From WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Monday, January 12th.

President Trump gave a long interview to four New York Times reporters. Maybe you heard that.

It was recorded. The 30 seconds of the interview

making the most news are this clip. Now think about the aggressive actions the president is taking

right now in Latin America and maybe Greenland, maybe Iran, not to mention Minnesota. As you

listen to this exchange begun by our guest, New York Times

White House correspondent Katie Rogers.

Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage?

Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?

Yeah, there's one thing.

My own morality, my own mind.

It's the only thing that can stop.

Not international law. I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people.

Do you feel your administration needs to abide by international law on the global stage?

Yeah, I do. I do. But it depends what your definition of international laws.

President Trump with four New York Times reporters saying the only thing that can stop him is his own

morality, his own mind, and that's a good thing. The reporter who began that line of questioning

joins us now. It is Katie Rogers, White House correspondent for the Times. She's also author of the book, American Woman, The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden. Katie, thanks for coming on with us. Welcome to WNYC. Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. Before we get to that clip, why do you think the president gave a two-hour

interview to a team of New York Times reporters? He generally expresses a lot of disdain for the times

and gets his message out far and wide through social media and Fox and right-wing influencers,

etc. So why do you think he even did this? That is a great question. And it's,

it's interesting, right? You know, I think you know about Trump's biography. A lot of us do.

...