The President's comments on the investigation, which the Attorney-General said is wrapping up soon, came in a wide-ranging interview with CBS News on Sunday. Loading Among the highlights of the interview, Trump said he was keeping another government shutdown on the table, he outlined disagreements with top intelligence officials, and he argued that keeping troops in Iraq was vital to watching Iran. He also used the interview to again attack former defence secretary Jim Mattis by falsely stating that he forced him to resign. Trump was asked if he would rule out a second partial shutdown when the government again runs out of money in 12 days' time.

"I don't take anything off the table," he said. "I don't like to take things off the table." Trump endured a political shellacking during the last 35-day shutdown, according to public polls, with his approval rating dropping below 40 per cent as he kept the government closed after Democrats refused to give him more than $US5 billion for a wall on the Mexican border. US President Donald Trump with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron. Trump says he wouldn't steer Barron towards American football, calling it "a dangerous sport." Credit:AP He again referenced declaring a national emergency to build the wall – an option that has drawn sharp resistance from Senate Republicans, and he criticised new Speaker Nancy Pelosi for being "very rigid." Pelosi has said she supports money for border security but won't give the President a dollar for a wall, his signature campaign promise.

"She doesn't mind human trafficking," he said, without offering any evidence for such the inflammatory and misleading claim. Much of the interview with host Margaret Brennan focused on foreign policy – one of the biggest areas of disagreement between Trump and Senate Republicans. Asked about dozens of members rebuking his foreign policy moves, he said that he ran against 17 Republicans in 2016 and won "very easily." US President Donald Trump. Credit:AP Trump intimated that the US government was close to a deal with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan and he said he wanted to keep troops in Iraq so he could "watch" Iran. "I think [the Taliban are] tired, and I think everybody's tired," he said in terms of ending the war in Afghanistan. "We got to get out of these endless wars and bring our folks back home."

He hedged on when troops would be pulled out of Syria, saying it would be in a "matter of time." Trump previously ordered an expedited removal of the 2000 troops in Syria, which led to the departure of Mattis. Loading Trump said the slower departure in Syria was due to a need to protect Israel, among other reasons. He repeatedly cited the costs of having troops all over the world as a reason to bring them home. Asked whether he was interested in striking Iran, the President said no. Trump revised history concerning the departure of Mattis, saying that he asked Mattis to resign in December.

"I told him to give me a letter," Trump said. "He resigned because I asked him to resign." At the time, White House and Defence Department officials said that Mattis, upset with Trump's impulsive moves on foreign policy, arrived at the White House with a letter rebuking the President and quit. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Trump praised Mattis on Twitter later that day and agreed to let him stay until the end of February. Days later, as coverage of the departure grew increasingly negative for Trump, he told Mattis to leave within a week. The President again publicly disputed the judgements of his intelligence chiefs, saying there was a "very good chance" he can make a deal with North Korea's Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear weapons. The pair will meet at a summit next month, which the President said was already scheduled.

Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats said last week on Capitol Hill that it is highly unlikely that the country would ever give up its nuclear weapons. The President struck a more buoyant tone, citing his personal abilities as a dealmaker. "I get along with him great. We have a fantastic chemistry," he said of the North Korean dictator. "We have had tremendous correspondence that some people have seen and can't believe it." He said the country could become an "economic powerhouse." US President Donald Trump used an interview on CBS News to falsely claim that he fired former defence secretary General James Mattis. Credit:Bloomberg "I'm in the real estate business. What a location," he said of North Korea. The President cited the failures of intelligence leading up to the Iraq War as a reason for being skeptical of intelligence officials, whom he called "naive" in a tweet last week, suggesting they "go back to school."

White House aides have long said the President is skeptical of intelligence officials who give him information that counters his beliefs. He usually receives intelligence briefings only three times a week in contrast to previous presidents who had received them almost daily. "I disagree with them," he said, when told again by Brennan that his intelligence chiefs say Iran is abiding by the terms of the nuclear deal. "I have intel people, but that doesn't mean I have to agree. President Bush had intel people that said Saddam Hussein ... had all sorts of weapons of mass destruction. Guess what? Those intel people didn't know what the hell they were doing." The President said he was perfectly OK having an acting Chief of Staff, acting Interior Secretary, acting Defence Secretary and acting Attorney-General, among other acting roles, in an administration known for its turnover. In some ways, the President said, he prefers it. "It's easier to make moves when they're acting," he said. "It gives me more flexibility." He poured cold water on the discussions Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was having about running for the Senate, telling Brennan that his favoured Cabinet member had given him assurances that he would not seek the seat in 2020.

Pompeo has said he has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, among others. Trump deemed that "fake news" but his interviewer corrected him to confirm that Pompeo had admitted it. Trump again called for the Mueller probe to end, labelling it a "political witch hunt." He defended his friend Roger Stone, calling him a "character" who was defending himself well, but the President declined to say whether he would consider a pardon for Stone. Asked about the 34 people Mueller's probe has indicted, the President falsely said none of the charges were related to him or collusion with Russia. In fact, Mueller's team has indicted a number of Trump campaign or administration officials for lying about their interactions with Russia. Trump said he rejected a meeting two months ago with embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, calling the unrest in the coutry "democracy in action". The Trump administration is pushing for Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader, to take over in Venezuela.

The interview, slated to air on Sunday just before the Super Bowl, also focused on the President's tense relationship with the NFL and race. Asked whether kneeling NFL players had a point about police brutality against black Americans, the President demurred and noted that he passed a criminal justice reform bill last year. "I think that when you want to protest, I think that's great. But I don't think you do it at the sake of our flag, at the sake of our national anthem," adding that NFL ratings were now "terrific". He claimed this was because players were not kneeling and the league was not battling him. Trump used a lower unemployment rate among black Americans as a defence against charges that he was not handling race relations well. However a CBS poll last week showed 63 per cent of Americans disapprove of the President's work on that front. Trump said he would discourage his son Barron from playing football, given the potential for head injuries. "And he actually plays a lot of soccer. He's liking soccer. And a lot of people, including me, thought soccer would probably never make it in this country, but it really is moving forward rapidly," he said.