The wide-ranging interview, held over two days at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, with a follow-up phone interview, was the cover story for the magazine titled "If He Wins."

The interview covers all of the big issues in the 2024 election, ranging from border security and immigration to economic policy, abortion, and foreign affairs.

President Trump also touched on the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach and the related court cases, as well as the legal issues he faces.

Immigration, Border Policy

In a transcript of the interview with TIME's national politics reporter Eric Cortellessa, President Trump said on day one of his second term he would take aggressive action over the illegal immigration crisis.

President Trump plans to initiate a vast deportation operation, citing unsustainable numbers of illegal immigrants, expressing a desire to replicate Dwight Eisenhower's mid-20th century mass deportations.

President Trump said he plans to do this by using local law enforcement as well as the National Guard when necessary.

"When we talk military, generally speaking, I talk National Guard," President Trump said, according to the transcript. "But if I thought things were getting out of control, I would have no problem using the military, per se. We have to have safety in our country. We have to have law and order in our country. And whichever gets us there, but I think the National Guard will do the job."

Regarding housing illegal immigrants in detention facilities or even expanding the nation's stock of detention facilities, he said it would likely not be necessary due to his policy of mass deportations but did not rule it out if needed.

If local police departments did not want to cooperate, President Trump said the best option to get them to comply would be to incentivize their cooperation.