US President Donald Trump appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes in his first interview with the network since settling a lawsuit with CBS News earlier this year. Trump had famously walked out of a 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl before the 2020 election, accusing the show of bias. Trump later sued the company over the newsmagazine’s interview with Kamala Harris, and Paramount reportedly paid $16 million to settle the case this summeIn his latest appearance, Trump defended his administration’s handling of key foreign and domestic challenges, from nuclear tensions and Middle East diplomacy to immigration, healthcare, and the ongoing government shutdown.
The sit-down, recorded Friday at his Mar-a-Lago residence with journalist Norah O’Donnell, aired Sunday night.
Here are ten key takeaways from the interview.
Claims that Russia and China are secretly conducting nuclear tests
President Trump alleged that both Russia and China have been secretly testing nuclear weapons underground. “Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” he said. Asked why he recently ordered the United States to conduct its own nuclear tests, Trump explained, “You don’t necessarily know where they’re testing. They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test.”“Well, we have more nuclear weapons than any other country. Russia’s second. China’s a very distant third, but they’ll be even in five years. You know, they’re makin’ ’em rapidly, and I think we should do something about denuclearization, which is gonna be some– and I did actually discuss that with both President Putin and President Xi. Denuclearization’s a very big thing. We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times. Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot,” he siad.
The Iran operation and nuclear deterrence
Speaking about Iran, Trump said that his administration had “blasted the hell out of them” to prevent Tehran from becoming a nuclear power. “You could’ve never had any kind of a deal if you had a nuclear Iran. And you essentially had a nuclear Iran,” he said.He described meeting the pilots who carried out the strike and inviting them to the White House. “They told me something I didn’t know. They said, ‘Sir, for 22 years we’ve been practising this route … and you were the only president that let us do our job.’”Trump praised them as “real American heroes,” adding, “When you can hit at midnight with no moon, with no vision, every single air shaft, where that bomb went deep into that mountain and exploded … they deserve to come to the White House.”
India-Pakistan tensions
During the interview, Trump acknowledged the precarious balance in South Asia, noting that the United States continues to monitor India and Pakistan closely. Although he avoided direct mention of current military developments, administration officials have said Washington remains wary of escalation in the region, especially given the ongoing nuclear concerns.Trump once again claimed he helped prevent a potential nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan. “I think we’re gonna get it done, yeah. I think he really wants to do business with the US,” Trump said, adding, “If it wasn’t for tariffs and trade I wouldn’t have been able to make the deals… They were going to war. They were gonna have a nuclear war with Pakistan.”Trump cited comments by Pakistan’s prime minister, saying, “If Donald Trump didn’t get involved, many millions of people would be dead right now.”In May, India launched Operation Sindoor, carrying out precision strikes on terrorist camps located across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, which had killed 26 civilians the previous month.India has firmly denied any US involvement, reiterating that de-escalation was achieved solely through direct military communication between the two nations.
Mamdani, welfare, and a swipe at Obama
Trump repeatedly attacked former President Barack Obama’s legacy, linking him to what he called “a defective plan put into line by Barack Hussein Obama, who was a lousy president.” He even ridiculed the Obama Presidential Center project in Chicago, saying, “He’s building a museum that’s, like, four times over budget … The neighbourhood doesn’t even want ‘em.”At one point, Trump hit out at New York Mayoral race front-runner Zohran Mamdani, invoking them in the context of what he sees as elite detachment from “real American” priorities.“Communist, not Socialist. Communist. He’s far–far worse than a Socialist. Oh, that’s so crazy. Look. When I left New York, we were at the– the epitome of it was a great city. It was doing great. It was a great city, but there were some bad sides, because we had a guy named de Blasio, who was the worst mayor. Like I say Biden was the worst president, de Blasio was the worst mayor in history,” the 47th POTUS said.He went on to add, “I think he’s probably gonna make de Blasio look great. I think he will make de Blasio look like one of our great mayors. De Blasio was the worst mayor we’ve ever had. Now I saw that, you know, but I was sort of leaving during that period of time.”
Immigration and the border crackdown
Trump used the platform to claim success in halting illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border. “We have a closed border right now,” he said. “For five months in a row, they have zero — think of this, zero people coming into our country through our southern border.”He accused Mexico of allowing “their prisons to be emptied into our country,” calling it one of his administration’s greatest challenges. “Millions of people a year walked into our country totally unchecked, unvetted. They were criminals, murderers, drug dealers, people from jails and mental institutions,” he said.
On Venezuela and Maduro’s future
When asked if Nicolás Maduro’s days as Venezuela’s president were numbered, Trump said, “I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.”Pressed by O’Donnell about speculation that the United States might be preparing strikes in Venezuela, Trump refused to confirm or deny it. “I’m not gonna tell you what I’m gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it or if I wasn’t going to do it,” he said, calling it a matter of national security.He pointed to the rise of violent transnational gangs such as Tren de Aragua, saying Venezuela had “been bad” in exporting criminal networks.
Saudi Arabia, the Abraham Accords, and Israel
Asked about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s upcoming visit to the White House and his insistence that the kingdom would not join the Abraham Accords without a two-state solution, Trump replied, “No. I think he’s gonna join.”He added, “We will have a solution. I don’t know if it’s gonna be two-state. That’s gonna be up to Israel and other people, and me.”Trump argued that peace in the Middle East was only possible because his administration prevented Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Government shutdown: ‘Democrats’ fault’
The president squarely blamed Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown, now in its sixth week. “Democrats’ fault,” he said flatly, accusing them of refusing to vote for an extension that would reopen federal offices. “They don’t wanna give us an extension because they used to think it was good for them, but the polls are turning around.”He said Democrats were suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome” and insisted, “All they have to do, Norah, is say, ‘Let’s vote.’ And you can open the economy during our interview.”
On healthcare and the fight over Obamacare
Healthcare dominated much of the domestic discussion. Trump said Democrats were blocking progress on reform. “We almost did it. We were one vote short. John McCain made a mistake, frankly,” he said.He repeated his long-standing criticism of the Affordable Care Act, calling it “bad healthcare at far too high a price.” “It’s too expensive for the people,” Trump said. “They’re gonna get a very big increase this year.”Democrats have pushed to extend subsidies under Obamacare to prevent premiums from doubling for millions of Americans. O’Donnell noted that “three quarters of these people that will see their healthcare premiums double live in states where you won in the last election.” Trump responded, “And I’m saying we can fix it.”
‘I won’t be extorted’: Trump refuses to negotiate over govt shutdown
Trump rejected calls to compromise with Democrats to reopen the government. “I won’t be extorted,” he said, insisting that he would not “give $1.5 trillion so that prisoners, drug dealers and people from mental institutions” could receive welfare or healthcare.He also pressed Republicans to end the Senate filibuster, telling 60 Minutes, “Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want.”
