Donald Trump has been known to contact reporters unexpectedly, often favoring informal telephone conversations over formal on-camera interviews.
On Monday evening, I received such a call. To be candid, I was asleep when the White House contacted me.
For nearly five days, I had hoped for an interview with the former president, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
My reporting on the shooting had garnered international attention, potentially catching the president’s eye. I believed this connection might offer an opportunity to secure a rare presidential interview for a foreign news organization in the United States.
On Sunday night, I was informed that the call was imminent, and my team and I stood by, ready to record. However, the call did not materialize.
By Monday night, I had resigned myself to the interview not happening. Exhausted after weeks on the road without a break, I was taking a nap when the phone rang.
I answered groggily, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s voice came through the speaker: “Hi Gary, I’m here with the president, here you go.”
I rushed to my living room, fumbling for my digital recorder. The line disconnected, and I feared the opportunity was lost. However, they reconnected, and I spent nearly 20 minutes speaking with Mr. Trump about various topics, from the events of that night in Butler, to his frustrations with Vladimir Putin, his evolving views on NATO, and his perspective on the UK.
Here are five key takeaways from our unexpected conversation.
He appeared reflective on certain subjects and sounded particularly vulnerable when discussing the assassination attempt, a topic he clearly finds unsettling.
Known for his unfiltered and candid communication style, the former president exhibited moments of contemplation and prolonged pauses before answering questions, a side of him rarely seen by the public.
When asked whether the assassination attempt had changed him, Mr. Trump conveyed a hint of vulnerability, stating that he tries to avoid thinking about it as much as possible.
“I don’t like dwelling on it because if I did, it would be, you know, might be life-changing, I don’t want it to have to be that,” he said.
He elaborated, expressing his preference for “the power of positive thinking, or the power of positive non-thinking.”
A notable pause occurred when I inquired about his trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He eventually replied: “I trust almost nobody to be honest with you.”
Turning to domestic politics, I asked whether the former president’s plan for mass deportations was progressing effectively, considering both its speed and the potential for deporting individuals he might not intend to target.
Mr. Trump insisted that his team had done a “great job” in fulfilling his campaign promises, citing the significant decrease in migrants crossing into the US from Mexico.
Some members of Mr. Trump’s team have expressed concerns about the pace of deportations. When pressed on the number of deportations that would constitute a successful second term, he declined to provide a specific figure.
“Well I don’t put a number on but I want to get the criminals out quickly, and we’re doing that, as you know,” he said. “We’re bringing them to El Salvador, lots of other places.”
Mr. Trump expressed his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a statement that coincided with his threat to impose secondary sanctions on Moscow’s economy if a resolution to the war in Ukraine was not reached within 50 days.
Having campaigned on a promise to quickly end the war, Mr. Trump seemed perplexed by his inability to secure an agreement with his Russian counterpart to end the protracted conflict.
He reiterated his perception of a disconnect between Mr. Putin’s words and actions: “I thought we had a deal done four times and then you go home, and you see, just attacked a nursing home or something in Kyiv. I said: ‘What the hell was that all about?'”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders have long accused Mr. Putin of insincerity regarding ending the war. For them, these sentiments of doubt are not new.
However, when asked whether he had finished with the Russian leader, Mr. Trump continued to leave the door open: “I’m not done with him, but I’m disappointed in him.”
I reminded Mr. Trump of his past suggestion that NATO was obsolete, to which he replied that he now believed the Western military alliance was “becoming the opposite of that.”
This statement followed his hosting of NATO chief Mark Rutte, with whom he appears to have a productive working relationship. The two leaders exchanged warm words in front of cameras, announcing that the US would sell weapons to NATO, which would then be transferred to Kyiv.
During our call, Mr. Trump indicated that he was setting aside his concerns that the US contributed disproportionately to NATO’s defense spending.
“It was very unfair because the United States paid for almost a hundred percent of it, but now they’re paying their own bills and I think that’s much better,” he said, appearing to reference NATO members’ recent pledge to increase defense spending to 5% of each country’s economic output.
“We changed Nato a lot,” he told me.
Mr. Trump emphasized his respect for the UK and its prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, with whom he recently signed an agreement to reduce certain trade barriers. “I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he’s a liberal,” Mr. Trump explained.
Mr. Trump affirmed that the relationship between the two countries was as “special” as many Britons believe, adding that he was confident the UK would stand alongside the US in a war.
He seemed unconcerned by perceived slights against him. Although his state visit to the UK later this year will not include an address to Parliament, he did not insist that lawmakers be recalled. “Let them go and have a good time,” he said.
Mr. Trump described his future host King Charles as “a great gentleman.” He downplayed a recent speech delivered to Canada’s parliament by the monarch, which was interpreted as an endorsement of Canadian sovereignty in light of Mr. Trump’s threats.
He even shared a lighthearted observation. “You have many different names you go by,” he said. “England, if you want to cut off a couple of areas. And you go UK, and you have Britain and you have Great Britain. You got more names than any other country in history, I think.”
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