biden. Right now they're going down. Other than beef, which we're working on, which we can solve very quickly. So the beef-- the ranchers have really taken a drubbing over a 30-year period. Because of what I've done, the ranchers have done well. But with that, the beef price went up a little bit. We're gonna get the beef price down very quickly. It'll be very nice, just like eggs. When I first took over, eggs were double, triple, quadruple what they were. This was because of Biden. All of these problems were caused by Biden, whether it's-- the people that came into our country through jails. I mean, they were released from jails. They were lease-- released from mental institutions into our country. These problems are caused by Biden. We had an open border. Now we have a border that's, as you know, absolutely shut other than-- NORAH O'DONNELL: How-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --people are allowed to come into our country, but they have to come in legally. NORAH O'DONNELL: I do want to talk about immigration and some other- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure. NORAH O'DONNELL: --domestic issues. But just-- if we could stay on China for just a moment-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure. NORAH O'DONNELL: One potential flash point with China, probably the potential flash point with China in the coming years, is over the issue of Taiwan. The Chinese military is encroaching on Taiwan's sea lanes, its airspace, its cyberspace. I know you have said that Xi Jinping wouldn't dare move militarily on Taiwan while you're in office. But what if he does? Would you order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You'll find out if it happens. And he understands the answer to that. NORAH O'DONNELL: Why not say it-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This never even came up yesterday, as a subject. He never brought it up. People were a little surprised at that. He never brought it up, because he understands it, and he understands it very well. Taiwan is a very interesting case. It's 69 miles away from China. We're 9,500 miles away. But that doesn't matter. He understands-- what will happen. He and I have spoken about it. But it was never even brought up during a two and a ha-- or two-and-a-half-hour meeting we had yesterday. NORAH O'DONNELL: Do you mind if I ask, when you say, "He understands," why not communicate that publicly to the rest of us? What does he understand that-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I don't want to give away-- I can't give away my secrets. I don't want to be one of these guys that tells you exactly what's gonna happen if something happens. The other side knows, but-- I'm not somebody that tells you everything because you're askin' me a question. But they understand what's gonna happen. And-- he has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, "We would never do anything while President Trump is president," because they know the consequences. NORAH O'DONNELL: Less than an hour before your meeting with President Xi, you posted on social media that you instructed the, quote, Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That's right. NORAH O'DONNELL: --immediately. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah-- NORAH O'DONNELL: What did you mean? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we have more nuclear weapons than any other country. Russia's second. China's a very distant third, but they'll be even in five years. You know, they're makin' 'em rapidly, and I think we should do something about denuclearization, which is gonna be some-- and I did actually discuss that with both President Putin and President Xi. Denuclearization's a very big thing. We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times. Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot. They have some. They have quite a bit, but-- NORAH O'DONNELL: So why do we need to test-- NORAH O'DONNELL: --our nuclear weapons? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, because you have to see how they work. You know, you do have to-- and the reason I'm saying-- testing is because Russia announced that they were gonna be doing a test. If you notice, North Korea's testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We're the only country that doesn't test, and I wanna be-- I don't wanna be the only country that doesn't test. We have tremendous nuclear power that was given to us largely because when I was president (and I hated to do it, but you have to do it)-- I rebuilt the military during my first term. My first term was a tremendous success. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. But my second term is blowing it away. It's blowing it away when you look at the numbers, the stock market, the jobs. Look at the job numbers, how good they've been. And, again, I have costs down. Remember, Biden gave me the worst inflation rate in the history of our country-- NORAH O'DONNELL: I-- I w-- definitely want to talk about the economy, but I just want to make s-- sure we-- we button up this issue-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure. NORAH O'DONNELL: --on nuclear weapons. And I want to clarify this-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure. NORAH O'DONNELL: Are you saying that after more than 30 years, the United States is going to start detonating nuclear weapons for testing? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm saying that we're going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes. NORAH O'DONNELL: But the only country that's testing nuclear weapons is North Korea. China and Russia are not-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, Russia's-- no, no. Russia's testing nuclear weapons-- NORAH O'DONNELL: So my understanding-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And China's testing 'em too. You just don't know about it. NORAH O'DONNELL: That would be certainly very newsworthy. My understanding is what Russia did recently was test essentially the-- delivery systems for nuclear weapons, essentially missiles, which we can do that but w-- not with nuclear warheads- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Russia's testing, and China's testing, but they don't talk about it. You know, we're a open society. We're different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are gonna report-- they don't have reporters that gonna be writing about it. We do. No, we're gonna test, because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea's been testing. Pakistan's been testing. NORAH O'DONNELL: Not nuclear weapons, is my understanding-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Of course they have-- NORAH O'DONNELL: North Korea has, but not nuclear weapons-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But they don't go and tell you about it. And, you know, as powerful as they are, this is a big world. You don't necessarily know where they're testing. They-- they test way under-- underground where people don't know exactly what's happening with the test. You feel a little bit of a vibration. They test and we don't test. We have to test. And Russia did make-- a little bit of a threat the other day when they said they were gonna do certain forms of a different level of testing. But Russia tests, China-- and China does test, and we're gonna test also. NORAH O'DONNELL: So we are going to-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Doesn't it sorta make sense? You know, you make-- you make nuclear weapons, and then you don't test. How are you gonna do that? How are you gonna know if they work? We have to do that-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Apparently, we don't need to test our nuclear weapons, 'cause they're the best in the world, according to experts I've spoken with-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: According to me. We have the best, and I was the one that renovated them and built them during a four-year period. And I hated to do it, because the destructive capability is something you don't even wanna talk about. But if other people are gonna have 'em, we're gonna have to have 'em. And if we have 'em, we have to test 'em, otherwise you don't really know how they're gonna work. And we don't wanna ever use them. And in the meantime, I've solved eight wars. I knocked out eight wars. I had eight wars-- I brought a little list for you if you'd like to see it-- but I took eight wars and stopped during an eight-month period, during eight months. Before the ninth month I stopped eight wars. The only one I haven't been successful yet in, and-- and that'll happen, is Russia Ukraine, which I thought actually would be the easiest one because I have a very good relationship with President Putin. But-- we are respected again as a country, and that's the way I've been able to stop the wars. I also stopped them because of trade. NORAH O'DONNELL: Who's tougher to deal with, Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Both tough. Both smart. Both-- look, they're both very strong leaders. These are people not to be toyed with. These are people you have to take very serious. They're not-- they're not walking in saying, "Oh, isn't it a beautiful day? Look how beautiful. The sun is shining, it's so nice." These are serious people. These are people that are tough, smart leaders. NORAH O'DONNELL: And on that note, you talk about Ukraine, that being the one war that you are not able to solve. In August, I mean, you rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin in-- Alaska. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I roll out the red carpet for everybody. NORAH O'DONNELL: Okay. But is-- but there's been no ceasefire-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think I made-- yes, there isn't-- NORAH O'DONNELL: What's —is he ignoring you? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --because he thinks-- because I inherited a country where he thinks he's winning. That was a war that would've never happened if I was president. He even said that. That was a war that would've never happened. Joe Biden was the president. Joe Biden gave $350 billion to Ukraine, including a lot of weapons, a tremendous amount of weapons, which allowed them to fight, 'cause we make the best weapons in the world. You know, I rebuilt our military during my first term. They used a lotta those weapons in that war. We make the best weapons in the world. Now we make even better weapons. But that was-- NORAH O'DONNELL: So why won't Putin end this war? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because he thinks he's winning. And-- and I think he probably is winning. And he's a very smart man. He's a very cunning man. And I said to him, "I will not let this war end." I said, "You have to end it." And I said, "If you don't end it, you know what will happen to you. You'll have a very bad life." But I said, "You have to end it." NORAH O'DONNELL: What would you do to him? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm not gonna tell you. But I can tell you it would be very bad. I have a very good relationship with him. I probably, on a personal basis, have a better relationship with him than anybody else, because I got along with him, even when I was fighting him on trade and on everything else. NORAH O'DONNELL: Would you give him the whole Donbas region and Crimea? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look, I'm not gonna say what I'm gonna do. I don't wanna give away my secrets. NORAH O'DONNELL: But you'd cut off U.S. aid to Ukraine? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would do what's right. I would give them what they need, but I wouldn't give them all the things they need for an extended period of time, because I want 'em to get to the table. This is very simple. I want 'em to get to the table and make a deal. And if they don't make a deal, the deal will be made for 'em. And it'll be a very fair deal. NORAH O'DONNELL: You are getting ready to choose your vice president. What's the number one quality you're looking for? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm looking for a smart person. I'm looking for a nice person. And I'm looking for somebody that really gets along well with me. The person, to a certain extent, has to be me. NORAH O'DONNELL: Someone that could step in on day one if they needed to? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look, they're all great. We have great people. They're all great. But I'm looking for somebody that can, if necessary, step in and take over. I have a lot of really good people. I have a lot of brilliant people. NORAH O'DONNELL: Governor Ron DeSantis? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Ron DeSantis is a good person. He was very loyal to me, and he's been very good. I'd consider him. NORAH O'DONNELL: Mike Pompeo? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Mike Pompeo's a good person. Mike's done very well. I'd consider him. NORAH O'DONNELL: Senator Tim Scott? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Tim Scott's a good person. Tim's done very well. I'd consider him. NORAH O'DONNELL: Nikki Haley? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nikki Haley's a good person. I haven't talked to her in a while, but she's done very well. I'd consider her. NORAH O'DONNELL: Ben Carson? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Ben Carson's a great person. I've been with him, actually, two nights ago. Ben Carson's a tremendous person. I'd consider him. NORAH O'DONNELL: Would you consider Robert F. Kennedy Jr. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. I think so, yeah. NORAH O'DONNELL: And this issue of potential land strikes in Venezuela, is that true? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't tell you that. I mean-- I'm not saying it's true or untrue, but I-- you know, I wouldn't-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Why would we do it? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I wouldn't be inclined to say that I would do that. But-- because I don't talk to a reporter about whether or not I'm gonna strike. I'm not gonna-- you know, you're a wonderful reporter, you're very talented, but I'm not gonna tell you what I'm gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it or if I wasn't going to do it. NORAH O'DONNELL: Why do we need an aircraft carrier and all of group--strike group-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's gotta be somewhere. It's a big one. NORAH O'DONNELL: I just think it-- it leads to the suggestion that the United States military is planning a larger operation involving Venezuela. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we're not gonna allow countries from-- what-- you know, it's countries from all over the world coming in. You know, they come in from the Congo where we just settled that war. But it come-- they come in from the Congo, they come in from all over the world, they're coming, not just from South America. But we have to be very careful. You know, it's a very dangerous world, and we're respected again. They respect the United States again. They didn't respect the United States. They didn't even respect Joe Biden. They only respected him because they didn't want him to get up outta bed. And it was horrible. I mean, it was really bad. It was an embarrassment. What they did to him-- the way they treated him, the way they treated him was terrible. NORAH O'DONNELL: You know, it's interesting, you say, "They respect the United States again," because our allies feel that you don't respect them. The leaders of Great Britain and Canada-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think they do. And I'm gonna tell you, I have a very good relationship with Great Britain. I have a very good relationship with a lotta people. But I have to be very strict. I have to be very tough. I have to be very smart. And I am. NORAH O'DONNELL: They say you have a transactional foreign policy. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I do. And it's better than whatever the hell they have. It's better than a foreign policy where they rip us off. NATO-- they weren't paying. I went to them, and I said, "You gotta pay." And they did pay. NORAH O'DONNELL: Yeah. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: In fact, I did it twice. I did it during my first term, and I said, "You gotta pay your bills." And they said, "No, we're not." I said, "Then we're not gonna protect you." And they paid. And they said, "Well, we're not gonna do it anymore." And I went back. And then I went back again. And they paid. And now they're paying, and they have $500 billion more coming in. So what's wrong with transactional? NORAH O'DONNELL: Nothing. If it's good for the U.S. taxpayers. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it is. It's good for everybody, because they were living off of the wealth of the United States. And they were living off of our protection. NORAH O'DONNELL: Do you think of yourself as an isolationist? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know what you call me. I'm a person that likes to deal. I'm a person that likes to be fair. And I think that's why they respect me, and I think that's why they pay. I think they respect me, and they know I'm very tough. And I'm very fair. And I've always been fair. And by the way, I was the first president to take out, on my own, the leaders of ISIS, who was a great leader, Al-Baghdadi. Nobody talks about that. We took 'em out in the world. And you know what I did? In Washington, D.C., we had a lot of 'em. We took care of business. They're gone. Washington, D.C., right now is a very safe place, as it should be. Washington, D.C., be-- before I got here was almost like a crime capital of the world. It's the capital of this country. To me, it's the capital of the world. You see the way they treat me. I go to Japan, I go to South Korea, I go to Chi-- any place I go, and you know what I call that? Respect for our country. They didn't treat Biden that way. When Biden went there-- first of all, he hardly went anywhere. Guy couldn't leave his bedroom. NORAH O'DONNELL: You took out the leader of ISIS, Al-Baghdadi, but you also took out the leader of al-Qaeda, Zawahiri. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yep. I took out Zawahiri. I took out-- NORAH O'DONNELL: You killed him with a Hellfire missile. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yep. The most advanced thing in the world, that missile. And I took out a lotta people. And I was very proud of that. I gotta be honest, I was very proud of that. And they sent me these incredible pictures and videos of the raid. I had the men come down, a lot of 'em. And they told me something I didn't know. They said, "Sir, for 22 years we've been practicing this route. Our predecessors," obviously, before them-- but "our predecessors and ourselves, for 22 years we've been practicing this hit, three times a year, every year, for 22 years. And you were the only president that let us do our job." I said, "Let me ask you. Is this a job you wanted to do?" "Yes, sir, 'cause it was the right thing." These are really brave people. These are really amazing people, and talented people. When you can hit at midnight with no moon, with no vision, every single air shaft, where that bomb went deep into that mountain and exploded and beat the hell out of it, I'll tell you what, they deserve to come to the White House. I gave 'em all a medal. They deserve to come to the White House. And it was a pleasure to meet 'em. These are great people. We have great people in this country. NORAH O'DONNELL: Mr. President, we've talked about foreign policy, now let's focus on issues here at home-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, sure. NORAH O'DONNELL: --some of that you have already mentioned. We are now approaching the longest shutdown in American history. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Democrats' fault. NORAH O'DONNELL: Under your presidency, we're talking about more than-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait. Wait, wait, wait. The shutdown, actually, from a poll standpoint, was good for him, but the polls are turning around because-- not turning around. I just saw a poll where they're down 20-25%. What's happening is the people understand they're losing so much, they call it Trump derangement syndrome. They are losing so much that they don't know what to do. They've lost their way. They've become crazed lunatics. And all they have to do, Norah, is say, "Let's vote." And you can open the-- the economy could open up during our interview-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Is there something you can do, though-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Maybe it did. NORAH O'DONNELL: Is there something you can do-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: All I can do-- NORAH O'DONNELL: --to bring this to an end? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --is give the facts. Here's what I can't do. I can't give them $1.5 trillion so that they can give welfare to people that came into our country illegally. So that prisoners, and that people from mental institutions, and people that are drug dealers get vast amounts of money for healthcare. That I can't do-- NORAH O'DONNELL: So my under-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What I can do is I can continue to run a great country. We have the best economy we've ever had. I can continue to do that. What they should do-- NORAH O'DONNELL: But you could direct your cabinet secretaries to-- to work on this, and-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They are. They are. But the fact is, the Democrats, all they have to do is raise their hands. If they raise their hands, it's all over. They're making a mistake. It's a disaster for them, but it's much more of a disaster for the country. I mean, they're killing the economy. They're killing the great success that we're having. They're killing the whole thing. And all they have to do is vote. They're doing it to fight for a person that they really don't even like. I'm sorry, I have a very large base. NORAH O'DONNELL: And do you have a plan to end the shutdown? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have a plan to end it tomorrow. All they have to do is raise their hand. It'll be over. Then we'll deal with the Democrats, and we'll fix it. But they have to let the country-- and you know what they have to do-- NORAH O'DONNELL: So your plan-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: All they have to do is raise five hands. We don't need all of 'em. NORAH O'DONNELL: But so you're saying your plan is to tell the Democrats to vote the-- to end the shutdown. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Correct, very simple. NORAH O'DONNELL: And that you will put forward a healthcare plan? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. We will work on fixing the bad healthcare that we have. Right now, we have terrible healthcare and too expensive for the people, not for the government, but for the people. We can fix it. I can fix it for much less money and much better healthcare. NORAH O'DONNELL: But you need a Senate. You need a functioning Senate to pass anything. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have a functioning Senate. We have a functioning Senate that's really working hard. But a lot of them aren't very smart. NORAH O'DONNELL: But-- so it's the Republicans that are-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think we have a lotta good people. But we had a lot of bad people that were here when I got here. You know, I inherited all of these people that would-- you know, if you remember, the one vote on healthcare, we almost had it done, except for the one gentleman. And it was a catastrophe. And it was-- so many people in the Republican Party were thrilled with it. Now wait. Had they approved it, I think just one of 'em, had they been able to get those votes, you would have had the nuclear option used. You would have had the filibuster ended, and the Democrats would have used it. So I say to the Republicans that want to be, you know, all like, "Oh, well, we-- you know, we're above all that," the Democrats will do it. See, the Republicans have much better policy. We have smart policy. We have great policy. That's how we win. The Democrats are vicious. They're vicious. They have horrible policy, but they are the most vicious human beings on Earth. They are people that weaponize government. They do a lotta bad things. NORAH O'DONNELL: Can I ask you about-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --the good thing is, from our standpoint, from the standpoint of the country, is that they're stupid. They're very stupid. NORAH O'DONNELL: I just want to button up the issue of the border, because one of the things that you campaigned on was this issue of immigration and illegal immigration. And now we see a number of raids in this country. More recently, Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. I think they haven't gone far enough because we've been held back by the-- by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama. We've been held-- NORAH O'DONNELL: You're okay with those tactics? