In his first press conference since his election victory six weeks ago, President-elect Donald Trump covered the Ukraine war, mysterious drones flying over New Jersey, the future of TikTok and lawsuits targeting the media he often hates. Like.
Trump demonstrated the eloquence and bravery of his 2017-2021 White House years when he held court in an ornate room of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday, making an economic announcement and debating for more than an hour Answered the questions.
He joked with reporters, a contrast from the dark rhetoric and anger he often displayed during the campaign. He answered questions about Ukraine and Israel, but declined to say whether he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin or whether he would support military attacks on Iran.
He seemed wise to the ways of Washington and was happy, if a little surprised, at his new place in it, the constant procession of foreign leaders wanting to congratulate him and the corporate CEOs rushing to meet him. Were surprised to see.
“In the first term, everyone was fighting me,” he said. “In this era, everyone wants to be my friend. I don’t know – my personality changed or something.”
Trump’s return to the White House on January 20 comes at a time of deep polarization in the country and is likely to test democratic institutions domestically and relations abroad.
Advisers say his focus is on choosing his Cabinet and members of his broader team, who are expected to carry out his plans to dramatically transform the government and US policy.
Since his victory on November 5, Trump has not held one of his signature rallies or spoken at length to reporters, instead communicating through social media posts and the occasional speech.
However, on Monday he had good economic news to announce. Flanked by SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son, Trump said the Japanese technology company will invest $100 billion in the US over the next four years.
But that was just a warm-up act for the main event.
Standing in front of Trump’s coat of arms, the president-elect outlined some of his priorities for his second term, criticized President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration and defended some of his own controversial Cabinet selections.
The lengthy back-and-forth revealed a contrast with Biden, who rarely holds news conferences.
‘A deal has to be made’
Trump predicted that his choice for Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “will be less radical than you think” but he supported the polio vaccine, questioning whether there was a link between the vaccines and autism. Studies have not found any link between vaccines and autism.
Trump said “it would be a tragedy” if his choice for Secretary of Defense, former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, does not come up for Senate confirmation amid concerns about allegations of misconduct in his professional and personal life.
He talked about the possibility of issuing clemency to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and said he thought it was possible to eliminate $2 trillion in government spending through an Elon Musk-led government efficiency project.
He said his administration would “take a look” at whether the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok should be banned in the US and encouraged the US military to tell the American public more about the nature of drone sightings, Which has affected the east coast. Over the past several weeks.
Trump also addressed individual complaints and vowed to file lawsuits against several media companies he feels have abused him.
“Now you need fair elections, you need borders and you need a fair press,” Trump said, touching on some of his favorite grievance-related topics. “Our press is very corrupt. Almost as corrupt as our elections.”
Apart from this interval, Trump spent most of his time talking about foreign policy and the economy.
In the world’s two biggest hotspots, he said bluntly: Hamas needs to reach an agreement with Israel to release its remaining hostages in Gaza, or be prepared to face the consequences.
Trump said, if there is no ceasefire agreement by the time he takes office, it will not be pleasant.
He also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should be prepared to reach a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the nearly three-year-old Ukraine war.
“A deal has to be made,” Trump said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
