President Trump returned to “60 Minutes” on Sunday for his first sit-down interview with the program and with CBS News since its parent company earlier this year settled a lawsuit with the president.
Correspondent Norah O’Donnell sat down with Trump on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where there was a passing mention of the contentious history between the president and the network, plus numerous questions on the ongoing government shutdown, foreign policy and some of Trump’s more controversial moves since retaking office in January.
Here are five takeaways from the interview.
Trump sits down with ‘60 Minutes’ after lawsuit
The sit-down between Trump and O’Donnell marked the latest twist in the acrimonious relationship between the president and “60 Minutes.”
Trump made a reference to the settlement paid to him by the network’s parent company, and he ribbed O’Donnell at multiple points.
“And actually 60 Minutes paid me a lotta money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t want to embarrass you, and I’m sure you’re not — you have a great — I think you have a great, new leader, frankly, who’s the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise is a great — from what I know,” Trump said, referencing recently appointed CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
At another point, after O’Donnell did not engage with Trump’s question about whether she noticed a drop in crime in Washington, D.C., the president quipped that he didn’t “want to embarrass her.”
“That’s good. You don’t have to use that one. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. I don’t want to embarrass her,” Trump said.
It was the first time Trump had done an interview with CBS since he sued the network and its parent company, Paramount Global, over an interview former Vice President Kamala Harris did with “60 Minutes” last year.
Trump claimed the network intentionally edited her answer to a question on the war in Gaza in an effort to make her sound more coherent. The network rejected that premise in court documents and public statements. Still, Paramount Global, which recently completed a merger with Skydance, agreed to pay $16 million to the president’s future presidential library as part of a settlement.
During the 2024 campaign, then-candidate Trump canceled a planned interview with “60 Minutes” in the closing weeks of the presidential race. The program said the campaign offered “shifting explanations” for the cancellation, while the Trump campaign alleged no interview was ever finalized.
Trump during the 2020 campaign sat for a contentious interview on “60 Minutes” with Lesley Stahl in which he walked out over a clash regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Trump suggests China and Russia are testing nuclear weapons
Trump was asked about his recent direction for the government to resume nuclear testing, a move that has sparked both logistical questions and concerns about escalating tensions.
In defending the decision, Trump argued that countries other than North Korea were testing nuclear weapons.
“Russia’s testing nuclear weapons,” Trump said. “And China’s testing them, too. You just don’t know about it.”
“That would be certainly very newsworthy,” O’Donnell responded, noting that Russia had tested a delivery system for nuclear weapons, but not the warhead itself.
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” Trump said. “You know, we’re a open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are gonna report — they don’t have reporters that gonna be writing about it. We do.
“No, we’re gonna test, because they test and others test,” he added. “And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing.”
The U.S. halted the explosive testing of nuclear arms in 1992. Trump’s directive has divided lawmakers, with Republicans defending the move and Democrats questioning the safety and effectiveness of resuming nuclear tests.
Trump suggests he’d back Cuomo over Mamdani
The president’s interview aired two days before Election Day, which features gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and a mayoral race in New York City.
Trump has opined frequently on the New York City contest, where Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani is leading in the polls over Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who is mounting a third-party bid.
The president has not endorsed a candidate in the race, but he indicated on “60 Minutes” that he viewed Cuomo as the lesser of two evils with Mamdani.
“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. “So I don’t know that he’s won, and I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.”
Trump offers little on plan for ending shutdown
Sunday’s interview aired as the government shutdown was nearing the record for the longest in history.
But Trump did not offer any new ideas for how to break the impasse, telling O’Donnell his plan was to continue to force Democrats to vote on reopening the government.
“I mean, the Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and the Democrats keep voting against ending it,” Trump said. “You know, they’ve never had this. This has happened like 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for an extension, always saying, ‘Give us an extension, we’ll work it out.’”
Democrats have repeatedly rejected a continuing resolution put forward by Republicans that would fund the government at existing levels, insisting that any funding deal include commitments to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. The expiration of those subsidies is set to cause a sharp increase in premiums.
Trump has said he would be willing to discuss healthcare with Democrats once the government is reopened. But he told “60 Minutes” that did not mean he would put forward a healthcare plan of his own.
“No. We will work on fixing the bad healthcare that we have,” Trump said. “Right now, we have terrible healthcare and too expensive for the people, not for the government, for the people.”
Trump defends ICE raids, DOJ indictments
Trump brushed off questions about some of the more controversial aspects of his second term so far, such as the aggressive tactics of immigration agents and the indictments of his political rivals.
O’Donnell asked Trump if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids had gone “too far,” citing recent incidents where officers deployed tear gas in a residential neighborhood of Chicago and smashed car windows.
“No. I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama,” Trump said.
“You’re okay with those tactics?” O’Donnell asked.
“Yeah, because you have to get the people out,” Trump said.
O’Donnell also pressed Trump on the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, all of whom have been outspoken critics of the president.
Those indictments have raised alarms that Trump is using the Justice Department to target his opponents and exerting political pressure on the typically independent agency.
Trump claimed the indictments were “the opposite” of retribution, pointing to his own various criminal cases during the 2024 campaign.
I think I’ve been very mild-mannered,” Trump said.
“You’re looking at a man who was indicted many times, and I had to beat the rap,” Trump said. “Otherwise I couldn’t have run for president. They tried to get me not to run for president by going after me and by indicting me.”
