Former President Donald Trump sits down for an interview on the program 60 Minutes. He discusses the Republican midterm election losses and the wars.
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Donald Trump sits down with Ross Douthat for a 60 Minutes interview in November 2026. They discuss Republican losses in the midterm elections, gas prices and the war in Iran, Israel, immigration and artificial intelligence. Trump says he was not on the ballot and argues the election would have turned out differently if he had been.
On UFOs, Douthat asks whether Trump has heard or seen anything suggesting more than unexplained objects in the sky. Trump says he will look into it after the interview, and mentions the public interest in a fenced area in Nevada while cautioning that he does not know whether the stories about it are true. Other topics include possible staff changes, the next Republican presidential nominee, wealth and foreign influence, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Trump’s legacy.
0:00Mr. President, thank you so much for doing this. >> We're going to start with the midterms. Two years ago, you won a big, some might say historic victory. Just now, the Republican party in the midterms s suffered a big, some might say historic defeat. Give me your political analysis of what just happened. Well, number one, I was not on the ballot, but I campaigned hard for some people. And I think if I was on the ballot, it would have been a much different situation because you saw the level of popularity and love. There was love. We had massive rallies. Nobody's ever seen rallies like that for midterms. And there wasn't one room that didn't have thousands of people outside. Couldn't get in. So, uh,
0:47you had to transfer those voters, however, to candidates that they didn't like. But there's something beyond that. They didn't like the war. They didn't like the fact that gasoline went up because I had it down at a low in Iowa. It was 185 cents a gallon. 85 a gallon. And uh when you look at 185 and you go up to three and a half$4 dollars, still lower than Biden, lower than Obama, but the war was blamed for that and they didn't like the war. I think mostly for that reason because I think everyone agrees that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and they will never have a nuclear weapon. They won't have that. But uh and there's a a great dislike
1:32incredibly for Israel. There seems to be a dislike for Israel. So you have that, you have the war itself, you have the gas prices and I think those are the primary reasons and you know MAGA and I always I want to keep out of wars. I've settled eight wars. I settled eight wars. I mean India Pakistan would have been a nuclear war. I got it settled before it got going. They had 11 planes shot down. They were ready to go. The prime minister of Pakistan said Trump saved 30 to 50 million lives. I settled a lot of wars. So let's >> let's go through let's go through those then one by one start start with the candidates right you said it was tough to transfer your own appeal to candidates >> but in a lot of cases you picked the
3:02wave. Uh, you know, I also brought a lot of people to a lot closer to victory. If you look at Ohio, uh, he was John, you said, who was a good guy, but he was 15 down. He ended up losing by a point, maybe less than a point. It was he almost won, but uh, I don't make excuses for that. I won Ohio by the most votes in history, too. You're only talking >> Why couldn't it I just Why can't it transfer? You You were out on the trail and you said, you said, "Vote like I'm on the ballot and people didn't." or or did they did they vote because they were mad at you about >> I think they didn't vote really. I think they didn't vote. I think in some cases they didn't like the candidates and that's you know their prerogative. Look, three times they've not necessarily
3:47listened to me. The uh two other times I didn't go as much out as I did this time. I went all out. I did I think 30 rallies in like 28 days or something and they were massive rallies and they were very good. and they loved me. I mean, you saw the the it was like unbelievable. But >> there's no there's no question that part of the country loves you. But as you said, there's another part of the country I think that just by your own description, right, was unhappy with the war in Iran, >> unhappy with the economy. Talk about the economy for a moment. You handed me the jobs numbers that just came out a couple days after the election. >> They're very good job numbers. Low unemployment rate. That's been true throughout your second term. But in poll after poll, people say they're unhappy
