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office. my exclusive interview with president-elect donald trump. his plans for the economy and his promises for mass deportation. >> is it your plan to deport person who is here illegally over the next four years? >> well, i think you have to do it. >> will he seek retribution against his political enemies. >> are you going to go after joe biden? >> i'm really looking to make our country successful. i'm not looking to go back into the past. retribution will be through success. >> plus, his vow to pardon those convicted of attacking the capitol on january 6th. >> i'm going to be acting very quickly. >> within your first 100 days, first day? >> first day. >> now that he's won the 2024 election, has he changed his mind about his 2020 loss. >> for the sake of unifying this country, will you concede the 2020 election and turn the page on that chapter? >> joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news managing washington editor, carol lee,

politico playbook co-author, eugene daniels, marc short, former chief of staff to vice president mike pence, and former white house press secretary, jen psaki. welcome to sunday, and a special edition of "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest-running show in television history, this is a special edition of "meet the press," with kristen welker. >> good sunday morning. president-elect donald trump is the first president to win non-consecutive terms since grover cleveland. and we haven't heard from him extensively since his decisive victory, until now. i sat down with the president-elect at trump tower in new york on friday for his first broadcast interview since winning the election. we spoke for nearly an hour and a half in a wide-ranging conversation about what these next four years will look like. he told me his first 100 days will focus on bringing down

prices, addressing the border, and getting his cabinet picks confirmed. and i asked him what he'll do on his first day in office. >> i understand that on day one, you're going to be signing a flurry of executive orders. >> a lot. >> can you give me just, what are the top ones people should know about. >> a lot will have to do with economics. a lot will have to do with energy. a lot will have to do with having to do with the border. we're going to immediately strengthen up the border, and do a real job. and some of the basics. >> i began the interview with one of the top issues for voters, the economy and the cost of living. >> i want to delve into one of your signature promises on the campaign trail, which was to end inflation, to lower prices, you are now proposing tariffs against the united states' three biggest trading partners. economists of all stripes say that ultimately, consumers pay the price of tariffs. >> i don't believe that. >> can you guarantee american families won't pay more?

>> i can't guarantee anything. i can't guarantee tomorrow. but i can say that if you look at my, just pre-covid, we had the greatest economy in the history of america, and i had a lot of tariffs on countries, we took in hundreds of billions of dollars, and we had inflation. when i handed it over, they didn't have inflation for a year and a half. they went almost two years, just based on what i had created. and then they created inflation with energy and with spending too much. so i think we will -- i'm a big believer in tariffs. tariffs are beautiful. they're going to make us rich. we're bsidizing canada to the tune of over 100 billion a year. we're subsidizing mexico to almost $300 billion. we shouldn't be subsidizing -- why are we subsidizing these companies? if we're going to subsidize

them, let them become a state? we're subsidizing mexico and we're subsidizing canada, and we're subsidizing many countries all over the world. and all i want to do is i want to have a level, fast, but fair playing field. >> sir, your previous tariffs, your first administration cost americans some $80 billion and now you have major companies from walmart, black and decker, auto zone saying that any tariffs are going to force them to drive up prices for their consumers. how do you make sure that these ceos, that these companies don't in fact pass on the cost of tariffs to their nsumers? >> they cost americans nothing. they made a great economy for us. they also solve another problem. we are going to have problems having to do with wars and having to do with other things. tariffs -- i have stopped wars with tariffs by saying, you guys want to fight, that's great. but both of you are going to pay tariffs to the united states at

100%. and they have many purposes, tariffs, if properly used. i don't say you use them like a madman. i say, properly used. but it didn't cost this country anything. it made this country money. and we never really got the chance to go all-out, because we had to fight cocovid the last part. and we did it very successfully. and when i handed it over to biden, the stock market was higher than what it was just previous to covid coming in. it was actually higher. tariffs are a -- properly used, very powerful tool.l. not only economically, but also for getting other things outside of economics. >> are you actually going to impose these tariffs or are they a negotiating tactic? >> i'll give you an example. with canada, and in particular, mexico, we have millions of people poring into our country. you agree with that. i spoke with both -- i spoke with justin trudeau, in fact, he

