Updated Jan. 13, 2026, 9:56 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump said his power in the United States is limited by his own “morality” but that it “goes without saying” he’s also restricted by the Constitution.
Trump made the remarks in a Jan. 13 interview with CBS Evening News when asked by anchor Tony Dokoupil about the limits of his authority domestically.
“It’s limited by my morality, and I have a very high grade of morality, so therefore it’s limited,” Trump said the 13-minute interview, which took place in Dearborn, Michigan before the president gave a speech on the economy.
Trump has asserted an expansive view of executive power during his first year back in the White House, signing hundreds of executive orders to overhaul federal policy, unilaterally gutting federal agencies and ignoring laws passed by Congress.
“Not the Constitution? Not the courts? That’s what I thought you were going to say,” Dokoupil responded.
“Well, the Constitution and courts. That goes without saying. But you’re asking me what really can stop. We’ll never get to the courts, we’ll never get to the Constitution because I want to see what’s good for our country,” Trump said.
Dokoupil, who began his role as the new anchor of CBS Evening News on Jan. 5, was following up on remarks Trump made last week to the New York Times when asked if there were any limits to his global powers.
“Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me,” Trump said on the heels of the United States’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and as Trump pushes the acquisition of Greenland from Denmark, among other foreign objectives.
Trump vows ‘very strong action’ if Iran protesters are executed
In his interview with CBS, Trump vowed his administration will take “very strong action” if the Iranian regime begins hanging anti-government protesters. Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, has reported that a 26-year-old man, Erfan Soltani, arrested in connection with protests, is set to be executed Jan. 14.
“If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action,” Trump said, without elaborating.
Earlier in the day, Trump encouraged Iranian protesters to continue the fight and promised that “help is on the way” as the nation’s largest protests in years have turned increasingly deadly.
‘I can’t help what it looks,’ Trump says of Powell investigation
Trump also addressed concerns from his supporters that he’s focused too much on Iran, Venezuela and elsewhere across the world rather than on economic concerns in the United States.
“My focus is very much on this country, but you can’t lose sight of the fact that we need peace all over the world,” Trump said in his interview with CBS.
Amid Americans’ cost-of-living concerns, Trump defended his economic record and claimed he inherited “a mess of inflation” from his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. “We have now the hottest country in the world. And a year and a half ago, our country was dead,” Trump said, telling Dokoupil that if Democratic nominee Kamala Harris had won “you wouldn’t have a job right now.”
Trump was also asked about the optics of “political retribution” after the Justice Department opened an investigation involving a renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings. Trump has criticized Powell repeatedly over the Fed not lowering interests rates.
“I can’t help what it looks,” Trump said, calling Powell “either corrupt or incompetent.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
