Will take $1 as salary, no vacations, says US President-elect Donald Trump

New York: US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move aggressively on a conservative agenda in filling Supreme Court vacancies, cracking down on immigration and cutting taxes, but also sought to reassure worried Americans they have nothing to fear from his presidency.

Setting aside the strident tone of his campaign, the 70-year-old assumed a gentler manner in his first television interview since his shock election, saying he was “saddened” by reports of harassment of Muslims and Hispanics, and telling the perpetrators to “stop it”.

The interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, which aired in full on Sunday, offered Mr Trump an opportunity to reintroduce himself after an ugly, name-calling campaign and surprise victory that sparked protests in cities across the United States.

“I just don’t think they know me,” the billionaire real estate mogul said of the thousands of protesters who have massed in streets below his Trump Tower headquarters with signs that read “Not our President”.

Told that many Americans are scared of his presidency, Mr Trump said: “Don’t be afraid. We are going to bring our country back.”

Mr Trump had on Sunday named anti-establishment firebrand Steve Bannon his top strategist and senior Republican Reince Priebus his White House chief of staff, blending pragmatism with a rabble-rousing edge in the first appointments of his new administration.

On the issues, Mr Trump, however, made it clear he intends to aggressively push a right-wing agenda, pledging to name justices to the Supreme Court who are against abortion and for gun rights.

“The judges will be pro-life,” Mr Trump told CBS. “In terms of the whole gun situation,” he added, “they’re going to be very pro-Second Amendment.”

On immigration, Mr Trump reaffirmed his signature campaign pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico, although he conceded parts of it may be just a fence.

And he said as many as three million undocumented immigrants with criminal records would be deported or incarcerated.

“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers,” he said.

“We have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” he said.

There were some conciliatory notes as well.

He signalled that he would not seek to overturn the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the United States.

“It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done,” Mr Trump said when asked if he supports marriage equality. “And I’m, I’m fine with that,” he added.

He also confirmed he would forgo the $400,000 salary that comes with the office of US President.

“I’m not going to take the salary. I’m not taking it,” he said. “I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year,” he added.

In the 60 Minutes interview, Mr Trump made no promises to tone down his own rhetoric as President.

“I don’t want to be just a little nice monotone character,” he said.