Donald Trump interview: Israel-Gaza conflict, EVs, and his Venezuela claims

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Former President Donald Trump is in the middle of two unprecedented legal battles as he also seeks a return to the office of President of the United States. 

With numerous polls showing the 45th President holding a slight edge over President Joe Biden, Trump offered up an exclusive chance for FOX 2 – to ask the questions Americans want to know.

The presumptive GOP Presidential nominee's camp gave us 15 minutes to talk about a range of topics – from the conflict in Gaza to electric vehicles to abortion. He even answered why his stance has changed – and whether he's following his convictions or the polls.

"No, I'm following my convictions. And what we're doing is with states rights, I also follow the law. And when you got it into the states, it's states' rights. It's the state that will decide. Now the state is deciding through votes, and the votes are going to be, in some cases tougher and in some cases very loose. I think Michigan's going to actually be very loose," Trump said.

Michigan voted to legalize abortion in November 2022.

The entire interview will be shown in its entirety this Thursday at 10:30 p.m. on Let it Rip on FOX 2.  You can stream it to your connected TV with the FOX LOCAL app, or at FOX2Detroit.com. You can also watch it in Metro Detroit on FOX 2.

Trump also spoke about the border crisis. The former President said current President Joe Biden is allowing criminals into the country, particularly from Venezuela.

"One stat before we go. Venezuela was very crime-ridden. They announced the other day 72% reduction in crime in the last year. You know why? They moved all their criminals from Venezuela right into the good old USA. And Biden let them do it. It's a disgrace," Trump said. 

"But sir, were those numbers coming from?" Raj asked.

"I guess I get them from the papers in this case, I think it's a federal statement or…well, they're coming actually from Venezuela. They're coming from Venezuela."

We promised to check on those claims – and WUFT, a public TV station in central Florida, checked Trump's similar claims earlier in April, saying they were down 67%. WUFT partnered with Politifact to check on his claims and found them to be false.

In the 15-minute-long interview – which you can watch Thursday at 10:30 p.m. on Let it Rip.