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Home » Transcript: Sharyl Attkisson Interviews Donald Trump @Full Measure

Transcript: Sharyl Attkisson Interviews Donald Trump @Full Measure

The following is the full transcript of President Donald Trump’s interview on Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, May 10, 2026.

Editor’s Notes: In this wide-ranging interview for Full Measure, host Sharyl Attkisson sits down for a one-on-one conversation with Donald Trump to discuss several pressing national and international issues. The discussion traverses diverse terrain, from the escalating tensions and conflict in Iran to the intricacies of the upcoming midterm elections. Trump also offers his perspective on the government’s investigation into the NFL, providing a candid look at his administration’s priorities and challenges. This investigative segment highlights Attkisson’s hallmark style of original and accountability-focused reporting.

INTRODUCTION

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Thank you for joining us on Full Measure.

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: First of all, we’re glad that you are safe and that your family’s safe after the latest attempt on your life. How are you and the family doing?

DONALD TRUMP: Very good. It was an interesting evening, but I felt very secure, and I think Secret Service did a very good job.

The Assassination Attempt and the Judge’s Apology

SHARYL ATTKISSON: The judge apologized to the suspect for the treatment that he’s gotten in jail.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I heard that, and then after watching that, they went back a couple of years, and he was very apologetic to another suspect who I didn’t even know about. But he was also— the same judge was very apologetic to somebody else having to do with a similar subject. And not even believable, actually.

Iran: Military Defeat and Nuclear Threat

SHARYL ATTKISSON: On Iran, would you say the war is over? Is it paused or is it very much active?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, they’re militarily defeated in their own minds. Maybe they don’t know that, but I think they do because I deal with them. And we cannot ever let Iran have a nuclear weapon. But they are militarily defeated. They have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft weaponry. They have no radar. They have no leaders. Their leaders are gone. The first set— the A-team is gone. The B-team is gone. And part of the C-team is gone.

But I think we’re dealing with people that have a certain power. It’s very interesting because they make a deal and then they break it. Then they make a deal, they break it. It’s a difficult group. But from a military standpoint, I mean, if we left today, it would take them 20 years to rebuild.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Where are we in the war if we’ve not yet gotten the nuclear materials, the enriched uranium from them?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’ll get that at some point, whatever we want. We have it surveilled. I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watching that every— if somebody walked in, they can tell you his name, his address, the number of his badge. No, we have that very well surveilled. If anybody got near the place, we will know about it and we’ll blow them up. We’ll blow them up.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: So is it accurate to say you think the combat operations are over and done, but they’re making—

DONALD TRUMP: No, I didn’t say that. I said they are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they’re done. We could go in for 2 more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted to— and we’ve done probably 70% of them. But we have other targets that we could conceivably hit. But even if we didn’t do that, that would just be final touches. Even if we didn’t do that, it would take them many years to rebuild.

Iran Nuclear Deal, Soleimani, and the B-2 Bomber Strike

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Few politicians, I think, would be prepared to take a political hit on something as important to so many Americans as oil and gas prices in the short term, even for something very important in the long term. The political and media climate, I don’t think they really allow for this sort of thing. They want immediate reactions and responses to things.

DONALD TRUMP: So I think it’s easy when I say it. And somebody like you says, answer that question and gives me a couple of seconds. It’s really easy to answer. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon because they’re crazy. We cannot let them have access to nuclear. Obama did it. If I didn’t terminate the Iran nuclear deal, they would have had it. And they would have used it on Israel and the Middle East right now. And maybe beyond. They actually had rockets that— you saw that the other day— that could reach Europe. They would have used it 100%. And by the way, not 50% or 80%— 100% they would have used it. They were dying to get it then.

So I took Barack Hussein Obama’s horrible Iran nuclear deal. I terminated it in my first term. Knocked out Soleimani. Very important. If you didn’t knock out Soleimani, I think it would have been a different country. He was more competent, but he was an evil genius. He was an evil guy. The roadside bombs, et cetera, killed many, many people. Maimed so many people. The legs, the arms, the face. So that was a big thing. I took him out.

And then— I don’t know, they’re all so important, if you think. I’m thinking which is the most. But when those beautiful B-2 bombers attacked 8 months ago and attacked there, a potential nuclear site— they would have had a nuclear weapon within 2 weeks if we didn’t. That’s why I had to go in. I knew that they were going to have a nuclear weapon. And we obliterated their— I call it the nuclear dust. There’s a lot of nuclear dust. But we obliterated the site at 1 o’clock in the morning with no moon. You couldn’t see a thing. And they went in stealth. They went in and they did their job. They dropped those bombs and they landed perfectly and it just obliterated.