4:32with this economy in a way they weren't in the first term. Cost of living, inflation, and so on. Is that all just the Iran war, or are there other things that haven't been fixed? >> Well, it's not really the Iran war because the numbers are phenomenal. The numbers that we have are historically good numbers. I think it was bad messaging. Maybe by me, but I would talk about it all the time, so I don't know how much can I talk about it. >> Look, the press doesn't cover it. Americans are >> the press doesn't cover positive news for Republicans. They don't cover certainly positive news for me. So I have to do it myself. I have to get it out there. One of the reasons I did rallies was to do that. But I would talk about how good we have historically good numbers. We have the highest stock market in history. Now we lost yesterday
5:19because of the election $3 trillion. The market lost almost 2,000 points because of the Democrats. They got in and the world said I don't want to invest with these people because they look what happened in France. They look what happened in Italy and all over the world and they say this is the same ideology but we have had let's go be the day before yesterday right before uh where the election you know and we're talking about now a day before the election we picked up $25 trillion in worth in the worth of our in value. Nobody's ever done that before. >> But why don't Americans feel it then? >> They don't. >> Why? Why don't they? Because they're obviously like you in the press, you and
6:04the media, >> you and our business have been in tension throughout your career. >> Correct. >> But you still won elections, >> right? So why couldn't you win this? >> I think it was bad messaging. Um, >> what was the bad message? >> We couldn't get the word across. Look, you just seen job numbers that came out the day after the election, right? Too bad they didn't come out the day before the election, but they came out and the numbers are way beyond anybody's expectations by by over 125 130,000. We had 165,000 jobs just in a short period of time. >> Notice this in like they're when you look at polls, they're upset about their every >> I think they're going to notice it in the next >> two, three, four months. Okay, >> now tariffs. Let me just explain. So, we
6:49have trillions of dollars right now being built in factories and everything else. That's why these numbers, the construction numbers, the job numbers are through the roof. If I, you know, I listen to these people and I'm really good at money and finance is probably maybe my best thing. Although I was very good on the border, too. I was good in a lot of things. But >> in terms of that, you take a look at the kind of numbers that we're doing. We're doing numbers that have never been done before. 401ks are at their all-time high by a lot. Under other presidents, they were a disaster. 401ks have made people rich. And for some reason, remember during rallies that say, "Please look at your 401k before you go to vote." Maybe >> I mean, not everyone has a big 401k.
7:35It's wages. It's gas prices. Let's say who has a 401k and almost half the room. >> Lots of people have them. Let's let's on gas prices in Iran. You know, >> couple days ago, your vice president JD Vance wrote a social media post where he says, "The reason we lost is the war," meaning Iran, and he said things in that post about Israel. Yeah. So, do you agree? You agree with his analysis? >> I don't disagree with it. Did you know he was one thing? Did you first did you know he was going to write that post? >> Uh, he told he asked me, "What do I think?" I said, "You write what you I said, >> write what you write what you feel." By the way, what are you going to write? Okay. So, but he said the one thing he left out >> is that I would say and maybe he wouldn't say it. I don't know. I never asked him really. But, uh, if you had it
8:21to do again, would you do it? And that's Iran. Would you go and attack Iran and take away their because we won that war. That war has been won. Uh, now they're withering away as a country. And they'll come and they'll make a deal. They'll definitely they want to make a deal. We by the way just before we get they wanted to make a deal just before the election and that gives them a little bit of a hope certificate now but we were close to making a deal if we didn't have this election we might have even had or within the next few days we would have had a deal but this gives some hope let's go with that >> but I just mean no before I >> the only thing I wish he would have said there >> if he felt it and you'd have to ask him about that but if you had it to do again would you do it you know he was part of a decision-making process
9:07And my answer is an emphatic yes because you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. I think historically this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not. But I would, you know, I have to go with what's right for our country. If they had a nuclear weapon, you and I would not be speaking the way Oh, then I'd really be excoriated. If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated. Far worse than what's happened. let's but I've stopped them from having a nuclear weapon. That's a big thing. And they were ready to make a deal with me. We would have had a deal except for this election. And we'll make a deal anyway because >> they'll get over there. >> So, you're not going to escalate the war now that the midterms? >> I'm not looking to I don't think there's
