Full interview: Trump says Iran ‘is not an endless war’ as conflict reaches 100 days

Summary

Podcast Summary: Here's the Scoop – Full Interview: Trump says Iran ‘is not an endless war’ as Conflict Reaches 100 Days
Date: June 7, 2026
Host: Chris Wallace (NBC News), featuring President Donald Trump and advisor Stephen Miller
Location: Custer Farms, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (amid frequent rain interruptions)

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Overview

This episode features a wide-ranging, storm-interrupted interview with President Donald Trump at the 100-day mark since the United States initiated military action against Iran. Hosted by Chris Wallace, the conversation delves into the Iran conflict, U.S. military presence, potential peace deal negotiations, Middle East strategy, domestic economic issues, and President Trump’s controversial proposals regarding January 6th rioters. Throughout, Trump repeatedly frames his strategy as decisive, non-endless, and rooted in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

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Key Discussion Points

1. The Iran Conflict: Is the U.S. at War?

• Trump’s Framing: Trump argues repeatedly that the conflict is more of a "military exercise" than a full-scale war, emphasizing U.S. military dominance and minimal American casualties.
  • Quote: “I call it a military exercise because people would rather have it called that. It's not a big war for us…their navy is gone, their air force is gone, their anti aircraft is gone.” (Trump, [01:07])
• Trump highlights severe Iranian losses, asserting regime decapitation and economic devastation via an "ultimate blockade."
• Troop Presence: Trump insists that keeping 50,000 U.S. troops stationed near Iran is a precaution, not an escalation, and “costs very little” ([04:13]).

2. Deal Negotiations with Iran & Leadership Changes

• Deal Status: Trump claims the U.S. is close to a deal with Iran, the main friction being about prohibiting not just nuclear development, but also purchasing or acquiring nuclear materials ([07:55]).
  • Quote: “They've conceded the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons. … I want to put the word if they buy or purchase or acquire…” (Trump, [07:55])
• Iran’s leadership has cycled through multiple groups due to US attacks; Trump refers to the current leaders as more rational and confirms negotiations involve the son of the former Supreme Leader, who is "seriously injured" ([07:25]).

3. Nuclear Capability & Oversight

• Trump asserts the U.S. destroyed Iran’s primary nuclear facilities, leaving only 21-22% of their missile capacity intact ([11:42]).
  • Quote: “And we know where their drones are… Most of the launching pads have been knocked out...they still have capacity...maybe 21, 22% of their missiles.” (Trump, [11:04])
• U.S. space-based surveillance is touted as precise and omnipresent. Any final nuclear removal (what Trump dubs "nuclear dust") would happen jointly if a deal is reached, or by force if not.
  • Quote: “If we make a deal now, we're friendly, we'll all go together. It'll be our equipment, we'll take it out and destroy it… If we don't make a deal, then we're going to take them out militarily, very harshly.” (Trump, [14:17])

4. Comparison with Previous Wars

• Trump contrasts the low U.S. casualty count with protracted historical wars, defending the three-month-old Iran operation as swift and limited ([15:19]).
• On criticisms that terminating the original JCPOA nuclear deal increased risk: Trump maintains it was a "path to a nuclear weapon" and that the diplomatic ground is now more favorable ([10:25]).

5. Relations with Regional Actors

• Israel & Lebanon: Trump claims alignment with Prime Minister Netanyahu but suggests Israel should be “more surgical” in its approach to Hezbollah in Lebanon; expresses support for Lebanese and Syrian stabilization ([18:28]).

6. No New Wars: Campaign Promise vs. Reality

• Wallace challenges Trump on breaking his “no new wars” promise. Trump frames the Iran strike as a necessity to prevent global catastrophe, not as an ideological pivot.
  • Quote: “I had to stop a country, very powerful, very dangerous country from having a nuclear weapon because they'd use it. They'd blow up the world.” (Trump, [22:04])
• Trump rejects the "endless war" label, pointing to the short timeline, minimal U.S. losses, and compares it to past quagmires ([27:24]).

7. Economic Discussion: Farmers, Gas Prices, Inflation

• Trump touts his financial support for farmers ($28B in his previous term) and predicts that gas and fertilizer prices, currently high due to the Iran conflict, will "drop like a rock" once Iran is fully dealt with ([30:08], [31:43]).
• On interest rates: Trump advocates for the Fed not to raise rates amid economic success and expresses support for his new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh.
  • Quote: “It's unfair that whatever you do great, they want to raise interest rates. … We should actually lower interest rates now.” (Trump, [32:15])

8. The Weaponization Fund & January 6th Rioters

• Trump and Miller defend the proposed $1.8B “anti-weaponization fund” for people “hurt by the weaponization of government,” including January 6th defendants ([36:18]).
  • Quote (Miller): “People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the Biden administration…they’ve lost everything over a fake weaponization of government.” (Miller, [37:00])
• When pressed, Trump and Miller stop short of explicitly supporting payments to those convicted of assaulting police but assert that “many” were victims of "dirty cops" and political targeting.
• They repeat unfounded claims about election fraud and media bias, escalating to heated exchanges, eventually ending the interview abruptly ([41:32]-[42:19]).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the Definition of War
  “I don't define it at all. I don't think about it. I just do what I have to do.” (Trump, [02:57])

• On U.S. Military Dominance
  “It's not a big war for us. It's not. We have the most powerful military in the world. I built it, frankly… their navy is gone, their air force is gone…” (Trump, [01:07])

