Trump Says ICE Raids ‘Haven’t Gone Far Enough’ in Explosive ‘60 Minutes’ Return After CBS Lawsuit
President Donald Trump didn’t hold back in his return to “60 Minutes” Sunday night, defending his administration’s aggressive ICE raids and blasting liberal judges for getting in the way of immigration enforcement.
In his first sit-down with CBS News since suing the network and winning a $16 million settlement from its parent company Paramount, Trump sat down with anchor Norah O’Donnell at Mar-a-Lago for a wide-ranging interview that quickly zeroed in on immigration.
Asked whether he thought some recent immigration raids had “gone too far,” Trump fired back: “No. I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back … by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama.”
O’Donnell pressed Trump about widely circulated videos of ICE agents tackling individuals, tear gas used in a Chicago neighborhood, and smashed car windows during arrests.
“You’re okay with those tactics?” she asked.
“Yeah, because you have to get the people out,” Trump replied flatly.
The president’s remarks come amid growing legal challenges to his immigration policy, including a ruling by a Biden-appointed judge in Illinois who blocked Trump’s recent deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. That move came after a wave of gang-related violence linked to illegal immigrant networks.
Trump also took a shot at New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has surged to the front of the Democratic field with a radical agenda that critics say mirrors far-left ideologies.
“He’s far worse than a socialist. He’s a communist,” Trump said.
When O’Donnell noted that some had compared Mamdani to Trump himself — calling him a rule-breaking, charismatic outsider — Trump smirked.
“Well, I think I’m a much better-looking person than him, right?” he joked.
The interview marks Trump’s first appearance on the long-running CBS program since 2024, when he filed a lawsuit against the network over a segment featuring then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump alleged the piece was deceptively edited to help President Biden in the final months of the campaign.
Paramount eventually settled the suit for $16 million in July.
The network’s editorial direction has shifted under new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who formerly helmed opinion sections at both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times before launching The Free Press. Her arrival is widely seen as an effort to restore credibility and balance to the legacy media outlet.