flew mar-a-lago within about 15 seconds after the call ended. he was at mar-a-lago, we were having dinner talking about it. i said, you have to close up your borders, because they're coming in the northern border too, a lot. not like the southern border, but they're coming in the canadian border a lot, and drugs are pouring in. almost as importantly, maybe importantly. drugs s are poring in at leve we've never seen before. we can't have open borders. i said to the president of mexico and to justin trudeau, if it doesn't stop, i'm going to put tariffs on your country at about 25%. >> the chairman of the federal reserve, jerome powell, said he will not leave his post, even if you ask him to. will you try to replace jerome powell? >> no, i don't think so. i don't see it. but i think if i told him to, he would. but if i asked him to, he probably wouldn't. but if i told him to, he would. >> you don't have plans to do

that right now? >> no, i don't. >> okay. let's talk about mass deportation. one of your big agenda items. you've talked about prioritizing people who have criminal history. but is it your plan to deport everyone who is here illegally over the next four years? >> well, i think you have to do it. and it's a very tough thing to do. is. but you have rules, regulations, laws. they came in illegally. the people who have been treated very unfairly are the people who have been on line for ten years that come into the country. we'll make it very easy for people to come in terms of, they have to pass the test. they have to be able to tell you what the statute of liberty is, they have to tell you a little bit about our country, they have to love our countries. they can't come out of prisons. we don't want people who are in for murder. we had 11,000, 13,000, different estimates, 13,000 in '99,

murders released into our countries over the last few years. >> the 13,0 figure, i think goes back about 40 years. >> no, it doesn't -- >> it's within a three-year period, during the biden term. that was a fiction that they put that out. that was done by the bord patrol. it's 13,000 in '99, during the biden riod of time. these are murderers. many who murdered more than one person. you don't want those people in this country. >> but you're saying something that's significant, i want to make sure i'm clear. you're saying, yes, you're going to focus on the people with criminal history, but everyone who's here illegally has to go? is what you're saying? >> we have to get the criminals out of our country. people that were taken out of mental institutions and put them back into their mental institution, no matter what country it is. you know that in venezuela, their prisons are at the lowest point in terms of emptiness that they've ever been. they're taking their people out of those prisons by the thousands and they're -- and

just to get back -- because i know exactly what you're getting at. number one, we're doing criminals, and we're going to do them really rapidly. we're getting the worst gang, probably, with ms-13 and the venezuelan are the worst in the world, vicious, violent people. and you see what they've done in colorado and other places, literally taking over apartment complexes and doing it with impunity. they don't care. they're in the real estate business -- >> you know the local police say that that is not the case in colorado. >> oh, it's totally the case. >> you don't believe the local police? >> i used to play it at my rallies every single night. no, they're breaking into doors, taking over the buildings. and by the way, the police are afraid to do anything. >> you raised the point that the logistics are complicated. you said it yourself. >> sure they are, everything's complicated. >> you need 24 times more i.c.e. detention capacity, just to deport 1 million people per year, not to mention more agents, more judges, more planes. is it realistic to deport

everyone -- >> you have no choice. first of all, they're costing us a fortune. but we're starting with the criminals and we've got to do. then we'll see how it goes. >> who are the others? >> others outside of criminals. we have convicted murderers. i don't even mean people who are on trial, people who have murdered numerous people are on our streets and in our farms. and we have to get them out of our country. >> what about dreamers who were brought to this country illegally as children. you said once in 2017, they shouldn't be very worried about being deported. should they be worried now? >> the dreamers are going to come later, and we have to do something about the dreamers. these are people who have been brought here at a very young people and many are middle-aged people. they don't even speak the language of their country. we will do something? >> what does that mean? >> i will work with the democrats on a plan. but thdemocrats have made it

very, very difficult to do anything. republicans are very open to the dreamers. the draerms, we're talking many years ago, they were brought into this country, many years ago. some of them are no longer young people. and in many cases, they become successful. they have great jobs, in some cases, they have small businesses, some cases, they might have large businesses. and we're going to have to do something with them. >> you want them to be able to stay, that's what you're saying? >> i do. i want to be able to work something out. and it should have been able to worked out over the last three or four years and it never got worked out. biden could have done it, because he controlled congress to a certain extent, right? he could have done something, but they didn't do. i never understood why. they always seemed to want to do it. i think we can work with the democrats and work something out. >> let me ask you about another group of people. the estimated 4 million people in america who have mixed immigration status, i'm talking about parents who might be here illegally, but the kids are here

legally. >> you're talking about separation? >> well, i mean, there are two aspects to this. your border czar, tom homan, they can be deported together. >> that way you keep -- well, i don't want to break up the family, so the only way you don't break up the family is you send them all back. >> even kids who are here legally -- >> well, if they want to stay with the father. you can always find something out, this doesn't work, that doesn't work. i'll tell you what's going to be horrible. when we take a wonderful young woman who's with a criminal. and they show the woman, and she could stay, by the law, but they show the woman being taken out. or they want her out, and your cameras are focused on her as she's crying, as she's being taken out of our country, and then the public turns against us. but we have to do our job. and you have to have a series of standards and a series of laws. and in the end, look, our country is a mess.

