President-elect Donald Trump discussed Melania’s plans during his second term in a sweeping interview with Time as he was named 2024 “Person of the Year.”
The magazine honored Trump with the esteemed title for the second time — the first was after his 2016 election win — Thursday. The president-elect sat down with a Time reporter to discuss his successful presidential campaign, his ambitions for his second term, and Melania’s plans to return to the White House.
While she appeared with Trump as he rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, the former first lady was notably absent from the campaign trail, so much so that at one point missing persons posters and banners asking “Where’s Melania?” cropped up. Her absence has sparked speculation over whether she wants to return to the White House this time around.
Multiple sources told CNN in November after Trump’s victory that Melania was unlikely to return to Washington, DC for his second term. But when Time asked whether Melania would be joining him in the White House, Trump offered a very different answer: “Oh yes.”
“She actually became very active towards the end, as you saw with interviews. And she does—she does them well. People really watch. She’s very beloved by the people, Melania. And they like the fact that she’s not out there in your face all the time for many reasons,” the president-elect continued.
“They really love her. Actually, in many ways, when I make speeches, we love our First Lady. They have signs [that read] ‘We love our First Lady,’” Trump said. “No, she’ll be–she’ll be active, when she needs to be, when she needs to be.”
The 78-year-old Republican also touched upon a number of hot-button issues, including abortion access, mass deportations, and transgender bathroom bans.
Trump’s messaging on abortion has been wishy-washy throughout his campaign, including flip-flopping on how he planned to vote on Florida’s abortion amendment leading up to the election.
When reproductive care came up in the Time interview, Trump’s answers were all over the map. When first asked about whether he would vow that his administration’s FDA would not take steps to limit access to abortion pills, he responded evasively: “Well, we’re going to take a look at all of that. That’s why I’m here. We’re going to take a look at all of that.”
Pressed further, Trump said that he was “against stopping it,” referring to the abortion pill. Asked to clarify whether he was “committed” to making sure that the FDA doesn’t strip the ability to access medication abortion, Trump replied: “That would be my commitment. Yeah, it’s always been my commitment.” Melania passionately defended abortion rights in her memoir, in direct contrast to several powerful members of the GOP.
Shifting gears, the president-elect was asked about his stance on whether transgender Americans should be allowed to access whichever bathrooms they choose.
The reporter cited a resurfaced clip from 2016, when Trump opposed North Carolina’s controversial “bathroom bill” and instead supported transgender Americans being allowed to “use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate.”
Asked if he still feels the same way eight years later, Trump said: “I don’t want to get into the bathroom issue.” He agreed with Delaware Senator-elect Sarah McBride — the first ever trans member of Congress — that there was an oversized focus on the issue, which he said affects “a small number of people.”
The interview also delved into one of Trump’s key campaign promises: mass deportations.
Last month, Trump suggested on Truth Social that he would use the military to assist in mass deportations. When Time asked about a law that limits the federal government’s ability to use military force for domestic policies, he doubled down on those plans.
The law “doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country, and I consider it an invasion of our country,” Trump said. He said he would call on the National Guard: “I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows.”
Asked whether there would be new camps to hold detained migrants, Trump replied: “Well, there might be. Whatever it takes to get them out. I don’t care. Honestly, whatever it takes to get them out.”
He also threatened “substantial” tariffs for countries who refused to “take back” their emigrants.
The president-elect also echoed one of his repeated threats on the campaign trail: shutting the Department of Education. “ We want to move the schools back to the states,” he told the magazine, which he said means: “A virtual closure of Department of Education in Washington.”
