President Donald Trump said he would not forgive James Comey or Nancy Pelosi at heaven’s gates—even if refusing meant St Peter turned him away.
Trump, who has described himself as a “religious person,” was asked about forgiving his political opponents during an interview with 60 Minutes host Ross Douthat.
“You’re entering the next life, and all you have to do to enter paradise is feel love and forgiveness for James Comey, Nancy Pelosi—anyone you have expressed hate for over the years. Do you think you can do it?” Douthat asked, referring to the former FBI director and former House speaker.
Trump said the “easy answer” would be to claim he could forgive them, but acknowledged that he did not believe he could.
“I don’t think it’s an easy question,” Trump said. “I found them to be extremely dishonest people. Very bad people. Very bad for our country. I love our country far more than I can love people and people like that.”
Douthat pressed him further: “Is the answer no?”
“The answer is no. I want to be honest,” Trump replied. Douthat then asked whether that remained his answer “before the judgment throne of God.”
“Before the judgment,” Trump confirmed, adding: “I think they were very bad people, and I dislike—I can use the word hate—I do hate some of my enemies. I think they’ve been terrible. Look what they put me through, the weaponization—”
President Donald Trump said he would not forgive James Comey or Nancy Pelosi at heaven’s gates—even if it meant St Peter turned him away
Trump, who describes himself as a “religious person,” said Comey, left, and Pelosi, right, are “very bad people” and that he does not believe he could forgive them, adding: “I do hate some of my enemies”
Douthat interrupted, noting that Trump had enjoyed “the most charmed and remarkable life of any American in my entire lifetime.”
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“You are telling me that before the judgment throne of God, you couldn’t find it in your heart to forgive some of your enemies?” he asked. “After all that’s been given to you? Come on, help me out here.”
Trump acknowledged that the simplest way to end the exchange would be to say, “Yes, I can,” but argued that doing so would not be truthful.
“Can I be honest? I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will,” he said, his expression stern.
Trump has long criticized Comey over the former FBI director’s investigation into the president’s alleged ties to Russia during his first term. The probe did not uncover a connection between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has also repeatedly attacked Nancy Pelosi, who led two impeachment efforts against him during his first term, in 2019 and 2021.
Douthat then shifted the discussion, asking Trump how he wanted his presidency to be remembered in a single phrase.
“A hundred years from now, while you’re working out your situation in purgatory, what is the line that your presidency is remembered with?” he asked.
Earlier in the interview, 60 Minutes host Ross Douthat, pictured, asked Trump whether he thought he would go to heaven. The president replied: “I hope so. I don’t want to go to hell”
Trump offered a brief answer: “That I made America great again.”
Earlier in the interview, Douthat asked Trump whether he believed he would go to heaven. Trump replied: “I hope so. I don’t want to go to hell.”
“I’m a religious person, so, in theory, I go to heaven,” Trump added.