Trump Reveals What Will Be One Of His First Official Acts as President
In his inaugural network television interview following his election victory, President-elect Donald Trump addressed a range of campaign promises, including his plans for immigration, health care, and the Justice Department, during a conversation with NBC News.
Trump reaffirmed a core campaign pledge, committing to pardon individuals imprisoned for their roles in the January 6 Capitol incident on his first day in office.
“First day. Yeah, I’m looking for these pardons,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday’s episode of “Meet the Press.”
Highlighting reported poor jail conditions, Trump expressed concerns about the justice system. Referring to accounts from GOP lawmakers and other sources, he criticized the treatment of detainees, suggesting that many had entered guilty pleas under coercion.
“Look. I know the system. The system’s a very corrupt system. They say to a guy, ‘You’re going to go to jail for two years or for 30 years.’ And these guys are looking, their whole lives have been destroyed,” Trump remarked. “Yeah, I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases.”
The Department of Justice reports that over 1,500 individuals have been arrested or charged in connection with the January 6 events, with nearly 900 entering guilty pleas.
Trump has made it a central campaign promise to “free” those incarcerated for their involvement on that day, reiterating the commitment during rallies and emphasizing it as a priority for his administration.
In the same interview, Trump criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray while discussing his nomination of national security expert Kash Patel to lead the agency.
Trump described Patel as someone who will “do what he thinks is right” in managing the FBI, an organization he described as plagued by scandals and losing public trust. He further stated his support for Patel pursuing accountability for “crooked or corrupt politicians” but clarified that he doesn’t expect Patel to unfairly target political rivals as he accused the Biden administration’s Justice Department of doing.
When Welker pressed him, asking, “Sir, are you going to fire the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, who you appointed?” Trump responded:
“Well, I can’t say I’m thrilled with him. He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he’s done. And crime is at an all-time high. Migrants are pouring into the country that are from prisons and from mental institutions, as we’ve discussed. I can’t say I’m thrilled. I don’t want to say — I don’t want to — again, I don’t want to be Joe Biden and give you an answer and then do the exact opposite — ”
Welker interjected, “We’re going to talk about that —”
Trump continued, “So I’m not going to do that. What I’m going to say is, I certainly cannot be happy with him. You take a look at what’s happened. And then when I was shot in the ear, he said, ‘Oh, maybe it was shrapnel.’ Where’s the shrapnel coming from? Is it coming from — is it coming from heaven? I don’t think so. So we need somebody to straighten — you know, I have a lot of respect for the FBI, but the FBI’s respect has gone way down over the last number of years.”
Welker followed up, asking, “Don’t you have to fire him in order to make room for Kash Patel if he is, in fact, confirmed?”
“Well, I mean, it would sort of seem pretty obvious that if Kash gets in, he’s going to be taking somebody’s place, right? That somebody is the man that you’re talking about,” Trump concluded.
Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, a key moderate within the Senate GOP, expressed confidence in Patel’s prospects, stating he is “confident” that Patel will secure confirmation for the role.