60 Minutes - 11/02/2025: President Trump, Officially Amazing

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Correspondent Norah O’Donnell speaks with President Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. for an exclusive interview with 60 MINUTES. Nearly one year into his second term, Mr. Trump discusses wide-ranging issues including U.S.-China relations, Venezuela, Israel, the government shutdown, immigration, the National Guard and more. With over 150 million copies sold in 40 languages, Guinness World Records ranks among the best-selling books in history. Inside its pages lie the fantastic, the absurd, and the astonishing record breakers. Correspondent Cecilia Vega takes us behind the scenes of these unbelievable-sounding spectacles to reveal a rigorous auditing system—one that proves that, as impossible as the feats may seem, every one is real. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah.

Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. It's been five years since President Trump appeared for an interview on 60 minutes, so we had a lot of questions. you doing as president to end the shutdown?

Tonight, he answers them. Americans have been watching videos of ICE, tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far? No, I think they haven't gone far enough. Whether it's this attempt at the biggest pizza party ever,

or trying to eat an airplane, there's a method to the of getting into Guinness World Records. It's as many as 95% of submissions get rejected. We do validate people that do things that others might seem about a bit weird, like eating aircraft and stuff. Do you not see that as weird? I see it as really interesting. I'm Leslie Stahl.

I'm Scott Pelley. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Sharon Alphonsey. I'm Cecilia Vega. I'm Nora O'Donnell. I'm John Wertheim. Those stories, and in our last minute,

we reveal one of the best sources for our investigations, tonight on 60 Minutes. Get no frills, delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for 250 a month. Learn more at p.cexpress. It's been five years since President Trump appeared for an interview on 60 Minutes.

A lot has happened since then, not least of which was his political comeback and triumphant return to the White House. On Friday, hours after he touched down from his whirlwind trip to Asia, Mr. Trump agreed to sit down with us for a wide-ranging conversation. It was exactly one year to the day since he sued Paramount. the parent company of CBS, alleging that 60 Minutes had deceptively edited an interview with his opponent, Kamala Harris. Paramount settled that lawsuit. The settlement did not include an apology or admission of wrongdoing. In our nearly 90-minute conversation this past week, we spoke with Mr. Trump about the country and the world. We met with the president at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, on the 31st day of the government shutdown. We are now approaching the longest shutdown in American history.

Democrats' fault. Under your presidency, we're talking about more than a million federal workers who are not getting a paycheck, including our air traffic controllers. You see there's traffic snarls out at the airports now. This weekend, food aid for more than 42 million Americans is set to expire. What are you doing as president to end the shutdown? All we're doing is we keep voting. the Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and the Democrats keep voting against ending it.

You know, they've never had this. This has happened like 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for an extension, always saying, give us an extension, we'll work it out. They've lost their way. They've become crazed lunatics. And all they have to do, Nora, is say, let's vote. Senate Democrats say they will vote to reopen the government if Republicans agree to extend subsidies for over 20 million Americans who use Obamacare for their health insurance. Obama care is terrible. It's bad health care at far too high a price. We should fix that. We should fix it. And we can fix it with the Democrats. All they have to do is let the country open and we'll fix it. But ending the government shutdown.

And I'll sit down with the Democrats and we'll fix it. But they have to let the country. And you know what they have to do? All they have to do is raise five hands. We don't need All of them. But so you're saying your plan is to tell the Democrats to vote to end the shutdown. Correct. Very simple. And that you will put forward a health care plan? No.

We will work on fixing the bad health care that we have right now. We have terrible health care at too expensive for the people, not for the government for the people. But Mr. President, with all due respect, you've been talking about fixing the health care insurance been since 2015. But since 2015, you've said you'd fix it. I've been talking about it for a long time. We almost did it.

We were one vote short. We would have had great health care. That was in 2017 when Senate Republicans failed by one vote to partially repeal Obamacare. We can make it much less expensive for people and give them much better health care. And I'd be willing to work with the Democrats on it. The problem is they want to give money to prisoners,

to drug dealers, to all these millions of people that were allowed to come in with an open border from Biden, and nobody can do that. Now, one Republican would ever do that. My understanding is, if those health care subsidies are not extended, premiums will double for many of the people that are on it. And I was looking into it. Three quarters of these people will see their health care premiums double.

