The only press interview President Trump granted during his trip to the United Kingdom for the anniversary of D-Day went to former “Apprentice” ally Piers Morgan.
Trump sat down with Morgan on “Good Morning Britain” Tuesday for a wide-ranging 30-minute discussion on climate change, the ban on transgender troops, and gun violence in the U.S.
Below are the key exchanges from the interview:
Weather “changes both ways”
When asked if he believes in climate change, Trump instead discussed weather.
“I believe there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways,” he told Morgan. “Don’t forget, it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it was called climate change, now it’s actually called extreme weather.”
The topic came up because Trump apparently discussed climate change with Prince Charle sat length during his England trip.
USS McCain shrouding may not have happened
Trump ushered in a new phase of the USS McCain scandal, claiming that U.S. officials may have never actually hid the name of the ship from him after all.
“First of all, I didn’t know anything about it, but I’m not even sure it happened,” Trump said. “I hear it’s fake news. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But again, I don’t talk about John McCain unless someone asks me about it.”
Previously, when asked about reports that the White House had the Navy hide the name of the warship named for the late Sen. John McCain, Trump noted he wasn’t a fan of the senator and said that if someone tried to hid the ship, they were “well-meaning.”
President Trump gets defensive when asked about his feud with John McCain, insisting: 'I don't think of him'.
He adds: 'I was not a fan, I didn’t like what he did to healthcare. I didn’t like how he handled the veterans…'@piersmorgan | #GMBTrump pic.twitter.com/ONsWgPFgZt
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 5, 2019
Meghan Markle is “very nice”
Trump tried to clarify his past comment that Markle was “nasty,” explaining that he was only remarking that he’d been unaware that she was “nasty” about him.
“She was nasty to me. And that’s okay for her to be nasty; it’s not good for me to be nasty to her and I wasn’t,” he said. “You know what? She’s doing a good job, I hope she enjoys her life. … I think she’s very nice.”
Medical care for transgender people too expensive
Morgan pressed Trump on his decision to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, prompting Trump to repeatedly claim that medical care for transgender troops was too expensive.
“Because they take massive amounts of drugs — they have to,” Trump said when asked why he pushed the ban. “And you would actually have to break rules and regulations in order to have that.”
Morgan then stumped Trump by noting that the military spends more money on Viagra prescriptions than on medical care for transgender troops.
“I didn’t know they did that,” Trump said.
Morgan’s relentless questioning didn’t sway Trump, however.
“Well, it is what it is,” Trump said.
'You have to have a standard and you have to stick by that standard.'
The POTUS defends his decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military.@piersmorgan | #GMBTrump pic.twitter.com/heBUjhwiUH
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 5, 2019
Deflecting questions on gun violence
Morgan spent several minutes asking Trump what he plans to do about gun violence, but the President deflected the questions several times. When first asked about the high rates of gun deaths in the U.S., Trump went after London over its knife attack statistics.
“In London you have stabbings all over,” Trump said. “They said your hospital is a sea of blood.”
Trump also said that stricter gun laws would just hurt people who followed those laws.
“The people that obey the laws, if they laws get passed — those people are sitting ducks,” Trump said, arguing that certain people would still find a way to obtain firearms illegally.
When specifically asked about access to semi-automatic rifles, Trump claimed that people use them for “entertainment.”
Watch the entire 30-minute interview:
