Trump reveals decisions he will make on first day of presidency
President-elect Donald Trump outlined his top priorities for taking office in a December 8 television interview, including deporting migrants with criminal records and pardoning those accused in the January 6 case, writes CNN.
Photo: Jessica Daly | Dreamstime.com
Supporting the Dreamers and Working with Democrats
Trump said he was open to working with Democrats to preserve the legal status of "Dreamers" (a commonly used term for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children) even though he pledged before the election to end birthright citizenship.
"We have to do something about the Dreamers, because they were brought here as children, and many of them are now middle-aged. They don't even speak the language of their country of origin. And yes, we are going to do something about it," Trump said in an interview with NBC. (It was recorded on Dec. 6 but aired Dec. 8. It is Trump's first interview since being elected.)
"I will work with the Democrats on a plan for the 'Dreamers,' but the Democrats have made this problem very difficult. The Republicans are open to these 'Dreamers,'" the newly elected president noted.
On the subject: Trump Proposes Making Canada the 51st US State
Trump previously expressed some support for Dreamers during his first term, though his administration tried to end an Obama-era program that shields migrant children from deportation, an effort that was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2020.
Trump has assured that his administration's mass deportation efforts will target people with criminal records, but added that it could go beyond deporting criminals, without specifying who those "other people who are not criminals" are.
When asked if he planned to deport every person who entered the country illegally, Trump replied: "I guess we'll have to."
Then he explained: "It's very difficult. You know, there are certain rules, regulations, laws. And these people came illegally."
On the issue of families with mixed immigration status (when parents are in the country illegally but their children are not), Trump was unequivocal: “I don’t want to break up families, so the only way is to send them all back.”
He doubled down on his campaign promise to abolish birthright citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, and suggested he might try to roll back that right through executive action.
"We're going to have to change that. We're the only country that has that rule," he said, repeating a false claim he's made in the past. (According to CNN, about three dozen countries automatically grant citizenship to people born on their territory.)
Investigations and Pardons
Trump has said he will not seek reprisals against President Joe Biden or political enemies, but he has repeatedly left it up to his appointees to decide whether to prosecute specific people. Among his proposals is jailing members of Congress who led the investigation into his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump has said he will consider pardoning his supporters who participated in the riot on the first day of his second term.
"These people have been there for, what, three or four years? They're in a filthy, disgusting place," he said. About 1200 people have either pleaded guilty or been convicted in court of crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack, according to the Justice Department. More than 645 defendants have been sentenced to prison.
The president-elect promised he would not direct his Justice Department to investigate members of Congress and Biden administration officials who led the probe into his role in the events of January 6, but again suggested his Justice Department would have the authority to investigate without his involvement.
Asked about the possibility of investigating special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two recently dismissed federal cases against him, Trump said he wants his attorney general nominee Pam Bondi to "do whatever she wants."
"She's very experienced, and I'm not going to give her any instructions," he noted.
Trump was more forthright when talking about the members of Congress who chaired the committee on Jan. 6. He said the committee's co-chairs — Cheney, a Republican who has since left Congress, and Bennie Thompson, a Democrat — should "go to jail."
"Cheney was behind this. So was Bennie Thompson and everyone on this committee," he said. "For what they did, frankly, these people should go to jail."
Trump believes it would be helpful for committee members to receive preemptive pardons from Biden to protect themselves from criminal prosecution. CNN reported last week that Biden White House aides, administration officials and prominent Washington attorneys have discussed potential preemptive pardons or legal assistance for people who may be targeted by Trump.
"Biden can pardon them if he wants to," Trump said. "Maybe he should."
In a statement issued on December 8 after Trump's interview aired, Cheney said: "Donald Trump's proposal that members of Congress who investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions be jailed continues his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic."
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who served on the committee, said on Dec. 8 that he was “not worried” about the Trump administration investigating him or his committee colleagues.
The Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause protects legislators from certain law enforcement actions that interfere with their legislative duties.
Asked whether he would order Bondi or Kash Patel, his nominee to lead the FBI, to go to prison, Trump said, “No, not at all.” But later, he added, “I think they’ll have to consider it.” Trump has tapped Patel to lead the FBI, even though the current director, Trump appointee Christopher Wray, has several years left on his 10-year term.
When asked if he planned to follow through on his campaign promise to investigate Biden, whom he repeatedly called “corrupt” and a “criminal” during the campaign, the president-elect said he had no intention of “going back to the past”: “I really want to make our country successful, so I don’t want to go back to the past.”
He was also reminded of another promise — that he would order his Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden. However, Trump again assured that he would not do so, but would leave the door open for senior Justice Department officials to make their own decisions.
Throughout the interview, the president-elect at times moderated his tone toward his political opponents and seemed to prioritize uniting the country over vengeance. He said he plans to make unity the central theme of his inaugural address and is confident that his administration will bring the country together.
It should be noted that Trump has called for unity at various points in his campaign, including after the first assassination attempt, but has often returned to harsh, divisive rhetoric and personal attacks. During the NBC interview, he again refused to acknowledge that he had lost the 2020 presidential election.
"I cannot guarantee that tariffs will not lead to price increases"
In the interview, the president-elect outlined his plan to impose additional tariffs on the country’s three largest trading partners — Mexico, Canada, and China. He again claimed that the U.S. was “subsidizing” those countries, and that raising tariffs would create a fairer economic environment for the U.S. and its allies. He added, however, that he “cannot guarantee” that the tariffs won’t drive up prices for Americans, as economists have suggested.
"I can't guarantee anything. I can't guarantee tomorrow," he concluded, saying that during his first term "we had no inflation" and that the tariffs he imposed "cost the American people nothing." Alas, as CNN has verified, both of those claims are false.
If Trump is to be believed, he has no intention of replacing Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chairman, when he takes office.
Social Security
Responding to concerns that his spending-cutting drive, led by tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, could lead to cuts to social security programs, Trump has pledged not to cut Social Security or raise the retirement age. But he has said his administration will try to make the program “more effective.”
Ramaswamy had previously said the new Department of Government Efficiency would focus on eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" in social security programs.
In choosing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known anti-vaccination activist and leading vaccine skeptic who has promoted anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, as his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump said he was open to Kennedy considering stopping childhood vaccines “if they are dangerous for children.” He then falsely suggested that vaccines were contributing to the rise in autism (a claim that has been repeatedly debunked).
Withdrawal from NATO and reduction of aid to Ukraine
Trump continued to tout his isolationist foreign policy by teasing possible departures from U.S. allies in Europe. He refused to commit to keeping the U.S. in the alliance for his entire term, saying that if NATO allies did not increase their contributions to the organization’s defense spending, he would “absolutely” consider leaving. And when asked whether Ukraine should prepare to receive less U.S. aid when he took office, Trump offered an ambiguous “maybe, probably, definitely.”
He will be the oldest person ever sworn in as president, so he again promised to release his medical records because he has "no problem with it": "I think everyone should do it."
Trump has previously released reports from his personal doctors describing his health, but has not risked publishing his medical records in detail.
Read also on ForumDaily:
Biden is not the first president to pardon a relative: Trump and Clinton did so before him.
Trump has chosen his Ukrainian chargé d'affaires: how General Keith Kellogg intends to end the war
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