9:52any reason to. I don't think there's any reason to. Look, >> they still have they still have nuclear they still have nuclear material. They have they have nothing. It's buried under thousands of tons of rock and we have uh through space force which I created. We have uh we have telescopic lenses that are unbelievable. I can I can tell the color of the red dots on your tie and we watch every one of those sites. The three that we blew up and also Pickax Pickax Mountain. >> So there's still stuff in Pickax Mountain. >> Well, we don't know that there wasn't. There's been very little activity there. They have other problems. They're not looking at pickaxe mountain. But what does if we needed to do pickax? If we needed to do pickaxe, we'll watch it. If
10:39we needed to do pickaxe, which we don't at this moment, we would have that done in one hour. It would be taken care of. >> So, what's the deal in the end with them that gets that gets the straight open because it's important. It's important to >> the straight is open. >> The straight has traffic moving through it because the US military is sitting there sitting there. Your favorite newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, two days ago had an article that said there is more oil going through the Hormones Strait than there was at the beginning of the war. Think of that. We have ships going, >> but the ships that are going through are being babysat by a large US military presence. So, how do we make a deal that gets that gets that presence out of there? >> Not very expensive. >> We can just leave them there. end of
11:24this whole thing, those countries that we've protected are going to pay us back any and all costs that we've had for the war. We're going to get all that money back. And I've told them and they're going to do it 100%. Because without us, they wouldn't exist. Without us, Israel wouldn't exist. Let me tell you, >> Israel, tell me. Tell me about >> Israel would not exist except for Donald Trump because we went in with those beautiful B2 bombers more than a year ago and we hit the three sites at at the time. You know, I call it nuclear dust. They were loaded up with nuclear dust. They were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon. And if I didn't hit them, and it was an incredible rate, and people said, "Oh, well, maybe the hit." It turned out to be when Atomic Energy went in and they said it was the most
12:10accurate imaginable. I mean, they were totally destroyed. >> You to you you say you have no regrets about that decision. Do you have any regrets on on but on Israel? Do you have regrets about the decision to help the Israelis do decapitation strikes on Iran because that changed the Iranian regime and it seems like it made them escalate. You could have just kept hitting the new the nuclear facilities, right? >> Yeah, you could have done that, but we had people that would would have gone further. Look, uh this I want to have it for the long term, not for the short term. We decapitated their nuclear arsenal. If I didn't do that, there would be no Israel right now. Israel would be gone. In my look, I deal with these people. I deal with a lot of people and that's what I've done my whole life. I make deals and obviously I
12:55make good deals because I bec I made a lot of money and I became president. Bill, you know, that's a deal too. I became president of the United States. A lot of smart politicians thought, "Oh, gee, this should be easy." But it wasn't easy for them. I became president. Wasn't easy. >> I became president easily. So that's what I do. I deal with the Iranians. they would use a nuclear weapon in 24 hours just like the Democrats will terminate the filibuster immediately. And I'm trying to get that knowledge imparted into the Republican Senate. But the Democrats will immediately or as soon as they have the right opportunity, they will terminate the filibuster and do things to our country that are very very big. >> I'm I'm trying to weave with through
13:41this. So let's let's do the weave and talk about the Democrats. Thank you. >> You came out after the midterms. You congratulated the Democrats. You said that you were open to working with them. >> True. >> What is one thing you would like to work with a Democratic majority on? >> I'd love to do something on immigration. >> What? >> Because Well, so >> do you think immigration hurt you in the midterms? >> Do you think the crackdown hurt? >> I think it both helped and hurt. I think I got an A+ for closing up the border because we had 25 million people come in through Biden over a 4-year period and many of those people were, as you know, they were from prisons, they were drug dealers, they were from mental institutions, they were from all over the world, not just South America. >> And some of them, some of them, as you once said, are good people.
