President Trump talks Minneapolis, Joe Rogan, the Fed, AI and 2028 in a wide-ranging interview

[0:00] Okay, let's drill down into the news today. That big change on immigration, [0:04] 700 officers leaving Minneapolis. Did that come from you? [0:08] Yes, it did. But it didn't come from me because I just wanted to do it. [0:12] We have, we are waiting for them to release prisoners, give us the murderers that they're [0:18] holding and all of the bad people, drug dealers, all of the bad people. We allowed in our country, [0:25] I say 25 million people with an open border policy for four years under Biden and that group, [0:31] the auto pen group, I call them. We allowed to come into our country, people, the likes of which [0:38] no country would accept. And we're getting them out. But we've gotten a lot of them out. So crime [0:43] now in Minnesota, crime now in Minneapolis is down. Crime in all cities is down. And you know [0:49] why it's down? It's down because of us. It's down in Chicago by 25 percent, despite the fact that we [0:55] are all in the same place. We're all in the same place. We're all in the same place. We're all [0:55] in the same place. We're all in the same place. We're all in the same place. We're all in the same place. [0:55] We're always dealing with these people. And they happen to be Democrats that don't know anything [1:01] about crime prevention. Mr. President, speaking of Minneapolis, what did you learn? [1:07] I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough. [1:15] These are criminals. We're dealing with really hard criminals. But look, I've called the people. [1:21] I've called the governor. I've called the mayor, spoke to him, had great conversations with him. [1:25] And then I see them ranting and raving out there. [1:27] Literally, as though a call wasn't made. We've done a great job everywhere. [1:32] After the shooting of Rene Good, you said ICE made some mistakes. What were the mistakes? [1:37] Well, look, I'm not happy with the two incidents. It's not, you know, it's both of them, [1:42] not one or the other. He was not an angel and she was not an angel. You know, [1:48] you look at some tapes from back. But still, I'm not happy with what happened. [1:52] Nobody could be happy. And ICE wasn't happy either. But I'm going to always, [1:57] always be with our great people of law enforcement, ICE, police. We have to back them. [2:03] If we don't back them, we don't have a country. You mentioned Rene Good and Alex Peretti not being [2:09] angels. Do you think any of that justified what happened to them, though? No, I don't. It should [2:15] have not happened. It was a very sad, to me, it was a very sad incident, two incidents. And, [2:21] you know, they mentioned the one now. They don't mention the other. Well, I think they were both [2:24] sad. And, you know, who feels worse about it? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't [2:27] know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I [2:29] don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. want to face to face with [2:41] into our country from all over the world, from Venezuela, where we had great success, you will admit, but from Venezuela, from the Congo and Africa, from all over the world, jails, the jail population was emptied into our country. If we don't have strong people, you're not getting a [2:58] out. We're getting them out. Remember this again. I say it again and again. We have record low crime [3:05] in the United States. Nobody's been able to say that for 125 years. So I want to be clear because [3:11] it sounds like there is a shift in immigration enforcement here, that there's going to be a [3:15] shift after Minneapolis. What should Americans expect going forward? Well, one thing I say to [3:20] my people, you know, we do a good job. We don't get credit for it. I say they have to ask and [3:25] they have to say please. When a city is going to ask the mayor or the governor, I don't want to go [3:31] and force ourselves into a city, even if their numbers are terrible. Joe Rogan was one of your [3:36] biggest endorsers in 2024. He said he understood the president's sort of plan to deport people [3:41] here who are here illegally. But he also understands why critics compare ICE officers [3:46] to the Gestapo asking people for their papers. What's your response to him? Look, first of all, [3:51] he's a great guy. We had a tremendous success before the election. I think it was his [3:55] biggest success. I think it was his biggest success. I think it was his biggest success. [3:55] Biggest interview ever and over 300 million people. It was very good. She didn't want to do [4:01] it. You know, she decided not to do it because she's not capable. But I spoke to him three days [4:06] ago. We had a great conversation. And all I'm doing, I