Live in states where you won in the last election. I mean, even here in Florida has the highest number of residents on Obamacare in the country. And I'm saying we can fix it, Nora. You have helped end these government shutdowns in the past when they came about, and you did it I'm very good at it, but I'm not going to do it by, I'm not going to do it by extortion. I'm not going to do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way. There's something wrong with these people. So then what happens on November 15th when the troops don't get a paycheck?

Schumer is a basket case and he has nothing to lose. He's become, I just left Japan, he's become a kamikaze pilot. Sounds like it's not going to get solved, the shutdown. It's going to get solved, yeah. Oh, it's going to get solved. How? We'll get itself. Eventually they're going to have to vote.

You're saying the. Democrats will capitulate? I think they have to. And if they don't vote, that's their problem. Now, I happen to agree with something else. I think we should do the nuclear option. This is a totally different nuclear, by the way. It's called ending the filibuster.

But to do that, he'd need Senate Majority Leader John Thune to change Senate rules. Did you see John Thune said today they're not going to do that? Well, John and a few others. But you know what? The Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do it. exactly what we want. We're not going to lose power. The theory is, oh, then we'll do it,

but then when they get into power someday, they'll do it. That's true. But you know what? So you think John did? We're here right now. No, I like John Thorne. I think he's terrific. But I disagree with him on this point. He said today he wasn't going to do it. Well, that's too bad. So far, the shutdown hasn't spooked the stock market, which hit record highs this past week. Perfect timing for your show. Just hit an all-time high. We're doing really well. Can I ask you, Mr. President, on that point, though, when the stock market is doing well, that doesn't affect everybody, not everybody's invested in the stock market, but there have been

grocery prices are up. No, 401Ks, people of 401ks, their 401ks are double what they were a year ago. But for people that don't have 401ks or not invested in the stock market, they've seen their grocery prices go up, inflation. No, you're wrong. They went up under Biden. Right now, they're going down, other than beef, which we're working on, which we can sell very quickly.

On the economy, the signature part of your economic plan is tariffs. The Supreme Court is going to hear arguments this week on whether you have the authority to impose these sweeping tariffs without congressional approval. The lower courts have ruled against you. That's why it's in the Supreme Court right now. Very close rulings, yeah. What happens to your economic plan if the Supreme Court invalidates your tariffs? I think our country would be immeasurably hurt.

I think our economy will go to hell. Look, because of tariffs, we have the highest stock market we've ever had. Because of tariffs, 401Ks at the highest level, and this is millions and millions of people that we've ever had, 401Ks. I think it's the most important subject discussed by the Supreme Court in 100 years. I know your time is limited, so I do want to make sure I get through more of these topics. Immigration. You campaigned on immigration.

You largely won the election on a promise to close the border. And you've succeeded on that. Illegal crossings at the southern border are at a 55-year low. More recently, Americans have been watching videos of ICE, tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows.

Have some of these raids gone too far? No, I think they haven't gone far enough, because we've been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama. You're okay with those tactics. Yeah, because you have to get the people out. You know, you have to look at the people.

Many of them are murderers. Many of them are people that were thrown out of their countries because they were, you know, criminals. Well, you promised in your campaign that you were going to deport the worst of the worst. Violent criminals. Oh, we're doing that. Well, that's what we're doing. But a lot of the people that your administration has arrested and deported aren't violent criminals.

Landscapers, nannies, construction workers, farm workers. No, look, look. family of U.S. service members? I need landscapers and I need farmers more than anybody, okay? Is it your intent to deport people who do not have a criminal record? We have to start off with a policy, and the policy has to be you came into the country illegally, you're going to go out. However, you've also seen, you're going to go out, we're going to work with you, and

you're going to come back into our country legally. When will you declare mission accomplished on immigration? Well, it takes a long time because, you know, probably I say 25 million. were led into our country. A lot of people say it was 10 million people, but whether it was 10 or I believe I'm much closer to the right number. Of the 25, many of them should not be here. But we're cleaning up our cities. You know, I campaigned on crime, but I've done a much better job in crime than I thought, you know, the crime numbers are way down, even though we have a lot more people in our country that really shouldn't be here, and many of them are stone, cold, hard

