11 Crucial Things We Learned From Donald Trump's Interview With Michael Gove

The president-elect has given an interview to Michael Gove for The Times – here's what you need to know.

1. Donald Trump backs the idea of a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK.

Toby Melville / Reuters

"I think Brexit is going to end up being a great thing," declared Trump, before talking in general terms about his enthusiasm for a new trade deal with Britain, in comments that will delight Theresa May.

“I’m a big fan of the UK, we’re gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly," he added. "Good for both sides.... we’ll have a meeting right after I get into the White House and it’ll be, I think we’re gonna get something done very quickly."

2. Theresa May sent Trump a Christmas present.

Trump happily showed Gove a private letter he had received from Theresa May, in which she included a copy of Winston Churchill's 1941 speech to the American people.

"The sentiment he expressed — of a sense of unity and fraternal association between the United Kingdom and United States — is just as true today as it has ever been," she wrote in the letter, which she probably did not expect to be released to the wider world.

Downing Street told BuzzFeed News they did not see it as a breach of protocol since "often when you are delighted to receive a gift, you tell people about it". However, there was no reciprocal gift.

3. Trump is looking forward to coming to the UK and visiting the Queen.

Pool / Reuters

Trump is very excited by the prospect of coming to the UK, although Downing Street has yet to confirm any potential official visit.

"My mother was very ceremonial, I think that’s where I got this aspect because my father was very brick-and-mortar, he was like, and my mother sort of had a flair, she loved the Queen, she loved anything — she was so proud of the Queen," said Trump. "She loved the ceremonial and the beauty, cause nobody does that like the English. And she had great respect for the Queen, liked her."

4. Trump feels both German and Scottish.

The discussion with Trump was a joint interview involving Michael Gove for The Times and Kai Diekmann of the German tabloid Bild.

Trump has ancestors from both Scotland and Germany. Keen to please, Trump said he liked Germany because "I like order and I like strength." He said he liked the Scottish because they "are known for watching their pennies" before slightly confusingly adding, "I deal in big pennies, that’s the problem."

5. Sometimes he loses his train of thought completely.

Halfway through a discussion on Angela Merkel's immigration policy, via questions about the invasion of Iraq, Trump started discussing a classified document:

"I looked at something, uh, I’m not allowed to show you because it’s classified – but, I just looked at Afghanistan and you look at the Taliban – and you take a look at every, every year it's more, more, more, you know they have the different colours – and you say, you know – what’s going on?"

6. He's dismissive of NATO.

Agencja Gazeta / Reuters

NATO – the multinational military alliance originally formed in opposition to the Soviet Union – has played a core role in US foreign and military policy since World War II. This month the US military has been conducting NATO exercises in eastern Europe, seen as a defiant stand against Russia.

Trump, however, said the organisation is "obsolete, because it was, you know, designed many, many years ago" and doesn't sufficiently deal with terrorism.

He's also unhappy with the level of funding the organisation requires: "...we’re supposed to protect countries but a lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States."

Then there was a sudden about-turn: "With that being said, NATO is very important to me."

7. Trump is willing to end sanctions on Russia.

The US and the EU imposed economic sanctions on Russia and key Russian individuals in 2014, following the invasion of parts of Ukraine. Trump now sees a way out of this and believes "people have to get together and people have to do what they have to do in terms of being fair".

Trump now suggests it's time to "see if we can make some good deals with Russia", such as lifting economic restrictions in return for Russia reducing its nuclear weapons stockpile.

8. He thinks Merkel made a "catastrophic mistake" by allowing large numbers of refugees to come to Germany.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

"I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all of these illegals, you know, taking all of the people from wherever they come from," he said, incorrectly describing many of the refugees taken in by Germany as "illegals".

He would not be drawn on whether he trusted Merkel more than he trusts Russia's Vladimir Putin: "Well, I start off trusting both — but let’s see how long that lasts. It may not last long at all."

9. He wants his son-in-law to secure peace in the Middle East.

Trump said his 36-year-old property developer son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is set to be a top aide, will be tasked with establishing peace in the Middle East.

"Jared is such a good kid and he’ll make a deal with Israel that no one else can — ya know he’s a natural, he’s a great deal, he’s a natural — ya know what I was talking about, natural — he’s a natural deal-maker — everyone likes him."

However, he wouldn't commit to a campaign promise of symbolically moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

10. He dismisses the unverified dossier, published by BuzzFeed News, of allegations made by intelligence operatives.

Trump said the dossier, collected by Western intelligence agencies working for his political opponents, is "fake news".

Regarding certain specific allegations involving a Moscow hotel room, he said: "I left, I wasn’t even there... I was there for the Miss Universe contest, got up, got my stuff and I left — I wasn’t even there.

"I don’t even want to shake hands with people now I hear about this stuff — ugh."

11. He sometimes dictates his tweets.

Trump's obsessive use of Twitter has come under scrutiny but he said he intends to keep using it.

He described how the media can't stop reporting his comments: "I can go bing bing bing and I just keep going and they put it on and as soon as I tweet it out — this morning on television, Fox — 'Donald Trump, we have breaking news.'"

He implied that he usually tweets himself ("I have numerous, I have numerous — I have iPhones") but he sometimes relies on staff: "I have one or two people that do during the day, I’ll just dictate something and they’ll type it in."

"Ya know, it’s funny, if I did a press release and if I put it out, it wouldn’t get nearly — people would see it the following day — if I do a news conference, that’s a lot of work."