In a wide-ranging Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday, President Trump said he would likely keep Attorney General Jeff Sessions in his job until after the November midterms but wouldn't say how he would respond to a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, arguing it's "an illegal investigation" because "great scholars" have said that "there never should have been a special counsel." He claimed that "all of the good legal pundits" on TV say he committed "no campaign violation whatsoever" by paying off two women who said they had affairs with him, though he wouldn't say when he knew about the payments "because it's been covered so much."
"Many people think it is a very antitrust situation" with Google, Facebook, and Amazon, Trump said, and when it comes to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and nukes, "I have greater patience than any human being in the world." Notably, Trump confirmed that he wants to withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization, calling it "the single worst trade deal ever made" and saying "if they don't shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO."
Trump would need approval from Congress to withdraw from the WTO, and a draft bill he had ordered, published by Axios in July, was seen getting zero support from lawmakers. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin previously called reports that Trump wanted to withdraw from the WTO "an exaggeration" and "fake news." The Trump administration has found other ways to undermine the organization, though, including blocking the appointment of judges to the WTO appeals body, Bloomberg says. If Trump can't unilaterally pull out of the WTO, though, he can single-handedly cut capital gains taxes, and he told Bloomberg he's "thinking about it very strongly."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As Bloomberg's analysts note, that would help his very wealthy investor and corporate base, but not do much for his broader MAGA crowd.
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
