October 15, 2018

Trump’s Worst Moments From His “60 Minutes” Interview

“I’m president and you’re not.”

President Donald Trump came out swinging in a new 60 Minutes interview that packed in multiple falsehoods, an outright dismissal of a question about his treatment of Christine Blasey Ford, and staunch defenses of some of his most controversial policies.

During the 26-minute conversation that aired Sunday, Trump twice insisted to veteran journalist Lesley Stahl that he was “not a baby.” The interview stood out in contrast to far friendlier exchanges last week between the president and Fox News. 

Here are some of the most shocking moments from Trump’s sit-down with Stahl:

Trump falsely states climate change could “very well go back” and that scientists are politically motivated:

While insisting he didn’t believe climate change was a hoax, Trump also said he couldn’t be certain climate change was fueled by human activity. He then claimed without evidence that scientists have a “very big political agenda.” Here’s the moment from CBS’s transcript:

President Donald Trump: I’m not denying climate change. But it could very well go back. You know, we’re talkin’ about over a millions–

Lesley Stahl: But that’s denying it.

President Donald Trump: –of years. They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael.

Lesley Stahl: Who says that? “They say”?

President Donald Trump: People say. People say that in the–

Lesley Stahl: Yeah, but what about the scientists who say it’s worse than ever?

President Donald Trump: You’d have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda, Lesley.

Trump defends his friendship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un:

Visibly irritated as Stahl read from a list of human rights violations committed by the North Korean leader, Trump told Stahl he was “not a baby” and that he was aware of Kim’s record. Trump also claimed it was only a “figure of speech” when he publicly declared that he and Kim had fallen in love.

Trump denies he mocked Christine Blasey Ford: “It doesn’t matter. We won.”

The president appeared to defend his mockery of Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman to come forward with sexual assault allegations against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, claiming that without the much-condemned remarks, Kavanaugh’s nomination would have been over. 

Lesley Stahl: And you mimicked Professor Blasey Ford. You mimicked her.

President Donald Trump: Had I not made that speech, we would not have won. I was just saying she didn’t seem to know anything.

When pressed on whether he had treated Ford with respect, Trump insisted he had, before shutting down the discussion on Ford because Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed. “I’m not gonna get into it because we won,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. We won.”

Trump signals the possible departure of Defense Secretary James Mattis:

While discussing his growing dissatisfaction with Cabinet members and White House staff, Trump disparagingly referred to Mattis as a “Democrat” and signaled he could be the next high-level administration official to leave:

Lesley Stahl: What about General Mattis? Is he going to leave?

President Donald Trump: Well, I don’t know. He hasn’t told me that. I have–

Lesley Stahl: Do you want him to–

President Donald Trump: –a very good relationship with him. It could be that he is. I think he’s sort of a Democrat, if you wanna know the truth. But General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves. Everybody. People leave. That’s Washington.

Trump reminds Stahl: “I’m president and you’re not.”

While sparring with Stahl over the media’s treatment of him, Trump cut in at one point to remind her of his position:

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We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

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