Trump says US problems ‘all solvable’ in first interview since returning to the White House as president sits down with Sean Hannity

President Trump made the case Wednesday that the nation’s problems are “all solvable,” touting the “very unified” Republican caucus in Congress.

“They’re all solvable problems … with time, effort, money — unfortunately — but they’re all solvable,” Trump asserted during an interview on Fox News.

“We can get our country back,” he argued. “But if we didn’t win this race, I really believe our country would have been lost forever.”

Trump’s sitdown with Sean Hannity, taped Wednesday morning at the White House, is his first television interview as the 47th president.

In his first term, Trump participated in 29 interviews with Hannity, according to White House historian Martha Kumar. 

Later in the interview, Trump praised House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as a “terrific” leader of the lower chamber, arguing that he’s effectively “unified” Republicans on Capitol Hill.

He also praised House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for how he’s “unified” Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“You know, these are not easy people,” he said of GOP lawmakers.

“This is a tough group … but they’re very unified.”

Unlike his predecessor, Trump hasn’t been shy about engaging with the press throughout his action-packed first three days back at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Trump, 78, answered a flurry of questions from reporters in the Oval Office Monday night as he signed dozens of Day 1 executive orders, including withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization; declaring Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations; and directing the Justice Department not to enforce the TikTok “divest-or-ban” law for 75 days.

The president also took questions Tuesday after unveiling a $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure project at the White House alongside reps from OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.

Former President Joe Biden held the fewest formal interviews and press conferences of any modern president.

Biden, 82, waited until February 2021 to give his first television interview as president, which aired on CBS ahead of the Super Bowl.

His first full press conference didn’t take place until late March of that year.

When asked by Hannity about whether he preferred separate bills or one standalone piece of legislation to fund California wildfire relief, border security, implement his energy policy agenda and cut taxes, Trump indicated that he didn’t have a strong preference. 

“I don’t care as long as we get to the final answer,” the president responded, adding that he likes “the concept” of “one big beautiful” bill. 

Trump went on to slam how the Federal Emergency Management Agency was run under Biden.

“FEMA has not done their job for the last four years,” he argued. 

“FEMA is getting in the way of everything, and the Democrats actually use FEMA not to help North Carolina,” Trump continued, referring to the federal government’s response last fall to devastating Hurricane Helene. 

The president noted that he plans to visit the hurricane-ravaged state later this week, which will be the first trip of his second term. 

Trump indicated that he’s not sure if or when he’ll meet with Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom – whom he described as an “idiot” for the way he handled the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. 

The president ridiculed Newsom for diverting fresh water flowing from the north into the Pacific Ocean because of his desire to save the endangered delta smelt fish, a claim the California governor has denied, and floated tying federal relief aid to the Golden State changing the practice. 

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down,” Trump said. 

On Biden’s border policies, the president argued the previous administration engaged in “a gross miscarriage of common sense to allow people to come in.”

“People pouring in,” Trump said of the border crisis under Biden, “some of whom, I won’t get into it, but you can look at them and you can say, ‘Could be trouble’ …

“There are people coming in with tattoos all over their face. … typically, you know, he’s not going to be head of the local bank.”

Asked about when he plans to release secret government files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Trump indicated that he would grant the public access to the highly sought-after documents imminently — as soon as his team can get ahold of the material. 

“I’m going to release them immediately upon getting — we’re going to see the information — we’re looking at it right now.”