--- title: Donald Trump: Read His Full Fox News Interview description: Donald Trump sat down for interview with Fox News Sunday and discussed Russia, climate change, his company's future and more canonical: https://time.com/4597416/transcript-donald-trump-fox-interview/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-11T19:35:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:56:19.864Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Donald Trump’s Fox News Interview on Russia, Climate Change and More og:description: Donald Trump sat down for interview with Fox News Sunday og:url: https://time.com/4597416/transcript-donald-trump-fox-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50d82fe6a92090dc/6988b2870b72e38d7f6ec03a/donald-trump-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican presidential-elect Donald Trump USA Thank You Tour 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Donald Trump’s Fox News Interview on Russia, Climate Change and More twitter:description: Donald Trump sat down for interview with Fox News Sunday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50d82fe6a92090dc/6988b2870b72e38d7f6ec03a/donald-trump-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Donald Trump’s Fox News Interview on Russia, Climate Change and His Company’s Future > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=94a7fbd9-fc94-44e0-a68a-8e601bf24a3d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8) (4:12)  _Published 2016-12-07. The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 11, 2016 7:35 PM UTC The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 11, 2016 7:35 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) sat down for an [interview with _Fox News Sunday_](http://time.com/4597376/donald-trump-fox-news-intelligence-cia-russia/?xid=homepage), discussing everything from his reaction to reports of Russian interference with the 2016 election to the conflicts of interest between his presidency and his company. The President-elect called the report from the CIA saying [Russia interfered with the election](http://time.com/4597386/bipartisan-senators-probe-russia-interference/) to help Trump win “ridiculous.” “I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it,” he said. “I don’t know why, and I think it’s just — you know, they talked about all sorts of things. Every week, it’s another excuse.” Trump also spoke about climate change, military discipline, the White House and more. Read the entire interview below. --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:04] MUSIC ] Every [00:10] year we choose the Person of the Year who is the [00:12] individual who has had the most influence on events [00:16] for better or worse. The Tod argue that [00:21] anyone had no influence that Donald Trump over the [00:24] events of this year. [ MUSIC ] I [00:28] didn't get Beyonce and Jay Z and Goose Bernstein to [00:32] get crowds, I had just me. And ideas that people [00:36] wanted to hear. But there is a profound argument [00:40] about whether his influence was for the better or for [00:43] the worse. And that really is the challenge that faces [00:47] the country came through this election season more [00:51] divided conspicuously publicly than at [00:56] any time through any election cycle that most of us Can [00:59] remember. [ MUSIC ] We're [01:04] gonna have a lot of jobs put back. I think we're gonna [01:07] have a lot of fuel companies leaving our country. I [01:10] believed we will be successful with defeating ISIS [01:14] or bringing them down to a level where it's almost the [01:17] same thing. And I hope I'm judged from the time of the [01:19] election as opposed to from January 20th because the [01:23] stock market has had a tremendous bounce and [01:26] people are seeing very good things for business in this [01:28] country. [ MUSIC ] [01:32] One of the things that was remarkable in going to see [01:34] him, to interview him, is to be in that Penthouse which [01:38] is the most austiontacious, imaginable [01:42] marble and mirrors, and gold. And see him in [01:46] the suit and the diamond cuff links. There is a kind of [01:49] distance that repressed him about, of how is it that the [01:53] billionaire is the tribune of the working man? He said, [01:56] he thought that it had to do With that he wasn't a [01:59] phony, that there have certainly been wealthy [02:01] politicians before. Doing some cases would bend over [02:04] backwards to make themselves appear like the [02:07] common man, or do anything that they could, eating [02:09] the corn dog at the Iowa State Fair, wearing a flannel [02:11] shirt in New Hampshire. I think he had a very strong [02:14] instinct that his wealth and that flamboyant display of [02:19] his wealth Was not a liability that it was actually an [02:23] asset. [ MUSIC ] Donal Trump is very comfortable [02:27] sitting down and answering questions, although he very [02:29] frequently does not remotely answer the question that [02:32] you asked. In one sense it feels very undisciplined and [02:35] in another sense maybe it's very disciplined in that He [02:38] knows what he will and will not talk about and is [02:41] unabashed in completely changing the subject. Do you [02:45] feel changed by your election, and how you do think, if [02:49] I play this tape back in four or eight years, the [02:53] office will have changed here? Well, it's a It's a very [02:58] humbling experience, I can tell you, as somebody that [03:01] loves this country, it's a very large [03:05] country, but it's also an even more powerful country [03:09] than the numbers, because, if you look at China, and [03:12] India, and you have others with more people, but, [03:15] when you look at what we do in this country, it's The [03:18] most incredible place on earth. [ MUSIC ] A lot of [03:22] people think that Person of the Year just because the [03:24] nature of the name is an honor. And certainly there [03:27] have been years where we have recognized people's [03:31] whose influence has been altogether, unassailably [03:34] worthy. Normally, that's not the case. I know there [03:39] are a lot of people who disagree with so much of what [03:42] Donald Trump said and are very apprehensive about [03:46] what his presidency means for them and for the [03:48] country. I think I would challenge them to suggest [03:52] that someone else this year had more influence than a [03:55] way greater Surprise than what he [04:00] did in 2016. 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