US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that his deportation policy for undocumented immigrants was “too tough” for voters and he can work with the Democrats in the new Congress to craft an immigration deal.
Speaking during his first major interview since his party lost control of the House and Senate in the midterm election, Trump said his deportation policy may have been part of the reason Republicans lost.
“I think it was too tough,” Trump said. “I think it might be too tough, yeah. And a lot of people would say that it’s great. But a lot of people think it’s too tough.”
In his interview to CBS that aired on Sunday, Trump said that he can find a way to work with the Democrats.
“The deal would be we would work something out. And I think it’s something — I think that’s something that’s actually doable,” he said in the interview.
Trump did not share the details of what the immigration deal would look like but shortly after the interview he appointed Stephen Miller, who designed the Trump administration’s hardline deportation policy, as his chief of staff.
In his tenure, Trump’s administration has aggressively pushed to deport millions of undocumented migrants which drew widespread criticism.
Trump said he was just joking about making Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) boss Dana White his next White House press secretary.
“I was only kidding, but Dana loves the idea,” Trump told reporters.
In a social media post Saturday, Trump implored White to accept his offer, writing, “Dana, please take the job!” and calling him a “violent fighter and warrior.”
White is a long-time friend of Trump. He has maintained silence on Trump’s remarks, saying that he would “have more to talk about” after meeting with Trump on Monday.
The position of the press secretary has been vacant since Katie Zacharia left on October 16 after less than a week on the job.
Trump on Sunday said that he will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at an APEC leaders’ summit in China next week to discuss ending the Iran war.
Before flying back to Washington from Florida, Trump while speaking to the media said: “One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that’ll be interesting. We’re talking a lot of things, including denuclearization, but we’ll be talking a lot of things. We’re trying to end the war in Iran.”
Russia in October has said that this first of its kind trilateral meeting is “being prepared.”
While Trump has mentioned denuclearization as the focus of the meeting, a Wall Street Journal report said that Putin wanted the three-way talks to broker a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In his interview with CBS Trump said that “I believe we’re very close to making a deal” to end the Russia-Ukraine war that would result in a “little bit different shape Ukraine,” without sharing any further details.