criminals. The president has ordered the National Guard to five cities, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Portland, Chicago, and Memphis. This past Tuesday, while speaking to American troops in Japan, you talked about U.S. cities that are having trouble with crime. And you said, if we need more than the National Guard, we'll send more than the National Guard. What does that mean, send more than the National Guard? Well, have you had to send in the Army, or if you had to send in the Marines, I'd do that

in a heartbeat. You know, you have a thing called the Insurrection Act. You know that, right? Do you know that I could use that immediately, and no judge can even challenge you on that, but I haven't chosen to do it because I haven't felt we need it. So you're going to send the military into American cities? Well, if I wanted to, I could, if I wanted to use the Insurrection Act. The Insurrection Act has been used routinely by presidents, and if I needed it, that would

mean I could bring in the Army, the Marines, I could bring in whoever I want, but I haven't chosen to use it. I hope you give me credit for that. I want to ask you about another matter. James Comey, John Bolton, Letitia James were all recently indicted. There's a pattern to these names. They're all public figures who have publicly denounced you. Is it political retribution?

You know who got indicted? The man you're looking at. I got indicted. And I was innocent. And here I am, because I was able to beat all of the nonsense that was thrown at me. And yet, when you go after a dirty cop like Comey or a guy like Like Bolton, who I hear has, I don't know anything about it. I hear he took records all over the place. Who knows?

Letitia James is a terrible, dishonest person, in my opinion. Did you instruct the Department of Justice to go after that? Not in any way, shape, or form. No, you don't have to instruct them because they were so dirty, they were so crooked, they were so corrupt, that the honest people we have, Pam Bondi's doing a very good job, Cash Patel is doing a very good job. The honest people that we have go after them automatically. But in a true social post from September addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi, President Trump endorsed the idea that former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were, quote, guilty as hell, and wrote, quote, justice must be served now. Five days later, James Comey was indicted. He pled not guilty, and so did Leticia James and President Trump's former national security advisor, John Bolton.

Is this retribution on your part? No, it's the opposite. I think I've been very mild-mannered. You're looking at a man who was indicted many times, and I had to beat the rap. Otherwise, I couldn't have run for president. They tried to get me not to run for president by going after me and by indicting me. So far this year, the president has pardoned or shortened the sentences of more than 1,600 people. The latest pardon was for a cryptocurrency tycoon, who is known as CZ.

The company CZ founded, Binance, helped boost the profile of the Trump family's crypto firm, World Liberty Financial. He pled guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money laundering laws. The government at the time said that CZ had caused significant harm to U.S. national security, essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around. Why did you pardon him? Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that, and I heard it was a Biden witch hunt. In 2025, his crypto exchange finance helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of World Liberty Financial's staple coin.

And then you pardoned CZ. How do you address the appearance of pay for play? Well, here's the thing. I know nothing about it because I'm too busy doing the other. But he got a part? But he got a part? No, I can only tell you this. My sons are into it.

I'm glad they are because it's probably a great industry, crypto. I think it's good. You know, they're running a business. They're not in government. World Liberty Financial has denied any involvement in the pardon. With state and local elections coming up Tuesday, we asked the president about the highly anticipated mayoral race that includes former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, and Zoran Mondani.

Zorhan Mondani, 34-year-old Democratic Socialist. He's the program. Communists, not socialist, communist. He's far worse than a socialist. Some people have compared him to a left-wing version of you, charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that? Well, I think I'm a much better looking person than him, right?

What if Mondami becomes mayor? It's going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there. So I don't know that he's one. And I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I'm going to pick that bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.

When we return, the surprise announcement President Trump made about testing nuclear weapons. This episode is brought to you by Square. You're not just running a restaurant. You're building. building something big, and Squares there for all of it, giving your customers more ways to order, whether that's in-person with Square kiosk or online, instant access to your sales, plus the funding you need to go even bigger, and real-time insights so you know what's working, what's not, and what's next.

Because when you're doing big things, your tools should to. Visit square.ca to get started. When we sat down with President Trump on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, he had just returned from a high-stakes meeting with China's President Xi Jinping, which culminated with a temporary truce in the trade war between the two countries. But before the meeting even began, Mr. Trump made news, as he often does, with a social media post. Less than an hour before your meeting with President Xi, you posted on social media that you instructed the, quote, Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons immediately. What did you mean? Well, we have more nuclear weapons than any other country. I think we should do something about denuclearization.

