Donald Trump erupted at TIME reporters during a Trump Time interview in the Oval Office, telling Eric Cortellessa and Sam Jacobs, "You haven't asked me one fucking positive question." He added that the exchange was "All negative" after saying the reporters had focused on White House renovations, Venezuela, the Supreme Court and data centers.
Oval Office exchange
Trump said, "I don't understand. I'm sitting here. I've done all this stuff," while objecting to the line of questioning. He also said TIME had already spent a long stretch on Venezuela earlier in the interview, then turned back to the complaints about how the conversation was going.
One of the questions that drew a sharp reply asked whether Mitch McConnell should resign from the Senate because of health issues. Trump called videos of McConnell struggling a "disappointment to a lot of Republicans," then shifted to Joe Biden, saying, "Sleepy Joe gave pardons to everybody."
White House renovations
Trump spent part of the interview defending White House renovations and said, "I took the White House and made it beautiful again." He called the White House "a symbol of our greatness" and said, "For me, it's relaxing," when asked about the project.
He also said the work came at no expense to the American taxpayer. The interview text says that claim was false, and he did not address the cost of living issue in that answer, even as an -NORC poll released today found that only 17 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the issue.
Supreme Court and data centers
Trump also criticized the Supreme Court after being asked whether he regretted nominating Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. He answered, "Yeah. Yeah," then added, "What can I do? I put them in," and said the justices "vote against me often."
When the interview turned to data centers, Trump said the press had not covered them fairly. He said, "But if I spoke to the American people, and if I got a fair press on, which I never would, I would like to have data centers," and added, "It doesn't mean I want them right next to my house, but certainly I like them in my county."
The interview leaves Trump defending his renovation project while fighting the questions around it. It also shows him trying to separate his support for data centers from the local concerns raised in the interview, with no sign that he plans to change how he answers those questions.
