In his first Sunday show appearance since winning the White House, Donald Trump sat down with Fox News' Chris Wallace to discuss how is he handling his new responsibilities as president-Elect.
Wallace started off the interview by asking Trump about the allegations that hacking believed to be directed by the Russian government had any effect on the presidential race. Trump pushed back against reports that the Russians were connected to hackings into American political networks and instead suggested that Democrats have been using the story as an excuse for why they lost on election night.
Wallace then asked Trump if his general skepticism towards the intelligence community affected his decision to only receive the presidential daily brief once a week. The president-elect did not deny that he only receives the security briefing once a week and said that he did not need to have it every day because he "doesn't need to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years."
Cutting away from the interview, Wallace then aired a segment of Trump's appearance at the Army-Navy football game that was held in Baltimore over the weekend. On the plane to the game, Trump and Wallace talked about Trump's time spent at the New York Military Academy and the lessons he learned from his experience there. The segment then showed Trump being well received by the cadets before the game on Saturday and Trump noting that being commander in chief will be a "daunting responsibility."
In the second part of the interview, Wallace focused on what sort of leader Trump would be. Echoing his speeches on the campaign trail, Trump insisted that governmental officials had been negotiating bad deals on behalf of the American people, something that he vowed to fix.
Trump then clarified his positions on a variety of environmental issues after conflicting reports on what kind of environmental policy his administration would pursue. He told Wallace that he is "open minded" about the environment but did not state his position on climate change. On issues such as the Dakota Pipeline, the Paris Accord, and the Keystone Pipeline, Trump hedged on where he stood on each, instead telling Wallace that he was studying them all closely.
Trump explained in the final segment his decision to accept a congratulatory call from Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, which broke with long-standing U.S. policy. Trump insisted that he understands the current "One China" policy but questioned why the U.S. should continue to adhere to it.
Trump later defended his action to intervene with air conditioner manufacturer Carrier Corp., which saved approximately 800 jobs from being outsourced to Mexico. Using Carrier as an example, Trump told Wallace that his administration would try to enact a tax on companies that try to move American production overseas. Wallace questioned if Trump's hands-on approach with business contradicted a free-market approach to the economy.
"That's the dumb market. I'm a big free trader but it has to be fair," Trump responded.
To end the interview, Trump talked about his budding relationship with President Obama. Trump declined to specifically state what the two men had discussed but said that he and Obama have been getting along well.