In President Trump’s first interview with a Spanish-language television network during his presidency, he sought to rewrite history on his administration’s most controversial policies, claiming he was not to blame for family separations and that he inherited the policy from his predecessor.
“I’m the one that changed the plan. I inherited separation, and I changed the plan, and I brought people together,” Trump said. “Obama built the cages. I didn’t build them.”
Noticiero Telemundo anchor José Díaz Balart was quick to refute the claim, adding that 2,800 children were reunited with their parents in the past year after Trump’s so-called Zero Tolerance policy.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump again insisted that he is “bringing people together,” before mentioning that his poll numbers are up 17 percent among Hispanics. Trump said later in the interview that he doesn’t trust polls from Quinnipiac University.
In the 20-minute interview, Trump and Balart discussed topics such as his frustration with Democrats in Congress “not getting anything done,” immigration, and the current 2020 Democratic frontrunners.
Balart said former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, are all polling ahead of Trump in the 2020 election, and Trump asked if Balart actually believed that Buttigieg was ahead of him.
When Balart didn’t answer, Trump said the same poll had him “losing Texas to Pocahontas,” referring to Warren, and then said he isn’t losing Texas to anyone.
Trump also rattled off a list of insults to the Democratic primary candidates, calling Sanders “crazy” and saying Biden looked “exhausted.”
At the end of the interview, Balart asked Trump if he had any regrets so far in his presidency, and Trump confirmed that he has no regrets.
“No president in two and a half years has done what we’ve done... there’s never been anything like it,” Trump said.
