Trump address 1st Epic Press Conference at Florida answering wide range of questions - Criticises Joe Biden for launching US missiles into Russia - Says he will end wars in Ukraine and Gaza - Stands by Polio vaccines
President elect Trump answers a wide-ranging questions in his first Epic Press conference from Mara a Lago in Floridia – Stands firm by Pete Hegseths appointment as Def Sec – Stands by Polio Vaccine and its benefits – Stands by his commitment to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza and get hostages back – He warns China and India of taxes – If you tax we tax , h3e says
By TN Ashok. New York, Dec 16, 2024
Trump’s first news conference since election victory:
President-elect Donald Trump opened up and warmed up today to his 2nd term in the White House speaking frankly on domestic and global issues with a sense of purpose and single minded dvotion to what he is going to achieve immediately in the first days of his presidential term.
He spoke firmly of ending the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and getting the hostages back, freeing and pardoning the Jan 06 rioters, dubbed as a stupid and big mistake of outgoing president Joe Biden to allow us missiles 200 miles into Russia , the mysterious sightings of drones in about eight states and claimed the government knew what they were but liked to keep the public in suspense, defended the polio vaccines as being beneficials but disliked any mandates.
Trump spoke to the press for the first time which was televised nationally by the CBS and other networks when he had the Japanese billionaire and founder of the Soft Bank Masyoshi Son announce a $100 billion investment in the US to create 100,000 jobs and help out medium level entities. He also announced concessions for any individual or group planning to inset upwards of $1 billion in business in America.
“He’s doing this because he feels very optimistic about our country since the election, and many other people are also coming in with tremendous amounts of money,” Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach on Monday.
“This historic investment is a monumental demonstration of confidence in America’s future, and it will help ensure that artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and other industries of tomorrow are built, created and grown right here in the USA,” the president-elect adde
He was clear on his tariffs policy and for the first time included India on the map along with China. If they tax us, we tax them: he said pointing out that China was taxing American goods and we had paid $600 billion for nothing, i would not pay even 10`- cents, he said. He also said India also taxes: They tax our bicycles and also export bicycle to the US, if they tax, we tax them.
He talked repeatedly taking questions on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Ukraine is beautiful country, those beautiful buildings are all gone, it's just flatland now, he said to questions if he would ask president Volodymyr Zelensky to cede lands to Russia. This is a war that should never have happened. The beautiful budlings with people in it all are gone. It's a stupid mistake. Russia would never have invaded Ukraine he said if he had been president of the US. Putin would neer have done it.
Criticizing Joe Biden for allowing Zelensky to launch US missiles into Russia, he said, its a stupid mistake. It should never have been done. Weeks before i take over presidency, should they not have consulted me, asked me, he said.
On Robert Kennedy’s views that polio vaccines hould be withdrawn, Trump was firm and said i have had friends suffering from polio. I have seen the benfits of the vaccines and how people have recovered or been prevented from the debilitating disease.
Trump says he's scheduled to meet with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos this week
President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sometime this week, he said during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago Monday. “We do have Jeff Bezos — Amazon — coming in sometime during the week,” Trump said. “I’m looking forward to that.” His remarks came as he was discussing how several prominent tech figures, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Tim Cook, have met with him since his election. He said he was also meeting Sundar Pichai of Google.
CNN previously reported that Amazon plans to donate $1 million toward Trump’s inauguration. Zuckerberg’s Meta is making a similar contribution. Bezos also owns The Washington Post. The publication’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate this election cycle sent that newsroom into turmoil and caused staffers to accuse their billionaire owner of trying to curry favor with Trump.
Trump said he noticed a big difference among the tech companies in his first term and now his 2nd term set to begin jan 20th. In my first term they were not so enthusiastic about me, but now they are all coming to me with ideas and plans, maybe my personality has changed ove the last four years, he said jocularly.
Trump says he’s spoken with leaders of more than 100 countries since election win
President-elect Donald Trump says he’s spoken to leaders of more than 100 different countries since winning the 2024 election. “The world leaders are calling me and some, really would like to meet,” he said at a Monday news conference at Mar-a-Lago.
“I mean, literally they are calling me. And I’ll be seeing some of them, I think it’s rude not to, it’s hard to say “I’m not going to see you.”
