Politics

'I'm president and you're not': Trump sticks to his unsubstantiated claims in Time interview

Trump is sticking to his story
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Trump is sticking to his story

President Donald Trump "would not accept the premise" that his unsubstantiated or misleading claims could risk hurting his credibility, according to a Time Interview published Thursday.

"Hey, look. I can't be doing so badly, because I'm president and you're not," he told the magazine in an article titled, "Can President Trump Handle the Truth?"

The president spoke to Time in a 20-minute interview about the many explosive statements he has made without evidence. Trump appeared to believe he has been vindicated on many accounts, even if evidence to back his assertions has never really surfaced. He called himself an "instinctual person."

Here are some of Trump's other assertions from the interview:

  • Trump stuck by his unsubstantiated accusation that the Obama administration wiretapped him ahead of the 2016 election, even after FBI Director James Comey said he and the Department of Justice had "no information" to support it. He cited House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes' unusual Wednesday announcement that U.S. intelligence officials "incidentally collected" information about Trump transition team members during "normal" surveillance of foreign targets. Even though Nunes went out of his way to say Trump Tower was never wiretapped, as the president alleged, Trump said the congressman's statement "means I'm right."
  • Trump alleged on Twitter in November that "millions of people voted illegally," but no evidence has yet surfaced to back that claim. He told Time he meant that people "mostly register wrong." The White House has pointed to outdated voter rolls in which people are registered in more than one state, but that is not illegal unless those voters actually cast more than one ballot.

Read the full Time interview here.

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