President Trump tore into Democrats over the ongoing government shutdown, justified his order to restart nuclear weapons testing in the US and defended his administration’s ICE raids in a sometimes-intense “60 Minutes” interview Sunday – his first with CBS News since suing the network’s parent company.
The temperature was high from the get-go as anchor Norah O’Donnell, sitting with Trump at his gilded Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, came out of the gates with a question about the president’s handling of the shutdown, the second-longest in US history at 33 days.
“You have helped these government shutdowns in the past,” O’Donnell said, prompting a testy back-and-forth in which the two tried to talk over one another.
Trump then shot back: “I’m not gonna do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way. There’s something wrong with these people.”
When the commander in chief was finally able to get a full word in, he pinned the blame on a Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, whom he called a “basket case.”
“He’s gonna be defeated in the next election by a vast number of people. And he has nothing to lose. He’s become a kamikaze pilot,” Trump railed.
Trump later doubled down on his intention to restart testing the US’ nuclear weaponry, which he boasted could “blow up the world 150 times.”
“Why do we need to test our nuclear weapons?” O’Donnell snapped.
To which Trump replied: “We’re the only country that doesn’t test, and I don’t wanna be the only country that doesn’t test.”
The president also claimed that China and Russia are actively testing their nuclear weapons.
Trump explained that, if there were a ranking, the US would have the best nuclear weapons, with Russia shortly behind and China in third. O’Donnell noted that it “would be certainly very newsworthy” if there was any confirmation that China was testing its nuclear weapons.
The commander in chief defended his administration’s ICE raids and argued “they haven’t gone far enough” when O’Donnell cited concerns from critics.
The interview also waded into New York City’s mayor’s race, with Trump slamming “communist” frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.
Trump floated withholding government funds if the frontrunning democratic socialist emerges on
top.
“And it’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a Communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump said.
