Trump tells Sheryl Attkisson only way to permanently secure border is vote Republican

Iran is obviously at the top of the list when it comes to the immediate topics President Trump is handling. He came to this recent Full Measure interview straight from the Situation Room.

“Their leaders are gone," was among the first things Trump said about Iran, with whom the U.S. has been at war since Feb. 28. 

"The first set, the A team is gone, the B team is gone, and part of the C team is gone. It's very interesting because, you know, they make a deal, and then they break it, then they make a deal, they break it. It's a difficult group. But from a military standpoint, I mean, if we left, if we left today, it would take them 20 years to rebuild.”

When asked, amid a fragile ceasefire, whether it's accurate to say the combat operations are "over and done," he replied, "No, I didn't say that."

“I said, they are defeated, but that doesn't mean they're done. We could go in for two more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted to, and we've done probably 70% of them, but we have other targets that we could conceivably hit. But even if we didn't do that, you know, that would just be final touches. But even if we didn't do that, it would take them many years to rebuild.”

President Trump also called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) a “paper tiger” after the alliance – funded with more U.S. money than any other country– failed to answer Trump’s call for assistance with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 25% of the world's oil supply passes.

You know, the interesting thing is many of those NATO countries use – we don't use – the strait. We don't need it,” Trump said. “In fact, boats are coming up to Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska and filling up with oil. We don't need the strait. 

We were trying to keep it ope "to help Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE, others," the president continued. We don't need it. …We're now producing more oil and gas than Russia and Saudi Arabia put together. Think of that, Sharyl. If you take everything that Russia does, everything that Saudi Arabia puts out, we produce much more oil and gas than Russia and Saudi Arabia put together. And by the end of this year, that number will probably double.”

Full Measure also asked about the NFL’s move to place more games on expensive pay channels. The Justice Department is investigating the practice.

“It's so tough,” Trump replied. “You got people that love football. They don't make enough money to go and pay this. ... And they could be killing the golden goose. I mean, they have that stupid kickoff thing that you can't watch. It's unwatchable. I hate the games where they, you know, they have the new phony kickoff.” 

On vaccine safety, Trump said: “I believe in vaccines,” But “if you look at Denmark and other countries, you have 12, 14, I think 17. And we have like 82 [CDC-recommended doses for American children]. But I look at these beautiful little babies, and they get a vax. I mean, so like a big glass of stuff pumped into their bodies. And I think it's a very negative thing to do ... I would love to see much smaller shots, like four visits to the doctor, and I think you would have a much better result with the autism.”

On illegal immigration and America’s record-low homicide rate, Full Measure asked the president, “As straightforward as securing the border seemed to be once you got into office, it almost implies that another president could reverse it as quickly ... Is there any way to protect against that in the future?”

“Yeah. Vote Republican. It's very simple,” he replied.

Watch the full interview with President Trump on "Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson” Sunday. Attkisson's most recent book is "Follow the $cience: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails."