NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was close to supporting a 16-week federal abortion ban earlier this year when aides staged an intervention.
According to Time magazine’s cover story on his election as 2024 Person of the Year, Trump’s advisers first raised concerns in mid-March that abortion restrictions pushed by some allies would be stricter than current law in many states. That was seen as a potential political liability amid ongoing battles over the overturning of Roe v. Wade by a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated by Trump in his first term.
Trump’s political director, James Blair, got to work putting together a presentation – eventually titled “How a Nationwide Abortion Ban Will Cost Trump the Election” – that argued that a 16-week ban would support the Republican Party would harm candidates in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the magazine reported.
“After flipping through Blair’s presentation on a flight to a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in April, Trump dropped the idea, the report said. “So we leave it up to the states, right?” Trump was quoted as saying. He soon released a video expressing this position.
Trump’s campaign denied at the time that he was considering supporting the 16-week ban, calling it “fake news” and saying Trump planned to “negotiate a deal” on abortion if elected to the White House.
Here are more highlights from the story and the president-elect’s 65-minute interview with the magazine:
Pardons on January 6 could begin in the “first nine minutes.”
Trump reiterated his plans to pardon most of those convicted for their actions during the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. “It will start in the first hour,” he said of the pardons. “Maybe the first nine minutes.”
Trump said he would consider individuals “on a case-by-case basis” but that “the vast majority of them shouldn’t be in prison.”
More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the riot, which injured more than 100 police officers and forced lawmakers into hiding as they met to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial of offenses including trespassing, assault on police officers and seditious conspiracy.
Trump is open to housing detained migrants in camps
Trump insisted that he had the authority to employ the military to support his promised mass deportations, even though, as his interviewers noted, the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the employ of the military in domestic law enforcement.
“It doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country, and I view it as an invasion of our country,” he said. “I’m only going to do what the law allows, but I’m going to go to the maximum extent.” And I think in many cases the sheriffs and law enforcement are going to need support.
Trump did not dispute that camps are needed to hold detained migrants while they are processed for deportation.
“Whatever it takes to get her out. “I don’t care,” he said. “I hope we don’t need too many because I want to get them out and I don’t want them to sit in storage for the next 20 years.”
Trump told Time he has no plans to reinstate the policy of separating children from their families to prevent border crossings, but did not rule it out. The practice resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents and was condemned worldwide as inhumane.
“I don’t think we have to because we will send the whole family back,” he said. “Yes, I would much rather deport them together than separately.”
Trump emphasizes that Musk puts the country ahead of his business interests
Trump dismissed the idea that Elon Musk will face conflicts of interest as he takes over as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group that Trump tapped him to lead. The panel is tasked with finding wasteful and austerity provisions, including many that could impact Musk’s wide-ranging interests, which include electric cars, rockets and telecommunications.
“I don’t think so,” Trump said. “I think Elon has long put the country above his company. … He considers this his most important project.”
Trump acknowledges the difficulty of bringing down food prices
Trump lowered expectations about his ability to reduce food prices.
“I would like to take them down. It’s hard to break things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very difficult. But I think they will,” he said.
Trump plans to “effectively close” the Department of Education
Trump said he was planning “a virtual shutdown” of the “Department of Education in Washington.”
“You’re going to need a few people just to make sure they teach English in the schools,” he said. “But we want to move education back to the states.”
Still, Trump has proposed exerting enormous influence over schools. He has threatened to cut funding for schools with vaccination mandates while forcing them to “teach students to love their country” and promote “the nuclear family,” including “the roles of mothers and fathers” and the “things that distinguish men and women”. and unique.”
Trump gives contradictory answers about the future of abortion pills
Asked whether he was committed to stopping the Food and Drug Administration from blocking access to abortion pills, Trump replied: “That has always been my commitment.”
But Trump has expressed numerous contradictory positions on the issue, including to Time.
Early in the interview, he was asked if he would promise that his FDA would not do anything to restrict access to abortion drugs or abortion pills. “We’ll look at it all,” he said, before calling the prospect “very unlikely.”
“Look, I made it very clear, and I just made it very clear again. I think it’s highly unlikely. I can’t imagine it, but with, you know, we’re looking at everything, but highly unlikely. I guess I could rule it out as best as I can, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to do anything now.”
Trump says U.S. support for Ukraine will be leverage for a deal with Russia
Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine in its efforts to repel the Russian invasion, Trump said he would employ U.S. support for Kiev as leverage against Moscow to negotiate an end to the war.
“I want to reach an agreement,” he said, “and the only way to reach an agreement is not to give up.”
Does he trust Netanyahu? “I don’t trust anyone”
Trump would not commit to supporting a two-state solution with a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as he had previously done.
“I support any solution we can find to bring peace,” he said. “There are other ideas than the two-state idea, but I support whatever it takes to achieve not just peace, but a lasting peace.” It cannot continue like this, every five years in one Tragedy ends. There are other alternatives.”
When asked if he trusted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he told Time: “I don’t trust anyone.”
War with Iran? “Anything can happen,” he says
Trump would not rule out the possibility of war with Iran during his second term. “Anything can happen. “It’s a very volatile situation,” he said.
Trump mother on talks with Putin
Asked whether he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Nov. 5 election, Trump remained reticent: “I can’t tell you. It’s just inappropriate.”
Trump insists he had the votes to confirm Gaetz as attorney general
Trump insisted his attempt to install Matt Gaetz as attorney general “has not been blocked.” I had the votes (in the Senate) when I needed them, but I had to work very challenging.”
As the extent of the opposition to the former Republican congressman from Florida became clear, Trump said, “I talked to him and said, ‘You know, Matt, I don’t think this is worth the fight.'”
Gaetz retired amid an investigation into sex trafficking allegations and Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the Cabinet post.
Trump is open to changes to childhood vaccinations
Trump, who appointed anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Health and Human Services Department, did not rule out the possibility of eliminating some childhood vaccines, even though they have been shown to be unthreatening in extensive studies and in practice in hundreds of millions of people over decades and are considered one of the most effective public health interventions in newfangled history.
Asked whether “eliminating some vaccinations” – neither Trump nor the interviewers specified which ones – could be part of the plan to improve the country’s health, Trump replied: “It could be, if I think it’s dangerous, “If I think it’s perilous, it’s not beneficial, but I don’t think it will end up being very controversial.”
Trump is putting a strain on the political family dynasty
“I think it could be, yes,” Trump said of the prospect of others in his family following in his footsteps.
He pointed to his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee and is now being discussed as a possible replacement for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump nominated as secretary of state.
Melania Trump will return to the White House, he says
Trump said former and future first lady Melania Trump will join him in the White House during his second term and “be active when she needs to.”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “She is very loved by people, Melania. And they like the fact that it’s not in your face all the time for a lot of reasons.”
