In his first “60 Minutes” interview in five years, President Donald Trump misled about his administration’s deportation strategy and his record on grocery prices.
The nearly 90-minute interview came a year after he successfully sued CBS’ parent company over its editing of a Kamala Harris interview, netting a $16 million settlement. The network broadcast an edited 28-minute version of the Trump interview that covered trade with China, nuclear weapons testing and the federal government shutdown.
When asked about his plan to end the shutdown, Trump rejected possible negotiations with Democrats over expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and said Republicans will “keep voting” on continuing resolutions that have failed in the Senate.
When “60 Minutes” contributing correspondent Norah O’Donnell asked Trump about his administration’s immigration enforcement tactics — referring to agents tackling a mother, releasing tear gas in Chicago neighborhoods and smashing car windows — Trump was unapologetic. He said the raids “haven’t gone far enough.”
A former New Yorker, Trump weighed in on the Nov. 4 New York City mayoral race, saying he preferred “bad Democrat” former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, over the frontrunner, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee.
CBS released a 1-hour, 13-minute version of the interview on YouTube as well as a full online transcript. We fact-checked Trump’s statements from the network broadcast version of the interview, and noted when relevant portions had been edited out.
Said he did not instruct the Justice Department “in any way, shape or form” to pursue his political enemies.
Trump has publicly called on Justice Department officials to prosecute people he perceives as political enemies.
In a Sept. 20 Truth Social post, he asked Pam Bondi, his attorney general, to take action against former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff.
“I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” Trump wrote. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
The Wall Street Journal reported the post was intended to be a private message to Bondi.
Trump doubled down after he was asked about the post later that day.
The Justice Department indicted Comey on Sept. 25 on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee; he has pleaded not guilty. The department indicted James on Oct. 9 on one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution; she has pleaded not guilty. And on Oct. 16, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton was indicted on charges of unlawfully retaining and transmitting classified information, an investigation that was inherited from the Biden administration; Bolton has pleaded not guilty.
New York City mayoral candidate Mamdani talks to a pedestrian in New York, Oct. 27. (AP)
Mamdani is a “communist, not a socialist. Communist.”
That’s False.
Mamdani describes himself as a democratic socialist, which in the U.S. generally refers to someone who believes in a political system with generous social insurance programs such as heavily subsidized child care and high tax rates to pay for education and health care.
Mamdani’s mayoral platform proposes making New York City more affordable, including via free buses and child care, rent controlled apartments and city-owned grocery stores. That is not akin to communism, a system in which the government controls the means of production and takes over private businesses. Mamdani has not called for the elimination of private ownership in his mayoral campaign.
“Do you know that I could use (the Insurrection Act) immediately and no judge can even challenge you on that? … The Insurrection Act has been used routinely by presidents.”
This is exaggerated. Legal experts have previously told PolitiFact courts can rule on the legality of invoking the Insurrection Act, although courts have historically deferred to presidents’ use of the act. Invoking the Insurrection Act — a centuries-old set of laws that allow the president to deploy federal military personnel domestically to suppress rebellion and enforce civilian law — isn’t as commonplace as Trump made it out to be.
In the full interview, Trump told O’Donnell almost 50% of presidents have used the act and “some of the presidents, recent ones, have used it 28 times.”
The Insurrection Act has been used on 30 occasions in U.S. history, most more than 100 years ago, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Seventeen of the country’s 45 presidents, about 37%, have officially invoked it.
No president has invoked the act 28 times. Former President Ulysses S. Grant invoked the law six times in the 1870s — the most of any president — as white supremacist groups violently revolted after the Civil War.
The most recent invocation came in 1992 after riots broke out in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King.
Two National Guardsmen stand guard outside a burning donut shop in Los Angeles April 30, 1992. The National Guard was called in to aid police during the second day of rioting in the city. (AP)
Asked about his campaign promise to deport the “worst of the worst,” Trump said, “That’s what we’re doing.”
This needs context. More than 70% of immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — nearly 60,000 — as of Sept. 21 had no criminal convictions, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University research organization.
The federal government doesn’t specify what crimes the 28% of immigrants with criminal convictions committed. The list can include serious felonies, immigration violations such as illegal entry and minor traffic violations.
O’Donnell pushed back, saying the Trump administration had deported landscapers, nannies, construction workers and farmers who aren’t criminals.
“No, landscapers who are criminals,” Trump said.
News organizations have reported numerous cases of immigrants with no criminal records who federal immigration agents have detained including landscapers, the father of three U.S. Marines, day laborers and farmworkers.