14:26>> No, I I said that Yeah, some are good and some are really bad. Just clarify, >> you had 11,888 murderers, most of whom more than half of whom committed more than one murder. They were allowed into our country. We've gotten most of them out. >> So the so closing and I think you would agree that I get an A+ for that. I get an A+ for closing. Nobody in the last 17 months just came out. Zero people came in through our southern border as opposed to 25 million people. 25 million people. They came in through caravans. Nobody ever saw anything like it. Okay. For getting people out. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out. But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs that that created one
15:13violation or breaking of the law. That was that they came into the country illegally. Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out and there's a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay if they're good people working in a landscaping company or working in a hotel or doing something, right? And in some cases paying taxes >> and there's a large group of people think that they should be allowed to stay. So, uh, >> so, so you think your deportation policy went far? It was too tough. >> I think it might be too tough. Yeah. And a lot of people would say that it's great, but a lot of people think it's too tough. >> What would happen? What does the deal look like? >> I think ultimately that hurt me. I think it Well, the deal would be we would work
15:58something out. And I think it's something I think that's something that's actually doable. But a lot of people uh >> doable to create some kind of some kind of legal status [clears throat] for the landscapers. >> Yeah. When you go into a hotel and you say, "Let me see your pass." And you have a woman that's worked there as a, you know, as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as a that, as a waitress. A lot of good things. Great jobs. And all of a sudden, they're being taken out of the country. It's tough. It's a tough thing. Also, 25 million people came in through. That's a lot of people to take out, but there's a group of people that I would say on the sort of pretty far right that would like everybody taken out. And there's a group of people. Do any of
16:44those people work in your administration? Are they in the building with us right now? >> No. No. Well, there are a lot of those people. >> Then there's also people that are more modified on that. In other words, get the killers out. Get the get the rapists out. Get all the the rough ones out. Get the drug dealers out, but let the people that are here and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them. Okay? So, that's another group. And then you have a group that So, you have the group that wants to get everybody out. Then you have the group that wants to modify it. And then you have a group that's in very dangerous group, the sanctuary city group that want to let murderers stay. They want to they don't want to give us the criminals. We have they have murderers that they know are murderers. And I don't understand that group. They don't want them out of our
17:29country. They want to protect them. And they've literally murdered people. They're drug dealers. They're really bad people. And >> but do you think but do you think the Democratic party right now has people in it who would be interested in this kind of deal? >> I think so. Yeah. People have already called me. >> Who's called? Who's called? >> I get along with a lot of the Democrats. A lot of people. >> So I saw So I'll say I saw James Talerico, the new Democratic senator from Texas. >> I saw him on Fox News and he said immigration was one of the things he wanted to work with. >> Others too. South Carolina said you did in the course of the campaign. You did occasionally call him Talifico. >> Yeah, I did. >> Do you think you could work with the Democrats without insulting them [clears throat] consistently?
18:14>> I could. >> I also call >> I also call many of them Democrats. >> You did that just the other day. If if it took six months of not insulting the Democrats to get a deal done, do you think you could do it? >> Very easily. >> Okay, that'll be interesting to watch. Do you think you could help the country? >> Do you think you could do it if they're investigating you? If they're running investigations into your administration, can you work with them? >> Well, I did it for four years. You know, they what they did with me was there's never been weaponization. They impeached me twice. And there are those that say that worked out to my advantage. I mean, you know, cuz I >> Do you think they'll impeach you again? >> I can't imagine it. You know, they did. Hey, look. What have I done? I've had the best two years in the history of the presidency. You just read the numbers.