>> let me ask you about some of your other promises on this topic. you promised to end birthright citizenship on day one. is that still your plan? >> yeah, absolutely. >> the 14th amendment, though, says that, que, all persons born in the united states are citizens. can you get around the 14th amendment with an executive action? >> we'll have to get a change. maybe have to go back to the people. but we have to end it. we're the only country that has it. you know? >> through an executive action? >> we're the only country that has it. someone sets a foot, one foot, on our land, congratulations, you are now a citizen of the united states of america! yes, we're going to end that, because it's ridiculous. >> through executive action? >> well, if we can, through executive action. i was going to do it through executive action, but we had to fix covid first, to be honest with you. we have to end it. let's talk about health care. i've been talking to republican lawmakers on capitol hill. they say it's no longer feasible to repeal and replace obamacare,

because it's so entrenched in the system. do you see it that way? is that now off the table, repealing and replacing obamacare? >> when john mccain let us down by voting, and murkowski and collins, whoever it was that voted against, but they really let us down. they did us a great disservice. obamacare is lousy health care. it's very expensive health care, for the people. it's also expensive for the country, but for the people. it's lousy health care. when john mccain gave his thumbs down, after saying for ten years that he wants to repeal and replace, and he came out and he put his now-famous thumbs down, let me just tell you, if we find something better, i would love to do it. but unless we find -- but one thing i have to say, i inherited obamacare. or anything else you want to call it -- it's got about 20 names. i inherited it. and i had a decision to make with health and human services. i had a big decision to make.

do i make it adds good as we can make it or let it rot? >> and a lot of political people said, let it rot. and let it be a failure. i said, that's not the right thing to do. and i had very good people in the medical area that handled that. i said, what do you want to do it. they said, we have an obligation to makeke itas good as we can, and we did. we made it as good as we can make it. instead of making it bad where everybody would be calling for its repeal, i made it so that it works. >> but you did try to overturn it, sir. >> well, it's lousy. >> you did have your justice department try to direct the supreme court to -- >> we got a little bit of a surprising opinion, to be honest with you. if it would have been overturned, we would have had much better health care right now. but right now, we have something that i made the best of. i could have made the worst of it, and it would have fallen by the wayside. i did the right thing from a human standpoint, but, you know, i'm sort of proud of my

decision. at thehe same ti, sometimes i regret it. i told the people, and i gave them the money to do it. i said, fix it, make it work. because people would have suffered. but it's too bad that they voted "no." i wish john mccain, i wish -- he fought for ten years on repairing, replacing obamacare for ten years. and he voted against. nobody understands. >> sir, you said during the campaign, you have concepts of a plan. do you have an actual plan at this point for health care? >> yes. we have concepts of a plan that will be better. >> still just concepts? do you have a fully developed plan? >> let me explain. we have the biggest health care companies looking at it. we have doctors. we're always looking. because obamacare stinks. it's lousy. there are better answers. if we come up with a better answer, i would present that answer to democrats and to everybody else, and i do something about it. but until we have that or until they can approve it, but we're not going to go through the big

deal. i am the one that saved obamacare. i will say. and i did the right thing. i could have done the more political thing and killed it. and all i had to do was starve it to death. >> you did try to have your justice department effectively kill it. >> kill it from a legal standpoint, but from a physical standpoint, i made it work. >> in your concepts of a plan, will people with pre-existing conditions still have coverage? and cayou guarantee their prices will not go up? >> the answer is "yes," you'll have coverage. >> what about their prices, sir? >> i want the prices to go down. i want to have better health care for less money. and there are ways of doing it, i believe. >> let's talk about abortion, sir. you have taken responsibility for overturning roe v. wade. you've said that abortion is now a state issue. there are steps that you could take, though, as president, to restrict abortion through executive action without congress. more than half of abortions in this country are medication abortions. will you restrict the availability of abortion pills

