In an interview with CBS News, President Trump issued a warning to Iran, weighed in on the ICE shooting in Minneapolis — and reiterated he believes his power as president is primarily limited by his own morality.
Here are the major takeaways from Mr. Trump’s interview at a Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan, with “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil:
Trump’s goal in Iran: “The endgame is to win”
At least 12,000 people have been killed in the crackdown on a nationwide wave of protests in Iran, two sources told CBS News on Tuesday — a far higher death toll than reported by activists outside the country.
Mr. Trump told CBS News “nobody’s been able to give us accurate numbers,” but he said it looks like the death toll could be “pretty substantial” and “that’s going to be a lot of problems for them.”
He also vowed to intervene if Iran starts hanging protesters, telling Dokoupil, “We will take very strong action if they do such a thing.”
The president has repeatedly warned that he may intervene in Iran. He hasn’t specified what action he might take, but he and his administration have pointedly not ruled out using military force. Mr. Trump has been briefed on a wide array of military and covert tools that could be used against Iran, including conventional airstrikes as well as cyber operations and psychological campaigns, CBS News has reported.
His ultimate goal in Iran?
“The endgame is to win,” the president said. “I like winning.”
Asked how he defines “winning,” Mr. Trump rattled off a list of prior military operations that he has ordered, including the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, last summer’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and, in his first term, the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen,” Mr. Trump said. “And you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing, when they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging — we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good.”
Trump’s message to voters who want him to focus on them, not foreign policy
Asked what he’d say to Trump voters who’d rather have his attention focused on issues at home, rather than abroad, Mr. Trump told Dokoupil, “We have the strongest economy, maybe in the history of our country,” pointing to auto plant expansion and 24-hour production lines at Ford, Stellantis and GM.
“There’s no inflation,” he said, referencing Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index report, which showed prices rising at an annual rate of 2.7% in December, in line with economists’ forecasts and unchanged from November. “Our growth numbers are through the roof. Our job numbers are tremendous.”
The president argued that he has been primarily focused on domestic issues, but “you can’t be forgetting about bad threats,” naming the risk of a nuclear Iran.
“So my focus is very much on this country,” he said, “but you can’t lose sight of the fact that we need peace all over the world.”
Trump predicts people will start feeling better about the economy soon
Mr. Trump has touted his economic record — but polls suggest most Americans aren’t feeling it. Last month, 63% of adults disapproved of the president’s handling of the economy, and 50% said his policies are making them financially worse off, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll.
And while overall inflation is well below 2022 levels and within striking distance of the Federal Reserve’s 2%-per-year target, there are some pain points, with ground beef prices jumping 15.5% over the last year and coffee prices surging 19.8%.
Mr. Trump said the inflation numbers are “overall very good. Good for us, good for our country.”
When asked by Dokoupil why Americans say they don’t feel that way, Mr. Trump said “they might not, but they’re going to now.”
“The first few months were really rough if you look at ’em, because I inherited a mess,” he said. “”…And now we have the hottest country in the world.”
Trump calls Jerome Powell “either corrupt or incompetent”
Mr. Trump lashed out at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell just two days after the central bank leader revealed that the Fed had received subpoenas from the Justice Department in what Powell alleged was an act of political intimidation.
The subpoenas focused on a pricey renovation project at the Fed’s headquarters. But Mr. Trump has long criticized Powell for not cutting interest rates at a faster clip.
Mr. Trump called Powell a “lousy Fed chairman.” He blamed former President Joe Biden for reappointing Powell to a second term as Fed chief, after Mr. Trump initially picked Powell for the role during the first Trump administration.
And on the renovation project, Mr. Trump alleged Powell is “either corrupt or incompetent.” (There is no evidence of corruption on Powell’s part in the Fed’s office renovation.)
When pressed on the appearance that Powell is a victim of political retribution, the president responded: “I can’t help what it looks like,” and touted his economic record.
Trump’s message to Renee Good’s father
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has accused Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week, of committing domestic terrorism, and federal prosecutors are facing pressure to investigate the case as an assault on a federal officer.
Dokoupil asked the president if he had a message for Good’s father, a Trump supporter who’s heartbroken over the labeling of his daughter as a domestic terrorist.
“I want to say to the father that I love all of our people,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “I would bet you that she, under normal circumstances, was a very solid, wonderful person, but her actions were pretty tough.”
He said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers’ jobs are “being made very, very difficult” as they try to remove what Mr. Trump claims are “hundreds of thousands of murderers” from the country.
He said that when looking at the video footage of the shooting, “it can be viewed two ways, I guess,” but added, “there were a couple of versions of that tape that are very, very bad.”
Trump predicts robots will be “great” for U.S. workforce
Auto manufacturing is being remade by advanced robotics — stoking excitement about increased productivity and fears that robots could make human assembly line workers obsolete.
The president touched on that issue with Dokoupil, predicting that robots will be “a big factor in the future,” helping with shortages of skilled workers.
Asked about the risk of job losses, the president said, “a skilled worker, a person with talent, education in what they do … they’re gonna make a lotta money.”
“I think that robotics are gonna be great because this country won’t have enough people if we don’t have it,” he said.
Trump: “I’m a moral person”
The president raised eyebrows last week when he told The New York Times he believes the only limit on his power is his “own morality.”
When asked how that applies to power domestically, he told Dokoupil: “I’m a moral person. I don’t like seeing death. I don’t like seeing our people hurt.”
“So, yeah, it’s limited by my morality. And I have a very high rate of morality, so therefore it’s limited,” the president continued.
Mr. Trump was asked if he believes the courts and the Constitution constrain him, too.
“Well, the Constitution, of course, that goes without saying,” he responded. “But you’re asking me, what really can stop — we’ll never get to the courts, we’ll never get to the Constitution, because … I want to see what’s good for our country. And you know what? The courts want to see that, too.”