WATCH: Key highlights of Trump’s bold ‘Meet The Press’ interview

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President-elect Donald Trump sat for a lengthy interview Sunday with NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’ host Kristen Welker.

With just 43 days until his Inauguration Day, Trump spoke about his plans for the first 100 days in office, and said one of the first things he will do is secure the border.

Trump said he will be signing a number of executive orders on Day One.

Trump confirmed his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and hit back when Welker brought up allegations that Hegseth has a drinking problem, saying, “I think that everybody has something that they can stop. Some people can stop eating. I’m lucky I’m not a drinker, but I could stop eating. And we all want to stop doing something.”

Welker criticized Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on countries who are ripping off America, and asked, “Can you guarantee American families won’t pay more?”

“I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow. But I can say that if you look at my — just pre-Covid, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. And I had a lot of tariffs on a lot of different countries, but in particular China. We took in hundreds of billions of dollars and we had no inflation,” Trump said.

 

Welker pointed out that the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009, and 20 states still abide by that number. She asked if Trump would increase the minimum wage.

He agreed that it should be raised, but wouldn’t call out a specific amount. However, he pointed out that California “went crazy” and raised their minimum wage so high that many restaurants have had to go out of business.

 

Trump confirmed his plans for deporting illegal aliens in the U.S., starting with the criminal aliens, and then moving on to deport others who are here illegally.

Welker complained that the logistics of such a large deportation effort would be complicated.

“Sure they are. But everything’s complicated,” Trump retorted, adding, “You have no choice. First of all, they’re costing us a fortune. But we’re starting with the criminals and we’ve got to do it. And then we’re starting with others and we’re going to see how it goes.”

When pressed on what he would do about the “dreamers,” Trump acknowledged that many were brought to the United States as children and are now middle-aged.

He said, “And yes, we’re going to do something about the dreamers. I will work with the Democrats on a plan. And if we can come up with a plan, but the Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the dreamers. The dreamers, we’re talking many years ago they were brought into this country. Many years ago. Some of them are no longer young people. And in many cases, they’ve become successful. They have great jobs. In some cases they have small businesses. Some cases they might have large businesses. And we’re going to have to do something with them.”

Regarding illegal alien families who have mixed immigration status, Trump said, ” I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.”

Trump vowed to take action on the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship. He suggested taking executive action, but then said “We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it. We’re the only country that has it, you know.”

“You know we’re the only country that has it. Do you know if somebody sets a foot, just a foot, one foot, you don’t need two, on our land, “Congratulations you are now a citizen of the United States of America.” Yes, we’re going to end that because it’s ridiculous,” Trump said.

On the topic of healthcare, Trump noted that Obamacare was horrible, but said he won’t just end it until and unless they have something much better to replace it with.

“We have the biggest health care companies looking at it. We have doctors who are always looking. Because Obamacare stinks. It’s lousy. There are better answers. If we come up with a better answer, I would present that answer to Democrats and to everybody else and I’d do something about it. But until we have that or until they can approve it — but we’re not going to go through the big deal,” Trump said.

Welker asked Trump if he would instruct his Justice Department to press charges against Joe Biden.

“I’m really looking to make our country successful. I’m not looking to go back into the past. I’m looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success. If we can make our success — this country successful, that would be my greatest, that would be such a great achievement,” Trump said.

“Sir, are you going to fire the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, who you appointed?” Welker asked.

Trump replied, “Well, I can’t say I’m thrilled with him. He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he — he’s done, and crime is at an all time high. Migrants are pouring into the country that are from prisons and from mental institutions, as we’ve discussed. I can’t say I’m thrilled. I don’t want to say — I don’t want to, again, I don’t want to be Joe Biden and give you an answer and then do the exact opposite — ”

Welker bizarrely asked Trump if he planned to pardon himself.

“What do I need one for? First of all, I’ve won almost all of the cases,” Trump declared.

“What if President Biden offered you a pardon, would you accept it?” she asked.

“I’ve never even thought about it. I don’t think he’ll do it. Look, if he did, he’s the one that started this whole thing. He got the Justice Department to go after me,” Trump retorted.

Trump said he will be looking to pardon some of the January 6 defendants on Day One.

As for former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) who helped lead the January 6 Select Committee, Trump declared she should be in JAIL.

Trump pointed out that America is subsidizing Canada and Mexico and said this shouldn’t be happening.

“Why are we subsidizing these countries? If we’re going to subsidize them, let them become a state,” he mockingly suggested.

Democrats repeatedly claimed Trump would reduce or eliminate Social Security. Trump said emphatically, “We’re not touching Social Security, other than we make it more efficient. But the people are going to get what they’re getting.”

Trump also spoke at length about the importance of making America healthy again.

Welker told Trump that the country is “deeply divided,” and tried to blame Trump because he questioned the results of the 2020 election. 

“…you’re going to be leading this country for the next four years. For the sake of unifying this country, will you concede the 2020 election and turn the page on that chapter?” she asked.

“No. No, why would I do that?” Trump fired back.  He then flipped the table on her, pointing out that if the country is “deeply divided,” it’s because Joe Biden has been president for the past four years.

“I’m not the president. So when you say it’s deeply divided, I agree. But Biden’s the president, I’m not. And he has been a divider. And you know where he divided it more than anything else, and it probably backfired on him. I think definitely is weaponization. When he weaponized the Justice Department and he went after his political opponent, me. He went after his political opponent violently because he knew he couldn’t beat him. And I think it really was a bad thing, and it really divided our country,” Trump said.

Welker continued to pivot back to the 2020 election, and asked if Trump was planning to direct his Justice Department to investigate it.

Trump fired back that he has the right to do that, but said, “I’m not interested in that…. you know what I’m interested in? Drilling and getting prices down and stopping people from pouring across our border that come from prisons and mental institutions.”

For his Second Inaugural Address, Trump said it will be a message of unity.

Below is the entire 1-hour, 16-minute interview.

CLICK HERE to read the full transcript of the interview.

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