Trump says deportations were too tough, hands Miller the chief of staff job

Trump on Sunday called his own deportation push too harsh, telling CBS it may have cost Republicans at the polls. In his first major interview since his party lost the House and Senate, he said the policy was likely part of the reason voters turned away. Then he handed the keys back to the man who built it: Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration's hardline deportation policy, is now chief of staff.

Trump didn't hide the second-guessing. Asked about the crackdown, he said flatly, “I think it was too tough,” adding that plenty of people love it while plenty of others think it went too far. He also said he can cut a deal with Democrats in the new Congress. “The deal would be we would work something out,” he told CBS, calling it doable — without saying what it would actually contain.

He's not serious about the Dana White thing, apparently. “I was only kidding,” Trump told reporters about floating the UFC boss for White House press secretary, “but Dana loves the idea.” That came a day after Trump posted, “Dana, please take the job!” and called him a “violent fighter and warrior.” White, a longtime friend, stayed quiet, saying he'd “have more to talk about” after meeting Trump on Monday. The press secretary chair has been empty since Katie Zacharia left on October 16 after less than a week.

Next stop is an APEC leaders' summit in China next week, where Trump says he'll sit down with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Iran. “One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi,” he said before flying back to Washington from Florida, adding denuclearization to the agenda. Russia said in October the unprecedented three-way meeting was “being prepared.” A Wall Street Journal report says Putin wants the talks aimed at a peace deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine instead.

On Ukraine, Trump sounded optimistic. He told CBS, “I believe we're very close to making a deal” that would leave a “little bit different shape Ukraine,” and shared nothing else.