‘Biden didn’t pardon himself’: Key takeaways from Trump’s first interview after becoming president

The appearance on the show came a couple of days after Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, from US’ withdrawal from WHO to revoking birthright citizenship, sweeping pardons for January 6 Capitol rioters, to announcing tariffs for Canada, Mexico and China among others.

‘Biden didn’t pardon himself’

Former President Joe Biden signed orders in the last minute to pardon his family members, members of the January 6 committee and witnesses and Dr. Anthony Fauci before demitting the office.

President Donald Trump criticised the move and said that “And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing is, he didn’t give himself a pardon.”

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa., as moderator South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem listens. (AP Photo)

Trump, referring to Biden further stated in the interview, “Well, I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal fees, and I won, but I did it the hard way. And it’s really hard to say that they shouldn’t have to go through it all. So it is very hard to say that.”

Releasing FBI records on JFK assassination

President Donald Trump said that he would ensure that the FBI records on former President on John F. Kennedy’s assassination will be released “immediately” as and when the files are reviewed.

Trump stated that he had released some of the files on Kennedy to an extent during his first term, but was stopped by then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from releasing it further as he felt “it was just not a good time to release them.”

“I did it with Kennedy, to an extent. But I was asked by some of our government officials not to, and, you know, you have to respect them,” Trump said.

Concerns regarding TikTok, China

President Trump set aside the concerns regarding social media app TikTok’s data collection of American’s personal information being allegedly exposed to China. Trump was asked about it as TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is based in China.

“Is it that important for China to be spying on young people? On young kids watching crazy videos? But you can say that about everything made in China – look, we have our telephones made in China for the most part, we have so many things made in China, so why don’t they mention that?” Trump said.

Trump had first issued the executive orders of banning the TikTok app during his first term but has now taken a completely reversed stance. Trump had said earlier that TikTok “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information”. He told Fox News that many people want to buy TikTok in the US.

(with inputs from Fox News)

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