11 highlights from Trump’s Time Person of the Year interview
Washington — President-elect Donald Trump was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year on Thursday, the second time he has been awarded the designation after winning the White House.
“For marshaling a comeback of historic proportions, for driving a once-in-a-generation political realignment, for reshaping the American presidency and altering America’s role in the world, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2024 Person of the Year,” Time editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs wrote to explain the selection.
As part of the process, Trump sat for an interview with Time journalists at Mar-a-Lago at the end of November. The sit-down covered a wide range of topics, from inflation and foreign affairs to abortion and transgender rights.
Time published the 11,345-word transcript of the interview on Thursday, along with a fact-check of many of Trump’s claims. Here are the highlights from Trump’s answers:
Trump on inflation: “It’s very hard” to bring prices down
Trump campaigned on bringing down prices for everyday Americans and taming inflation. In the interview, however, Trump acknowledged that lowering prices is likely to be an uphill battle:
Trump: We’ve had the inflation. [The Democrats] lost on inflation, they lost on immigration, they lost on — as a part of immigration, I think a very big part is the border, the border itself. You know, if you can self subdivide the word immigration. They lost on the economy. But it was a different kind of — it was the economy as it pertains to groceries and small things that are actually big things for a family.
Time: If the prices of groceries don’t come down, will your presidency be a failure?
Trump: I don’t think so. Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down. I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down. You know, the supply chain is still broken. It’s broken.
Trump says he’ll pardon Jan. 6 defendants on a “case by case” basis soon after taking office
Trump fielded questions about whether he would issue pardons for the more than 1,500 people who have been convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when a mob of Trump’s supporters tried to stop Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election:
Time: Have you decided yet whether you’re going to pardon all of the January 6 defendants?
Trump: Yes.
Time: You’re going to do all of them?
Trump: I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished. And the answer is I will be doing that, yeah, I’m going to look if there’s some that really were out of control.
Time: So you will not include those who committed violent acts?
Trump: Well, we’re going to look at each individual case, and we’re going to do it very quickly, and it’s going to start in the first hour that I get into office. And a vast majority of them should not be in jail. A vast majority should not be in jail, and they’ve suffered gravely. And I say, why is it that in Portland and in many other places, Minneapolis, why is it that nothing happened with them and they actually caused death and destruction at levels not seen before? So you know, if you take a look at what happened in Seattle, you had people die, you had a lot of death, and nothing happened, and these people have been treated really, really badly. Yeah, it’s an important issue for me. They’ve suffered greatly, and in many cases they should not have suffered.
Later in the interview, Trump said he will be “looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes” after taking office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Trump says he didn’t think Matt Gaetz’s nomination was “worth the fight”
Shortly after the election, Trump announced Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as his nominee for attorney general. Gaetz was previously investigated for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl, which he denied, and it soon became clear that he was unlikely to win confirmation in the Senate. He withdrew from consideration a week later.
Trump told Time that he thought Gaetz would have eventually gotten the votes, but he didn’t think it was worth the effort:
Time: One of your nominees was effectively blocked by the Senate. There are other senators who have expressed doubts about some of your other nominees. What are you going to do if the Senate continues to balk at your choices for these key cabinet positions?
Trump: Well, I don’t think they will. And he wasn’t blocked. I had the votes if I needed them, but I had to work very hard. And you know, I’m not — there were numerous hard no’s, all of whom agreed with me to do it.
Time: So you decided to give up on Gaetz?
Trump: No, I didn’t give up on him. I talked to him, and I said, you know, Matt, I don’t think this is worth the fight.
Asked whether he would use recess appointments to name heads of agencies without Senate confirmation, Trump said, “I really don’t care how they get them approved, as long as they get them approved,” but also that it was “up to the Senate.”
Trump says Harris should have given more interviews during the campaign
Asked about Vice President Kamala Harris’ missteps during the presidential race, Trump said she shouldn’t have agreed to replace President Biden in the first place. He also said she made a mistake by not sitting for more interviews, pointing to his own willingness to speak to a variety of outlets and hosts:
Time: Speaking of Kamala Harris. What do you think were her worst mistakes in the campaign?
Trump: Taking the assignment. Number one, because you have to know what you’re good at.
Time: Did she make any tactical mistakes you think that cost her?
Trump: I think that when she wouldn’t talk to anybody, it shone a light on her. In other words, if she would have gone out and just did interviews where they’re comparable to Steve [Cheung, Trump’s communications director], if there is anybody comparable, would say, could you do an interview here? An interview there? You know, she didn’t do anything. And people said, Is there something wrong with her? Why would they? I mean, I’m doing this interview with you. I did interviews with, if I had the time, anybody that would ask, I’d do interviews. I think the Joe Rogan interview, you know, that went on for almost three and a half hours.
