Tucker Carlson interviewed Ex-President Donald Trump even as GOP presidential candidates held their first debate on Fox News.
The interview was conducted at Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey and was pre-recorded and released on Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, five minutes ahead of the GOP debate on Wednesday.
The GOP Debate
Carlson began the interview by asking Trump, why he didn't attend the debate. Trump pointed to his lead in the polls and said he was "leading" by 50 points and 60 points.
Pointing to his rival candidates, Trump said, "Some of them are at one and zero and two." The former president said he asked himself whether he should sit through the debate for an hour or two and get harassed by the laggards.
He also lambasted Fox News for being unfriendly towards him and said they showed similar behavior in 2016 as well. Trump said that Fox was backing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis like "crazy" but has since given up on him.
Jeffrey Epstein
Trump was asked by Carlson if there were people who shouldn't be running for president and he pointed to former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. "He's weak and pathetic," said Trump.
Also in the GOP frontrunner's crosshairs in the interview were former Attorney General Bill Barr and the Bush family.
Carlson brought up Jeffrey Epstein’s death with Trump citing Barr's Book. The former Fox News host asked if the disgraced financier killed himself. Trump said, "I don't know. I will say that he was a fixture in Palm Beach."
The former president denied knowing what Barr had written about Epstein in his book. Trump did, however, say it was possible that Epstein was killed. "I think he probably committed suicide."
Carlson persisted on Epstein being killed and said, "He was killed. I think the more the closer you look…I mean the attorney general, your attorney general, clearly lied about the Epstein death."
When asked if he was worried that he would be killed. The ex-president responded by saying, "They're savage animals. They are people that are sick, very sick."
Joe Biden
Trump said spirits were low in the United States currently due to "crooked Joe Biden." Lambasting his potential 2024 rival he said, Biden was the "worst president in the history of our country."
"I don't think he is going to make it to the gate. But, you know, you never know."
Biden's predecessor reiterated his belief that the Russia-Ukraine war should come to an end. Although, he said that Biden was incapable of bringing about that outcome.
Trump also poked fun at Vice President Kamala Harris and said she spoke in "rhyme." He stated his belief that it would be a "free for all" in the event Biden was no longer the 2024 candidate.
The ex-president praised his efforts in engaging North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during the interview. He said he met twice with him and "we were in great shape with him."
Trump took the credit for encouraging the North Korean team to participate in the Olympics calling it a "positive thing."
Asked who he would prefer to run against, Trump said he would like to go against Biden since his "record is so bad."
Talking about Biden being compromised by China, he reiterated that the current president was the "Manchurian candidate."
On Indictments
Trump called his four indictments "bullshit" He said, "It's horrible when you look and you look at what they're doing." He called the Mar-a-Lago documents case the boxes hoax. Instead, he chose to point fingers at Biden and the classified documents discovered in his possession.
Electric Cars
Taking potshots at electric cars and their drivers, Trump said the "happiest" moment for somebody in an electric car is the "first ten minutes."
"In other words, you get it charged … the unhappiest part is the next hour because you’re petrified that you are not going to be finding another charger."
On Intelligence Agencies
Trump Said he wasn't aware of everything that the Central Intelligence Agency was doing. He called them a very interesting group of people and said he had a "very good relationship" with them.
He admitted that his administration killed many people using the CIA. "I have to say this bad, very bad actors. We were very good at it." He named powerful Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said they were bigger than Osama Bin Laden.
Mike Pence
The ex-president said Pence wants to run for president. He said in his opinion Pence had the absolute right to send the votes in the 2020 elections back to the legislatures.
He said some of the lawyers told him that Pence did have such a right. Trump admitted that he had not talked to Pence in a very long time. "I was very disappointed." He said that Pence got "very bad advice."
The Bottomline
In conclusion, Trump was asked what was his top priority this time while running for president. He said it was the border and taking "hundreds of thousands of criminals that have been allowed into our country and getting them out."
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