MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And now we have another window into how President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to govern.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In his first network television interview since winning the election, he sat down with Kristen Welker on NBC's Meet the Press.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
DONALD TRUMP: I won on two things, the border - and more than immigration. You know, they like to say immigration. I break it down more to the border, but I won on the border, and I won on groceries. It's a very simple word, groceries.
FADEL: He sung the praises of the power of tariffs. He said he doesn't intend to cut off access to abortion pills, and he said mass deportations have to be done.
MARTIN: For more on this, we are joined by NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Good morning, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: OK, so you covered Trump's first term. You followed him and his time in office very closely. What did this interview tell you about how he is approaching his second term?
KEITH: You know, for much of the interview, he spoke in soft tones. He talked about unity and said that it would be the theme of his inaugural address. These are things that he has said when he feels confident and appreciated. And he voiced something that he's voiced many times before over the past eight years, that success brings unity. Take this moment where Welker asked him about whether he plans to prosecute President Biden.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
TRUMP: I'm really looking to make our country successful. I'm not looking to go back into the past. I'm looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success. If we can make our success - this country successful, that would be my greatest - that would be such a great achievement. Bring it back.
KEITH: So you could call this the generous victor version of Trump. But there were other times in this interviews where he let his old grudges slip through.
MARTIN: OK, so tell us more about that.
KEITH: Well, success is retribution was all finding good until the House January 6 committee came up.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
TRUMP: For what they did...
KRISTEN WELKER: Yeah.
TRUMP: ...Honestly, they should go to jail.
WELKER: So you think Liz Cheney should go to jail?
TRUMP: For what they did...
WELKER: Everyone on the committee, you think should go to jail.
TRUMP: I think everybody on the - anybody that voted in favor...
WELKER: Are you going to direct your FBI director...
TRUMP: No.
WELKER: ...And your attorney general to send them to jail?
TRUMP: No, not at all. I think that they'll have to look at that.
KEITH: It's not entirely clear what he thinks they should go to jail for. But in an unedited transcript, he spent a lot of time repeating a false claim that the committee had destroyed evidence. It didn't. And he said he plans to follow through on his pledge on Day 1 to pardon people who've been convicted of crimes for their activities on January 6. Though he did say the pardons would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
MARTIN: OK, so let's go back to policy. Immigration, a signature issue for him since his first run for office - did he make some news here?
KEITH: Yeah, he did. He said he wants to come up with a legislative solution for dreamers who were brought to the U.S. as young children who have been living here in some cases for decades now. And he repeated his desire to end birthright citizenship on Day 1, and then he conceded that it may require a constitutional amendment, which definitely couldn't happen on Day 1.
As for his campaign pledge of mass deportations, he said he planned to start by deporting criminals, but eventually, it would have to move beyond them. Asked about mixed-status families, he suggested the only way to avoid family separation would be to send American citizen children away with their undocumented parents. Quote, "you have to send them all back." And he acknowledged there well could be images that emerge from these policies that turn the public against them.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Tamara Keith. Tam, thank you.
KEITH: You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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