President Donald Trump had a sitdown interview with Newsmax host Greg Kelly on Greg Kelly Reports on Tuesday night. Kelly and the president discussed a variety of topics, including the war in Ukraine, left-wing attacks on Teslas, and the recent controversy surrounding the Signal group chat leak.
Regarding the Signal group chat controversy, Trump explained The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was invited to join the chat by someone who “worked for Mike Waltz at a lower level.”
“And what it was, we believe, is somebody that was on the line with permission; somebody that was with Mike Waltz — worked for Mike Waltz at a lower level — had, I guess, Goldberg’s number or called through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call,” the president explained. “Now, it wasn’t classified, as I understand it. There was no classified information. There was no problem, and the attack was a tremendous success.”
The president added that he was satisfied with the resolution and “comfortable” with the entire ordeal. He also said he supported Mike Waltz, who “learned a lesson.”
“I can only go by what I was told,” Trump told Kelly. “I wasn’t involved in it. But I was told by — and the other people weren’t involved at all. But I feel very comfortable, actually.”
Trump also commented on the left-wing political violence happening through the nation with the attacks and vandalism directed at Tesla dealerships and cars. Numerous reports have circulated in recent weeks, especially on social media, showing people vandalizing Tesla cars supposedly as an act of protest against the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.
Trump discussed the attacks after calling Musk a “great patriot” and celebrated Musk’s work within the Department of Government Efficiency, which has reportedly exposed significant reckless government spending and financial fraud.
“And he’s essentially a patriot,” Trump told Kelly. “He’s a wonderful patriot; he loves the country. But he’s never asked me — think of this, and he’s got plenty of right to, I guess; doesn’t mean I’m gonna do it; I probably won’t — but he’s never asked me for a favor.”
“As an example, I just got rid of the electric car mandate. … And he never came to me and said, ‘Could you do me a favor? Don’t do that?’ You know, he’s a legitimate guy, and he’s doing this because it’s for the good of the country,” Trump said to the Newsmax host. “We are finding hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud.”
And while responding to questions from Kelly about Musk and the attacks on Teslas, the president said he felt there was a connection between his legal issues before he was president and the current political violence.
“I believe that that is part of it,” the president said. “Yeah, there are some of them that were involved with my trials that were, I think, were probably involved with that also.”
Trump also touched on the discussions around ceasefire arrangements and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. He mentioned that he believes both countries want to see an end to the war. However, the president did infer Russia could be picking up its pace and working toward peace. He said he felt Putin might be “dragging” his feet in efforts to end the conflict.
“I don’t know. I mean, I’ll let you know at a certain point. But I think that Russia wants to see an end to it, but it could be they’re dragging their feet,” said Trump. “I’ve done it over the years, you know. I don’t want to sign a contract. I want to sort of stay in the game, but maybe I don’t want to do it.”
“I’m not sure,” the president told Kelly. “But no, I think Russia would like to see it end, and I think Zelensky would like to see it end at this point.”
Trump also condemned the violence and loss of life from the war, expressing an uneasiness over viewing images of the carnage. He ultimately said he wanted to see the deaths and destruction come to an end.
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“They’re not Americans, but it doesn’t matter to me, from that standpoint,” said Trump. “I see the pictures of the battlefields; I’d rather not even see them. We have arms and legs and heads all over the field. The weaponry is ridiculous.”
“It’s a big drone deal now,” Trump said to Kelly. “I just want to see it stop.”