• On Preventing Nuclear Iran
  “The main thing is we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Can't do it. And we won't do it.” (Trump, [04:13])

• On His Red Line
  “My red line would be if I think I wasn't going to make a deal or if I wasn't going to make a deal fast enough.” (Trump, [05:16])

• On Interest Rates & Economy
  “It's unfair that whatever you do great, they want to raise interest rates... We should actually lower interest rates now.” (Trump, [32:15])

• On January 6th and ‘Weaponization’ Fund
  “If it was up to me, I'd pay them the kind of money they deserve. People have been destroyed.” (Trump, [37:29])

• On Media & Election Claims (Final Exchange)
  “Your press is crooked and Meet the Press is crooked and so is ABC and CBS and CNN, your one sided crooked network.” (Miller, [41:52])
  “Let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you darling. Have a good day.” (Miller, [42:01])

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Notable Timestamps

• Iran Blockade & War Framing: [01:07]–[03:12]
• Troop Withdrawal Discussion: [04:05]–[05:16]
• Deal Negotiations and Iran's Nuclear Program: [07:55]–[13:41]
• U.S. Knowledge of Iran’s Arsenal: [11:01]
• On No New Wars Promise & Justification: [22:04]–[27:58]
• Farmer & Gas Price Discussion: [29:03]–[31:47]
• Fed Chair & Interest Rates: [32:00]–[34:32]
• Weaponization Fund & January 6: [36:18]–[41:11]
• Contentious Conclusion & Media Accusations: [41:27]–[42:19]

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Takeaways

• Trump positions the Iran conflict as limited, justified, and successfully executed, frequently repeating themes of strength and non-endless engagement.
• Negotiations for a final deal hinge on strict nuclear prohibitions, with Trump unwilling to yield on U.S. terms and emphasizing intelligence dominance.
• He forcefully defends his record with farmers and the economy, decries high interest rates, and blames ongoing economic pain on necessary national security actions.
• On domestic controversies, Trump and Miller double down on election fraud claims, media bias, and the need to compensate alleged victims of federal prosecution, particularly around January 6th.
• The interview is punctuated by hostile, combative exchanges with Wallace — often devolving into accusations of bias and corruption — culminating in a walk-off amidst heavy rain.

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Transcript

[Chris Wallace]

Good Sunday morning. Today marks 100 days since the United States launched the first strikes against Iran. Midterm pressures are growing with no clear end to the war in sight. On Friday, President Trump took his case to rural voters in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin at the invitation of the White House. We joined him at Custer Farms and had a wide ranging interview that was unfortunately interrupted multiple times by the stormy weather overhead. President Trump, welcome back to Meet the Press. Thank you, thank you so much for being here. We are going to talk about your visit, why you're here in Wisconsin. But I'd like to start off by talking about the major issue that you are focused on every day, which is Iran. Sunday will mark 100 days since the first strikes. Your Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the war had concluded. And yet just this week Iran attacked US Allies in the region, calling it retaliation for a set of U.S. airstrikes. Is the United States at war with Iran?

[Donald Trump]

Well, they've been largely decapitated and I call it a military exercise because people would rather have it called that. It's not a big war for us. It's not. We have the most powerful military in the world. I built it, frankly, I built it in my first four years and I'm using it a little bit in my second four years. Their navy is gone, their air force is gone, their anti aircraft is gone. They might have built it up a little bit over the last four weeks of, during this little cease fire that we did at the request of some very good people, very, very fine people from actually from numerous places, as you know. You know, there are a lot of people involved, but from Pakistan in particular, the field marshal and the Prime Minister. And we're very close to having a deal. And if we don't have a deal, we'll do it one way or the other. Either way we win.

[Chris Wallace]

I do want to talk about the terms of any potential deal in just a moment. But, but let me just follow up with you. You did post on social media just this week, my final negotiations to end the war with the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is a naval blockade in place, which technically is an act of war under international law. So is this a war as long as there's a naval blockade in place?

[Donald Trump]

Well, we have a blockade. It's been extremely effective and the reason we have it is they try to blockade and now we blockaded them and as you know, they're losing 4 to $500 million a day. It's not sustainable for them. They have an economy that's Shot in addition to everything else, their leaders are gone, their generals are gone, their first tier and second tier are gone. Much of their third tier is gone. But they put up a blockade. And so we blockaded them and we have the ultimate blockade. I don't consider that a war, but if you want to define it as such, I guess you can.

[Chris Wallace]

Well, how do you define it?

[Donald Trump]

I don't define it at all. I don't think about it. I just do what I have to do.

[Chris Wallace]

But if you're not specifically calling it a war, would you consider sending some of the troops who are stationed there, who were sent because of Operation Epic Fury their home?

[Donald Trump]

No.

[Chris Wallace]

Would you consider sending them home? If it's not technically a war, we

[Donald Trump]

don't need as many troops. I think it just like it's on the terror on the side of caution. We have a lot of people there. They're very safe. You know, if you think we beat Venezuela, we lost nobody. We took over the whole country, we lost nobody. We have a great relationship, by the way, with Venezuela. Venezuela is doing very well, but we lost nobody. We've lost 13 people here, and that's a lot. 13 people too many. But if you look at Vietnam, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed, if you look at any one of the last seven or eight wars where many, many people were killed, we lost 13. And again, 13 is too many. I don't want to lose any. But 13 is less than anybody's ever even envisioned. I think we're doing a great job, but.