After some back and forth, he continued:
Trump: But, but it’s an interesting question when you ask about [Harris]. I think they made a big tactical mistake by literally not talking to the press, even if a really friendly, I mean, and they had almost all friendly, somebody would come up with a really friendly — like you guys, maybe — but a friendly interview, and they turned everybody down. They wouldn’t do the basic. And people, including me, would start to say, is there something wrong with her? What’s wrong? Why wouldn’t you do some basic interviews? And then she had some pretty failed interviews, and maybe it was highlighted more than it would. In other words, if she did those same interviews, but she did another 15 interviews, you know, you wouldn’t have really noticed it that much.
Trump says releasing Project 2025 was “totally inappropriate”
During the campaign, Democrats hammered Trump and other Republicans over Project 2025, a conservative effort to lay out a blueprint for a second Trump administration. Trump tried to distance himself from the final product, but many of its contributors worked in his first administration, and several have been named to powerful posts in his second term.
Trump told Time he didn’t read the group’s work, and said its organizers shouldn’t have released it during the campaign:
Time: During the campaign, you disavowed Project 2025, but so far at least five people you’ve appointed to top positions in your Cabinet have ties to it. Doesn’t that undermine what you told Americans on the campaign trail?
Trump: No, look, I don’t — I don’t disagree with everything in Project 2025, but I disagree with some things. I specifically didn’t want to read it because it wasn’t under my auspices, and I wanted to be able to say that, you know, the only way I can say I have nothing to do with it is if you don’t read it. I don’t want — I didn’t want to read it. I read enough about it. They have some things that are very conservative and very good. They have other things that I don’t like. I won’t go into individual items, but I had nothing to do with Project 2025. Now, if we had a few people that were involved, they had hundreds of them. This is a big document, from what I understand.
Time: More than 800 pages.
Trump: It’s a lot of pages. That’s a lot of pages. I thought it was inappropriate that they came out with it just before the election, to be honest with you.
Time: Really?
Trump: I let them know, yeah, I didn’t think it was appropriate, because it’s not me. Why would they do that? They complicated my election by doing it because people tried to tie me and I didn’t agree with everything in there, and some things I vehemently disagreed with, and I thought it was inappropriate that they would come out with a document like that prior to my election.
Time: Did you express those frustrations with them?
Trump: Oh I did. It wasn’t a frustration, it was a fact. It’s totally inappropriate. They come up with an 800-page document, and the enemy, which is, you know, the other party, is allowed to go through and pick out two items, 12 items out of, you know, 800. No, I thought it was an open — I thought it was a very foolish thing for them to do.
Time: I understand, sir.
Trump: These are people that would like to see me win. And yet, they came out with this document, and they had some pretty ridiculous things in there. They also had some very good things in there.
Trump says transgender bathroom issue has “ripped apart our country”
During the campaign, Trump spent tens of millions of dollars on a television ad that highlighted Harris’ positions on transgender rights, specifically her support in 2019 for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming surgery for inmates and immigrant detainees. “Kamala’s for they/them. President Trump is for you,” the ad said.
But in his interview with Time, Trump downplayed fights over transgender rights, particularly which bathroom transgender people are allowed to use, saying the issue has “ripped apart our country”:
Time: Can I shift to the transgender issue? Obviously, sort of a major issue during the campaign. In 2016, you said that transgender people could use whatever bathroom they chose. Do you still feel that way?
Trump: When was that?
Time: In 2016.
Trump: I don’t want to get into the bathroom issue. Because it’s a very small number of people we’re talking about, and it’s ripped apart our country, so they’ll have to settle whatever the law finally agrees. I am a big believer in the Supreme Court, and I’m going to go by their rulings, and so far, I think their rulings have been rulings that people are going along with, but we’re talking about a very small number of people, and we’re talking about it, and it gets massive coverage, and it’s not a lot of people.
Time: But on that note, there’s a big fight on this in Congress now. The incoming trans member from Delaware, Sarah McBride, says we should all be focused on more important issues. Do you agree?
Trump: I do agree with that. On that—absolutely. As I was saying, it’s a small number of people.
Asked whether he would reverse the Biden administration’s protections for trans children under Title IX, Trump said, “I’m going to look at it very closely.”
Trump on using military for deportations: “I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows”
Turning to immigration, the Time journalists noted that federal law prohibits using the military as law enforcement on U.S. soil. They asked Trump how that squares with his promise to use the military to facilitate his mass deportation plans:
Time: You recently said on Truth Social that you plan to use the military to deport migrants. The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. What will you do if the military does not or refuses to carry out your orders?
Trump: Well, it doesn’t, it doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country, and I consider it an invasion of our country. We have criminals coming into our countries that we’ve never seen, we’ve never seen before. We have people coming in at levels and at record numbers that we’ve never seen before. And I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows. And I think in many cases, the sheriffs and law enforcement is going to need help. We’ll also get National Guard. We’ll get National Guard, and we’ll go as far as I’m allowed to go, according to the laws of our country.
Trump says he thinks Musk “puts the country long before his company”
Trump was asked about appointing Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an advisory group aimed at recommending spending cuts across the federal government.