And I did actually discuss that with both President Putin and President Xi. We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times. Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot. They have some, they have quite a bit. So why do we need to test our nuclear weapons? Well, because you have to see how they work. You know, you do have to. And the reason I'm saying testing is because Russia announced that they were going to be doing a test.

If you notice, North Korea is testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We're the only country that doesn't test. And I want to be, I don't want to be the only country that doesn't test. Are you saying that after more than 30 years, the United States is going to start detonating nuclear weapons for testing? I'm saying that we're going to test nuclear weapons, like other countries. weapons, like other countries do, yes. But the only country that's testing nuclear weapons is North Korea.

China and Russia. No, no. Russia's testing nuclear weapons. So my understanding... And China's testing them too. You just don't know about it. That would be certainly very newsworthy. My understanding is what Russia did recently was test essentially the delivery systems for nuclear weapons,

essentially missiles, which we can do that, but not with nuclear weapons. Russia's testing and China's testing, but they don't talk about it. You know, we're a open society. We're different. We talk about it. have to talk about it because otherwise you people are going to report. They don't have reporters that are going to be writing about it. We do. However, this week, the president's own nominee to lead Strathcom, the admiral who would be in charge of nuclear weapons, was asked

about this very issue on Capitol Hill. He said neither China nor Russia were conducting nuclear explosive tests. One potential flashpoint with China, probably the potential flashpoint with China in the coming years is over the issue of Taiwan. The Chinese military is encroaching on Taiwan's sea lanes, it's airspace, it's cyberspace. I know you have said that Xi Jinping wouldn't dare move militarily on Taiwan while you're in office. But what if he does? Would you order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan? You'll find out if it happens. And he understands the answer to that. Why not say it? This never even came up yesterday as a subject. He never brought it up. People were a little surprised at that he never brought it up

because he understands it, and he understands it very well. Do you mind if I ask when you say he understands, why not communicate that publicly to the rest of us? Well, because I don't want to give away. I can't give away my secrets. I don't want to be one of these guys that tells you exactly what's going to happen if something happens. The other side knows, but I'm not somebody that tells you everything

because you're asking me a question, but they understand what's going to happen. And he is openly said, and his people have openly said, said at meetings, we would never do anything while President Trump is president because they know the consequences. At the top of the agenda for President Trump and President Xi was a one-year trade deal that, for now, averts the escalating tension between the two economic superpowers. We've already agreed to a lot of things.

Mr. Trump told us that in exchange for lower tariffs, China agreed to sell the U.S. its valuable rare earth minerals and to resume buying American agricultural products. This trade war, though, was hurting Americans. I mean, our soybean farmers, China had stopped buying the soybeans. China was withholding these rare earth materials that you need for everything from smartphones to build submarines. What was the crucial thing? I mean, how tough of a negotiators. It was a temporary hurt. It was a hurt because I was taking in a lot of money from China. We were doing very well against China. And all of a sudden, they said, you know, we have to fight back.

And so they use their powers. The power they have is rare earth because of the fact that they've been accumulating it and really taking care of it for a period of 25, 30 years. Other countries haven't. They used that against us. And we used other things against them.

For instance, airplane parts. That's a big deal. They have hundreds of Boeing airplanes. We wouldn't give them parts. We were both acting maybe a little bit irrationally. But the big thing we had was tariff ultimately. I said, look, if you don't open up, then what we're going to do is we're going to oppose a hundred percent tariff over and above what you're already paying.

Mr. President, you just negotiated this one-year trade deal with China. But as you know, the Chinese, they think in a hundred years, they play the long game, including on our own soil. We play the long game, too. Our own intelligence agencies say the Chinese have infiltrated parts of the American power grid and their water systems. They steal American intellectual property and Americans' personal information. They bought American farmland.

How big of a threat is China? It's like everybody else. We're a threat to them, too. Many of the things that you say, we do to them. Look, this is a very competitive world, especially when it comes to China and the U.S., and we're always watching them, and they're always watching us. In the meantime, I think we get along very well, and I think we can be bigger, better, and stronger by working with them.

as opposed to just knocking them out. Who's tougher to deal with Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping? Both tough, both smart, both, look, they're both very strong leaders. These are people not to be toyed with. These are people you have to take very serious. They're not walking in saying, oh, isn't it a beautiful day? Look how beautiful. The sun is shining.

