On Tuesday, Donald Trump sat down with ABC News journalist Terry Moran for a wide-ranging interview that marked his 100 days in office. It took only a matter of minutes for the Trump interview to turn combative. Moran pressed Trump on important topics like gang crime, immigration, and tariffs. At one point, during the interview, Trump lost his temper and snapped at Moran, saying, “I’ve never even heard of you,” after being questioned about his administration’s policies on immigration.
The Interview Quickly Got Combative
The Trump interview was granted to mark his 100 days in the White House. Trump and Moran clashed repeatedly during the interview. The interview became contentious when Moran asked about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Alberto Garcia is the Maryland father, who is an El Salvador native, who was deported due to allegations he was affiliated with a gang. When Moran presented evidence that Abrego Garcia was not an MS-13 gang member, Trump angrily pointed to a photo to show “MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles. Moran informed Trump that the image had been altered. “That was Photoshopped,” Moran said.
Trump laughed, then replied, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. He had MS-13 on his knuckles. They’re giving you a big break of a lifetime, you know, you’re doing the interview. I picked you because, frankly, I’ve never heard of you, but that’s OK. But you’re not being very nice.” This heated exchange was just one of several during the Trump interview. Here are the five key issues that Trump and Moran had heated exchanges over.
China and Tariffs
During the interview, Moran questioned Trump about the way he has chosen to approach the ongoing trade war with China. Trump’s tariffs were put in place in an attempt to pressure China into addressing trade imbalances. Trump’s approach has had wide-ranging effects, including the rising costs of imported goods from the country.
Many economists have repeatedly warned that the tariffs would cause US consumers to suffer due to higher prices on everything from electronics and clothing to building supplies. Moran asked Trump whether Americans should expect times to get harder moving forward due to the tariffs.
Trump immediately accused Moran of trying to insinuate that there would be more problems moving forward. Confidently, Trump replied, “nothing’s gonna happen. I do know business…” Moran then told Trump that the China tariffs operated “like an embargo” on the country. In response, Trump asserted, “They deserve it.” He went on to claim China had ripped the U.S. off by millions of dollars.
Trump then went on to criticize the country’s other trading partners. “By the way, we have other countries that were just as bad. If you look at the European Union, it was terrible what they’ve done to us. Every country, almost every country in the world, was ripping us off.” Since Trump would not back down on his belief that the tariffs were in the country’s best interest, Moran shot back with, ‘Everything’s gonna be hunky-dory?’”
“Everybody’s gonna be just fine. It wouldn’t have been if I didn’t do this. I had a choice. I could leave it, have a nice, easy time. But I think ultimately you would’ve had an implosion. Our country had inflation worse than it’s ever had before,” Trump insisted.
Immigration and Deportation
When the conversation shifted to immigration and deportations, Moran raised concerns about the methods that were currently being used to deport people. Moran said that illegal immigration numbers had dropped, and he questioned if the deportations were being done legally.
Moran referenced current Supreme Court rulings, which guarantee people targeted for deportation the right to a hearing. Trump responded with, “Well, [the methods] seem to work.” When Trump was asked to acknowledge the law that requires anyone facing deportation to get a hearing, Trump shifted the conversation to former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies. He went on to claim that under Biden, millions of people crossed the border into the U.S. illegally.
“Do they get hearings when Biden allowed 21 million — because I think the number’s 21, maybe 20 million — people to flow into our country? He had 21 million people come in through a stupid open border,” Trump added.
Trump then added: “They were prisoners and people that you don’t want, in many cases, in our country. They came from all over the world—some of the roughest countries in the world. They had terrorists, by the way.”
Moran again asked Trump about the law guaranteeing a hearing, and Trump responded with, “If these people came in, they’re not citizens, they came in illegally. We have to get rid of them fast. I can’t have a major trial for every person who came in illegally. We have thousands of murderers who came in. They’re going to murder people — they already have.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia
At this point, the conversation turned to the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia did enter the country illegally, but he was deported while under a protective order. Moran pointed out to Trump that his administration had acknowledged that he had been deported to El Salvador mistakenly.
“The person you’re talking about, you’re making him sound… this is an MS-13 gang member, a tough guy who’s been in lots of skirmishes. He beat the hell out of his wife, and she was terrified to even talk about him. This is not some innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland,” Trump said, defending his administration’s actions.
“I’m not saying he’s a good guy. It’s about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir,” Moran countered. Trump interrupted, “He came into our country illegally. I was elected to fix a problem that was created by a very incompetent man, a man you always said was wonderful—a genius. But now, you and the media are finally admitting how much of a mistake it was. A man who allowed open borders and let millions of people flow into the country.”
The Ukraine-Russia War
When Ukraine was brought up, Trump began with, “Ukraine is a very serious, very tough situation. And this is Biden’s war. This is not my war. It’s been badly handled by the Biden administration. It’s been badly handled all the way around.”
“Probably close to 5,000 young soldiers a week are being killed — Russian and Ukrainian alike,” Trump added. He then brought up the “financial burden” the war had caused. “We also spend a tremendous amount of money in Ukraine, and Europe should be spending much more than us. They’re not. They’re spending much less.”
When Trump was asked about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he replied with, “I don’t trust a lot of people,” including Putin. “His dream was to take over the whole country. I think because of me, he’s not going to do that.”
Trump then said he did not agree with the war and claimed the war happened due to incompetent people. “I was not happy when I saw Putin shooting missiles into a few towns and cities. That was not something I liked seeing, and I thought it was inappropriate. But I think the whole war is inappropriate,” Trump added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been in the hot seat ever since he added a journalist from The Atlantic to a group chat where sensitive information about upcoming missile strikes was shared. The information shared during the chat was labeled “highly confidential.”
When asked about the incident, Trump praised Hegseth. “I had a talk with him, and whatever I said, I probably wouldn’t be inclined to tell you. But we had a good talk. He’s a talented guy. He’s young. He’s smart, highly educated. And I think he’s going to be a very good defense secretary—hopefully a great one—but he’ll definitely be a very good one.”
When asked if he had 100% confidence in Hegseth, he fired back with, “I don’t have a hundred percent confidence in anything, OK? Anything. Do I have a hundred percent? It’s a stupid question.”
Moran replied: “It’s a pretty important position,” to which Trump replied: “Only a liar would say, ‘I have a hundred percent confidence.’ I don’t have a hundred percent confidence that we’re gonna finish this interview.” You can view the whole interview here.