when you're in office? >> probably -- i'll probably stay with exactly what i've been saying for the last two years. and the answer is "no". >> you commit to that? >> well, i commit. i mean, do things change? i they change. i hate to go on shows like, joe biden, i will not give my son a pardon, i will not under any circumstances give him a pardon. i always knew he was going to give him a pardon. i don't like putting myself in a position like that. things do change, but i don't think it's going to change at all. >> and when we come back, will president-elect trump direct his fbi director and attorney general to go after his political enemies? to the inconsiderate monster who has been stealing my pudding, i hope your conscience eats at you as you have eaten my pudding. bring my pudding back. i wish you the worst. [click]

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for defense secretary, pete hegseth. hegseth, an army veteran, is facing allegations of past sexual misconduct and excessive drinking, which he denies. mr. trump told me that he has confidence in hegseth. i also asked him about his choice for fbi director, kash patel, a hard-line critic of the very agency he's been tasked to lead. >> you named kash patel to be the next fbi director. he has a list in his book of 60 people that he calls members of the so-called deep state. it includes democrats like joe biden and hillary clinton. it includes former members of your cabinet from bill barr to christopher wray. you campaigned on destroying the deep state. do you want kash patel to launch investigations into people on that list? >> no. i mean, he's going to do what he thinks is right. >> do you think that's right? do you think that's right, sir? >> if they think that somebody was dishonest or crooked or a corrupt politician, i think he probably has an obligation to do it. >> are you going to direct him

to do it? >> not at all. we have two great people, we have him and we have pam. pam bondi has been like a rocket ship. she's very popular and very good and very fair. and kash patel is very fair. i'll tell you, i thought cash may be difficult, because he's, you know, a strong conservative voice. and i don't know if anybody that's not singing his praises. the other day i was watching, and trey gowdy, who's a moderate person and very smart and very respected in the party, he's kash's biggest fan. he said, this is the most misunderstood man in politics, he's great. i guess they worked together on the russia hoax or something. and trey gowdy became a fan. you know trey gowdy. everybody respects him. and just like him, others also. i don't know if one negative vote -- i don't think he's going to have any negative votes. >> is it your expectation that kash patel will pursue investigations against your political enemy? >> no, i don't think so. >> do you want to see that

happen? >> if they were crooked, if they did something wrong, if they have broken the law, probably. they went have me. you know, they went after me and i did nothing wrong. >> let me ask you this. you said president biden, quote, that you're going to appoint a real special prosecutor to go after joe biden. you said that -- >> when did i say that? >> the campaign. >> where? >> on truth social, june 12th, 2023. you said, i will appoint a special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the united states, joe biden and the crime family. >> that part is true. >> are you going to do that? to go after joe biden? >> i'm looking to make our country successful. retribution will be through success. if we can make this country successful, that would be my greatest -- that would be great such a achievement. bring it back. we have a country now that's overridden with crime, that has millions of people that shouldn't be here. that should be in prisons in other countries, that should be

in mental institutions. we have drug lords being dropped into our country and told, never go back to our country. i'm looking to make our cub great. i'm looking to bring prices down. because i won on two things, the border, and more than immigration, you know, they like to say immigration. i break it down more to the border. but i won on the border and i won on groceries. very simple words, groceries. like almost, you know, who uses the word. i started using the word. the groceries. when you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time. and i won an election based on that. we're going to bring those prices way down. >> i want to pause here, because what you're saying is significant. you wrote on truth social in 2023 that you'll appoint a real special prosecutor to go after joe biden. now you're saying you're no going to do that. >> i will say this. no, i'm not doing that unless i find something that i think is reasonable. but that's not going to be my

decision, that's going to be pam bondi's decision. and to a different extent, kash patel. so i think they're both going to get approved. but while you ask me that, what they've done to me, with weaponization is a disgrace. >> we'll get to some of that -- >> you can't do one without the other. in the history of our country, nothing like this has ever happened. and i've won these cases. every one and the rest are in the process of being won. deranged jack smith is on his back to the hague where he can execute people. this is where he should have stayed. i think he's dangerous even being there. but what they've done to me in terms of weaponization, indictments, impeachments and everything else. and in the end, it probably helped me. i got the biggest vote, the most votes any republican has ever gotten in history. >> pam bondi talks about