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, because you have to get the people out. You know, you have to look at the people. Many of them are murderers. Many of them are people that were thrown outta their countries because they were, you know, criminals. Many of them are people from jails and prisons. Many of them are people from frankly mental institutions. I feel badly about that, but they're released from insane asylums. You know why? Because they're killers. NORAH O'DONNELL: Well, you promised in your campaign that you were going to deport the worst of the worst, violent criminals-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That's what I'm-- oh we're doin' that-- NORAH O'DONNELL: --rapists. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, that's what we're doing-- NORAH O'DONNELL: But a lot of the people that your administration has arrested and deported aren't violent criminals. Landscapers, nannies, construction workers. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They're criminals, because they came into the country illegally. Now, what I said is, we're gonna start off with the bad ones, and then we'll start going to the other ones. That's what I said. The one thing that I said that was most important is the people that came into the country illegally, you're gonna go out. That's what I said. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have to start off with a policy, and the policy has to be you came into the country illegally, you're gonna go out. However, you've also seen, you're gonna go out. We're gonna work with you, and you're gonna come back into our country legally. Because we have a lotta good people. We have some great people. But, you know, the problem we have, and people don't like talking about-- these are very-- NORAH O'DONNELL: But there isn't-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --wait. These are very smart countries. Their leaders are very smart. They're very street-wise. They might not have gone to the finest schools, but they're very street-wise. They want-- they don't want, they have good people. They want people that are bad out. So they, what do they do? They open their jails. They let 'em out. They get rid of their drug dealers. They let 'em out. But you know who else they get out? The people that are on welfare that aren't working. In other words, they have people that just don't work. They don't want people that just don't work, so they put them into our country. NORAH O'DONNELL: But if someone has been in this-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And we've accepted all of these people because of Biden's open border policy where people would walk in totally unchecked and unvetted. Now they're totally checked, totally vetted, and they come in legally, and they're good people. NORAH O'DONNELL: So you believe that the people being arrested now-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Some of them are stone-cold hard criminals. When I look at D.C. now, you can walk down the middle of the street. You can have your daughter who's ten years old meet you at the park. She's gonna be okay. NORAH O'DONNELL: In certain parts of D.C.-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: She woulda been murdered. Well, I-- in almost-- NORAH O'DONNELL: I live in D.C. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, you tell me-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Certain parts of D.C. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: How big a difference is D.C. now compared to what it was a year ago? NORAH O'DONNELL: There are still areas of D.C. that are not safe. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: There are some. I agree. But it's much, much safer than it was a year ago. NORAH O'DONNELL: You've also been accused of weaponizing the Department of Justice to go after your political opponents. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Weaponizing the-- NORAH O'DONNELL: James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and others. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. You know what I did? Look, Comey lied to Congress. He did a lot of bad things. He also got away with it because he was never indicted. But I actually went after him because I thought he was a dirty cop. I thought he was a low-life. I thought he was dishonest. And I was right. In fact, one of the judges, I won an incredible amount of money, millions of dollars in a lawsuit that I didn't even wanna do anything wrong on. And the judge just overturned the-- the decision. So and then you-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Have you-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Wait, wait, wait. And then you tell me about me. Just so you understand, you say I went after these people. These people are bad people. They're dishonest people. NORAH O'DONNELL: No, I was just asking, is it political retribution-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And Comey's a dirty cop. Look, Comey's known as a dirty cop. I'm not known as a dirty person. They indicted me many times, indicted me. They were after me. I'm lookin' at you now. I'm President of the United States. I went through numerous indictments and two impeachments. And you tell me that I went after people? These people are dishonest. Look. Biden didn't have a clue. He illegally used, as you know, a machine, the autopen in order to give pardons to people. The only pardon he signed it looks like was his son, Hunter. He signed Hunter's, so, "Hunter, you're free, con-- congratulations, Hunter." But everyone else, I think those pardons are all just, were just a waste of time. Those pardons-- NORAH O'DONNELL: My understanding is the White House said the pardons are all legally executed. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, they're not legally executed. And what about me? You think it was right that they had 78 or 98 FBI agents with arms-- NORAH O'DONNELL: I know how you-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --come into my house. And you're telling me, Norah, that I went after some low-life named Comey, who's judged to be a crooked guy. He lied all over the place. He lied to Congress and did many other bad things. NORAH O'DONNELL: But I was just asking, has this-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: For that, you should be ashamed. NORAH O'DONNELL: No, no. I was just asking, is this-- is this retribution on your part? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, it's the opposite. I think I've been very mild-mannered. You're looking at a man who was indicted many times, and I had to beat the rap. Otherwise I couldn't have run for president. They tried to get me not to run for president by going after me and by indicting me. But even during my term, on a perfect phone call, I got impeached. This call was perfect. Tim Scott, from South Carolina, highly respected, a legitimate person totally legit, he read the tran-- thank goodness we had a transcript of the call. NORAH O'DONNELL: My understanding is that the transcript was-- was an edited transcript. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It wasn't edited. It was a perfect transcript. You know what? It wasn't edited. It was perfect. Tim Scott said the transcript was perfect. So you can't go after me, because I won very easily as you know. But you can't then accuse me of weaponizing government. They were horrible human beings. They went after the President of the United States. They went after my children. They went into my wife's-- drawers. NORAH O'DONNELL: I know-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They went into my wife's closets. They held the dresses up. She came back. She said, "Oh, what happened? What happened?" 'Cause she's a very meticulous person. Everything's nice and neat. NORAH O'DONNELL: I've heard you talk about it. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: All of a sudden, everything's, like, they went into my office. They took things that I was allowed to have file-- under the Presidential Records Act that I was allowed to have. I had records. I was allowed to have 'em. Only the president's allowed, but I was-- and it was nothing very significant anyway. There was, like, nothing. Wait, just one second. They opened these-- I'm a very meticulous person too. I have files, beautiful. They took the files, threw 'em all over the phone-- all over the floor. They were all over the floor-- and they took pictures of 'em. This is my office. I said, "What the hell? That's not my office." They took files, they-- NORAH O'DONNELL: You've talked about John Bolton, your former National Security Advisor. You said he's a nut job. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He is a nut job. NORAH O'DONNELL: But you let him in your cabinet. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I had him for a short period of time. I let him leave. And actually, Bolton helped me 'cause every time somebody saw Bolton standing behind me, foreign countries, they conceded. You know why they conceded? 'Cause they said, "Bolton's a nut job. Trump is gonna take us to war." But I don't listen to people that are stupid. Go ahead. NORAH O'DONNELL: And I know my time is-- is limited with you so I want to be respectful of-- of you, Mr. President. The issue of political violence I want to get to, because you were nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yup. NORAH O'DONNELL: Charlie Kirk. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yup. NORAH O'DONNELL: Was assassinated. Pennsylvania Governor, Josh Shapiro's house was firebombed. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Uh-huh. NORAH O'DONNELL: Minnesota lawmaker murdered. What's your message to those on the left and the right who would seek to commit acts of violence? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think primarily on the left. A little bit of both, but I think primarily on the left. I think they have to tone it down. I think they have to approve the shutdown so it's not shut down. I think it's very bad what they're doing. They're hurting people. You know, if you think about it, if people aren't gonna get paid, there're gonna be, you know, a lot of angry people out there. They want to get their food. They want to-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Is there a sense of a breaking point for Americans? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. There is a sense of a breaking point that the Democrats don't want to open the country. The Republicans have approved to open the country. I wanna open the country. The Democrats don't wanna open the country because they think they have leverage. And they really don't have leverage, because-- NORAH O'DONNELL: I wonder if we're at a breaking point? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --the Republicans can't be extorted in order to ruin our country. NORAH O'DONNELL: Do you feel like we're at a breaking point? Given everything that you-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. NORAH O'DONNELL: --just said? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. It's been much worse. NORAH O'DONNELL: Because you-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, over-- over history? NORAH O'DONNELL: Well. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's been much worse. NORAH O'DONNELL: Sure, but the political violence that, you know, we just outlined. The number of-- of members of people in public that have been targeted-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, that's-- that's a different question. Yeah, I think-- NORAH O'DONNELL: --that have been targeted. And then I just read that there's now a number of your cabinet secretaries and aides who are now living on military bases. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. Usually when people talk they-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Is it for their safety? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, it's what they do, and I'm not gonna say. But, I mean, I think that they're safe. They're good. They're protected. I have the best Secret Service, best military in the world. I mean, they're great. NORAH O'DONNELL: Are you concerned about your safety? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I'm concerned about everything. But, I mean, I'm protected. NORAH O'DONNELL: You've talked a lot about media and the media not being fair. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think I'm treated much better. I think I'm treated much better. I think what you're doing is very fair. I think it's a very fair interview. But I think there are certain networks that just don't wanna be fair. And all they have to do is be fair. All they have to do is be accurate. But when I give them something, they don't even use it. I'll give 'em a story and they'll have it. Even my trip with China, it was so successful. But of all, the Wall Street Journal, they said, Trump Lowers Tariffs. That was the headline. Trump Lowers Tariffs. That wasn't what happened. I lowered tariff-- tariffs in order to get everything that anybody could possibly dream of. The point wasn't lowering tariffs. I put up a high number, I cut it, and I got everything. And yet the headline in the Wall Street Journal, beautiful picture of myself and President Xi, everything nice. But the headline was Trump Lowers Tariffs. NORAH O'DONNELL: I think that was a factual statement. You did lower the tariffs. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But the point is, I got everything I wanted. I got the rare earth. I got everything. So, I mean, sometimes they just don't wanna do the right thing. NORAH O'DONNELL: But you just don't like the emphasis, is that what you're saying? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't like the spin. I like the truth. I like to be accurate. NORAH O'DONNELL: Do you think Leslie Stahl, who did an interview with you for 60 Minutes-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Who's a great person. But 60 Minutes was forced to pay me-- a lot of money because they took her answer out that was so bad, it was election-changing, two nights before the election. And they put a new answer in. And they paid me a lot of money for that. You can't have fake news. You've gotta have legit news. And I think that it's happening. I see-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Mr. President-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --I see good things happening in the news. I really do. And I think one of the best things to happen is this show and new ownership, CBS and new ownership. I think it's the greatest thing that's happened in a long time to a free and open and good press. NORAH O'DONNELL: I want to ask you about the economy one more time, because, you know, we have discussed that there are still areas where people feel pain. We were talking about groceries, we were talking about beef-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We-- I inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country. We don't have infl-- we're down to 2%, even less than 2%. A couple of items like beef I'm getting down. But our groceries are down-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Healthcare-- healthcare premiums? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I can fix healthcare, give them better healthcare for less money. Obamacare is-- is hurting people. Obamacare was a disaster from day one. I can fix it and make it good. I'd really rather start with a fresh plate, but if it's-- if it's required to keep it, we can make it much better. But it's bad healthcare, and they're gonna get big increases, and that has nothing to do with me. That has to do with the fact that it was originally put into play. It's a shame. But we can make it better. Energy is way down. You know, you're gonna have $2 gasoline very soon. Nobody could believe it. You were at $4, $5, $6, and even $7. Look at the cost of gasoline in California. What it was, I brought it down. The problem is when I bring it down here in California they put more tax. They-- they tax the gasoline to such an extent. No, we're in great shape. This country is in great shape. We're ready to really rock. As I say often-- NORAH O'DONNELL: Are you-- are you-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: --we were a dead country. We're a living country. We're a vibrant country. We're a country that's doing really well. NORAH O'DONNELL: Are you concerned about anything, Mr. President? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I worry about everything, you know? I mean, you know, I'm a worrier. I worry. But you know what I do? I worry and then I fix it. I fix it. That way I don't have to worry. NORAH O'DONNELL: There's a lotta money behind AI-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, there's a lotta money. And right now I'm taking advantage of it, because we're leading AI. You know, we're leading it by a lot. China's in second place, but we're leading it by a lot. We have the greatest minds of any country anywhere in the world, and we're using that. I'm using those great minds to help us. Now, will something happen later? I guess, you know, something. But it could also be a very, very great thing. It can be a massive great thing. NORAH O'DONNELL: Will you make it illegal to use AI to generate child pornography? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, that's already illegal, I believe, right? But if it's not, we'll make it illegal, and we'll have a very big penalty for it. But I don't think they're doing that. I think they're being stopped by the people that are making it. NORAH O'DONNELL: Well, they're not always being stopped. And I just wanted to ask you that-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. We will make it very, very illegal. I agree with you. That's a bad one. We'll make it very illegal, and it'll have very big penalties. NORAH O'DONNELL: And is your administration trying to do something to stop the abuse of generative AI for things like misinformation? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. We're trying to stop all of it. We're trying to stop all the bad things. But we also want it to be a massive success, because I think it's gonna be a tremendous weapon. And I think it's also gonna be a tremendous product, in terms of life and life forms and everything else. It's gonna be great. NORAH O'DONNELL: Will you promise to make all of your generative AI use identifiable to the public? