Trump spars with ABC’s Terry Moran over tariff policy, deportations and Ukraine war in testy interview: ‘Everything’s going to be just fine’
President Trump and ABC News anchor Terry Moran clashed throughout their one-on-one sitdown Tuesday to mark the commander in chief’s first 100 days back in the White House.
Trump, who has previously taken issue with several of the Walt Disney Company-owned network’s hosts, got into heated back-and-forths with Moran over tariffs, mass deportations and the Ukraine war during the nearly hour-long prime-time interview.
Moran first pressed Trump, 78, on the 145% levies he’s imposed on China, arguing that the tariff is bound to “raise prices on everything” — a claim the president strongly disagreed with.
“You don’t know that, you don’t know whether or not China’s going to eat it,” Trump interjected at one point in the interview.
“That’s mathematics,” Moran shot back.
“China probably will eat those tariffs,” Trump insisted.
“But at 145%, they basically can’t do much business with the United States,” the president continued.
“And, they were making from us a trillion dollars a year, they were ripping us off like nobody’s ever ripped us off.”
“Everything’s going to be just fine. It wouldn’t have been if I didn’t do this.”
On immigration — the president’s most popular issue with voters — Trump described his efforts to combat illegal border crossings and deport criminal migrants as the most “significant” accomplishment of his first 100 days.
Moran tried to get Trump to acknowledge that “under our law, every single person who gets deported gets a hearing first,” but the president refused to agree with the legal point.
“When Biden allowed 21 million people to flow into a country … did we give them a hearing when they came in?” Trump asked the newsman, who continued to insist that “the law requires” every migrant deported to receive a hearing first.
Trump indicated he would “ask the lawyers about that” but maintained that “trials” for “21 million” people would result in too slow a process.
“The law is the law,” Moran pressed, but the president insisted that a “legal process” is being followed.
“They get whatever my lawyers say,” Trump said of the legal rights his administration is affording deportees.
Moran then zeroed on the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gangbanger at the center of a court battle related to Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport accused migrant gangsters.
“The lawyer that said it was a mistake — was here a long time, was not appointed by us — should not have said that,” Trump said, responding to a former Justice Department official’s claim that Garcia, 29, was wrongfully removed back to El Salvador, where he had a protective order against being deported to.
“This is an MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife,” Trump said of Garcia, whose wife applied for a protective order against him in 2021 after he allegedly physically abused her. “OK? This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.”
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Moran argued that he’s “not saying [Garcia] is a good guy.”
“It’s about the rule of law,” the ABC host continued, referencing the unanimous Supreme Court ruling demanding that the Trump administration “facilitate” Garcia’s return.
“You could get him back,” Moran implored. “There’s a phone on this desk. You could pick it up and call up the president of El Salvador and say, ‘Send him back now.’”
Trump wouldn’t budge.
“If he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that.”
The two men then butted heads on the significance of the tattoos on Garcia’s hands.
Trump insisted the Salvadoran national “had MS-13 on his knuckles.”
“That was Photoshop,” Moran dismissively responded.
“That was Photoshop? … Terry, you’re not being very nice,” Trump shot back.
Moran finally tried to move on when the president argued the tattoos on Garcia’s knuckles were “as clear as it can be.”
“Alright,” Moran said, sighing. “We’ll take a look ….”
Trump also bristled when the ABC News host asked him if he “trusts” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t trust you,” the president responded, adding, “I don’t trust a lot of people.”
He then reasoned that his policy toward the Ukraine-Russia war has been successful — despite the lack of peace deal — because Putin’s original goal was to, as Trump claimed, take over the entire former Soviet state.
“I don’t trust a lot of people. But I do think this. I think that [Putin] – let’s say he respects me. And I believe because of me he’s not gonna take over the whole — but his decision, his choice would be to take over all of Ukraine.”
Trump refused to say whether he would cut off all US military support for Ukraine in the event that peace negotiations fail.
“I want to leave that as a big, fat secret, because I don’t want to ruin a negotiation.”