It's so nice. These are serious people. These are people that are tough, smart leaders. And on that note, you talk about Ukraine. In August, I mean, you rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin in Alaska, but there's been... Well, I roll out the red carpet for everybody. But there's been no ceasefire. Is he ignoring you?

Because I inherited a country where he thinks he's winning. That was a war that would have never happened if I was president. So why won't Putin end this war? But Nora, that was Joe Biden's war, not my war. I inherited that stupid war. As the bloodiest land war in Europe, since World War II continues. But I brought, I mean, just a little list of, look at this, wars.

President Trump wanted to make sure we saw the list of eight international conflicts. He says he's been able to end since returning to office. And you have branded yourself the peace president. Well, I think I did pretty good. I solved, those are eight of the nine wars I solved. You know how I solved them? I said, in many cases, in 60 percent, I said, if you don't stop fighting, I'm putting tariffs on both of your countries,

and you're not going to be able to do business with the United States. So why isn't that working with Putin? It is working with Putin, I think. I did different with him, because we don't do very much business with Russia, for one thing. You know, he's not like somebody that buys a lot from us because of foolishness. And I think he'd like to be.

I think he wants to come in, and he wants to trade with us, and he wants to make a lot of money for Russia, and I think that's great. The Commander-in-Chief has directed the U.S. military to destroy at least nine vessels in the waters off Venezuela, killing more than three dozen alleged drug smugglers. U.S. lawmakers, including at least four Republicans, have questioned the strike's legality. In the meantime, F-35 fighter jets, roughly 10,000 U.S. service members, and multiple warships are in the Caribbean. And now the USS Gerald

Ford, that is the world's largest aircraft carrier on the way to the Caribbean, are we going to war against Venezuela. I doubt it. I don't think so, but they've been treating us very badly, not only in drugs. They've dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country that we didn't want. People from prisons, they emptied their prisons into our country. They also, if you take a look, they emptied their mental institutions and their insane asylum into the United States of America,

because Joe Biden was the worst president in the history of our country. But I just want to talk about the scale of the military operation around Venezuela because it has been described as 60 minutes as using a blow torch to cook an egg. Is this about stopping- Well, I don't think so, look. Is it about, let me ask you though, is it about stopping narcotics or is this about getting rid of President Maduro? No, this is about many things.

This is a country that allowed their prisons to be emptied into our country. To me, that would be almost number one because we have other countries- Look, Mexico has been very bad to us in terms of drugs, okay? Very bad. have a closed border right now. You probably notice that for five months in a row, they have zero, think of this, zero people coming into our country through our southern border. On Venezuela in particular, are Maduro's days as president numbered? I would say, yeah, I think so, yeah. And this issue of potential land strikes in Venezuela, is that true? I don't tell you that. I mean,

I'm not saying it's true or untrue, but I, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be inclined to say that I would do that, but because I don't talk to a reporter about whether or not I'm going to strike. Let's talk about Israel. You got the remaining Israeli hostages out of Gaza. You arranged a ceasefire, however fragile that may be. Those are major... It's not fragile.

It's very solid, you know. I mean, you hear about Hamas, but Hamas could be taken out immediately if they don't behave. They know that. If they don't behave, they're going to be taken out immediately. How do you get Hamas to disarm? If I want them to disarm, I'll get them to disarm very quickly. They'll be eliminated.

They know that. Don't forget, you said I got the remaining hostages. I got all the hostages out. But I always said the last 10 or 20 are going to be tough. You pushed the Israeli prime minister to make this deal, to get a ceasefire, to apologize to Qatar. Can you push Bibi Netanyahu to recognize a Palestinian state? Yeah, he's fine.

He's fine. Look, he's a wartime prime minister. I worked very well with him. Yeah, I mean, I had to push him a little bit one way or the other. I think I did a great job in pushing. He's a very talented guy. He's a guy that's never been pushed before, actually. That's the kind of person you needed in Israel at the time.

