"It looks like we've got a call from the White House," C-SPAN host Mimi Geerges told viewers on Monday night as President Donald Trump dialed into the network's newly launched program, "Washington Journal Primetime."
The surprise call-in put the president on the air with the evening broadcast, which gives additional airtime to callers from across the country to share their views on current events — like the longer-running "Washington Journal" in the mornings, which Trump said he watches.
"I like to watch the call-ins because it gives me a little bit of an indication of where we are," Trump said. "We have some great Republicans calling in, and I'm not so sure the Democrats are thrilled, but the Republicans seem to be."
Geerges used the call to question the president about immigration enforcement and the Iran war. Trump said his mass-deportation drive has been softer toward immigrants who are not public safety threats, after Geerges asked about "the honest people who are just kind of trying to make a life and paying their taxes."
"We certainly haven't put the same push on them as we have on the murderers or the drug dealers," Trump said. "We haven't put the same pressure on waitresses and on farm workers, etc. Not even close."
Trump also said he would "be disappointed" if House Republicans voted in favor of outgoing Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie's impeachment resolution against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, which could come up as early as this week. "Pete has won two wars. I mean, he's been the head person in two wars," he said. Hours later on Tuesday evening, the House voted 211-204 to refer Massie's eight articles of impeachment to the Judiciary Committee, blocking an immediate floor vote.
On Iran, Trump deflected when asked how much longer the war would last, after saying at a White House briefing hours earlier that the conflict was "effectively over" militarily, but that he would maintain the "status quo" of a naval blockade. "Well, it depends. I mean, we could knock it out fast," Trump told C-SPAN. "But bottom line is we can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon because they'd use it."
