'It's a vicious group of people. It's very bad for our country,' the president says
President Trump says he is making inroads in taming Washington's permanent bureaucracy, which he likes to call the "deep state."
“What am I doing? I'm fighting the deep state,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson. “I'm fighting the swamp…If it keeps going the way it's going, I have a chance to break the deep state. It's a vicious group of people. It's very bad for our country.”
In the wide-ranging interview with Full Measure set to air Sunday, Trump also addressed the debate over whether religious services should remain closed. Calling them “essential services,” he says it’s time for them to open.
Sharyl Attkisson: There are churches and religious leaders, New Jersey, Chicago, California who have said they're going to defy if necessary, state orders and they're going to open back up. Should they do that?
President Trump: I think they're going to be in great shape. We're coming out with CDC probably today. In fact, right after this particular magnificent interview that you're doing… I'm going to be reading an order from CDC, but we're going to be requesting that they open. I think they're going to be calling it an essential service, and it is an essential service, and we want to get our churches back open…When you look at some of the things that they consider an essential service, but they don't consider religious freedom essential service. Now the ministers, the pastors, the rabbis, the anybody you want to say, the religious leaders, all religious leaders, they want to keep the people safe too. But when you see that they're arresting people and they're in parking lots in cars with windows, spas and the people are being arrested, it's a disgrace. Honestly, it's a...
