TRANSCRIPT: President Trump is Interviewed by Sean Hannity Live on the Telephone, 10.8.25
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Note: [The following transcript was provided by Fox News. It was checked and confirmed for accuracy. Video courtesy and copyright Fox News.]
Sean Hannity: Joining us now live on the phone is the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Mr. President, wow. If you would have asked me two years ago, yesterday, if this was possible, I -- I would have bet everything I had, no. Congratulations, sir. Can you give us more of the details?
President Donald Trump: Well, thank you very much, Sean. It's a great honor to be involved in it. We had some tremendous help as you know, with everybody, from Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Marco, and we had everybody, J.D. The whole -- the whole group was just amazing. And the military was, as you know, very instrumental in getting this done. We have a great military with great leadership. The whole world came together to be honest. So many countries that you wouldn't have even thought of, and they came together. The world has come together around this deal and that's something I would say that without that, wouldn't happen. So many countries that you wouldn't have thought of have wired their best wishes and their commitment to do whatever is necessary.
The countries surrounding have all signed. I mean, they're all signed up, and it's been - - it's been really an amazing period of time. And so great for Israel, so great for Muslims, for the Arab countries, and so great for this country, for the United States of America and that we could be involved in, you know, making a deal like this happen because it was -- you know, many years they talked about peace in the Middle East. This is more than Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East. And it's an incredible thing.
Hannity: Mr. President, you are expending a lot of effort, worldwide, to bring about peace. How did this becomes one of your top agenda items considering this has gone on for decades and decades? A lot of the Arab nations that have formed coalitions with you were reluctant and resistant for decades to ever be a part of the solution. That was a big part of what happened here today. Explain -- can you explain that part of it?
Trump: Well, I develop relationships with people and sometimes those relationships lead to great things, and in the case of many of the Arab nations, the wealthiest nations in the world, if you look, although with what we've done in the United States, I think we top everybody by a lot with the tariffs and all of that. But, you know, having the ability to deal with trade, having the ability to use tariffs to help me make a point -- the tariffs have brought peace to the world. I'm telling you, they brought peace to the world. And not only here, but with so many other deals. You know, I've made seven peace deals where countries were in many cases, 30, 31 years, 135, 137 years they've been fighting and millions of people being killed.
And I brought peace. And I did it through -- in not all cases, but probably in at least five of the seven that we've done so far, it was through trade. That we're not going to deal with people that fight. We're not going to deal, and we're going to put tariffs on you. We're not going to let you deal in the United States. We'll put tariffs on you. And without that, without the tariffs -- I mean, far more than even the money that we're taking in, which is trillions of dollars, essentially trillions of dollars. Far much -- more importantly, it gives you a tremendous road to peace and the saving of millions of lives, just millions and millions of lives.
You look at India and Pakistan. I said, "Well, we're not going to do business with either of you if you don't -- if you don't put it together." These are two nuclear nations that were -- seven planes were shot down as you know, and they were really at it. They were going at it, and I said, "We're not going to do any business with you. We're not going to have anything to do with you. We're going to put massive tariffs on you, both -- in both cases." And they said, "Well, we got to start talking about this. This is tremendous amounts of money and power we're dealing with." And within 24 hours, I had a peace deal. They made -- they stopped. They stopped the fighting. And we can go one after another. You've been really nice enough to announce all of the deals, but there have been many deals. And a lot of them --
Hannity: We've reported on them all
Trump: -- a lot of the settlements were based on trade.
Hannity: You know, Mr. President, I hope -- I actually hope the Supreme Court is listening to you right now because I think you are making a very critical argument as this very issue will go before the United States Supreme Court, and that is, that I would argue, that tariffs are critical to your role as commander-in-chief. Your constitutional authority is based in it, and it would cripple your ability to fully defend the country. Mr. President, you know, I think there's a misunderstanding among some about -- a question I asked you when we were together in Alaska and that is about the Trump doctrine. I think people don't really understand the Trump Doctrine.
I totally agree with you. We should never have forever wars anymore. I think military technology is changing that before our eyes. But more importantly, some people seem to interpret that as that you will not use the military. But yet, in your first term, you wiped out the ISIS caliphate. You took out Soleimani on that tarmac. You took out Baghdadi and associates. You dropped the "Mother of All Bombs" on Afghanistan. And here in your second term, you gave Iran 50 days to achieve a peace deal. They did not do so. And then you said they could not have nuclear weapons. Then you did something that nobody thought would happen and you took out their nuclear sites. How impactful was that decision, do you believe, in this deal being possible today?
