About half an hour into TIME’s interview with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on April 22nd, an aide interrupted to inform the President that the Prime Minister of India was calling. The aide handed Trump a note, and he answered the phone on his desk, with hold music audible. Earlier that day, gunmen had committed an attack in Kashmir, and Trump asked the TIME representatives to remain seated while he offered his condolences to the other world leader. He mouthed the word terrorism to explain the call. During the call, he gestured toward the Oval Office wall, suggesting a look at the new paintings and decorations. (“This is new and improved,” Trump commented about the office upon entry.)
This marked TIME’s fourth interview with Trump since he secured the Republican presidential nomination the previous spring. It was a rare, extensive, and on-the-record interview, among the lengthiest he has granted to any news outlet since assuming office in January. The purpose was to discuss Trump’s initial 100 days in office, a significant period for any president, particularly one as ambitious and assertive as this.
The discussion occurred during a critical moment for Trump’s second term. Earlier that day, his economic policies had resulted in negative headlines. The performance of key U.S. stock market indicators was being compared to the years 1928 and 1932. (“Just don’t move,” Trump advised regarding retirement savings. “You’ll be good. You’ll see.”) The Defense Secretary faced criticism for staff departures and the handling of confidential information. Ongoing international conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which Trump claimed he could resolve swiftly during his campaign, persisted. “The war has been raging for three years. I just got here, and you say, what’s taken so long?” he stated.
However, the primary focus was Trump’s reshaping of the American presidency. In his first 100 days, he has strived to diminish the power of rival U.S. institutions—the courts, Congress, the media, and law firms—concentrating it within the presidency at a rate and scale possibly unseen since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Trump refuted the idea that he was overextending presidential authority. “I don’t feel I’m expanding it,” he asserted. “I think I’m using it as it was meant to be used.”
Trump’s return to Washington remains striking. In the private dining area, where Trump had watched the U.S. Capitol attack on television, Fox News was broadcasting footage of his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, addressing the press. A pile of documents, including a large map of Ukraine, and a golden television remote were on the table. Above a doorway hung the boxing championship belt left behind by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a recent, unsuccessful visit with Trump. A nearby small room housed cabinets filled with merchandise for visitors, including MAGA hats in red, white, and black, travel mugs, Trump-branded towels, and golden Trump basketball sneakers.
For over a century, TIME has provided coverage of global leaders, offering exclusive interviews and reports to promote transparency and accountability. Consistent with past practices, the full transcript of the interview with Trump and an analysis of his remarks will be published alongside this week’s cover story, authored by Eric Cortellessa, who covered Trump’s most recent campaign and his return to office for TIME.
Trump’s relationship with TIME spans decades, dating back to his first cover appearance in 1989. The current cover marks his 46th, equaling that of Ronald Reagan, whose portrait is prominently displayed in the Oval Office. These two Republican presidents are surpassed only by Richard Nixon, who has appeared on the cover of TIME more than any other individual. The new cover photograph was taken by Martin Schoeller, who first photographed Trump for TIME’s cover in the summer following the launch of his initial presidential campaign, which initiated a political era that has reshaped this century. The headline on that cover read: “Deal with it.”
