ALBAWABA- U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to resume U.S. nuclear weapons testing and defended his record on the economy, immigration, and foreign policy during a wide-ranging interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
The appearance, his first since settling a previous lawsuit with the network, covered topics from domestic investigations to global security challenges.
In the 90-minute discussion with correspondent Norah O’Donnell, Trump revisited the FBI’s 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence, calling it an act by “crooked people” who “threw files all over the floor.” He portrayed the incident as emblematic of what he described as a “deeply politicized justice system.”
Turning to global affairs, Trump said the United States will restart nuclear weapons testing, citing alleged violations by Russia and China. “We have enough to blow up the world 150 times,” he said, asserting the move was necessary to maintain deterrence.
On Ukraine, Trump said he could “end the war quickly” through direct talks with Vladimir Putin, describing the Russian leader as “tough but pragmatic.” He also claimed that under his leadership, China paid “billions” in tariffs to the U.S. and that the country now leads in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
However, he stopped short of reaffirming a military defense of Taiwan, saying he believed Xi Jinping would avoid confrontation “as long as I’m president.”
Discussing the Middle East, Trump credited his administration with hostage releases and strikes on Iranian targets, predicting that Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel without requiring Palestinian statehood concessions.
On Venezuela, he vowed to deploy the U.S. military to interdict drug-smuggling vessels, which he said kill “25,000 Americans a year,” and claimed the Maduro regime was “collapsing.”
Domestically, Trump boasted that illegal border crossings had reached a “55-year low” and pledged mass deportations of criminal offenders, including what he said were “over 11,000 murderers released under Biden.”
He blamed Democrats for a potential government shutdown linked to immigration aid and credited his tariff policies with fueling a “record-high stock market” and $17 trillion in new investments, insisting tariffs also help “fight inflation.”
When asked about his ongoing legal cases and indictments, Trump denied using the Justice Department for political purposes and dismissed former FBI director James Comey as “dishonest.”