It was very important. I don't think they treat him very well. He's under trial for some things, and I don't think they treat him very well. I think we'll be involved in that to help him out a little bit, because I think it's very unfair. I did. I pushed him. I didn't like certain things that he did, and you saw what I did about that. I also stopped. You know, we knocked the hell out of Iran, and then it was time to stop, and we stopped.

President Trump told us he expects to expand the Abraham Accords. The historic agreement struck during Mr. Trump's first term, the normalized relations between Israel and some Arab states. I wanted to ask you about the crown prince of Saudi Arabia is coming to the White House this month. He has said they won't join the Abraham Accords without a two-state solution. Do you believe that? No, I think he's going to join. I think we will have a solution.

I don't know if it's going to be two-state. That's going to be up to Israel and other people and me. But look, the main thing is you could have never had any kind of a deal if you had a nuclear Iran. And you essentially had a nuclear Iran. And I blasted the hell out of him. And no president is one to do that. Are you convinced they have no nuclear capability right now?

Do you want to know? They have no nuclear capability now. Do you want to know that the pilots, I invited them to the White House because they were very brave. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to do it, you know, get in a plane, and they know you're coming, and you're going right into Iran airspace, and, you know, they're very experts, and you're flying in with machines. Personally, I can think of other things I'd rather do. These are very brave people. I mean, they're real American heroes. And they told me something I didn't know.

They said, sir, for 22 years, we've been practicing this route. Three times a year, every year, for 22 years, and you were the only president that led us do our job. As our time with the president was winding down, we asked him whether he'll try to stay in his job beyond 2028. There's been a lot of talk about 28 and who will be at the top of the Republican ticket. Can you set the record straight?

You're not going to try and run for a third term? Well, I don't even think about it. I will tell you, a lot of people want me to run. But the difference between us and the Democrats is we really do have a strong bench. I don't want to use names because it's inappropriate, but it's too early. But people do like when you start talking about whether you like J.D. Vance or Secretary of Rubio. I do like J.D. Vance. I like Morocco Rubio.

I like so many people. We have an unbelievable bench. Mr. President, can I also ask you, we're now at the end of your first year of this second term. What do you hope to accomplish in the next three years? Well, I hope I can have the same year that we had. Look, we have been acknowledged to have the greatest nine months. You know, it's nine months. The greatest nine months in the history of the presidency.

So if I can keep that going, I'll be very happy. Nice to see you. More from our interview with President Trump, and watch the extended interview and read the full transcript at 60 Minutes Overtime.com. With more than 150 million copies, sold in 40 languages, Guinness World Records, is one of the best-selling books in history. In it, you'll find the shortest, tallest, tallest, alongside jaw-dropping human feats and eighth-grade

bathroom humor. Some achievements are so over the top. It was hard to keep a straight face during interviews for this story. But behind the spectacle is a meticulous system of British auditing. So strict, it has crushed many more record attempts than it has certified. Even if what you see defies belief, you can trust that if it made it into the book, it is real. And as Guinness World Records declares, officially amazing. Are you ready? How are you feeling? I'm feeling pumped. Yeah? For Colin Kaplan, the stakes couldn't be higher. Not in my wildest dreams could I have ever thought that I'd be doing anything like this. After a year of planning, he's about to find out if his city, New Haven, Connecticut, can eat its way into history by hosting the

world's largest pizza party. Let's get some pizza. Kaplan, a local historian and food tour guide, is so obsessed with pizza. Last year, he chartered a jet to Washington and got his congresswoman to declare New Haven the pizza capital of America. New Haven Pizza Capital, baby. Is this a serious endeavor? Yeah.

Yeah, I think it is. I'll tell you what, it seems light and fun, but it's serious in a sense of what's on the line. What's on the line is the glory of a Guinness World Record, and people will do just about anything to get one. Humans are such a interesting bunch, aren't we? And record-breaking is an innately human thing. And if that means you do strange things,

like swallowing sausages hole or climbing Everest, running a marathon with a milk bottle on your head, then that's fine. That's great. Craig Glenday has been the book's editor-in-chief for the past 21 years. I really like that, so I think we want more of that. In his signature Scottish accent, he recounts with a straight face what is often a circus of absurdity. You know, we get things like fastest time to run around my garden, playing the banjo with

the snake on my head. It's like, next. They get a nice letter of, like, thank you, but no, thank you. Cutest babies and cutest dogs don't make the cut either. Records must meet strict criteria. They have to be filmed from multiple angles, verified by independent eyewitnesses, and measured with precision. Each year, Guinness World Records receives roughly 50,000 applications,

but as many as 95% get rejected. The largest number of submissions come from the United States. United States. One of my favorite days in the job was I was at the X-Games at the Staples Center in L.A. And a dog zipped past me on a skateboard. And despite the heat, I chased after this dog, and I found the owner and said, I've never seen a dog on a skateboard. He said, oh, this is Tillman.