investigating the investigators. do you want to see jack smith investigated? >> i want her to do whatever she has to do. >> are you going to direct her to investigate jack smith? >> no, i'm no she's a smart person. a great attorney general in florida. very experienced. i want her to do what she wants to do. i'm not going to instruct here to do. >> are you going to fire the current fbi director, christopher wray, who you appointed? >> i can't say i'm thrilled with him. he invaded my home -- i'm suing the country over it. he invaded mar-a-lago. i'm very unhappy with the things he's done. and crime is at an all-time high. migrants are pouring into the country that are from prisons and from mental institutions, as we've discussed. i can't say i'm thrilled. i don't want to -- again, i don't want to be joe biden and give you an answer and then do the exact opposite. >> we're going to talk about that. >> i'm not going to do that. what i'm going to say is, i certainly can no be happy with him.

take a look at what's happened. and then when i was shot in the ear, he said, maybe it was shrapnel. where's the shrapnel coming from? is it coming from heaven? i don't think so. so we need somebody to -- you know, i have a lot of respect for the fbi. but the fbi's respect has gone way down over the last number of years. >> don't you have to fire him in order to make room for kash patel if he is, in fact, confirmed? >> it would sort of seem pretty obvious if kash gets in, he'll be taking somebody's place and that somebody is the man you're talking about. >> i asked you last time when we sat down if you were going to pardon yourself, you said no. but now that president biden has pardon as his son, hunter, might you reconsider? might you pardon yourself? >> i didn't do anything wrong. i was given the options and the lawyers told me, very specific. i don't have to go into who, but very high up in in the

administration said, sir, if you pardon yourself, you're going to look guilty and you did nothing wrong. i had that option. i could have saved myself a lot of legal fees. but it turns out that i was right. look at what's gone on. everything's being dropped. i still have a fani willis, fani, a total hoax. that's a total hoax. it's all being dropped. >> i also asked the president-elect about nbc news' reporting that president biden is considering preemptive pardons for some of the people who have clashed with mr. trump, including senator-elect adam schiff, dr. anthony fauci, and former congressman, liz cheney. as part of his response, mr. trump lashed out at the january 6th committee, accusing it of unfairly targeting him and even of destroying its records, which the committee denies. >> and cheney was behind it. and so was bennie thompson and everybody on that committee. >> we're going to -- >> but what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.

>> so you think liz cheney should go to jail? >> for what they did -- >> everybody on the committee. >> anybody that voted in favor -- >> are you going to direct your fbi director attorney general to send them to jail? >> not at all. i think they'll have to look at that, but i'm not going to -- i'm going to focus on drill, baby, drill. >> and i asked the president-elect if he plans to follow through on his campaign promise to pardon those who attacked the capitol on january 6th, including the more than 900 people who pleaded guilty to crime. >> i'm going to look at everything. we'll look at individual cases. >> okay. >> but i'm going to be acting very quickly. >> within your first 100 days, first day? >> first day. >> yeah, i'm looking to issue these pardons. >> these people have been there -- how long is it? three, four years. >> okay. >> by the way, they've been in there for years. and they're in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn't even be allowed to be open.

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welcome back. the syrian government fell overnight, a stunning end to the more than 50-year rule of the assad family, as rebels claimed damascus. i pressed the president-elect on a range of foreign policy issues, including u.s. support for ukraine and nato in his second administration. >> should ukraine prepare for less aid from the united states after you're in office? >> probably, sure. >> you said you could end the war in 24 hours. you've even said you could end it -- >> i'm trying to. >> have you talked to president putin? >> i have no. >> you haven't talked to president putin since you've been elected? >> i don't want to say that, but i haven't spoken him recently. >> so you've spoken to president putin since you've been elected? >> i don't want to say anything about that. i don't want to do anything that would impede the investigation. let me tell you what i have talked about. there are people being killed in that war at levels that nobody's

ever seen before. you have to go back to the second world war and even that, if you take a look, and you know what it is? it's the soldiers, largely. the cities have been emptied out and demolished. the country has been demolished. if i won that election, which, you know, how i feel about it, i won't get into it, because we don't need to start that argument. i think it's an easy argument, it was even proven more conclusively by the win that i had on this one. >> but you did lose. >> well, that's your opinion. but i disagree with it. had i assumed, kept control. number one, israel wouldn't have happened. number two, ukraine would have never happened. it would have never happened, ukraine and russia. but the number of people that are being killed, soldiers, young, beauautiful soldiers, hundreds of thousands of people are being killed. and it's very interesting. it's level. totally level. the battle fields. totally level. you know what's happening? the only thing that stops a bullet, you know what it is?

