After the Hannity town hall, Trump shook hands with supporters
Former President Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania to attend a town hall event with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
President Donald Trump hammered old enemies Wednesday evening during his first Oval Office interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity to discuss his extraordinary political comeback and his deluge of executive orders.
The returning Commander-in-Chief, who survived an assassination attempt last year, is enjoying a bit of a honeymoon after a more convincing election victory last November. He has seen his approval ratings soar while enjoying a Republican-controlled Congress to push his agenda.
Trump said many of the challenges facing the United States are “solvable” but that it will “unfortunately take time, effort and money.” He did not go into details.
“We can get our country back, but if we had not won this race, I am sure our country would have been lost forever,” he said.
During the hour-long interview, Trump focused as much of his energy on past grievances as he did on his plans to move the country forward. He remained as aggressive as he had been on the campaign trail, with Hannity even encouraging the president to consider a trip back to the Oval Office.
The Fox News host questioned the president on several issues. Among them: the federal role in disaster management; the use of troops to enforce law on the US-Mexico border; And it’s because he pardoned the supporters who violently attacked the US Capitol four years ago.
Here are the key moments from Wednesday’s talk.
Trump: ‘A lot of work’ to undo Biden’s mistakes
Former President Joe Biden, who left office in a shambles. 36% approval ratingand his party out of power is one of Trump’s favorite targets.
Asked how it felt to be back in the Oval Office, the president said it would be “a lot of work” to replace his Democratic rival’s tenure and that many things in the Biden years should not have happened.
We wouldn’t have had inflation, we wouldn’t have had the destruction of Afghanistan October 7 in Israel “Where many people are killed and you don’t have a war in Ukraine,” Trump said.
Trump promised in his inaugural address that “national unity” would return. But much of this week has seen the returning president bashing enemies outside of power. He called former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney from Wyoming. “Cry crazy.”
Trump said voters rejected Democrats’ ideas because they were failing the country and that Democrats were only good at “cheats.”
Excuse Me: Trump and Biden’s Controversial Executive Actions
The presidencies of Trump and Biden have stuck together in various ways, including their controversial use of presidential pardons within hours of each other.
Biden exited the White House using a series of preemptive pardons, citing unspecified crimes for fear of reprisals from the incoming Trump administration. Among those awarded a clean slate were several members of Biden’s own family, such as his son Hunter Biden, who were accused of influence peddling.
The use of early pardons was something the former president told CNN he would not do back in December 2020, prompting Republicans and some Democrats to label his actions hypocritical.
“This guy went around apologizing to everybody,” Trump said.
Trump again suggested that Biden had made a mistake. By not giving yourself a get out of jail free card.
“The funny thing, maybe the sad thing is that he didn’t forgive himself,” he added. “And if you look at it, it was all to do with him.”
Hannity eventually brought Trump up on the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, granting pardons and extending amnesty to nearly 1,600 people, including leading members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, two right-leaning militia groups. are included.
Trump promised to pardon the rioters during the 2024 campaign, and the president spoke in glowing terms, highlighting violence against law enforcement officers. He said many were held for years and were ill-treated. Trump repeated again and again without evidence that the 2020 election was stolen.
“And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote,” Trump said. “You should be allowed to protest.”
Trump pushed back on concerns about TikTok.
One topic that will be of interest to millions of Americans is what the second Trump administration plans to do about TikTok, which Trump has suggested is not as big a threat to national security as the platform’s Chinese influence. Critics of ownership give it a voice.
“You’re dealing with a lot of young people. So is it important for China to… spy on like young people, little kids watching crazy videos?” Trump asked.
On his first day in office, Trump took executive action to save the app, which faced a ban in the US after violating bipartisan legislation to sever ties with Chinese parent company ByteDance. It gave TikTok a 75-day grace period and is ready to work out an alternative arrangement.
Trump told Hannity that any electronic device made in China, from telephones to computers, could also be used to spy on Americans.
“You can say that about anything made in China. Look, most of our telephones are made in China. We have a lot of things made in China. So why don’t they mention that?” he said.
America Banned Hence the sale and import of certain communication devices made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.
Trump reflects on how he has changed since the assassination.
He is not a changed man.
But Trump told Hannity about the attempt on his life last July during a rally in Butler, Pa., when a bullet grazed his ear, deepened his faith in God.
Trump also spoke about the assassination during his inaugural address earlier this week, but on Wednesday reflected more on how close he was to dying.
“I don’t think I’ve changed, but I think I have, yes,” he told Hannity about his faith. “Because when you look at it statistically, I should never be here.”
Trump Hints at Reviving FEMA, Says Agency Will Be a ‘Big Debate’
Trump suggested in the interview that he plans to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps states deal with hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters.
The comments came as Hannity and Trump discussed how the Republican president would push forward his legislative agenda. Trump said the wildfires in California had changed his calculus.
“FEMA is a complete no-brainer, because it complicates everything. FEMA hasn’t done its job for the last four years,” he said. “But unless you have some kind of leadership. , it really is, it gets in the way. And FEMA is going to be a huge debate very soon, because I’d rather the states take care of their own problems.”
Trump said that if a state like Oklahoma has a hurricane, they should fix it themselves with federal funding. “FEMA is getting in the way of everything,” Trump said.
It was unclear what kind of reforms Trump had in mind. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