Trump: Well, Iran was about one month, maybe two months away from having a nuclear weapon. And if I allowed that to happen, this deal would not have been possible. Or if it was, it would have a tremendous cloud over it because you'd have a country with a nuclear weapon that was not obviously very friendly. And the power of nuclear weapons is something that we shouldn't even be talking about. It's so massive. And so, by doing that, we now have something where actually Iran and I, and Iran and a number of people have been talking about a deal, but it's a very much different Iran. And frankly, we've had a -- we've had some very good conversations, and as you saw, they blessed the deal. They put out a few hours ago a statement that they agree with the deal and they bless the deal.
That's a tremendous thing. I believe if they had a nuclear weapon, there would be a whole different. Even if we made the deal, it would be -- it would have -- literally, it would have a very dark cloud over it because of what could potentially happen. So now, there is -- there are no dark clouds. We're going to have peace. And by the way, I believe Iran's going to be actually a part of the whole peace situation. But countries that frankly didn't get along, they're all involved. And it's brought the whole world together. It's amazing. I'd never seen anything. It's so good for Israel. I spoke to Bibi Netanyahu just a little while ago.
He called. He said, "I can't believe it." He said, "Everybody's liking me now." They -- meaning him. He said -- and I said, more importantly, they're loving Israel again, and they really are. They -- it's -- I said, "Israel cannot fight the world, Bibi." They can't fight the world. And he understands that very well. So, it's amazing the way it's all come together. And it's -- it's a beautiful picture. I don't know if it could ever happen again. It was just a set of circumstances like, for instance, taking out the nuclear -- the potential nuclear power of Iran. So many different things happened that were so amazing. It's -- a lot of talent involved, I'll tell you. But there was a certain degree of luck, too. You know, you need luck also. There is such a thing as luck.
Hannity: Mr. President, you said in your statement that this is the first phase of the peace plan and that the host hostages will be released very soon. I assume that means both -- those that are alive and those that are not alive, and Israel will withdraw their troops to an agreed upon line. Can you expand on that and tell us maybe what part two? Is there a part two or a part three? Because the idea has to be a lasting peace. And would that include the security guarantees that Hamas can no longer be armed with weapons that they can fire into Israel?
Trump: Yeah.
Hannity: I was -- I was in a city -- a Ga -- a border city in Gaza, near Gaza. They had got hit with 10,000 rockets in 10 years. I was in those -- those terror tunnels.
Trump: I think you're going to see all of that disappear. I think you're going to see people getting along and you'll see Gaza being rebuilt. We're forming a council that -- the Council of Peace we think it's going to be called and it's going to be very powerful and it's going to really -- I think to a large extent, it's going to have a lot to do with the whole Gaza situation. People are going to be taken care of. It's going to be a different world. I think really the Middle East came together. Amazingly, they came together. You know, they have some countries with extraordinary wealth and just spending a small portion of that wealth can do so much for that area. So, we'll -- we'll be involved in it. But the big -- the big thing is hostages are going to be released.
It's probably -- our time would be probably Monday. And you know, it's -- it's -- they're terribly -- a terrible situation. They're -- they're deep, they're deep in the earth and they're being gotten. And a lot of things are happening right now. As we speak, so much is happening to get the hostages freed and we think they'll all be coming back on Monday. So, it looks like that's the good thing and that that'll include the bodies of the dead. And you know, the parents -- the parents that were -- I talked to so many of them, but the parents are more -- almost more intent but equally intent is getting -- getting their, in just about all cases, the son -- their son's body back than they are -- as though the young man was alive.
It's just -- the same intensity. They want -- they want their baby's body back. That's what one woman said. I want my baby's body back. And you know the son is 25, 26 years old. So that's a very big part of it. Getting all of the -- it's about 28. The number is 28, will be coming back but unfortunately dead.