a body. a human body. and the people that are being killed, hundreds of thousands on both sides. russia's lost probably 5,000. ukraine has lost higher than they say, obably 400,000. you're talking about hundreds of thousands of bodies laying all over fields. it's the stupidest thing i've ever seen and it should have never been allowed to happen. biden should have been able to stop it. >> sir, will the united states stay in nato while you're in office? >> in where? >> nato. do you commit that the united states will remain a member of nato while you're in office? >> again, they have to pay heir bills. if they pay their bills, absolutely. >> but not if they don't pay >> nato's taken advantage of us. number one, they take advantage of us on trade, like the european nations, like terrible. they don't take our cars, our food product, they don't take anything. it's a disgrace. and on top of that, we defend them. it's a double whammy.

let me just tell you. i was able to get hundreds of billions of dollars put into nato by a tough attitude. i said to the countries, i'm not going to protect you unless you pay and they started paying. and that amounted to more than $600 billion. that's a big thing. otherwise, they wouldn't even be fighting. they wouldn't have any money to fight. if they're paying their bills and if i think they're doing a fair -- treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely, i would stay with nato. >> but if not, you would consider the possibility of -- >> absolutely, absolutely. >> the president-elect is tasking elon musk, the billionaire ceo of tesla and spacex to try to cut government spending along with one of mr. trump's former primarily rivals, businessman vivek ramaswamy, all of it putting a spotlight on what it could mean for entitlements and defense spending. >> you've tapped elon musk, vivek ramaswamy, to head out this department of government efficiency. >> correct. >> which proposes cuts to the federal government. i think a lot of people hear that and get concerned about

medicare and social security. >> not going to have anything to do -- >> you won't touch medicare, social security -- >> theft, abuse, fraud. i said, no, we're not talking social security. other than we make it more efficient, but the people will get what they get. >> so entitlements, off the table. >> and we're not raising ages or any of that stuff. >> off the table. >> i won't do it. >> and finally, i asked the president-elect about this extraordinary moment in time. he is taking office against the backdrop of a country that is so sharply divided. and when he has yesterday to concede the 2020 election, which he lost. >> sir, i don't have to tell you this, because you've talked about it. it comes at a time when the country is deeply divided and now you're going to be leading this country for the next four years. for the sake of unifying this country, will you concede the 2020 election and turn the page on that chapter? >> no. no. why would i do that? >> you won't ever concede? >> when you say the country is

deeply divided. i'm not the president. joe biden is the president. >> but you're going to be the president. >> no, no. i'm not the president. when you say it's deeply divided, i agree, but biden's the president, i'm not. and he has been a divider. you know whe he divided it more than anything else and it probably backfired on him, i think definitely, is weaponization. when he weaponized the justice department and went after his political opponent, me. he went after his political opponent violently, because he knew he couldn't beat him. and i think it really was a bad thing. and it really divided our country. >> sir, democrats have control of the white house now, they didn't in 2020. if they are going around stealing lech steal ing elections -- >> democrats have control? >> of the white house. >> so why didn't they steal this election, since they have more power now? >> i think it was too big to rig. >> so you won't -- >> too big to rig. >> to the people who say that you're now directing your

justice department to investigate the 2020, and they want to move on, is that -- >> i think pam is going to be great. >> is that what you want them to do? >> just so you know, i have the right to do that, but i'm not interested in that. >> you're not? you're not going to do that. >> i'm not interested -- i have the absolutely right. i'm the chief law enforcement officer. you do know that? i'm the president. i'm not interested in that. you know what i'm interested in? drilling and getting prices down zpopg people from pouring into our border that come from prisons and mental institutions. >> one of the things that made this campaign unprecedented and extraordinary were the horrific attempts against your life. two assassination attempts. >> yeah. >> do you feel safe going into the white house for the next four years? >> i do. >> why? >> i have confidence in secret service. i know the people. i got to know a lot of them and i have confidence -- it was a bad moment. something shouldn't have happened. but i have a lot of confidence and they've really stepped it up. they were restricted from giving -- look, i do a rally and