18:59you just read in terms of the economy, in terms of everything up until >> except for public opinion. >> Well, um the only public opinion that's you also saw public opinion with the rallies. I mean, I had the largest rallies in history. I had the greatest amount of love, if you want to call it love. Those people love what I'm doing. They love what I've done. But but just so you understand, in two years, think of it. We have for 91 days the highest stock market in history. We have more jobs created than ever before in history. We have the highest amount of exporting. We're exporting. >> So a big part let me ask you about that economy. A big part of that economy has
19:44been the success of artificial intelligence. I know we call it super intelligence in this house. And you have said repeatedly whoever wins super intelligence wins the future. But again, if you go into polls, Americans, they don't love data centers. They're pretty negative about AI super intelligence. What does the average American get out of AI? >> First, let me just tell you that uh when you say a big part, yes, it's a part, but we're also building automobile >> sure >> factories like we've never built before. Audi just announced $4 billion, but superintendent. No, but you said a big part. Uh automobiles. How about pharmaceutical? Eli Lilly, Merc, Fizer, they're building a lot going on in the economy, but I want to know about
20:30>> I know, but there has never been a time where there is the activity trillions and trillions of dollars right now as we sit is being built in a year from now because they started a year ago. In a year from now, many of those plants are going to be open operating. >> But I want I want what do Americans get? you you have I talked to people in Silicon Valley who say that the decisions you make around AI >> are the most important things that you'll be remembered for. That's what that's what they that's what they think and at the same but at the same time there is all of this anxiety and concern and I just want you to know as someone you are an AI bull. >> I am >> what do what does the average American get out of that technology? >> Excuse me before I answer that. The reason I'm an AI bull.
21:16>> Yes. >> One of the reasons is because President Xi left here >> two weeks ago. >> We had a great meeting. >> He's all in to SI as I call it because it really is super intelligence. It's a it's a much better name I think because it's not artificial. It's it's >> well that at least is what [snorts] it's what they think they're racing towards. Yes. So China. So we're in a race with China >> and if and I said whoever wins that race wins. >> The level of power of winning that race is very important. >> What is the power? >> And China has no problem with data centers, right? >> China has no problem with electricity. And by the way, we don't either because I'm letting I'm demanding that they build their own electric plant. Every one of those centers that goes up now under me is building their own electric.
22:01And they're giving the excess electric. They're giving the excess electric right now. They're giving it into the old grid that we had. We have an old broken grid and that juice is pouring into the grid. It's going to lower. >> You had all of the AI tycoons in here. >> Yeah, I did. >> And Elon Musk said then, as he said often, >> the endgame with AI, super intelligence, is that we're incredibly rich and nobody has to work and everyone gets paid a universal high income. >> Yeah. >> You like to work. >> Yeah. Does that sound like a good future to you? >> No. What what he meant, I think, is that when a data center, as an example, goes to a community. Look at West Virginia. They're going wild. They love it. They say, "Come on in." Uh, and many many
22:47country, many places like it. By the way, other countries like it. They're building them in Finland all of a sudden. Because if we lose that, we're losing a cash cow. It's a cash cow. But here's the thing. >> I think you're saving. So look, I think you are taking his very weird statement and because you're a good politician, making it sound normal. But the people in the AI industry, I almost said the super intelligence industry, you're working on me. >> are weird. They're strange. They do things like stand outside their company and say, "Hey, >> we're creating this amazing company and there's a 10% chance it kills humanity." Like you standing outside a hotel and saying, "Here's my new hotel." And it might collapse. But that's >> but you think that's you think that's fake. Why are you not worried about the doom fears that the people building it
23:33have? >> Because we first of all because China's going to have it. Okay. So we don't have it. China's going to have it. That would put us at an unbelievable disadvantage. It's all between us and China. There's nobody else. China's going to have it. China is now one year behind us which is amazing. And President Xi said, "You are really moved." President Xi got off his plane. He said, "Wow, have you done a great job." And he means he's not a guy that, you know, >> he doesn't he doesn't trade in casual flattery. >> I don't think so. No, I mean, I've known I know him better than probably almost anybody. >> But so, we're racing China and that makes it worth the risk. Or you just think the risk is not real. >> I think that the risk is not nearly as real as it as they talk. And I think the risk can be managed and it's managed.
