president-elect donald j. trump met on tuesday with journalists from the newsroom and opinion staff at the new york times. several reporters, news editors and opinion writers used twitter to report live on the interview with mr. trump. here are highlights of the significant answers mr. trump gave in the wide-ranging interview. many were tweeted by maggie haberman, a political reporter who covered mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign, and michael m. grynbaum, a media reporter for the times. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t want to hurt the clintons, i really don<u+2019>t,<u+201d> mr. trump said. <u+201c>she went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.<u+201d> he also said that it could be argued that the clinton foundation had done <u+201c>good work.<u+201d> as the times reported shortly after the election, <u+201c>mr. trump told mrs. clinton at the second presidential debate that if elected, he would instruct his attorney general <u+2018>to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there has never been so many lies, so much deception.<u+2019> <u+201d> his reversal has already provoked a backlash among some of his supporters, something he said tuesday he did not expect to happen. mr. trump was referring to james n. mattis, a retired marine corps general who headed united states central command, who is under consideration to head the department of defense. the times most recently covered general mattis on monday , noting that he <u+201c>oversaw military operations in the middle east and southwest asia from 2010 to 2013,<u+201d> but <u+201c>had his tour cut short by the obama administration, which believed he was too hawkish on iran.<u+201d> here are two times articles about the conference , which took place on saturday in washington. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not a group i want to energize, and if they are energized, i want to look into it and find out why,<u+201d> mr. trump said in the interview on tuesday. mr. trump<u+2019>s appointment of stephen k. bannon , a nationalist media mogul who is the former head of breitbart news, to a top white house position, had elicited fierce criticism. the times profiled mr. bannon when he was named to be mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign chief in august. asked by the op-ed columnist thomas l. friedman about whether he thought human activity was linked to climate change , mr. trump said : <u+201c>i think there is some connectivity. some, something. it depends on how much.<u+201d> but while acknowledging the connection, he said in response to questions about the warming climate that he was thinking about <u+201c>how much it will cost our companies.<u+201d> mr. trump<u+2019>s statements were a turn away from assertions that human-caused climate change was a <u+201c>hoax,<u+201d> something that he later claimed never to have said. mr. trump was acknowledging a recent meeting with the british politician nigel farage, in which, the times reported, he <u+201c>encouraged mr. farage and his entourage to oppose the kind of offshore wind farms that mr. trump believes will mar the pristine view from one of his two scottish golf courses.<u+201d> he was referring to senator kelly ayotte, a republican who was unseated by new hampshire<u+2019>s governor, maggie hassan, a democrat. ms. ayotte had turned against mr. trump late in the campaign, saying that she misspoke when she called him a role model. the <u+201c>heck<u+201d> he<u+2019>s referring to is representative joe heck, a republican who was defeated in nevada by catherine cortez masto, his democratic challenger. pressed about his business interests, mr. trump also said , <u+201c>in theory i could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly.<u+201d> as the times reported over the weekend , recent meetings that mr. trump has held have suggested that he may keep up his business ties. <u+201c>the law<u+2019>s totally on my side,<u+201d> mr. trump said . <u+201c>the president can<u+2019>t have a conflict of interest.<u+201d> <u+201c>he said very nice things after the meeting and i said very nice things about him,<u+201d> mr. trump said of president obama, adding that <u+201c>i think he<u+2019>s looking to do absolutely the right thing for the country in terms of transition.<u+201d> here<u+2019>s our article on the cordial 90-minute meeting in the oval office. ms. haberman was referring to jared kushner, mr. trump<u+2019>s son-in-law, who has been one of the president-elect<u+2019>s closest advisers. (peotus is an abbreviation for president-elect of the united states.) the times reported saturday that mr. kushner, an orthodox jew, <u+201c>has emerged as the closest thing to a steadying influence<u+201d> in mr. trump<u+2019>s circle. mr. kushner has arranged important meetings for mr. trump, including one with prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel, and has sought out the advice of foreign policy experts including henry kissinger. <u+201c>i would love to be the one who made peace with israel and the palestinians , that would be such a great achievement,<u+201d> mr. trump said. the final tweet is self-explanatory. get politics and washington news updates via facebook , twitter and in the morning briefing newsletter .
donald trump<u+2019>s new york times interview in 12 tweets
jonah engel bromwich