have to keep... Did he mention this to [4:12] you? Did you guys talk about this, the ICE enforcement? A little bit. Just had a good [4:16] conversation. I think he's a great guy. And I think he likes me too. Yeah. And, you know, [4:20] liking me isn't important. What happens is that I think we do a phenomenal, [4:25] phenomenal job, but I don't think we're good at public relations. What does that mean? [4:30] You've said that a couple times now. What do you mean by that? We don't sell the great [4:32] job that we're doing. Okay. Let's talk about the midterms. You've recently suggested [4:36] nationalizing elections. What do you mean by that? When... And I didn't say national. [4:41] I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt. They have very [4:45] corrupt elections. Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at [4:51] Atlanta. There are some areas that are unbelievably corrupt. I could give you plenty of more... [4:55] Okay. ...more too. I say that we cannot have corrupt elections. If we have to, if they [5:02] don't straighten it out. As an example, voter ID. Why don't the Democrats want voter ID? [5:08] You know who does want voter ID? Democrat voters want it, but Democrat politicians don't. [5:13] Why don't they want it? Because they want to cheat on elections. Can you imagine, if [5:19] I were a politician and they asked me, do you want voter identification? And I said [5:25] no. [5:26] There's no way you could win that debate. [5:27] But even... [5:28] The Democrats don't want voter ID. If they don't want voter ID, that means they want [5:33] to cheat. We can't allow cheating on elections. Now, if we need to put in federal controls [5:39] as opposed to state controls, remember this. They're really an agent. They're really accumulating [5:45] the votes for who wins an election. If they can't do it honestly and it can't be done [5:50] properly and timely, then something else has to happen. [5:54] Will you trust the results of the midterms if Republicans win? [5:55] No. [5:56] Will you trust the results of the midterms if Republicans lose control of Congress? [5:58] I will, if the elections are honest. Look, I want... The last one that wants to complain, [6:03] I just had a great election. They say one of the greatest elections, you will agree, [6:08] ever, won all seven swing states, won 84% of the counties in America. That's why the [6:14] map is all red. We just had a great election. I believe there was cheating. I think there [6:21] was cheating. [6:22] Well, speaking of counties, what are you doing in Fulton County? [6:24] It was too big, too red. [6:25] Speaking of counties, what is happening in Fulton County? [6:26] I'm not doing anything. But the FBI went in, because it's been under, I guess, review [6:34] for years, the cheating that took place in Fulton County and in that particular state. [6:39] Nobody knows what's in the warrant. What are they looking for? [6:41] Well, you're going to find out. Look, why would anybody be upset that they went in and [6:45] they got the ballots, I guess, right? Again, they did this. That's been under review and [6:51] under investigation for four years. And now they got a court order. You know they got [6:56] a court order signed by a respected but liberal judge, signed a court order, allowing them [7:02] to go in and pick them up. Well, you're going to know what the ballots say, because they're [7:06] right now inspecting the ballot. I'm not involved in it, but they are inspecting and checking [7:11] the ballot. [7:12] Why is Tulsi Gabbard there? [7:14] I don't know. But, you know, a lot of the cheating comes from, it's international cheating. [7:20] You have people, they say, from China, trying to, well, let me ask you, do you think China [7:27] is involved in this election? [7:28] We know that foreign governments try to influence a lot of things in this country. [7:31] Well, therefore, she's foreign governments. [7:33] But you've tweeted out some theories about Italians and satellites. I mean, do you believe [7:37] that stuff? [7:38] No, no, no. No, I didn't cheat. I sometimes will retweet, I will retruth. But let me ask [7:45] you this. If China or any of these countries are involved in our elections, that would [7:50] bring her into it. And everybody knows that Russia, they talked about Russia, turned out [7:55] to be a hoax. It was Hunter Biden. [7:57] Russia? Look, we have to have honest elections. There should be nothing wrong with the fact [8:03] that they went in, got ballots from a while ago, and they're going to look at them. And [8:08] now they're going to find out the true winner of that state. And you know what? If there [8:13] was cheating, which there was, but if there was cheating, it should be fine, because we [8:17] can't let it happen again. [8:19] Will you endorse in the 