Super Bowl 54: A look back at Trump's previous Super Bowl interview on "Face the Nation"
For 16 years, presidents have sat for interviews ahead of the Super Bowl, a tradition that began when CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz interviewed then-President George W. Bush in 2004.
Last year, ahead of the big game, President Trump spoke with "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan in the Blue Room of the White House. The president discussed the fight over border security funding, his disagreements with the intelligence community, the situation in Venezuela and the fight against ISIS in Syria.
Here were some of the big moments from Mr. Trump's Super Bowl interview last year:
Keeping an "eye" on Iran:
During his pre-Super Bowl interview with "Face the Nation", Mr. Trump said he wanted to leave troops and an "unbelievable and expensive military base" in Iraq to keep an eye on Iran as it continued to build upon its nuclear capabilities.
Trump said the United States has spent a "fortune" on the Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq and that the United States should hold on to it.
"One of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem," he said in the CBS interview. Flash forward one year, that very same base came under attack as Iran launched more than a dozen missiles in retaliation for the U.S. killing top military leader Qassem Soleimani.
"All I want to do is to be able to watch. We have an unbelievable and expensive base built in Iraq. It's perfectly situated for looking at all over, different parts of the troubled Middle East, rather than pulling up," he said.
Not having "to agree" with intelligence chiefs on global threats:
After U.S. intelligence chiefs seemed to be at odds with Mr. Trump on several topics during congressional testimony on the threat posed by Russia and North Korea, he called them naive and suggested they might need to go back to "school."
But on "Face the Nation," the president indicated it was more the "questions and answers" about the worldwide threats report that troubled him, and he went on to tout the success of U.S. efforts around the globe.
"My intelligence people, if they said in fact that Iran is a wonderful kindergarten, I disagree with them 100 percent. It is a vicious country that kills many people," he said.
When pressed on the intelligence community's assessment that Iran was technically in compliance with the Iran nuclear deal, Trump said he doesn't "have to agree" with his intelligence chiefs.
"I have intel people, but that doesn't mean I have to agree. President Bush had intel people that said Saddam Hussein in Iraq had nuclear weapons, had all sorts of weapons of mass destruction. Guess what? Those intel people didn't know what the hell they were doing, and they got us tied up in a war that we should have never been in."
A "very good chance" the U.S. would be able to "make a deal" with North Korea:
At the time, Mr. Trump told Margaret Brennan that there was a "very good chance" the U.S. would be able to "make a deal" with North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons program.
"They think it's historic. And we'll see what happens. Now that doesn't mean we are going to make a deal. But, certainly, I think we have a very good chance of making a deal," he said.
But two fizzled summits later, North Korea still appears poised to fast-track their nuclear capabilities.
Trump's feelings on his son playing football:
Mr. Trump said he would have a "hard time" allowing his 12-year-old son Barron to play football amid growing concerns over the safety of the sport.
"I just don't like the reports that I see coming out having to do with football — I mean, it's a dangerous sport and I think it's really tough. I thought the equipment would get better, and it has. The helmets have gotten far better but it hasn't solved the problem," Mr. Trump said.
"I hate to say it because I love to watch football," he said. "I think the NFL is a great product, but I really think that as far as my son — well, I've heard NFL players saying they wouldn't let their sons play football. So, it's not totally unique, but I would have a hard time with it," he added.
At the time of the interview, the NFL announced that concussions were down 29 percent in 2018, from 190 a year ago to 135 the 2019 season.
Mr. Trump's relationship with the NFL has been fraught with tension during his time in office. Amid growing protests against racial injustice led by NFL players on the sidelines of pro games, the president has said players should be forced to stand as the national anthem played, claiming players were being disrespectful to the American flag and service members.