24:18You know who? By who? The DOJ. Uh we had a situation where somebody was reported to us to be doing something bad with AI. We called them very strongly and said get ready to go to jail. Please give your wife a kiss good night. >> Who was this person this company? >> I can't tell you but we said uh do you like the color orange because get rid said go home right now see your wife and children. Give them a kiss. Good night. And uh that's the story because >> if the Democrats tomorrow morning you're going to jail if they wanted to make a deal to put that this person totally changed everything >> totally. Yes sir. Yes sir. >> Yes sir. Was it a leader of a major AI company?
25:03>> One of the big ones. Yeah. >> Okay. >> One of the big ones. And >> if the Democrats said we want to put we want to codify this into law maliciously but it could have been maliciously. >> Would you would you work with the Democrats? You're saying the DOJ could handle this? >> Absolutely. I don't mind on AI safety. >> I don't mind guardrails, but I don't want to put us in a deep second position. We're leading number one. And China has no guardrails, by the way. So, if AI is dangerous, >> well, they have the guardrails of being a totalitarian state, right? >> They have the guardrails that whatever she says goes. With me, it's pretty strong, but it's not quite that strong. >> By the way, you know, we have very brilliant people watching every one of these companies. Brilliant people. I hope so. That well they're the smartest. They're of hopefully equal
25:51>> equal equal intelligence. Equal intelligence though to the people running the company or to super are they super intelligent? >> They're super intelligent. >> Okay, good. >> Speaking of your powers, I'm weaving again. Uh in a previous lifetime, you were rather famous for saying you're fired quite often. After a big midterm defeat like this, do you expect to fire anyone from your team? Yeah, you do. >> Little bit. >> Little bit. >> I love my cabinet. I think they're good, but I'll do be doing maybe a few changes. I don't want to mention who because I think they're >> Well, I will say that we passed uh or we saw Secretary of Defense Pete Hexath in the hall. He was meeting with you just before. Now, his name has come up a few times as someone people have called for his resation. Do you have confidence in
26:36him? >> I do. Look, we've won two wars. We've won Venezuela and taken out billions and billions and billions of dollars already and we will be taking out many billions of dollars and get along very well and you could call it a territory. You could call it whatever you want. We won that war in less than one hour >> and you credit and nobody was killed. >> You credit Pete Hegath. >> No, but he was a part of it. You know, he was he was a part I credit great soldiers, great generals and great equipment. We have the best equipment in the world. We make, you know, I have >> Do you think HGsth gave you good advice going into Iran? >> Let's talk Venezuela first. We did an attack that very few people would have done. We went into a fort, a military base with a very bad person who did very
27:24bad things to our country and a lot of other countries, including drugs and including set, you know, giving us his prison population. Venezuela is that's where we got the trend and everything else. And we went into a fort with many, many people and we had 201. And we flew in with fire and fury as they said and we got him out of a steel cage. He lived in a house that was a cage. >> Is that is that is Venezuela the reason that you decided to do the decapitation strikes in Iran? >> No, no, it didn't. >> We just I just say the Venezuela attack will go down in military histories is one of the people said don't do it. You can't do it. you know, they have they're a very military type nation. You know, you walk around, everybody's a soldier.
28:09We went into that and we took out their leader and and his wife who is also very powerful and they're right now awaiting trial and they're guilty. They're very I won't even say, let me not refer to it. I won't talk about it, but they are >> prejudge anyone surely. >> Well, I don't want to prejudge. I'm not involved in the case, but they were they were very bad people. back to back to your >> They were very bad people and it was one of the most incredible attacks anyone's ever seen. They left the the aircraft carriers at 1:00 in the morning pitchback. Everything went perfect. This wasn't a Jimmy Carter deal. This wasn't a you know where the helicopters are crashing into each other. This was a perfect thing. Okay. >> It was in the future. So So you have So
28:55you have confidence in >> people don't like talking about that? No. Then we have another one. We have Iran. Iran is decapitated. Their navy's gone. Their air force is gone. >> So these are all things I'm just You're telling me this for reasons you would keep. Basically, >> I'm telling you this. >> What about this? >> Let me just tell you. We had because they read the papers, they want to impeach him. Very unfair. We had two wars. We won both. We won Venezuela. We won Iran. Now Iran is simmering, but it's it's just we are taking out more oil. We we own the home straight. Just just so you understand. >> Yep. I do. No, I do. I do. >> But how do you impeach a guy that we had two wars? >> How about your succession? Let's impache >> him. How about the succession? Speaking
29:40of personnel. >> Yeah. >> In two years, someone else is going to be the Republican nominee for president. >> I assume you're going to endorse someone for that. >> Probably. Not necessarily. >> Not necessarily. What would make you What are you thinking about when you decide whether or not to >> We have a tremendous bench. I mean, I have so many people that I have great relationships with and you know, not necessarily. >> Who do you who who would be on the list besides the vice president? >> Well, I think Marco's great. I think >> is he staying, by the way, as Secretary of State, >> I think. So, I mean, he certainly loves it and he's doing great. He's doing a fantastic job. The ones they think about, but there are many others and I'd rather not mention their names. There's some senators that are excellent. I know them all. I like them a lot. So, I may
30:26or may not get involved. I don't know, maybe I'm better off not getting involved. I think it would play a big role if I did because my endorsement capacity has been very strong. People I endorse. >> Do you think you can have MAGA without you as the leader? >> I think so because MAGA is basically common sense. You know, MAGA's strong borders, good military. Uh I'd like to see the interest rates lower. I mean, the problem with interest rates is we have a board that was largely composed of Obama and Biden people and they want to keep the interest rates as high as possible because that's bad for the country which is therefore bad for me. Very unfair. We should have much lower interest rates because you know in the old days when you had success the interest rates went down. You just see
31:11numbers but those numbers are nothing. We have created we have created wealth at a level that our country has never seen before in >> including for yourself. >> There's a Forb story that said that your net worth maybe it's changed with the stock market recently but your net worth went up by $3 billion since you returned to >> Okay, you ready? So >> everyone's my net worth did not go up by $3 billion for the stock. >> I I should have you should had stock. >> I should have had stock. >> Excuse me. So >> how did I how did it go up? I think >> Well, let me explain. I devote almost no time to my net worth. I don't care. I make I have a lot of money and far more than I ever thought I'd have. And I guess it's gone up. I don't even know.
31:56But just so you know, this is a really important. Let me explain it. Let me explain it to you. >> I have a son who's a very straight good guy. He watches over money. I don't even talk to him about it. He watches. He gives they gave my money. I have a lot of cash. I've had a lot of cash long before I came in here. I don't take a salary. You know, $2 and a half million dollars. I don't take a salary. >> But you're doing okay. >> I'm doing fine, but I don't take a salary. Do you know I'm the only supposedly I don't know if that's right. >> I It's very generous of you to the American taxpayer, but >> I am the only president >> that didn't take every other president took their salary. >> All right. Here's here's what I want to understand, though. This is something I've thought about for a while. Right. So your son manages or helps manage a cryptocurrency company called World
32:42Liberty Financial. >> You are a we are a co-owner of that company. That's correct. Right. That's correct. Right. >> This company is also partially owned by investors connected to the government of the United Arab Emirates. I think if I told you that story and it was about the Biden family, if I said Joe Biden is the part owner of a company and it has all of these investments from the Middle East, you would say that sounds corrupt, >> right? >> Well, he did have a lot of different but why is it why is it different? >> Well, here's tell you why. Because I know nothing about it. >> But why do you need >> I made a lot of money before? >> But then why do you need the money? Why not just divest walk away? >> I do. Look, most of my money most of my money is in is given to the biggest
33:29firms on Wall Street to invest. I have >> also true of me through index funds. So we have that in common >> and they're index funds. Yeah. >> So it came out that I tra traded like 40,000 stocks. So among the stocks would be like that have a tiny little amount. It's billions of dollars. It's billions. >> I understand that. But companies that are invested in by >> people in countries, it seems like you could just walk away from that and then >> you know and then you would not be accused of corruption, right? >> I have. But you have sons where they go around and they build buildings. That's what they do. That's what I did long before I became president. I did it better than anybody. Now I'm putting my expertise to use at the White House, fixing the White House and doing things that should have been built long ago.