[Chris Wallace]

So are you saying you would consider sending some of the troops home, sir? Some of the 50,000 troops who were sent there as a part of Operation at the Fury.

[Donald Trump]

It costs us very little to keep them there. I don't consider them in danger. We have the best defense anyone's ever seen. We have the best offense anyone's ever seen. So I don't consider danger. I would say it would be foolhardy to do that because maybe we may use them. It's unlikely, but I think we'll keep them there until such time as we have a completion. And when we have a completion, you will see things like you've never seen. The oil will go down. The stock market already, as you know, it's at an all time high. Even in the midst of it, it hit all time highs. We had 73 all time highs in a short period of time that I've been in office, which is a record, by the way. And you know, we're doing very well. But the main thing is we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Can't do it.

[Chris Wallace]

What is.

[Donald Trump]

And we won't do it.

[Chris Wallace]

You just referenced the 13Americans who were killed. And I want to know what your red line is. What would trigger you to. To restart military action? Would it be Iran killing more American citizens?

[Donald Trump]

Certainly that would be something that I would think about very seriously. But my red line would be if I think I wasn't going to make a deal or if I wasn't going to make a deal fast enough. So we're having very good negotiations with the people that are leading the country now. It's the third group that we've been dealing with, and they are different. And you could say it's regime change, actually, because these are very different people. I find them to be more rational, very smart.

[Chris Wallace]

Who is that? Who's leading?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I don't want the names, but you know who they are. I mean, they're leaders. They're respected. Respected by the people that have to respect them. They are calling the shots. We know that because we see it through various tests that we've given. It's a little bit strange because you have leaders that have been there for a long time and they get wiped out. Then you have leaders that you also know the second tier, and they get wiped out. All of a sudden we're dealing with different people. But no, I think that we'll either have something done fairly quickly or we'll finish it out militarily.

[Chris Wallace]

Are you talking about the son of the Supreme Leader? He has not been seen in public. What is his status? Have you talked to him directly?

[Donald Trump]

I do believe they have great respect for him. I see it. I mean, they want to get his concurrence. They've said to me, they've said to others that they're looking for approval. And he is part of the approval process. Absolutely.

[Chris Wallace]

Have you spoken to him directly? You said you want to meet with him.

[Donald Trump]

No, I have not. I would if he'd like to, but I have not spoken to him directly.

[Chris Wallace]

Do you know where he is?

[Donald Trump]

I will tell you. They do.

[Chris Wallace]

How he is.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, they do pay homage to him. I would tell you if they didn't. They seem to. Based on what I see, they seem to respect him a great deal.

[Chris Wallace]

Do you know where he is? Do you know how he is doing physically?

[Donald Trump]

I don't want to say whether or not I know where he is, but there's a good probability that I do.

[Chris Wallace]

Is he inside Iran?

[Donald Trump]

I'd rather not say that.

[Chris Wallace]

Okay. He is the son of the last supreme leader, who was obviously a hardliner. Is this younger Khomeini any better for the United States than his father was?

[Donald Trump]

Younger, I think more rational. Injured, pretty badly injured. So there's a certain bravery there. A lot of people, if they were injured that badly, they wouldn't be talking about, you know, how we doing with the United States that have other things on their mind. So there's a certain bravery there, but he is very seriously injured. Yeah.

[Chris Wallace]

What is the status of talks exactly in, in this moment? How close are you to making a deal? Are we talking about days, weeks, months?

[Donald Trump]

Mr. President, I think we're very close. We have a couple of points. They don't even seem like big points. They've conceded the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons. We had a clause in there that we will not develop nuclear weapons. And everybody was very happy with it except me. And I said, well, what happens if they not develop but they go out and purchase, they acquire. I want to put the word if they buy or purchase or acquire, you know, you've got to have that in there, too, because that's not developing. So they don't have the right to develop or purchase, acquire or buy.

[Chris Wallace]

Have they pushed back against that? Is that one of the sticking points?

[Donald Trump]

A little bit. And then they didn't. Okay.

[Chris Wallace]

You have been Saying for months, Mr. President, that Iran is begging to make a deal. They are so desperate to make a deal. Why haven't they made a deal with you yet?

[Donald Trump]

Because they. It's a very hard thing for them. They've had great independence. They've dealt with very weak and ineffective leadership on behalf of the United States and other countries, frankly, that were. That allowed them to get away with murder. And I don't. I think they can't believe they're in the situation where they've been virtually decapitated.

[Chris Wallace]

But if they're so desperate, Mr. President, why haven't they said yes to the terms you're proposing?

[Donald Trump]

They're proud. There are things they never thought they'd be doing that they're going to have to do. They've got no choice. And it takes a little while. You know, you're talking about 47 years of getting away with whatever they wanted. I mean, we should. This should have been done long ago. This should have been done by other presidents or other countries. It doesn't have to be US other countries, but they were very close to having a nuclear weapon twice. That was when I terminated the Iran nuclear deal, which was a path. That deal, the JCPOA that deal was tantamount to giving them a nuclear weapon. It was a horrible deal given by Barack Obama and really penned by him. It was a horrible deal. It was, you know, it expired long ago. Had I not, had I terminated it. But had I not terminated it, it expired longer. As a short term deal. It was a road to a nuclear weapon. They would have had a nuclear weapon five years ago.

[Chris Wallace]

But Mr. President, I'm curious because when you were campaigning you said you would rip up the Iran nuclear deal but negotiate a better deal. Why didn't you negotiate a better deal at the time? Because after it was ripped up, there were guardrails and they escalated their production of enriched uranium.