CNN has previously reported that Trump is personally extending invitations to some foreign leaders to attend his inauguration, including heads of state that have clashed with the United States in the recent past. Among them include an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his swearing in. He said he was also considering Ukraine president Zelensky to attend and claimed that he had personally told him that he wanted the war with Russia to end.
“I’ve spoken to way over 100 where they call to congratulate on the… not only the election but the size of the election, the extent of the victory,” Trump said.
“You wouldn’t believe how many countries there are,” president-elect added. “And I’m trying the best I can to get back to everybody but there are a lot of countries and every one of them… literally everyone called.”
He added that he’d spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while he was in France for the reopening of Notre Dame. He hailed France’s President Emanuelk Macron for his wonderful hospitality and the respect he showed him during the inauguration of the renovted historic church of Notre Dame. He has done a wonderful job, he said singling him out of European leaders who were very friendly with USA.
He blamed US pharma policies for making the same drugs and medications sold in the USA to higher costs in Germany and France.
Trump doubts drone sightings are act of a foreign power, urges Biden administration to be more transparent
Federal agencies have faced intense pressure to give the public more details on unexplained sightings in the New York City metropolitan area and beyond that have been going on for weeks over residential neighborhoods as well as restricted sites and critical infrastructure. Federal officials have said many of the sightings appear to be manned aircraft mistakenly identified as drones.
“Look,” Trump said, “our military knows where they took off from. If it’s a garage they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is,” Trump added.
“I can’t imagine it’s the enemy, because if it was the enemy they would blast it out,” Trump said Monday from his Mar-a-Lago resort. “Something strange is going on — for some reason, they don’t want to tell the people — and they should.”
Trump then joked that some of the sightings were near his Bedminster golf course in New Jersey and that maybe he won’t spend this weekend there. He declined to say whether or not he has received an intelligence briefing on the possible drone activity.
Trump says he thinks online praise for man charged in CEO's killing is "really terrible"
President-elect Donald Trump said that he thinks it is “really terrible” how some people on social media seem to be praising the man accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“It was cold blooded. Just a cold blooded, horrible killing. And how people can like, this guy is — that’s a sickness, actually. That’s really very bad,” Trump said, referring to the suspect in the killing, Luigi Mangione.
Thompson’s killing unleashed a flurry of rage and frustration from social media users over denials of their medical claims, a public display of Americans’ pent-up anger at the nation’s complex health insurance industry. Some even referred to Mangione as a “hero” after he was arrested.
“I think it’s a terrible thing. I think it’s really terrible that some people seem to admire him, like him,” Trump said.
Trump says he's open to pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams
President-elect Donald Trump said he would be open to pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams, saying Adams — who was indicted on federal corruption charges earlier this year — has been “treated pretty unfairly.”
Trump minimized the details of the accusations against Adams, which included accepting and soliciting donations for his mayoral campaigns. Adams was accused, in part, of illegally accepting free travel to foreign countries. Trump compared the accused illegal travel payments as similar to receiving an airfare rewards upgrade.
“I think that he was treated pretty unfairly. Now I haven’t seen the gravity of it all, but it seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago. I know probably everybody here has been upgraded,” he said.
Trump said that Adams, who criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policy, suggested that Adams’ indictment was politically motivated, and reiterated his belief that Adams invited scrutiny from federal prosecutors with his criticism of the administration.
Adams was indicted by federal prosecutors in September, and he faces five charges of bribery, corruption, wire fraud and soliciting and accepting donations from foreign nationals. He has pleaded not guilty and has maintained he did not commit any wrongdoing in public statements.
Trump says he has a “warm spot” for TikTok when asked if he’ll stop the ban next month
President-elect Donald Trump says he will “take a look” at the impending ban on social media app TikTok in the United States, as he has “a warm spot in his heart” for it. In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that required TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, to be sold to a non-Chinese company.
The bill gave TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, 270 days to sell TikTok. If they failed to do so, TikTok would be prohibited from US app stores and from “internet hosting services” that support it. TikTok has appealed against the bill, but with no success.
