President Trump defended his administration’s recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes that the actions “haven’t gone far enough.” The interview, which airs Sunday night, marks his first sit-down with the network since successfully suing its parent company, Paramount.
When pressed by anchor Norah O’Donnell about whether some of the raids had gone too far, President Trump dismissed the criticism and blamed “liberal judges” for obstructing enforcement efforts.
“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,” Trump said, according to a preview clip.
O’Donnell cited viral footage of ICE agents tackling a young mother, using tear gas in a Chicago neighborhood, and smashing car windows. “You’re okay with those tactics?” she asked.
“Yeah, because you have to get the people out,” the president replied.
The Trump administration has faced multiple legal challenges over its deportation strategy, including in Illinois, where a Biden-appointed federal judge recently blocked the president’s move to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago.
In another segment of the interview, President Trump weighed in on the New York City mayor’s race, blasting front-runner Zohran Mamdani as a “communist.”
“He’s far worse than a socialist,” Trump said.
O’Donnell noted that some observers had compared Mamdani to Trump himself — as an outsider who breaks political norms. “Some people have described him as a left-wing version of you … charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that?” she asked.
“Well, I think I’m a much better-looking person than him, right?” Trump joked.
The 60 Minutes broadcast also comes shortly after journalist Bari Weiss — former opinion editor for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times — took over as editor-in-chief of the network.
President Trump’s renewed appearance on CBS follows a legal victory against Paramount earlier this year. In July, the company agreed to pay him $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 60 Minutes segment featuring then–Vice President Kamala Harris, which Trump said had been deceptively edited to favor his opponent during the campaign.