[Donald Trump]

Excuse me. It takes years to do these things. These people have been fighting for 47 years. They've been killing Americans. They've been taken off their legs and their arm and their faces have been hurt, hurt so badly and so horribly. I'm moving very fast. I'm into three months. You know, Vietnam lasted 19 years. I'm into my third month. And all I do is say, well, when are you going to win? If I were a Democrat, nobody would be talking that way. But it doesn't matter to me. I've gotten so used to it. Look, we have totally destroyed their military. They have some missiles left, they have some drones left.

[Chris Wallace]

Do you know how many missiles?

[Donald Trump]

Yes.

[Chris Wallace]

Exactly how many?

[Donald Trump]

I don't want to tell you. Can you give me a left? No, but they have. I know almost to the number. And we know where they are too. And we know where their drones are and we know where their drone factories are. Most of the drone factories have been knocked out. Most of the launching pads have been knocked out and most of the missile manufacturing areas have been knocked out. But they still have capacity. They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21, 22% of their missiles. It's a lot of missiles, but it's not what it was when we first attacked.

[Chris Wallace]

So you're saying they have 21, 22% of their missiles left?

[Donald Trump]

Correct. Yes.

[Chris Wallace]

Okay, let's talk about what specifically you are demanding as a part of this short term deal. Will the United States agree to a deal with Iran that doesn't explicitly and immediately immediately give up its nuclear enrichment program on the front end?

[Donald Trump]

Well, you know, depending on what you say, immediately. Look, it is buried under mountains because our B2s were incredible. The pilots of our B2s were unbelievable. And it's buried. They can't get it. The only two countries that could take it, that have the equipment today. You have to understand three mountains have fallen in on that. Right. He understand that because the fake news was going around saying, oh, maybe they didn't hit their target. One o' clock in the morning, pitch black, no moon, no nothing. And every one of those bombs went right down those chutes and blew up. They can't get it, no matter what. I mean, they can get it, I guess, with years of work. But the only two countries that can get it are us and China. Because we're the only two with the equipment that's capable of doing, doing that kind of work. And it would take weeks, weeks of digging. So the answer is, yeah, we're going to do it immediately, we're going to start looking very quickly and we'll do it with them. If we make a deal with China. No, no, with. We're going to do it with the Iranians. So if we make a deal, that means we'll be friendly, we'll do it with the Iranians. If we don't make a deal, we may do it or we may just watch it. You know, we have cameras on it all over it. If anybody walked there, if you walked over there, I would be able to read your first name on your lapel. And these are cameras up in space. It's pretty amazing technology, Space Force. We have cameras all over the site. We know if anybody goes there, if anybody went there, any digging mechanism, any truck, any tractors, anything, anybody went there, we would know. We will take care of it.

[Stephen Miller]

Is that wind or what is that rain?

[Donald Trump]

What is that?

[Chris Wallace]

This would be the first of multiple interruptions due to the weather, rain hitting the metal roof, making it difficult for both of us to hear each other. So as we're having this conversation, we can hear a little bit of rain,

[Stephen Miller]

a lot of rain, a lot of rain.

[Chris Wallace]

Let me try to get a clear understanding of how the United States would get the nuclear material out. You've called it nuclear dust.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah.

[Chris Wallace]

Will you. And would you be open to sending in U.S. forces to retrieve the nuclear.

[Donald Trump]

So the official name is highly enriched uranium. And I call it nuclear dust because it seems to be nice and everyone understands it better and it's sort of cute and people picked it up. But the way you do it is if we make a deal, if we make a deal now, we're friendly, we'll all go together. It'll be our equipment, we'll take it out and destroy it, whether it's on site or whether we take it off site.

[Chris Wallace]

So that would require U.S. forces.

[Stephen Miller]

Well, that will require.

[Donald Trump]

We will have a deal. We'll be friendly. In other words, we will have made a deal and we will be at peace. And we will go with them or without them, but we won't have people shooting at us. Okay? Now if we don't make a deal, then we're going to take them out militarily, very harshly. And we'll wait till we do that before we go, in which case we'll have safety either way.

[Chris Wallace]

Mr. President, I wonder how long are you willing to give Iran to make a deal? How much longer you've been talking. Well, I.

[Donald Trump]

Well, you really haven't. Again, you were in Vietnam for nothing. 19 years. You were in Iraq for many years. You were in Korea for many, many years. You were in all the. I won't even talk about World War II because that was the big one and we don't want to ever have that. But you were in all these different wars for many years with thousands and thousands of people killed. We've had 13 people killed, which I hate. We've had 13, 13 people killed. And that includes two wars. That's Venezuela and that's Iran.

[Chris Wallace]

But do you have a cutoff?

[Donald Trump]

But you keep talking about speed, Chris. You were in Vietnam for 19 years and you tell me about three months. And in three months I've demolished the Navy, the Air Force, anti aircraft. They have no radar, they have no nothing. I demolished their leaders. Their leaders are gone.

[Chris Wallace]

Do you know where all of Iran's nuclear material is?

[Donald Trump]

Yes. Yes.

[Chris Wallace]

Would you unfreeze any Iranian assets or lift any sanctions up front as a part of any deal? So that would come after.

[Donald Trump]

Comes after.

[Stephen Miller]

Yeah, if they turned over their job.

[Donald Trump]

We started. Yeah.

[Chris Wallace]

Material.

[Donald Trump]

Unlike Obama. Obama flew a Boeing 757A plane I know very well. They took the seats out and they loaded it up with $1.7 billion in cash from the banks in Maryland and Virginia and D.C. they emptied out the banks and they gave them 1.7 in green and they gave them tens of billions of dollars. Just kept giving them money and it didn't work.

[Chris Wallace]

Would any again?

[Donald Trump]

That never works.

[Chris Wallace]

But again, Mr. President, you promised that you were going to negotiate a better deal. Do you, do you wish you'd done it in your first term when you ripped it up at that before you ripped.

[Donald Trump]

No, they weren't ready. No, this is much better. This is much better. If I would have done it in my first term, Israel wouldn't have been ready. Hear that sound? That sound? Thunder. Lightning.

[Chris Wallace]

Is that going to interrupt Guys, No. Okay.

[Donald Trump]

People will understand. We're in a farm.

[Chris Wallace]

That's true. Will any deal you make include the release of. Of Americans who are being held by Iran?

[Donald Trump]

Well, we talk about it and we'll see. Nobody really has an accurate list of who they are, what they are, or if they're being held. But if they're. We've been talking about it. Nobody really has a list.

[Stephen Miller]

You know that, right?

[Donald Trump]

You know, you're asking me about.

[Chris Wallace]

Nobody has a list, but are you demanding a list? Are you demanding to know and saying they've got.

[Donald Trump]

Give me the list? I mean, do you know people that, that we're talking about? If you give me the names, I'll

[Stephen Miller]

do my best to get them.

[Chris Wallace]

I don't think that's been reported.

[Donald Trump]

Huh?

[Chris Wallace]

I don't think it's all of the people who've been held.

[Donald Trump]

All I'm saying is this. If you have a list of names,

[Stephen Miller]

give them to me and I will get that.

[Chris Wallace]

Is it something you talk to them about?

[Stephen Miller]

We talk about people, if they have

[Donald Trump]

them, but nobody knows who they are, just like you don't know who they are.

[Chris Wallace]

You have openly said you've been frustrated by Israel's continued bombing of Lebanon. Are you and Prime Minister Netanyahu on the same page?

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, we are. We get along very well.

[Stephen Miller]

We've been great comrades. We did a very, very big number on a certain country that was nothing

[Donald Trump]

but trouble for 47 years.

[Stephen Miller]

I disagree with him on a couple

[Donald Trump]

of things I'd like to see.

[Stephen Miller]

I'd like to see Lebanon have a better life. I'd like to see. See a more surgical attack on Hezbollah.

[Donald Trump]

I think it should be more surgical

[Stephen Miller]

and we can help them with that or we can recommend Syria. Syria is doing a very good job of cleaning up their act.

[Donald Trump]

They have a very good leader. They have a leader that's really done

[Stephen Miller]

a good job in a short period of time and he would love to help.

[Chris Wallace]

Are you demanding that Lebanon be a part of the short term deal that you negotiated?

[Donald Trump]

I'm not demanding.

[Stephen Miller]

I think they'd like to see it,

[Donald Trump]

but I'm not demanding. Okay.

[Chris Wallace]

I wonder if we should. Let me just get a gut check here. Should we pause for five minutes and let this. I just want to be able to hear everything he said. The rain did not stop, but neither did our interview. When we come back, President Trump on his promise to never start a new war. I'm Cyndi Lauper with fellow Cosentyx advocate chef Michelle Bernstein. We'll share our experiences with plaque psoriasis with psoriatic arthritis and Dr. Panico will

[Donald Trump]

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[Chris Wallace]

I'd like to talk big picture now, Mr. President. One of your consistent campaign promises was no new wars going all the way back to 2015. Did you break that promise to the American people?

[Donald Trump]

I had to stop a country, very powerful, very dangerous country from having a nuclear weapon because they'd use it. They'd blow up the world. They blow up the Middle east. They'd blow up Israel. They'd come here, they'd blow up Europe.

[Stephen Miller]

They're nuts.

[Donald Trump]

Okay? They're crazy people. I deal with them and very high strung people. Crazy and get along with them. I like them. But you don't want to let them have a nuclear weapon. And I'M doing the world a service. But I'm doing our country of service. It's America first. I'm doing our country a service. Nice rain.

[Chris Wallace]

It is raining hard,

[Donald Trump]

but the answer is good.

[Stephen Miller]

Let's just keep going. Let's power through it right here.

[Chris Wallace]

We paused nearly five minutes for the rain to pass and then picked up our conversation. So you're saying you didn't break your promise. And yet, Mr. President, in your first term, you held to that promise. And it was so fundamental to who you were as a candidate to a first term president. What changed? Because you insisted no new war.

[Donald Trump]

I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world? I built our military. I inherited a terrible military. We had no equipment, we had nothing. I built a tremendous military. Biden gave a lot of it away, but it's still a relatively small portion compared to what I built.

[Chris Wallace]

But you said it over and over again, Mr. President.

[Donald Trump]

Why would I build a military now? I didn't want to use this, but I'm doing you and everybody else a big favorite in the midst of the greatest stock market in history, in the midst of the most successful country. Because as you know, in the last term we were dead country. Christine, I know you. You're a big liberal or big progressive.

[Chris Wallace]

No, I'm just a journalist.