Speaking about the government shutdown, “The problem is (Democrats) want to give money to prisoners, to drug dealers, to all these millions of people that were allowed to come in with an open border from Biden.”
That’s False.
The Democrats’ government funding proposal would not give federally funded health care to immigrants illegally in the U.S., who are already largely ineligible for programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
The Democrats’ proposal would not change that. Instead, Democrats want to restore access to certain health care programs for legal immigrants, such as refugees and people granted asylum, who lost access under the Republican tax and spending law that was signed into law in July.
That law also reduced funding for a Medicaid program that reimburses hospitals for emergency care provided to immigrants who would be eligible for Medicaid if not for their immigration status. The Democrats want to revert to previous funding levels. The program represented less than 1% of total Medicaid spending in fiscal year 2023, according to KFF, a health think tank.
In the full interview, Trump said, “I don’t want to give $1.5 trillion to prisoners and drug dealers and the people that came into our country from mental institutions.”
One group estimated that the Democratic proposal would add $1.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade; that doesn’t mean Democrats are proposing to spend $1.5 trillion on any single program, especially not for immigrants illegally in the U.S.
There is no evidence other countries, including Venezuela, sent people from “mental institutions” to the U.S.
“We have more nuclear weapons than any other country.”
By the numbers, Russia is ahead of the U.S. But countries keep exact numbers secret, and there are different ways to count weapons.
Counting nuclear weapons inventories, including active stockpiles and retired warheads, Russia has 5,459, ahead of the U.S. with 5,177, according to the Federation of American Scientists, a group that tracks nuclear policy.
Hans M. Kristensen, who works for the organization, said Russia has a wider lead over the U.S. on its active stockpile. The U.S. has more retired warheads than Russia.
Trump could be citing a separate metric — an estimate that the U.S. has 1,670 deployed strategic weapons and 100 nonstrategic weapons, for a total of 1,770. This outpaces Russia’s estimated 1,718 deployed strategic weapons. Deployed strategic warheads are deployed on intercontinental missiles and at heavy bomber bases, while nonstrategic warheads are deployed with operational short-range delivery systems.
A simple weapons count “is deeply ridiculous,” because the size of either the U.S. or the Russian arsenal would create massive devastation, said Richard Nephew, a Columbia University weapons expert.
“Right now, (grocery prices are) going down, other than beef.”
Trump’s effort to fact-check O’Donnell, who said grocery prices were up, is mostly inaccurate. A few major grocery items have had price decreases under Trump, but most have not.
Many grocery items have seen price increases between December 2024, the last full month of Joe Biden’s presidency, and September 2025, the most recent month for which Bureau of Labor Statistics data is available.
Grocery prices overall have increased by almost 2%. Trump correctly noted beef’s price rise: Ground beef prices are up almost 13%, and steaks are up by more than 15%.
But the price increases go beyond that. Bacon is up by more than 5%; the combined category of meats, poultry, fish and eggs is up by 4%; fruits and vegetables are up by almost 1%; coffee is up by more than 15%; sugar and sweets are up by more than 4%; and dairy products are up by a fraction of a percent.
Two notable price declines have come from eggs (down 16%, after the sector recovered from bird flu-related shortages) and bread (down about 2%).
In a portion of the interview not broadcast, Trump falsely said the U.S. has “no inflation” and “we’re down to 2%, even less than 2%.” In September, the year-over-year inflation rate was 3%, higher than it was during the final six months of Biden’s term.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak after Netanyahu addressed the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Oct. 13 in Jerusalem. (AP)
“Before the ninth month (of my presidency) I stopped eight wars.”
Trump has helped broker temporary peace deals in conflicts around the world, but his repeated claim that he has “stopped” eight wars is exaggerated.
The U.S. was involved in recently eased conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, and Armenia and Azerbaijan — but these were mostly incremental accords, and some leaders dispute the extent of Trump’s role.
Peace has not held in other conflicts. The U.S. was involved in a temporary peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, but violence in the region resumed, with hundreds of civilians killed since the deal’s June signing. After Trump helped broker a deal between Cambodia and Thailand, the countries accused each other of ceasefire violations that have led to violent skirmishes.
A standoff between Egypt and Ethiopia over an Ethiopian dam on the Nile remains unresolved, and it’s closer to a diplomatic dispute than a military clash. In the case of Kosovo and Serbia, we found little evidence of brewing conflict.
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage agreement involves multiple stages. Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and ordered strikes in the Gaza Strip that killed over 100 Palestinians before announcing that the ceasefire was back on.
