Trump Talks Signal Leak and Auto Tariffs to NBC
President Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he would not fire anyone involved in a group chat that inadvertently disclosed plans for airstrikes on Yemen to a journalist, and said he “couldn’t care less” if automakers raise prices in response to the tariffs he plans to impose because it could change buyer behavior.
In a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, the host of “Meet the Press,” Mr. Trump pushed back on reports that some in his circle had encouraged him to fire Michael Waltz, the national security adviser who was at the center of the group chat.
Mr. Waltz had seemingly inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, to a sensitive group chat on Signal, a commercial messaging app, ahead of U.S. strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen on March 15.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that Mr. Trump had spent much of the week consulting with aides about whether he should fire Mr. Waltz amid mounting fallout from the episode.
But Mr. Trump told Ms. Welker that he still had confidence in Mr. Waltz and in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and he continued to downplay the seriousness of the incident. “I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts,” he said.
Mr. Trump also discussed the 25 percent tariff he has promised to impose starting Thursday on imported cars and auto parts, saying that he was not concerned that automakers could raise prices as a result. Experts have insisted the levies will increase prices by thousands of dollars.
“I couldn’t care less,” Mr. Trump said. “I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are going to buy American-made cars. We have plenty.”
Nearly half of all vehicles sold in the United States are imported, as are almost 60 percent of the parts used in vehicles that are assembled in the country.
Mr. Trump denied a report that he warned auto executives not to raise prices when discussing the tariffs.
Mr. Trump also discussed Greenland, a day after Vice President JD Vance visited an American military base on the island. Mr. Trump reiterated that he would not rule out using force to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, but indicated that he thought he could make a deal to take it instead.
When asked what message he believed such a takeover would send to the rest of the world, including Russia, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t really think about that; I don’t really care.”