Hannity: Mr. President, the Supreme Court, you talked about how tariffs are critical, and I mentioned the Supreme Court will be weighing in on that issue. Interestingly, the issue of tariffs comes up on another issue with your constitutional role as commander-in-chief, and that has to do with putting tariffs on countries that are buying Russian oil. There's a report on "Reuters" tonight that Ukraine has stepped up their drone attacks on Russian refineries and the Russian people now are waiting in gas lines after Ukraine targeted their oil refineries. You know, I was there. I -- I watch you. You've been trying to give Vladimir Putin every opportunity imaginable, and he's rejected it. And now, the Ukrainians have upped their game and they're now fighting without handcuffs on, and they're going after their money and you're helping them by saying to other countries don't do business with Russia if they're going to invade innocent countries.
Trump: Well, just to go to the first part of your question, without tariffs, it's a different country. Tariffs have been used on us to take our wealth and to take tremendous amounts of our power away from us. They've been used against us by China, by Europe. If you look at the European Union, they used them very smartly against us. And you know, that's not happening anymore. The -- we've signed deals, and we've signed deals. It's not like anybody was forced. So, we've signed deals and the people that brought the lawsuit against us, that's before the Supreme Court. These are all foreign related countries because all of a sudden, they can't take advantage of the United States anymore because we are -- and I'm not taking advantage of them, but billions and even trillions of dollars is pouring into our country.
Trump: You see that. And we're a rich country again. And more importantly, we're a powerful country in terms of peace. I can create peace with tariffs. I'm using them for a lot of different reasons. If that power was taken away from the president of the United States, it would be a terrible, terrible day for our country. And I would say many of the things that I've done could be eradicated and the United States would be in a very, very bad vulnerable position. And these are enemies of the country that are pursuing that lawsuit. And I would hope that that lawsuit would disappear. The country would be in a very different position than it is right now.
And you wouldn't be stopping wars. You wouldn't be using the power of trade and the power of tariffs to stop wars. I've used it -- as an example, I say to a country that if you're going to continue to fight, we're going to put a 20 percent or 100 percent or a 300 percent tariff on your country in dealing with the United States. And I haven't had one country want to take that on. And they've stopped wars. I've saved millions of lives using tariffs. So, if for any reason the court ruled against, and -- you know, on the legal merits, we should be absolutely entitled. Almost every single legal scholar said the president has the right to enact tariffs.
If you didn't have that right, we'd be in big trouble because other countries would be able to do it against us, and we wouldn't be able to do it against them. So, it would be very unfair to the country. But in the meantime, we're making deals with Japan, with South Korea. We're making -- and we're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars like we've never done before. And we're making friends, frankly. They respect us again. You know, we're like a respected country again. We were laughed at. Nobody took advantage of us worse than our so-called allies on trade. And that's under the Biden administration and under Barack Hussein Obama, we were a disaster. We were a laughingstock.
But it really -- and then we did great. We had one of the best economies in history and under my administration. And then when this travesty of an election took place, and we relied on Biden, he let the world take advantage of us and we had tremendous heartache and just -- it was horrible, and it was blowing up. So, we came in, and the power of trade, the power of tariffs, all of the different powers that a president is entitled to and allowed and legally allowed has brought us into a different country. We're a highly respected country again. You know, it's very interesting. The king of Saudi Arabia said it. He said, "Sir, one year ago, you were a dead country." He used the word "dead" and other people have, too. We were a dead country. Now you're the hottest country anywhere in the world. We're the hottest country in the world.
And if we didn't have that power, I wouldn't have been able to make this recent deal, which is the biggest of them all. Probably the biggest deal ever made. And we're getting the hostages back. We're getting -- and they're going to hopefully come back in a good healthy state. But, you know, they'll be healthy. They -- in a short period of time, they'll be healthy. But their lives were -- were held. But we're getting them back. We're getting again the bodies back. The bodies of the dead. We're getting them back, and which is very important to a lot of people. And things are going to be much different in the Middle East.
But things are going to be different all over the world. And without the tariffs, you would not be in this position. I can tell you that. So, we'd be -- we'd be a different -- a much different country, a weakened country. I wouldn't say a laughingstock, but we were a laughingstock just a year ago. If you look back with the Biden -- the whole world was laughing at us. And by the way, they were charging us tariffs, and we weren't retaliating because we had a president that didn't understand what it meant and didn't understand what the meaning of a tariff is. It brought peace and wealth to our country and to the world.