you were at many of them, and i would have 50,000 people. joe would have a rally and they would have 30 people. and he had more secret service than me. my secret service was always asking for more manpower/womanpower. they were asking for more and more and more and they couldn't get it. i'm not blaming them, really, because they were always fighting for more people. and they wouldn't get it. now, boy, do we have it. >> i want to ask you, sir, one final question. what do you want to say to americans who didn't support you in this campaign? >> i'm going to treat you, everybody as well as i have treated the greatest maga supporters. there's never been anything like maga in the history of this country. these people are so dedicated to making america great again, it's very simple. and i'm going to treat them just the same as i treat maga. we'll treat everybody good. we want success ff or our count, safety for our country. our country is under threat, as

you know. we have tremendous threat militarily because of the power of weapons and weaponries. it's a tremendous threat. nobody talks about it, but it's a tremendous threat. i want to treat everybody the same. i want to treat them well. and at the end of this four years, and i'll have a big head start, because i was there for four years fairly recently. a lot of bad things were done during the four years i wasn't there. and mostly in terms of what they've done, our reputation overseas, our reputation is so bad, so shot, i've got to bring it back. and i also have to ---- i have bring back civilization to our country. our country is a crime pod. we have to get rid of crime. we have so many things to do. we have to do the prices, we have to do all of that. but we have to get the criminals of our country. we have to bring down crime. people have to be able to walk across the street and buy a loaf a bread without being shot. and that's going to happen. but what i say to them is, i love you, and we're going to all work together. and we're going to bring it

together. and you know what's going to bring it together? success. i saw, just prior to covid coming in, i had calls that were the highest anyone -- mclaughlin and fab izio said, george washington and abraham lincoln, if they came back from the dead and ran as president and vice president couldn't beat you, sir. we were doing so well. and i was getting along with the left. let's call it the left. we'll be nice. we'll just call it -- but i was getting along with people that you would consider liberal or progressive, they like to say, at levels i never thought was possible. and you know what it was? success. success was bringing the country together and that's what i want to do. >> and when we come back, >> and when we come back, president-ele ct liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i saved hundreds. with the money i saved i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. cool right? look at this craftmanship. i mean they even got my nostrils right. it's just nice to know that years after i'm gone this guy will be

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welcome back. when mr. trump is sworn in as president in january, he will be the oldest person ever to assume the office. i asked mr. trump about what he will say in that inaugural address and whether he will release his medical records. >> let me ask you, sir, as you think about your inauguration, i remember your first inaugural

address, you talked about american carnage. have you thought about your message for your second inaugural address? >> i have. >> can you give us a preview? >> we're going to have a message that will make you happy, unity. it's going to be a message of unity, and i think success brings unity. and i've experienced that. i've experienced it in my first term, as i've said. we're going to be talking about unity, and we're going to be talking about success. making our country safe. keeping people that shouldn't be in our country, we have to do that. i know it doesn't sound nice, but we have to do that. basically, it's going to be about bringing our country together. >> sir, when you think about your time in office, you are making history for a range of reasons, including the fact that you will be the oldest person to be sworn into office. do you commit to releasing your medical records? >> sure. i do it all thtime. i think i've released four of them. >> not just a letter, your full medical report? >> yeah, i would. i think anybody should. according to all the reports, i don't want to -- is this a --

can i knock on wood, but my reports are very good, very strong. >> so you plan to release them? >> sure, i have no problem with it. >> and you can watch our full interview with president-elect donald trump at nbcnews.com. and when we come back, the panel is re for reactionhe ♪ are you having any fun? ♪ ♪ what you getting out of living? ♪ ♪ who cares for what you've got ♪ ♪ if you're not having any fun? ♪ ♪ are you having any laughs? ♪ ♪ are you getting any loving? ♪ ♪ if other people do, why can't you? ♪ ♪ have a little fun ♪ ♪ and have ♪ ♪ have a little fun ♪

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welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news managing washington editor, carol lee. eugene daniels, white house correspondent for politico and co-author of politico playbook. former white house press secretary, jen psaki, host of "inside with jen psaki" and marc short, former chief of staff to vice president mike pence. thanks to all of you for being here on a very big sunday. you broke the news that the president was going to pardon his son, hunter. what were your key takeaways from this conversation? >> a couple of things. i was struck by how succinctly that he wrapped up his mandate. and his posture on retribution against his perceived political adversaries. he's suggesting he'll keep some distance from the fbi and justice department, in a way he didn't in his first term.