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm not gonna say I'll promise anything. I'm just gonna say that I'm gonna be a very fair, very honest person, and I'm gonna do a great job. And I think the public is gonna like it. NORAH O'DONNELL: But I'm talking about for things like deepfakes and misinformation. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don't think there's been any misinformation from me. I think there's been a lot of misinformation about me. NORAH O'DONNELL: There have been a number of reports about you and generative AI. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. I think you're gonna find that I'm gonna be the most honest president that we've ever had. And I think that's why they like me. I think that's why the polls are so high. NORAH O'DONNELL: You would be in favor of a law, though, that would make deepfakes illegal? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'd be in favor of anything that's good. And I don't like the bad stuff. And I think that we're gonna have a very good system that's gonna allow them to use it for the good, but not for the bad. NORAH O'DONNELL: There was a deepfake that showed you being arrested in New York City. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I saw it. I saw it. And people, you know, they laughed. They laughed. But it's bad. I agree. It's bad. I think it should be stopped. I think it should be a severe penalty for people that are doing that, because it is unfair. It is dishonest. NORAH O'DONNELL: You've called yourself the greatest president of all time. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. I didn't say that. I said I've done more in the first nine months than any president. I think I did more than any president in history, to be honest. NORAH O'DONNELL: But what's the greatest thing you've done? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The greatest thing I've done, I think, is bringing jobs back, bringing manufacturing back, bringing the economy back, and being respected again. I think that's the greatest thing I've done. NORAH O'DONNELL: What about the Middle East, the peace deals-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The peace deals, the Middle East. I mean, nobody talks about that. We had peace in the Middle East. We had the Abraham Accords. I had, you know, many countries signed up. Nobody talks about it. NORAH O'DONNELL: Why not? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. The fake news doesn't want to talk about it. But the fact is, the Abraham Accords was an incredible thing. NORAH O'DONNELL: But you didn't have a deal between Israel and the Palestinians. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I was gonna have it. I was working on it. I was very close to it. In fact, when I made the deal with the Emirates, they said, "We'll do it if you do the deal with Israel and the Palestinians." I said, "I'll do it. It's gonna take me about six months." I was about four months into it when the election took place. NORAH O'DONNELL: And you were willing to give them East Jerusalem? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I was willing to give them a lot of things. I was willing to give 'em a lot. But I wasn't willing to give 'em everything. I was gonna make a fair deal. And I think it would have happened. NORAH O'DONNELL: And you believe that there is no two-state solution? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think a two-state solution is very difficult. I think a one-state solution is very difficult. I think they're both very difficult. I think the best solution is the one I was working on, which was a deal that was fair to both sides. NORAH O'DONNELL: You've been very critical of the Federal Reserve. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I've been critical of them because they've been very political. I think they've been very, very political. And I think they're hurting our country. NORAH O'DONNELL: You think they're keeping interest rates high to hurt you? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think they are. I think they're keeping them high to hurt me. I think they're keeping them high to hurt the economy. I think they're keeping them high because they don't like me. NORAH O'DONNELL: And you would fire Jerome Powell? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm not gonna say who I'm gonna fire. I'm just gonna say that I'm gonna be a very fair, very honest person, and I'm gonna do a great job. NORAH O'DONNELL: If you were to fire him, there would be a lot of turmoil in the markets. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: There wouldn't be turmoil. There would be happiness. There would be a great thing. The markets would go up like a rocket ship. NORAH O'DONNELL: Your predecessor, you're critical of him, you've said that he illegally signed some pardons. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He did. He did. And he did it with a machine, the autopen. The autopen. And they're not legally executed. And the only one that he signed was his son, Hunter. NORAH O'DONNELL: And you answered-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't mind. Did I let you do it? I coulda walked away. I didn't have to answer this question. I'm proud to answer the question. You know why? We've taken crypto-- NORAH O'DONNELL: But just generally speak-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me. We're number one in crypto in the whole world. Other people wanna be. They're fighting like hell to be. But we're number one in crypto because I'm the president. Biden wanted to also, at the very end, you know, he totally switched his thing. You know, Biden was totally in favor of crypto at the end. Do you know that many people that were indicted under Biden for crypto, at the very end before the election, were let go? You know why? He wanted the vote. We are number one in crypto and that's the only thing I care about. I don't want China or anybody else to take it away. It's a massive industry. NORAH O'DONNELL: Mr. President, thank you. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.