(MENAFN- Live Mint) US President Donald Trump appeared on CBS News' 60 Minutes, marking his first interview since he settled a lawsuit against the news portal months ago.

Before the 2020 elections, Trump had walked out of a 60 Minutes interview, alleging bias and later filed a lawsuit against the publication over an interview with Kamala Harris.

In the recent CBS News interview, Trump discussed the India and Pakistan conflict, nuclear testing by Russia and China, criticised former US President Barack Obama, and claimed success in halting illegal immigration. He also addressed the government shutdown, blaming Democrats, and refused to negotiate, insisting Republicans need to be tougher.

Here are the top 10 points from Trump's interview-

On halting India-Pakistan conflict

The US President reiterated that he played a role in preventing a potential nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, a stance which New Delhi has constantly rejected.

“If it wasn't for tariffs and trade, I wouldn't have been able to make the deals... They were going to war. They were gonna have a nuclear war with Pakistan,” he added.

Trump recognised the volatile stability in South Asia and mentioned that the United States is still closely watching India and Pakistan. While he did not specifically address recent military actions, officials from the administration have indicated that Washington remains cautious about potential escalation, particularly due to ongoing nuclear issues.

Also Read | Obama Torches Trump, His Team, Says 'White House Just Halloween With No Candy' Nuclear testing by Russia and China

Trump claimed that Russia and China have been secretly testing nuclear weapons underground.

"Russia's testing, and China's testing, but they don't talk about it," he said.“You don't necessarily know where they're testing. They test way underground where people don't know exactly what's happening with the test,” he added.

Speaking on US nuclear capabilities, Trump said,“Well, we have more nuclear weapons than any other country. Russia's second. China's a very distant third, but they'll be even in five years. You know, they're making them rapidly, and I think we should do something about denuclearisation.”

Also Read | US needs nuclear weapons testing as China, Russia carry out trials too: Trump Immigration crackdown

Claiming success for controlling illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border, Trump said, "We have a closed border right now," he said.“For five months in a row, they have zero, think of this, zero people coming into our country through our southern border.”

Iran operation

Talking about Iran, Trump stated that his administration had "blasted the hell out of them" to stop Tehran from becoming a nuclear power. "You could've never had any kind of a deal if you had a nuclear Iran. And you essentially had a nuclear Iran," he remarked.

On Barack Obama's legacy

Trump consistently criticised former President Barack Obama's legacy, describing it as part of“a defective plan initiated by Barack Hussein Obama", whom he called a lousy president.

Also Read | Trump to skip Supreme Court hearing on US tariff policy Attack on Zohran Mamdani

Trump called out New York Mayoral race front-runner Zohran Mamdani and said,“Communist, not Socialist. Communist. He's far--far worse than a Socialist. Oh, that's so crazy. Look. When I left New York, we were at the-- the epitome of it was a great city. It was doing great. It was a great city, but there were some bad sides, because we had a guy named de Blasio, who was the worst mayor. Like I say Biden was the worst president, de Blasio was the worst mayor in history.”

Venezuelan politics

Speaking on the potential use of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Trump said,“I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.”

"I'm not gonna tell you what I'm gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it or if I wasn't going to do it," Trump said.

Middle East issues

When asked about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's forthcoming visit to the White House and his claim that the kingdom wouldn't join the Abraham Accords without a two-state solution, Trump said, "No. I think he's gonna join."

He added,“We will have a solution. I don't know if it's going to be a two-state solution. That's gonna be up to Israel and other people, and me.”

Trump further claimed that peace in the Middle East is maintained because the US stopped Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Government shutdown

Trump blamed Democrats for the government shutdown, which has entered its sixth week.

"Democrats' fault," Trump said, adding,“They don't wanna give us an extension because they used to think it was good for them, but the polls are turning around.”

Trump rejected calls to compromise with Democrats to reopen the government. "I won't be extorted," he said, insisting that he would not "give $1.5 trillion so that prisoners, drug dealers and people from mental institutions" could receive welfare or healthcare.

Healthcare reforms

Among the domestic issues, Trump emphasised healthcare and claimed that Democrats were blocking any reforms. "We almost did it. We were one vote short. John McCain made a mistake, frankly," he said, referring to Obamacare policy, a scheme that aims to make healthcare affordable in the US.

He reiterated his longstanding criticism of the Affordable Care Act, describing it as "bad healthcare at far too high a price". "It's too expensive for the people," Trump stated.“They're going to see a very big increase this year.”

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