President Donald Trump ’s interview with ABC News aired after he held a rally in Michigan on Tuesday to mark the first 100 days of his second term.
The rally was his largest political event since returning to the White House in a state that has been especially rocked by his steep trade tariffs and combative attitude toward Canada.
The Latest:
Trump got testy with ABC interviewer
The president indicated that he personally chose Terry Moran to conduct the interview for ABC for his first 100 days in office.
The comments came as the two sparred over deported El Salvador native Kilmar Abrego Garcia and evidence — or lack thereof — that he was a member of the MS-13 gang, designated by the U.S. as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
“They’re giving you the big break of a lifetime, you know, you’re doing the interview,” he said. “I picked you because frankly, I never heard of you, but that’s OK.”
Trump then stressed again that he picked Moran for the interview, “but you’re not being very nice.”
Trump brushes off authoritarian concerns
The president dismissed concerns that he is acting like an authoritarian leader.
“No, I would hate them to think that,” he said of people who hold such concerns. “I’m doing one thing: I’m making America great again.”
He continued: “We had a country that was failing, we have a country that was laughed at all over the world, we had a leader that was grossly incompetent.”
Trump said, “our country’s coming back, and we’re respected again.”
Trump won’t say he’ll commit to giving people in the US illegally hearings before deporting them
Trump said in the ABC interview, “I can’t have a major trial for every person that came in illegally.”
Asked whether he would commit to giving people due process, Trump said, “They get whatever my lawyers say.”
Trump insisted that his administration is “careful” in how it is going about deportations, despite the well-publicized case in which El Salvador native Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported there even though a federal judge had ordered he not be returned to the Central America country over concerns for his safety — an error acknowledged by Trump’s own attorneys.
“I’m not the one making this decision,” Trump said, adding that he relies on his lawyers.
Trump tells ABC he has confidence in Hegseth but won’t say he has 100% confidence
Trump, in an interview taped Tuesday morning that was aired later on ABC, called Hegseth “a talented guy” who is going to be “a very good defense — hopefully a great defense secretary.”
But when anchor Terry Moran asked him if he had 100% confidence in Hegseth, the president said, “I don’t have — a hundred percent confidence in anything, OK? Anything,” Trump said. “Do I have a hundred percent? It’s a stupid question.”
Trump wrapped up his rally after about 90 minutes
The Republican president hit a lot of the same points he made during his typically 90-minute campaign gatherings, lobbing insults at former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and shouting out all loyal supporters who journey to his rallies — including a man who wears a brick suit to symbolize Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall.
He gave shoutouts to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CNN commentator Scott Jennings, inviting the Republican consultant up on stage.
Trump ended as he always did on the campaign trail, proclaiming he will “fight, fight, fight” and “win, win, win.”
The Village People’s “YMCA,” then began blaring, and as he did as a candidate, the president began dancing, doing some fist pumps and rocking his hips to the music.