34:15But uh I was very good at real estate. I made a lot of money. But but I have a company. My sons run the company. It's hard to say to them, don't do anything anymore for four years because I'm president. >> No, you but >> but you could divest from the company yourself and let them do whatever they but >> you're not like sitting in the Oval Office thinking, "Thank God I have that 50 million." >> How do you divest from cash? So I took a lot of heat because I think they traded like 50,000 stocks because that's what they do. It's all computerenerated. So if they buy a little tiny piece of Nvidia, oh, Trump is a I have no idea what the hell they're buying. I've never even heard of it before. It's all computerenerated. It's done by the biggest companies in the world. I've
35:02never even spoken to the company. I don't care. Honestly, I don't care. What it is is you take billions of dollars, you give it to these guys. Good luck. Right. >> And then they start trading and they trade where >> But do you think they go up? >> Do you think the people the people who are investing in the company that you co-own with your sons who are coming from foreign countries who want things from your government, don't you think they think that they are buying influence? >> Uh, I don't know. But that's true. Look, every president has a problem. Uh, you have people and they work for you and guys like you cover them and you do profiles on them and they become like everybody thinks that Trump loves them and everything else, which in some cases is true, and some cases are not. This is true for every president. True. Going back to George Washington.
35:48>> Yes. Every president has not owned cryptocurrency company. However, >> but they own something whatever crypto was at the time. Okay? You know, there's crypto and before that there was oil and the Okay. And every president has had this problem. So, you have a guy, a trusted aid, everything's good. And then the trusted aid says, "Sir, I love you so much and I'll be leaving." I said, "Well, good luck." and he goes into a company that's a defense company or I mean defense more than crypto frankly. They go into the defense, they go into the this, they go into the financial market, they go to Wall Street, they go no matter what they do, there's a conflict because the president is all-encompassing, right? And this is not me. Every president that there's ever been, they have people, many people, I watch it all the time. Every time you
36:34have a president, their top people, sometimes they stay. I mean I have some that will stay right till the last day other but after they leave they go crazy they go crazy it's true for every president sometimes >> I feel like there have been more people doing things like that while serving in the administration but listen >> a bigger name than other presidents whether we like it or not and people will leave office and then they'll go into the oil business and then immediately everyone says oh they have a conflict look every I watch Bush I watched. Look at look at uh Biden, but look at Obama. Obama got from Netflix. How much Obama what Obama did Obama got hundred million to make a movie that
37:19never >> What Obama did after his presidency was >> he made the deal during his presidency during his presidency and he made a movie afterward and the movie made about three cents. I'll have to ask Chat GPT about that after this conversation. Your administration alone among modern administrations has spent a lot of time releasing footage of UFOs, >> unidentified flying objects. I think a lot of that footage for people who are interested in the topic has been interesting but fuzzy, you know, unclear, maybe a little disappointing. Is there anything that you have seen or heard about or been told about that
38:06would lead you to think that there's something more there than just we're having a good time looking at things in the sky? >> It's so amazing that you asked this question because it is one of the questions in private I get asked about. More people ask me about UFOs than I mean >> I believe it people that you wouldn't think. >> So what's the answer? >> So here's the story. I'm not too much of a believer, but I sat in the Oval Office first term and a little bit second term, meeting with Air Force pilots that are really good, solid people. These are not people that you would say are conspiracy theorists. They don't even know what it means, but they're great, great pilots. Uh, young, handsome, they have c beautiful, nice flat tops. I'd like to
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