President-elect Donald Trump, in an interview conducted Friday that aired Sunday night, told “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl that he discussed foreign policy with President Barack Obama on Thursday.
Trump said his meeting with Obama was not awkward at all.
“We never discussed what was said about each other,” he said. “I said terrible things about him, he said terrible things about me.”
“I found him to be terrific,” Trump said. “I found him to be very smart and very nice. Great sense of humor.”
Trump said he wanted to focus on the Middle East, North Korea, and the “merits and the difficulties” of Obama’s legacy health care policy.
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Trump also said Obama did not ask him not to undo the policy. The president-elect did not elaborate past that.
As Stahl brought up recent reports of minorities being harassed, Trump said he wanted to tell perpetrators to “stop it.”
Trump also said he would be fine with fencing as part of the wall along the US-Mexico border, and said that he plans to immediately deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
When asked if he would release his tax returns, Trump said he would, “at the appropriate time.”
“Obviously, the public didn’t care, because I won the election very easily,” he said.
When asked if Trump would appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton as he once promised, the president-elect said he was “going to think about it.”
As Stahl pushed him on the subject, Trump said, “I don’t want to hurt them. They’re good people. . . And I will give you a very, very good and definitive answer the next time we do ‘60 Minutes’ together.”
Trump deflected when asked if he would ask for the resignation of FBI director James Comey.
“I think that I would rather not comment on that yet,” he said. “I haven’t made up my mind. I respect him a lot. I respect the FBI a lot.”
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“This is a tough time for him,” Trump continued. “And I would like to talk to him before I’d answer a question like that.”
Trump also touched on one of his oft-repeated mantras: that the system was rigged.
“I’m not going to change my mind just because I won,” he said. “But I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. There’s a reason for doing this because it brings all the states into play. . . But this is a different system. But I respect it. I do respect the system.”
Trump also said he would not take the president’s $400,000 salary, nor did he expect to take any vacations.
The president-elect also said he would appoint a pro-life judge, and that if the iconic Roe v. Wade case on abortion were overturned, “it would go back to the states.”
When Stahl pressed him on how that meant some women would not be able to get an abortion, Trump replied, “They’ll have to go to another state.”
When asked about gay marriage, Trump said the issue was “irrelevant” because it’s “already settled.”
“It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean, it’s done,” he said. “And I’m fine with that.”
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Stahl also interviewed Melania, Trump’s wife, and some of his children.
Melania, who has expressed interest in taking on cyberbullying as a cause as first lady, said she has disagreed with her husband from time to time over his tweeting.
“You know, of course, I did many times from the beginning of the campaign,” she said. “Sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn’t.”
“He hears me,” she continued. “But he will do what he wants to do on the end. He’s an adult. He knows the consequences. And I give him my opinion. And he could do whatever he likes with it.”
The future first lady said she also had a “great” meeting with Michelle Obama.
“She was a gracious host,” Melania Trump said. “We had a great time and we talked about raising children in the White House. She was very warm and very nice.”