Trump, who at campaign rallies said the NFL has "become soft" for cracking down on violence to players' heads, told CBS's Brennan that he wouldn't steer his son toward football because it's so "dangerous."
Trump reiterated his desire to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying it's time to end "endless wars." Brennan asked if it's harder for US intelligence without troops on the ground; he said, "We'll come back if we have to. We have very fast airplanes, we have very good cargo planes."
Trump said he wants to keep troops in Iraq because "I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem." Brennan asked if he wants to be able to *strike* Iran; he said, "No, because I want to be able to watch Iran. All I want to do is be able to watch."
Brennan mentioned McConnell talking to Pompeo about running for Senate in Kansas. Trump said, "That was fake news." When Brennan said again that it happened, Trump said, "Well, he may have spoken to him, but I think he loves being secretary of state."
Trump reiterated his preference for having "acting" Cabinet officials rather than Senate-confirmed permanent officials, saying, "It's easier to make moves when they're acting." He added, "I like acting because I can move so quickly. It gives me more flexibility."
Trump again tried to rewrite the history of the Mattis resignation, saying, contrary to everything that has been reported, that he actually fired Mattis and just did him the courtesy of letting him send that resignation letter: "He 'resigned' because I was very nice to him."
Trump said he personally resolved by the NFL's ad-related dispute with Canada, saying, "And I said to Prime Minister Trudeau, who was very nice about it..." A Canadian government official tells me they do not recall Trump personally raising this topic with Trudeau.
Trump claimed that "a lot of people in the NFL have been calling and thanking me" for passing the criminal justice reform bill. Brennan: "Really?" Trump: "They have been calling and thanking."
Trump on keeping US troops in South Korea: "Yeah, I mean we haven't talked about anything else. Maybe someday. I mean who knows. But you know it's very expensive to keep troops there. You do know that. We have 40,000 troops in South Korea, it's very expensive." (It's 25,813.)
Eight previous times, Trump inflated the US presence in South Korea from the high 20,000s to "32,000." This was the first time he made it "40,000."
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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