[Donald Trump]

We were a dead country a year ago. A couple of years ago, we were a dead country. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. And at the all time hottest point, which is probably now, believe it or not, you just had all brand new stock market records, records today. But at the hottest point in the history of our country, I took Scott Howard, I took Pete, I took everybody into a room. I said, I have to do this country, this world, the Middle East, Israel, everybody a favor. You have Iran. They're going to have a nuclear weapon. Barack Hussein Obama signed the jcpoa. It was a horrible deal, homie. Horrible deal. Listen to me. It was a horrible deal. It was a path to them getting a nuclear weapon. They were very close to having a nuclear weapon. I terminated the deal. Wait. Then I sent the B2 bombers in about nine, 10 months ago and they obliterated, totally obliterated the site. And I saved it. We had a choice. We could let them have a nuclear weapon or we could go along and have some beautiful day days. But they would have, you know, it's a judgment. They would have used the nuclear weapon. And you know what? When people hear that whole scenario, when they hear me say Iran is Going to have a nuclear weapon. And they're crazy. They say you're doing the right thing. I don't think it's an. I mean, you'll do polls because they're all fake polls anyway. Especially yours. But you do polls. I just want a big election election. And the reason I won election is people have confidence in me. I have good judgment. I had to make a judgment. Do I want to go along and have a country that's doing really well but somebody is going to try and kill us, or do I want to put out that. That horrible threat? And I did. I put it out. I put it out for many, many years. Now I'm going to put it out permanently. I'm going to do it even either through negotiation, where we're very close to a deal, or I'm going to blow the hell out of them, to be honest with you. And it's going to be very easy for me to do. That's actually the easier path. So when you say I promised, I didn't promise anything. I don't like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We've been doing this for three months. Much of it has been under the form, a pretty good form of cease fire. The blockade has been amazing. Our navy is amazing. Our military is the best in the world. Hey, we took over a very powerful country. Venezuela. Very, A lot of soldiers, big, strong military. We took over Venezuela in a matter of minutes. We destroyed the capability of Iran in a matter of days. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Now, I'm going to finish it. But remember, remember you were in Vietnam 19 years because, stupid people, you were in so many different countries. Every war you were in for years. Look at, look at Iraq. Look what you were. You were there for years. Listen, Kirsten, we're there for a few months and the threat is largely over. Soon it will be over. But you cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon or they will blow you up. There will be no Kristen. There will be no NBC. There will be no Meet the Press. You will end the Meet the Press string.

[Chris Wallace]

Let me ask you, though, during your 2016 campaign, you called the Middle East a quagmire. What makes you so sure this won't become a quagmire?

[Donald Trump]

We're not going to be there.

[Chris Wallace]

You're convinced this won't become a quagmire?

[Donald Trump]

It's not a quagmire. I just wiped out the military of a very dangerous country. And I wiped out the nuclear set. Let me tell you, if we left Tomorrow, if we just said, all right, let's get out. It'll take them 15 or 20 years to rebuild back. But I'm not going to give them even that chance. I'm not going to give them that chance. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. And if there was even a 1% chance that they'd have it, I wouldn't leave. We're almost finished. We're going to either have a deal, a strong deal, a meaningful deal, not like the Obama thing. Obama was a path to a nuclear weapon.

[Stephen Miller]

Mine is the exact opposite.

[Donald Trump]

And mine is a wall. It's a wall just like I built a thousand miles of wall on our southern border.

[Stephen Miller]

And by the way, I took the worst border in history and I made

[Donald Trump]

it the best border in history in

[Stephen Miller]

a matter of weeks.

[Chris Wallace]

And yet, Mr. President, Iran was the closest to developing weapons grade uranium after you ripped up the nuclear deal because there were no guardrails in place.

[Stephen Miller]

They were developing it during the nuclear deal. You don't know that. What Iran, when Obama signed that stupid deal where he paid them billions and billions of dollars, he thought he could bribe them.

[Donald Trump]

Listen to me.

[Stephen Miller]

They were developing a nuclear weapon. That's how they got there. They got all of this uranium during Obama.

[Donald Trump]

You know that, don't you?

[Chris Wallace]

Let's.

[Donald Trump]

Well, that's how they got there. Don't say this.

[Stephen Miller]

They got there. They developed it.

[Donald Trump]

It.

[Stephen Miller]

During the. Obama, Barack Hussein Obama during his administration.

[Chris Wallace]

They've escalated their development after the deal was. Let's talk about the economy. Let me just tell you the economy.

[Stephen Miller]

If I didn't go in there with the B2 bombers, they would right now have a nuclear weapon. And it could be that half of the world would be eradicated.

[Chris Wallace]

Let me, let me ask you about the economy. You got a strong jobs report today that beat expectations.

[Donald Trump]

Not strong.

[Stephen Miller]

Really strong.

[Chris Wallace]

Beat expectations by how much? Triple 170,000 jobs created. And yet gas is up, diesel is up.

[Stephen Miller]

It's all coming down as soon as the war is over.

[Chris Wallace]

70% of farmers say they can't afford fertilizer. What's your.

[Stephen Miller]

Farmers are doing very well.

[Chris Wallace]

Let me ask you, what is your message to farmers, many who support you, but who say they're struggling, who say

[Stephen Miller]

nobody, but better to farm. You know, I gave farmers last term $28 billion because China took advantage and other people and, you know, paid for it. China last year, you know, I had a great first term. I had the greatest economy ever. And you know what? This one's blowing it away.

