Trump admits deportation policy 'might have been too tough'

And staying in the US and President Donald Trump in his first major interview since his party lost control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections says that he thinks his administration was too aggressive on deportations. The president also adding that he believes he can work with the Democrats in the new Congress on some kind of immigration deal. Thank you. I think I got an A plus for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out, but I get hurt because... We also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation for breaking the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally. And there's a large group of people who think that they should be allowed to stay. So you think your deportation policy went too far? It was too tough? I think it might be too tough. For more on this story, I'm joined in the studio by Douglas Herbert, international affairs commentator. Douglas, in his first sit-down interview with a major American news outlet, since those crushing losses in the midterms, Trump is suggesting that he may have gone too far with his immigration crackdown. Was this a sign that maybe those midterm results have chastened a president not known for acknowledging errors? The easy answer to that is no. It has not chastened him because nothing in Donald Trump's career or his political life, Annette, has ever shown him taking a step back and doing this thing called reflecting and owning up to mistakes. Thanks. Thanks. That said, this is a risky business, Thanks. Thanks. even trying to answer that question, because Donald Trump is a walking contradiction. And even in this interview, he was a walking contradiction. Why? Because as you just mentioned, he suggested that he was making a distinction between sort of the tough guys, the criminals, the real hardened criminals, the murderers, the drug traffickers. Those are people that need to be expelled, right? But then there are the maids, the cooks. The waitresses, the hotel cleaners, these are people who've been here 10 to 15 years, as he said, in America. It's a tough job that they have. It's really tough for them, and they deserve a break. They shouldn't just be thrown out like that. He's not walking a fine line. He's walking a contradictory line because everything in his policy up until now has favored throwing out the baby with the bathwater. That is, the hotel cleaners, the launderers, the maids. Everything, along with the hardened criminals. And all of a sudden, here he is, you know, after these elections, making a distinction. I think Donald Trump will breathe hot and cold. He will say one thing and then flip on a dime and say another thing the next day, which is why I think it's risky business to even try to analyze whether his immigration policy is. When he said it. He might have meant that, yeah, he's willing to work with Democrats, but his interpretation of what it means to work with Democrats is probably a lot different, I'd go out on a limb, than what it actually means to work with Democrats. And I will just note, the fact that he appointed on Friday evening, shortly after he did this interview with 60 Minutes, Stephen Miller, a hard-right, ultra-nationalist, far-right, Really. Not-so-closet white supremacist, let's just not mince words here, and the hardline architect of the worst of his ICE policies, the fact that that guy is now the gatekeeper in the White House, the chief of staff, anyone who's watched Netflix series knows what the chief of staff does, that really speaks volumes. That speaks volumes about really where Donald Trump stands, how he's doubling down on all of, as his critics would have it, his worst instincts, and yes, with respect to immigration policy as well, regardless of what he just said in that interview. Now, the other battleground is the fact that the Democrats are reportedly laying the groundwork for holding the administration accountable. Starting with an expected push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is saying what and what is actually likely to happen? Yeah, well, it's Hakeem Jeffries who is poised to become, it's not a shoo-in, but he's poised to become the next majority leader, the speaker. And he's basically saying that the oversight remit of the Democrats who are now going to chair the most powerful committees in Washington. It is incumbent on them to pursue the administration, not as a vendetta, not because it's petty political retribution, but because they have to, because as he said, Hakeem Jeffries, this is an administration, and he pointed out Pete Hegseth, top of the list, who has abused his authority, who is essentially behind a costly and unnecessary war in Iran. And who continues to hoist very unpopular and unnecessary policies on the American people. So he's saying he is a legitimate target for investigation. He's a legitimate target for impeachment. But I will note, you don't have to wait the 55 days from now when Democrats take power in Washington, the new Congress is sworn in. It could happen as soon as this week. Why? Because a Republican named Thomas Massie, who's not running again, who's retiring, he is the one who has tried before to do this. He's going to probably try to bring a resolution to impeach Pete Hegseth to the floor this week of the House. And he has two days for the motion to gain traction. Even if the House impeaches, which is unlikely right now, you won't get the two-thirds in the Senate necessary to convict. But the fact that they're already moving before the Democrats even come to power on the notion of impeaching Hegseth, the idea with the Democratic Party right now, if anyone should be top of the list for the impeachment drive, accountability drive, and investigation drive, it should be the Secretary of Defense, who most of them believe has been especially odious in the exercise of his functions.