he's saying those decisions about investigations will be left up to the people that i put in those agency. however. some of these folks will probably be in jail. that message comes off as a little bit mixed, and he's saying it knowing that the people that he's putting in these jobs are people who share his views on these issues. and so it will be very interesting to see how that plays out. >> it will be, eugene. and to hear him back away from what he had posted on truth social, that he did want to go after president biden. he cked away from that. he said, his success will be his retribution. but there was some mixed messaging broadly speaking. >> i think one of the things that was most fascinating, he didn't seem very combative in interview, including on those points. he said some names, bennie thompson, liz cheney, maybe they should be in jail, maybe not. that's somebody else's decision. but he didn't want to fight with you, right? and that's something that he often wants to do. it shows you, one, that he feels

emboldened. he won this election. he feels ready to move on. and i thought what was most fascinating is, there's no ideological purity with him, and that popped up over and over and goempb. over again. a patchwork for different policy things. usually if you're a republican, this, this, and this, that wasn't here with donald trump. and i think that kind of gives voters what they wanted. which was not exactly a republican who's going to do all of the things that republicans typically do. >> it's a fascinating way to put it, there's no ideological purity that we heard, but he was very clear about what his agenda items were. he feels emboldened that he believes he has a mandate after his decisive win. >> i thought he looked very relaxed and confident in your long interview covering a lot of topics. i think you'll see a flurry of activity in the first hundred days from the executive branch, but i think something that's been underappreciated from a legislative agenda is, what is the legislative agenda. the one item that's really there

is renewing tax relief package. when that was passed, 12 house republicans defected. we talk about the fact that there are 53 republican senators, which should help him in his confirmations, but speaker johnson will have an enormous task next year and it's going to be a hard job. and he'll have one or two members that can lose. so getting legislation through the congress is going to be very difficult. and certainly if trump isn't getting his way, he'll blame senate and house leadership for that. >> those tax cuts are very unpopular throughout the country. >> they are in every piece of data. that's why it's interesting. >> you know, one of the things that struck me, the tone was different, but it doesn't mean it's a difference in his priorities or policies. even when you listen to what he had to say about retribution, retribution will be through success. that's not saying he's not going to go after his political enemies. what i heard was him trying to give some space for himself for

plausible deniability, because he picked these people, and carol touched on this, pam bondi and kash patel are election deniers. kash patel is someone who has emphasized with qanon. they know what the direction is. he does not need to direct them. this is why he picked them. they have passed the loyalty test. what struck me is more tone, not a difference in what he intends to do or what he wants the people he'snominating to do. >> it's a really critical point. he's also put hardliners in charge of his immigration policy, policy, which i thought it was a big headline for him to say, we are deporting everyone, although he said he wanted to work out a deal for dreamers. >> that's where he stopped the most, when you went thugh tick by tick of the kinds of things we're seeing, it was kind of the most clarity we've gotten on immigration from him. i will also say, he and his team feel like he has the backing of the american people, especially on mass deportation. because in some polls, 53% of

americans say that for mass deportations. when you dig into what that means and what you want your neighbors to get out of the country or what happens with children or when you see that woman that he's talking about getting pulled away, is that different? and he talked about it, most interestingly, the public might turn against us on immigration, so we have to be careful there is what he's saying. >> that's what struck me. he seemed a little bit uncertain about how some of this stuff will play out. yes, he's going to do it. but when you talk about birthright citizenship, there are other countries that have bitter wright citizenship, it's not just the united states. but if e can do it by the executive order, we'll have to do it. and on mass deportations. he talked about how this may play out publicly. the woman is crying and the cameras are capturing hip as he's being deported. and then the public turns against us. so he's not real confident that this is going to play out exactly how he wants it. >> such a revelatory moment there. jen, we talked about foreign

policy, as well, of course, we're all watching what's happening in syria. the government has been toppled. i talked to him about ukraine and nato, boy, he laeflt the door open to potentially pulling out of nato. >> he certainly did, which i don't think should be a surprise. he also refused, after you pushed him repeatedly to answer the question as to whether he'd talked to vladimir putin. >> i tried. >> you certainly did. when you look at the statement he put out in response to assad fleeing the country, it was almost defensive of putin and defensive of the russian's terest. so this is definitely a massive shift. there is an affinity for russia that is

because if it's sunday, it is "meet the press."