[Chris Wallace]

What's your message to farmers though, Mr. President, who say they are struggling, they're struggling to make ends. You ready?

[Stephen Miller]

Am I allowed to talk?

[Donald Trump]

You keep asking questions and you don't listen to the answers. I love the farmers and the farmers love me. The farmers trust me. In the first term, I had something very similar. China and others were. And Canada, which was brutal. They were taking advantage of our farmers. They don't take advantage of it anymore. I gave them $28 billion split up. They never had a payday like that. And the farmers loved me. And they came back and they voted for me in record numbers. You know that Nobody's ever even come close now because of the fact that

[Stephen Miller]

we had a choice.

[Donald Trump]

I had a choice to make. I could keep it going. The farmers were doing great. Fertilizer was very cheap. Everything was cheap.

[Stephen Miller]

Gasoline was very low.

[Donald Trump]

Everything was very low. I could have kept it that way, but I said, I have to take a little bit of a turn. The farmers are going to understand it better than anybody. We're going to have higher guests than the world, going to have a little higher fertilizer, etc. Etc. But I'm going to get rid of a nuclear weapon in the hands of very dangerous people. Excuse me. Wait. It should have been done for 47 years. No president had the guts to do it. I did it and I've done it. It's almost complete. As soon as that's complete, gasoline prices are going to drop like a rock. You know, I was in Iowa speaking about farms, and it was before we attacked Iran, and I was in Iowa and The prices were $1.85 a gallon. $1.91 a gallon. What?

[Chris Wallace]

This time it wasn't the rain, but an audio issue that forced us to pause the interview again. Are gas prices going higher or have they peaked?

[Donald Trump]

They're going to come low, very low. They're going to go lower than they were before.

[Chris Wallace]

Have they peaked?

[Donald Trump]

Depends. I mean, it depends where the war goes. It could be I have to give them a shot. And it could be we'll sign an agreement. If we sign an agreement, they'll go down now. Otherwise, they'll go down after we're finished.

[Chris Wallace]

You have a new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh. His first meeting in the role is later this month after this month's jobs report. Economists now say it's possible the Fed may have to raise rates. Do you think that's possible? And what would your reaction be?

[Donald Trump]

So, sir? So I'm of a different feel. I think Kevin is. Kevin's fantastic, and I want him to do whatever he wants. I don't want to have a big influence on him. But we had a great report, we're doing great. And it's unfair that whatever you do great, they want to raise interest rates. It should be the opposite way. You know, if you go back 15 or 20 years when you had good reports, the market went up. Nowadays, when you have good reports, the market goes down because they think they're going to raise interest rates. There's no reason to raise interest rates. The country becomes great. We built the country by doing great and having rates low. What they do is when they raise interest rates, they try and kill success. I don't want to kill success. We should actually lower interest rates now. If inflation comes, and you know, people live with inflation, but if inflation comes, what happens is you stamp it out. But success can kill inflation just like higher interest rates. What they do now is like, we had great job numbers. You agree, right?

[Stephen Miller]

They beat expectations, not expectations, like three times.

[Donald Trump]

Okay, but you ready? What do they do? They say, oh, let's raise interest rates. It's the wrong thing to do. I would like to see rates get lower because we could build this into the greatest machine that the world has ever seen. But you can't do that when everybody immediately raises interest rates. So we had great job numbers. We're doing great.

[Stephen Miller]

You know, we're building more factories. We have more money coming into our

[Donald Trump]

country right now from other countries and people than ever before. Wait a minute, what happens? I don't want to just kill it with high interest rates.

[Stephen Miller]

Growth is the greatest thing you can have and growth does not cause inflation.

[Chris Wallace]

Would you be upset if they raised rates? What is your message to them about that?

[Donald Trump]

Living with Kevin, I have a lot of respect for him. But my feeling is that when a

[Stephen Miller]

country is doing well, they shouldn't be penalized by immediately raising interest rates.

[Donald Trump]

They should actually be incentivized. You know, we have debt, we have other things, we have things we want

[Stephen Miller]

to take care of.

[Donald Trump]

I want to go bigger on the middle military. I really do. If we do what I'm saying, this

[Stephen Miller]

will be a beautiful, well oiled machine

[Donald Trump]

like you've never seen before.

[Chris Wallace]

And when we come back, President Trump defends his controversial plan that could give payouts to January 6th rioters.

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[Chris Wallace]

This 1.8 billion so called anti weaponization fund. It was going to compensate people who say the federal government weaponized the legal system against them. It's been blocked by the courts, met with opposition from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. And Democrats, mostly Democrats, some Democrats and some Republicans.

[Stephen Miller]

Very few Republicans.

[Chris Wallace]

Just to be very clear, are you backing off the fund completely, as your acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has said, or are you looking for another avenue to revise?

[Donald Trump]

Let me explain what the fund is. People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the

[Stephen Miller]

Biden administration and Sleepy Joe. They're vicious.

[Donald Trump]

They're violent.

[Stephen Miller]

What they did to people. And of course they went after me

[Donald Trump]

more than anybody else. They raided Mar a Lago and all the other things.

[Stephen Miller]

But people have been badly hurt. They've committed suicide. They've lost their jobs, they've lost their families, they've lost their wives. They've lost everything. They've lost everything over a fake weaponization of government. Now let me just tell you for

[Chris Wallace]

a way to Revive it.

[Stephen Miller]

Well, look, it was up to me.

[Donald Trump]

I'd pay them the kind of money that they deserve. People have been destroyed.