2028 presidential primary? [8:23] I hadn't even thought of it, but probably, yeah. I mean, I'd be inclined to. I have great [8:28] people. We have a great team. We have a great team. We have a great team. We have a great [8:29] bench. We have a lot of people. But, yeah, I think so. [8:33] You've suggested that J.D. Vance, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio [8:37] would be a tough ticket to beat. Who should be at the top of that ticket? [8:41] Well, I don't want to get into this. We have three years to go. I don't want to, you know, [8:44] I have two people that are doing a great job. I don't want to have an argument with, or [8:49] a, I don't want to use the word fight. It wouldn't be a fight. But, look, J.D. is fantastic, [8:55] and Marco is fantastic. [8:56] How are they different? How are they different? [8:57] And I do think this. [8:59] Great question. I think that's your most interesting question. [9:02] I would say one is slightly more diplomatic than the other. I think they're both of very [9:08] high intelligence. I mean, they will do shows. They will do Joe Rogan as opposed to the opponent [9:14] not doing it because they couldn't handle it. They will be able to do whatever they [9:18] have to do. I think there's a difference in style. You know, you can see the style yourself. [9:25] But they're both very capable. I do think this. The combination of J.D. [9:30] and Marco would be very hard to be beaten, I think. But you never know in politics, right? [9:37] They say, in the age of Trump, you never know. [9:40] On January 21st, 2029, do you see any scenario where you are still president? [9:45] I don't know. It would be interesting. But wouldn't it be terrible if I agreed with, [9:53] you know, if I gave you the answer that you're looking for? It would make life [9:56] so much less exciting, right? It would be so much less exciting. [10:02] I do this for one reason. Make America great again. And that's what we're doing. We're [10:07] making America great again, greater than ever before. Our country is greater than ever before. [10:12] And during a tour of the Oval Office, we asked about tensions with Iran. [10:16] Should the supreme leader in Iran be worried right now? [10:20] I would say he should be very worried, yeah. He should be. As you know, they're negotiating [10:25] with us. I know they are. But the protesters have said, you know, where are the Americans? [10:29] You promised them we would have their back. Do we still have their back? [10:31] We've had their back. And look, that country, [10:34] is a mess right now because of us. We went in, we wiped out their nuclear. [10:38] If I didn't take out, you know, we have peace in the Middle East. [10:41] If I didn't take out their nuclear, think of it. If we didn't take out that nuclear, [10:46] we wouldn't have peace in the Middle East because the Arab countries could have never done that. [10:50] They were very, very afraid of Iran. They're not afraid of Iran anymore. [10:55] Are they trying to restart the nuclear program? [10:57] Well, I heard that they are. And if they do, and I let them know, if they do, [11:00] we're going to send them right back and do their job again. [11:02] And we also asked, [11:04] about the Clintons' anticipated testimony to Congress over Jeffrey Epstein. [11:08] NBC News broke the story today. I don't know if you saw it, that the Democrats are already saying, [11:12] if you bring President Bill Clinton and he has to testify, we're bringing President Trump. [11:16] What do you say to that? [11:17] Well, I think they might say that, you know, but they've already brought me. [11:21] See, I've been brought. They had me indicted many, many times, many, many times. [11:27] And the president had some surprising thoughts about former President Bill Clinton. [11:32] It bothers me that, [11:33] somebody's going after Bill Clinton. See, I like Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton. [11:38] What do you like about him? [11:39] I liked, well, I liked his behavior toward me. I thought he got me. He understood me. [11:46] You know, he was the one that said very famously that you don't want to run against Trump, [11:51] when there were 18 people. It was 18 people, including me, total. And he kept telling them, [11:57] you don't want to run against Trump. Run against anyone. Don't run against Trump. [12:02] And Hillary sort of laughed at him. [12:03] He said, Hillary, you know it, and I know it. Don't run against Trump. [12:09] Yeah. [12:09] And they ran against Trump. It didn't work out too well, did it? Thank you very much. [12:14] Thank you, Mr. President. We thank you for your time. Thank you. [12:17] We thank you for watching. And remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the [12:22] NBC News app, or watch live on our YouTube channel.