Hannity: Mr. President, a last question, and I could ask you a million questions about the Schumer shutdown, about the antifa round table you had today. I can -- you know me, I can keep going, but I won't. At -- by the end of this term as president, what do you -- what vision do you have? What would you like to see Gaza look like? What will the relationship with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries be like, you know, as this -- as this process continues to unfold and as you have convinced these other nations to finally involve themselves? And then -- and then we'll let you go, sir.
Trump: Well, Gaza is going to be a peaceful, much safer place. Obviously, it's been blown to pieces, and this is just not by Israel. This is over years and years and years. It's been heartache for many years. A lot of people say this is a deal for 3,000 years. So, whether you say 500, because some people say 500 based on events, but other people say this is something historic, for 3,000 years is nothing ever going to be bigger than this. And so, Gaza, we believe, is going to be a much safer place and it's going to be a place that reconstructs, and other countries in the area will help it reconstruct because they have tremendous amounts of wealth, and they want to see that happen. And we'll be involved in helping them make it successful and helping it stay peaceful.
Trump: But I think it's going to be peaceful. I think -- again, the Iran situation was very important doing what we had to do which was again 22 years. It was planned to be done, and nobody -- no other president wanted to do it or whatever for whatever reason, but they didn't do it and having that was very important. But you know, I'm very -- I'm very confident there'll be peace in the Middle East. I mean, the words "peace in the Middle East" are something people have been striving for, for hundreds of years, for centuries, for many centuries. And we really have -- every country has come together and on a little different scale but so important.
Trump: It seems like everything's at a different scale, but we're going to make our cities safe. We're going to make Chicago safe. We're going to make Memphis, Tennessee -- we're there right now. We're making it safe. That -- there's a difference in one week. There's like -- it's like day and night. I'm so -- it's so important what we did in D.C. -- Washington, D.C., our own capital, that people come to, and it was crime-ridden. And now, it's as safe as there is anywhere in the country. It's safe. It's clean. We've cleaned it. We've gotten rid of the thugs. We took 1,700, in many cases, career criminals, and in many cases, people coming from other countries that shouldn't have been allowed to come: gang members from other countries, jail -- people from jails.
Our jail -- the jails were literally opened up in Venezuela and other countries into our country. And we've gotten them out and we're getting them out. But we took out 1,700 in Washington, D.C. Seventeen hundred criminals that are no longer there. And we have a safe, beautiful capital again. You can go and eat at the restaurants. The restaurants are booming. They were closing one after another. And now, they're booming. They're opening. And this all took place over the last two months. It's amazing actually. Nobody's -- nobody's ever seen a transformation like they have in Washington, D.C. It's -- it's as hot as a -- as it can get.
It's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing to watch. And to see it be safe with our, you know, beautiful buildings. The graffiti's off the walls. The tents from all over, thousands of tents in our beautiful parks, our national parks -- the tents are all gone. Everything is -- and it's only going to get better. Over the next year, it's going to be -- there'll be some rebuilding and some fixing up and some cleaning up. And people are proud of our capital again. But the beautiful thing is it's really safe. You can walk down the middle of the street with your wife. You can walk down the middle of the street by yourself.
Your family can and you have no fear. If you did that, if you said that a year ago, they had almost no chance of making it to the other side of the town. And so, we're very proud of D.C. and it serves as a catalyst, and it serves as really an example of what can be done. But to do that, you have to bring people in to do it. You can't have woke police people that aren't suited to be police. You can't have the kind of problems that we have that you -- it's -- I mean, almost in all cases, it's Democrat-run cities. So, you can't do that. So, we're very proud of Washington. It's a safe place and everybody should -- you want to see some beautiful things in Washington, you go -- and you go there right now. You'll -- your problem -- your biggest problem is going to be you're probably not going to be able to get into a restaurant. They're packed and they're booming.
Hannity: Well, Mr. President, I think there's a lot of lessons to learn for how we got to this point tonight. The proper use of the strength of the United States military played a big role in this happening, the appropriate use of it as well, and your willingness obviously to invest a lot of political capital and time and energy and resources and networking, and you know, to bring a lot of people to the table. We pray for the people in the region, and we pray this is a piece that lasts forever, but this is a great first step. Mr. President, historic by every measure. We appreciate you being on with us tonight, sir.
Trump: Thank you very much, Sean. Thank you.
Hannity: All right. Thank you.