He loved skateboarding. I had a tape measure. We measured out 100 meters of the car park at the Staple Center, and we set the record there and then, because I was so amazed by it. Do you just walk through the world with a tape measure in your pocket? Well, I do usually. Do you? Yeah, I have a tape measure on a stock watch, because you never know.

Many of the record holders you know, Usain Bolt for the fastest 200 meters, Beyonce for the most Grammys, and many you've probably never even imagined. Go. Like serial record breaker David Rush, an Idaho tech worker who has broken more than 350 records and counting, including most bites taken from three apples, while juggling for a minute. It's just past the two-mile mark. And most t-shirts worn during a half marathon.

And Monsieur Mange, too. That's Mr. Eats Everything in French. He held the record for the world's strangest diet. The guy who'd, you know, he'd supposedly eat an asesna because he could eat metal and glass. A Cessna plane? Well, apparently it took him two years. We couldn't quite give him.

This doesn't sound very healthy. Well, I mean, he, his wife wouldn't let him use to talk. at home, because if he'd been eating metal, it tends to come out like bullets, and it would chip the porcelain, so he'd have to use a hotel with metal toilets near his house. This is the greatest use interview I've ever done. Sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry.

Come back to what you're saying that when you... I mean, for me, it's every day, so I don't quite get it, but yeah. He could do glass and metal. He couldn't do chains, but to meet him was a real honour for me, because he was like a because he was like a childhood hero for me. You must get this question all the time. Why? Why?

I mean, it's different for everyone. Everyone has a different reason. Some just want fame. Some want to be in print. We do validate people that do things that others might seem about a bit weird, like eating aircraft and stuff. Do you not see that as weird?

I mean, I see it as really interesting. I got to tell you, I thought it would be a little crazier. Inside the company's London headquarters, Glenday keeps a cabinet of greatest hits. It's Craig's cabinet of Curie Audities. Like the world's smallest playing cards and a giant size 29 shoe. I'm like the Vanna White of Audities here. What is this?

If you have a little investigation of that. It's the world oldest vomit. Vomit? Vomits. You got me on that one. 160. It doesn't smell, and it's obviously a petrificness. Not everyone choose.

to break records. I'm 5'10, so what was she? She's just on seven foot. The tallest and shortest people often have had genetic conditions. The woman with the longest fingernails, 43 feet, hasn't cut them since her daughter, who painted her nails, passed away in 1997. So she still holds the record? Still has the record. And I think that's the longest ever measured.

The idea for the book began during a hunting trip at this country estate in Ireland. where the manager of the Guinness Brewery got into an argument over who could name the fastest game bird in Europe. To settle future pub debates, he commissioned a book of superlatives, which eventually became the Guinness World Records. The first one was published in 1955. The initial reaction from the book trade was not that positive, and the first sales meeting ever, the salesperson wrote six on the slip, and they said, do you mean six thousand, six hundred? They said, no, six. They just wanted six? Six for the whole country.

Yeah. By the end of the week, it was like 10,000. They sold that quickly? And it was just blew up. 70 years later, it's still a hit at school book fairs, but today, the name Guinness World Records, is synonymous with viral stunts that become clickbait gold. Is Google your biggest competition?

I could pull my phone out right now and search the world's fastest bird. You might as well open the window and shout your question into the street, and you'll get an answer, yeah, but is it the right one? Well, I can say I know Sultan Kosen's 8 foot 3 because I was there with the tape measure. I measured him. He's also measured the shortest person who he learned about after a woodcutter passed through a remote village in Nepal

and alerted the team at Guinness World Records. So it was confidence enough for me to then go to Nepal. You get on a flight and go to Nepal to measure this person? And we would never have known about him had that woodcutter not gone through the village that day and sent us the video footage. And then there are the rules. So rigid, they've sparked office debates

over who makes the cut for the largest gathering of people dressed as Smurfs. So it's like, okay, well, what is this Smurf? What do they wear? Do they all have blue skin? Yes. You know, you might have to write guidelines for any possible topic.

So we've got this huge big book of experts from archaeologists. To Smurfs. Marphologists, yeah, I don't know if that's something. But, you know, like, we've got a mermacologist, which... What is that? Mermacologist is an ant expert. So if we've got a question about what's the most dangerous ant.

Quick, get the mermacologist online, nine. We've just found this big ant. Is it the biggest? For large events like the New Haven Pizza Party... I am today's official Guinness World Records adjudicator, so I'm basically the judge. Guinness World Records sometimes sends an adjudicator responsible for enforcing the rules from headquarters. So you're going to write how many people you disqualified.

Hopefully that is a nice big round zero. Thomas Bradford is one of 81 adjudicators the company employs across six continents. His day job is as a performer at Disney. But when it's go time, he puts on his trademark blue jacket. The largest gathering of people dressed as dinosaurs was one of my favorite events. And you kind of expect people to just come in the classic, you know, inflatable T-Rex costume. What do they come in? Diplodocus.

Cicero-top, like, you name it, we had it. Legit gear. Everything. I had to turn away people that were dressed as Godzilla, because Godzilla is not a dinosaur. How do you break it to a dinosaur and a bad costume that they don't qualify? You kind of just have to play the role.

I think my accent helps, and there is a level of, you know, authority that comes from a British accent. Very much that. The largest pizza party is probably the most competitive record that I've ever been a part of. Is that true? I didn't think it would be as, it's a lot, yes. They're stressing you out?

This is one of the most stressful record attempts I've had. Colin Kaplan needs 3,358 people to show up in order to beat the current record. And you want to beat Tulsa? We're going to beat Tulsa, Oklahoma. Participants get 15 minutes to eat two slices of pizza and drink a bottle of water. But here's the catch. They have to stay until the party is officially over. And...

They must eat the entire pizza. No one can leave their crusts. They have to eat the crust. What makes a pizza party like this so difficult? People, yeah, it's, you know, you don't know if they're going to stay for 15 minutes. They might wait for 14 and be like, I'm fine. You're disqualified if you leave after 14 minutes, you know? So that people is the toughest thing.

This official Guinness World Records attempt has begun! At first, it was slow going. What if not enough people show up, or have you guys already accounted? But then, in came the pizza obsessed, college students, children, those in their finest pepperoni attire. It's 10,000 slices, which is 625 pizzas in about three and a half hours. Kaplan's pursuit of a record didn't come cheap. Brands and businesses chasing titles for marketing must pay fees. He said he paid nearly 30,000.

and fundraised six figures to cover all the costs, including eight ovens and all that cheese. When Thomas Bradford wasn't busy being a celebrity, he and a group of 100 volunteers kept the tally. Only two didn't finish. One left? Perfect. Okay. With an hour to go. It's going to go to the wire, I think. It's going to be close. Kaplan was still trying to make the pie calculations. add up. We could actually feed 1,800 people starting at 6 o'clock still. And that means that we could 100% beat the record and almost get to 5,000. So did they? Finally, the verdict. And now New Haven is home to the world's largest pizza party. Four thousand five hundred and twenty-five people gathered for a new Guinness World Record. Congratulations, New Haven. You are all.

officially amazing. And a slice of history. Human beings are nearly the same everywhere. They are really because they're trying to get through from birth to death and have as much fun and enjoy life and get all the experiences that you can. And we see this every day. The world is full of these amazing fun things

if you just look in the right place. The last minute of 60 Minutes. Our teams travel the world to find the stories that we share here on 60 Minutes, but often it's viewers who come to us with newsworthy tips. You can learn how by visiting our story tips web page at 60 Minutes.com slash tips. There, you'll find instructions on how to send us information, including documents and other evidence, securely and confidentially. I'm John Wertheim.

We'll be back next week. with another edition of 60 Minutes. Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery. We don't know what we're looking for. Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms in history are clues. You saved her life.

We're doctors and with detectives. I kind of love it if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle, save the patient. Watson, all episodes, now streaming, on Paramount Plus.