Trump targets Biden over pardons, downplays TikTok security concerns in 1st TV interview as US President

Donald Trump during his first television interview after taking oath as US President.

Donald Trump targeted his predecessor Joe Biden over his last-minute pardons in his first television interview since taking oath as US President on January 20. He also downplayed all concerns regarding the Chinese government using TikTok to 'spy young people'.

The 78-year-old leader spoke to Fox News on a wide range of issues including January his return to the White House, his predecessor Joe Biden's last-minute pardons, illegal immigration, US TikTok ban, January 6 Capitol rioters and FBI records on JFK assassination among others.

TikTok ban in US

The Republican President said he was aware of security concerns about the platform, which has an estimated 170 million US users, but thought they were blown out of proportion. Suggesting that the platform is not as great of a security threat as its critics make it sound, the Republican President said, "You're dealing with a lot of young people. So is that important for China to be ... spying like young people, young kids watching crazy videos".

The day he returned to the White House, Trump signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with a law that requires a sale or ban of the platform. The platform faced a ban in the US after it defied bipartisan legislation to cut ties with Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Trump told Fox News that any electronic device made in China, from telephones to computers, could also be used to spy on Americans. "You can say that about everything made in China. Look, we have our telephones made in China, for the most part. We have so many things made in China. So why don't they mention that? Aren't these bigger threats," he said.

Biden's last-minute pardons

Former President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter for gun as well as tax crimes, something he earlier promised not to do so. On his way out of the office, Biden also issued blanket pardons for his siblings - James and his wife Sara, his sister Valerie and her husband John Owens; and his brother Francis.

Taking a dig at Biden, Trump said, "This guy went around giving everybody pardons. He then went on to suggest that his predecessor made a mistake by not giving himself a get-out-of-jail-free card.

"The funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn't give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him," Trump said.

Return to Oval Office

The Republican President said it will be a lot of work for him reversing his Democratic rival's tenure and that many things should not have happened during the Biden years.

"We wouldn't have inflation, we wouldn't have had the Afghanistan disaster, we wouldn't have October 7 in Israel where so many people were killed and you wouldn't have a Ukraine war going on," Trump said.

Illegal immigration

The US President argued that the Biden administration engaged in "a gross miscarriage of common sense to allow people to come in".

"People pouring in ... Some of whom, I won't get into it, but you can look at them and you can say 'Could be trouble' … There are people coming in with tattoos all over their face. … typically, you know, he’s not going to be head of the local bank," he said.

"We're trying to get rid of them. We're trying to end them. And a lot of the people in those communities don't want them," Trump said.

US Capitol rioters

Just hours after his return to the White House on January 20, the US President pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of around 1,600 people charged with crimes in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riots.

"Most of the people were absolutely innocent, okay? Nobody's ever been treated so badly. They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for. They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged," Trump said defending his move.