When asked by a reporter if he would repeal the legislation on Monday, Trump said he believed it helped him win the youth vote in November’s election. “We’ll take a look at Tiktok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points and there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with it,” he said.
The president-elect also said interviews with high-profile influencers like Joe Rogan also helped the Republicans win more of the youth vote, “But TikTok had an impact so we’re taking a look at it.”
Trump says he's a "big believer" in the polio vaccine, but adds he doesn't like mandates
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday said he’s a “big believer in polio vaccines” amid questions about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s view on the crucial inoculation that has existed in the US for nearly seven decades. “Well, I’m a big believer in it,” Trump said of the polio vaccine Monday, “and I think everything should be looked at, but I’m a big believer in the polio vaccine.”
CNN previously reported that a lawyer associated with Kennedy has petitioned the US Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the vaccine used in the United States.
Asked whether schools should mandate vaccines, Trump responded: “I don’t like mandates. I’m not a big mandate person.” Pressed later on the polio vaccine, Trump said: “You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine. It’s not going to happen.”
US media reports have said that countries which revoked the measles vaccine or did not get the vaccine in time reported a 20% spike in the children's disease. Many democrats have opposed Robert Kennedy’s suggestion to withdraw the vaccine from US schools saying they would take a bipartisan approach on it when Congress reconvens on Jan 02 , 2025 to welcome freshmen and senators and congrssmen who won the 2024 elections.
Trump claims human toll in Ukraine war is far worse "on both sides" than reported- He claims the carnage is worse than the holocaust
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday castigated the human toll of Russia’s war against Ukraine, claiming the death toll “on both sides” is likely much higher than has been reported.
“We’re trying to get the war stopped, that horrible, horrible war that’s going on in Ukraine, Russia, Ukraine,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago on Monday. “We’re going to get a little progress, it’s a tough one, it’s a nasty one, it’s nasty.”
Trump then described in graphic detail how Ukraine’s flat terrain is contributing to the high battleground death toll. It so close you cannot escape a bullet he said adding, “People are being killed at levels that nobody’s ever seen. It’s very level fields, and the only thing that stops a bullet is a body, a human body,” the president-elect said.
“The number of soldiers that are being killed on both sides is astronomical,” the president elect added. “What’s happeningthere is far worse than people are reporting, from both sides, so we’re going to do our best, and we’ve been doing our best, and we’ll see what happens.”
Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office but has not yet presented a meaningful peace plan. Trump has warned that Ukraine will likely see less US support once he assumes office.
On the war in Gaza, Trump said “we’re trying to help, very strongly, in getting the hostages back.”
“We’re working very much on that,” Trump said without providing further details.
He repeatedly and falsely claimed there were “no wars” during his tenure as president. At least 65 American troops died in hostile actions during Trump’s term, according to military records. Trump was president during the War in Afghanistan, and as president he ordered a drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani at the Baghdad airport.
As Biden prepares to hand over power to President-elect Donald Trump, he ticked through his administration’s accomplishments, saying he believes the US is better positioned than ever. “We never could have gotten as much done without you,” he said to DNC donors and members.
He also praised Harris for her “immense character,” saying, “You’re not going anywhere, kid.”
The vice president, who spoke before Biden, took the stage with large applause from the assembled Democrats and thanked them for the work on her roughly 100-day campaign.
“Our spirit is not defeated. We are not defeated. Let’s be clear about that. We are strong,” she said, promising as she wrapped her remarks to “be with you every step of the way.”
The Trump transition team is expected to arrive at the Pentagon on Monday
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team for the Defense Department is expected to arrive at the Pentagon on Monday for their first in-person visit, a defense official said.
The official said earlier on Monday that the Defense Agency Review Team is expected to arrive “later this morning or early afternoon,” though that timing is subject to change. At this point, the official said, the Trump transition team has not signed a memorandum of understanding with the General Services Administration, which means they will not be provided government-issues equipment, like computers or laptops, and they will not have official government email addresses.
“The Trump transition team will still be allowed to enter the Pentagon and utilize the spaces that have been set aside for their use,” the official said.
The Pentagon and Trump transition team started talks on Friday, CNN previously reported, when the DoD transition team lead spoke with Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.
Source : Inputs from CNN and other US media networks
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