Some persecuted him and also did great harm to America, the US president told 60 minutes
US President Donald Trump has said he cannot forgive enemies he accuses of persecuting him and harming the country, even if forgiveness were the condition for entering heaven.
During a ‘60 Minutes’ interview which aired on Sunday, correspondent Ross Douthat recalled Trump’s speech at the memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead in Utah in September 2025. Trump said at the time that he hated his opponents and did not want the best for them.
Douthat asked whether, standing before God’s judgment throne, Trump could forgive opponents such as former FBI Director James Comey and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if it would allow him to enter paradise.
Trump described the figures named as “extremely dishonest people, very bad people, very bad for our country.” When asked whether his answer was therefore no, he replied: “The answer is no. I want to be honest.”
“I do hate some of my enemies. I think they’ve been terrible. Look what they’ve put me through, the weaponization. I got indicted. I got impeached,” Trump said.
The president remained unmoved when Douthat questioned how someone with such a fortunate life could refuse forgiveness. “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will,” Trump replied.
Trump was impeached twice during his first presidency and subsequently faced several criminal prosecutions, which he has portrayed as politically motivated efforts to stop him from returning to power.
Pelosi led the House during both impeachment proceedings and has remained one of his fiercest critics. Trump has repeatedly branded Democratic opponents, including Pelosi, an “enemy from within.”
Comey, meanwhile, was a central figure in the debunked Russiagate hoax that claimed that Trump’s campaign had supposedly colluded with Moscow. He has also been charged with publicly calling for Trump’s assassination in a coded social media post.
Trump has accused the former FBI chief of trying to undermine his presidency and has branded him a “dirty cop.”
In the ‘60 minutes’ interview, Trump was also asked whether he expected to reach heaven. “I hope so. I don’t want to go to hell,” the president replied.
He expressed similar doubts last year, when a reporter aboard Air Force One asked whether brokering the Gaza ceasefire would help him get there.
“I think I’m not, maybe, heaven-bound,” Trump said with a chuckle, adding that “I don’t think there’s anything gonna get me in heaven. I really don’t.” He noted, however, that he had “made life a lot better for a lot of people.”
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