Trump discusses first 100 days of historic presidency in exclusive ABC interview

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump discussed his first 100 days in office during an exclusive interview with ABC News, discussing a wide range of topics from the economy to immigration, executive powers, and foreign policy.

In an Oval Office sit-down with ABC News anchor and Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran, Trump highlighted his administration’s immigration policies and sought to reassure anxious Americans on the economy. He acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be “tapping” him along in Ukraine peace talks and repeatedly criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden.

And he delivered positive remarks about some of his administration’s officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency.

Here are more headlines from ABC News’ exclusive sit-down with Trump.

‘They did sign up for it’
Asked by ABC News’ Moran for a message to voters who may feel some anxiety at the prospect of higher costs from tariffs, Trump claimed that he has delivered on his signature campaign pledge to lower prices on his first day in the White House.

There is a lot of concern out there,” Moran said. “People are worried, even some people who voted for you sayin’, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’ So how do you answer those concerns?”

“Well, they did sign up for it, actually. And this is what I campaigned on,” Trump replied. “I said that we’ve been abused by other countries at levels that nobody’s ever seen before I could’ve left it that way, and at some point, there would’ve been an implosion like nobody’s ever seen. But I said, ‘No, we have to fix it.’ I’ve — I’ve wanted to do this for many years.”

Trump claimed credit for what he said were lower prices for gasoline and groceries, pointing specifically to eggs, which emerged as a major issue during the 2024 campaign.

They hit me the first week, ‘Eggs, eggs, eggs,’ like it was my fault. I said, ‘I didn’t cause this problem. This problem was caused by Biden. What’s the problem with eggs?’ And they said, ‘They’ve doubled it.’ Well, eggs are down 87% since I got involved,” Trump said. “And by the way — and there were plenty of eggs for Easter, which we just went through.”

Trump says immigration policies ‘seem to work’
Trump promoted his administration’s immigration policies and responded to concerns about the wrongful deportation of some people living in America, maintaining that they are “careful” in their efforts.

“Well, they seem to work,” Trump said of his methods to cut down on illegal crossings along the southern border.

Moran questioned Trump about whether he agrees that even “really bad guys” deserve due process.

“Well, they get a process where we have to get ’em out, yeah,” Trump replied, adding later that, “If people come into our country illegally there’s a different standard. These are illegal. They came in illegally.”

When Moran later asked about podcaster and Trump supporter Joe Rogan’s comments that those being deported must be afforded due process because “we gotta be careful that we don’t become monsters while we’re fighting monsters,” the president said he agreed.

“Oh, I agree with that a hundred percent, yeah. We want to be careful,” Trump said. “We are careful. We’re doing something that has to be done. We have a country that’s very sick.”

Trump on his use of presidential powers
Trump framed his unprecedented use of official powers to push through his policy agenda as a necessary step in healing a “sick” country.

“What do you say to people who are concerned you are taking, seizing too much power and becoming an authoritarian president like we haven’t had before?” Moran asked.

“No, I would hate them to think that,” Trump said. “I’m doing one thing: I’m makin’ America great again. We have a country that was failing. We have a country that was laughed at all over the world. We had a leader that was grossly incompetent. He should have never been there.”

Putin may be ‘tapping’ Trump along

In a social media post on Saturday, Trump asserted that “there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” adding that “it makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!”

“It’s possible,” Trump told Moran of Putin “tapping” him along. “Yeah, that’s possible. Sure. He could be tapping me along a little bit. I would say that he would like to stop the war. I think that–”

“You believe that?” Moran jumped in.

“If — if it weren’t for me, I think he’d want to take over the whole country, personally,” Trump continued. “I always felt — so when I left, there wasn’t even a chance that this would happen. When Biden got involved, I won’t say whether or not he handled it properly, but obviously it wasn’t good, because the war started.”

The president went on to say, “I think Putin wanted all of Ukraine,” and claimed Putin invaded Ukraine because Biden was in office. “I think if I didn’t win the election, he would have gotten all of Ukraine.”

He later added that, “And because of me, I do believe that — he’s willing to stop the fighting.”

Trump responds to questions about DOGE

Trump, in discussing his administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, the effort spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk to rid the federal government of what they call waste and fraud, said referrals have been made to the Department of Justice for prosecution on fraud charges.

Moran asked if DOGE, which has cut foreign food programs and medical research, among other items, had gone “too far, too fast, too recklessly.”

Trump said, “no,” saying DOGE had saved the country billions.

“We also found tremendous waste, fraud, and abuse, as you know. We found a lot of fraud. There was a lot of fraud,” Trump said. “Fraudulent things were taking place, and we ended that, and those people are gonna be suffering–”

Asked several times on whether any fraud referrals were made to the Justice Department, Trump said, “Have there been? Yes, there have.”

“So, there have been referrals for fraud from the work of DOGE?” Moran asked Trump.

Trump replied, “Of course there have been.”

Bashing Biden
Throughout the interview, Trump repeatedly accused former President Joe Biden of incompetence and blamed his predecessor for myriad challenges facing his administration. Moran also asked Trump about his decision to strip his political opponents’ security details and about appearing to target some law firms.

Are you using your powers as president to get personal revenge?” Moran asked Trump.

“No. I’ll tell you what — I tell you what you sh — not — you’re really not asking and you should be asking. There has never been a president in this country in the history that was persecuted like I was persecuted by really crooked people,” Trump maintained. “Dishonest, horrible people. And it’s been proven.”

Moran later asked Trump again if “that gives you the right to go after your political opponents with the powers of this office?”

“I don’t go after — I don’t go — I’m going after — all I’m doing — hey, Biden did something to me — and I did something to Biden. And you know why I did it? ‘Cause he’s grossly incompetent,” Trump said. “That’s not a man that should be allowed to, you know, be lookin’ at things that are very confidential.”

Trump defends U.S. reputation abroad
A day after Canadians voted to elect a fourth straight Liberal government and keep Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has been fiercely critical of Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Trump downplayed souring relations with America’s northern neighbor.

You were a big issue in it,” Moran told Trump of the election. “And Canadians, many of them, are really angry, furious, about your talk about, ‘We’re gonna take over Canada. It’s gonna become the 51st state–‘”

“That’s their prerogative,” Trump said.

When Moran pointed to a decrease in travel from Canada to the U.S., Trump said, “We’re doing great.”

“Feels like there’s been reputational damage,” Moran told the president.

“The country’s doing great,” Trump maintained.

Moran later asked Trump if he thought “the reputation of the United States has gone down under your presidency?”

“I — no, I think it’s gone way up, and I think we’re a respected country again,” the president said. “We were laughed at all over the world.”