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Five takeaways from Trump’s Dec 16th Mar-a-Lago press conference . . .
by Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels, The Hill.com, Decemver 16, 2024
President-elect Trump gave his first formal press conference since winning last month’s election, announcing a major SoftBank investment in the U.S. and fielding a bevy of questions from reporters at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump spoke alongside SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son and Howard Lutnick, his pick for Commerce secretary and also the co-lead of his transition team.
The president-elect took questions from reporters at his Florida estate including ones on his plans for the Russia-Ukraine war, his daughter-in-law potentially being appointed to the Senate, vaccines and tariffs.
Here are five takeaways from his press conference:.
Trump stokes talk of vaccine reviews
Trump was asked if he believes Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick for Health and Human Services secretary, would revoke any vaccines, to which Trump said “no” but added: “I want him to come back with a report as to what he thinks. We’re going to find out a lot.”
Trump appeared to simultaneously downplay the prospect of getting rid of the polio vaccine while stoking dubious links between vaccinations and autism.
“We spend billions and billions of dollars on pesticides, and something’s bad happening,” Trump said.
“Again, you take a look at autism today versus 20, 25 years ago. It’s like, not even believable. So we’re going to have reports. Nothing’s going to happen very quickly. I think you’re going to find that Bobby is … a very rational guy,” he said of Kennedy. “You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine. That’s not going to happen.” . . .
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Trump downplays Lara Trump joining Senate
Trump stopped short of publicly advocating for his daughter-in-law to be appointed to a Senate seat in Florida when given the chance Monday.
He was asked if he expected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to appoint Lara Trump to Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R) Senate seat once Rubio departs to serve as secretary of State.
“No, I don’t. I probably don’t, but I don’t know. Ron’s doing a good job,” the president-elect said. “It’s his choice. Got nothing to do with me. Lara’s unbelievable.” . . .
Trump vows to make the US rich with tariffs
Trump maintained that tariffs could make the United States rich, arguing there was no inflation during his first term in office and highlighting that he had imposed a tariff on steel at the time.
“I didn’t have any inflation, and I had massive tariffs on a lot of things. We put tariffs on steel,” he said. “We made a fortune on it. Tariffs properly used, which we will do, and being reciprocal with other nations, but it will make our country rich.” . . .
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Biden criticized over NJ drone response
Trump told reporters he did not believe the mystery drones reported over New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast were the work of a foreign adversary, but he was still critical of the Biden administration’s response to them.
“The government knows what is happening. Look, 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,” Trump told reporters in his most extensive comments to date on the topic. . . .
Trump covers foreign policy ground
Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping as a friend and “amazing guy,” suggesting the U.S. and China should work together to solve global problems.
“China and the United States can, together, solve all of the problems in the world, if you think about it. So, it’s very important. He was a friend of mine,” Trump said. “We spent hours and hours talking, and he is an amazing guy. The press hates when I say that, but he’s an amazing person.” . . .