[Stephen Miller]

Lives have been destroyed.

[Donald Trump]

Many suicides. Think of it.

[Stephen Miller]

People have committed suicide because a bunch of thugs went after them. You don't so me personally, I think the weaponization fund is a great idea and so do many other Republicans. You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that's great. If they don't get it approved, I'd be disappointed.

[Donald Trump]

Point.

[Chris Wallace]

All right, we're going to motor through this.

[Stephen Miller]

But you have to understand, people have. This have been destroyed by crooked politicians and they should be reimbursed for that.

[Chris Wallace]

Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on January 6 should get taxpayer money?

[Stephen Miller]

I wouldn't be inclined to say so, but I have to see it. I can tell you this. 97% of those people, you look at him, the FBI or whoever it was, because you had a lot of crooked cops. You had dirty cops. Comey was a dirty cop. A guy like Bolton was a dirty cop.

[Chris Wallace]

There's no evidence.

[Stephen Miller]

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Oh, you think Comey was a straight

[Chris Wallace]

cop who pleaded guilty to assaulting police.

[Stephen Miller]

Comey was a dirty cop. They had FBI. Listen to me. They had FBI agents ushering them into the building. They had FBI go into the building. Those people walking around, they're looking at, oh, isn't this nice? They weren't in. They were being ushered into the building.

[Chris Wallace]

There's no evidence.

[Stephen Miller]

You had a bunch of dirty cops. And frankly, what they did was weaponization of our government.

[Chris Wallace]

Sir, there's. There's no evidence of that. More than a thousand people.

[Stephen Miller]

No, there's none. You know what you do try looking at the tapes one time.

[Chris Wallace]

Would you take it.

[Stephen Miller]

Look at the tapes one time.

[Chris Wallace]

But 172 people did plead guilty to assaulting police officers.

[Stephen Miller]

You know why they pled guilty? Because they told they were going to jail, jail for 15 years if they didn't. Should they pled guilty because they were frightened? They went down, they were ushered into a building. Many of them were arrested without even going into the building.

[Chris Wallace]

Are you okay with them receiving taxpayer dollars?

[Stephen Miller]

The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated. Now, with that being said the attorney, as I understand it, the weaponization fund was going to set up a group of people, people that could be picked by anybody. Fair people, smart people, and they will go on an individual case basis.

[Donald Trump]

Now, I don't know what's going to happen with the Weaponization fund.

[Stephen Miller]

I love the idea because people like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden. He's not smart enough to know what's going on, but people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful Resolute desk in the Oval Office. What they did to the lives of people. They destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong.

[Chris Wallace]

Just to be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying. But let me ask about Todd. Blanche, listen to me.

[Donald Trump]

Listen to me.

[Stephen Miller]

Let's talk about tremendous evidence. Evidence is nothing but evidence. The election was rigged. It was a dirty election. And it's happening again right now in California. Right now in California. Right now. It's. Look at. Look at what's happening in California. That it's. The report days are doing well in California. It's.

[Donald Trump]

No, they're not. They're.

[Stephen Miller]

They're dropping fast because it's a rigged election. Let me tell you, it's four days and they aren't even counting close to coming up. You know why they're doing that? Because they're cheating on the election.

[Chris Wallace]

There's. What, do you have evidence to support?

[Stephen Miller]

All I have to do is look, all I have to do is.

[Chris Wallace]

That's not.

[Stephen Miller]

And I listen and I listen to people and let's see what happens.

[Chris Wallace]

But, sir, that's not evidence.

[Stephen Miller]

Do you think it's appropriate?

[Chris Wallace]

That's how they count the votes.

[Stephen Miller]

You think it's appropriate that they have an election and five days later they're nowhere close to picking.

[Chris Wallace]

Local officials acknowledge they are slow. They're urging.

[Stephen Miller]

They're crooked.

[Chris Wallace]

They're urging the votes to be counted. That's how they're crooked.

[Stephen Miller]

Just like you're crooked.

[Donald Trump]

Your press is crooked and beat.

[Stephen Miller]

The press is crooked.

[Chris Wallace]

To be fair, I'm not crooked, but let's really.

[Stephen Miller]

Well, you play right into their hands.

[Chris Wallace]

Let's continue.

[Stephen Miller]

You're either crooked or you're stupid. You play right into their hands with this rap. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they're rigged. You know that I won an election in a landslide And I got 94% bad press.

[Chris Wallace]

But, Mr. President, you know why I got that present?

[Stephen Miller]

Because you have no credibility.

[Chris Wallace]

But you've never presented evidence that it was rigged. Let's keep talking about. I want to talk about Todd.

[Stephen Miller]

You have more evidence. There's more evidence than ever presented. Let's talk Your elections in this country, we're like a third world country. Your elections are crooked and you're crooked and Meet the press is crooked and so is ABC and CBS and cnn, your one sided crooked network. So let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you darling. Have a good day.

[Chris Wallace]

Mr. President, let's please I traveled all the way to Wisconsin.

[Stephen Miller]

I've sat in the rain.

[Chris Wallace]

I know I've sat in the rain with you for an hour, on and

[Stephen Miller]

off in the rain. And I've given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press because you know what? A country can never be great with a dishonest.

[Chris Wallace]

Listen, we traveled all the way of Wisconsin for this interview. I spoke with President Trump on Saturday and we both acknowledged the complications during the interview posed by the rain. He agreed to sit down with me for another Meet the Press interview.

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