In Time interview, Trump declines to rule out emergency declaration; says he would 'attack back' if Democrats take the House; open to acquiring stakes in OpenAI, Anthropic

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One on Thursday (local time). [AP]
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One on Thursday (local time). [AP]

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With the Republican Party facing growing odds of losing the House to Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, President Donald Trump has signaled he has not ruled out declaring a state of emergency under the Insurrection Act before the vote.

In an interview conducted at the White House on Monday (local time) and published Thursday by Time magazine, Trump was asked whether he would rule out declaring a state of emergency ahead of the midterms absent widespread street violence. "I never rule anything out or rule anything in," he said. "We'll see what happens."

When asked whether he was referring to the Insurrection Act, Trump confirmed the reference. "I've never used it. I could use it," he said, adding that "a lot of people think I should use it sometimes."

The "lot of people" Trump referenced appeared to be a nod to his hardline base. Steve Bannon, the right-wing commentator who served as chief strategist in Trump's first term, predicted in July that Trump would declare a state of emergency under the pretext of protecting election integrity.

Trump has hinted at the possibility of an emergency declaration before.

In an interview with right-wing outlet Real America's Voice published Aug. 11, he was asked whether he would be willing to declare a national security emergency over the elections. "Let me just say this: stranger things have happened in this world," he said. "I'll leave it at that."

Trump said, however, that he had "never thought about" deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at polling stations during the midterms.

On the Republican Party's dim midterm outlook, Trump struck an optimistic tone. "If I campaign, it'll be fine," he said. "I think we're going to do well."

He warned, however, that if Democrats were to take control of the House, "they'll probably attack me, and I'll attack them back."

Asked whether he would issue preemptive pardons to members of his administration before his term ends, Trump said, "Of course I will," adding, "Sleepy Joe Biden pardoned everybody."

On AI and concerns about existential risk, Trump said he would not "get rid of something based on a false threat," again dismissing industry warnings about AI as a hoax akin to global warming.

He noted that he had dined Thursday (local time) with Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, and his wife — Amodei has called for slowing AI development over existential-risk concerns. "We talked about his views, and I thought he was very different from the way he's portrayed in the press," Trump said.

Asked whether his administration might acquire stakes in OpenAI or Anthropic, as it has done with Intel, Trump said, "Could be. Probably could do that. I've done a lot of deals like that."

On the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates at its September FOMC meeting, Trump said it was "really too bad," while stopping short of directly criticizing Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, whom he appointed. He said the Fed "shouldn't do that" regarding signals of further rate hikes this year.

Trump said Warsh was "somewhat controlled by the board," adding that "there are a lot of people on the board who want to see our country fail." He pointed to board members appointed by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as former Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump has criticized as "too late."

Turning to the Supreme Court, Trump said its rulings against his tariff policies and birthright citizenship restrictions were "unfortunate — not for me, but for our country." He also said the three liberal justices appointed by Democratic presidents "stick together like glue and never change their position — there's something to admire about that, and that's loyalty," before adding that he had given the conservative justices lifetime appointments "and what they've done is unfortunate."


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