NBC
Chuck Todd (left) and Donald Trump.
Since all but clinching the Republican presidential nomination this week, Trump has expressed a potential willingness to raise the minimum wage and raise taxes on the wealthiest earners, a marked shift from his proposals during the Republican primary process.
In a "Meet The Press" interview Sunday, Todd pushed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to answer whether he actually stood by his original policy plans, which called for lowering taxes on the wealthy and keeping the federal minimum wage in place.
"Should we assume that most of your plans, then, we shouldn't take you at your word - as sort of that they're floors? What you just described? That, 'You know what, it's my opening statement, but everything is negotiable?'" Todd asked.
Trump emphasized that his policy proposals were launching points for negotiation with Congress.
"It's called life, Chuck," Trump replied.
"I put in a proposal. You know what they are? They're really proposals. People can say it's a tax plan. It's really a tax proposal," the Republican presidential standard-bearer added.
Todd wasn't the only Sunday anchor to press Trump on his seemingly shifting policy positions.
"This Week" host George Stephanopoulos pressed Trump to answer whether taxes on high-income earners will rise under a Trump administration.
"They will go up a little bit," Trump said.
"But they're going down in your plan," Stephanopoulos said.
"In my plan they're going down, but by the time it's negotiated, they'll go up," Trump replied. "Look, when I'm negotiating with the Democrats, I'm putting in a plan. I'm putting in my optimum plan."
Stephanopoulos also pressed Trump whether his comments about the minimum wage represented an ideological shift in Trump's thinking.
"Sure, it's a change. I'm allowed to change," Trump said.
"You need flexibility, George," he added. "Whether it's a tax plan, where you're going - where you know you're going to negotiate. But we're going to come up with something."