Musk’s various enterprises are regulated by or have contracts with federal agencies, raising the prospect that his work with DOGE would constitute a conflict of interest. Trump told Time he doesn’t think it does:
Time: You’ve put Elon Musk in charge of DOGE, giving him the power to —
Trump: Along with —
Time: Along with Vivek Ramaswamy, yes, absolutely. But on Musk specifically, giving him the power to oversee the agencies that regulate his companies. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?
Trump: I don’t think so. Look, we have a country that is bloated with rules, regulations and with, frankly, people that are unnecessary to do. We are going to need a lot of people in a lot of other jobs. We’re looking to get people into private sector jobs where they can do better and be more productive. We’re going to see what happens. We have some interesting months coming up, at the beginning. We’re going to see what happens. But this country is bloated.
Time: I think everybody agrees that there’s waste in the federal government—
Trump: Waste, fraud, and abuse.
Time: But Elon Musk is talking about cuts that would directly affect NASA, which would then directly affect SpaceX, his company. Isn’t that the textbook definition of a conflict of interest?
Trump: I think that Elon puts the country long before his company. I mean, he’s in a lot of companies, but he really is, and I’ve seen it. He considers this to be his most important project, and he wanted to do it. And, you know, I think, I think he’s one of the very few people that would have the credibility to do it, but he puts the country before, and I’ve seen it, before he puts his company.
Trump on Ukraine: “You can’t reach an agreement if you abandon”
Trump has said he wants to broker a deal to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, and has harshly criticized the tens of billions of dollars of aid the U.S. has sent Kyiv since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Trump addressed fears from Democrats and European allies that he would abandon Ukraine or push the country to give up territory in any eventual peace deal:
Time: The question that many Americans and many people around the world have is, Will you abandon Ukraine?
Trump: I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon. You understand what that means, right?
Time: Right. Well, no, tell me.
Trump: Well, I just said it. You can’t reach an agreement if you abandon, in my opinion. And I disagree with the whole thing, because it should have never happened. Putin would have never invaded Ukraine if I were president for numerous reasons. Number one, they drove up the oil price. When they drove up the oil price, they made it a profit-making situation for him, the oil price should have been driven down. If it was driven down, you wouldn’t have had it wouldn’t have started just for pure economic reasons. But when it hits $80, $85, and $90 a barrel. I mean, he made, he made a lot of money. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, because he’s also suffered, but they are moving forward. You know, this is a war that’s been — this is a tragedy. This is death that’s far greater than anyone knows. When the real numbers come out, you’re going to see numbers that you’re not going to believe.
Trump on Netanyahu and the war in Gaza: “He knows I want it to end”
Trump addressed the volatile situation in the Middle East, specifically the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel. He said the Middle East is “an easier problem to handle than what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine” and “going to get solved.”
Trump declined to go into specifics about what he has discussed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he had made his position clear:
Time: Did Netanyahu give you assurances about when he would end the war?
Trump: Um, I don’t want to say that, but I think he feels confident that — I think he feels very confident in me, and I think he knows I want it to end. I want everything to end. I want, I don’t want people killed, you know? I don’t want people from either side killed, and that includes whether it’s Russia, Ukraine, or whether it’s the Palestinians and the Israelis and all of the, you know, the different entities that we have in the Middle East. There’s so many different entities. But I don’t want people killed.
Time: When you say productive things are happening, can you be more specific?
Trump: No, I can’t. I mean, I’d love to be, I would so love to be, but I can’t. I will be. We’re going to sit down in a period of time, hopefully soon, and I’ll tell you all the things that are happening. But there are some very productive things happening. I do think—okay, because I’m looking at two, two primary fronts, right? You have the Russia-Ukraine, and you have this, and there are other problems also. But look, when North Korea gets involved, that’s another element that’s a very complicating factor. And I know Kim Jong Un, I get along very well with Kim Jong Un. I’m probably the only one he’s ever really dealt with. When you think about it, I am the only one he’s ever dealt with. But you have a lot of very bad complicating factors there, but we’ll sit down and we’ll at the end of each of these, or both, maybe simultaneously, we’ll sit down and I’ll show you what a good job I did.
Time: You mentioned the Palestinian people. In your first term, your administration put forward the most comprehensive plan for a two-state solution in a long time. Do you still support that plan?
Trump: I support a plan of peace, and it can take different forms. When I did the Abraham Accords, that should have been loaded up with people, you know. I made a statement. I think they didn’t add one country. Think of it. They didn’t add one country to the Abraham Accords. We had the four countries, very important countries, but that should have been loaded up with Middle Eastern countries.
Time: Do you still support a two-state solution?
Trump: I support whatever solution we can do to get peace. There are other ideas other than two state, but I support whatever, whatever is necessary to get not just peace, a lasting peace. It can’t go on where every five years you end up in tragedy. There are other alternatives.
Does Trump trust Netanyahu? “I don’t trust anybody”
After some more discussion about the Middle East and Iran, Time asked Trump whether he trusts the Israeli leader. Trump gave a blunt response:
Time: Do you trust Netanyahu?
Trump: I don’t trust anybody.
Read the full interview with Trump here.